First-Class Lawyer

During his many years of practice, he had come across all types of clients. It wasn’t his first time encountering uncooperative ones, but to come across two that rejected their lawyer back to back was really a patch of bad luck.

After sipping his water, he silently looked at his palm, huffily giving out a short laugh as he said in his head, ‘Not too bad, at least he didn’t ask after my eight generations of ancestors like the previous one had.’ 

A dozen light-years away in Wine City, the rebellious teen Joshua Dale sneezed.

“Are you trying to test how strong your body is by exposing your arms in the middle of winter?” His neighbour a few years older than him, Chester Bell, chided from the side. “You’ve caught a cold, haven’t you?”

“Nah, there must be someone talking bad about me behind my back.” Joshua furiously rubbed at the tip of its nose until it reddened, then used his knee to press down a metre-high cardboard box, binding it with twine. He impatiently cast Chester a sidelong look. “I’m helping out at this welfare institution because I owe them a favour. What are you blocking the space here for?”

Moreover, this guy just had to nag his ears off, chanting a jinx for three days about him soon about to catch a cold; even bees weren’t as annoying as him. 

Joshua rolled his eyes, habitually mumbling a curse, “Fuck your grandmo—”

Chester raised a finger to his rudolph-red nose, mock seriously reminding him, “I heard that, remember that you’re dragging down my old gran with that sentence!”

When it came to Joshua Dale, there were only two people who could counter him—his sister, and the elderly Mdm Bell.

The effect was instantaneous.

“…” Joshua grumbled and swallowed down the latter half of the sentence. He glared at Chester, soundlessly mouthed a few more words before finally restraining himself and tugging at the twine, getting back to work.

And now he wasn’t even allowed to swear; however was he going to pass his days?

“You could get beaten up half as many times this year if you just swore a little less.” Chester removed the contents from another cardboard box, flattening the now-empty box and piling the items aside.

Joshua, “Fuck off. Which other asshole fights with me apart from you?” 

“When have I not let you have your way recently?” Chester pushed the stack towards him. “Here. Move these into the glass cabinet too.”

It was a storeroom in a welfare institution that had been closed for a long time several years ago for some reason. Recently, the former director had returned with the intention to reopen the home and hired some extra hands to sort through the years of backlogged storage, moving them out of cardboard boxes into moisture and damage resistant glass cabinets, whilst recycling those cardboard boxes as they did.

Joshua Dale, who had received a little aid from the welfare institution when he was very young, volunteered to come and help out this time without monetary compensation.

He took the pile of clutter that Chester had brought out, sorting the paper files and other miscellaneous items into different glass cabinets. When he reached one of the files, he suddenly gave a “huh?” 

“What’s wrong?” Chester looked over.

“This photo…” Joshua pointed to an old photo tucked in the file. “Look at this guy, don’t you think he looks like that lawyer who had helped me out in court last time? The younger one?”

Chester tried to recall the name. “What’s he called?”

“Ruan Ye.” 

“Let me see.” Chester took the photo and looked at the flip side first.

There was a line printed on it—Enjoying afternoon tea in the camellia garden with the young and kind-hearted Mr Y. He came to sign a grant, and as always, was reluctant to leave a keepsake. Hal secretly took a photo for me. I hope Mr Y doesn’t mind.

Pc atf qtbab, qjif-mbibegfv mjwfiiljr kfgf lc oeii yibbw, jcv reciluta vjcmfv bc atf ygjcmtfr jcv ifjnfr. C sbecu wjc tjv tlr tfjv ibkfgfv jr tf tfiv eq atf mbooff meq lc ogbca bo tlw, iluta jcv rtjvbkr mjgnlcu atf mbcabegr bo tlr rlvf qgbolif; ogbw tlr obgftfjv ab tlr cbrf ab tlr pjk, fnfgs aegc ibbxfv wfalmeiberis rmeiqafv. Llr ujhf kjr rilutais vbkcmjrafv, jcv atf mbgcfgr bo tlr ilqr kfgf megnfv eqkjgvr lc j rwlif atja, fnfc lc gfqbrf, mjgglfv j rtjgq rqlgla ecldef ab sbeat.

Seated across from him was an elderly man with grey hair. He looked spry and benevolent. Unbeknownst to the young man, he was secretly giving a thumbs up to the camera. 

Chester looked at it for a while, then said, “Do you have face blindness? They might look a little similar from this angle, but they’re obviously not the same person.”

It was difficult to explain the difference to someone with face blindness; he ultimately picked the most obvious difference. “Look here, this guy has a mole at the corner of his eye. Erm… it might be a little small and hard to see clearly. Take a closer look. I recall that Lawyer Ruan doesn’t have a mole, right? Does he?”

Joshua, “…I don’t remember.”

With the conviction of a person with face blindness completely convinced that he was right, Joshua said, “How are they different! They look exactly the same!” 

Chester, “…” You’re a bit blind, I’m afraid.

But this was something he didn’t dare to say. He had a hard time smoothening his relationship with this stubborn boy; it wasn’t worth it to squabble over such a trivial thing.

Joshua bit the tip of his tongue in thought, saying to Chester, “Where’s your smart device?”

Chester silently pulled out a black metal strap. “I’ve told you many times already, this isn’t a smart device. It isn’t that fancy, just a very cheap communication device…” 

“Lend it to me,” Joshua said.

He took the device. Fiddling with it clumsily, he took a picture of the photo and sent it to someone.

Chester looked at that unfamiliar communication number and asked, “Who did you send it to?”

“The lawyer from before.” Joshua didn’t look up as he typed the message in word by word. “Lawyer Gu. I still owe him money, so I asked for his comms number. He is Ruan’s teacher I think. If I ask him to take a look, he’ll definitely recognise it.” 

Chester, “…You’re really taking this seriously.”

If this boy went to school, he would probably be the type that would bite his fingers, forcibly biting his way into understanding the textbook.

The way Joshua solemnly sat as he awaited a reply on the communication device perfectly aligned with the mental image in Chester’s brain. Not long later, the device buzzed.

“He replied! He replied!” Joshua was elated. He rarely used such things as communication devices, so this was a little bit of a novelty. “Lawyer Gu replied to me.” 

Chester rolled his eyes and gave a perfunctory response. “Yeahyeahyeah.”

Gu Yan’s reply was simple:

-Which file was this photo attached to?

Joshua didn’t know if the contents of the file could be casually shown to others, so he took a picture of the title of the document, as well as the tail end of the last page, sending it to Gu Yan. 

He murmured to himself while taking the pictures, reading aloud, “…Asset Grant Letter… Mr Y… April 15…”

After the pictures were sent over, he froze for a moment and took a closer look at the date documented at the end of the file, staring at the year and calculating. “Eh, that’s not right. This… This photo was taken twenty years ago?”

Although twenty years would blink by when put into perspective against life expectancy nowadays, there would still more or less be some changes in look and temperament.

“That Lawyer Ruan, I think he’s still an intern.” Joshua was a little confused. “How old are interns usually?” 

Chester said, “I don’t know. And there’s also a difference between those who graduated from university and post-grad. Hm… roughly 28 maybe? Then twenty years ago, he would have been…”

Joshua, “…8 years old.”

Chester, “…”

“Um… the guy in the photo looks young too, probably not even in his twenties.” 

But there was still a big difference between an adult and an 8-year-old.

Sure enough, the communication device in Joshua’s hand buzzed again. Gu Yan had replied again, two messages in total, both very succinct:

-Not him.

-Thank you. 

Holding the communication device, Joshua asked Chester with a bewildered look on his face. “He said thanks. What’s he thanking me for? Why can’t I get it?”

Chester, “Uh… being a good role model, I guess.”

Joshua, “???”

In the Redstone system, the smart-driving car that Gu Yan booked soundlessly pulled up by the side of the road. After sending the message, his gaze flickered down towards the photo on his screen. A cold night breeze lifted the hem of his coat and gently lowered it again. 

He only closed the image a while later.

A new communication request cut in, and the senior manager’s voice blared out, “Why aren’t you in your room?”

Gu Yan, “Why are you looking for me in the middle of the night?”

“I couldn’t sleep so I wanted to go through the material with you again. I think that as long as nothing crops up tomorrow, you should be good for this review.” The senior manager said, “So why aren’t you in your room in the middle of the night?” 

Gu Yan, “Buying coffee.”

The senior manager, “??? Who are you trying to kid? What type of coffee are you drinking at this late hour?”

Gu Yan didn’t answer. His attitude was very unyielding and very aloof, emanating a strong air of ‘whether you want to believe me or not is entirely up to you.’

The senior manager, “Alright, alright. Then where are you now? How long will you take to get back?” 

Gu Yan pulled the car door open. The smart driving system automatically asked, “Please indicate your destination.”

“Tianping Hotel,” Gu Yan said.

The senior manager, “You even have to book a taxi to buy coffee?”

Gu Yan’s brows pinched together. His expression was unsightly. His gaze scanned the area, finally landing on the stream of traffic coming in and out of the port; his exhale came out in pale mist before him, like he was sighing at himself in slight ridicule. “Mn.” 

The senior manager continued pestering, “What is that ‘mn’ supposed to mean? Don’t try and pull one over me, I’m not stupid. What exactly are you doing?”

Gu Yan fastened his seatbelt and closed the door, evenly replying, “Who knows.”

With that, he cut the line and leaned back against his seat, resting his eyes. The flares of light in the quiet night pulled into resplendent streaks outside the window…

The warden of the detention centre was quite good-tempered. Yan Suizhi sat in the visiting room, tapping his fingers on the edge of the table, lost in thought. The warden didn’t rush him, waiting by the door with an electric baton in a businesslike manner, ready to send the young lawyer out.

In fact, Yan Suizhi wasn’t actually lost in thought but was quietly contemplating. After going through his memories, he clicked open his photon computer, finding certain pages of Chen Zhang’s information and rereading them. He smiled at the warden, “Excuse me.”

“Yeah?” No one could put up a mean front against a polite and courteous person. The warden eased his expression as much as he could, asking, “Is there anything you need?”

“Can you relay a message to Chen Zhang for me?” 

“What is it?” the warden asked.

“Just tell him that his lawyer was a regular at Champagne from ‘31-‘47 and ask him if he knows an instructor by the name of Chen Wen.” Yan Suizhi’s fingers, tapping lightly against the table, paused. He raised his eyes with a smile. “Also, I’ll be waiting for him here at the same time tomorrow.”