CH 35

Violet Lake Cemetery was located on the western side of a quiet and secluded wetland, backed by Blue Mountain and facing Violet Lake, less than an hour’s drive from the bustling Fa Wang district.

It was a great place to rest in an eternal slumber. It was also the nearest cemetery to the city centre. 

“The land here is crazy huge, it’s supposedly large enough for everyone living in the three regions around it to sleep in it.” This was how Luke described it from the car.

Everyone, “…” I don’t really want to ‘sleep’.

“But I really can’t believe I haven’t been here before.” Luke actually sounded a little regretful; only heavens knew what he was sorry for.

“I’m starting to suspect that you drank alcohol in the morning,” Anna said impatiently, “isn’t it a good thing that you haven’t been here?” 

“I know. What I mean is that there are many famous people buried here,” said Luke. “We could drop by in passing to visit their…”

“…dead faces.”

The bunch of interns chattered away non-stop. Going out as a group together during work hours was a fresh experience for them, and they seemed particularly excited.

En route, aside from giving the appropriate smiles whenever they looked over, Yan Suizhi didn’t really participate in the conversation.

He didn’t have much interest in this type of outing. In actuality, his mind still lingered on the case file he had read earlier this morning.

He had manually searched for the explosion case the previous time; it was only now that he discovered he hadn’t actually needed to do so. The explosion case concerning him was already specially marked out, and even had an additional bookmark stuck into it.

The special markings were standard in the firm, uniform across all level 1 cases. The bookmark must have been added by Gu Yan, perhaps to ease his own leafing through it.

He briskly flipped through and found that it contained the full sequence of events, including the Notice of Representation, basic case information, list of evidence, witness testimonies, oral confession, court transcripts, verdict, etc. 

At a glance, it seemed to contain everything he needed to know.

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That day, the company boss and a few managers stayed in that hotel, coincidentally on the same floor as Yan Suizhi. There was a private elevator to the floor that they stayed on which wasn’t open for public use. Carl Richard had simply booked a room two floors under them, using two explosives to blow up the three floors above and below him into smithereens. 

The boss of that company, the management level, Yan Suizhi, and other unfortunate guests all passed on there.

Carl Richard was ultimately sent to a specialised mental hospital as a result of his mental health issues. In a sense, he had evaded jail time.

“Right, um. Isn’t Violet Lake Cemetery…” The intern Henry suddenly spoke, his expression hesitant.

Apart from Yan Suizhi, everyone was watching him, waiting for him to finish his sentence. 

“I’m not sure if I’ve remembered this correctly, but isn’t it…” Henry got caught midway again.

Despite this, judging from his expression, he felt that this was something that everyone should be able to instantly cotton on to.

Everyone was thrown off-beat by his words, their heads filling with confused fog. A moment later, Freida was the first to react. She slapped a thigh—

“OW. That’s my leg you’re slapping!” Henry howled. 

“I’m saying that I just remembered! Isn’t Dean Yan here too?” Freida was enlightened.

Yan Suizhi gave a start, finally snapping back to attention, “Hm?”

“I’m saying that the dean’s grave is here!” Freida said, “The reports mentioned it, right? Did I remember wrong?”

Yan Suizhi lightly uttered an “ah” like he had just thought of it, saying softly, “I think there was a mention of it.” 

For a fleeting moment, he looked lost in thought, his beautiful eyes narrowing slightly before he quickly looked out the car window. To the side of the car, the large signage of Violet Lake Cemetery could be seen, standing quietly by a lake surrounded by a pine forest.

Everyone’s attention was so focused on the fact that they were actually going to see the dean’s grave that they didn’t notice his odd expression.

Also, now that the subject had been brought up, everyone put on a mournful expression for the final ten minutes of the journey, dousing the car in a sombre atmosphere.

Yan Suizhi, who had finally come back to the present, leaned back in his seat and silently admired the scenery, feeling that his own face had turned into a greyscale mourning portrait. 

“Hello, Mr Zeng? We’ve arrived at the cemetery gates.” After getting out of the car, Luke fished out the contact information that Hobbes had given him and dialled a communication call over to the person supposedly involved in the case.

The person on the other end was one of the staff at Violet Lake Cemetery, a friend of Hobbes’.

“The kid from Southcross Law Firm, right?” Luke had put his comms on speaker; the other party’s voice was loud enough for everyone to hear.

Mr Zeng said, “You’re here to crack the case? Just one moment, I’ve a few guests over, I’ll go over to you when I’m done with them. You can wait in the office area—the parlour, for a while. Or you can walk around and see if there’s anyone you want to pay your respects to?” 

Everyone, “…” Your cemetery has a real unique way of receiving visitors.

For the intern’s preliminary assessment in a law firm like Southcross, the people they had to approach were various friends of the lawyers made to dutifully play the role of the parties involved in the various cases. Some of them enjoyed the roleplay so much that they could win an Oscar for it and had the time of their lives, treating it just as if all those cases were real.

“Does he really have guests?” Luke grunted after cutting off the call.

The cemetery didn’t usually have many people. To prevent them from interfering with Mr Zang’s work, the day Hobbes arranged for them was actually a day that the cemetery was closed. 

“Let’s just stroll around first, then.” Freida said.

Ten minutes later, thanks to Mr Zang’s unorthodox suggestion, Yan Suizhi followed behind the other interns, weaving through the long stone steps and lush greenery in the cemetery to come face to face with his own gravestone, even holding two white flowers that Freida had forcibly shoved into his hand.

Yan Suizhi, in the mourning portrait, “…”

Yan Suizhi, holding the flowers, “…” 

The plot of land for the grave ought to have been picked by Maze University, and the mourning portrait was the same one that hung in the Hall of Fame—Yan Suizhi in glasses, sitting elegantly on an armchair with a heavy tome of legal code laid on his lap, a light smile in his eyes.

Both in appearance and demeanour, he looked impeccable.

It was particularly lamentable for such a portrait to appear on a gravestone.

He didn’t prepare any words beforehand, so the epitaph sounded very official. 

A noble soul slumbers here. He has saved many, and he has taught many. The gentle moonlight and fragrance of flowers in Violet Lake carry blessings for him. May he rest in peace.

Yan Suizhi, “…”

In all honesty, he wasn’t too eager to rest in peace.

As he symbolically pinned the flowers to the gravestone, Anna and Freida, of the more sentimental type, sighed. The rims of their eyes had reddened. 

It felt incredibly… profound, standing here alive and well, watching people pay respects to him.

Just as he was about to say something to the two young girls, he suddenly heard a voice from the stone steps not far behind him.

“Eh? Did someone get here ahead of us? Are they alumni too?” a female voice said.

Hearing this, Yan Suizhi looked back. And on a quiet path twenty or so metres away, he spotted Gu Yan’s face. 

“…”

Why are you everywhere??