And so, Qian Wei began coaching Mo Tao, and Mo Tao launched his pursuit. Their frequent interactions left Mo Zixin thoroughly satisfied.

Everything was proceeding smoothly. Qian Wei also started cramming last-minute for the weekend Law School Professional Skills Competition—not because she cared about winning, but because performing too poorly would be mortifying. This year, with Lu Xun participating, the crowd of spectators was especially large.

“Qian Wei, when you go up there later, you’d better show off some proper legal spirit for our dorm!” On the day of the competition, Liu Shiyun looked unusually solemn as she patted Qian Wei’s shoulder. “And don’t scramble to memorize legal provisions at the last minute. This year’s competition I’m running is different from previous years’ recitation-and-legal-document-writing formats—I’m determined to make this year’s contest a breath of fresh air, free of pretense and gimmicks. My questions all rely on accumulated legal instinct and the unflappable composure unique to legal professionals! So there’s really nothing for you to prepare. Besides, I have total faith in you!”

And so, buoyed by Liu Shiyun’s encouragement, Qian Wei went up to compete. Because so many people had signed up, the contest was first divided into group rounds with elimination brackets, ultimately narrowing down to a final duel between two contestants. Qian Wei drew her lot, and by some stroke of heavenly mercy, she was not grouped with Lu Xun.

Liu Shiyun hadn’t lied—she really hadn’t set any rote-memorization questions. Instead, this competition’s questions were all based on real legal cases, requiring contestants to provide relevant legal guidance. This was right up Qian Wei’s alley—after all, in her past life she’d been a practicing lawyer for several years. Rote memorization wasn’t her strength, but analyzing cases in practice certainly was. And so, Qian Wei breezed through round after round, easily standing out in her bracket. To speed things toward the final showdown, the early group rounds ran simultaneously across different venues. Qian Wei finished early while the other groups were still fighting their way through, so with time to spare, she wandered over to watch another group’s match.

At that point three group matches were still ongoing, but two of them barely had any spectators. Only one venue was packed nearly to bursting. Qian Wei squeezed in to look—and immediately understood why.

It was Lu Xun’s group.

“Chen rescued a woman attempting suicide, creating a debt of unauthorized agency between the two parties. Per the General Principles of Civil Law, the person managing another’s affairs without authorization may demand the beneficiary reimburse necessary expenses, including costs directly incurred during the rescue and any actual losses suffered in the process. Therefore, Chen may claim compensation from the rescued woman for the treatment costs of the injuries sustained while saving her.”

Nearly every time Lu Xun finished answering, applause erupted. Nineteen-year-old Lu Xun was still somewhat green compared to the shrewder, more seasoned version of himself he’d later become, but he was still Lu Xun through and through—no matter how tangled the case, once it passed through his mouth, the truth emerged, clean and precise, with airtight logic and meticulous reasoning. His group’s cases were noticeably more complex and difficult than Qian Wei’s, spanning everything from sweeping civil law to the minutiae of real estate law, yet Lu Xun answered every single one flawlessly. Most unnerving of all was his detached, almost clinically indifferent delivery—not a single wasted word, as if he were some precision-engineered legal machine, ready at any moment to unleash a weapon of mass destruction.

The winner, without question, was Lu Xun. Watching the other boys who’d gone up against him, Qian Wei couldn’t help but feel a wave of sympathy—competing against Lu Xun was practically a one-sided massacre. He shone brilliantly while everyone else came away looking thoroughly battered.

Only Qian Wei never expected that just as she was pitying those poor souls, the very next round’s draw would make her the next unlucky sacrifice…

As the competition’s emcee, Liu Shiyun’s voice rang out, full of excitement. “Now we move into the second elimination round! First match: our Law School’s shining star, Lu Xun, versus our Law School’s flower, Qian Wei! This round takes on a brand-new role-play format—lots will decide which opposing roles each of you will play, and you’ll go head-to-head in a battle of legal wits and cunning! Stay tuned, everyone!”

Lu Xun was undoubtedly the Law School’s shining star, but as for herself… even with her thick skin, being called the Law School’s flower left Qian Wei a bit flustered. She glanced at the audience and spotted the actual Law School flower, Mo Zixin, sitting among the crowd. Fortunately, Mo Zixin paid no attention to Liu Shiyun’s introduction—her eyes were fixed entirely on Lu Xun, and honestly, nothing in that moment could have outshone him. A nineteen-year-old boy, standing tall, striking in appearance, his pale face carrying an aloof, icy beauty that warned others to keep their distance—yet that very contrast made it impossible to look away.

“Lu Xun, facing off against Qian Wei, the winner of the first group—are you feeling nervous at all?”

Faced with Liu Shiyun’s attempt to liven up the mood, Lu Xun, the center of everyone’s attention, simply gave a faint, breezy smile, then cast an equally breezy glance at Qian Wei.

“…” Qian Wei thought, could you tone down the contempt just a little? Sure, I might be a bad student, but I’ve still got several years of legal practice under my belt from my past life—young man, reality’s about to teach you a lesson real quick!

“Now let’s move to the next stage,” Liu Shiyun said as she unfolded the slip of paper she’d drawn. “For the first question, the scenario is: you two are a married couple whose relationship has broken down and who are getting divorced, with thirty million yuan in joint marital assets. How would you maximally exploit legal loopholes to transfer marital property, in order to minimize the amount your spouse can claim?”

Qian Wei: ??? What kind of question was this… Wasn’t this supposed to be a professional skills competition? Why were they testing how to use the law to fight dirtier? Didn’t anyone realize that couples fighting over assets in a divorce showed people at their most vicious? Did a question like this really align with the spirit of a harmonious society??? Liu Shiyun, you really did put in the effort to study how to better exploit legal loopholes—even the questions you wrote reeked of your personal touch!

After finishing the question, Liu Shiyun added, “There’s no set speaking order—you may buzz in to answer. Also, once a point or method has been raised, the other side can’t repeat it, so whoever speaks first gets the advantage. And remember to stay in character! Qian Wei plays the wife, Lu Xun plays the husband. All right, begin!”

Lu Xun seemed a little caught off guard by this unconventional question too, but he quickly composed himself and looked up at Qian Wei. “Ladies first.”

Qian Wei thought, heh, let me show you your auntie’s wisdom. Questions this practical about transferring marital assets—she figured she had this in the bag.

She smiled and began, “Once I’ve decided to divorce, before filing, I won’t tip my hand. First, I’ll go to a small bank and open a…” Qian Wei paused, remembering the role-play instructions, and stumbled slightly as she corrected herself, “…a bank card my husband doesn’t know about. Then, in intermittent, varying small amounts, I’ll withdraw cash from my existing accounts—especially my salary card—and deposit that cash into the new card. This way, my husband won’t know which bank issued my new card or its account number, so even if he sues for divorce, the court can’t trace the transaction records on my new card. As for the withdrawals from my old card, I’ll simply claim they were for household expenses—say, buying him a shirt that cost a few dollars wholesale but claiming I spent several thousand on it through some roundabout channel. That’s nearly impossible to disprove, so naturally, this completes a perfect asset transfer.” Qian Wei glanced at Lu Xun and continued smugly, “Also, Article 24 of the Marriage Law states that if a creditor asserts a claim against debt incurred by one spouse individually during the marriage, it should be treated as joint marital debt. So, to go even further, I’d fabricate a bunch of large intra-marital loans—say, from my siblings or parents—and as long as the loan agreement states the money was borrowed for stock trading, and in real life I funnel the trading ‘proceeds’ into paying down the family mortgage, that loan becomes nearly impossible to prove as personal debt, so it would need to be shared jointly by the couple. That way, when he divorces me, not only does he get none of the assets, he also inherits a mountain of debt—I can drain him completely dry. And since the money used to repay that debt ultimately lands back in my siblings’ or parents’ pockets, isn’t it essentially still mine?”

In 2009, the provisions of Article 24 of the Marriage Law regarding spousal debt hadn’t yet been amended, so it was indeed a solid loophole for scamming one’s spouse.

When Qian Wei finished, the room fell completely silent… Even Liu Shiyun forgot to keep the energy up. Everyone was clearly stunned by Qian Wei’s answer. After a moment, murmured discussions broke out.

“Damn, there’s actually a method this ruthless? Respect.”

“Qian Wei is seriously savage. Who’s gonna dare marry her now—if it ever came to divorce, they wouldn’t even get a single cent.”

“No idea how she even came up with something this cunning…”

Qian Wei wasn’t fazed. She thought, you youngsters are still so naive. Once you leave campus and enter society, you’ll realize just how treacherous people’s hearts can be—these tricks were old news to others long ago. Using them for a skills competition was more than enough.

Just as Qian Wei thought victory was in hand, Lu Xun gave a soft laugh. “Finished?”

“Yep!”

“Then it’s my turn.” His expression remained utterly unbothered. “I wouldn’t use my wife’s method—it’s actually quite risky. First, while the new bank account she opened would be hard to trace, transferring thirty million in joint assets through repeated cash withdrawals would be a huge hassle. And if any single withdrawal were unusually large, claiming it was for household spending would look far too unreasonable—that portion of the funds would likely not hold up in court and probably wouldn’t be recognized as legitimate household expenditure. Furthermore, if she happened to be married to a husband like me who kept meticulous records of every transaction, the household expense ledger would be crystal clear, making this method of transfer completely impractical. As for exploiting Article 24 of the Marriage Law, fabricating one or two million in debt and claiming it was for household use might pass as reasonable—but with thirty million in joint assets, suddenly manufacturing ten million in debt and claiming it was for family expenses would be far too implausible, and easily exposed if the other party gathered evidence.”

Qian Wei froze. She hadn’t expected nineteen-year-old Lu Xun to be so sharp, systematically identifying every practical flaw in her plan—but she still didn’t think he could come up with anything more viable than hers.

“Lu Xun, you can’t just poke holes in my plan. Unless you’ve got a better method, I still win.”

Lu Xun smiled. “There’s a country in the Caribbean called Dominica. As long as an applicant is over eighteen with no criminal record, they can obtain that country’s passport simply by donating one hundred thousand US dollars to the country’s Economic Diversification Fund—the whole process takes only three months. Although our country doesn’t recognize dual citizenship, as long as you don’t proactively cancel your domestic ID, you can effectively hold ‘dual citizenship’ in practice. Once you get the Dominican passport, you use it to open Bank Account A in Macau. At the same time, you use your domestic ID and Mainland Travel Permit to open a separate Bank Account B. Then, through an underground bank in Macau, you funnel your domestic funds around currency controls into Account B, withdraw everything in cash, and deposit it into Account A—claiming afterward that the money was gambled away at a private underground casino in Macau and entirely lost. This way, even if the domestic court or your spouse manages to trace Account B through your ID information, all the money will already have been withdrawn. Account A, registered under the Dominican passport, would be completely untraceable by them under any circumstances, and the ‘gambled’ funds would leave no discoverable trail. And since the money’s already in Macau, even if the other side finds some scrap of evidence, the court has no power to enforce anything there—your spouse would have absolutely zero hope of recovering that money.” Lu Xun finished and glanced at Qian Wei. “So, thirty million in joint marital assets, transferred with virtually zero risk of recovery for a mere hundred thousand US dollars plus a small underground banking fee—and it stays under an account in your own name, which is far more secure than fabricating fake debts and wiring money to your own siblings, which isn’t necessarily as safe as it seems.”

Qian Wei sat there stunned. A nineteen-year-old law student who could devise something this elaborate and sophisticated—it was honestly frightening. She’d assumed that with several years of professional experience under her belt, handling a nineteen-year-old Lu Xun would be a breeze. She never imagined that the reason Lu Xun would go on to become such a formidable powerhouse partner in the legal world wasn’t simply because he’d sharpened his skills by age twenty-eight—he’d already been this sharp at nineteen. Some people, no matter their age, were forged like a blade always ready to be drawn.

The crowd erupted again.

“Oh my god! Lu Xun is amazing! How did he even think of that!”

“So cool! After hearing Qian Wei’s answer I thought there was no way anyone could top it, but Lu Xun actually did—his thinking is so meticulous, I’m in awe.”

“Lu Xun’s knowledge is so broad, he even knows about that tiny Caribbean nation and how underground banking works in Macau. Comparing the two plans, Lu Xun’s is clearly a cut above.”

Qian Wei: ???

Same question about transferring marital assets—why was her plan called sleazy, while Lu Xun came up with something even more sleazy and everyone praised him for his foresight and rock-solid legal knowledge??? Was it just because of his face that he could get away with anything? That so many girls could shamelessly apply double standards just for him?