First-Class Lawyer

possible, and also because he was trying to avoid someone.

He felt that that neighbour of his, Chester Bell, had a huge problem with his head. 

That day in front of the courthouse, he had even straightforwardly told the other to “fuck off”.
If this were before, the two would have broken out in a brawl right there.
Even if they hadn’t, their expressions would be quite a sight when they next saw each other.

Little did he expect that from that day on, Chester Bell would, as if having taken the wrong medicine, sometimes shove two loaves of sweetbreads on their windowsill, and on other times a bunch of frozen grapes.

Joshua didn’t want to take his things and had planned to return them in a basket, but his sister Rosie got in his way.

By the time he found a clean basket, Rosie had already eaten half a bunch of frozen grapes with her cheeks puffed out, grinning at Chester outside the yard, laughing as she ate.
Joshua suspected that the bastard had drugged the grapes. 

How else would Rosie be so stupid?

The first day, he closed the door and gave Rosie a lecture about eating things willy nilly, then reluctantly took out money to pay for the frozen grapes as he returned everything else.

The second day, Chester tried begging for forgiveness again, this time with fruit candies and chocolates.
Joshua didn’t even open the door.

The third day, he had gone to work like fleeing the house; what was out of sight, was out of mind. 

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But on this day, Chester didn’t bother to come and deliver anything.
He went to the hospital to pick up Kitty Bell.

The old madam, who had been in a coma for many days, finally came to consciousness early that morning.
After going through various tests at the hospital and answering the police’s questions, she returned home accompanied by her grandnephew Chester.

 

The police’s attention mainly focused on Jim, the drunkard who had perjured in court.
But despite interrogating him for a long time, progress on the case remained limited.
Unfortunately, the old madam Kitty Bell, the victim who had finally come to consciousness, was also unable to provide them with any more information.

“I didn’t see his face and he hadn’t made a sound the whole time,” the old madam thought for a long time but was only able to say this.
“I’m so sorry…” 

The days didn’t change much after Kitty Bell returned home.
As if she had never been injured, she still took afternoon naps, still got up to eat Chester’s potato soup, smiling as she complimented him on his cooking having improved.

She even tried to turn on the heater to continue knitting, except that the heating pipes in her house hadn’t been used for days and had frozen out.
Luckily, Fix happened to pass by her yard at this time and stepped in to help her fix them.

“Thank you dearie, you came just in time.” Mdm Bell touched the heating ducts.
The temperature was just right.

She raised her head and smiled at Fix.
“Would you like some potato soup before you go?” 

Fix waved his hand.
“No need, I’m going back.
I’ve to cover a shift for someone later.”

Saying this, he kept his tools and greeted Chester, and left the house.
His short hair scraped the top of the door, causing Chester to worry that he would crash into it.

After Fix left, Chester cleaned up the dishes and sighed deeply, saying to Kitty Bell, “It’s such a cold night for you to make a trip out.
It’s a good thing that he was in the car.”

Kitty Bell toasted her hands by the heater.
“Didn’t he say that he wasn’t planning to work anymore? I was only out for a few days and he’s hard at work again?” 

Chester shrugged.
“Yeah.
He said he won a bet and could buy a secondhand car for himself—”

As he said this, he suddenly frowned and looked back at the door.
“Grandma Kitty, how high is this door again?”

The old madam pursed her lips.
“Here.
I’ve a tape measure in my wool basket, measure it yourself.
Why are you suddenly asking this?”

“It’s nothing.” Chester fished out the tape measure, walked to the door and reached out.
Then, the colour of his face changed— 

182.5cm.

“What happened? Ate a bug?” the old madam joked when she saw his face, chuckling at her own joke after saying it.

“…Yeah.
I ate a fly.”

Fix was taken away by the police for investigation at noon on the fifth day, something Joshua Dale only learned of after coming back from work that evening. 

It was already ten in the evening by the time he returned.
He heard a slightly topsy-turvy rumour from Rosie, though he couldn’t be sure if Chester had been the one to tell her this.

And when he heard it, Joshua Dale stood up with a start.

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By the time he snapped out of it, he was already standing in the doorway of Kitty Bell’s yard.

There were quite a few neighbours who had visited Kitty Bell over the past few days, but not him. 

He hadn’t been able to figure out how he felt before, and had simply chalked it down to feeling wronged from being misunderstood, such that he didn’t want to see the Bell family, whether it was Chester, or Mdm Kitty.

It wasn’t until he stood at the door to the old madam’s house now, that he suddenly understood.
He was just a little afraid.

He was afraid that the old madam would grow wary of the people around her after being hurt once.
He didn’t care about anyone else, but he didn’t want to see the old madam showing caution and wariness to him.

This way, he could look at the silhouette of the elderly woman reflected on the glass panes, or her gentle and warm smile, and pretend that the grandmother who loved him was still around.
This way, when he was worn out, he could stand outside the old madam’s yard and look in for a while, then dream of his grandmother knitting a scarf for him when he went home… 

Joshua stood outside the yard for a while until he was pulled back to his senses by two knocks against the window.

He saw an area of condensation being wiped off the glass, the face resembling his grandmother coming close to the glass and looking at him.
Then, the figure stood up.
With her back gently bowed, she walked out of the room.

Like a frightened wildcat, Joshua instinctively wanted to scamper back to his house.
All the hairs on his body felt as if they were on fire, yet the soles of his feet stayed frozen in place.

A few moments later, the closed door was pulled open from the inside with a creak. 

After which, warm yellow light flooded out, cast onto Joshua’s body.
The old madam slowly walked out of the house.
She waved at Joshua, her face kind, and her tone worried.
“Why are you standing dumbly outside at this hour? Are you cold?”

As she opened her mouth to speak, the mist that came out from her breath blurred her features, gradually superimposing with the elderly woman in Joshua’s dreams.

And when those two wrinkly, old hands touched him, Joshua covered his eyes and crouched down.
Only after a very, very long time, he said hoarsely, “Not too cold…”

“Why are you crying?” 

Joshua’s muffled voice sounded nasally with snot.
“…No reason.”

I just miss you.

I just really, really miss you.

The houses in the old district of Wine City, one after another, lit up like specks of starlight.
In the deep night, they resembled a large and silent anthill, miles different from De Carma, light-years away from it.
When Yan Suizhi was making payment after shopping, he glanced out the window and, for some reason, thought of the sparsely lit night of Wine City. 

He calmly looked away, smiled at the girl at the cashier, and headed out of the mall with a few paper bags in hand.

His leg had not yet fully recovered, so he walked slowly.
By the time he stood in front of the mall, it was already ten in the evening.

 

The crowd on the street had thinned slightly from before.
Due to the chill of the wind in the night, people looked in a hurry.

And in this rushing stream of people, a familiar matte black space podcar was quietly parked by the road, reflecting the golden-white lights of the street, like it was waiting for him.