CH 4

Where the heck did Gu Yan pick up the habit of sending someone packing without another word???

It sure wasn’t me who taught him that, Yan Suizhi thought to himself.

Yan Suizhi would never wear a long-suffering expression if he were sending someone packing - instead, he would simply tell them to get the hell out with a smile on his face.

However, he couldn’t afford to get the hell out at the moment. He hadn’t even read a single punctuation mark from the file about the explosion case yet.

Yan Suizhi shot a glance at the news feed that hadn’t yet been stowed away - it was 10:15 a.m., which meant that only 1 hour and 11 minutes had passed since it was announced that he would be assigned to Gu Yan. He had probably set a new record at Southcross Law firm.

Less than an hour had passed since he had reported for duty, but he was already being mercilessly booted from his post. It was unprecedented.

Perhaps it was because it was such a sudden turn of events, and was completely beyond what he had anticipated, but Yan Suizhi wasn’t actually that angry. In fact, he almost felt the urge to laugh……

He was the kind of person who was rather impudent when it came to his speech and his actions, and he tended to do whatever came to mind. As a result, one corner of his mouth lifted.

And so, when Gu Yan eventually hung up the call and turned his head, he was met with the sight of an intern who was still smiling even though he had just been asked to leave. The intern’s eyes as well as the corner of his lips held a hint of a faint, cheerful smile.

Gu Yan: “......”

Oh no.

Yan Sizhui’s smile suddenly vanished and he lowered his eyes to gaze at his fingertips. He used a finger and pushed aside the translucent screen blocking the way, then gazed up at Gu Yan once more. “I’m so sorry…”

Like hell you’re sorry!

Yan Suizhi could almost see these exact words written across Gu Yan’s stony face, but Gu Yan simply pressed his thin lips together and frowned back at him. Gu Yan then wordlessly looked away, almost as if his very lifespan would be shortened if he so much as glanced at Yan Suizhi.

The computer on the lawyer’s desk let out a series of warning beeps, and then whirred to life as it spat out one holographic page after another. The pages formed a small stack in front of Gu Yan but showed no signs of stopping. From the looks of it, he really was rather busy.

While the computer frantically beeped away, Fizz rushed upstairs.

The brisk staccato of her high heels sounded almost as if she were about to go into battle. It was only when she stepped onto the grey carpet in Gu Yan’s office that the sound was abruptly cut off.

“Gu? I was at a bit of a loss just now and was halfway through the process before I realized it.” Fizz pulled the door closed behind her and quickly shot a glance at Yan Suizhi. “What’s the matter with the intern? It’s only been an hour but you’re sending him home?”

Gu Yan lightly tossed aside the document in his hand and the holographic paper automatically returned to its original place.

“I said I’m not fit to take on an intern.”

Huh?

Yan Suizhi was startled.

He had thought Gu Yan would have used his behaviour just now as an excuse and tossed it out as some sort of justification. On second thought, however, the past Gu Yan had acted as he had now - he seldom offered detailed explanations and rarely involved a third party to argue about who had started it and why he had retaliated…….even if he had good reason to do so.

It was almost contrary to how one would act in the court of law and it wasn’t clear if it was an occupational habit. Some lawyers become increasingly adept at arguing in their private lives and would prattle on about facts or evidence. Gu Yan, however, seemed to be the complete opposite.

As Gu Yan spoke, he didn’t spare a single glance at Yan Suizhi. It was almost as if the eyes beneath his knitted brows had already seen enough of him.

Fizz wasn’t convinced by his words. “But I thought Adams had already talked you into it an hour ago? You took a look at the intern’s file and accepted. He said that even though you didn’t seem very willing - and had even given him a few jabs - you still agreed in the end. I quoted him word for word, you know.”

Yan Suizhi was even more astonished.

Anyone who looked at his barren file would assume he was dead-weight that was simply coasting. Otherwise, why did the other lawyers select their respective interns and left him for More, who wasn’t on the scene? They were all worried about adding unnecessary stress to their lives.

And yet, given his personality, Gu Yan had actually nodded his head when he had reviewed that kind of file? You’ve got to be kidding.

If his and Gu Yan’s student-teacher relationship back in the day had been one of beauty and tranquility, he certainly would have suspected that Gu Yan had recognized him and was reluctantly bending the rules for his sake.

Unfortunately, the reality was, if Gu Yan had truly recognized him, he probably would have been booted from the office even sooner. What’s more, he wouldn’t have received a single penny of the three months worth of salary.

The esteemed Professor Yan was very confident in his assessment.

“I did agree at the time,” Gu Yan said, “but now I’ve changed my mind.”

“But whenever you agree to something, you never go back on your word,” Fizz said. “You’ve never gone back on your word before.”

“Well, I have now.”

“......”

Fizz looked as if even her high heels were about to snap.

“The three months worth of salary is compensation for going back on my word. He can seek out More in two weeks,” Gu Yan said.

“Huh? What?” Fizz quickly glanced over and blinked at Yan Suizhi. “Seek out More?”

Gu Yan breathed through his nose and replied coolly, “Mm.”

“You want him to seek out More?”

“......”

“So you’re not trying to get him to leave?”

“......”

Even though Gu Yan had already returned to the information on the computer and didn’t bother answering the question, his rigid silence could be taken as another form of assent.

Yan Suizhi was at a complete loss. Even though you’re so pissed that you won’t even look at me, you’re still not asking me to leave? And on top of not kicking me out, you’re actually giving me money? Gu-tongxue [1], are you sleepwalking?

“Honestly speaking, Gu, you’ve been acting kind of weird today,” Fizz commented. She had taken the words right out of Yan Suizhi’s mouth.

However, this was the only sentiment they shared. A second later, Fizz added with a grin, “But it’s very charming! If you really were going to ask him to leave, it would be quite the hassle on my end. After all, we have an agreement with Maze University so if we rejected a student, we’d have to hand over a whole bunch of documents. These days, I get dizzy just looking at words on a screen and the very sight of a document makes my organs hurt.”

Lawyer Gu, who had remained largely silent, finally spoke up. “I get dizzy just looking at interns.”

Fizz: “......”

Yan Suizhi: “......”

“Alright then, either way you seem to be brimming with goodwill today.” There was no rationality behind Fizz’s compliments. “Ruan, what do you think?”

As she spoke, she turned her head towards Yan Suizhi.

Ruan? Who’s that?

The esteemed Professor Yan smiled faintly and gazed back at her for five seconds.

During these five second, the entire office was flooded with a stifling sort of silence. Fizz’s high heels were about to snap again.

Five seconds later, Yan Suizhi finally remembered the fake name that God knows who had given him - Ruan Ye.

Ruan. Ye. If someone were to use just one of the characters it was kind of… [2]

Yan Suizhi mentally replaced the word ‘Ruan’ [2] and said, “Everything I’ve said in the past hour was inappropriate and I truly apologize. It’s why I’m a bit too embarrassed to even speak at this point.”

“No worries, new hires are bound to make a few mistakes. It would be odd if they didn’t……”

Miss Fizz rambled on about how mistakes can be overlooked and forgiven, almost as if she was talking in enormous circles. In the end, even Gu Yan, who had been minding his own business and reading through his document, couldn’t listen anymore and looked up. “So when exactly are you going to transfer this intern to More?”

Miss Fizz cleared her throat, “The reason I’ve been talking in circles was so that I could get to this point eventually.”

“And?”

“He can’t be transferred.”

“......On what grounds?”

“I’m actually pretty efficient so his registration papers have gone through the entire process and it’s been linked to your name already. The committee’s already approved it so the transfer can’t be done.” Fizz snuck a glance at him.

“So what you’re saying is, you didn’t accomplish a single one of the tasks I asked of you?” Gu Yan said.

“No, I did manage to take care of one thing,” Fizz answered. “I’ve applied for the advanced salary payment to be processed.”

The moment she finished speaking, Yan Suizhi’s asset card let out a ‘ding’ to announce a new notification.

To make matters worse, the smart device had been in his possession for only a few days so he hadn’t changed any of the settings. The device was still in its default setting and the crisp sound of the system’s synthesized voice declared:

Payment received: 4680 xi

Category: Salary Advance

Account of origin: Business Account of Gu Yan

Processed by: Irene Fizz

Current Balance: 5022 xi [3]

Yan Suizhi: “......”

You had to admit, Southcross Law Firm was sometimes terrifyingly efficient.

Why didn’t you ask about the situation first before doling out the money?

And it was Gu Yan’s money that was being doled out, too.

The office once again sunk into a deathly silence. It was difficult to say what part of the smart device’s announcement was more dizzying.

A moment later, Fizz swiveled her head and gave Yan Suizhi an almost incredulous look. “If the salary advance hadn’t been transferred, your balance was only about 300 xi? How were you going to survive?”

Even Gu Yan, who had been averting his eyes this whole time, turned to gaze at him.

Yan Suizhi shrugged his shoulders and said casually with a smile, “Thankfully, I didn’t have to find out.”

Perhaps it was because his balance was so dreadful, but Gu Yan seemed stunned. In the end, the whole fuss that morning about ‘asking the intern to leave’ was left unsettled and Yan Suizhi was officially stationed in Lawyer Gu’s office. Moreover, he had received the acknowledgement and acceptance of the Lawyer Gu himself.

Gu Yan left him alone and was so busy that he barely paused to rest. Midway through, he found some time to contact an administrative assistant downstairs to deal with an issue, then left the office after receiving a call. Before leaving, he put together a package containing the past five years of case documents and unceremoniously transferred it to Yan Suizhi.

Organizing files was a task that almost all interns would receive at the beginning of their internship. In the past, Yan Suizhi himself had delegated this type of work to interns and was no stranger to the task. Truth to tell, this kind of job was tedious, dull and blinding - it was incredibly annoying.

However, Yan Suizhi was extremely pleased. Why had he borrowed the identity of an intern to enter Southcross Law Firm? It was so that he could take on the type of task that no intern could avoid. This way, he could openly investigate all sorts of detailed information about the ‘explosion case’ from start to finish.

Yan Suizhi’s computer spent an hour just spitting out holographic pages and it worked away until lunchtime. When folded, the holographic documents were stacked so high that his desk and his very person were basically buried alive.

In the end, the computer finally shut its trap only when the other intern - the blond kid - came by to ask if he wanted to eat.

“Oh god, that many?” Luke sighed. “Was Lawyer Gu in charge of all these cases?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t looked too closely.” Yan Suizhi let the documents collapse and in an instant, one page after another was compressed into a thin surface that didn’t look quite as daunting as before.

“The simulation is a little too good sometimes,” Luke said. “Did he tell you when you have to finish organizing it? And why do you look so pleased about it?”

It was because Yan Suizhi could finally take a look at his ‘cause of death’.

However, Luke would probably be terrified if he were to say the thought aloud, so Yan Suizhi was very considerate and made up an excuse. “It’s because we can finally eat.”

When he and Luke set off, they bumped into a few of the other interns. Together, they found a restaurant close to the firm.

“Let’s cherish this rare opportunity to sit down and eat a good meal,” grinned the intern named Philida. “Once things get busy, we won’t be able to eat properly again and will probably start shedding pounds without even trying.”

Once she was finished speaking, another intern named Anna glanced at Yan Suizhi. “Ruan? How come you’re eating even less than us two?”

Yan Suizhi’s problem was one that was common to many lawyers - he didn’t have a very good stomach. The problem was rather annoying but it wasn’t a be all end all - if your stomach endured so much that it went to waste, you could simply undergo an operation to switch it out for a new one. Though it wasn’t a life-threatening operation, it wasn’t a matter to be taken lightly either. After all, stomachs couldn’t be replaced constantly but you still had to eat everyday - you had to be careful at every meal so as to avoid upsetting it further.

Yan Suizhi had to be especially cautious these days because he hadn’t eaten normally in half a year and couldn’t ingest too much at the moment.

However, he didn’t like discussing these little ailments and so he unhurriedly swallowed a mouthful of food and took a sip of warm water. He grinned at them and said, “I have to tackle so many files when I get back so I better not eat too much.”

I’d just throw it up.

Luke, who was already on his second helping, choked on a mouthful of pasta and turned his head to cough like a true idiot.

When they were halfway through lunch, Yan Suizhi suddenly received a message.

It was a notification from the apartment he was staying at.

When his saviour had rented the apartment, they had used his fake identity and his smart device’s contact number and hadn’t left a single trace.

The content of the message was fairly short - there were only two sentences and once Yan Suizhi glanced over it, he had trouble keeping his food down. The apartment was notifying him that his rental period was coming to an end tomorrow, and that if he wanted to extend the lease, he had to pay the rent upfront.

Half a year’s worth of rent.

“......”

In all his years, the esteemed Professor Yan had never felt stressed about money. He hadn’t even looked at his files yet and already felt like throwing up.

The message also said that he would receive a call shortly that would carry out a voice confirmation with him.

Five minutes later, Yan Suizhi suddenly got a call from a number he didn’t recognize. He figured it was the apartment that had called.

He picked up immediately and smiled as he said, “Sorry, I won’t be extending the lease.”

He had no money and wouldn’t dream of renting it.

On the other end, the caller fell silent for a few seconds. To his surprise, they didn’t say a word and hung up.

“......” Yan Suizhi couldn’t make head nor tail of it. Normally speaking, customer service reps didn’t have this kind of attitude, right???

Translator's Notes

tongxue = student

the 'ruan' in yan suizhi's alias sounds like the word for 'soft' whereas the 'ye' part means 'wild'. when he mentally replaces the 'ruan' part, I think he's implying that he had been acting kind of wild.

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