CH 3

The organizational structure at Southcross Law Firm was typical of any law firm. The underlying operations were managed by the firm in coordination with its lawyers, but each individual lawyer was relatively independent. As a result, a lawyer’s work never overlapped with another’s and they each had a large office to call their own. Once the door was closed, they could isolate themselves from the rest of the firm and were usually left alone, barring extraordinary circumstances.

It was the type of work setting where one could ‘pretend to be blind and deaf, just don’t bother me’. Yan Suizhi had gotten used to this kind of work culture years ago.

However, Miss Fizz wasn't aware that he was accustomed to it and while they were moving his items into the office, she purposely lowered her voice and said, “Sharing an office with a lawyer isn’t easy. New interns are always nervous and I totally get it. Last year, there was a young man who was too scared to even go to the bathroom on his first day. I remember when I saw him at lunch, his face had turned green, and when I asked him why, he said the office felt too quiet and confined. He was afraid that the slightest movement would cause his teacher to take notice.”

“His willpower must have been truly admirable,” Yan Suizhi praised.

“Don’t laugh.” Miss Fizz continued. “Over the next little while, it’s possible that you and Lawyer Gu will spend a lot more time outside rather than inside the office. However, I hope you can still feel a sense of belonging here. Even if your desk isn’t as large as Lawyer Gu’s, this is still your office and at least 30% of the territory is rightfully yours. So use it freely, don’t hold back and be confident.”

Yan Suizhi wasn’t sure if she was aware of it herself, but to his ears, she sounded like she was reciting a eulogy.

___

It was clear that Miss Fizz had underestimated him. Not only was Yan Suizhi brimming with confidence but he had nearly turned the tables and become the master of the house.

Every time his mind wandered, he subconsciously began thinking of the office as his. It was easy to think of the chair he was currently occupying was actually the lawyer’s seat and the aloof Gu-tongxue [1] - who was sitting across from him and drinking coffee - was actually the intern he had blindly picked up because he didn’t have enough headaches as it were.

It was to the extent that he nearly opened his mouth a few times to assign Gu Yan some work to do. Thankfully, he had quick reflexes and each time he opened his mouth, he instantly recovered his senses and slammed on the breaks, then schooled his expression and calmly closed his mouth again.

He blamed his delayed reaction on the coffee. It was far too hot and the dense cloud of white steam made it much too easy to zone out. Also...the design of office was all too familiar.

At first glance, the place may as well have been born from the same womb as the dean’s office he had once occupied. Furthermore, it bore a strong resemblance to his lawyer’s office at Southlew as well.

Yan Suizhi’s eyes took in his surroundings and for some odd reason, he was struck by a small sense of gratification.

Although their teacher-student relationship hadn’t been all that great, there were still some intrinsic qualities that had been inherited. It sure looked as if a certain aesthetic had been passed down, didn’t it?

Yan Suizhi smiled cheerfully and was about to compliment the office’s design, but before he could open his mouth and squeeze out a few words, Gu Yan had already set down his coffee cup and said condescendingly, “I wasn’t planning on taking on any interns.”

Gu Yan's voice was pleasing to the ear and his tone was particularly unperturbed. If one were to ignore the actual words he was saying, it was easy for listeners to feel the urge to to listen to him speak a little more.

However, this wasn’t the first time that Yan Suizhi had met Gu Yan and he had basically become physically immune to the effects of Gu Yan’s voice and any misconceptions it could create. Moreover, the contents of Gu Yan’s speech were simply impossible to ignore.

So you're not planning on accepting interns? What a coincidence, I was thinking along the same lines! Actually, you can just pass me along to any of the other lawyers. As long as I don’t have to be here with you, anywhere else will do.

Yan Suizhi gave these inner thoughts a mental polish and edited them into a format that was less likely to piss someone off. He was about to open his mouth but Gu Yan spoke again, giving his coffee cup a light swirl, “As a result, I haven’t made any preparations ahead of time on your account. I heard that the firm has an experience manual that gives an overview of how tasks should be assigned to interns - apparently, it keeps interns too busy running around to cause trouble, but I’ve never flipped through the manual myself so I can’t guarantee that you’ll have a normal internship experience.”

Yan Suizhi raised an eyebrow. He seldom had the chance to listen to such a long speech from Gu-tongxue outside the courtroom and at first listen, his words were relatively tolerable.

Of course, it was merely ‘tolerable’ and was a far cry from ‘delightful’ - after all, the speaker was more or less expressionless and his tone was just as cool as before.

Yan Suizhi wasn’t particularly interested in the type of experience that one should gain from an internship or what duties Gu Yan planned on assigning him. He didn’t care much about the details; instead, he was more entertained by the fact that Gu Yan was actually talking like a proper person.

However……

If you can speak properly to an intern that was forced on you, then why did you always pull such a long face at the professor that you yourself hand-picked after careful deliberation?

In his mind, Yan Suizhi let out a deep, regretful sigh. But it didn’t matter; perhaps his new identity and these new surroundings would give him the chance to get along with Gu-tongxue. At least they had started off on the right foot.

However, his wave of regret didn’t last long. The office hologram on his desk suddenly spat out a whole pile of holographic files.

Lawyer Gu was not a talkative man by nature and he had already reached the limits of his niceties after the long speech he had just delivered. And so, after a handful of words, he simply sent Yan Suizhi the internship manual that Fizz had prepared beforehand.

“Take a look,” Gu Yan said. “I’m going to take a call.”

Yan Suizhi’s finger swiped at the holographic screen a few times. Fortunately, the manual was not as lengthy as he had imagined and there was little redundancy. Overall, it was fairly concise and quite suitable for a young intern’s mentality. It was rather spirited too, and certainly reflected Miss Fizz’s style.

He briefly skimmed the sections detailing the internship experience and certain rules set by the firm.

As a matter of fact, he skimmed through the entire manual. After all, he wasn’t truly a novice and he hadn’t come here for the internship experience. Head propped in one hand, he casually flipped through the pages until eventually, his gaze paused on a particular number.

Internship salary - 60 xi per day [2]

To a student, 60 xi was just enough for three meals a day, and there was no point wondering if there’d be any extra left over. However, this kind of pay was commonplace among law firms in De Carma. There was a unanimous, if unspoken, agreement that during the early stages of an internship, interns were actually more trouble than they were worth.

A lawyer assigning tasks to an intern did so with a knife pressed to their heart. The reason being, once an intern is finished with the task, there was an 80% to 90% chance that the lawyer would have to re-do the whole thing while simultaneously offering suggestions for improvement. It was basically like doing double the workload.

Among the interns, there were also some who simply coasted along and their ‘illustrious contributions’ were the reason for the increased risk of lawyers working themselves to death.

Not only are you an inconvenience, but you’re a danger to my health. The fact that I’m not charging you tuition and am forced to pay you a significant sum must mean I'm dreaming, right?

The interns themselves were well aware of the situation, so there was little objection to a stipend-like salary that was essentially paid as a matter of form. After all, they would have a chance to recoup it one day.

When Yan Suizhi saw the salary amount, his initial response was to let a mental 'tsk' and an empathetic sigh on behalf of these poor students.

However, he suddenly remembered that right now, he was a ‘poor student’ himself. He choked on his sigh before he could finish and began coughing so much that his world felt upended.

While he was recovering from his coughing fit with his head in his hands, Gu Yan’s voice had somehow drifted closer.

“What’s the time and place?”

“Yaba Island?”

“I’m not going.”

Gu Yan was still on a call with someone but had filled a glass of water in passing and had set it on the intern's desk.

Yan Suizhi started, then raised his head and looked over. Had Gu-tongxue gotten out of the wrong side of the bed today? To think there were actually times where he would act concerned.

In the end, he heard Gu Yan rap the surface of the desk with his knuckles. He glanced down and said coolly, “I’m rather curious about what part of the manual made your face so red that you look like you're about to pass out.”

“......”

How remarkable. The toxicity radiating from Gu Yan was spot on.

Gu Yan didn’t have his headset on so the voice of the person on the other end was on speaker. However, the volume was on low and Yan Suizhi barely managed to hear a few words at close range.

“What do you mean ‘about to pass out’?” A male voice asked on the other end. “Who are you talking to?”

Yan Suizhi actually felt that the man’s voice sounded rather familiar but at that moment, he couldn’t remember where he had heard it.

“The intern,” Gu Yan said.

“Fine then,” the man replied. “So you’re really not coming? I extended such a sincere invitation but you’re not even going to bother giving me face? Even Geeta’s coming along.”

In an instant, Gu Yan’s face became even more frigid.

Soon enough, Yan Suizhi understood the reason behind the sudden change in his expression.

“You’re really bringing along that aquaphobic dog of yours while you surf between planets……”

The corner of Yan Suizhi’s lips twitched a little.

“Who are you calling an aquaphobic dog? She falls asleep at 2 a.m. sharp every night and is even more punctual than you. It wouldn’t feel right if I had to spend even one day apart from such an amazing dog!"

“......”

The man on the other end was a chatterbox and prattled on for a long while. He seemed to be trying to persuade Gu Yan to attend some party or other. However, Yan Suizhi couldn’t hear the rest of the conversation because Gu Yan had already walked back to his own desk.

After that, no matter what the person on the other end said, Gu Yan simply gave curt replies that put an end to the discussion.

“No.”

“I’m busy.”

“I have a court appearance.”

Yan Suizhi pondered over it a little more and still felt that the man’s voice was familiar.

However, before he could figure it out, Gu Yan had already hung up and was looking over at him. “You’re finished with the manual? Do you have any questions?”

Yan Suizhi shook his head, then paused midway when a thought suddenly occurred. “Oh, hold on.”

After speaking, he tapped on his smart device and selected the asset card interface. When he glanced at the balance, the choking feeling suddenly returned. After taking a spin around the black market, the money he had left over was barely enough to last him the week.

Hence, he raised his head and flashed Gu Yan a smile. “I do have a question.”

Gu Yan nodded, indicating for him to continue.

“Can salaries be paid in advance?”

“......”

Gu Yan stared back at him, face expressionless. He fell silent for a moment, then said, “You’ve been looking at the manual this whole time and that’s your question?”

“Mm……” Even the esteemed Professor Yan with his bushy wolf’s tail felt as if his thick skin couldn’t hold up much longer.

Two seconds later, Gu Yan calmly pulled out an internal communicator and said, “Fizz, please transfer three months of pay to this intern and then tell him to go home.”

Yan Suizhi: “......”

The Yan Suizhi who had thought that he could get along with Gu-tongxue had probably ingested leftovers that had already gone bad.

Translator's Notes

tongxue = student

xi = literal translation is 'west' but this is the currency used in the novel