CH 214

Not long after the soiree, the First-Class Lawyer selection committee finally started its evaluation process.

The original list of nominees had lawyers involved with the Manson Group case, who had improper dealings with the Manson brothers and Southcross’ partners, thus faced incarceration and their names automatically revoked from the list. 

Among these included Hobbes, who used to fight Gu Yan at every turn.

But even without the removal of his name, there was no competition.

The reason was that, excluding Yan Suizhi who had to abstain from voting, every First-Class Lawyer whose name decorated the Wall of Fame voted in complete accord for Gu Yan.

This was a rare sight during the final evaluation. After all, the selection committee was harsh; few were voted through with unanimous support. 

The last time this crowd of very different personalities was so united in their opinions probably dated decades back.

After every selection, the First-Class Lawyer Association would always hold a summit.

Although the bigwigs found these summits boring, they would always be in attendance. It wasn’t easy for fresh faces to be introduced to their ranks, after all, thus it was an accomplishment that should be celebrated.

The summit this time was scheduled for a month later at the association building on Redstone.

But before that, Yan Suizhi went down to Spring Ivy Hospital for a check-up with Lin Yuan.

“All the data is normal; it’s even better than I expected.” Lin Yuan studied the results slip and asked, “Did you get fevers or headaches or anything of that sort?”

Yan Suizhi, “No, not for a long time.”

Lin Yuan joked at this, “Seems like Lawyer Gu’s gene segment has taken well to you without any rejection whatsoever. If you encountered a gene source that likes to party around, it would have been harder on you.” 

It was the first time that Yan Suizhi heard someone using such descriptors for genes and it amused him. “Maybe the genes take after the owner and are just as taciturn as the person himself.”

Lin Yuan couldn’t contain his laughter.

“I heard on my way up that you’re going on a trip?” asked Yan Suizhi.

Lin Yuan set down the results slip and jogged his shoulders, saying, “Yeah, I was too caught up in work to take a break. I’m going on a nice long vacation this time.” 

“How long?”

“Half a month, tops.” Lin Yuan said. “Using the leaves I saved over the past three plus years. I’m planning to drop by Helan; didn’t Uncle Braids bring Jack there to recuperate? I’ll take a look then hop around a few other planets.”

“Helan? That’s a coincidence.” Yan Suizhi said, “I’m also planning to head over with Gu Yan in a few days.”

But the plans fell through in the end. They got held up a few days by a case at Nan Lu, so Lin Yuan departed a step ahead of them. 

Having worked at the hospital around the clock, it was ages since Lin Yuan last enjoyed such a long vacation.

It was hard for him to get used to at first; he would have insomnia at night and startle awake in the mornings. He would keep checking his smart device, ascertaining that there weren’t any emergency calls before flipping over and going back to sleep.

It took around four days before he was truly able to set his mind at ease.

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Some of these had lost all vestiges of the past, whereas some others remained untouched by the years.

After a week thereabout at Helan, he bought a departure flight ticket, intending to head to other destinations.

As he stood at Helan’s port preparing to go through the gate, his smart device suddenly buzzed twice. 

He flippantly pulled up the interface and glanced at it; there were two new messages.

The first message was a notice from Spring Ivy Hospital that the alliance had a newly established medical charity foundation, specialising in the research and relief of genetic diseases. It would be partnering with several major hospitals, and the headquarters had appointed him as the person in charge of this project on Spring Ivy’s side.

The message that followed immediately after was a greeting from the charity foundation.

Lin Yuan swiped down, planning to skim through it before closing the interface, but the last two lines pulled him short. 

Those two lines read:

Wishing you all the best. Bon voyage.

Ruan Ye

The message was clearly just official felicitations, and those two words clearly carried the foundation’s seal and not a personal signature. 

Yet, for a split second, it still created an illusion.

As though… one day many years later, a far-travelling message from a deceased person suddenly came in, telling him—Long time no see.

Lin Yuan stared at the sign-off, rooted to the spot for a long while, before soundless laughter suddenly bubbled from him.

✵ 

It was a week later that Yan Suizhi and Gu Yan touched down on Helan.

Gu Yan had spent his childhood years at 24 Sequoia Avenue in the Golden Rose District of Helan.

“When did you move away?” It was Yan Suizhi’s first time visiting Gu Yan’s old family house and he was curious even before arrival.

“Until middle school, then I went to study and work at De Carma. This place was vacant for a few years,” said Gu Yan. 

“Vacant? Your grandfather doesn’t live here?”

“He lived on both sides. He works at Tian Qin and has an apartment there so he only returned after his retirement.” Gu Yan said, “After he moved back, I would stay here for a few days every few months.”

At the mention of Tian Qin, a thought flashed across Yan Suizhi’s mind, but he didn’t manage to tug onto it, simply responding with an “oh”.

It wasn’t until they stood in front of the mansion that Dean Yan gleaned what that fleeting thought was all about… 

Because when the door opened, Gu Yan’s grandfather was sitting on the plush sofa in the drawing room, glasses in hand as he turned his head over.

The senior’s hair was silvery white and he appeared hale and hearty. It could be seen that he must have been an exceptionally handsome youth, just that he habitually kept a poker face, thus looking unusually strict.

Well… that was quite the coincidence. He was the spitting image of the Chief Justice at Yan Suizhi’s first court trial.

The very same gentleman who Yan Suizhi had described as ‘an upstanding man of integrity but possibly suffered from slight paralysis in his facial nerves’. 

…That he had described right to Gu Yan’s face.

Yan Suizhi, “…”

The old judge, “…”

Even from this stare-down halfway across the living room, it was clear from their expressions that both parties had equally deep impressions of each other. 

They woodenly turned to look at Gu Yan.

Lawyer Gu coughed with a hand over his mouth.

It was on such occasions that the true nature of the otherwise-aloof student was exposed.

Fortunately, both Yan Suizhi and the old judge had favourable impressions of each other. More than favourable, even, with mutual respect. 

Therefore, when they did sit together, the ambience as they conversed was still rather pleasant.

Although the old judge was serious by nature, even reserved by virtue of his occupation, Gu Yan could tell that his grandfather was in a good mood, relaxed and happy as he listened to Yan Suizhi speak.

It didn’t come as any surprise to Gu Yan, since… that was Yan Suizhi.

Nearing the end of their visit, the old judge also mentioned, “I’ve already retired and we’re in a personal setting, too, you don’t have to address me so formally. It makes me feel as though I’m in a court session.” 

Yan Suizhi turned the glass in his hand, as though on purpose, asking, “What address would be appropriate, in that case… sire?”

Gu Yan lowered his head and pinched the bridge of his nose.

When a certain dean got up to his antics, it was irrespective of age; there was no one he dared not to tease.

The old judge silently sipped his tea, then expressed his opinion of this address, “It reminds me of visiting university students.” 

Yan Suizhi elegantly took a sip of warm water. “Then… granddad?”

The old judge austerely choked on his tea.

Yan Suizhi smiled, hastily reaching over to pat the old judge on the back.

After the old judge recovered his breath, he said, “Mn… that’ll do.” 

Yan Suizhi and Gu Yan accompanied the elder for lunch. Thereafter, they rested briefly before driving down to Zone 13.

The southern suburbs of Zone 13 of Helan had a wide expanse of quiet pines, backed by a rolling gentle slope and surrounded by a deep lake.

That was Juniper Cemetery.

The resting place of Yan Suizhi’s parents. 

They parked the car in the shade outside the cemetery and, with a bouquet of pink roses, weaved the long flight of steps up to two gravestones standing side by side.

It was only upon closer inspection that Gu Yan discovered that the two gravestones were actually connected. On them, the attractive couple had eyes that resembled Yan Suizhi’s, smiling softly and quietly.

Yan Suizhi held the bouquet of pink roses, his eyes cast down, gazing upon them just as softly and quietly.

Once, Gu Yan had pictured this scene; he imagined that Yan Suizhi would linger here for a long while, with many, many things that he wanted to tell the two elders. 

After all, so much had happened in this time. A whole day could pass just talking about any random affair.

But Yan Suizhi did not.

He simply stood for a while before the graves, then said, “Quite a bit has happened this year, so I haven’t been able to take time to come over… Did you miss me?”

The cemetery was tranquil, with only the breeze rustling through the branches of the pines diluting the silence. 

Yan Suizhi laughed softly. “Nevermind. Such sappy words don’t suit me. I’m here today because I wanted to let you meet someone. His name is Gu Yan; you might have heard me mention him before? The student who always stormed off but would return without a word to write his reports. But that was a long time ago. He’s my partner now.”

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t recall, just remember him from now on… When I come back to visit in the future, he’ll probably also be with me.”

“…By the way, I went to the hospital a while back. That little defect in my genes is gone for good, so you don’t have to worry.”

He stuck a hand into the pocket of his pants while his other hand gently brushed the fallen twigs from the gravestone. 

Just like that, he breezed past the close shaves with death in the past year.

“There was a musical touring Fa Wang District the previous day, the same one you tricked me into watching last time. I went to catch it with Gu Yan again. I don’t know if the cast has changed; the stage lights were too bright for me to make out their faces. I ended up dozing off again less than halfway through. But I woke up earlier this time and watched the ending. It’s the usual cliche, happy ending all around, but… admittedly, I can see why you like it.”

“Now that I think about it, I seem to remember a line that goes ’till we meet again.'”

“…So, then. Till we meet again.” 

Yan Suizhi softly tapped his finger on the gravestone, like a casual but intimate greeting. “We’ll be going first. Sleep tight.”

Good night.