DLRAS Chapter 21.1

Chapter 21.1

Zheng Bingyi’s personal lawyer was surnamed Cao. The reason Chen Wengang had asked to meet him was simple: his father’s inheritance.

Back when Chen Wengang’s father died, all matters regarding the estate had been witnessed and agreed upon under the supervision of a lawyer sent by Old Master Zheng.

In the reception room, he shook hands with Lawyer Cao, who politely invited him to sit.

This legal elite in his fifties had a clear, agile mind, like a high-capacity computer. Even though more than ten years had passed, he still remembered Chen Wengang’s situation in perfect detail. Because of that, the conversation went very smoothly, and in truth it took only a little over twenty minutes.

Chen Wengang sighed inwardly.

The matter on his uncle’s side had never really been much of a legal problem in the first place, and there had never been any need to steal the property certificate. With a good lawyer, there were always more methods than difficulties. The real issue had only ever been how thin his blood ties were.

But what could not be forced simply could not be forced.

“Also, you mentioned that for all these years, your father’s house has been in a state of being rented out to outsiders—”

“My only request is that it be vacated,” Chen Wengang said. “As long as I can move back into it, that’s enough. I’ll leave the rest in your hands.”

The moment Lawyer Cao heard that, he understood where the boundaries lay. “I understand.”

When Chen Wengang came out of the law firm, Yu Shanding’s car was still parked in the same place as before. Huo Niansheng had gotten out of the car and was leaning against the door, smoking.

When he saw Chen Wengang, a trace of a smile appeared on his face. Chen Wengang walked toward him, and Huo Niansheng pulled the door open for him.

On the way back, Huo Niansheng still drove, taking Chen Wengang back to the Zheng residence.

On the road, Yu Shanding asked, “Did everything get taken care of?”

“Not yet.” Chen Wengang turned to look at him, thought a moment, though the corner of his gaze actually drifted to the other man, and said, “Boss Yu, you know a lot of people. Do you happen to know any young lawyers with four or five years of practice experience?”

“In what area? And why does it have to be someone with four or five years exactly?”

Chen Wengang smiled gently. “Young lawyers usually have fewer cases in hand, so they’re more personally involved. If they’ve practiced for a few years, then they won’t be too inexperienced. Compared with paying a huge fee for a star lawyer, someone like that suits ordinary people better. Ideally someone good at online reputation disputes.”

Yu Shanding stroked his chin. “What kind of reputation dispute? Internet slander, that sort of thing?”

“Nothing that serious,” Chen Wengang said. “Just some gossip that needs to be dealt with.”

The legal team kept by the Zheng family was certainly not there for nothing. He had just come out from meeting a top lawyer, and now wanted to find another one in private, which made it obvious that this was something he did not want others to know about. Chen Wengang’s tone was light, but there was plenty beneath it worth pondering.

At the very least, Yu Shanding was pondering wildly.

“In that case, instead of asking Boss Yu, you should ask me,” Huo Niansheng interjected. Then, in a tone that sounded either proud or shamelessly amused—hard to say which—he laughed and added, “Do you know how many lawyer’s letters my legal team sends to paparazzi every year on my behalf?”

The paparazzi in Jincheng were famous for being fearless, especially when it came to digging up stories on the wealthy. Even the King of Heaven himself was not beyond their reach. The only question was how often someone ended up in the papers. For someone as flamboyant in his conduct as Huo Niansheng, he was naturally one of their favorite subjects.

Some busybodies had even said he and the paparazzi had a love-hate symbiotic relationship. If they were ever short on story ideas and the tabloids still needed to make a living, they would drag him out for material, and there had even once been articles analyzing his sexual prowess and marriage prospects through his facial features and physique.

So Chen Wengang said with a smile, “If you send too many lawyer’s letters, they stop being scary. The paparazzi might think you’re just scratching them.”

Huo Niansheng burst out laughing, not offended in the slightest. “Then what should I do? Kill one chicken to scare the monkeys—drag someone out, pour them into cement, and sink them in the sea?” He went on, “I’ll give you my lawyer’s contact. Whatever it is, just go to him directly and tell him I sent you.”

When the car reached the Zheng residence gate, Huo Niansheng really did hand Chen Wengang a business card.

Chen Wengang glanced at it. The lawyer’s surname was Zhu.

Huo Niansheng did not ask a single word about his purpose. He only said that if it happened to fall outside Lawyer Zhu’s area of expertise, he could recommend someone more suitable.

His tone was offhand, as if he had casually shoved the lawyer toward him. But Chen Wengang actually recognized the name.

Huo Niansheng naturally would not know this, but in his previous life it had been exactly this Lawyer Zhu who had placed Huo Niansheng’s will in front of Chen Wengang and asked him to sign it.

At first, he had been Huo Niansheng’s trusted man for ten years. Later, he had been Chen Wengang’s trusted man for ten years as well.

The edge of the business card pressed lightly against his fingertip. Chen Wengang smiled, then lifted his head and thanked him.

Huo Niansheng leaned against the car door and chatted with Chen Wengang. Before leaving, Chen Wengang took off the jacket he had been draped in.

But the clothes had already absorbed water and carried a damp chill. He hesitated for just a moment, yet Huo Niansheng had already taken it back. “I’ll have someone deal with it. Don’t worry about it. Go back inside.”

Yu Shanding had gotten out of the car too, continuing to honor the terms of his lost bet by running back to the driver’s seat. Grinning, he said goodbye to Chen Wengang.

Before leaving, Huo Niansheng suddenly called out to Chen Wengang again for no particular reason.

Chen Wengang bent slightly at the waist and looked into the car through the window.

Huo Niansheng smiled. “I almost forgot to say—Baoqiu gave me a bottle of wine. She said you picked it out. Thank you. I like it very much.”

Chen Wengang’s brows curved slightly, and he waved goodbye to them.

In the rearview mirror, Yu Shanding saw Chen Wengang’s reflection. Even after the car had gone some distance, he was still standing where he was, watching them off.

There was no youthful greenness about him. The way he stood there was simply the steadiness and gentleness left behind by time.

At three in the afternoon, the Zheng residence was strangely empty. Not a single member of the family was in the living room. Who knew what everyone had gone off to busy themselves with.

Chen Wengang changed into clean shoes at the entrance, but when he reached the bend in the staircase, Zheng Yucheng blocked his way.

After the last mishap at the venue, Zheng Yucheng had become even busier than before, like a snake once bitten that now feared every rope. He wished he could inspect every detail personally.

Chen Wengang, by contrast, had a much easier life than he did, to the point that sometimes they barely saw each other all day.

Zheng Yucheng had something he wanted to say, but he hemmed and hawed over it and began with a clumsy opening line. “…Big Sister wants to invite us to dinner.”

The “Big Sister” he referred to was Zheng Dongqing, who had already married.

“She said neither she nor Brother-in-law knew that the planning company their friend recommended would turn out like that and almost cause us such huge trouble. Big Sister feels genuinely bad about it, so she and Brother-in-law want to apologize to us in person.”

Chen Wengang politely declined. “Some people love cheating acquaintances most. If she had known the company was like that, she definitely wouldn’t have recommended it to you. I won’t go to dinner. You all go. She’s your sister—you should have been taking the initiative to have meals with her anyway, and checking in on her more.”

Zheng Yucheng’s expression became hard to read. The way Chen Wengang was speaking now meant he truly intended to put some distance between them.

In the past, if Chen Wengang had spoken to him in this polite, “you and I” official tone, Zheng Yucheng would already have blown up, and they definitely would have argued.

But now, it seemed as if he had lost even the energy to quarrel, while all Chen Wengang wanted was to go back and change into clean clothes.

Zheng Yucheng reached out and grabbed him again. “Wait. I only just found out—the venue at Crown was something you got from Huo Niansheng.”

That day, Manager Mao had taken Chen Wengang and Xiao Lin to negotiate with Yu Shanding. After they came back, the matter had already been settled, and no one knew the details in between.

But Manager Mao was an expert in climbing and currying favor. Seeing that Chen Wengang did not speak up, and that Xiao Lin had no right to report directly to Zheng Yucheng, the whole matter ended up resting entirely on Mao’s own version of events. As he talked, all the credit gradually became his.

Zheng Yucheng had believed it, thinking all along that the issue had been solved through profits promised via Yu Shanding.

It was not until yesterday, when everyone had been working overtime and Xiao Lin casually mentioned one detail in conversation, that he realized it was not like that at all.

But Chen Wengang only said, “Don’t think too much about it. As long as you know the outcome turned out well, that’s enough. The rest isn’t important.”

Zheng Yucheng still stood there blocking the way. Stubbornly, he asked, “Did Huo Niansheng give you any trouble?”

Chen Wengang answered, “No. He agreed very readily.”

Zheng Yucheng found this description of “readily” deeply suspicious. That sort of almost friendly, kind adjective did not come easily to mind when connected to the Huo Niansheng he knew. He wanted to ask more, opened his mouth, but then—what exactly could he ask?

What kind of saint was Huo Niansheng? Why would he be so accommodating toward Chen Wengang?

Zheng Yucheng did not want to think too far in the ugly direction. Instinctively, he dodged certain possibilities.

And yet those possibilities gnawed at the edge of his mind like insects—not painful in any fierce way, but numb and itchy.

“In any case, stop having so much contact with him. Someone like that doesn’t just do people favors for no reason.”

“Mm. Alright. Got it,” Chen Wengang said.

“Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not trying to interfere with who you’re friends with, or who you spend time with.” Zheng Yucheng frowned with those handsome brows of his. “It’s just that you’re too naive. You trust people too easily. I’m afraid someone will use you and you still won’t realize it.”

Footsteps approached down the corridor, accompanied by a couple of coughs. It was the butler, Old Lin.

Chen Wengang immediately stepped back, widening the distance between himself and Zheng Yucheng.

Old Lin came up to them, frowned, and reached to touch Chen Wengang’s collar. “You got caught in the rain?”

Chen Wengang quickly said, “It’s alright. It’s almost dry already.”

“Then all the more reason to change immediately. What do you mean, almost dry? The dampness will settle right into your joints.”

Under the old butler’s watchful gaze, Chen Wengang hurried upstairs, leaving Zheng Yucheng behind.

Back in his own room, he took a hot shower, dried his hair, and changed into a black lounge outfit with a white sailboat embroidered over the chest.

When he heard someone knock, he went over and opened the door. Old Lin was there with a tray carrying a cup of ginger tea.

“Xiao Mei came by just now to bring it, but when she knocked you didn’t answer. So I guessed you were bathing.”

“Sorry, I didn’t hear.” Chen Wengang took it from him and thanked him, then after a pause added, “Zheng Yucheng and I weren’t saying anything important just now.”

Old Lin gave him a light smack. “What are you saying? Makes it sound like my daily work is to stare at the two of you. Living under one roof, it’s impossible not to run into each other. No one said you can’t exchange a word at all. As long as you know where your own limits are, that’s enough.”

The ginger tea was sweet, with brown sugar in it, so sweet that the sharpness of the ginger could barely be tasted. It gave off thick white steam.

After just two sips, warmth quickly spread through Chen Wengang’s body.

He tucked Lawyer Zhu’s business card into his wallet, then took the tray and cup back downstairs and left them for a servant to collect.

There was nothing else especially urgent to do that day, and no one else was home. Stealing half a day of leisure from life, Chen Wengang went to the study as he was heading upstairs and casually picked out a book. Back in his room, he turned on the stereo, selected some music at random, and climbed into bed.

The warm, dry environment made him lazy. With a blanket draped over his legs, he turned the pages one by one.

The book was a horror novel with a touch of science fiction, fitting the gloomy weather outside. The rain beyond the windows still came and went in intervals, and now it had started again. The raindrops tapping against the glass interwove with the slow piano music into a strange kind of rhythm.

After reading for who knew how long, a soft drowsiness gradually came over him.

He put the book on the bedside table, slid lower into the bed, wrapped himself in the blanket, and closed his eyes.

Whether it was because of the white noise or something else, this sleep was peaceful and steady.

Support me on Ko-fi