First-Class Lawyer

Threats on one’s life shouldn’t be taken as a joke. Even if the landlord himself was nonchalant about it, it was impossible for Yan Suizhi and Gu Yan to let it go.

They studied the email and found that, as the landlord had said, it was of an unknown source. This reminded them of the remote jamming of Yan Suizhi’s smart device previously. 

“Gu Yan’s friend has helped to code a program that can counter-capture the other party’s signal source.” Yan Suizhi pulled up the program on his smart device and asked the landlord, “Do you mind if I fiddle around with your smart device?”

“Of course, go ahead.” The landlord pulled off his ring and opened access for him.

This guy was so unguarded to people he regarded as his own that he opened the access permissions to the highest level. Even though Yan Suizhi had intended to politely ignore what he saw and concentrate on installing the program for him, the rich variety of unclosed interfaces still popped up right in his face.

It included searches for things like: ‘What’s the trick to cleaning up a house that’s so messy it’s like a natural disaster swept through it?’, ‘How do I quickly move the contents across multiple photon computers into one cloud?’, ‘What encryption method is the most secure?’, and ‘What’s safe to use in a kitchen that hasn’t been touched in over a decade?’ 

And even included some simple information on renting out homes and moving homes, as well as a call dialled to his childhood home on Helan.

Yan Suizhi, “…”

Their eyes met. Mervyn White laughed blithely, “I don’t have the habit of closing tabs so it’s a little messy. Just bear with it. If it’s not too much trouble, you can do it for me.”

This Mr Landlord was truly quite forthcoming. Even at this time, he was actually more embarrassed about the messy interfaces than his search history.

Yan Suizhi didn’t take it up with him, closing them for him, asking in concern, “You’re looking for a place to stay?”

“Nope,” Mervyn White shook his head, saying without a lick of modesty, “A crafty hare has three burrows. How can a man as smart and capable as me only have two properties?”

He looked around the small building they were in. “It’s a bit hard not to be exposed with all the tidying I’m doing. This place will be searched sooner or later, as well as the flat that I was going to rent to you. I probably won’t be able to keep them.”

Hearing this, Gu Yan solemnly spoke up, “That’s based on the premise that Brewer and Miller Manson win, but that premise won’t hold.” 

“I know, I know,” Mervyn White said with a small smile. “I also believe that they won’t have any kind of happy ending. The world can’t be that unreasonable. Evil can’t usurp justice, and the law has long arms. But there’ll still be some minor oversights on occasion. I’m just planning ahead so in case I really end up behind bars, at least I’ll have a safety net to fall back to. I’m not asking for much; I’ll be happy with just enough to eat and drink and visit exhibitions after getting out.”

He paused, then wrung his wrists. “Actually, I don’t really care about this one. But I’m still slightly reluctant at the idea of selling the flat.”

Yan Suizhi looked at this friend, who was considered an elder in age yet had the personality of a child, suddenly smiling, “You don’t have to.”

“Huh?” Mervyn White looked up at him. “Don’t have to?” 

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After blanking out for a long time, the landlord suddenly burst out laughing. “When you say it like that, I suddenly feel my blood pumping. Now it seems like my luck’s actually pretty decent. Though a son up and left, such interesting friends have arrived. Not bad.”

Yan Suizhi and Gu Yan discreetly exchanged a look at this.

Speaking of which… 

They involuntarily recalled seeing Jack White at the rest stop.

Yan Suizhi deliberated, asking, “Pardon me if I’m overstepping, but—”

“Don’t give me that, you already did.” At times like this, Mr Landlord was certainly blunt. “I’m about two and a half generations above you, right? As your elder, I don’t even need you to open your mouth to know what you’re curious about.”

Yan Suizhi swallowed the unspoken words, asking with lifted brows, “Really?” 

The landlord buried his head back into the convenience store bags, hunting for food. “You want to ask how my relationship with that Jack turned foul, right? You’re always hanging around Lin Yuan in Spring Ivy Hospital…”

As he spoke, he fished out three cans of food, grabbed a few slices of bread, and headed for the kitchen. “And would run into Jack every now and then; it’s inevitable that you’d hear Lin Yuan blabber nonsense about it. From your earlier hesitance… Lin Yuan told you not to bring up that kiddo in front of me?”

Lin Yuan did say something to that effect. When he first came clean with Yan Suizhi, he had mentioned that the curly-haired doctor had fallen out with his foster father. Whatever it was that had happened, they were no longer on talking terms. It was a touchy subject for both parties, so it was best not to bring up the other party in front of either side.

But Yan Suizhi and Gu Yan had their reservations about the veracity of that advice, because when Lin Yuan had bit the bullet, asking Jack White for a photo of the landlord, while the curly-haired doctor was stand-offish, he still sent a photo over. 

And from the speed with which it was sent over, the photo should have been on Jack White’s smart device—and he knew exactly where it was saved.

The landlord turned on the weak and dim kitchen lights, held up a fruit knife, and calmly turned his head to look at Yan Suizhi. “What else did that fellow say?”

“…”

Yan Suizhi wasn’t too willing to sell out his friend. “Would Dr Lin talk about this with others? I don’t know the specifics, but we happened to come across such-and-such when looking into the past events over the last couple of days.” 

“Nope, I’m not buying that. You lawyers talk nonsense like it’s the truth.” The landlord lowered his head and began to pry open a can with the fruit knife. “But Lin Yuan didn’t lie to you. I did tell him before not to bring up that rascally boy in front of me.”

Yan Suizhi, “My apologies.”

“What are you apologising for? Wasn’t I the one who brought him up first?” The landlord said, “Actually, it’s fine. I didn’t mean it anyway, it was Lin Yuan, that silly boy, who’s too easy to trick.”

After saying that, silence held like a spell over the room. 

The only sound remaining in the kitchen was the fruit knife prying the can open, its lid rattling.

He looked immersed in his recollection, zoning out slightly.

It would be brusque and indelicate to interrupt or prod at this time.

Yan Suizhi helped him install the counter-capture program, whilst Gu Yan continued to sort through the mess of documents. 

After some time, the landlord prepared sandwiches from canned food and sliced bread. Even then, this maverick still put on airs; when handing plates to the two of them, he said, “These are probably the least dreary sandwiches ever. When cutting into slices just now, I saw that the wild winter mint by the window had bloomed and plucked two to decorate them. Oh, right, I forgot to ask if you guys liked the taste of mint. If you don’t like it, then… just deal with it for now.”

Yan Suizhi jabbed the mint leaves with a fork, darting a sidelong glance at Gu Yan, and said to the landlord, “Thank you, I like it a lot. In fact, you can pluck a few more; my appetite will become much better.”

“…”

The distinguished Lawyer Gu was silent for two seconds, then gave him the two mint flowers on his. 

The landlord wasn’t very particular about etiquette, plopping down on the carpet after dusting off a section of it, eating from his plate. A while into his sandwich, he suddenly spoke, “Actually, I used to be very close to Jack. The first time that I saw him, he was sleeping in a patch of white windflowers in my backyard, wrapped in a thin blanket. He looked a bit like a little monkey…”

Actually, Mervyn White wasn’t fond of children back then.

In his childhood home at Helan, there were always neighbours taking their children with them on social calls every holiday. His affable mother welcomed them with open arms, and not even a whole afternoon of playing with them would tire her out. But he was different; his head felt like exploding at the yatter of those little punks. He was also unable to forcibly drop his IQ to baby talk and play all sorts of retarded games with them.

He’d always steel himself, laughing along for five minutes, before finding an excuse to slip off. 

If he had this time, he might as well observe microbes in the laboratory.

At least the microbes would give him peace and quiet.

Picking up that little monkey… child at the door to the backyard actually threw him for a loop. He had never held such a tiny human cub before; he had no clue where to start or how to hold it. Furthermore, it was obvious that the child was ill.

After floundering for a long time, he eventually carried the child into his house. He first checked him with the instruments in his house, then frowned and called for an ambulance. 

This little cub, neither kin nor kith, cost him a fortune on the very first day. For nearly a month after that, this sum rose day by day. He was a bank-breaking child delivered by a stork.

“I initially considered sending him to an orphanage. I just didn’t have the experience or the energy to raise such a living organism.” The landlord said, “But a month later, I changed my mind. I would really lose out if the little devil that I broke the bank to treat back to full health ungratefully turned around and called someone else daddy.”

“…”

Yan Suizhi didn’t quite compute his math. 

But in short, though Mervyn White wasn’t fond of children back then, as luck would have it, he still took in the child abandoned at their doorstep, picking a simple name for him—Jack.

Jack White looked nothing like him.

Mervin had straight, platinum blonde hair when young, which had since turned completely silver-white. Conversely, Jack had a head full of curls, dark brown like his eyes as a child, which lightened after he grew up.

“His skin tone was pale golden back then. It made him look vibrant and healthy.” Mervyn White said, “But now that he’s all grown up, possibly cooped up indoors for too long and not getting much time out in the sun; his skin tone has lightened. Sometimes it even looks pasty to me, though it might just be the hospital lighting washing out his complexion.” 

In his childhood, Jack White was very close to his foster father.

“I always teased him about how he couldn’t stand steadily on his feet because his curly locks made his head look big.” The landlord even smiled when reminiscing on those moments. “But he’s a big softie for me.”

No one was allowed to say a bad word about Mervyn White. Even if it was just a joke, he would glare at the other, revulsion and hostility radiating from his wide eyes.

“And he’s smart. Very smart.” The landlord said, “I could tell very early on that he was even smarter than me, and if he grew up well, he would definitely have a promising future ahead. However, I don’t care much about that. It doesn’t matter to me whether or not he becomes a successful man; I just want him to be happy every day.” 

Which father would dislike such a son?

Therefore, Mervyn White, who had vocally professed his dislike of children, made an exception for this foster son.

“It sounds heartwarming. Then, did… something happen after that?” Yan Suizhi asked.