Li Wenbo rose.
He was a man in his fifties with the practiced confidence of someone who had spent decades winning cases by making the person on the other side of the room feel like the problem.
He buttoned his jacket and looked at the room with the comfortable weight of someone who had already decided the outcome.
"Your Honor," he said, "what we have before us today is a deeply unfortunate situation. A man, my client Liao Changsheng, a respected member of this community, a devoted father, and a successful businessman, has found himself the subject of allegations that are not only false but are strategically timed to coincide with a custody dispute over a child he loves deeply." He paused, letting that land.
