November 10.
Seven in the morning.
Green Parasol Province, Greenwood City.
Torch Street shopping district, Jinmao Law Firm.
Xu De stepped out of the law firm's front entrance, crossed the road, and headed straight for the breakfast stall opposite.
The stall sold congee.
A few tables stood scattered along the street, with disposable chopsticks and napkins laid out on them. Beside two steamers billowing white vapor, the vendor worked so frantically that sweat beaded on his forehead as he served his customers.
Breakfast covered one of the tables, where several people sat sharing it.
They were Lin Yue and Wang Chao, who had rushed over from Li Family Village without a wink of sleep, along with Wang Mei and her son.
Tap, tap, tap...
Xu De strode through the morning light and dropped into an empty seat. With a flick of his wrist, a thick envelope landed in front of Wang Chao with a smack.
"As agreed, this is your pay."
"Oh?"
Wang Chao had been picking listlessly at his food. At those words, his eyebrows shot up.
He put down his flatbread, picked up the envelope, opened it, and peered inside.
Ten crisp hundred-yuan bills stared back at him!
"Well, would you look at that!"
His eyebrows danced. Forgetting his breakfast, he counted the money with a delighted grin.
There were only ten bills, but he counted them over and over, enjoying every pass.
Xu De looked away and went over to the vendor. After hesitating over the array of food, he took only some cheap pickles and a bowl of plain congee.
Then he sat down and ate in silence.
Lin Yue noticed.
Her gaze flicked to the meager food in Xu De's bowl. After a moment's hesitation, she picked up two golden, glistening meat patties with her chopsticks, placed them on a bamboo plate the vendor had provided, and pushed it toward him.
Xu De paused and looked up.
"Thank you for last night. Breakfast is on me."
Lin Yue turned her head aside.
"Otherwise... I definitely couldn't have handled this civil lawsuit."
Without Xu De, even if she had won custody in the Civil Lawsuit, she would not have been able to keep the child. True, it would not have left a stain on her record...
But she had not taken the case just to polish her résumé!
"Sure. We helped each other," Xu De said casually. He had needed her position to give his involvement a little more legitimacy, so neither of them owed the other anything.
Lin Yue paid no mind to that. Instead, she asked,
"Last night... did you give Li Li money?"
Xu De paused, then smiled without denying it. "When a road is blocked, money can open it."
"How much?" Lin Yue asked.
"Three thousand four hundred."
He had not had much money to begin with. Even including what the firm had paid him yesterday, he had only had 5,300 yuan.
Last night, he had dug deep into his own pocket for that 3,400 yuan. After paying Wang Chao as well, he had less than a thousand left—and still had rent, utilities, and other expenses to cover.
If the firm had not paid him yesterday, he could not even have settled Wang Chao's fee!
Money was tight. Embarrassingly tight.
But he was used to it. Back when he was studying, he had not even dared eat a moldy steamed bun. Now he could take big bites of buns and pickles.
Still.
Lin Yue fell silent for a moment. Then she brought her knees together, took a wallet from her bag, and searched inside.
In the end, she took out all the cash she had and handed it to Xu De.
"When all's said and done, this case affects me most... There's no reason you should pay for it."
"I don't have much cash on me. Just seventeen hundred."
With that, Lin Yue paused and turned to Wang Chao beside her.
"Heh, heh, heh..."
Wang Chao was still happily counting the money in his hands.
A thousand yuan. A whole thousand!
Those lousy law firms had all turned him away, saying his professional skills were poor. But he was Wang Chao! Hadn't he just earned a thousand yuan by climbing a wall and picking a lock?
It paid better than taking consulting jobs, with none of the aggravation!
Just as he was enjoying another count...
A hand swooped down and snatched away the entire thousand yuan.
Wang Chao froze. Staring at his empty hands, he looked stunned.
"Hey!!!"
Someone dared rob him in broad daylight!
Unfortunately, when he looked up, he met Lin Yue's eyes.
"You borrowed three thousand yuan from me two months ago," she said. "It's time you paid me back. You don't need this thousand right now, so I'm taking it. You still owe me two thousand."
"Hey!"
Shock spread across Wang Chao's face.
He stared at his hands in disbelief, then looked up at the envelope in Xu De's hand. He had not even had time to warm it in his palm.
Wang Chao sank into thought.
Who had made money here? And who had lost it!?
At last, a flash of irritation crossed his face. He reached out and snatched the envelope back.
"You..."
Lin Yue was about to frown. He did not urgently need the money, and he really did owe her.
But the next second...
Rustle!
Wang Chao pulled out the ten bills and stuffed them back into Xu De's hand. Keeping only the empty envelope, which smelled faintly of wood, he held his head high and insisted,
"I owe you money, not an envelope! This envelope is mine by rights!"
Xu De stared at him, speechless. For once, his calm, quick mind stalled. After a long moment, he said,
"You've got principles!"
He did not give the money back.
He genuinely needed it. Without it, he would have to stay at Jinmao Law Firm after this case and work until he had saved enough to leave.
"Thank you, Lord of Wealth," he said.
The corners of Lin Yue's mouth lifted, and she raised her chin slightly. Then she caught herself and quickly put on a serious face.
"I'm not a lord!"
"Right, right. Lord of Longevity is absolutely right." Xu De nodded.
Lin Yue was about to say more when an argument broke out nearby.
"What? Court adjourned? They didn't even deliver a verdict on the spot!?"
She paused.
She and Xu De instinctively turned toward the tables beside them.
There,
several passersby who had been reading the morning paper over breakfast were staring at it in a daze. Then disbelief spread across their faces.
The people beside them leaned in, curious.
"What didn't get a verdict?"
At that, the reader came back to himself. Forgetting his food, he burst out laughing and pointed at the paper.
"The trafficking case in Li Family Village!"
"Come look! The morning paper says the hearing was yesterday! They didn't sentence the defendant, and every piece of the prosecution's evidence has to be reinvestigated!"
All the prosecution's evidence had been rejected?
How... how had they managed that!?
"Let me see! A couple of days ago, I thought that case was hopeless!"
"How'd they do it?"
"Did the Presiding Judge think the defendant was innocent and personally favor his side?"
"Bullshit! It says right here that some defense lawyer came out of nowhere and argued the prosecutor and the plaintiff's lawyer into silence!"
"What? He even left the prosecutor speechless? Let me see!"
At that, everyone else put down their bowls and crowded around the man with the paper.
Seven or eight people, strangers and acquaintances alike, packed together so tightly they could barely move.
"Look. It's right here in the headline."
The man who had bought the paper excitedly pointed to a headline and read aloud:
"[Shocking Turnaround! In the Li Family Village Case, a Defense Lawyer Debates the Entire First Courtroom at Greenwood City Intermediate Court for Three Hours! All Prosecution Evidence Rejected! Lawyer Personally Mounts a Not-Guilty Defense!]"
"[An Astonishing Approach to the Case! Not One of the Forty-Plus People at the Scene Can Prove the Defendant Killed Anyone!]"
"[Three Hours Against the Court! Who Is This Young Defense Lawyer? According to Sources...]"
"[A Stunning Reversal! One Man Overwhelms an Entire Courtroom! Where Did the Lawyer Who Turned the Defense Into His Personal Stage Come From!?]"
"[...]"
Headline after headline, article after article.
The readers' eyes widened, their breathing quickening. By the time they reached the end...
"One man took on the whole courtroom!?"
Someone stared in disbelief.
"Wait. The Li Family Village case... there's hope!?"
Now everyone understood.
If the prosecutor had been outargued, did that not mean his charges had been picked full of holes?
Without a case against him, Wang Qiang would surely be acquitted!
In other words...
"Hot damn!"
A rough-looking man dressed like a construction worker spoke, his face red with excitement.
"A Not-Guilty Defense, and he even hammered the prosecution... That lawyer's got guts!"
He could not read, but hearing it was enough to set his blood racing as he pictured the scene.
While everyone else had been wary of taking the case, someone had stepped up. Not only had he taken it, he had dared to argue for an acquittal.
What did it mean to turn the tide?
This was what it meant!
"Xu De? Never heard of him. Which firm is he with?"
"No idea... But after today, that lawyer's going to be famous. With a case like this, how could he not be?"
"Man, not just anyone could pull that off..."
"..."
And it was not just the breakfast stall.
Government offices, markets, buses, intersections...
Wherever people gathered around a newspaper, jaws dropped. They called the hearing brilliant, their blood stirring and their spirits soaring.
At that moment,
though the case had not yet been won,
the name Xu De had already become known across Greenwood City!
Back at the breakfast stall,
"Huh."
Lin Yue looked away from the excited crowd at the next table and turned back to Xu De, who sat quietly eating beside them as though none of it concerned him.
The people reading the paper had no idea the man they were discussing was right there.
He was eating breakfast at a street stall just behind them.
"Well, Lawyer Xu? Any words for your adoring public?" Lin Yue asked, smiling despite herself.
Xu De smiled, but did not seem particularly moved. Seeing that everyone had finished eating, he wiped his mouth and said,
"Let's go."
"Time to head to court and give the prosecutor something to do!"
With that,
Xu De stood and led the way.
Watching his back,
Lin Yue shook her head with a quiet laugh, put on her coat, and followed with the others.
Once they had hailed a taxi and climbed in...
By the roadside,
someone suddenly stopped in his tracks.
"Hey! What a coincidence, Lawyer Xu. You're late too—"
Cashier Li was running late for work when she spotted Xu De by the roadside. She smiled and started to greet him, but before she could finish, he climbed into a taxi and vanished from sight.
The rest of her greeting stuck in her throat.
She was the accountant and cashier at Jinmao Law Firm. She had handled Zhang Hu's payment for the divorce case, and she and Xu De got along well enough.
"Why was he in such a hurry?"
She watched him leave, puzzled. Just then...
"A hero at such a young age! What a hero!"
"I swear those veteran star lawyers in Greenwood City have wasted their lives. They can't hold a candle to this young lawyer, Xu De!"
Xu... Xu De?
What had happened to Xu De?
Cashier Li stopped in her tracks.
Curious, she glanced at the passersby clustered around a newspaper, exclaiming over it.
She craned her neck to see what was on the page. One look was all it took...
In an instant,
shock swept over Cashier Li's face, and her thoughts went into turmoil.
"The indictment was... rejected!?"
She knew exactly what kind of case Xu De had taken on.
Calling that case hellishly difficult would have been an understatement!
Forget a new lawyer—even a star lawyer would have struggled to argue it in court.
But from the glimpse she had caught, why did it say the prosecution had been driven back at every turn!?
And what did it mean by the defense seizing the momentum!?
Unfortunately, she had only caught a glimpse before someone blocked her view. By now, she could barely contain herself.
"The newspaper rack. Right, there's one at the firm!"
An idea flashed through her mind.
The firm had a shared newspaper rack and subscribed to both morning and evening papers. That issue had to be there!
At the thought,
she stopped wasting time.
Her mounting impatience sent her running across the road toward Jinmao Law Firm.
Bang!
Cashier Li shoved open the firm's glass doors so hard that the noise drew the attention of her coworkers in the lobby, who had only just arrived and were still lounging at their desks.
They turned to find her standing by the newspaper rack, reading a paper with shock written all over her face.
"Well, did Cashier Li buy a lottery ticket? She's in such a rush to read the paper—did her numbers come up?"
Someone sprawled in a chair and teased her.
"It's not me. It's Xu De."
Cashier Li answered without looking up from the paper.
"What happened to Lawyer Xu?"
The people in the lobby were still joking, though one of them thought for a moment and asked:
"Did something go wrong with his case?"
"Honestly, that would be no surprise. I heard Hu Guang led the prosecution. I once saw him in court when I was representing a plaintiff, and even I was scared to look at him. He has a presence no ordinary prosecutor can match, never mind what it must be like to face him as a defendant. Losing would be perfectly normal."
"Exactly. Even the director, who's always backed Lawyer Xu, never thought he could win."
"Lawyer Xu is young and well educated. Given time, becoming a star lawyer is only a matter of when. But he still has a long road ahead of him. Cases like this are stepping stones."
"..."
Cashier Li listened to them.
She pulled her head up from the newspaper.
Her face flushed as she looked at her coworkers talking so confidently. She opened her mouth, closed it, then tried again, unable to find the words.
Xu De still had a long road ahead of him?
Losing to Hu Guang, whom even star lawyers considered a formidable opponent, would be perfectly normal?
That was true.
The problem was...
Why did the newspaper say that a lawyer fresh out of the starting village had overwhelmingly defeated Hu Guang, the prosecutor who might as well have been the game's final boss?
Surely this was some kind of tall tale!?
Cashier Li looked around the firm's lobby.
With chatter filling her ears and her face growing hotter by the second, she finally drew a deep breath and cried out:
"This is insane... The court's gone insane!"
"Come read the morning paper!!!"
Before you continue