CH 135

Yan Suizhi picked and tried every person that Young Master Joe had mentioned, and found that Mr Jim Bens really had paid attention to and snapped photographs of everything.

Although his photos lacked focus, there were always far more people and things fit into one picture than others had. 

What many-year-old cold cases lacked most was precisely these bits and ends that could still recreate the original scene.

“Then, Mr Bens,” Yan Suizhi asked, “would you mind sharing the photos you took in the past?”

Bens unconsciously shot back, “And what if I do?”

Immediately after, he heard a laugh from the other end, followed by another voice faintly drifting into his ears. That man asked in a low voice, “What are you laughing at?” 

Fuck.

Bens’ lips twitched, a soundless expletive leaping out.

He was extremely sensitive to this voice. Just hearing it made him want to clutch his camera tighter.

“Is that Lawyer Gu next to you?”  Bens asked.

“Yeah.”

Bens had a trauma response in the shape of Gu Yan. “Let’s talk later. I’ll catch you again when he’s not around.”

“Then you don’t have to bother. He’s always around.”

Gu Yan, “???” 

Bens, “???”

Yan Suizhi had only said so casually, but he vaguely heard Jim Bens mutter softly, “What relationship do you two have where you’d be joined at the hip all day. It wouldn’t really be as the rumours said, would it…”

“Rumours?” Yan Suizhi arched his brows. “What rumours?”

In the earpiece, Bens didn’t immediately answer, as though weighing something. 

“I suggest that you just say it straight,” Yan Suizhi said calmly.

“It’s nothing much…” The two of them probably did implant a psychological shadow on Bens. Hearing Yan Suizhi say this, he unconsciously opened his mouth to say, “Just a while ago, my friend received a tip that said…”

He trailed off deliberately, building up the suspense, “That Southcross Law Firm’s young and promising Lawyer Gu had a bit of an ambiguous relationship with his intern.”

“Oh, really?” The smile on Yan Suizhi’s face sharpened, yet no change could be heard in his voice. “That thrilling?” 

Bens, “…”

This intern’s response was way too insolent.

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He had expected that the intern would fluster, or even go mute for a few seconds, maybe stammer a bit. 

Who knew that the other would instead chuckle, saying, “The way it looks, I’m the one who has reaped the most.”

“…” Bens, “What’s wrong with you?”

The other was extremely frank. “I’ve always been like this. Is there a problem?”

Bens said, “Not really, no. Not now, of course. But the tip-off talked about it in such detail it was like noses had eyes.” 

“What noses had eyes? Let me hear it?”

Bens, “It goes that Lawyer Gu never used to accept interns, but made an exception when it came to you; that’s number one. Interns don’t normally get opportunities to appear in court, mostly still running around doing errands half a year in. But you went to court the first case that came along after you followed Lawyer Gu; that’s number two. And then there’s that case on Tian Qin. How much special attention must your mentor have lavished on you for an intern to perform as well as you did?”

When Bens spoke of this, he began to blab more, affecting the airs of an experienced man. “You’re not in this line of business. You don’t know what it means when rumours really get out. Its veracity doesn’t matter. As long as you can draw a causation effect, people will believe it. After reading it, some people will think, ‘That’s true. It is quite abnormal. It turned out to be this; no wonder.'”

After that, he added, “You’re still so young. It’s normal that you haven’t experienced the severity of rumours and hearsay.” 

“I do happen to know something about it.” The intern paused, then said, “Who else has heard of it apart from you and your friend?”

Bens wanted to keep the other on tenterhooks, to get him to panic a bit and seek advice or whatnot. But it was like the other had achieved nirvana; he didn’t take the bait at all, as if completely assured that word had yet to spread.

So he could only say, “Not many right now. It’s still just a couple of sentences in passing among friends.”

This range was truly small, because those who had received the tip-off wouldn’t be stupid enough to deliver this juicy gossip into the hands of their competitors. Those like Bens, working at no-name media outlets, didn’t matter, for they couldn’t make any big splashes or steal the show. 

But it was impossible for anyone with the least bit of influence to know of it.

“Whoever provided the intel should have their own plans. They explicitly stated that they didn’t want it to go out immediately,” Bens said. “It’s quite smart. News about the infection is trending now, and no one can top that, whereas the Elderly Bobblehead case hasn’t peaked yet; it can be left to percolate for a few more days. Speaking of which… aren’t you curious who is the one behind it?”

“If you did know, would you have gone around in circles before saying it?” the intern said.

“…” 

Bens felt that dealing with lawyers was really suffocating…

Intern lawyers included.

“But, Mr Bens, I’d like to ask you for a favour.” The intern was an expert in the carrot-and-stick approach, having a firm grasp of playing polite right after pissing someone off.

Bens’ bellyful of anger putted out, unable to get a handle on Yan Suizhi. “What.” 

“Please let me know before your friend gets the go-ahead to expose the news,” the intern said, “this shouldn’t be a challenge for you to accomplish, Mr Bens.”

He spoke in affirmative, even smiling as he did. This way of putting it was so psychologically suggestive that Bens couldn’t even say no, as if saying no would mean that he didn’t have the ability to get the information for this favour.

Was a wimpy move of this sort something that Jim Bens would do?

But he didn’t want to make it too easy, so he said, “It’s true that it isn’t a challenge, but what do I get out of it?” 

The intern said, “A massive scoop?”

Bens snorted inwardly. “I don’t think you understand what a massive scoop means, kiddo. Besides, you know that I’m working at Honeycomb Media, right? Honeycomb Media, a website that wouldn’t get much attention even if it came out and said that Lawyer Gu was engaging in unspoken rules with his intern. Do you have any idea what kind of stuff you need to make the headlines?”

“What kind? Give me an example?”

“Hah,” Bens sneered, though it couldn’t be told if it was in self-derision or ridicule. What was even more laughable was that he was, for a time, actually unable to think of a headline that could salvage Honeycomb Media from deep-freeze, no matter how absurd the fabrication. His gaze swept across Hersey, who was next to him, and suddenly thought of the explosion case that this little assistant kept going on about. He offhandedly spun a few fanciful narratives, “Who knows, such as your Maze University’s dean rising from the grave? Or the shocking collapse of a mega consortium? Or that interstellar pirates have access to unlimited antimatter nukes, and are hurling one right over at us?” 

“Oh, that.” The intern actually considered it seriously for a moment. “Sure.”

Bens, “…”

Sure, my ass! I gave you a fire to light your fuse, and you really blasted off into the heavens.

He said in annoyance, “O-kay then, I’ll be waiting for your—massive—scoop. If you can’t get it done, remember to tell your Lawyer Gu that he owes me a favour.” 

The first half of the sentence was dripping in sarcasm, but he wasn’t joshing around in the second half.

“Then, if I promise you a massive scoop, would you mind sharing the photos you took in the past?”

Bens, “…”

Amazing. This jinxed intern couldn’t read sarcasm at all. 

He rolled his eyes, calling it quits. “I don’t mind. What do you want? Which years’? I’ll send it over to you when I go back upstairs in a bit.”

“All of it.”

“…”

Bens’ gulp of beer caught in his throat. 

In the garden restaurant, melodious musical notes waltzed in the air.

Yan Suizhi cut the line, stroking the slender stem of the wine glass.

When he closed his eyes, bowing his head, the restaurant’s lighting illuminated his features in gentle lustre. Further with the elegant smile that had yet to fade from the lines of his lips, his whole being appeared very gentle. So gentle that… no one could tell that he wasn’t in much of a mood. 

But he was actually very upset.

Because someone was trying to malign Gu Yan.

Tap.

There suddenly came two soft raps from the table surface. 

Yan Suizhi came back to his senses to find that Gu Yan, at an unknown point in time, had gotten up and was standing next to him. His gaze was cast down, and two slim fingers were casually resting on the edge of the table.

Obviously, he was the one who had made the two knocks just now to draw Yan Suizhi’s attention.

“Back?”

Yan Suizhi scanned the plates. “You’re done eating? Returning to the room now?” 

“No.” Gu Yan rubbed his fingers together. “Got a bit of wine on my fingers. I’m going to wash my hands.”

As he spoke, he slid his hand back into the pocket of his dress pants, bending at the waist to gently press a kiss to Yan Suizhi’s lips. He said in a low voice, “And settle the bet.”

“Who set the wager amount?” Yan Suizhi asked.

Gu Yan, “I did.” 

“That was only half of it.” He pecked Yan Suizhi’s lips again, until he saw genuine mirth curl on the corners of Yan Suizhi’s lips, then said, “Why were you upset just now?”

“I don’t remember; you kissed me out of it,” Professor Yan calmly and casually tossed the blame.

Gu Yan, “…”

— 

In the evening, the heavy rainstorm finally showed signs of stopping. The police at Hanjin Garden Hotel didn’t have any new reasons to keep the guests, and the guests took the chance to leave as the rain subsided. The police chief and his officers stood morosely, sending the guests off with their eyes.

Yan Suizhi eyed the rearview mirror and saw that Chief Xiao’s gaze was turned towards the Manson’s and Joe’s limousines, though it was hard to say if it looked more weighty or depressed.

Requested by his sister, Joe wasn’t returning to Tian Qin this time but dropping by a hotel to covertly meet with his sister and spy on how Old Fox was doing in passing before finding lodging in the vicinity.

But for some reason, the Mansons didn’t return to their principal residence either, staying in De Carma as well. 

The weather didn’t clear up as it usually would after a storm. It was still leaden with clouds, seemingly heavy with many raindrops that had yet to fall.

On the space podcar back to the villa, Yan Suizhi received the photographs that Jim Bens sent over.

He looked at the staggering amount and couldn’t help but say, “Thank goodness for modern technology, or these photos would probably have swallowed up the rest of my life.”

That night, he and Gu Yan, each wearing a pair of visioncare glasses, lounged on the sofa in the living room, and finished looking through almost half of it.