Chapter 11: Social Death |
"It seems..."
"Like you might need a little help."
Xu De offered a gentle smile. Dressed in a slim-fitting black suit, his posture was perfectly straight.
The people in front of him listened to his soothing voice, momentarily falling into a daze.
The female lawyer looked at Xu De, completely stunned.
"Wang Mei, Miss Wang, I am the defense attorney handling Wang Qiang''s murder case."
"My name is Xu De. You can call me Lawyer Xu."
Xu De introduced himself.
"Your name is Xu De?"
"The model lawyer of the moral world?"
Hearing the commotion, Xu De turned his head, only to see a beautiful female lawyer... who looked somewhat familiar.
Seeing him frown, the female lawyer immediately reached up with both hands, twisted her hair into a bun, and stared at him with wide eyes.
Xu De''s brow relaxed, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.
Wasn''t this the ''fellow enthusiast'' he met back when he was feeding the stray child?
Seeing that he recognized her, a warm smile bloomed on Lin Yue''s face, but almost instantly, the smile froze.
Xu De suddenly exclaimed in astonishment, "Are you the Nine Heavens Flying Dragon Jade-Faced Thunder Prime Universal Transformation Living Beings Demon Subduer Longevity True Monarch?"
Lin Yue was speechless.
Almost instantly!
A faint blush crept up Lin Yue''s fair, slender neck, rapidly growing scorching hot as it spread all the way to the roots of her ears, turning her earlobes a blood-red hue.
Her heart skipped a beat, but she forced herself to appear calm and said, "This is a courthouse, how about we..."
"Take this somewhere else?"
Xu De chuckled and didn''t continue teasing her.
Right now, business was more important. As for how to resolve the matter at hand... he already had a plan.
"Alright."
......
......
Meanwhile.
In Greenwood City, at a firm named Yangteng Law Firm.
Inside the reception room.
Li Youcai and Liu Cui sat on chairs, dry-howling while wiping away nonexistent tears.
"Lawyer Chen, you have to help me!"
The lawyer sitting across from her was named Chen Wei. At this moment, she was making a tearful complaint to him.
"My son was only in his thirties. He was just a child! He can''t just die in vain like this!"
Li Youcai stood beside her, saying nothing, merely using a pair of shifty eyes to constantly size up Chen Wei.
The lawyer in front of them was in his thirties.
He had a thin frame, hollowed cheeks lacking any flesh, and prominent cheekbones. His appearance made people feel uncomfortable.
"Don''t worry, the contract is signed. Our firm will definitely put the client''s interests first!"
Chen Wei put away the contract, responding with a wide, beaming smile.
Hearing this, Li Youcai and his wife finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Li Erniu''s case had been accepted.
Chen Wei would participate in the court hearings as the victim''s legal representative, fighting for Li Youcai''s interests.
This was the fourth law firm Li Youcai and Liu Cui had approached.
The previous three had all turned them down with various excuses. As for the reason... Chen Wei knew perfectly well. It was clearly because the case was too ''dirty''!
Exactly.
Representing the family of a human trafficker in a kidnapping and trafficking case to persecute the victim... A vast majority of lawyers found it hard to accept. They simply couldn''t cross that hurdle in their own hearts.
Not to mention Li Erniu''s specific case...
But Chen Wei was different!
To him, whether Wang Qiang lived or died didn''t matter.
He only cared about money and win rates!
A criminal case delivered right to his doorstep with a hundred percent guaranteed win—why on earth would he let that go?
As for whether Wang Qiang deserved to die... that had nothing to do with Chen Wei. Even if his actions truly led to the man getting a death sentence, it didn''t matter.
After all, he wasn''t the one dying.
As for their demands...
"Your demand is to fight for the custody of your grandson, correct?"
Chen Wei grinned, his already small eyes narrowing into thin slits.
"Yes! We absolutely cannot let that ungrateful wretch snatch him away!" Liu Cui nodded furiously like a chicken pecking at rice.
She had two demands. First, for Wang Qiang to die, and second, to force Wang Mei to concede and hand over custody to them.
If the second goal could be achieved, she was willing to sacrifice the first point.
"No problem."
Chen Wei nodded, agreeing directly.
In his view, this case had a massive amount of room to maneuver. He just needed to use Wang Qiang to threaten Wang Mei, and she would naturally surrender without a fight.
What?
As for whether it was too cruel for Wang Mei—who had been trafficked and imprisoned for ten years—to not even be able to keep her own child...
If acting like this brought in money and increased his win rate, then Chen Wei would gladly take on a massive pile of cases just like this one with total peace of mind!
"Does the defendant currently have a defense attorney?"
Chen Wei asked.
Liu Cui nodded, her eyes dark and gloomy, and muttered in a vicious tone, "Yes!"
"Who knows which heartless bastard is bullying us two old folks..."
Chen Wei said, "When did they take the case?"
"Yesterday, I found out when I went to the police station," Liu Cui said.
Yesterday, huh...
Wang Qiang''s family members were Wang Mei and Sun Hong. The defense attorney would most likely need to contact these two, and Wang Mei had just finished her custody battle not long ago... Calculating the time, Wang Mei should have gone to the police station to prepare for Wang Qiang''s case.
''The defense attorney must be at the police station making contact with them right now!'' Chen Wei thought to himself.
From a lawyer''s perspective, the opponent''s chances of winning were incredibly slim, and he believed the defense attorney knew this as well.
So right now was the perfect time for him to go and have a little chat with them!
Or rather...
To kick them while they were down!
A sharp gleam flashed in Chen Wei''s eyes. He stood up immediately, packed his things, and headed towards the door.
"I''m going to go have a talk with him."
......
......
At three-thirty in the afternoon.
Inside the lobby of the Greenwood City Police Station.
Wang Mei and Sun Hong had gone to find the relevant police officers to hand over the court''s verdict.
Meanwhile, Xu De and Lin Yue.
Were sitting next to each other on the public benches in the lobby, staring at each other in total silence.
After a long while, Xu De suddenly spoke up, clicking his tongue in wonder as he looked her up and down.
"Tsk, I didn''t expect the True Monarch to have quite so many identities. Aside from the Longevity True Monarch, you''re secretly a Daoist of the law too."
"That''s quite a surprise."
Hearing this, Lin Yue''s face turned red at a visible speed, the flush climbing all the way from her neck to the roots of her ears, yet she forced herself to remain calm and continued to speak.
"My father is a university law professor. In recent years, his mental state has been a bit erratic... so to find some peace and quiet, he moved into a Daoist temple."
"So I also live at the Daoist temple... At most, I just recite some scriptures and cultivate my mind on regular days. I haven''t become a nun!"
So that was it.
Xu De understood. Law was a rather extreme field.
The depression rate among top experts in this field was quite high, so it wasn''t uncommon for them to become monks, Daoists, or even follow foreign religions.
"So, does the True Monarch consider this coming down the mountain to eliminate demons and defend the Dao?"
Xu De teased her with a laugh.
"I''m just taking on a few cases, and also..."
Lin Yue simply couldn''t take it anymore.
She lowered her head, extending her slender, pale hands to cover her burning face, which ironically left her bright red earlobes exposed. Her voice, laced with shame, filtered through her fingers and reached Xu De''s ears.
"I didn''t become a nun."
"That whole Daoist title thing was just me joking around. I was wrong, I''m sorry..."
Xu De nodded, expressing his understanding.
"Alright, Daoist of the law, I understand, Daoist of the law."
Lin Yue was utterly speechless.
Lin Yue felt despair; she felt like a little piece of her had died... a social death.
She had merely spouted off the title ''Nine Heavens Flying Dragon Jade-Faced Thunder Prime Universal Transformation Living Beings Demon Subduer Longevity True Monarch'' on a whim...
She swore she had completely forgotten about it the moment she said it. It was such a long string of words, she couldn''t even remember it herself.
So how could it be that after more than twenty days...
He still remembered it so clearly!?
And he even tacked on a Daoist of the law...
"Forget it, let''s talk business first."
Lin Yue took a deep breath, suppressing her inner emotions, and pretended she didn''t care. She looked at Xu De with a serious expression, although her face was still flushed.
"Wang Qiang''s case..."
"Are you confident?"
Comments 3