The Divorce Lawyer Is Very Hard To Flirt With - Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Pathogenic Gene (Catch)

Genetic testing? Control group? Pathogenic gene?

This touched upon Song Xidan’s blind spot in knowledge. She wanted to ask for clarification but didn’t know how to phrase her questions subtly. Subconsciously, she looked up at Ying Zhi’an and saw Ying Zhi’an quickly scribble a line of text and hand it to her.

“Speaking requires evidence. If you talk nonsense like that, I can sue you for defamation on behalf of my client.” Song Xidan read word for word, “Don’t speak carelessly. Your parents-in-law are still alive. Your daughter is not needed for a genetic control group for family history. His parents can also serve as the control group.”

“Heh heh.” The man sneered a few times. “Then who told his precious brother to have a gene mutation! No one else in the family has a problem, only he mutated. Hahaha, evil people get what they deserve! And of course, I have evidence! She must have made a mistake and sent her whole family’s genetic test reports to my phone! You’re her lawyer, right? I’ll send them to you now. I’m telling you, this divorce can happen, but the child must come with me, or everyone will know about this test report!”

Song Xidan’s eyes lit up. There was a sense of unreality that things were progressing too smoothly, but she suppressed the joy in her heart. Her tone remained unchanged. “Okay, I’ll add you now, send it to me.”

Only after the test report was sent did Song Xidan slowly and deliberately say, “I will convey your meaning to my client, but legally, you have been married for many years and have one daughter, living together for many years. The living expenses you gave my client are considered marital community property, used for joint marital life, and do not need to be returned. Much less the bride price, which was a voluntary gift made for the purpose of getting married. Even if you take it to court, the judge will not rule in your favor. If you don’t believe what I’m saying, you are welcome to find a local lawyer yourself and ask.”

After arguing a few more sentences with the other party, she considered the performance complete and the lawyer’s duty fulfilled.

Although Song Xidan was a novice, her unhurried manner of speaking made her seem somewhat composed. While she had forgotten some laws during her years of horse riding, the crash course over the past few days had been effective.

Meanwhile, Ying Zhi’an had already redacted the names from the complex genetic test report and forwarded it to a friend in the relevant medical field.

By the time Song Xidan hung up the phone, Ying Zhi’an roughly understood what kind of hell Zhu Yun was about to marry into!

What a colossal hell!

Ying Zhi’an snapped out of her focus on her phone and saw Song Xidan looking at her expectantly, which again reminded Ying Zhi’an of the horse she mentioned. Although she had never seen it, she always felt a resemblance.

Ying Zhi’an belatedly realized it was because Song Xidan’s eyes were too clear and clean, like the clouds in the sky, untouched by dust.

“Sister Zhi’an!” Song Xidan called softly, her voice gentle and pleasing, like the pure white snow on a high mountain.

All the imagery associated with Song Xidan related to the cleanest elements of nature.

Ying Zhi’an composed herself and explained, “A certain gene segment in Ms. Fang’s brother—Zhu Yun’s fiancé—has mutated. Even though he looks very healthy right now, he actually has densely distributed adenomatous polyps in his colon and rectum. My doctor friend said that this is an autosomal dominant inherited disease with a 50% chance of inheritance, and almost all patients will develop colorectal cancer before the age of 40. The lifetime risk of cancer for this disease is 100%!”

Ying Zhi’an’s voice, after reading the text message from her doctor friend, was bone-chilling. Fortunately, this doctor friend had been consulted by Ying Zhi’an often enough to be experienced, as Ying Zhi’an had handled so many divorce cases, each with unique circumstances, naturally involving the physical condition of one party. So, he even asked, Did you encounter another case of void marriage?

One of the divorce cases Ying Zhi’an represented was very famous because the client’s parents had later given Ying Zhi’an a commemorative banner with great fanfare and even live-streamed the process, desperately wanting the whole world to know that their child’s marriage was void.

Initially, the woman only wanted a divorce, but during the process, Ying Zhi’an discovered the husband had severe mental illness. While collecting evidence, she consulted with the client, and the case ultimately changed from a simple contested divorce to a lawsuit to confirm the marriage was void.

A void marriage is considered never to have existed, and a divorce certificate is never issued. A person’s resume doesn’t need to list “divorced”; they can simply list “single.”

However, compared to a void marriage, a marriage established by concealing an inherited disease is considered a voidable marriage.

If Zhu Yun truly married this man, she could file a lawsuit within two years of discovering the inherited disease, demanding the marriage be annulled.

She could exercise her right to annul or waive it. If she waived the right to annul within the statutory time limit, the marriage would be considered valid from the start.

Upon hearing the information about the “inherited disease,” Song Xidan immediately opened her phone to search for the disease and was confronted with images of the pathology! The dense, small polyps distributed in the colon and rectum were truly repulsive.

One popular science article mentioned that Familial Adenomatous Polyposis (FAP) is a highly penetrant autosomal dominant inherited disease, and a small number of variants are homozygous for a certain gene mutation. Song Xidan inferred that Zhu Yun’s fiancé was likely the latter.

Song Xidan closed the page on “FAP” on her phone, her tight frown still evident. “After they trick Zhu Yun into marriage, what will happen then?”

Ying Zhi’an sneered, “Ms. Fang’s husband already told us, didn’t he?”

“Told us?”

“The control group. If Ms. Fang’s daughter also has the disease, it would confirm the family inheritance and further pinpoint the pathogenic gene. I suspect that after Zhu Yun marries into the family, the Fang family will try every means to make her undergo third-generation in vitro fertilization (IVF).”

Song Xidan gritted her back teeth. “Shameless! How could they even think of that!”

“Yes, how could they dare. For women, IVF is not an easy process. From ovarian stimulation to egg retrieval, and then to embryo transfer, every step carries risks and harm. Have you seen the egg retrieval needle?”

Ying Zhi’an sighed. “A former client of mine showed it to me. It’s the length of an adult’s forearm and very thick. She also showed me photos of her ascites. Because she took large amounts of drugs for ovarian stimulation, her entire ovary became abnormally large, which led to severe ascites after egg retrieval. Her stomach was swollen to look like she was seven or eight months pregnant, even though she wasn’t pregnant yet. What’s worse, she was especially tragic: her massive ovary twisted, which was extremely painful. Even with immediate surgery, they couldn’t save one of her ovaries.”

Ying Zhi’an’s work exposed her to too many unhappy people. After all, love and marriage are inseparable parts of human life, and the word “divorce” signifies the failure of a relationship.

This unhappiness is inevitable, and some of those clients are truly unfortunate. If the former is just a failure, the latter is a disaster.

It truly seemed like a predetermined arrangement, where a person had to go through a period of misfortune to survive, to continue moving forward.

The female client who underwent IVF for her husband’s weak sperm was one of these unfortunate people. She was originally healthy. Her husband knew about his weak sperm making conception difficult but did not inform her. Instead, after a long period of trying to conceive, he found a friendly doctor and tricked her into believing it was her issue that prevented natural conception.

To maintain the marriage and out of guilt over “infertility,” the woman’s parents gratuitously gifted a property under their name to the husband. By the time the woman finally discovered she had been tricked, she had suffered too much and lost one of her ovaries. What was more hateful was that the husband had mortgaged the house to extract a large sum of money, preventing his in-laws from revoking the gift.

When this female client came to Ying Zhi’an, she was only twenty-five, yet she looked older than Ying Zhi’an, with a withered, worn-out face. Her parents were also haggard and gray-haired.

They were all honest, respectable people. They never once cursed the husband in front of Ying Zhi’an. The most severe thing they said was merely, “That family is not kind.”

Perhaps this was fate. Kind people don’t necessarily meet kind people, and sincerity is often betrayed…

And now, Zhu Yun had encountered a similar kind of family.

“This is fraud!” Song Xidan’s eyes widened in anger.

“This is deliberate harm disguised as love,” Ying Zhi’an gently reassured her young “apprentice.” “We won’t have to wait long. I will choose the right time to tell Zhu Yun.”

Song Xidan looked at Ying Zhi’an with complete trust. “If you take charge, it will surely succeed.”

Ying Zhi’an was amused by the comment and finally showed her first genuine smile of the day.

Zhu Yun was a good-tempered girl, but she was not a pushover.

She had a huge fight with her fiancé over the lawyer’s fee.

The man launched into a tirade. “You’re a spendthrift! What kind of woman like you would anyone dare to marry!”

Zhu Yun didn’t say a word. Tears streamed down her face, but she quietly packed her clothes and left the marital home.

Zhu Yun had bought the door for this marital home from out of town. Before closing it, Zhu Yun left the keys inside the house.

She thought: If he won’t marry me, then I won’t marry him! Just over this bit of money, how dare he say I’m helping an outsider cheat their family out of money!

Ying Zhi’an brought Song Xidan with her to pick up Zhu Yun.

When they found Zhu Yun, the girl, who looked like a New Year’s print doll, was holding a large bag and squatting under a streetlight, softly sobbing.

Ying Zhi’an looked at the top of her head. That unique beam of light remained persistently lit.

Song Xidan was at a loss, only managing to rummage for tissues in her bag.

Ying Zhi’an had already walked up, leaned down, and gently stroked Zhu Yun’s head. Her voice was very tender. “Wipe your face. I’ll take you to eat crayfish. A new fried chicken shop just opened next to the crayfish place, and it’s also very good. We can also pass by a Qingbuliang (a type of sweet herbal dessert) shop on the way and grab two bowls.”

Hearing this, Zhu Yun’s tears gushed out, and she threw herself into Ying Zhi’an’s arms. “Zhi’an, he hasn’t even married me yet, how did he change so much!”

Ying Zhi’an held her. “Don’t cry yet. Wait until I tell you something. You can still cry then.”

Song Xidan, standing aside, was stunned. Lawyer Ying is truly… hard to figure out… So gentle one second, and so direct the next?