He definitely had a plan!

An extortion case... three million!?

Li Xiang abruptly looked up at Wu Kang in astonishment, then began to understand.

Li Erniu was dead. Li Youcai and Liu Cui certainly wouldn't let things go; they were itching to squeeze a hefty sum out of Li Xiang.

Assigning him a case like this now... was a way to get him out of the line of fire.

He might even earn a major commendation in the process!

But...

"Zhang Hu?"

Li Xiang suddenly looked a little odd. He rubbed his chin.

"The one whose wife is called Bai Jie, who reported her affair to the police not long ago?"

"Wasn't he getting ready to go to court for a divorce?"

"Why has he suddenly reported that her lover extorted three million from him!?"

Li Xiang felt something was off.

The sheer contrast was jarring. After all, infidelity was a moral issue, and there was nothing the police could do about it.

Extortion, however, was a different matter.

Especially a completed extortion offense involving three million!

But... the man was already getting divorced, and his wife's lover had still managed to extort three million from him? Was this a joke!?

"Who knows?"

Wu Kang shook his head and handed over the case information.

"But the complainant is in the station lobby right now."

"Go verify the details, then arrest the suspect."

At that,

although Li Xiang still couldn't make sense of it, he accepted the assignment.

"I'll get on it, then."

Wu Kang nodded and waved him off. "Go ahead."

Seeing this, Li Xiang turned and headed toward the lobby. Before long, he disappeared from Wu Kang's sight.

Wu Kang composed himself, turned to look at Wang Qiang's slight figure in the holding room, and let out a deep sigh.

"Tsk."

"People..."

In the police station lobby.

The victim of the extortion case was none other than Zhang Hu, the cuckolded client who had previously consulted Xu De!

He was sitting on a public bench, muttering curses.

"That son of a bitch. Attorney Xu really called it..."

Despite his words, there was no sadness on his face. Instead, he was intensely excited.

"Three million..."

"I dared to give it, and you actually dared to take it!"

At the thought, Zhang Hu smiled. It had been a long time since he'd smiled with such relief!

After going home, he had tried out Xu De's method and discovered... that bastard really did dare to take his money, millions at a time!

Having been "enlightened" by Xu De, Zhang Hu wasn't about to miss this opportunity. He immediately transferred the money, preserved the evidence, and reported it to the police!

Whenever he thought about what would happen next...

Zhang Hu couldn't suppress the smile tugging at his lips.

Only when a voice sounded beside him did he snap out of his reverie.

"You're Zhang Hu?"

Li Xiang had reached the lobby and was looking at Zhang Hu with an odd expression.

According to Wu Kang, this man was indeed the victim, but... why was a victim smiling so happily?

"Yes, that's me."

Zhang Hu composed his expression, realizing that this was the officer handling his case.

He then brought out all the evidence he had prepared in advance.

"Officer, look. This is the call that bastard made to me last night."

"And these are the extortion texts. He sent all of them."

Zhang Hu handed the printed sheets to Li Xiang.

Li Xiang took them and read through them, then his expression grew a little strange.

The texts were straightforward: the other man had threatened him with a video and demanded money, so Zhang Hu had paid. But the problem was...

"You knew he was the other man, and that your wife had willingly cheated on you, yet you still paid him!?" Li Xiang asked in surprise.

Zhang Hu's expression shifted as Xu De's words came back to him, and he immediately replied:

"Well, I was pretty scared at the time. Besides, even though my wife cheated... I still love her."

"Naturally, I didn't want that bastard spreading the video around, so..."

"The things he said then... I was scared! Terrified! Heartbroken! Horrified!"

"I had no choice. I was forced to transfer the money to him."

Li Xiang: ?

"And now?"

Zhang Hu said, "Oh, now I've come to my senses and realized I was duped. He was extorting me."

Did you really only just realize that...?

Li Xiang looked him up and down suspiciously, hesitating to speak. After a moment, he slowly asked:

"Did you... get a lawyer to put this evidence together?"

He looked down at the documents in his hands.

The evidence was internally consistent, with a complete chain covering everything from the offender initiating contact to Zhang Hu transferring the money. Anyone with a discerning eye could tell it was a professional's work.

At that thought, Li Xiang suddenly paused.

If Wang Qiang had evidence like this too... perhaps he could get a much lighter sentence.

"Officer, are you... looking for a lawyer?"

Zhang Hu asked tentatively.

He was perceptive enough to pick up on what the officer was really feeling.

"Hm?"

Li Xiang came back to his senses and shook his head.

"It's nothing. There's just a case I'd really like a reliable lawyer to take."

Zhang Hu immediately perked up and hurriedly said:

"Would you like me to recommend someone? I'm telling you, Greenwood City happens to have an exceptionally capable lawyer tucked away in it!"

Li Xiang was momentarily speechless, then shook his head.

"No need. The client has his own ideas."

"In a couple of days, the Lawyers Association will be going to the Jinmao Law Firm..."

The Jinmao Law Firm?

Hearing that familiar name, Zhang Hu froze. Then his eyes lit up and his eyebrows rose.

"Are they going to see a young lawyer?"

Li Xiang blinked.

Seeing his reaction, Zhang Hu continued:

"Is his surname Xu? Xu De!?"

Li Xiang looked surprised and sized the man up.

"How did you know?"

Zhang Hu drew a sharp breath, looking somewhat astonished.

"What a coincidence! It really is Attorney Xu!"

He'd only been testing the waters. Who would have thought it really was him...

At that thought, Zhang Hu adopted the air of someone who'd been through it all and said with a smile:

"Haha, then there's nothing to worry about, officer. If Attorney Xu is willing to take it... I won't say he'll win the case... but he'll definitely get a satisfactory result!"

As he spoke, he smiled.

Li Xiang, however, looked puzzled. Thinking back to Xu De, he asked:

"What did that lawyer do to make you think so highly of him...?"

Zhang Hu said nothing, but his smile only broadened.

What had he done?

Xu De had told him to cut his own salary! To have his father charge him rent! And to "love his wife"!

Today, he had even arranged for him to put that bastard behind bars.

This lawyer... really did give you a plan when he had one!

Honestly, if it had been allowed, Zhang Hu would have knelt and kowtowed to Xu De.

As for whether he could devise some cunning strategy for a criminal case... Zhang Hu didn't know.

But he chose to trust him blindly!

"Officer, don't worry about that. Anyway..."

Zhang Hu smiled. "Attorney Xu definitely has a plan!"

Li Xiang felt increasingly bewildered.

He looked Zhang Hu up and down, then finally shook his head.

"Let's hope so."

"All right... you've been extorted out of three million, and your wife cheated on you, yet you don't seem worried at all."

Looking at the man before him, Li Xiang didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He then put the evidence away.

"Let's arrest the suspect and get on with the case."

With that, Li Xiang led a group of officers outside.

Before long, they brought back a man with effeminate features and a face full of astonishment.

The lover hadn't run after receiving the money. No matter how hard he thought about it, he couldn't understand why Zhang Hu, who had been scared out of his wits last night, had decisively called the police that morning...

Watching this, Zhang Hu smiled with utter satisfaction, to the point of being...

Shamelessly gleeful!

As for Li Xiang,

after making the arrest, he turned toward where Wang Qiang was being held and sighed.

"Ah."

In this world...

Even good people could find themselves staring down a gun.