Ch23 - You were the other victim?

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“Where I was last Saturday…” he raised his head, the corners of his lips curving into a mocking smile, “What does that have to do with you?” 

I knew he would respond like this.

The palms of my hands started sweating as I fixed my gaze on him and continued, “It was you, wasn’t it.”

He looked at me strangely, like my words were incomprehensible to him, “Pardon?”

I paid extra attention to his facial expressions, not letting slip the most minute of changes reflected in his features. Yet unfortunately he seemed to really have a clear conscience, as he appeared like he honestly did not know what I was talking about. 

It reminded me of those adolescents that came out of the club in the early AM’s and were stopped at an intersection by the cops, even though they looked as if they were a hundred percent drunk driving, but in reality they hadn’t ingested a single drop of alcohol at all. All they did was drink a cup of juice in the club. It was very odd, but that was the truth.

“Nothing,” I remarked whilst letting out a laugh, “It’s just… last week I accidentally was bit by a rabid dog that only knew how to bite people but not how to bark, and just then I was suspecting whether or not it was you who sent the dog.”

He frowned, his voice now hardened with an edge of harshness as he returned his gaze to the laptop screen and resumed his typing on the keyboard, “Lu Feng, I suspect there’s something wrong with you mentally, it would be best for you to go to the hospital and visit the mental ward.”

This would have to be the most laughable slander I’ve heard in my recent years. He himself was abnormal yet he wanted me to go visit the doctor, has he even gone to see a doctor himself?

“You don’t need to concern yourself over this.” I eyed his shoes one last time as I moved my feet and walked towards the door, giving him my most sincere wishes as I spoke without turning my head back, “I hope you suffer a crushing defeat, Lawyer Sheng.”

As I left the door, I just so happened to bump into Wu Yi holding a stack of paperwork as he passed by right in front of me. I called out to him and when he saw me, he shuffled back towards me and was rather surprised to see me there.

“Mr Lu, it’s been a long time since I last saw you at the law firm.” He flicked a quick glance at the room I just came out of, “What a coincidence, today Laoshi rarely came into the office and you just so happened to catch him here. You two really are brothers, that’s some great synergy.”

Sheng Min Ou probably didn’t want this type of synergy. 

“I’ve been a bit busy the previous months and happened to pass by today so I thought I’d drop in and visit. Let’s not do the whole Mr Lu or Mr Ma thing, just call me A-Feng.” I draped an arm across his shoulders and dragged him two paces as we headed into a corner, “Recently the firm seems really busy, have you all been working on the case surrounding Luo Zheng Yun?”

Wu Yi still wasn’t able to hold up an impenetrable defence like Sheng Min Ou yet, as he was still naive, being young and inexperienced. He glanced both ways and saw that no one was paying particular attention to the corner where we were at, so he lowered his voice and whispered, “It’s exactly that big celebrity you talked about, that case is really a headache for us, he’s not an easy person to handle at all.”

“Can you win?”

“Even though it’s a pain, if it’s Laoshi, then we’ll be able to win.” 

My heart thudded harder for a second, “You’re that confident?”

Wu Yi immediately gave me a look that said ‘I’m not going to make a big deal out of what you just commented because you haven’t seen anything’ and replied, “During the years that Laoshi was at Mei Teng Pharmaceuticals as a legal consultant, there hasn’t been one lawsuit filed against Mei Teng that has won in court.”

“Everyone who witnessed this simply thought that the legal department under Mei Teng just excelled at what they did, but they weren’t aware that all the tactics and defence strategies employed had been set out by Laoshi alone. Not just in lawsuits, he’s also unparalleled in his methods of avoiding legal risk, if Mr Xiao was the king that ruled Mei Teng, where his words were the law, then Laoshi was the razor-sharp sword which he held in his hand to rule. Mr Xiao used him to overcome all obstacles on the way and there was no battle where they left defeated.” Wu Yi’s eyes shone brightly, his limpid eyes reflecting nothing but veneration, “This was also why when I knew Laoshi was going to leave Mei Teng, I was shameless in wanting to stick with him and follow him to wherever he went. By shadowing such an unrivalled sword, every day contains an abundance of learnings, even if I only picked up one or two skills here and there, it would still be a teaching for life.”

I wasn’t sure if Wu Yi saw Sheng Min Ou through rose tinted glasses as he seemed like quite the undying fan, but his words did leave me with a sense of foreboding. I wondered what kind of character the prosecutor in charge of this case would be, and whether they would be able to go head to head against Sheng Min Ou, or even get the better of him. 

In the evening, I called Mo Qiu and told him to not go on the internet before the case was over, in fact, it would probably be good for him to unplug the internet router completely. Perhaps he sensed something, as he repeatedly agreed to what I had said and instead offered me words of comfort as he told me not to be too worried over the case. Mo Qiu then let me know that the prosecutor in charge was a very gentle and dependable female who was intent on bringing Luo Zheng Yun to justice.

After hanging up, I went online to search for more news regarding the case. Things looked fine before I decided to dig up more information, as once I keyed in Luo Zheng Yun I found that their side had already started inciting speculation from the public. They had completely shaped Mo Qiu to be a male fan with mythomania, and amidst the truth and lies that were uttered by the public, those accounts that initially stood up for Mo Qiu started quietly becoming silent, as the large majority of onlookers chose to observe the events unfold, believing that this was the beginning of a major turnaround.

Many people also called into the question the possibility of Luo Zheng Yun sexually assaulting another male, and even through the subtle wording of their comments it was evident that they didn’t think that a male being on the receiving end of another male’s violence and abuse was a big deal at all.

From beginning to end, they had viewed this whole incident as an exciting sex scandal which concerned the entertainment circle, and not a vile, malicious crime. 

The judge, prosecutor, and even Sheng Min Ou’s details were all displayed exhaustively online. Everyone’s eyes were on this case, regardless of whether they were a fan of Luo Zheng Yun or not, as they all waited for the day when the first court hearing would commence.

I was also waiting.

However, I wasn’t just going to wait, I also planned to go witness the hearing in person.

Due to the case being too high profile and there being an excessive amount of people who wanted to attend the hearing in person, those who would be admitted would be decided by drawing numbers out randomly out of a raffle. 

On the day when the numbers were drawn, I happened to see Yi Da Zhuang in the crowd.

The court staff would steadily read out the numbers that had been drawn out, and the crowd beneath would respond with either cheers or sighs after every announcement. Yi Da Zhuang had both hands clasped around his raffle and was vigorously praying to the heavens, but it appeared that his number still hadn’t been chosen yet.

I walked beside him and suddenly called out to him, “What number do you have?”

Yi Da Zhuang flinched in surprise and leapt out of the way before realising it was me who spoke to him as he rubbed his chest, “Shit, Feng Ge, you know being like that is just asking for something bad to happen to the other person right! You almost scared the soul out of me.” 

“How about we swap numbers.” I suggested.

“Why?”

“I like the number you have.”

Actually, I wanted both slips that we had, if I had an extra number, then I had an extra chance of being admitted in. 

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Yi Da Zhuang sensed the danger behind my words as he tightly gripped onto his precious number and refused to swap with me no matter what. Just when I was about to resort to physically wrenching it out of his hands, the staff member above suddenly announced another number and shocked, I looked down at my slip and confirmed that it was indeed the number that had just been called.

“Lbis rtla, Mfcu Xf atfs mjiifv sbeg cewyfg?” Tl Gj Itejcu kjr rb pfjiber tlr fsfr fnfc jqqfjgfv ugffc, “Pr la qbrrlyif obg er ab fzmtjcuf cbk?”

“Kbb ijaf.” P kjnfv atf rwjii rilq lc ogbca bo tlw jr P abbx ijguf raglvfr abkjgvr atf Jbega rajoo, jcv fzmtjcufv ws cewyfg obg j almxfa ab fcafg atf mbega tfjglcu.

Yi Da Zhuang was still unwilling to give up as he chased after me relentlessly, “No wait, I have a mission at hand to attend, you don’t even have anything of the sort so how about you give the ticket to me instead?” 

“Nope.”

“I’ll shout you a meal.”

“Nope.”

“I’ll shout you three meals.” 

“No.”

“Ten meals?”

“I won’t give it to you even if you shout me a hundred meals.”

“Fuck.” 

When it was the day of the hearing, my right eye twitched incessantly and I had also forgotten to bring an umbrella with me, so consequently I was soaked by the rain for a short while.

The entrance to the courthouse was already crowded with a considerable quantity of reporters and fans, with many people raising their numbered slips, choosing to wait patiently outside in silent support for their idol. They really believed from the depths of their heart that Luo Zheng Yun was a little, defenceless character being framed and slandered, and that there was some type of powerful, malignant organisation in the opposition that wanted to completely crush him.

I hurriedly shook off the water droplets that clung onto me and stepped inside the courthouse, at this time the hearing for Luo Zheng Yun was already in progress.

I hadn’t even sat down for long before the court officers came to enforce protocols and asked for everyone’s devices to be set to silent, as well as forbidding any loud noises and discussions, else they could be ejected from court. 

Two more minutes passed, and after the whole courthouse finally quietened down, the jury panel of twelve people entered, followed by the prosecution and the defense, and then finally the judge before the court officers completely closed the doors to the public and sealed the courtroom shut.

When Sheng Min Ou entered, his sights casually swept past the general public attending the court hearing and his eyes coincidentally locked with mine as he was startled for a second.

I gave him a smile and passionately blew a kiss to him.

Without a trace of acknowledgement, Sheng Min Ou retracted his sights and walked with big strides towards his spot in the courtroom, as if my presence wasn’t anything to him. 

Following behind him was Luo Zheng Yun and when he appeared, the public attendees caused a commotion in response, with many people neglecting what the court officers had said previously as they voiced their comments of support. There was even a small group of people who inexplicably began sobbing, and it was only until the court officers were about to eject them from court with stony expressions that they managed to get a grip on themselves and started to quieten down.

Luo Zheng Yun seemed to be very pleased with the commotion that he had caused, as he repeatedly nodded and smiled to the attendees, before taking his seat on the defendants panel.

I had done a search online of the prosecutor that was in charge of the case, and as Mo Qiu had described, she was an exceptionally capable and experienced woman who was graceful at the same time and her name was Meng Xuan Jun. She was thirty six years old this year and she had a stellar resume which boasted her various accomplishments. It was said that there wasn’t a criminal who she couldn’t pin a crime on, and she was as revered for her proficiency as Sheng Min Ou was.

After the court hearing began, it was the prosecutor who would go first with their opening statement. 

Meng Xuan Jun wass dressed in a metallic grey suit as she stood up from her seat and addressed the court, “I must first make clear that this is an especially malicious sexual assault case. It is only because the law in our country is imperfect that I must charge the actions witnessed as a case of molestation.” Her first sentence was already emotionally charged, as she caused a small ripple of commotion within the general public attending.

As for the defence sitting opposite her, Sheng Min Ou heard her speech and leaned to his side whispering instructions to Wu Yi, his expression calm and assured without a trace of anxiety.

When it was time for the defendant’s opening statement, Sheng Min Ou rejected all charges raised by the prosecution and claimed that Luo Zheng Yun was completely innocent, and that his relationship with Mo Qiu was a voluntary one with consent from both parties, so there was no issue of force or coercion.

The judge motioned afterward to proceed with the trial, and it was now on the prosecution who bore the burden of proof to put forward their case. 

Meng Xuan Jun put forward a list of evidence, including but not limited to chat logs between the two and sections of videos to prove that Luo Zheng Yun had been scheming systematically to set up a trap that spanned for six months. All it needed was for Mo Qiu to fall into it, so he could be lured to the hotel and then sexually assaulted.

“Does everyone know about ‘pickup artists’? It’s also known as an ‘art’ to score dates, some people will go on the internet and intentionally pretend to be a certain type, like adopting a humorous and interesting persona, or becoming mature and handsome, gentle and rich or energetic and enthused, using these various characteristics to reach their goals of cheating someone out of their assets and their feelings. Luo Zheng Yun is such a person, a masterful pick up artist. He relies on the advantages from his appearance and his profession and shapes himself into a gentle, elegant, tender and sensitive man and cheated Mo Qiu’s trust. In the end, he not only hurt Mo Qiu’s soul, but he hurt his body too.”

Her fiercely sharp gaze shot right through Luo Zheng Yun who sat on the defendants stand, yet Luo Zheng Yun just gave her a slight smile in return as he remained completely calm.

Meng Xuan Jun furrowed her brows in disgust, and later requested to summon Mo Qiu to the stand. 

Mo Qiu appeared to be fretful and anxious in front of the judge and jury, as every time he answered Meng Xuan Jun’s questions, he would bury his face deeply, as if he would hide underneath the chair if given the opportunity to.

“Did he commit any act of violence in bed, such as assaulting and beating you?”

Mo Qiu cowered in response, his complexion ghostly white, as if these questions with no concern for his privacy were a form of capital punishment for him, each phrase like a thousand small cuts, slowly bleeding the life out of him.

He apprehensively rubbed at his elbows, his whole voice trembling, “He has.” 

“Can you tell everyone, how you got the scar on your hand?”

“I…. I couldn’t bear with his coercion any further, so I attempted suicide at home, later… I was found out in time by a friend, so I didn’t get to die. This scar was from when I slit my wrist…”

When Meng Xuan Jun stated that she had nothing further to ask, both Mo Qiu and myself let out a breath at the same time.

I had initially felt that Meng Xuan Jun’s questions were already pressing enough, however I found that I was wrong when Sheng Min Ou came to present his case. 

Sheng Min Ou walked to the witness stand and held a photocopied document in his hand, showing it to Mo Qiu, “In the past two years, you maintained your habits of sending a private message to Mr Luo every single day on his social media accounts, sharing the daily occurrences in your life and conveying your love for him. When Mr Luo was moved by your sincerity and gave you his private number, you quickly and proactively reached out to him. Clearly, you were enjoying it, and the chance for you to be in a more intimate relationship with your idol excited you beyond anything, correct?”

Mo Qiu pressed his lips together tightly, and weakly nodded his head, “Yes, however…”

Sheng Min Ou brutally cut him off as he continued, “On the day when Mr Luo invited you to ‘Sacred Garden of Eden’, you went completely voluntarily, and in his messages he didn’t exert any force or pressure for you to go, correct?”

“Yes…” 

The big screen behind the defendant started displaying the evidence in sync, and it was a coloured four panel cartoon. The cartoon depicted a wife, dressed up as a nurse holding up a needle as she joked about supplementing a ‘hit of energy’ for the husband after the husband returned from work. There was no beginning or end to the panels shown, as it appeared to be a small snippet of a scene from a larger, completed work.

“I do remember, this is my artwork.” Mo Qiu clearly did not understand why Sheng Min Ou suddenly brought out his piece, “It was from a long time ago, it’s about a young couple’s humorous and comforting daily life….”

“You really like roleplaying, don’t you.”

“…What?” 

“In this piece, you depicted the wife and the husband assuming multiple roles in their daily life. Sometimes, the wife is a nurse, and at other times, the husband is a pirate. This work was completely created and conceived by you, and only you, so it seems like you especially like the idea of role playing.”

Meng Xuan Jun interjected loudly, “This has nothing to do with the case at hand!”

The judge gave her a look and overturned the objection, as they let Sheng Min Ou continue.

“Your relationship with Mr Luo was completely consensual as your relationship progressed in a natural manner. Being involved sexually is a normal part of being romantically involved. If you weren’t willing, you could’ve called the police after the first time, but you did not, you chose to continue, because this wasn’t coercion at all, it was just a role play between my client and yourself.” Sheng Min Ou was relentless in his pace, as he placed both hands on the witness stand, “He liked you, so he was willing to satisfy all the fantasies that you had, as he played the role of being someone who had an inclination for violence, and the videos which he filmed with you were all to please you. He’s a king of the silver screen, acting comes naturally to him.” 

“No, it’s not like that!” Mo Qiu tightly clutched on to the collar of his sleeve, his face deathly pale, as if in the next second he would be unable to take another breath in and faint as a consequence, “It was because he said he would upload the videos online…”

“If he uploaded the videos, whose reputation would be at more risk here? You, someone who’s obscure and unknown, and an illustrator whose profession doesn’t even require them to reveal their face and identity, or him, a celebrity who has received very high praise and won various accolades?”

Mo Qiu was startled for a second, hesitating as he mumbled, “Yes…”

Meng Xuan Jun abruptly stood up from her seat, “Objection! He’s clearly asking leading questions!” 

This time, the judge ruled in favour of the objection, and asked Sheng Min Ou to take note of the way he interrogated the witness as they stated that this may lead the jury to come to undue conclusions.

It was at this point that Sheng Min Ou dialled down his unsparing attacks as he gave a slight nod towards the judge and expressed that he had no further questions.

Seeing this, Meng Xuan Jun’s expression became more grave from when the hearing had just commenced. She seemed to begin to understand that the battle today, or perhaps each battle that came consequently after today’s initial hearing, would all be hard fought.

Afterwards, Meng Xuan Jun began to question Luo Zheng Yun. When this first began, things proceeded smoothly. Mo Qiu appeared out of it throughout at first while Meng Xuan Jun began showing the tapes, repeatedly interrogating Luo Zheng Yun as to whether he used violence on Mo Qiu in bed. However, at a certain point Mo Qiu who sat at the plaintiffs table suddenly lost control of his emotions as he started to continuously sob spasmodically, burying his face in his hands as he wailed sharply. He had been completely worn down, and there was no way for him to continue in the present state. 

Meng Xuan Jun had no choice but to request for a temporary adjournment in court, and the judge understandably approved.

The crowds started to disperse from the courtroom as they retreated out and many people started whispering amongst themselves. The reporters were busy with passing on the latest information to their news channels, each striving to be the quickest in delivering the latest updates.

“That man is so despicable, does he think that he’s some kind of deity? How could our Zheng Zheng force him to do anything? It’s obvious that by even considering him he’s doing that guy a massive favour, ok?”

“Right, and he said our Zheng Zheng hit him, if he wasn’t willing to go through with it then just call the police. The way I see it, Zheng Zheng wanted to break up with him, and he decided to bite back like this out of revenge. He’s even slandering Zheng Zheng and saying that he was raped, what a ruthless and vicious man!” 

“Not only this, I don’t believe that someone can fall in love so deeply for one moment, then in the next just because they were taped whilst on the bed and things got a bit rough they act so terribly desperate like this, that’s really way too pretentious…”

“It feels like that there’s someone behind them trying to move this case in a more sinister direction, otherwise why would he suddenly come out to involve the police?”

“Our Zheng Zheng is really going through so much…”

Leaning against the wall, I exhaled cigarette smoke as all I heard surrounding me were the vile words coming out of Luo Zheng Yun’s fans. It was as if I was in another absurd and strange dimension, here everyone spoke words that they thought made logical sense and they believed that they fully understood the truth behind the situation. There was no need to go through a trial because it was already evident which side was the one that was guilty. From then on, no matter what refutes occurred and what rebuttals were put forward, they would be convinced that all of this was just something that had been plotted since long ago and was pure slander. 

I wondered after how many years, when these young girls looked back to this moment, whether they would feel ashamed and remorseful over their naivety and their gullibility, or if they would persist stubbornly with their preconceived truth, and still believe in Luo Zheng Yun’s innocence.

After finishing off a cigarette, the court officers summoned every back into the courtroom, but the trial did not recommence. Due to Mo Qiu’s unstable emotions, the court hearing was deemed unfit to proceed, and consequently the judge announced that the case would be adjourned until a later date.

Outside of the courthouse, the various media companies that weren’t able to attend as members of the general public swarmed around Luo Zheng Yun once they saw him leave the room and badgered him for interviews and photos.

Yi Da Zhuang snapped two photos and then was squeezed out of the circle surrounding Luo Zheng Yun, as he stumbled his way to me. 

“Shit, is it necessary to be so forceful?” He cursed as he checked his equipment, a digital single lens reflex camera. He raised his head and then saw me, as his brows smoothened in joy, “Feng Ge, quick, tell me what happened inside!”

The skies no longer poured down with rain, but still it remained gloomy and downcast, making it an uncomfortable sight.

I felt for the cigarettes that were in my pocket, and eyed the mass that moved into the distance, “Things aren’t looking good.”

Yi Da Zhuang followed my line of sight and looked towards Luo Zheng Yun and his legal team entering his MPV car with a massive crowd still following closely behind him as he sighed, “Actually, when there was a temporary adjournment before I had already heard of what had happened from a few close friends within the circle. They said that the opposition’s lawyer was just pounding in questions the whole time, and it was only the first round of questioning when the victim broke down under the pressure. It appears that the momentum for the prosecution isn’t going as well as they’d hope.” 

The opposition’s lawyer wasn’t just relentless with the questioning, it could be described as vitriolic and inhumane, it was utterly despicable and shameless.

In the far distance, before Sheng Min Ou stepped into the car, his gaze seemed to flicker in my direction for a second.

It was too far away, I couldn’t see his face clearly but even if I thought with my toes I’d still be able to reach the conclusion that on his outstanding features, his expression right now must be one that was filled with mockery and arrogance. It was as if he was challenging me, “How would I ever suffer a crushing defeat? If anyone were to experience that, it would be you.”

I didn’t say another word as I turned around and walked through the entrance of the court again. Yi Da Zhuang called out to me continuously as he shouted my name, but I didn’t spare him another glance as I waved my hand at him so he could leave first without me, as I told him I had some more matters to attend to. 

After returning to the courthouse again, I coincidentally saw that the breakout room next to where the trial was being held had the door open, as Meng Xuan Jun and Mo Qiu walked through it. Meng Xuan Jun gently placed her hand on Mo Qiu’s elbow as she continuously comforted him in a gentle tone, whilst Mo Qiu nodded at her from time to time.

“It’s going to be fine, don’t be stressed…”

Because I walked towards them and suddenly got nearer to where they stood, Meng Xuan Jun alertly stopped their conversation and her brows creased as she inquired, “Who are you?”

Mo Qiu hurriedly explained, “Ah, he’s my friend.” 

Meng Xuan Jun’s eyebrows slightly relaxed as just when she was about to say something, she was dragged several paces as I pulled her after me into the breakout room again. Along with her was Mo Qiu who I had also dragged with me, his face full of confusion as he was completely lost at what just happened.

After shoving both of them into the room, I turned my hand over and locked the door behind my back.

Meng Xuan Jun took another step away from me as she started raising her guard against me, asking, “What are you doing?”

I ignored her as I questioned Mo Qiu, “Did you show Luo Zheng Yun the video tape I took?” 

Mo Qiu had just probably bawled for a long time, as even now his eyes were red like a rabbit’s. After hearing my question, he quickly came to his senses as he immediately shook his head.

“N-No… I didn’t want to involve you in this.”

“Brilliant.” I fished out my phone from my pocket and found the recording of the tape from that day in HD and without any censorship or editing as I placed it on the table and pushed it towards Meng Xuan Jun’s direction. “Ms Meng, come here and take a look, you should be interested in this.”

Mo Qiu hurriedly attempted to snatch away the phone, but I was faster and stopped him from doing so. 

“Lu Feng, what are you doing?” From hearing his voice, it sounded as if he was about to cry again, “I, I can do it myself… you don’t have to do this…”

I pushed away his hand and stood in front of him, blocking his access to the table until Meng Xuan Jun gingerly picked up the phone and pressed play on the video before I continued, “We know that there can’t just be one victim like Mo Qiu who is involved, if there is one victim there will be a second. If he is not caught, then he will forever continue like this.”

Meng Xuan Jun looked at the tape as her expression grew more shocked by the moment as she glanced at me before focusing her attention back to the video and then returning to me again as she confirmed, “You were the other victim?”

“Not completely, but you can go ahead and say it like so.” I pulled out a chair and sat in front of her. 

Meng Xuan Jun looked at Mo QIu and then back at me, before doing the same and pulling out a chair for herself.

“I need to know more details.”

The next day, all media channels in Qing Wang City blew up as they covered a new development in Luo Zheng Yun’s case – a new victim had appeared.

Due to a conflict of interest, Luo Zheng Yun’s initial lawyer had to step down and cease all involvement with the case as he was related to the victim. Luo Zheng Yun could only hurriedly call for help as he reached out to a large, well established law firm named Belton, as he hired their senior partner to represent him as his lawyer for the proceeding trials. 

After seeing the news being reported, I almost laughed maniacally at the thought of Sheng Min Ou’s furious expression.

He probably never would have imagined that I would personally involve myself in this mess.

At this point none of this was even about justice anymore, it was more like a competition between myself and Sheng Min Ou, except it was one sided and it was just me pitting myself against Sheng Min Ou.

“Lu Feng, are you crazy??” 

Over the phone, Wei Shi roared at me furiously as he elicited a frisson of fear from me, and almost had me falling off my spinning chair.

I held the phone away from me and created some distance before I dug a finger into my ears and replied, “Give me a hint, why are you yelling at me?”

Wei Shi was enraged and continued barking, “Shen Xiao Shi and Monkey have told me everything already, I was thinking earlier that you guys have all been mysterious and off for some reason, all of you guys just ditching work and always disappearing to places. Come over right now and explain everything to me…” Suddenly his voice seemed to be directed in another direction, “Did I let you sit down? Stand up properly against the wall!”

I knew it, a sudden call from Wei Shi was definitely not good news and it turned out as I thought, it looked like everything we involved ourselves in was completely out in the open with him now… 

Wei Shi was a pretty good guy usually, but when he got mad he became a Tyrannosaurus rex that had it’s tail stepped on, no normal person would be able to bear with him in this state, and even I found him hard to handle like this.

“Just calm down a bit, I’m actually a victim here…”

“This is such a big deal and all of you have been keeping this a secret from me, how are you going to get me to calm down?” Wei Shi’s voice came out even louder if that was possible, “Get the hell over here right now, otherwise don’t even think of calling me a brother!”

I thought about it for a bit and came to the conclusion that if I headed over right now, then I really would die in a most painful way. There was also a chance that I might have to cop a beating from him so I suggested, “How about this, let’s all eat hotpot together at night? I’ll send the address over to you, let’s talk and eat at the same time.” 

If things were set up like this, then firstly we’d be in a public setting so he wouldn’t find it appropriate to actually lift a finger against me, and secondly I believed that there wasn’t any matter that couldn’t be resolved with going out to eat hotpot. If such a problem existed, then the solution was to go out twice for hotpot.

I didn’t give Wei Shi the opportunity to reject me as I decisively hung up the phone, then searched online for a hotpot store which had a good reputation and sent the address over.

That hotpot store was located right in the department store beneath Sheng Min Ou’s law firm, honestly I didn’t even know why I picked this hotpot place, but I got the feeling that if I couldn’t personally witness Sheng Min Ou being defeated, then it would really be a huge shame.

Author’s notes: The author does not have a background in Law and the setting here is purely fictitious. The law and legal system depicted randomly draws inspiration from the national legal system, so please do not take it seriously. 

Translator’s notes (Jiraiya): First, a late Merry Christmas to everyone! If you haven’t noticed, this chapter was an absolute mammoth, being twice as long as the usual chapters (and also took forever to translate omg) so instead of splitting up chapter 23 into two parts I decided to upload it in one go. This upload will be the sponsored update and the guaranteed sunday update for the week. Thank you for your understanding!