The Divorce Lawyer Is Very Hard To Flirt With - Chapter 88

Chapter 88: The Only Demand

Cai Ya was never the type to be subtle or considerate since she was little.

Now that she had caught Ying Zhi’an red-handed, she was going to tease her properly.

Her gaze moved from the small, distinctly red patch on the back of Ying Zhi’an’s hand to her profile, which seemed to be trying to maintain composure but whose earlobes were clearly tinged with red, and finally rested on the tissue she was unconsciously caressing, the one that had just wiped Song Xidan’s fingers.

She leaned back in her chair, adjusting to the most comfortable angle, and looked at her junior with a half-smile. “My An’an is so caring now~”

Ying Zhi’an tightened her face, attempting to maintain her usual cool demeanor: “Time is precious. Let’s continue with the case. That piece of evidence just now…”

“The case can wait,” the teasing in Cai Ya’s tone was almost overflowing. “You and the young one, hehehehe, don’t tell me it’s what I think, hehehehe. I’ve known you for so many years, and this is the first time I’ve seen you so… um… thoughtful and meticulous? Hehehehe!~”

“…”

Ying Zhi’an sighed: “Could you please stop the ‘hehehehe’? It sounds too lewd! And Lawyer Cai, this is work time.”

“This is the time for a senior sister to care about her junior sister’s personal life,” Cai Ya smoothly switched roles, laughing even more cheerfully. “Seriously, how are you and the young one doing? What stage are you at? I saw the ‘Tea Spill Incident’ very clearly just now. You got burned, but you first looked up at her face, and your eyes were so soft. Are you even the Ying Zhi’an I know?”

“We’re not at any stage. We’re just colleagues.”

“Oh, please, don’t use official speak with me!” Cai Ya lowered her voice and leaned closer. “I’m genuinely curious, what would the ‘love-brain’ version of Ying Zhi’an be like? Will she be much cuter than this current cold self?”

Ying Zhi’an reluctantly put down her mouse and rubbed her temples. “Firstly, ‘love-brain’ is not a derogatory term; it’s a kind of communist ability to love—to give wholeheartedly. Furthermore, you said she’s a young one. Naturally, the premise should be protection, and the main thread should be growth.”

“Oh.” Cai Ya pouted, clearly disagreeing. “And how do you define growth? Waiting until she reaches your age?”

Ying Zhi’an was silent for a few seconds, then sighed, her shoulders relaxing slightly. A rare, almost embarrassed honesty appeared on her face. “I’m giving myself a time limit—at least I can’t hinder her studies. After the bar exam. As for the rest, I’m also… learning.”

“Learning?” Cai Ya raised an eyebrow, finding the word particularly novel coming from Ying Zhi’an’s mouth. “What else do you need to learn?”

“Mhm,” Ying Zhi’an gently exhaled, as if admitting something slightly mortifying. “Learning how to… correctly, without scaring her off, deal with a potentially very sincere yet fragile feeling. You have to admit I’m also an amateur at love! I’m also learning. Falling in love isn’t an innate talent that just happens naturally!”

Cai Ya was momentarily stunned, looking at Ying Zhi’an’s earnest and slightly troubled expression, as if she had encountered a problem more complex than a cross-border M&A case. Finally, she couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

“Alright, alright, learning is good, you learn as long as you live!” Cai Ya said with a smile, standing up, picking up her case files, and patting Ying Zhi’an’s shoulder. “To be honest, you’re still very adorable, and I love making friends with adorable people like you. I just never expected that only a few days after my last visit, our Lawyer Ying would have her day! Fine, senior sister won’t delay your hard ‘learning.’ Aim to ‘graduate’ early! See you in court tomorrow.”

Cai Ya genuinely admired Ying Zhi’an. The mere thought of Ying Zhi’an—who was invincible in court and never yielded an inch to opponents—actually admitting she was an “amateur” and “needed to learn” for a relationship that hadn’t even begun, was exceedingly amusing.

When people reach a certain social status, they often want a certain facade. Ying Zhi’an’s honesty and humility were truly likable.

Moreover, the blooming of an iron tree was a cause for great celebration!

Cai Ya was very relieved.

Cai Ya, with the psychology of a doting mother and a face that said “my cabbage has finally blossomed,” left the office, leaving Ying Zhi’an alone in front of the computer screen. She felt the slight redness on the back of her hand and the subtle residual touch on her fingertips. She raised her hand to touch her still-hot earlobes, shook her head, but couldn’t help the slight, soft curve of her lips.

The world was good, but sometimes, it wasn’t good enough.

Song Xidan meeting Ying Zhi’an was perhaps Song Xidan’s good fortune.

But Yu Juanmei’s daughter meeting Li Wenwen was a tragedy through and through.

The judge’s emblem hung high, solemn and majestic.

The vast courtroom was quiet, the air permeated with cold heaviness, but it couldn’t suppress a silent grief from the plaintiff’s seat next to the prosecution.

Yu Juanmei, a gray-haired, haggard middle-aged woman, sat in the plaintiff’s seat for the criminal case with attached civil claim. She tightly clenched the corner of her clothes, her eyes swollen, her body slightly trembling as she desperately tried to control her emotions.

Cai Ya, in her lawyer’s robe, sat beside her, her expression solemn, yet she gently patted Yu Juanmei’s hand and whispered: “Leave everything to me. I will help you.”

As Yu Juanmei’s litigation agent, Cai Ya was primarily responsible for the criminal incidental civil suit part.

Hu Fei, the prosecutor for this criminal case, was already seated in the public prosecutor’s seat. She briefly glanced at the gallery and saw Ying Zhi’an, then gave a slight nod to her.

What she was thinking, no one would ever know.

In the defendant’s seat, the young man named Li Wenwen, dressed neatly, looked respectable, no different from a male university student on campus, but his expression carried an uncomfortable hint of detachment and coldness.

Ying Zhi’an and Song Xidan sat in the relatively front row of the gallery.

When Hu Fei’s gaze swept over, Song Xidan’s heart tightened, and she instinctively looked at Ying Zhi’an beside her.

Ying Zhi’an noticed her gaze, turned her head, and spoke in a low, clear voice, offering guidance: “Today is the criminal case trial, led by the prosecutor. Cai Ya is mainly responsible for the attached civil part, but her statement is equally important, representing the family’s position and demands. Do you see the reporters in the back? She arranged them, too.”

The gavel fell, and the trial began.

Hu Fei first rose to read the indictment, charging the defendant Li Wenwen with the crime of abuse, and detailing the criminal facts of his long-term mental abuse, humiliation, intimidation, and isolation of the victim, ultimately leading the victim to commit suicide.

To a certain extent, excellent people share a common mind because their logic is very similar. The evidence presented by Hu Fei and the evidence chain prepared by Ying Zhi’an were almost identical.

Hu Fei, clear in her logic and steady in her tone, began to present evidence one by one: extensive chat logs, emails, call recordings, witness testimonies, and a psychological expert’s report on “psychological control” and “coercive control.”

Screens on one side of the courtroom displayed the jarring words and suffocating control logic. The courtroom was silent, broken only by the sound of reporters’ pens scratching, the prosecutor’s calm voice, and Yu Juanmei’s deeply suppressed sobs.

And, of course, the defendant’s lawyer vehemently defending his client.

The defendant’s lawyer was arguing for an acquittal, but he was clearly flustered after seeing the “contingent” of reporters in the gallery before the trial. If he won this case, he might be considered heartless; if he lost, he would be seen as an accomplice to evil.

Cai Ya’s main goal had not been achieved yet, but she had already gained a small collateral benefit.

The defendant’s lawyer stumbled through his arguments, attempting to define Li Wenwen’s actions as “excessive care in a relationship,” “couples’ conflicts,” and even questioned the victim’s psychological resilience, trying to mitigate Li Wenwen’s responsibility.

Unfortunately, by the end, he himself seemed to struggle to continue and abruptly finished his defense.

Cai Ya, sitting opposite him, gave a slight, disdainful smile.

After each exchange, Ying Zhi’an would quietly analyze the true purpose behind the language used by both sides for Song Xidan.

“Hu Fei’s recent statement aims to establish the causal chain between ‘long-term nature’ and ‘serious consequence,’ which is the key to conviction.”

“The opposing lawyer is attempting to dismantle systematic psychological violence into isolated, ordinary emotional disputes. Even he realized he couldn’t justify it anymore.”

Song Xidan listened and noted with full concentration, feeling the weight and challenge of legal provisions against a real-life tragedy.

After the court investigation and debate for the criminal part concluded, the judge announced the commencement of the criminal incidental civil suit segment.

Cai Ya’s gaze swept over the defendant, finally resting on the bench. Her voice was clear and resolute, carrying a restrained grief and indignation: “Your Honor, members of the jury. I represent the victim’s mother, Yu Juanmei, to state our civil demand. We are here today not to discuss the amount of compensation. My client has lost her only daughter, and the pain she endures is immeasurable and cannot be compensated by any amount of money.”

She paused, looking around the courtroom, her voice growing heavier: “We waive all demands for economic compensation. Our sole demand, the only demand bought with the most precious life of an innocent young woman, is to request that the court, when deliberating the criminal case, fully consider the heinous nature of the defendant Li Wenwen’s actions and the extremely serious consequences caused, to punish him severely according to the law, to ensure he receives the legal sanction he deserves, to console the deceased, and to demonstrate justice!”

“This case is not just an individual tragedy. For a long time, the scope of the crime of abuse in our Criminal Law has primarily been limited to ‘family members’ in a traditional kinship relationship. To a certain extent, this fails to fully cover intimate partners who share cohabiting facts and form close dependency and control relationships. We earnestly request and expect the court to fully consider the tremendous physical and psychological harm caused by substantive control and abusive behavior in intimate relationships to the victim. In determining the elements of the ‘crime of abuse,’ we ask the court to carefully and strongly consider and appropriately extend the legal interpretation of the ‘family’ scope. This is not only key to holding the defendant in this case accountable but also a necessary path to providing legal protection to future similar victims, a crucial step for the judiciary to respond to social concerns and improve human rights protection.”

Cai Ya’s voice was firm and decisive, causing a slight stir in the courtroom. But she did not pause. The entire courtroom was like her stage. “The judgment in this case concerns not only individual justice but also carries the significant meaning of advancing the rule of law and clarifying social norms. The law is sacred, and it requires the court to provide interpretations and extensions that better align with social reality.”

Her voice resonated in the courtroom, full of power. Yu Juanmei, the poor mother who had tirelessly fought for her daughter, could no longer hold back and covered her face, sobbing softly.

She had heard too many mocking words, saying her daughter was indecent for cohabiting with a man at a young age, calling her shameless.

They also said her daughter was just a bookworm, that getting into university was useless, that she was too fragile inside, and would commit suicide over minor setbacks.

They gossiped as if a person’s life and death were just their mealtime conversation.

But Yu Juanmei knew how kind her daughter was, and how innocent!

Now, finally, someone had heard her cries and was telling more people that the truth was not as they claimed.

Cai Ya concluded her statement, and the trial continued.

Song Xidan felt a surge in her chest. She looked at Ying Zhi’an, finding her nodding slightly, her gaze on Cai Ya one of approval.

When will Sister Zhi’an look at me like that?

Thinking this, Song Xidan looked at Cai Ya again. In Cai Ya, she saw not only professional legal sparring but also the warmth and power behind the law.

Independence and strength did not only apply to men.

The gavel fell, and the trial ended.

The verdict would be announced on a later date.

People gradually left their seats.

Outside the courthouse, Cai Ya accepted interviews from reporters.

Cai Ya said: “I hope the focus of social attention is not on finger-pointing the victim. Intimate relationships have many hidden and dangerous dark sides. Even if my client was at fault, her only fault was not being able to identify and decisively escape this toxic, manipulative, and controlling relationship in time. There are certainly many people in similar predicaments in this world. I only hope everyone clearly understands that all manipulation, degradation, isolation, and exploitation done in the name of love run contrary to the essence of love. True love nourishes the personality, built upon respect, equality, and support. Its purpose is to help the other person grow into a more complete, autonomous, and happier individual, not to destroy, possess, and ultimately reduce them to an attachment.”

Cai Ya paused, then sincerely stated: “I hope all women, when yearning for and investing in emotion, must forever maintain personal independence and spiritual clarity.”

The sun set in the west. The reporters dispersed. Cai Ya drove Yu Juanmei home. Ying Zhi’an and Song Xidan returned to the law firm together.

“What are your thoughts?” Ying Zhi’an asked.

Song Xidan was silent for a moment, then said seriously: “I feel very sad, but I also see things more clearly. The law can only do so much, but someone must do it. And, what Lawyer Cai said today was very thought-provoking.”

“Indeed, true love nourishes the personality and will always be built upon respect, equality, and support,” Ying Zhi’an’s tone softened. “Xidan, the bar exam objective test is soon. Keep up the good work.”

“Okay,” Song Xidan replied, her voice firm.

She tightly gripped the steering wheel, as if holding onto her future.

And on this path, she was not alone.