Chapter 28: Chapter 15 (part 2)

Guo Jianzhong and Guo Jianguo were the most excited ones in the whole family. "Amazing, amazing! Then, lawyers, I hope that you'll back us up. Our mother is absolutely confused, there's no way she knows what she's doing. She would never marry a 26-year-old foreigner otherwise, no way!"

The two daughter-in-laws chimed in vehemently as well, "So we can put a stop to mother's marriage to that man? Who from our family will be mother's legal agent?"

Seeing the family jumping ahead of themselves and making all the decisions, Ning Wan coughed and interrupted. "I'm afraid that you can't just decide amongst yourselves whether or not the old lady is incapable of civil competence. This is something that must go through the courts. You will have to apply for an assessment through the Judicial Appraisal Unit."

"Ah... this... what assessment will this be? What questions will they ask?"

When she brought this up, the brothers Guo Jianguo and Guo Jianzhong stiffened. "How accurate is this assessment? Will we know who's performing it?"

"It is generally performed by a physician retained by the Judicial Appraisal Unit. I'm not privy to the knowledge of which court it would go to afterward," Ning Wan smiled. "If you would like to have this assessment done, you must apply at the courthouse."

"How troublesome....."

"If you would like, we can help you handle this aspect."

Guo Jianzhong and Guo Jianguo hesitated upon hearing her words. It was then that their sister Guo Jianhong, who until now had been silent, said firmly--

"Thank you, lawyers. We will sign a contract with you, and ask that you immediately begin working on the application."

Clearly unhappy with his little sister's decision, Guo Jianguo said accusingly, "Jianhong, you should have discussed it with us first!"

Guo Jianhong looked at her brothers, bewildered. "I'll scrape together the money for the assessment, you won't have to pay a penny. Now that it's come to this, I can't just watch mother walk into a trap."

Over the objections of her brothers, she signed a contract with Ning Wan and Fu Zheng.

 

After filling up a whole morning with hustle and bustle, they had finally gotten a case. It wasn't a lot of money, but it was something, and that put Ning Wan in a good mood. It looked as though it was the same for Fu Zheng, who was gradually becoming more used to community law. The moment Guo Jianhong departed, he began preparing the application forms for the assessment of civil competency.

It was unfortunate that Ning Wan had to shut down his enthusiasm. "Fu Zheng, don't put that together so quickly. Delay a little."

As she had expected he would, Fu Zheng frowned. "Why delay? We should work on today's responsibilities today. Shouldn't law always be as efficient as possible? We are legally representing someone else, and procrastinating until the last minute is highly irresponsible."

He might be just a little fledgling with only theory and no experience, but whenever Fu Zheng gave a lecture he sounded awfully like the boss.

But well, he was just a novice in the end. Ning Wan did not get annoyed, but merely tapped on the desk with a finger. "Don't you feel like there's something wrong with this case? Guo Jianguo and Guo Jianzhong obviously have something to hide. They claim that the old lady is not mentally capable of making her own decisions and definitely don't want the house to fall into the hands of others, yet they're not at all enthusiastic about the assessment. I suspect something's wrong..."

Before she could finish speaking, she was interrupted by Old Ji, who bolted into the office panting--

"Ning Wan! Hurry! Zhang Zichen has disappeared again!"

Fu Zheng was so surprised that he hadn't yet reacted. He watched Ning Wan take a book out with a resigned look on her face. The next moment, her cell phone rang. She picked it up, and as if she did this for a living out of her mouth fell the following polished, professional words--

"Baby, I'm feeling kinda thirsty, and you're a tall drink of water! When I'm hungry, I could just eat you up..."

"Take my flowers, forget about her."

……

Fu Zheng, completely flabbergasted, watched Ning Wan reciting cheesy, lovey dovey lines with apparently no shame at all. He peered down at the book she had open and finally saw the title-- "The Complete Collection of Pick Up Lines".

His goosebumps rose and fell three times before Ning Wan finally hung up the phone with a sigh of relief. She looked at Old Ji. "He's at the tea shop on Shiqiao Road, go have his parents pick him up. Make sure he takes his medicine regularly in the future instead of running off, I can't guarantee I'll always be able to find him."

Old Ji nodded vigorously, dialed a number on his phone and hurried off.

……

This entire process had happened with a smooth, mutual tacit understanding between the two of them. All Fu Zheng could do was to sit back, stunned. As soon as Old Ji had left, he looked at Ning Wan. "Are you getting back together?"

"Ah?"

Fu Zheng had never been particularly interested in other people's private lives, but he had really, truly been struck dumb by Ning Wan's use of pick up lines. He vaguely remembered Ning Wan saying that she was single, so he had assumed they must have broken up. Who would have thought that they would be back together already? They really were fireworks of a different colourFrom a song by Leslie Cheung....

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Ning Wan blinked and appeared dumbfounded for a while before making the connection. "Oh, no, this is a child within the community. He has a genetic mental illness which is kept under control through medication. If he doesn't take his medicine on time, this sort of thing happens..."

Fu Zheng finally understood the ins and outs of the matter. Frankly, he thought, it was normal for Ning Wan to be single. There was no way the average man could possibly handle her style.

As soon as that thought crossed his mind, he saw Ning Wan brushing back her hair and smiling confidently. She took out a little makeup mirror and admired herself in it. "I won't hide it from you, I'm so beautiful that the man worthy of me might not even have been born yet. The better one is, the more likely one is single, and I'm so fine that there's no way I'm not!"

“……”

Ning Wan didn't know or care what Fu Zheng was secretly thinking. She put away her makeup mirror and returned the topic to the case at hand. "Back to the matter of assessing civil competency. I believe that we should invite Guo Jianhong to speak to us in private. She and her two brothers may not see eye to eye, and if they are there, I doubt we'll be able to understand the true situation. If necessary, we should perhaps even pay a visit to the old lady first."

Fu Zheng frowned in apparent disagreement. "It doesn't matter how the parties stand. What matters is that we complete the work entrusted to us."

"Look, this is why I always say you're very set in your ways. What if Guo Jianzhong and Guo Jianguo were lying, and the old lady isn't mentally incompetent at all? Then haven't we worked hard for nothing?"

"Why is it useless?" Fu Zheng protested. "We accepted the request and completed the work. They pay the fees according to the contract. There's nothing useless about it."

"Once again, community cases are different. Most residents who seek the services of community lawyers are not well-off. They choose community lawyers because we've signed consulting agreements with the community, and because of that we have more favourable rates. Although for us it may seem that it isn't too expensive to apply for a civil competence assessment, for others it may be an expenditure that must be carefully budgeted for."

Ning Wan took a sip of water. "I don't know if you noticed, but though both Guo Jianguo and Guo Jianzhong are well-dressed and look to be financially comfortable, it's not the same for Guo Jianhong. Her trousers are faded, her clothes look old and her hands are rough. Next to her two sisters-in-law, she looks old and tired. For her, paying this lawyer's fee is probably no small expense, and on the off-chance that her mother is utterly mad then this is a complete waste of her money."

"A business lawyer doesn't need to care about this, but a neighbourhood lawyer has to be closer to the lives of the parties involved," Ning Wan smiled. "And if you don't know all the details about something like an inheritance dispute within a multi-child family, it's very likely that you'll accidentally tread on a landmine halfway through. They may be brothers and sisters, but even siblings don't always see eye to eye. Remember, community lawyers must solve disputes, not create them."

She looked over at Fu Zheng after saying this. "Alright, I'll give you a discount on tuition for Teacher Ning for now. You're not doing well financially, so you needn't pay me in cash. You can work it off instead by pouring me a cup of tea. I've talked so much that I've gotten pretty thirsty."

“……”

Was it an illusion, or did Fu Zheng's face look a bit dark, as if a storm was about to burst? But in the end, probably having sorted out the pros and cons and thought it over, Fu Zheng bit his lip and poured Ning Wan tea.

Ning Wan was rather enjoying herself. Community law work might be marginalized, but the heavens were high and the emperor was far away. Now, with Fu Zheng here and knowing his place as her "little brother", Ning Wan felt very cheerful indeed. "You're very highly educated and pick things up quick. So long as I mentor you a little, you'll grow up quickly. There is really no need for you to submit to Gao Yuan. In the future, I'll take you along with me when handling cases. I won't hide things from you, and I'll name-drop you when I can. In return, just do a little manual labour for me here and there."

"In the future, you'll be in charge of sweeping the office; taking out the garbage will also be your chore; printing and copying will be your responsibility; filing and paperwork is all yours; and taking consultation calls will also be your duty."

"And what will you be responsible for?" Fu Zheng asked, his face ugly.

"I will take responsibility for the overall vision." Ning Wan patted Fu Zheng on the shoulder and said with great strength of heart, "You've never worked before, and though you may not know it, this is how all new lawyers are taught. Although they're allowed to participate in a few cases, during their first six months they basically take whatever scraps they can - chores, in other words. No matter where you go, this is how it is. All newcomers start the same way."

Ning Wan took a sip of the tea that Fu Zheng had brought over stiffly and smiled. "Congratulations for having seized this precious opportunity."

Fu Zheng moistened his lips, completely stupefied. "Is having the opportunity to do chores really worth congratulating?"

"Of course it is. Since you're my junior I would definitely have taught you regardless, but I did hesitate on taking you on formally. After all, a teacher is responsible for their student. It wouldn't originally have been my problem if you went out and screwed up in the future, but if you were formally associated with me, then I would never be able to hold my head high in the legal circle again."

“……”

"I actually had quite an inner struggle over it. But in the end, you didn't do badly today at all. Congratulations, Fu Zheng, you've passed my test. You can now officially say that I am your mentor. When you go out in the future to walk by the rivers and lakes, you can proudly tell others that you are there under the name of Ning Wan!"

In fact, Ning Wan was telling the truth. Fu Zheng, supposedly still an intern, should not have as yet obtained a certificate to practice, which meant that he could not handle cases independently without the oversight of another practicing attorney. His mentor was allowed to have him do odd jobs, but in return they bore responsibility for his actions. If the intern made trouble during a case, it was the responsibility of his mentor to make it right. The obligations were quite equal on both sides.

Although Fu Zheng understood this in theory, he had never thought that one day someone would make him do chores, and even congratulate him having obtained the chance to do chores...

Him, a dignified and awe-inspiring senior partner...

Ning Wan didn't seem to realize that anything was wrong. She patted Fu Zheng on the back. "Now, now, I know that you're so excited that you just can't speak. It must be shockingly good news for you to find such a reliable, decent mentor as soon as you entered the business. But you don't have to completely lose your mind from happiness. Take that dull expression off your face and go take the garbage out."

“……”

"Oh, and before I forget! Bring me a cup of coffee on your way back from the dumpster! A latte! Medium!"

“……”