Chapter 10: It Seems You Need a Rather Rare Kind of Help |
October 4th.
The investigation into Wang Mei's child custody case was complete. It had been assigned to the Lüsen City Basic People's Court and would proceed under special procedures. By rough estimate, the hearing was set for approximately October 25th.
On that day, the Legal Aid attorney would let down the bun she'd worn coiled atop her head and retie it into a ponytail, steeling herself to handle the case with care.
News received from the court.
Li Youcai and Zhang Cui, husband and wife, were absolutely furious. They came charging to the police station in a frenzy — and happened to run directly into Wang Mei and Sun Hong, who had come to visit Wang Qiang.
The two immediately puffed themselves up with arrogance and began shrieking like market fishwives.
Inside the police station, Zhang Cui planted a fist on her hip, twisted her features into a scowl, and screamed:
"You ungrateful wretch! After everything my son did for you — this is how you repay him?!"
"Just you wait! Your bastard father killed my son, and I'll make sure he pays with his life!!"
Her slight figure stood there frozen, head bowed, as she let the woman jab a finger at her head and hurl abuse without end.
---
October 6th.
Zhang Cui and Li Youcai set out to find a lawyer to serve as their civil litigation representative in the custody dispute.
Through a referral from GG, the two were brought to a boutique law firm in Lüsen City. After learning the nature of the case, the firm had been prepared to take it on — but then, just as they reached the contract-signing stage...
"Money? Why the hell do we need to pay money?!"
Inside the reception room, Zhang Cui shot to her feet as though she'd heard the most incomprehensible thing imaginable, jabbing her finger at the lawyer with a shrill voice:
"That murdering bitch gets to go to court for free, but we have to pay?!"
"Where's the justice in that?!"
The lawyer was instantly at a complete loss.
Li Youcai, standing beside her, saw the situation and his eyes shifted. He spoke up:
"Tell you what — we can't read or write, so we won't sign any contract."
"You go ahead and handle the case like normal. Once it's over, we'll pay you."
The lawyer could only explain helplessly: "Without a contract, we can't appear in court. Not being able to write doesn't matter — you can stamp it with a thumbprint instead..."
Li Youcai's brow sank. He was deeply displeased.
He immediately dug a hundred yuan out of his pocket and tried to shove it at the lawyer.
"What, you think we're going to run off on you?!"
"This hundred is basically a deposit — you keep it. Once the case is done, we'll pay you everything!"
The lawyer's face went green at the sight of that crumpled hundred-yuan note.
After their argument went nowhere, the two erupted in indignant fury, cursed the law firm up and down six ways to Sunday, and stormed off in a huff.
---
October 9th.
The police concluded their investigation into the Wang Qiang case. It was transferred to the Procuratorate to handle from there.
At the same time, Wang Qiang was moved from the detention room to a detention center to await trial.
Going forward, the Procuratorate would bring the public prosecution. The case would be heard by the Lüsen City Intermediate People's Court.
It was safe to predict that in roughly thirty days, the Procuratorate would wrap up its review period and proceed to trial.
And based on the information currently available, Wang Qiang...
Would be sentenced to a minimum of ten years!
Upon hearing the news, Li Youcai and Zhang Cui nearly danced for joy, clapping their hands and cheering again and again.
---
October 17th.
Wang Qiang's application process was complete!
A few days later.
A staff member from the Legal Aid Organization arrived at the Jinmao Law Office, holding a Letter of Appointment in hand.
After discussions among the senior management, they discovered — this was actually a personal appointment letter, directed at a specific lawyer!
And the appointee was none other than a young, utterly obscure attorney at the firm by the name of Xu De!
Sun Hao, the Group Leader of Xu De's team, was promptly summoned. Once he understood the full story, his heart burst with delight.
A criminal case — and a major one at that!
If you botched a case like this, it would straight-up ruin your career for life.
"Sir, don't you worry — Xu-lǜ is the makings of a star attorney at our firm. You can absolutely trust him with something this important!"
Sun Hao suppressed the excitement churning inside him and launched into a pitch that was equal parts flattery and bluster.
A star in the making?
The senior manager believed it. He called Xu De in for an internal handover meeting.
And Xu De, who had spent over ten consecutive days with nothing to do whatsoever, received the notification in that very moment...
A faint, composed smile spread across his face.
---
---
[October 25th!]
The day of the first hearing in the custody dispute between Wang Mei and the Li Youcai couple!
Two o'clock in the afternoon.
Outside the Lüsen City Basic People's Court, as the proceedings drew to a close, a fierce shouting match erupted.
Wang Mei, her mother Sun Hong, and their attorney had just stepped out of the courthouse.
Before they'd taken two steps, voices came at them from all sides.
"You cheap slut! I gave you food and kept a roof over your head — what the hell else could you possibly want?! And now you have the nerve to try and take my grandson away!"
"You ungrateful whore — nothing good will come of my grandson ending up with you!"
"That's my grandson. What right do you have to take him?! Just you wait — Er-Niu's barely cold in the ground and you're already pulling this. His ghost won't rest till he gets you!"
"......"
Looking up.
Li Youcai had risen from where he'd been waiting at the roadside, jabbing his finger in Wang Mei and Sun Hong's faces and letting loose a torrent of abuse.
He had lost.
The judge had simply taken a brief look at the circumstances and the financial situations of both sides — hadn't even called a recess —
And ruled directly that custody of the child belonged to Wang Mei.
That outcome very nearly drove Li Youcai and Zhang Cui out of their minds. They had planted themselves outside the courthouse entrance to wait for them to come out.
"I..."
Wang Mei's lips trembled on that gaunt, skeletal face of hers, but she didn't dare say a word.
Sun Hong was seething, her mouth opening in soundless cries — ah, ah — but not a single word would come out, no matter how hard she tried.
"I'll tell you something — once you're part of our Li family, you're part of it for life!"
Li Youcai spat the words with vicious hatred. "Running won't do you a damn bit of good!"
Zhang Cui scrambled to her feet on the side.
She turned her gaze toward the female attorney standing beside Wang Mei.
Zhang Cui's eyes narrowed, and vicious words came pouring out of her mouth.
"And you, you heartless bitch — aren't you afraid of being struck by lightning? That you'll give birth to a son with no asshole?!"
"Dressed like that — makes me wonder how you really won this case, you little tramp..."
It had been this very attorney who had won the case for Wang Mei.
She had bright, clear eyes and a striking face with a certain spirited sharpness to it, dressed head-to-toe in a sleek black professional suit. She was quite beautiful.
The words had barely finished falling.
The female attorney let out a cold snort. Without the slightest trace of being cowed, she stepped forward and said flatly:
"Heh. Ms. Zhang."
"Do you have any idea what the consequences are for defaming a licensed attorney?"
"Based on what you just said, I am fully within my rights to bring a lawsuit against you and seek legal compensation for damage to my professional reputation."
Com... compensation?
Those two words landed — and Li Youcai jolted as if hit by an electric current. He grabbed Zhang Cui's arm and shot her a fierce glare.
Zhang Cui didn't dare say another word either, though she seethed with humiliated fury.
In the end she spun toward Wang Mei, eyes wide, and ground out a parting threat through clenched teeth.
"Think you're the only one who can hire a lawyer?! So can we!"
"You think you're going to take my grandson?!"
"Just you wait — your bastard father's still sitting in that detention center, isn't he. You watch whether I have him killed or not."
At those words.
Wang Mei froze in panic. The reason she had been swallowing her anger and enduring all along was precisely this.
It was true — she had been trafficked, and she was a victim.
But Wang Qiang had killed Li Er-Niu. And what was more, he had been the first to strike. Under the law, the maximum sentence for that was the death penalty.
The other party was the victim's next of kin. They were entirely within their rights to pursue accountability.
"No... please, no..."
Wang Mei's breathing came in rapid bursts, her mind gone blank.
"You worthless piece of trash — go sell yourself and buy your old man a decent coffin to lie in!"
Zhang Cui screamed the words at her.
The next second, she turned and stormed off with Li Youcai, making it abundantly clear they were going to find a lawyer.
Watching this unfold.
Wang Mei's legs gave out beneath her and she sank to the ground.
A long moment passed before she felt the tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Why is it like this... why..."
Her crumbling emotions came surging out like a dam giving way, inundating her mind all at once.
Wang Mei murmured to herself, her face streaked with tears. She had never felt such complete helplessness.
She had her child.
The child had been forced upon her — conceived against her will. But the child was still young, hadn't been corrupted, and would secretly bring her food. Would sneak her water to drink. Would find ways to quietly let her escape. And whenever he saw her being beaten, he would cry and wail.
She couldn't bring herself to give up her child...
But on the other side was her father, Wang Qiang...
Wang Qiang had spent ten years searching for her. A full ten years — from black hair to white, from a strong man in his prime to skin and bones. He had even been driven to kill!
Wang Mei stared blankly, eyes vacant, looking down at the ground.
The law could do nothing against Li Youcai and his wife. Wang Mei felt despair — nothing but despair.
"Ah... ah..."
Beside her, Sun Hong opened her mouth in a silent cry. That rough, weathered face of hers tried to squeeze out a smile, but couldn't manage it.
She turned to look at the female attorney beside her, gesturing with her hands, trying to communicate something.
"Haah."
The female attorney saw this and let out a long, heavy sigh — helpless despite the best of intentions:
"Normally speaking, behavior like Wang Qiang's could be classified as lawful defense. But... the crux is that he was the one who struck first."
"Struck first plus a fatality — there's a real chance it gets ruled as intentional homicide... at the very minimum, intentional assault is unavoidable."
"Unless... the victim's family provides a letter of understanding, and the testimony from others present at the scene tilts in Wang Qiang's favor. But that couple..."
She trailed off.
What would it take for Li Youcai to grant a letter of understanding?
Wang Mei would have to give up custody of the child. Wait on the two of them hand and foot, see them through to their dying days, and be a dog they could beat all they liked without ever leaving.
Of course, if Li Youcai and his wife were actually the buyers in the trafficking case, they could have been sent to prison without any of this headache.
But according to the investigation, the buyer had been Li Er-Niu — now dead. Li Youcai and his wife did not meet the threshold for a trafficking charge.
As for harboring, covering up, and accessory to purchase offenses... those would require a separate investigation and a separate case. Between the lawsuit and the investigation, even just the first hearing would take upward of a year — and in a year's time, Wang Qiang would already have been sentenced...
The female attorney didn't want to say any of this aloud. It all felt unbearably cruel.
None of the three spoke.
Sun Hong sat in silence, turning over the story of her life in her mind. She felt as though she were living in hell. Her nose burned, her heart clenched, and she quietly wiped at her tears — but the more she wiped, the more they came.
She was just an ordinary person. A person at the very bottom.
Back then she'd scraped by without enough food or proper clothes. She'd finally managed to build a decent life. Raised her child through hardship and bitterness. And then, just like that, the child was gone.
A thousand kilometers. A full thousand kilometers!
Step by step. The soles worn through on her shoes, her energy spent down to nothing, her hair gone white with the waiting.
She had finally, finally found her.
And now in the blink of an eye, her husband was about to be gone too...
"Ah... ah..."
Sun Hong reached out and stroked Wang Mei's hair, trying to stretch the corners of her mouth into something comforting.
The scene fell quiet. A thick, mournful silence settled over them like a weight.
And then, just at that moment.
As if through a haze.
A figure came to a stop in front of them, its shadow falling over the two women.
They instinctively looked up — and saw a man in a suit they vaguely recognized standing before them. Both of them went still.
Looking down at the two women in their plain, simple clothes before him.
Xu De, who had just arrived on the scene, came to a halt. He pushed up his glasses and offered a smile.
"It would seem..."
A calm, unhurried voice drifted to both their ears.
"...that you might need a rather rare kind of help."
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