Ch40 - Even if everyone disagrees, I will still forge my way 

“Feng Ge, do I look the part dressed like this?”

As Yi Da Zhuang had spent numerous years hidden at locations in wait, he had been considerably exposed to Grandfather Sun’s greeting in the form of harsh sun rays. His skin was tanned and lined with fine wrinkles, and in addition to that, he had an attenuated figure, so at a glance he appeared to be older than his actual age. Presently, he donned a metallic blue workers outfit and wore a pair of old and worn down sneakers. He was the personification of a labourer who toiled through sunshine and rainstorms. 

I helped him with his jacket, then wrapped an arm around his shoulder as we sat at the desk.

“Remember to have a bit of an accent when you speak.” I pointed at each corner of the room, and the tissue box on the table as I continued, “There are four mini spy cameras installed, ensuring full coverage and no blind spots in this room. I’ll be watching in the bedroom, so don’t hold back and give us a show of your acting talents.”

 

 

Yi Da Zhuang rubbed his face in nervousness, “It’s a new challenge and a new beginning… maybe from now on I’ll quit working as a paparazzi and see if I can change careers to be an extra in movies instead.”

I patted his shoulder and replied, “You can do it.” 

The doorbell sounded as Yi Da Zhuang and I exchanged glances. One walked briskly towards the bedroom, whilst the other shouted ‘coming, coming!’ as they moved towards the door.

 

I gently closed the door behind me as Yi Da Zhuang’s voice came from the entrance, “Hello, hello, you must be the insurer, please come in.”

I sat at the foot of the bed, staring at the television screen attached to the wall. The 42 inch big screen was divided in four, each scene streamed from their respective spy camera.

The youthful insurer sat at the table with Yi Da Zhuang, and then proceeded to take out a thick document from his bag.

 

“This was the commercial insurance contract mentioned previously in our conversation over the phone. Please take a look and see whether you have any issues with it.” He passed the document to Yi Da Zhuang as he continued, “In total, it’s…”

He pressed several buttons on the calculator, and came to an approximate sum as he showed Yi Da Zhuang.

Yi Da Zhuang looked at it, then roughly scoped the contract in a convincing manner before suddenly pinching the bridge of his nose, “Ai you, I’m feeling dizzy from looking at all of this, the text is too small. I’m done with looking at it, I trust you guys in the end, big corporations like yours won’t lie to us ordinary citizens, I’ll just sign it like you said.”

 

The insurer didn’t expect to seal this deal so easily, as he quickly fished out a pen to sign with, his eyes sparkling with jubilation. “Of course, of course. Our company is pretty much ranked in the top ten of this industry, so our services are trustworthy. Please rest assured. You’ll have to fill out information regarding your vehicle here, and if you could please pass me your personal identification card and your drivers license…” 

Yi Da Zhuang stood up to check his pant pockets, and searched for a while only to turn up empty handed. His brows became increasingly furrowed as he exclaimed, “Eh? That’s strange, how come it’s gone?”

He checked the pockets in his outerwear, conducting a thorough search inside and out, but couldn’t find a thing.

He racked his brain in contemplation and suddenly appeared to remember something. Yi Da Zhuang sheepishly gave the insurer a straightforward smile as he spoke, “Ah, sorry, last night I went to my friends house and we had a bit too much to drink, I think I might’ve forgotten my IDs at his house. It looks like we won’t be able to sign these documents today, another day, on another day I’ll come find you again…”

Before the insurer could react, Yi Da Zhuang had already wrenched him out of his seat and grabbed him by the elbow as he dragged him to the door. 

“Mr Yi, give… give the contract back to me first.” The insurer remembered to ask for the contract back after being shoved out the door.

Yi Da Zhuang moved alacritously towards the desk, and whilst picking up the contract, he lifted his face towards one of the mini spy cameras installed at the side and directed a coquettish gaze at it.

After closing the door and sending off the insurer, I came out from the bedroom as Yi Da Zhuang walked through the entrance.

“How was it, was it okay?” 

“It’s good.” I saw that he had begun to stretch and was preparing to take off his clothes, when I glanced at the clock installed on the wall before speaking again. “However, it’s not comprehensive enough.”

Yi Da Zhuang’s actions came to a still, “Ah?”

 

When hitting a snake, you’ve got to strike at it’s seventh inch. If once isn’t enough, then you need to do it twice, and if doing it twice isn’t good either, then give it a third, forth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth slap. Even if it doesn’t die, it’ll be crippled.”

Yi Da Zhuang clearly didn’t understand the meaning behind my words, as his perplexed expression was displayed clearly on his face. 

I didn’t continue to beat around the bush as I gave him a straightforward answer, “Today, I’ve arranged to meet five insurers from An Qi, so make sure to keep each meeting within an hour to avoid conflicting appointments.”

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“You’re really squeezing me dry here. I don’t care, afterwards you have to shout me to a good meal, otherwise you wouldn’t be able to repay my blood, sweat and tears.”

For two whole days, Yi Da Zhuang and I holed ourselves up in the small rental room, meeting up with one insurer after another.

They sat in the same place, yet were of different ages, different genders and different attire. All ten insurers had been in the industry for longer than five years, and when it came to their insurance policies and the contents of it they pitched it zealously, spit flying from their mouths, as they jumped through hoops trying to get you to pay a higher premium. Then, as your head spun dizzily from all the information they dumped, they’d ask you if you had any questions remaining.

Yi Da Zhuang spoke, “This… third party liability clause, is it saying that if I did run someone over, the company would be able to compensate them on my behalf, right?” 

Ten insurers of different ages, different genders, different attires, sitting at the same spot, wearing the same professional smile on their faces, gave the same identical response, “Correct.”

The insurer handed the contract to Yi Da Zhuang and had him look through the terms and conditions, and if there were no problems then he could proceed to sign the contract. Yi Da Zhuang used the same excuse of not being able to read the contract properly ten times over as he only flipped on page before returning it to the insurer. Out of ten insurers, only two of them mentioned there being a disclaimer, but even then all they did was suggest that it was “best for him to take a look”, as they still failed to comply with the mandatory requirement. It goes without saying then that they most definitely didn’t go through the specifics of the term with him then.

These insurers were all exceptionally guileful, they were aware that if they explicitly mentioned that they wouldn’t offer any compensation in the case of overloading, then the deal would certainly fall through. Therefore, they tried to their best ability in skimming past this fact. If one day there really was an accident, there was already a signature on the white pages decorated with black ink. Everything would proceed according to the terms agreed upon in the contract, and without a videotape or any voice recordings, who could even blame them and say that it was their fault?

I had Yi Da Zhuang help me in editing the footage, then spent the night writing up a lengthy letter comprising over eight thousand characters, then rushed to get it printed before the deadline of Mrs Yang’s second hearing which would be held on the same day. Along with it I brought a USB flash drive which contained the video footage inside and hurriedly made my way to the law courts. 

As I was afraid that I might arrive too late, I dialled Sheng Min Ou on my way there and asked whether he was already at the courthouse.

Sheng Min Ou seemed to be walking, as I could hear subtle whispers of the wind from his end.

“… I just arrived.”

“What about the opposing lawyer?” 

“Not sure, I haven’t seen them.” The sound of the wind disappeared in an instant, he had walked indoors. “What are you asking this for?”

“I’ll arrive in five minutes, wait for me by the entrance, I have something to give you.” Afraid that he might go against what I said, I made a point to emphasise my words as I added a layer of stress to my words, “It’s very important, be sure to wait for me! You got it?”

 

The response to my words was the noise of a call being terminated, as Sheng Min Ou decisively hung up on me.

I glared at my phone screen for a while, grinding my teeth as I pleaded with the taxi driver to please go faster, saying that I had a life-or-death lawsuit I needed to partake in, and if I got there late the consequences would be dire. 

The trip was meant to take five minutes, but after the driver stepped on the gas pedal more, we arrived in four minutes. I whipped out a banknote at lightning speed, and in the next second I hopped off the car and made a mad dash towards the courts. I initially didn’t have any hope remaining, as I thought Sheng Min Ou definitely wouldn’t have waited for me.

However, when I saw a familiar figure outside the law courts with his head lowered to glance at his watch, I realised that I still did hold onto a small flicker of hope. I hoped that he would believe me, that I wouldn’t make a joke out of such a serious matter.

I ran towards him, panting as I did so and had a hand to my knee as I passed him the document, already stapled, and the USB drive.

“Here!” Due to him waiting, a wholly unexpected move, my heartbeat which was already frantic suddenly escalated even faster. I didn’t have a choice but to hold a hand over my chest in response, as it slowly recovered. 

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Sheng Min Ou accepted the document from my hands and began to immediately flip through its contents expeditiously. The female lawyer who was at his side also began to look over at it, unable to suppress her curiosity as she read out the title of the document, “To the Supervising Administrators of Qing Wan City’s Insurance Sector: Regarding the Misconduct of An Qi’s Insurers, the unsatisfactory training program conducted towards employees, the malicious practises of intentionally skipping over terms in the contract and more… it’s a formal letter of complaint?”

When hitting a snake, you’ve got to strike at it’s seventh inch. The supervising administration office operated under the government and were meant to police every insurer involved in the industry. If this practice caught their attention and consequently caused investigative groups to be formed to look into these illegal behaviours, then the whole industry could be involved, and by then the fine wouldn’t be as simple as just paying one million renminbi.

“What is in here?” In less than two minutes, Sheng Min Ou had scanned the formal letter of complaint I had laboured over all night, as he pinched the USB drive in his fingers and asked me.

“Proof.” I stood up straight, my breathing having recovered significantly and passed my phone over so he could see, “What I have on here is the same as what’s in the USB drive, it just that on my phone sensitive information has been blurred out, whereas the USB drive contains the uncensored footage.” 

He accepted the phone and swiftly finished watching the footage, then calmly called for the female lawyer, who had still not been able to regain herself, to request for a five minute adjournment for the hearing.

The female lawyer nodded her head, stunned, then immediately afterwards pushed over the heavy wooden doors of the courthouse and disappeared in front of our eyes.

“This is the idea you came up with?” Sheng Min Ou organised the document in his hands and asked.

“Are you about to chastise me over my methods being unpresentable and too stupid?” I flicked the letter of complaint in his hands and laughed as I spoke, “Let me tell you, some things really are as the saying goes, ‘Even if everyone disagrees, I will still forge my way’, whether I succeed or not is one thing, whether I die in the process is another, if I feel good about it, that’s all that matters.” 

Even if everyone stopped me, even if they all said ‘no’, even if every single one of them disapproved of my actions, why would it matter? If it was something I wanted to do, I would get it done.

He stared at me for a moment, his gaze directed downwards as he was silent. I held his gaze and remained unspeaking.

Suddenly from afar came sounds of footsteps and conversation, Sheng Min Ou and I turned around simultaneously and saw An Qi Insurance company’s lawyer and representative walk towards us.

“Lend me your phone.” Sheng Min Ou simply stated as he walked towards the two with long strides. 

As I brushed by his side I whispered into his ear, “I’m leaving it to you.”

I stood at where we were originally without going closer and I could only see at a distance Sheng Min Ou cordially conversing with the other two for a while, before the representative’s expression immediately twisted, as he held the phone with an incredulous expression.

 

Sheng Min Ou then passed the letter of complaint to him as his expression darkened while flipping through a few pages, before wrinkling the paper in his grasp.

The lawyer looked at Sheng Min Ou, bewildered, and seemed to also be stunned by this unexpected approach as he was unable to form a response for a long while. 

Sheng Min Ou tried to be considerate of the representatives height by lowering his body, his face still maintaining a gentleman’s smile as he whispered something in his ear. The representative’s head jerked upwards sharply as he hurriedly nodded.

He twirled the USB drive in his hand before turning around and leaving. Sheng Min Ou had only taken two steps before he saw me and seemed to remember something as he turned back and plucked my phone out of the representative’s hands. Then, he turned around one final time, his genteel smile replaced bit by bit by one that was arrogant and contemptuous.

He was like a king that had returned after an overwhelming victory as he strode forward with his head held high, walking on that corridor with sunshine spilling through, overflowing the area. On his head was an invisible crown, on his showers a vibrant, rich red cape, and each step he took was resolute and confident.

“I’m returning this to you.” Sheng Min Ou said, passing the phone back to me. 

“You resolved everything?”

He looked askance at me, his gaze directed at me as if saying ‘what kind of bullshit are you sprouting’.

I saw his reaction and realised I had asked for it as I touched my nose, then heard him speak, “They agreed to rectification within a time limit, revising the layout of the contract and increasing the compensation sum, however only under the condition that the video and the letter of complaint must never be made public.”

This wasn’t a big deal, as my goal anyways was to help him win the lawsuit faster. In all honesty, there was a limit to what I could achieve, and I knew that I couldn’t just rely on this case to change the world and catalyse a different set of regulations to be enforced. 

In the end, the case under the judge’s guidance was able to be reconciled. An Qi insurance added another six hundred thousand renminbi on top of the original compensation sum as a humanitarian act.

I didn’t have the right to enter the discussion room, however even out in the corridors I could still hear Ms Yang’s heart-wrenching cries. However, different from my mother’s sobs from back then that were filled with a sense of unjust and frustration, in her cries there was a sense of happiness from being absolved.

This was for the numerous days and nights spent tossing and turning restlessly, the multiple, incessant barrages of self-questioning, ‘Why did it have to be me? Why couldn’t it have been someone else?’ The heavens were unable to provide an answer and those that had passed would never be able to come back again. Faced with the stresses of life and a young child, despairing tears accumulated as they weighed down her heart.

Though this sum of money only served as compensation, at least there was now an answer to everything. There was no need to poke at the scars anymore, revealing wounds dripping and saturated with blood in front of others, pleading everywhere for justice to be served. Finally, everything could be left behind, and they could restart their lives again. 

After hearing the female lawyer explain the final result to Mrs Yang, walking down the pearl-river grey stairs of the court house, my body was lit by the warm sunlight, and bathed by the sunrays I was so comfortable all I wanted to do was just take an afternoon nap.

How great, this feeling of being filled up with hope.

After stretching my body out, the case was wrapped up now so I planned to also return home and sleep.

“Ge!” Before leaving, I called out to Sheng Min Ou. 

He paused on a step below as he turned around and looked back at me.

“I have something to say to you.” I said.

 

He remained stationary as he continued looking at me.

“Then we’ll be taking our leave.” The female lawyer was extremely perceptive as she left, dragging Mrs Yang along with her. 

I moved down the next few flights of stairs and stood facing him, finally being able to direct my gaze downwards at him for once.

“Repay me a favour.”

“What is it?” He was brusque in his reply, seemingly accepting the fact that he owed me a ‘favour’.

“Shen Xiao Shi requires a defence lawyer, his mother… is in a bit of a situation right now.” 

“Tell him to come meet me at the law firm tomorrow afternoon at one.” Sheng Min Ou responded and then was prepared to turn and leave.

I cursed inwardly, feeling greatly discontent towards his attitude, where he didn’t appear to want to talk to me for a second longer than necessary if he could help it.

“Oh, yeah,” I called out to his back, “I always wanted to know, that day when father passed away, what did he say to you at the end?”

Sheng Min Ou tilted his head back slightly, revealing his face. 

He was silent for a long while as his mouth remained shut. I asked him this question on a whim, so if he didn’t want to respond to me I wouldn’t have any way to get him to open up anyways.

“Okay….”

Just when I was about to say it’s fine and you can leave now, he slowly uttered one sentence.

“It’s okay even if you can’t be a good person. Be someone that doesn’t hurt others, and someone who also isn’t hurt by others. Be an ordinary person like that, and it’s enough.” 

I was stunned for a second, and linked up the words my father said to Sheng Min Ou before he passed, “Dad believes, you will become a very, very good person… But it’s okay even if you can’t be a good person. Be someone that doesn’t hurt others, and someone who also isn’t hurt by others. Be an ordinary person like that, and it’s enough.”

“Father knew you…” I stared scrupulously at Sheng Min Ou’s face, and whispered hoarsely.

If my father phrased things this way, then it meant that he knew, knew that Sheng Min Ou he…

“Yes, he knew of it all.” Sheng Min Ou lowered his face as he continued in a low voice, “He knew I wasn’t normal.” 

After finishing his sentence, without waiting for a response from me, he turned to leave without another word, the distance between himself and I growing as I remained on the stairs.

I stared at his retreating figure, my feelings complex. I dropped down to the steps, and suddenly, I really wanted to smoke.

 

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