Manufacture... manufacture urgency?
"Isn't... isn't that inappropriate?"
Lin Yue's voice was weak, betraying a hint of apprehension.
She understood what he meant.
It was nothing more than stealing the child, forcing the other party to experience the despair of having their family line severed a whole year in advance—or even before Wang Qiang stood trial.
That way, Li Youcai would become far more anxious than Wang Mei, and his stance naturally wouldn't be as unyielding.
At the very least, both sides would return to an equal footing!
"What's inappropriate about it?" Xu De countered.
"If this angers Li Youcai, Wang Qiang might..." Lin Yue trailed off hesitantly.
She shouldn't have brought that up.
The moment the words left her mouth, Xu De exploded, a look of sheer exasperation crossing his face.
"I was fine until you mentioned that."
"Now that you have... I can't help but laugh."
Then, before Lin Yue could formulate a retort, he dropped the most crucial point.
"You need to realize that Wang Qiang is the only bargaining chip Li Youcai has to threaten us with!"
"But it's a counterfeit chip!"
"Once Wang Qiang is handed a heavy sentence, Li Youcai will instantly lose that sole leverage. After that, he can forget about ever getting the child back. In other words..."
"Li Youcai and Liu Cui wouldn't dare let Wang Qiang die themselves!"
"The only path before them is an exchange of needs. This so-called 'letting Wang Qiang die' or 'fighting to the bitter end'... it simply doesn't exist!"
The instant those words settled...
'Bzz!'
Suddenly.
An invisible current seemed to jolt from Lin Yue's tailbone straight up to the crown of her head, making her scalp tingle.
Her eyes widened slightly, shock splashing across her features. Her mind cleared as if infused with sudden wisdom, parting the clouds to reveal the bright moon.
Yes...
That was exactly it!
They were using the threat against Wang Qiang as leverage, scheming to get the child.
But the moment Wang Qiang died, the chip in their hands would vanish, completely stripping them of any right to fight for custody!
As long as the child wasn't in their grasp, Li Youcai and Liu Cui would never dare let Wang Qiang die.
"And they're actually using something they wouldn't even dare to do themselves as leverage?"
Xu De laughed out of pure indignation.
"I haven't even threatened them yet, and they beat me to the punch by trying to threaten me!?"
"Ridiculous... absolutely ridiculous!"
Truthfully, if he weren't a man of good manners...
He would have cursed Chen Wei out to his face right then and there!
If anyone was going to do the threatening, it should be him!
"This..."
Lin Yue was stunned. She stared at him, dumbfounded and entirely swept away by shock.
He was right...
He was absolutely right!
Li Youcai didn't even have the courage to follow through on his own threat, yet he dared to use it against them. The audacity was simply off the charts.
Furthermore, court judgments considered a multitude of factors; it wasn't a one-man show dictated by the opposition. As long as Xu De performed well, even if Li Youcai talked until the sky fell, there was still room to turn things around!
Conversely, if they refused to hand over the child... then that was truly the end of it!
In just a handful of sentences.
He had broken down a seemingly dead-end case with crystal clarity!
And after he took it apart...
She faintly realized that if they followed his logic... the advantage actually belonged to them!!!
Lin Yue was filled with disbelief, feeling a surreal, dreamlike sensation wash over her.
Just like that... a breakthrough for the case had been found?
She had agonized over it for nearly half a month without a single viable solution, yet he had been on the case for less than a day...
"Lawyer Xu... how is your brain wired!?"
Lin Yue muttered unconsciously. When she realized what she had just blurted out, she snapped back to reality.
Her face flushed a delicate shade of pink. Flustered, she frantically waved her hands and rushed to explain.
"I... I didn't mean it like that! I mean you're... incredible!"
She meant it as the highest praise, not an insult.
This method of deconstructing a case...
Lin Yue had never seen anything like it in her entire life!
She had studied law since she was young and graduated from Dongguo's premier institution, Shuimu University. She had rubbed shoulders with more than just a few brilliant minds.
Not to mention, those brilliant minds were the absolute cream of the crop among Dongguo's billion-plus population!
And yet...
Lin Yue had never encountered a talent like Xu De. His approach to cracking the case... transcended the bounds of jurisprudence itself!
"You flatter me, Daoist."
Xu De waved it off, thick-skinned enough to offer a modest reply to smooth over the awkwardness.
Then, he gave a cold snort.
"Once we go and steal the child."
"By then... we won't be the ones panicking."
Only if they stole the child would Li Youcai realize that they were in a desperate hurry now too!
Wang Mei shouldn't be subjected to their threats. At the very least, both sides should be sitting across from each other at the same table, confronting each other as equals.
In fact, upon closer inspection, Wang Mei held the upper hand!
After all, Li Youcai's only leverage was Wang Qiang, and actually harming him... was something they didn't dare do.
At that point, Li Youcai and Liu Cui would find themselves in a desperate situation with nowhere to turn.
And as for Xu De?
"We seize the opportunity to negotiate terms with them!?"
Lin Yue's heartbeat gradually accelerated, her eyes growing clear and bright. Feeling a surge of excitement, she tentatively offered the suggestion.
"Negotiate terms?"
Xu De furrowed his brows, shooting her a highly dissatisfied look.
"Once we have the child, and knowing they won't dare do anything reckless... you think we're still going to negotiate with them?"
"Then wouldn't I be stealing the child for nothing!"
Xu De expressed his extreme displeasure, decisively rejecting her proposal.
"Threaten."
"We must outright threaten them!"
"Heh, as for how to threaten them most effectively so it impacts the criminal case... you don't need to worry about that. I have my own arrangements!"
It circled back to his main point.
He hadn't even threatened them yet.
Yet Chen Wei and Li Youcai had beaten him to it, threatening him first!?
If they hadn't gotten their hands on the child, fine, they'd swallow it, since the opposition didn't understand the gravity of the situation yet.
But...
If Xu De went through the trouble of stealing the child and they still held back... wouldn't the whole effort be wasted!?
As for the possibility that even if getting the child forced Li Youcai to sign a letter of forgiveness, it still wouldn't be enough to turn the tide in a criminal case...
He could only say that she still didn't understand what exactly they needed to threaten others into doing!
"You..."
Lin Yue once again looked at him as if he were a deity descended from the heavens, feeling her entire worldview being smashed to pieces.
She had lost count of how many times she had looked at him with that exact expression.
He always managed to say things that sent shivers down her spine!
Leaving the whole child-stealing business aside.
No normal lawyer would ever utter those words!
Just openly talking about threatening people.
What kind of upstanding lawyer kept the word 'threat' perpetually on the tip of their tongue!?
Was he really a lawyer? With that tone, if the background were slightly different, Lin Yue would have believed he was a bank robber!
She remembered the bar exam having a section on professional ethics... how on earth did this guy pass!?
"Wait. No."
In her daze...
Lin Yue suddenly caught herself. She shook her head, tossing those stray thoughts away, and then her brow furrowed in concern.
What he said made sense.
Once the deed was done... Li Youcai would be meat on the chopping block, entirely at Xu De's mercy!
It was just...
"Isn't this... illegal?"
Lin Yue hesitated before voicing her greatest fear.
"Stealing a child is practically the same nature as human trafficking. Honestly... this has to be against the law!"
Stealing the child... while effective, didn't change the fact that it broke the law.
They were lawyers; they couldn't just commit crimes. Never mind professional ethics, the moment the other party reported them... the police would give them a harsh lesson on the iron fist of the state!
Her worries were entirely justified.
However...
"Illegal? What's illegal?"
Xu De frowned, looking at her in total incomprehension as he tilted his head.
"What we're doing is completely legal and compliant!"
Lin Yue: ?
Legal... legal and compliant?
Scrutinizing every word he had spoken, right down to the commas...
Lin Yue couldn't find a single shred of legality or compliance.
Instead, she could probably use the Criminal Code as a reference guide for his plan!
Unable to hold back, she gasped again:
"You're about to steal a child and even threaten them, and you're telling me this is legal!?"
"Of course."
Xu De raised an eyebrow, looking genuinely puzzled as he stated it as a matter of fact.
"Is that weird?"
"I've made my way in this world by strictly abiding by the laws and regulations."
Lin Yue: ?
Lin Yue stared wide-eyed and couldn't help but exclaim:
"No... is there a single syllable of what you just said that's legal!?"