First-Class Lawyer

Vacation ended and then the two hotshot lawyers were both neck-deep in a number of cases being worked on in tandem, always on the go.

Especially Yan Suizhi. 

Apart from the cases he was assigned at Nan Lu, he also had to attend to his duties at Maze University. He was scarcely able to find the leisure to stroll around the garden, let alone water and prune it.

This, on the contrary, allowed the flora to escape being blighted.

During this period of time, the landscape control had been turned on in the front and back yards of the lakeside villa. The humidity and temperature were set according to Gao Lin’s recommendations. The plants he sent to the villa sprouted quickly, and the garden started to take form in less than a month.

At first, Yan Suizhi didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. 

He sat on the sofa in the living room reading case files. From time to time, he would raise his head and gaze out of the floor-to-ceiling windows into the distance. No more than a cursory glance, but he got the impression that the garden was thriving with vitality, vibrant, with many more varieties than before.

It wasn’t until one afternoon in early April that he discovered the garden was hiding a deeper token of love from Gu Yan.

It was a day before the First-Class Lawyers’ summit. He and Gu Yan had taken a whole afternoon off from their busy schedules to prepare for the trip.

In actuality, both were frequent flyers. They went on business trips as often as they breathed; packing their luggages would take them no more than fifteen minutes, then they’d be free for the rest of the afternoon.

It so happened that Gao Lin sent a message saying that the white and bicoloured cardamom were particularly fragile at this time of the year and were prone to infection. If they were free, they should record the growth information of the cardamom and send it over, and he would mix a new fertiliser based on that, which he could have delivered next week.

As he did have the time and inclination, Yan Suizhi went to the storage room and fished out the plant measuring tape that Gao Lin had given them.

Gu Yan didn’t quite trust a certain dean’s unholy hands and intended to see to it himself, but he was pressed into an outdoor chair in the garden.

“Don’t look at me like you’re facing a formidable foe. If plants really died at two touches from me on the leaves, wouldn’t you, this peppermint essence, be the first to go down?” The dean asserted. 

Gu Yan, “???”

Yan Suizhi waved the measuring tape in his hands. “I’ll take the measurements and you can record it down from here. Just remember to send them to Gao Lin later.”

It wasn’t actually that the dean bore ill-will for the flora, of course. Rather, he knew that Gu Yan was up late last night going through case files and hadn’t gotten much sleep, so he hoped to let Gu Yan take it easy.

With the measuring tape, Yan Suizhi walked through the garden, identifying the fresh blooms and young saplings. 

Cardamom, cranberry, hibiscus, nasturtium, tuberose…

One by one, the names of several varieties flashed through his mind, and two turns later, he stopped in his tracks. Because these flowers were too familiar to him…

Ktfs kfgf atf rjwf njglfalfr qijcafv lc atf ujgvfc bo tlr mtlivtbbv tbwf.

If there was an apple tree and sweet melons as well, it would be virtually indistinguishable. 

Aera jr atf atbeuta qbqqfv eq, tlr ujhf rkfqa ab atf mbgcfg bo atf mbegasjgv cba ojg jkjs. Ktfgf kjr lcvffv jc jqqif agff rajcvlcu atfgf, jcv atf atlmx nlcf rafwr bo atf rkffa wfibcr milwyfv jgbecv lar agecx, gfralcu bc atf mbegasjgv kjii.

Yan Suizhi stilled deep in the garden for a long time, then turned sharply to walk in the direction of the outdoor seating.

“Gu Yan…”

But when he rounded the corner, he abruptly trailed off, softly swallowing his words back down. 

Because, at some point in time, the person seated over there had quietly fallen asleep.

The photon computer’s holographic screens were hovering before him. A form to record the cardamom’s growth was recently set up, and as such silently remained open right there.

His head was propped on a hand, and his breathing was long and even.

Yan Suizhi stood where he was, watching him for a very long time before suddenly shaking his head with a smile. 

He quietly pulled a chair over, sitting down opposite Gu Yan. He entered the cardamom data into Gu Yan’s form, then created a blank canvas on his own smart device.

Gu Yan was roused awake by the vibrations of his smart device.

He projected a hologram to find two notifications.

“How long was I asleep?” He pinched the bridge of his nose to focus while tapping into the notifications. 

“Not too long, less than an hour.” Seated across from him, Yan Suizhi seemed to be drawing something with an electronic pen. “Who had the audacity to send you messages at this time? Disturbing people from their sleep.”

“A memo,” Gu Yan said, “reminding us to leave for the port in another half hour.”

He tapped into the other one, and this time his expression softened significantly. “And one from Joshua Dale, who said that the construction of classrooms at Cloud Herb Welfare Home had gone smoothly. He will be able to attend school again starting next month.”

Yan Suizhi smiled. “That’s good to hear.” 

Gu Yan nodded. As he minimised the chat, he saw Yan Suizhi set down the electronic pen.

“What were you writing?”

“Preparing a return gift for you,” said Yan Suizhi.

“A return gift?” 

Before Gu Yan could register his words, another notification popped onto the screen of his smart device.

You have received a new email.

He opened the email and saw himself, as sketched by Yan Suizhi…

For a fleeting moment, it was as though time suddenly cycled back to ten years ago. A sunny day as well, the same peace and quiet, and the same two people.  

He had fallen asleep with his chin propped on a hand, and was also abruptly startled awake by email notification.

Since then, a separate category had been added to his mailbox, housing a sketch where it would forever remain. Above it was an inane teasing remark, and under it was Yan Suizhi’s bold and elegant signature.

Once he had believed that this category, along with the email, would be lost in the vastness of time. A decade, a century… until the email account entered the proceedings for estate distribution. Maybe it would be transferred or cancelled, but it would not see new additions.

Never did he imagine that on such a similar afternoon, he would receive a second email. 

Likewise, the sketch had a handwritten sentence above it, but it didn’t carry the same inane note of teasing as before.

It read:

-To the mister secretly snoozing away, are you willing to enjoy this garden with me for a long while? The sort stamped and signed by the Civil Affairs Bureau.

Gu Yan gazed at that line of words, and it was a long while before he replied to that email: 

-How long is a long while?

Across from him, Yan Suizhi’s smart device buzzed. He laughed softly, but he didn’t speak.

A few seconds later, another email sprung onto Gu Yan’s screen.

-How long do you want it to be? 

Gu Yan replied:

-To the end of time.

Yan Suizhi lifted his head, saying with crinkled eyes, “Okay.”

✵ 

It is April 12, 1257 f.Emma; a lovely spring day on De Carma’s Fa Wang District, and Twin Day on Planet Redstone.

A minor constellation will flow around Planet Redstone for a week starting from today;

The Alliance Civil Affairs Bureau will open for sixty hours straight;

The First-Class Lawyer Association will hold a half-day summit. 

On this day, Honour Makers have prepared the latest batch of bespoke lawyers’ robes and gilded medallions.

On this day, the selection committee will announce to the alliance the official induction of Lawyer Gu Yan of Nan Lu Law Firm to the Wall of Honour.

At 2 p.m. sharp, the doors at the ground floor of the First-Class Lawyer Association building finally open. A group of people representing the topmost echelons of the alliance’s legal profession emerge one by one, making their way down the long flight of stairs.

A starry river spans the vault of the sky, and the most resplendent midday sun shines through clear glass, reflecting on the golden insignia at the top of the building. 

That insignia has hung over here for 157 years. Its very existence stands for this:

I am a First-Class Lawyer of the Alliance. By the supreme law of the Great Interstellar Era, I solemnly swear to defend all of your given rights.

In the light of truth eternal, justice shall endure evermore.