"So, are you in or not? Wan Ting has also come back..."
"Damn right, I'm in! Of course, I'm in!"
Old Tang in the office had no idea about Xiao Yan's thoughts. In fact, he was very clear that he was a bit mad, driven entirely by his physical condition and the task at hand.
Who wouldn't want to stop and enjoy life? As a top-notch lawyer like himself, he could certainly afford the finer things in life, but there was no way around it—if he didn't do the task, he'd be dead, so he definitely had to do it.
Forget it, better to get ready first. Once everything in The Capital was settled, he'd go to the Guangming District Court and give them a run for their money!
Meanwhile, the case in Magic City had made some progress.
Inside a rather small law firm, Zheng Baolin was attending to a client. He was the lawyer known online as "Lawyer Zheng."
Thanks to the heat he kept generating online, he was now a minor internet celebrity, with at least some level of fame.
The endgame for lawyers is sales—everyone knows that. With fame comes clients.
With his slicked-back hair, suit and leather shoes, and at the prime age of thirty-six or thirty-seven, he looked every inch the big-shot lawyer, persuading clients to sign contracts within mere minutes.
As the client got up to leave, the director of the law firm chuckled, "Not bad, Zheng, if you can boost your performance a little this month, you could be promoted to partner—we all agree!"
Zheng Baolin quickly replied, "Thank you, Director."
At that moment, the departing client was about to go downstairs when he saw several police officers exit the elevator, apparently heading straight toward him.
He hadn't done anything, right? Why on earth were they... ah, to the law firm.
Wait, what do the police want at a law firm? With a schadenfreude mindset, the client stayed back to watch.
The arrival of the police surprised the other lawyers in the firm. The director, upon hearing the commotion, came out.
"Hey, comrades, what's going... what's the matter?"
The leading police officer said, "Do you have someone named Zheng Baolin here?"
The director instinctively looked backward. There was a baffled-looking Old Zheng, but he still said, "I'm Zheng Baolin. What's the matter?"
"Zheng Baolin, right? We're from the police station. We've been notified by the Ning District People's Court that you are suspected of defamation. You are now being summoned according to the law. Here is your summons. Come with us to the station."
Defamation? Those words drew the attention of the other lawyers.
They knew Old Zheng was quite well-known online, but now he was involved in a defamation case?
That charge seemed to be a private prosecution... If there's no complaint, they let it go...
Old Zheng acted as though he had suffered a huge wrong, "What do you mean by this? What defamation? Who did I defame?"
"Come on, here's my account. Go ahead and check. See what you can find. I know the law; I'm a lawyer, not an ignoramus!"
The leading officer looked at the defiant Old Zheng then at the cellphone, and said curtly, "Zheng Baolin, you know perfectly well what you've done."
"You know the username 'Lord, Still Proud,' don't you?"
A police officer from behind couldn't help but laugh out loud, then hastily composed himself, but it was evident that in those few seconds, he had gone through all sorts of sad thoughts. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ nοvelfire.net
The officer in the front also barely kept it together. Honestly, he doubted Zheng's thought process—such a username was just too ridiculous.
The rest of the firm's staff also couldn't help laughing, the contrast too stark. Normally, in his suit and shoes, he appeared very professional, but behind the scenes, he used that kind of handle.
Old Zheng froze in place. Of course, he knew that pseudonym. Was he being sued over it?
Seeing that he did not respond, thinking he remained unconvinced, the lead officer said, "Do you need me to remind you again?"
"No need, no need. I'll go with you—but let's hurry..."
Old Zheng was taken away, leaving everyone in the law firm looking at each other. While they really had enjoyed a good laugh, the laughter was quickly replaced by anxiety. What exactly was going on?
The client at the door was equally engrossed in the drama, but he froze when he saw the police taking Old Zheng with them.
That is... my lawyer, right? I've just signed a contract, and now my lawyer is being arrested?
Meanwhile, in Luzhou, Jin Xintian was in the middle of a war of words.
"Stop howling, brain-dead fans, seriously. No matter how much you shout, do you think Tang Fangjing will pay you? Cut it out; he's just an ordinary lawyer, so don't go thinking he's anything special."
"Also, ignorance really is bliss, but I can't blame you for that. After all, you're too low to see the big picture. Let's just say those who know, know!"
He wasn't typing away in a flame war: he was live streaming it.
Of course, he wasn't showing his face, you could only hear his voice throughout the stream, claiming he was overseas.
"IP and such are just because I have a VPN on, you know. It's clear you don't understand, so if you don't know, shut your trap!"
In the livestream chat, a barrage of "Brother Wild Crane is the boss" flew up the screen. After all, this was a rich second-generation with mansions and luxury cars.
On the other end, confronting him was Ju Haiqing. After all, nobody else seemed to have as much free time as him.
Old Ju was about to explode with anger, never having encountered someone so stubborn. The IP clearly showed Handong Province, and he was still claiming to be in America.
But at that moment, Ju Haiqing heard noises from the other end, like someone was knocking on a door.
Wasn't he supposed to be living in a mansion? Why was the knocking so loud?
Wait, there was another noise... it sounded like...
"We're from the police, open up!"
The door must have been poorly soundproofed because the sound was loud, and everyone in the chat room, including Ju Haiqing, heard it clearly.