First-Class Lawyer

>Then, he noticed a skinny figure standing by the wall with his hands in his pockets, his head lowered as he kicked at the gravel beneath his feet, acting nonchalant as he glanced over.

It was none other than Chester Bell, the grandnephew of Kitty Bell, the little imp who had gifted Yan Suizhi this leg.

Joshua’s body visibly tensed at the sight of Chester, conflicting emotions flickering across his face.

He looked like he wanted to give Chester a kick, whilst wanting to drag him away and explain that ‘I wasn’t the one who did it’, whilst also wanting to ask him ‘how is Granny Bell doing’. 

In the end, he said nothing and stood there as he had, confronting Chester from a few paces away.

The air between them was thick with knives for a fleeting moment.
Then Chester, who was a few years older, scratched his head and walked over to Joshua, as if in resignation.
He hemmed and hawed for a long time before squeezing out a sentence.
“I’m sorry.”

With this, he turned tail as if his ass was on fire.

Not more than two steps later, something occurred to him and he turned back again, facing them.
He awkwardly scratched his head.
After hesitating for a long time, he squeezed out another word to Yan Suizhi.
“Sorry.” 

The way he pulled those words from between his teeth made it seem like it killed him to say that.

Between laughter and tears, Yan Suizhi thought to himself, whether it was the fourteen-year-old or the seventeen-year-old, these rebellious kids were birds of a feather.

 

The sole message behind Chester’s apology to Yan Suizhi was easy to understand; it was an apology for the water he flung at them.
But the apology he gave to Joshua was much more complex…

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I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have flung water at you and hurt you. 

I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have misunderstood you.

I’m sorry for choosing not to believe you.

Joshua Dale was fine before hearing the apology, but once he heard the words ‘I’m sorry’, great upset belatedly began to well in him.
The grievance he felt from being wronged could no longer be suppressed by his being acquitted by the law.

He clenched his fists.
He glared at Chester obstinately, but the rims of his eyes had instantly reddened.
Yet, he still ground his molars, keeping his expression in check. 

“Eh? Don’t…“ Chester was taken aback and slightly panicked, could only repeat in the end, “I’m sorry.”

Joshua gritted his teeth, gesturing at the main road and telling Chester, “Fuck off.”

With that, he stalked off into the taxi that Gu Yan stopped.

Yan Suizhi shrugged and didn’t say anything else.
He casually waved a hand at Chester and got into the taxi too. 

Gu Yan sat in the front passenger’s seat.
Soon, the taxi started up and slowly got on the road.
Chester gradually turned into a small black dot by the side of the road, but he never moved from where he stood.

Joshua had pulled his jacket hood over his face when he got on the taxi, pulling the hood down to the tip of his nose and huddling in the back seat with his arms crossed over his chest.

Yan Suizhi glanced at him.
He commented, “Nice momentum just now, only your ‘fuck off’ was too emotional; your voice cracked slightly.”

And then, Joshua finally broke into angry tears. 

Gu Yan, “…”

 

They concluded their business here in Wine City.
Regarding Kitty Bell’s case, how the investigation proceeds would be up to the police; the information from those video footage that he and Yan Suizhi found could probably open a new trail for them to chase down, and they didn’t have to rush to arrest someone to turn in the case.

Gu Yan had other matters on hand too and could not stay here for too long. 

He and Yan Suizhi boarded a space shuttle back to De Carma the next day.
Joshua and Rosie got up early to see them off.

Although the little girl had not known them for long, she liked them very much and seemed particularly downtrodden when saying goodbye.
Her dark eyes stared at them, fingers clutching at the corner of Yan Suizhi’s coat, reluctant to let go.

 

Yan Suizhi coaxed and wheedled Rosie for more than half an hour before she finally did.

After getting past customs, they looked back and saw Joshua was holding on to Rosie’s hand in a corner as he sent them off with his eyes.
From afar, he appeared especially skinny, and wasn’t that tall either.
It was at times like this that it struck people how he was, in fact, only fourteen years old; that he was just a kid. 

Once they got to their seats in the space shuttle, Yan Suizhi asked the steward for a cup of coffee.
It reached his hand and was only just brought up to his lips—when another hand cut him off.

“What are you doing?”

Gu Yan’s face was unmoved.
He told the baffled steward, “Excuse me, please give him a glass of milk.”

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Yan Suizhi, “…” 

I can’t survive this day anymore.

However, the medicine box for his leg injury was placed right before him, and the precautions were written in big, bold script: avoid smoking, alcohol, coffee and spicy food.

Two minutes later, Yan Suizhi drank the milk that the steward brought over, heaving a long sigh in his mind.
From what he remembered, Gu Yan very seldom stuck his hands into another’s business or intervened in another’s decisions.
Naturally, if someone made a request to Gu Yan, he would readily help them.
But either way, he wouldn’t proactively interfere with what others thought or did.

Holding his milk, Yan Suizhi was deeply sorry. 

How great was that personality from back then, why had he changed after taking in an intern…

But after swapping his coffee for milk, Gu Yan stopped managing him, putting on his earpiece and resting his eyes; what the eyes don’t see, the heart doesn’t grieve over.

“Oh, by the way.
Before we went through customs earlier, what had Joshua pulled you off so furtively for? I heard him asking for your comms number?” Yan Suizhi suddenly thought of this and asked curiously.

Without even opening his eyes, Gu Yan knocked the finger with his smart device against the table.
A hologram popped out of the smart device in response, showing an electronic slip on the interface. 

“An IOU?” Yan Suizhi read the words on the top of the interface.

That was an IOU that Joshua had insisted on signing.
He earnestly counted his monthly wage, planning to return Gu Yan the hospital fees and the hotel bill in installments.
The signature beneath was chicken scratch, imbued with a smidge of childishness.

Yan Suizhi’s eyebrows raised.
“He actually got the calculations right, not bad.”

Gu Yan knocked his finger again.
The hologram disappeared.
He continued to rest his eyes. 

The ambience on the space shuttle was so purposefully adjusted for people to catch up on sleep that even Yan Suizhi began to feel slightly drowsy.
Before closing his eyes, he suddenly recalled that he had been too busy in the day to check his smart device for any new notifications, and he cursorily swiped through it.

To his surprise, he really did receive two new notifications.

 

The two notifications came in at roughly the same time, both received during the period when they were boarding the space shuttle.

The first was an alert from his asset card: 

Balance received: 1,000 xi

Additional note: Business travel allowance

The second was also an alert from his asset card:

Balance received: 10,000 xi 

Additional note: (none)

Yan Suizhi, “???”