Chapter 143: Subjected to Inhuman Treatment

"You might not believe it if I told you."

Lu Yao took a deep breath, determined to help the pathetic girl before her. It wasn't out of an overflow of sympathy, but because when she herself had been in the depths of despair years ago, someone had reached out to help her. She could not bear to watch Fang Xiaoya be destroyed.

"I suffered the same kind of trauma as you when I was a child." Lu Yao glanced toward the one-way mirror on the side of the interrogation room, guessing that Ye Zehong might be listening to their conversation from the other side, and spoke with measured caution. "However, you are better off than I was. At least you still have hope in your heart, a desire to find your biological parents. As for me, I watched my mother die a tragic death right before my eyes when I was only a few years old, and I was utterly powerless to do anything."

The pain of that memory felt as though her heart were being torn from her chest.

Lu Yao’s words stirred something deep within Fang Xiaoya. Looking at Lu Yao, Fang Xiaoya choked out, "Heaven is so unfair. We were born unfortunate enough as it is—why must it continue to torture us, while leaving the truly wicked and heinous untouched?"

"No, I see it differently than you do," Lu Yao said, composing her grief and adopting a professional tone. "It is precisely because I was treated so unfairly as a child that I chose to become a lawyer. I want to take up the weapon of the law to defend my legitimate rights and interests. After studying the law, I realized one truth: whether it is power or hegemony, once these people cross the bottom line of morality, even if we do not act, the law will. You must believe in the law, and believe in yourself."

Perhaps it was the resolute tone in Lu Yao’s voice that caused a spark of determination to defend her own rights to appear on Fang Xiaoya’s face.

Choosing to trust Lu Yao, Fang Xiaoya began to recount everything in detail, from the suffering she endured when she first entered the girls' school to her conflict with Song Yanqing.

In her first year at the school, Fang Xiaoya’s life had been relatively happy. There was a teacher who doted on her as if she were her own daughter, and Fang Xiaoya had subconsciously come to regard this woman as a mother figure.

Years ago, Song Yanqing had been sent to the residential girls' school due to her rebellious nature. As the years passed, Fang Xiaoya blossomed into a graceful young woman with a beautiful face and a slender figure. Song Yanqing, conversely, suffered from obesity due to long-term binge eating and had a face covered in acne.

One day, Song Yanqing lost her footing and slipped, striking her head against a sharp tile, which resulted in a brain hemorrhage and landed her in the ICU.

Yet, the Song family accused Fang Xiaoya of attempted murder.

Listening to this, Lu Yao clenched her fists, her heart