The Divorce Lawyer Is Very Hard To Flirt With - Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Anomaly

30 points…

Ying Zhi’an withdrew her wandering thoughts and glanced into the mediation room, where people were already seated. “The esteemed Deputy Director is personally handling a case?”

Wang Yu glared at her. “The esteemed Deputy Director also has to take on more difficult cases. Your mouth is getting sharper and sharper. By the way, thank you for the lunchtime incident. I’ll buy you coffee when we have time.”

“Is the situation from noon settled?”

“As long as the person is fine, it’s settled.”

Ying Zhi’an nodded, but her heart felt itchy, like being scratched by a brush. Whenever she thought of that woman on the rooftop, she would think of Song Moqiu. She wanted to ask something but didn’t know how to start.

Ying Zhi’an’s hesitation and the way she held back made alarm bells ring for Wang Yu. “You’re not thinking about representing that woman’s case, are you? I’m telling you, it’s absolutely impossible for us to introduce case sources to lawyers. That violates discipline. Don’t even mention it, don’t drag me into trouble!”

Still the same old deadpan look! Ying Zhi’an rolled her eyes at Wang Yu and didn’t bother to study the little red “30 points” above his head. She said “See you later” and hurried off.

As she walked, she pondered: if her relationship with Wang Yu, which was quite good, was only 30 points, who could the person with 100 points be?

All her guesses drifted toward a person she had never considered—Hu Fei.

Ying Zhi’an’s back view was hurried. Wang Yu couldn’t help but curve his lips as he watched her, muttering, “Still hasn’t changed. Like a child.”

“Director Wang.” Song Moqiu, whom Ying Zhi’an had just been thinking about, came out of the elevator. Her right arm was in a brace, suspended in a sling, looking a bit miserable.

“Didn’t I tell you to go home and rest?” Wang Yu frowned, his previous vivacity with Ying Zhi’an completely gone, returning to his usual calm and reliable demeanor at work.

“I had an appointment with a client scheduled earlier,” Song Moqiu’s demeanor was cool, and her voice even cooler. “It’s similar to the case from noon—the original spouse suing the ‘mistress’ with the cause of action being unjust enrichment.”

“Can it be executed?” Wang Yu was now a bit wary of these emotional disputes. Although he didn’t show any other emotion, speaking as if it were any ordinary case, he couldn’t help but warn her, “Be extra careful. We absolutely cannot let a civil case turn into a criminal one.”

“Mm, I know.” Song Moqiu’s nature was indifferent. Working in enforcement for a long time likely gives one an occupational hazard. Having seen too many strange things in cases, one’s tolerance expands, and one maintains a calm attitude that everything that exists must be reasonable. “I communicated with the applicant beforehand. The applicant might prefer that the respondent can’t pay and gets detained. I will try my best to handle it properly.”

Wang Yu sighed, “You also take care of yourself. Don’t push yourself too hard. You are already very dedicated.”

Song Moqiu didn’t reply, just nodded.

Both had clients waiting, so they didn’t chat further. One walked into the reception room, the other into the mediation room.

Song Moqiu was the famous “Iron Lady” of the Jiangcheng City court system. Her diligence was evident in her case handling statistics, which were outstanding. She hadn’t been in the enforcement department for many years, yet her annual average of closed cases was already the highest in the entire department, with an execution completion rate of 65% and a first-instance execution rate exceeding 85%.

Colleagues who didn’t know the inside story often joked that Song Moqiu was born to do enforcement and should have come to the enforcement bureau long ago.

But those who knew the truth often responded to such comments with a sigh.

Court work is tough, and enforcement work is the toughest of the tough.

The entire court is like a crucible, boiling with intense conflicts and negative emotions.

And the judges are like people holding a ladle of water, running around putting out fires. Those who persist in it are always stubbornly convinced that the power of a ladle of water should not be underestimated.

Perhaps it is precisely because of this that ordinary life is made brilliant by ideals.

Ying Zhi’an, however, might not be able to empathize with this.

Even if Wang Yu became the Deputy Director of the Enforcement Bureau, Ying Zhi’an still couldn’t understand him.

She earned a high salary; the agency fee for one of her cases could be equivalent to several months of Wang Yu’s salary.

As someone who was very familiar with the Labor Law, she was probably even less able to understand Song Moqiu’s constant overtime.

And now, Ying Zhi’an was busy experimenting with that special function.

After returning to the law firm from the court, Ying Zhi’an didn’t go straight to her office but decided to wander around a bit, just like doing an experiment, to get a few control groups.

There weren’t many people in the entire law firm with a beam of light, and now that the beam was adjusted to “1,” it indeed didn’t affect life much anymore.

There was a female lawyer named Zhu Yun, who joined the firm in the same batch as Ying Zhi’an and had a much better relationship with her than other colleagues. It was just that she was quite unlucky—perhaps due to psychological reasons, her mind would go blank during the bar exam, so she never passed it and naturally couldn’t get a lawyer’s license. Now, she could only work as an assistant, sharing a large office with some other young people.

Zhu Yun was Ying Zhi’an’s first control group. When Ying Zhi’an walked into that office, she bravely scanned the area and indeed saw several beams of light. However, these beams were much smaller compared to the brightness that could light up the entire space this morning. They were like exclamation marks above NPCs in a game world—obvious but not blinding. The difference was that no one had that small line of numbers above their head.

“Zhi’an, looking for me?” Zhu Yun greeted with a smile.

Ying Zhi’an nodded and took out a new lipstick from her bag. “You tried this last time and said you liked the color.”

“You even bought it specifically for me!” Although Zhu Yun failed the bar exam every year, she was someone who accepted things as they were. She would be down for a while after the bar exam results came out, but the rest of the time, she was a happy, sunny woman. “If I wasn’t getting married soon, I’d really be afraid I’d fall in love with you!”

Ying Zhi’an was actually very good at giving others emotional value.

Everyone who was close to her would marvel at her thoughtfulness and warmth.

Ying Zhi’an smiled when she heard Zhu Yun’s words, but looked at the top of her head—it was completely blank.

Why did only Wang Yu have a number?

But he didn’t have a beam of light…

Zhu Yun, who was about to get married, had a beam of light! But she didn’t have a number…

Ying Zhi’an was a bit confused.

Based on her memory from the morning, Ying Zhi’an visited the offices of several other colleagues. Many female colleagues had beams of light but no numbers.

Ying Zhi’an pondered the meaning of the score. On the elevator, she ran into a male colleague who had once pursued her. When Ying Zhi’an first joined the firm, this male colleague offered her an olive branch for dating. After Ying Zhi’an refused, he quickly found a girlfriend and was now a father. Naturally, he didn’t have a beam of light above his head, but he did have a score: 20 points!

The male colleague even greeted Ying Zhi’an with a very normal colleague’s tone. “I see you’re still helping your mentor. That’s too much of a loss. You only get a few hundred for helping her with a legal aid case, but any of your own divorce cases are in the big four figures (thousands).”

Ying Zhi’an couldn’t be bothered to engage, only pulling at the corner of her mouth in response.

The male colleague sighed, wanting to say something more, but the elevator door opened, and the senior partner walked in.

Ying Zhi’an stepped back a half-pace to give the boss space but couldn’t help but look up at the top of her head. No beam of light, no score.

Ying Zhi’an mused: The beam of light represented a potential romantic partner, currently concentrated on age-appropriate, unmarried women. Age-appropriate meant within ten years above or below her age. Unmarried meant not having a marriage certificate, not just not having a boyfriend…

The score, on the other hand, represented the degree of romantic favorability towards her, not including friendship or colleague feelings. The sample size was too small at this stage, and Wang Yu’s 30 points was the highest, so she could only use Wang Yu as an example.

Wang Yu… Ying Zhi’an recalled their relationship as both mentor and friend, and made another assumption: at least below 30 points, it was definitely not love.

Perhaps she should arrange to meet Hu Fei.

Ying Zhi’an was a person with strong execution skills. This thought flashed through her mind, and the next second, she sent a message to Hu Fei, inviting her for a get-together that evening.

Hu Fei’s reply was always instantaneous.

—That sounds great! I’m looking forward to it right away!

—I have a meeting later, which might delay me leaving work. I’ll let you know about the situation then. If I can’t make it, you eat first, don’t go hungry. If not, having a late-night snack together would be fine too~

…

Ying Zhi’an only asked one question, but within a second, Hu Fei had sent several messages with a flurry.

There were also many cute and lovely emojis.

It was as if… she had been waiting for Ying Zhi’an to message her for a very, very long time.

And during that waiting period, she had brewed up so many things she wanted to tell Ying Zhi’an.

Originally, Ying Zhi’an only thought this was her natural personality. Now, looking at the tone of those texts and the emojis again, she suddenly tasted something different.

That kind of subtle thoughtfulness and sharing might not be extended to just anyone.

Ying Zhi’an was momentarily stunned by this association.

When Ying Zhi’an returned to her office, Song Xidan, who was already sitting at her desk, immediately stood up. “Lawyer Ying, is the trial over?”

She had been frowning at the person this morning. Ying Zhi’an recalled it and felt a bit speechless about her own behavior, which was quite rude, so she immediately responded kindly, “Yes. I have another court appearance tomorrow afternoon. If you have time, you can come along and watch.”

Song Xidan smiled and said, “I have time. Oh, this is the black tea I just brewed. I don’t know if you like it, but would you like me to pour you a cup?”

Song Xidan had the beam of light above her head and spoke very appropriately, but she had no score. Ying Zhi’an looked at her young face and spring-breeze-like smile and suddenly felt very relaxed. This score had a reverse guiding effect on her—at least it proved that this colleague in the same office would be very easy to get along with and there would be no emotional entanglement.

That’s right, that’s right. Heterosexuality is still the majority in this world after all.

She wasn’t some kind of irresistible charmer with a protagonist halo, to have so many admirers.

As for whether she herself was a deeply closeted lesbian, Ying Zhi’an tried her best not to think about that at all, actively avoiding any contemplation of that point.