DFLB – Chapter 90

tl note: If you’re wondering ‘Where is Chapter 89.2?’ Well, it’s free on my Patreon because it’s too explicit for my WordPress.

Now on to chapter 90…

Qian Wei had no idea what time it was when Lu Xun was finally satisfied, she only knew that this guy really seemed to have inhuman physical strength. Once he was content, he took a quick bath, booked a red-eye flight so that he could make his morning meeting, and then kissed the barely awake Qian Wei goodbye. By that point, Qian Wei was so tired that she barely managed to catch a whiff of his aftershave before helplessly tumbling into dreamland. 

As expected, Qian Wei slept very late the next day and, when she finally woke up, she somehow felt as if she were an old tractor that had been chugging steadily along for a long time but then suddenly came across a particularly wild driver one night and was now on the verge of breaking down.  

Of course, she ended up late for work. Fortunately, there was nothing important happening at the office, so her lateness didn’t cause any issues. 

“Qian Wei, would you like some milk tea?”

As soon as Qian Wei sat down, Xiao Yan from the Administration Department suddenly came over carrying five or six bottles of milk tea in her hands. Her face was a bit red as he said: “Actually, I won 500 yuan from the lottery yesterday, so I want to give back to society by inviting everyone to have a drink.”

Qian Wei nodded and thanked Xiao Yan with a smile before picking up one of the bottles. She took a sip and found that the taste was very rich and pure. She couldn’t help but exclaim: “Wow, this is delicious! Did you buy it near our building? Which place sells this? You really have a conscience!”

As Xiao Yan handed out the milk tea to the other gathered colleagues, she replied, “This milk tea is sold in the little shop down the block from our office building. Originally there was a western restaurant in that spot, but it closed down and last month it was replaced by a cat cafe. I’ve gone in a few times and they have a good variety of cats inside. Actually, I’ve been going there a lot on my lunch breaks, and the last time I went I even spotted Partner Lu inside!”

Hearing that, Qian Wei was confused, but before she could speak someone asked the question on her mind ahead of her: “Huh, really? But why would Partner Lu go to a cat cafe? That’s ridiculous. Isn’t he allergic to cat hair?”

At that moment, another senior lawyer, Lawyer Zheng, happened to be walking by. Lawyer Zheng was 45 this year and she was one of Lu Xun’s mother’s old friend, and she could be considered half an elder to Lu Xun. She smiled and said: “Although Partner Lu is allergic to cat hair, he has known about his allergy since he was very young and he always carries his anti-allergy medicine with him. His condition isn’t too serious, and it’s fine for him to sit in a cat cafe. Even if his allergies start to act up, he can just take his medicine.” She sent a thoughtful look at Qian Wei before continuing, “He actually usually doesn’t mention this matter to other people, but I remember that he told you, didn’t he? A pity that you didn’t seem to take it to heart.”

Qian Wei was a bit stupefied and she suddenly remembered that time when Lu Xun had a serious allergic reaction. Back then, a client had brought in a cat, a beautiful little calico, and Qian Wei had liked it very much and it had also liked her. She had patted it many times and even held it in her arms. Even when its owner called it, it didn’t want to come down, and in the end, she had even ended up going over to show Lu Xun.

With this reminder from Lawyer Zheng, her hazy memory of that day cleared up a bit and she remembered that when she had held the cat up to show Lu Xun, his body had been very stiff and uncomfortable. In hindsight, his behavior had been very unnatural, but Qian Wei had been too distracted by the cat in her arms and hadn’t noticed his abnormality at all. 

She suddenly wondered what kind of feelings had Lu Xun felt at that moment? Obviously, he had gone out of his way to tell her that he was allergic to cat hair, but her thick-headed self had completely tossed the information out of mind. In the end, he could only watch helplessly as he was ignored by the one he loved. Probably it had caused all sorts of heartache.

However, despite the heartache, he was still able to quickly manipulate the situation so that Qian Wei would have to take care of him by deliberately not taking his anti-allergy medicine. Qian Wei snorted inside, from this episode it could clearly be seen that Lu Xun was a schemer. Definitely a schemer.

Xiao Yan was actually fairly new to the law firm, and she had never heard of Lu Xun’s allergy to cats. She looked very surprised as she said: “But I clearly saw Partner Lu going into the cat cafe after work that day. I was right behind him when he ordered, and he even deliberately touched some of the cats, but he didn’t take any medicine. No wonder when I saw him in the office a bit later on he had a big rash! I remember I offered to take him to the hospital, but he told me it wasn’t necessary…”

Huh? It seemed that Qian Wei had unexpectedly stumbled across the reason as to why she had been forced to leave her blind date halfway on that day back then. It seemed that this guy, Lu Xun, had intentionally set everything up! In order to sabotage her blind date, he had deliberately gone down the road to touch a cat, and then deliberately didn’t take his medicine so that his allergies would flare up and he could call her to come back. It was really a fraud!

Qian Wei didn’t know whether to laugh or cry and, for some reason, she suddenly felt a strange mixture of heartache and amusement. She really never would have expected that the 28 year-old Lu Xun, who was renowned for his ruthlessness in the legal circle, would come up with such a silly trick.

She couldn’t help but want to cover her face in embarrassment. Lu Xun, ah, he was usually so flat and expressionless, but just how much did he like her in his heart! 

“The matter regarding Rui Yi law firm has finally come to an end! The Justice Bureau has issued an administrative penalty, and Wang Yue’s lawyer’s license has been revoked! On top of that, the judgment for his criminal proceedings had also come out, and he was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment for the crime of obstructing justice!” Suddenly, Lawyer Zhang came in from outside looking very excited. “I just got back from the courthouse, and all the lawyers were gossiping about that matter! I have to say, that scum deserved it!”

“Huh?” Qian Wei was stunned. It turned out that even Rui Yi Law Firm and Wang Yue were real characters?

She was very curious: “What are you talking about?”

“Do you remember that the firm received a pro bono case two months ago, regarding recovering wages for those migrant workers who hadn’t been paid?”

Qian Wei nodded: “I remember. But didn’t you already succeed in recovering those workers’ wages? What do they have to do with Rui Yi Law Firm?”

“Rui Yi actually intended to trick that group of victimized migrant workers into hiring them but, in the end, we picked up the case pro bono, effectively ‘stealing’ their clients. Also, this isn’t the first time our firm has done this, so they’ve always been holding a grudge.” Lawyer Zhang looked a bit surprised as he continued, “You should know though, since you were the one who personally stole Wang Yue’s cases many times before, right? Didn’t he even come directly to our firm wanting to make trouble with you that one time?”

Qian Wei was shocked: “Such a thing happened? Why haven’t I ever heard anything about it? “

“Hmm, I seemed to remember that you happened to be out at court at the time and, in the end, Partner Lu was the one who handled it. I think he was worried that Wang Yue would keep holding a grudge against you because he just insisted that you weren’t in the firm and didn’t let Wang Yue try to look for you at all. But that Wang Yue probably has something wrong with his brain, because he even got physical and smashed a cup during their meeting. I remember because Partner Lu’s arm was scratched by the broken glass.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? I had no idea!”

Lawyer Zhang made a “shushing” gesture and continued in a slightly lower voice: “Well, it’s because Partner Lu told us not to tell you. I think he was afraid the whole situation would affect your mood and cause you to feel some psychological burden for ‘being protected’. However, it shouldn’t matter by this point, right? Because, last time when you were coming back from court you overheard us talking about Wang Yue and Rui Yi, don’t you remember?”

After thinking about it for a moment, Qian Wei suddenly realized that she really did remember! It seemed that such a thing had really happened. Back then, she had vaguely overheard her colleagues talking about Rui Yi but, as soon as she had gone up to join the conversation, everyone seemed to have some sort of silent and tacit understanding and immediately changed the topic and began talking about some dog-blood TV drama.

It seemed that the human brain and memory were both truly magical things, always collecting information. Letting her see, just from all the little dribs and drabs of her daily life, that there had long been clues that Lu Xun had always been loving and protecting her…

All of a sudden Qian Wei actually began to feel a little grateful for the accident that had caused her to fall into a coma. She began to feel that maybe destiny was real, and that maybe destiny had interfered with her life to let her see Lu Xun’s love for her. Even though it was a pity that they had missed out on those nine years, she suddenly wanted nothing more than to firmly seize this moment. After all, the road ahead of her and Lu Xun was still long. Life was a long, long process.

Now, hearing about Rui Yi Law Firm and Wang Yue again, something that Qian Wei had buried in her heart began to come awake. She realized that, perhaps, in her heart of hearts, she had always wanted to help the needy in society who couldn’t afford expensive legal fees. Perhaps that was why she had built that large pro bono platform in her dream world. 

And now, although she was no longer 19, perhaps that dream was still possible. After all, as a 28 year old lawyer, she definitely had more convincing work experience and a wider range of connections than she ever did when she was 19.

Qian Wei’s heart was suddenly full of surging passion, and she really wanted to set up the same kind of online platform that she had in her dream, she wanted to speak for the people who were struggling at the bottom, and she wanted to see a world where everyone, whether they were poor or rich, whether they were educated or not, could enjoy the rights and protections they were afforded under the law. She wanted to sweep away the thousands of scummy law firms like Rui Yi, to forcibly expose roguish lawyers like Wang Yue, to restore the reputation of the legal profession, and to build a healthy and orderly legal system.

Although she knew that this ideal of her’s was very grand, to the point that other people would probably call her naive, Qian Wei’s heart was still full of optimism and passion despite that. She felt that if a person was alive, they needed to have dreams. Even if others might call her dreams naive, if she tried with all her might who could say that her dreams wouldn’t really come true? Qian Wei began to encourage herself. Anyway, even that Lu Xun, the cold and noble ice prince, had fallen before her skirt in the end, so what could really be called impossible in this world? So long as a person dared to fight, there was a chance to win!

With those optimistic thoughts in mind, Qian Wei immediately took out her savings and invested in creating the online platform she had seen in her dreams. However, now that she was older, she could not only seek cooperation from the local law schools, but also get in touch with various law firms with her own connections.

“Oh my god! Guess who I just saw?! It was Li Mengyan! I saw her in the parking lot! You know, the one who has recently been exploding in popularity overnight thanks to her excellent acting skills! I have no idea why she was in the parking lot, but she’s really just as good-looking in person as in her photos! Her face is small, her skin is white, and her figure is excellent! Although she was wearing a mask, hat, and sunglasses, I would never mistake that figure!”

Just as Qian Wei had started to get busy doing preliminary research for her online platform, one of her colleagues, Lawyer Chen, ran inside with bright and excited eyes. Lawyer Chen was usually very serious and professional, but sometimes she would get swept away and act like a starstruck little girl when it came to stars in the entertainment circle. And recently, Li Mengyan was her new favorite star of all, so Qian Wei had heard all kinds of praise for Li Mengyan, like how she was so powerful, and how she was so righteous, and how she didn’t ever play around or change her attitude even after she got big.

Surprisingly, before Lawyer Chen even finished speaking, Qian Wei suddenly saw that very same newly popular Li Mengyan come in behind her.

“Excuse me…”

Lawyer Chen turned around, and her expression immediately transformed into a look of great shock: “L-Li… Li… Li Mengyan!”

It seemed that Li Mengyan really was a star that didn’t put on airs, because upon being recognized she quickly took off her mask and sunglasses to reveal her small and delicate face and gave a soft smile. Qian Wei couldn’t help but take another look. Her face really was very beautiful, it seemed that her recent popularity wasn’t for nothing. However, Qian Wei also somehow felt that Li Mengyan’s face seemed a little familiar.

Since a big time star had suddenly come to the law firm while straightforwardly revealing her identity, the firm immediately kicked into high gear and prepared a lavish welcome in one of the conference rooms. Lu Xun had begun to expand the number of clients from the entertainment circle over the past half a year or so and, after successfully settling several important legal matters for some stars and their agencies, various agencies, film and television companies, and stars had been seeking him out for cooperation. However, this was the first time that a big star had personally come in for a legal consultation, and she hadn’t even made an appointment beforehand, so the people from the law firm were a bit flustered. 

Xiao Yan looked at Li Mengyan nervously, and eventually stuttered out: “Miss Li, Partner Lu is currently out of town on a business trip, if you’re here to look for him…”

Li Mengyan smiled lightly and said, “No, I wasn’t here to look for him.” She turned to face Qian Wei. “Qian Wei, I came to look for you.”

Qian Wei: ???

Suddenly at the center of a ring of bright and excited eyes, Qian Wei could only look back at Li Mengyan confusedly, completely at a loss.

“It just so happened that my filming location was nearby and I had a bit of free time after I finished shooting. I asked one of our mutual friends some time ago and found out that you were currently working at this law firm, so I specially came over to see you.” Li Mengyan smiled at Qian Wei. “There are some things that I’ve always wanted to say to you face to face.”

Even until the two of them were sitting together in the conference room, Qian Wei was still feeling at a loss. She pointed to herself questioningly: “Could there be some misunderstanding? Although my name is Qian Wei, do we know each other?”

“You may not know Li Mengyan, but perhaps you might remember Li Linlin?”

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