No matter how many hints Qian Heng dropped, Bao Rui was so single-mindedly oblivious that he ended up playing third wheel without the slightest awareness of it.
Throughout the meal, he completely ignored Qian Heng’s deadly stares, and after a bit of wine, launched into an endless account of his recent case-handling insights.
The dinner ended up being a one-man show. At least he had the sense to say, “Haha, if only Tan Ying hadn’t been on a business trip today—if she’d come too, this would’ve been a real team dinner.” He scratched his head. “Tonight was so much fun. Qian-par, no matter what, give me a chance to treat next time! Let me pay!”
“No need. You’ve got overtime tonight when you get home. No need to spend the money.”
“…”
But Bao Rui, of all things, had to poke exactly the wrong spot: “Oh, right! Qian-par, didn’t you say Cheng Yao had work to report to you? Why hasn’t she reported anything? I notice your face keeps getting grimmer. Rushing back from City B like this—are you sure there isn’t something urgent? You don’t have to force a smile and eat with us…”
Cheng Yao could hardly bear to watch. Bao Rui, I think you’d better enjoy this good meal—it might be your last.
Oblivious as ever, Bao Rui had no idea what awaited him. Still a bit tipsy, he scratched his head. “Thanks for tonight, Qian-par—not only treating me and Cheng Yao to dinner, but also giving us a ride home after. Qian-par, you really are the best boss I’ve ever met!”
Qian Heng shot Bao Rui a cold glance, his face dark as he paid the bill.
Bao Rui’s grand plan to treat everyone fizzled out. But then something occurred to him—he patted down his pockets, then rifled through his briefcase, and his face suddenly changed. “Where’s my wallet? Where did my wallet go?”
That sobered Bao Rui up completely. He checked every pocket in his trousers and jacket again, still no sign of his wallet, and now he was starting to panic. “Oh no, oh no, my wallet had the protective charm my wife gave me—she went and specially prayed for it. If she finds out I lost it, she’ll kill me.”
Bao Rui was suddenly anxious as an ant on a hot pan. “Let me think—when’s the last time I saw my wallet…”
He thought for a moment, then finally had it. “I know! I probably left it in the courtroom in City B today!” He looked at Qian Heng. “Qian-par, you remember, right? Before the hearing I went to buy a bottle of water, and then the session was about to start, so I hurried and didn’t have time to put my wallet back in my bag—I just tossed it onto the counsel’s table.”
Qian Heng clearly had no interest in such details, but Bao Rui didn’t care. He hurriedly pulled out his phone to check tomorrow’s flights. “Looks like I’ll need to fly back to City B tomorrow to ask today’s presiding judge and clerk. If that doesn’t work, I’ll have to pull the recording from today’s hearing to see if I really left it on the counsel’s table…”
The words were spoken carelessly, but the listener took them to heart.
Cheng Yao caught something in an instant. Her eyes lit up completely, and she grabbed Bao Rui’s arm excitedly. “God, Bao Rui, you’re a genius! Why didn’t I think of it! Every court session is recorded! Every move made in the courtroom is on video! It’s the court’s official recording—the most authoritative recording there is!”
Bao Rui was baffled. “Huh?”
But Cheng Yao no longer cared about anything else. She quickly gathered her things. “I’ve got a new idea for Lin Fengjuan’s legal aid case. The hearing is in a few days—I need to go confirm something right away, then re-plan the whole case. Sorry, I have to go!”
She cast an apologetic glance at Qian Heng before turning and hurrying off.
Bao Rui still hadn’t caught up. “Huh? She just left like that? What did I say that suddenly enlightened her?”
Watching Cheng Yao’s retreating back, Qian Heng pressed his lips together and said nothing. For the first time in his life, he tasted something like biting into an unripe lemon—sour to the point of astringency in his heart.
Wasn’t she the one who said she missed him? And yet here he was—the esteemed partner of Junheng, whose time was worth 166.66-plus yuan per minute, a proper boyfriend who had rushed all the way back from City B specifically for her—and Cheng Yao hadn’t even spared him a second glance before running off for a case?!
After Cheng Yao left, Bao Rui sensed things were about to go badly, because Qian Heng’s expression was clearly darkening further.
Before Bao Rui could even ask, Qian Heng spoke first, looking at Bao Rui with a face like a coming storm: “New ideas for a case, or a scheduled… scheduled time to report to me on work—which is more important?”
“Isn’t that obvious!” Bao Rui fawned. “Reporting to you is more important, of course, Qian-par! One conversation with you is worth ten years of study! With that time, once she reports to you and you give her a bit of guidance, wouldn’t the case strategy just come naturally? Cheng Yao’s still young, she just doesn’t get it.”
“But you know, Qian-par, when she first joined our team, she was so timid, so hopeless, I thought she wouldn’t last more than a few days before quitting in tears, and giving up on law altogether. Didn’t expect her to stick it out, and now she’s actually starting to look competent.” Bao Rui’s head was a bit fuzzy, and his mouth ran even more carelessly than usual. “But you know, Cheng Yao’s actually quite pretty, especially when she’s focused on work—genuinely has a certain charm…”
Qian Heng shot Bao Rui a dangerous look, then stared toward the direction Cheng Yao had gone, lips pressed tight, saying nothing.
Bao Rui, none the wiser, was getting drunker, his gait starting to sway, his tongue growing thick. “Qian, Qian-par, I’m feeling a bit dizzy—why don’t we head out, if it’s not too much trouble, could you give me a ride home, haha.”
Before Bao Rui could get out his line about “you’re the best boss I’ve ever met,” he saw Qian Heng raise his wrist to check his watch and say, with zero sincerity—
“Oh, I suddenly need to go somewhere else. It’s out of the way from your place. You’ll have to take a cab yourself.”
“…”
—
After getting home, Cheng Yao went straight into the case database to look things up. Bao Rui’s offhand remark had suddenly cleared the blockage in her thinking—perhaps Lin Fengjuan’s case could take an entirely new approach using the court recording.
The only question was exactly how to make it work…
Cheng Yao thought it over and finally made up her mind. She called her sister, Cheng Xi. “Sis, I’ve got a case where I’ve run into Deng Ming again. The case has hit a deadlock—he’s forged evidence and is using those same disgusting, underhanded tactics to try to sway the ruling.”
Cheng Xi had suffered plenty at Deng Ming’s hands. The moment she heard the name, she grew anxious. “Yao Yao, drop the case. When it comes to Deng Ming, I have the most say of anyone—he can twist black into white and white into black, he doesn’t play by the law at all. Going up against him, you don’t stand much chance, and I’m worried he’ll pull something on you too. Let’s just not take the case…”
“Sis, I have a plan.” Cheng Yao stayed calm. “It’s just that this plan needs your consent and authorization.”
Amid Cheng Xi’s astonishment, Cheng Yao briefly explained her idea. Cheng Xi was quite surprised, but nodded in agreement. “I’ll be fine. My reputation—I stopped caring about that a long time ago, back when Deng Ming was smearing me online during the divorce. If using my name can help you win justice for your client, then go ahead.”
Even though Cheng Xi couldn’t see her over the phone, Cheng Yao nodded firmly anyway. “Sis, I will win this case.”
Cheng Xi’s voice was soft and gentle; she sounded as though she’d made peace with that past marriage. But Cheng Yao knew she hadn’t, not really.
How could wounds once suffered, falls once taken, simply stop hurting so easily?
—
Once a person throws themselves wholeheartedly into something, time seems to fly. For that whole week, Qian Heng was tied up with the case in City B, while Cheng Yao poured herself entirely into Lin Fengjuan’s case.
Time flew by until it was the day of the hearing for Lin Fengjuan v. Lu Jian, on confirmation of paternity and child support.
Cheng Yao arrived especially early. As expected, Lu Jian and Deng Ming were already there too, sitting together, talking and laughing in low voices. Lu Jian’s expression was particularly relaxed and unconcerned, clearly confident of victory in this case.
Ten minutes before the hearing was to begin, Deng Ming stood up as if heading to the restroom.
Cheng Yao pressed her lips together and rose as well, following him out of the courtroom. She trailed a few steps behind him, and just as he was about to turn a corner, she caught up.
Deng Ming turned back, somewhat surprised, and upon seeing it was Cheng Yao, gave a faintly self-satisfied, condescending laugh. “Cheng Yao, did you pick this case specifically to face off with me and avenge your sister? Unfortunately, you’re still too green. This case—you’re bound to lose.”
Cheng Yao bit her lip, her eyes wandering as though she found it hard to speak, and cast Deng Ming an uneasy glance, her posture lowered as if pleading, calling out, “Brother-in-law…”
That long-unused term of address did, indeed, catch Deng Ming off guard.
Before catching up to Deng Ming, Cheng Yao had rubbed her cheeks hard, so now her face appeared flushed, and combined with her awkward, hesitant expression, it convincingly conveyed the look of someone torn and at a loss.
Meeting Deng Ming’s puzzled, probing gaze, Cheng Yao spoke as though finally mustering the courage: “I… I really did take this case because I saw you were Lu Jian’s lawyer, but I… I’m not actually trying to get back at you.” Here her voice grew even more careful and pleading. “I know if I came to you normally, you wouldn’t see me, so I took this case instead. I’m… I’m here to beg you, could you go see my sister…”
Caught off guard by this unexpected turn, Deng Ming raised an eyebrow. “Hm?”
Cheng Yao bit her lip, struggling to get the words out. “My sister… it’s been a while since your divorce, but she still can’t move past it. Last month she even tried to overdose on sleeping pills. Thankfully we found her in time and got her stomach pumped, but even half-conscious, she was still calling your name.”
At this point Cheng Yao lowered her head and, with genuine-seeming emotion, wiped at her eyes. She played the part of a dutiful younger sister, forcing down her own resentment and anger toward Deng Ming, all for the sake of a sister who couldn’t let go of the past even after such mistreatment—reduced to the awkward, humiliating position of begging her scumbag ex-brother-in-law for help.
“You actually treated her terribly. You did such awful things, hurt her so badly, I’ll never forgive you even in death. But my sister just can’t let go—even now she still thinks about the good times, about when you two dated in college.” Cheng Yao’s tone carried a restrained bitterness, the frustration of someone watching a loved one refuse to give up hope. “Even though she’s alive now thanks to the timely rescue, she’s very despondent, has almost no will to live, so she’s recovering poorly. She’s wasted away to nothing. We’ve tried everything, nothing works—she just wants to see you.”
Cheng Yao bit her lip. “So could I beg you—for old times’ sake—to go see her? Just ten minutes would do. If you’re busy, even five minutes. Just show up, tell her to be strong, give her something to hope for…”
Hearing all this, Deng Ming’s face took on an expression of difficulty mixed with understanding, as though all of this were only natural—as though it were simply his charm at work, that even after everything he’d done, Cheng Xi still couldn’t forget him.
Deng Ming’s expression was brimming with self-satisfaction—an expression Cheng Yao had seen plenty of times on Qian Heng. Yet somehow the same posture, on Qian Heng, felt utterly convincing and fitting; on Deng Ming, it only seemed like nauseating pretense.
The nauseating man himself remained oblivious, smiling with a pitying air. “So that’s how it is. No wonder you took this case. Legal aid—no money in it, and the clients are usually from the lower rungs of society, uneducated, low-end people. And facing me, you were bound to lose. Now I understand.”
“Although the divorce between me and Cheng Xi caused quite a stir at the time, naturally I’d hope she can move on and start a new chapter.” Deng Ming’s words sounded sanctimonious, yet carried little real sincerity. “But I already have a new family now. Not just a wife, but a child too. Even if my current wife were understanding enough to let me visit my ex, it would be hard to explain to the child. Besides, I’ve recently taken on a legal debate variety show—media attention on me is bound to increase after that. Visiting my ex-wife is the kind of thing people with an agenda could twist into a story. That wouldn’t do either me or Cheng Xi any good.”
This speech was watertight. To any third party unfamiliar with the real story, it would sound like Deng Ming was a model ex-husband, magnanimous and amicable.
When Deng Ming had smeared Cheng Xi during the divorce, Cheng Yao had never been able to understand what had turned the once seemingly refined, gentle Deng Ming into someone like that. But as she’d gained more work experience, that anger and confusion had faded.
No point digging into why he’d changed. Some people were simply born bad—it was the malice and selfishness woven into their very nature.
Still, on the surface, Cheng Yao had to swallow her disgust and keep playing along with Deng Ming. She continued pleading. “Brother-in-law… please, I’m begging you, otherwise I really don’t know what will happen to my sister…” Cheng Yao said, on the verge of tears. “I know I’m bound to lose facing you in this case, but I took it anyway—not caring about the black mark it would leave on my professional record—purely to see you, hoping you could…”
Deng Ming glanced at his watch, clearly out of patience to hear more, and gave a hypocritically pained smile. “Cheng Yao, this one thing, I truly can’t help with. But I understand where you’re coming from. After all, you did call me brother-in-law for those years, so as a token of that, I’ll make sure today’s case doesn’t go too badly for you.”
“Brother-in-law…”
This time Deng Ming ignored her plea entirely and turned to leave with an air of nonchalance.
Cheng Yao stepped forward at once and grabbed the hem of his coat. “Brother-in-law, don’t refuse outright—please think it over a bit more. My sister and you were each other’s first loves, you had good memories together…”
“Cheng Yao, don’t keep pestering me! Or don’t blame me for being ruthless in court later.” There was a hint of rising anger in Deng Ming’s voice now.
Startled by his tone, Cheng Yao pulled her hand back as though frightened.
—
Once Deng Ming had gone, Cheng Yao dropped the pleading expression from her face and calmly walked to a vending machine in the courthouse corridor. She bought two drinks—one canned coffee, one canned black tea.
Once purchased, she composed her expression again and returned to the corridor Deng Ming would have to pass through on his way back to the courtroom.
Before long, Deng Ming did indeed come around the corner from the restroom at the end of the hall. Seeing Cheng Yao still waiting there, a flash of impatience crossed his face. “I already told you, no.”
Ignoring Deng Ming’s disdainful, superior look, Cheng Yao steeled herself and approached with the two drinks. “No, no, brother-in-law, I… I overstepped earlier, and wanted to apologize. I know I can’t force you to see my sister, but… in court later, could I ask you to go easy on me…” Cheng Yao said pitifully. “I didn’t think it through when I took this case—I just wanted to see you. But if I lose too badly, my boss will chew me out. The firm’s even been talking about layoffs lately, and I’m still new, without much experience…”
Only then did Cheng Yao timidly hold out the two drinks in her hands. “Brother-in-law… don’t be angry with me, I…” She glanced at the drinks in her hands. “I wanted to get you a Starbucks, but there isn’t one nearby, so I could only get canned drinks. You… please don’t hold this against someone beneath you, just take it as my apology.”
Deng Ming naturally refused at first, but Cheng Yao blocked his path, pleading and cajoling. “I know your standing in the legal circle, brother-in-law. I’ll be in this circle too from now on, we’re bound to keep crossing paths, so please look out for me sometimes…”
—
Deng Ming narrowed his eyes, studying Cheng Yao. She really was still the same as before—like a child who’d never grown up, letting emotion override reason the moment something happened, acting without thinking, doing whatever came to mind. Compared to a lawyer like himself, she was practically a quail whose wing feathers hadn’t even grown in yet. Only a few years into the job, and she’d taken this case, pitting herself against him, all for her sister’s sake—what a fool, Deng Ming thought.
Still, even though she’d always been reckless and thoughtless before, now that she was a lawyer, at least she knew enough to try to curry favor with someone established like him. She knew that even if she resented him because of her sister, she still had to maintain good relations with him for the sake of her own future.
Deng Ming looked at the two drinks in Cheng Yao’s hands, feeling rather pleased with himself. However much she’d hated him back then, however many harsh words she’d thrown his way about getting even—what good had it done without the power to back it up? Faced with reality now, what could she do but bow her head and make amends?
Deng Ming sneered at Cheng Yao, his self-satisfaction swelling to its peak.
Back during the divorce, Cheng Xi had been too soft to fight back, but Cheng Yao had gone all-out—storming into his firm to hang banners, handing out flyers denouncing him. And now?
Heh.
Deng Ming deliberately paused for a long while before finally, with an air of magnanimous condescension, accepting the drinks from Cheng Yao. “Why did you buy two?”
“I… I didn’t know if you liked coffee or black tea, so I bought both.”
“Oh, I like coffee. Never drink black tea.”
Cheng Yao quickly stuffed the black tea into Deng Ming’s arms as well. “Then take this one too, brother-in-law. If you don’t want it, give it to your client to drink. This is my first time trying a case solo—I’m so nervous I feel sick, can’t even swallow water, let alone black tea…” She paused, then looked up cautiously at Deng Ming. “So, brother-in-law, in court later…”
Deng Ming let out a short laugh. “Alright, I get it.”
Cheng Yao thanked him profusely, as if overjoyed. “Thank you, brother-in-law!”
—
As the hearing time approached, the judge, clerk, both parties, and their counsel all arrived punctually.
Cheng Yao sat at the plaintiff’s counsel table, watching as, across from her, Deng Ming relaxed and popped open his can of coffee, then casually handed the can of black tea to Lu Jian.
The two of them clearly believed victory was assured, chatting and laughing together. Lu Jian said something in response to Deng Ming, and laughed again. He held the can of black tea in his hand but didn’t open it.
Finally, the time came, and the presiding judge announced the hearing open.
Everything proceeded in orderly fashion, following courtroom procedure.
Lin Fengjuan’s face was pale, her expression withered. She endured the hearing almost numbly. Although Cheng Yao had told her before the hearing not to worry, how could she not? Throughout this hearing, Cheng Yao hadn’t raised a single new point or approach!
In stark contrast to Lin Fengjuan, Lu Jian’s expression grew brighter and more radiant as the trial proceeded. He finally picked up the can of black tea beside him, popped the tab, and took a leisurely sip.
In the end, the hearing unfolded just as it had during the pre-trial evidence exchange—the situation turning sharply against Lin Fengjuan. The medical records and physical examination report Cheng Yao had raised regarding Lu Jian had, through the machinations of Lu Jian and Deng Ming, been confirmed as authentically issued by the relevant hospital.
With almost no suspense, the first-instance ruling went against Lin Fengjuan.