The next day. November 5th.
Seven in the morning.
The sky was just beginning to brighten. The biting autumn cold had turned into a wind that whistled and wove through the streets.
Xu De walked out of his rented apartment carrying some leftover food. Pulling his coat tighter around himself, he blended in with the pedestrians on the street. Before long, he stopped at the entrance of an alley.
In the corner.
A head peeked out from a remote nook in the alleyway. Upon seeing him, the figure sheepishly walked over.
Once the boy was standing in front of him, Xu De extended a hand and said,
"Shake."
The young scavenger reluctantly reached out and shook Xu De's hand.
He was about 1.6 meters tall with a frail frame. His hand, now resting in Xu De's palm, was incredibly thin—so bony it felt slightly rough, and stained with dirt.
Xu De spoke again.
"Spin around."
The young scavenger pinched the hem of his shirt with both hands, looking very awkward. Reluctantly, he spun in a circle.
"Too slow. Do it again," Xu De said, sounding thoroughly dissatisfied.
The young scavenger's eyes widened in shock.
In this freezing weather, doing a quick spin was not a pleasant experience. He was already so miserable; didn't this person have any empathy at all?!
But realizing it was Xu De giving the order, he somehow felt it made sense, so he sped up and spun around again.
As he spun, his thin clothes flared out, and the cold wind poured in through the gaps, raising goosebumps all over his skin.
"Great job!"
Xu De was much more satisfied this time and handed over the leftovers.
"Eat up."
Once the boy took them, Xu De stopped teasing him, turned around, and continued walking toward the law firm.
Looking at his retreating back, the young scavenger hesitated, opening and closing his mouth before finally whispering, "Thank you."
With that, he vanished into the alleyway as quickly as a mouse.
Seven-thirty.
Jinmao Law Firm.
Creak.
The main door of the law firm was pushed open. Xu De walked over to the attendance clock as usual.
A colleague in the lobby paused briefly upon seeing him, then stood up and called out,
"Lawyer Xu, someone was just here looking for you."
Was it Wang Mei and her daughter?
Xu De was a bit surprised. After clocking in, he looked at his colleague with a puzzled expression.
"Did she leave?"
His colleague shook his head. "No, she's waiting for you in the reception room. Just go to Reception Room 001."
"Alright, thank you."
Xu De nodded and immediately headed toward the reception room.
To be honest, there weren't many people who would come looking for him. If it wasn't Wang Mei and her daughter... then it had to be the 'Perfected Lord of Longevity', Lin Yue.
After all, he had told her to find him last night.
But it was only seven-thirty right now. Would she really come this early?
Xu De pondered this as he stood before the door of Reception Room 001. He reached out and pushed the ajar door open.
Creak.
As the crack in the door widened, a man's face came into Xu De's view.
Seeing who had arrived, the man sitting on the sofa inside paused slightly, then broke into a warm smile.
"Hello, Lawyer Xu. We meet again."
This person was...
Chen Wei!
The defense attorney representing Li Youcai and his wife!
Seeing this man, Xu De's heart skipped a beat. He didn't rush in, but instead asked,
"Lawyer Chen? Do you have urgent business with me?"
Chen Wei stood up and spoke with a chuckle. "Lawyer Xu, the court summons has been issued. The case will go to trial in five days."
"As for why I came to find you this time..."
Chen Wei paused. He picked up his briefcase from the sofa, pulled out a document, and placed it in front of Xu De, chuckling again.
"It's mainly because of this."
Xu De shifted his gaze to the document and instantly froze.
This document was quite specific. The title consisted of only three words:
【Letter of Forgiveness】
In an instant, Xu De's eyes narrowed.
...
...
Eight o'clock.
Creak.
A tall figure wearing a trench coat pushed open the main door of the law firm.
Whoosh.
Feeling the heating in the main lobby, she untied her scarf, revealing an expressionless, delicate, and aloof face. Her lively eyes darted around before she finally asked softly,
"Excuse me, does Lawyer Xu De work here?"
Her clear, crisp voice echoed in the room.
In the lobby, a lawyer who was already hard at work looked up. He was slightly stunned by her appearance before coming back to his senses and asking in confusion,
"And how should I address you?"
"My name is Lin Yue. I know Xu De."
As she spoke, Lin Yue exhaled a puff of warm air. The sudden contrast from the heating made her whole body shiver, and her aloof expression quickly softened.
Clearly, she wasn't actually aloof; she was just frozen stiff from the sudden drop in temperature.
The lawyer replied, "Lawyer Xu is currently busy in Reception Room 001. You can wait a moment."
The reception room?
Lin Yue paused. She was just about to head to the waiting area, but as she turned around, her eyebrows twitched as she thought to herself,
'Given the timeline, the trial should be starting soon. At this hour... could it be Xu Hong and Wang Mei?'
Thinking of this, she said,
"Thank you."
After pinpointing the direction of the reception room, she strode over.
Wang Qiang's case was imminent, and it was closely tied to the custody case she was handling. It was definitely necessary to give a few words of advice before the trial.
However...
Just as she leaned in close to Reception Room 001 and was about to knock...
"Lawyer Xu..."
A man's voice suddenly drifted out from the reception room, lingering by her ear.
This...
This wasn't Wang Mei or her daughter.
Lin Yue froze, then immediately tiptoed, preparing to slip away quietly. But before she could move, the voice from inside rang out again.
"Lawyer Xu, you need to think this through carefully. The court won't take the initiative to mediate between the two parties in a criminal murder case!"
"If you don't plan to sign this letter of forgiveness now... then when the time comes..."
"It won't be this simple when you eventually want to sign it!"
That voice... was it Chen Wei?
Lin Yue's mind suddenly flashed back to the scene she had witnessed in the police station lobby.
There was no time to think.
A second later, Xu De's voice sounded.
"See yourself out."
"You!"
Inside the reception room, Chen Wei slammed his palm onto the table. He glared angrily but couldn't find the words to say.
After a long time, he took a deep breath, looked at Xu De, and said grimly,
"You don't know what's good for you..."
"Then I'll see you in court!"
With that, Chen Wei didn't hesitate anymore. He grabbed his briefcase and stormed out in frustration.
Bang!
The reception room door was violently pushed open, the edge of the door brushing right past someone's face.
Lin Yue, who was eavesdropping outside with rapt attention, jumped in fright. By the time she recovered, she only caught a fleeting glimpse of Chen Wei's retreating back.
"What's with slamming doors? Do you have no manners at all!" she grumbled, voicing her protest.
Before she could fully process what had happened, a voice sounded from behind her.
"Have you heard enough?"
Turning around, she saw Xu De leaning against the doorframe, an inexplicable smile playing on his lips. As he spoke, he reached out and tapped the glass next to the door.
Tap-tap!
The frosted window, which acted as a wall for the reception room, let out a crisp sound.
Although the window wasn't completely transparent, while he was talking with Chen Wei earlier, anyone who wasn't blind could perfectly see a blurry, suspicious figure crouching by the door and pressing against the glass.
"Perfected Lord of Clairaudience, did you hear everything that was said in the reception room just now? I didn't sell out my client in private," Xu De teased.
Hearing this, a blush instantly spread across Lin Yue's fair neck, climbing all the way to the tips of her ears in the blink of an eye.
"What eavesdropping? I wasn't eavesdropping. I was just... just... just standing at the door zoning out for a second!"
"And what the heck is Perfected Lord of Clairaudience... I already told you I just made that up on the spot," Lin Yue replied vaguely, averting her gaze.
Xu De didn't say anything. He simply crossed his arms and looked at her with a teasing gaze, making her feel thoroughly embarrassed.
It took a long time before the topic finally got back on track.
"Was that Chen Wei just now?" Lin Yue looked back in the direction Chen Wei had disappeared. She raised an eyebrow and asked in surprise, "What did he want with you?"
Xu De replied, "He said the victim's family is now willing to 'forgive' the defendant, and he came to persuade me to have my client sign a letter of forgiveness."
The victim's family wants to forgive the defendant?
"Forgive? Are they even worthy of saying that word?!"
Lin Yue gasped in shock, then paused. She rubbed her chin, and a moment later, her eyes lit up.
"But... you were actually right!"
Li Youcai was using the letter of forgiveness as a threat!
The opposing party subconsciously realized that Wang Qiang being sentenced to prison brought them a hundred harms and zero benefits!
Thus, they were trying to maximize the value of their chips before the trial to get what they wanted.
All of this...
It was exactly the same as what Xu De had predicted!
And that was twelve days ago!
To accurately predict the opposing party's every move, and even their psychological reactions, twelve days in advance... Is this really something a lawyer could do?!
Not to mention, analyzing a major case from the perspective of an absolute dead end... this level of ability... was simply a dimensional strike in the legal world!
When did Greenwood City produce such a figure?
Lin Yue stared at Xu De in disbelief. After a long while, she asked in astonishment,
"You're from Jinmao Law Firm? There's no golden lawyer named Xu De at this firm."
As she spoke, she suspiciously looked him up and down.
However, Lin Yue quickly stopped thinking about that.
Because...
She suddenly realized something else.
That was, if the current situation was developing exactly as he predicted, did that mean... the solution had to be exactly the one he proposed?!
If it was a normal solution, it wouldn't matter. But the method Xu De had suggested...
It was practically the work of an outlaw!
"Wait, don't tell me..."
Lin Yue's eyelid twitched, and her heart pounded. She stared at the gentle, tall man beside her, her eyes widening in absolute disbelief.
She cried out in alarm,
"Are you really going to do something illegal next?!"
As her voice faded, an eerie silence fell over the reception room.
The two of them stared at each other.
Just as Lin Yue's eyes grew wider and a sense of unease gnawed at her heart... Xu De suddenly smiled.
"You guessed it, except..."
"I'm going to do it, but... it absolutely won't be illegal!"