DCISBS chapter 18

The weather wasn’t great that day. The sky stayed overcast, the forecast said rain, but it hadn’t come yet. The air was so humid it felt like the mist might condense into water any minute.

When Xie Quan stepped out of the taxi, he instinctively shook out his coat, feeling like the fabric had already soaked through with heavy moisture.

With this kind of weather, even carrying an umbrella wouldn’t help much.

He had only taken a few steps when he saw Lu Nanyang standing on the square bricks up ahead, waving at him enthusiastically.

Then he noticed the building behind Lu Nanyang: Yuncheng District People’s Court.

Xie Quan turned on his heel to leave.

“Hey! Xie Quan! Xie Quan!” Lu Nanyang hurried to catch up. With his long legs, he reached him in a few quick strides and grabbed his arm. “Come back!”

Xie Quan yanked his arm away, frowning. “You said we were meeting at a milk tea shop to talk with Li Xin.”

“We are! First we talk, and then we casually pop across the street to attend a court session,” Lu Nanyang said, completely serious as he spouted nonsense. “It’s not far, won’t take much time…”

Xie Quan flung Lu Nanyang’s hand off even harder this time, and Lu Nanyang could tell from those cold, sharp gray eyes that he was really angry.

“Lu Nanyang, you’re lying,” Xie Quan said, pointing a finger at him, enunciating each word. “You said you hated being lied to the most. But when you lie to others, it’s no big deal, is it?”

The words stung. Lu Nanyang grabbed Xie Quan’s arm for the third time, pressing his wrist down and forcing his hand down. “I didn’t lie to you. Li Xin is really sitting in the milk tea shop across the street waiting for us. Yes, it’s true that I hope you’ll testify during the hearing—it would make things go much smoother. But if you don’t want to, you can leave right now. I won’t force you.”

Then he lowered his voice. “That’s the difference between you and me. Got it?”

Xie Quan’s wrist ached under Lu Nanyang’s grip. After a couple of attempts to shake him off, Lu Nanyang finally let go.

He really was strong. When Xie Quan pulled his hand back, there was a red mark encircling his wrist.

“This case means that much to you?” Xie Quan rubbed his wrist, holding back his anger. “It’s just some mess your professor threw at you, and you’re still going all out to clean it up like it’s some kind of show?”

Lu Nanyang was silent for a moment. Just when Xie Quan thought he had nothing to say, he suddenly asked, “Why did you let Li Xin stay in that house?”

Xie Quan paused, frowning. “What’s it got to do with you?”

Lu Nanyang ignored him and went on, “Li Xin has a mother with Alzheimer’s. To pay for her treatment, she even sold their family house. She said that if you hadn’t stepped in to help, she and her mom would’ve had nowhere to go.”

Lu Nanyang was confident in his plan.

When he found out that piece of information, he had a hunch: maybe Xie Quan wasn’t as heartless as he made himself out to be. After all, Li Xin was family, and since Xie Quan had helped her when she was at her lowest, maybe—just maybe—he’d be willing to help her win this lawsuit too—

A cold laugh cut through his thoughts.

Xie Quan narrowed his eyes, arms crossed, a mocking sneer practically spilling out of his gaze. “Li Xin told you she sold the house to pay for her mom’s treatment?”

Lu Nanyang froze.

“She sold the house because she was deep in debt. And the reason she was in debt was because she was financially supporting a male university student as a sugar mommy. Her husband divorced her over that,” Xie Quan said with a smirk. “I let them stay in that house because her mother, before she got sick, was a senior specialist at the affiliated hospital of Yuncheng University. A lot of senior professors in our department knew her. I used that to build connections.”

Then he added coldly, “Don’t think too highly of people, Mr. Hotshot Lawyer.”

And with that, Xie Quan turned and walked away without a backward glance.

Tsk.

Miscalculation.

He shouldn’t have had any naive illusions about Xie Quan’s humanity from the start. The man was like some cold-blooded creature—a lizard or a snake. Touching him, all you’d feel were cold, hard scales.

“Xie Quan!” Lu Nanyang jogged forward a few steps and blocked his path. “Why are you so unwilling to testify? It’s a simple case—it won’t take more than a few minutes. It won’t do you any harm.”

“And it won’t do me any good either,” Xie Quan shot back.

“It will.” Lu Nanyang grabbed him again, repeating, “There is something in it for you.”

Xie Quan looked at him.

Lu Nanyang felt his throat go dry. The words were stuck halfway up his windpipe. He licked his lips and cleared his throat. “Do you remember the request you made last time?”

This time, the snake’s eyes narrowed, a glint of amusement sparking in them. “You gonna give me a blowjob?”

After a few rounds of publicly humiliating experiences, Lu Nanyang had trained himself not to bat an eye.

“No blowjobs. Handjob’s negotiable,” Lu Nanyang said in a low voice. “At least you’d get to touch a few pubes. Not tempting?”

Xie Quan raised his eyebrows.

Interesting. It looked like Lu Nanyang was starting to get corrupted by him.

“Deal,” Xie Quan said in a low voice. As he turned, his hand casually brushed over the lower part of Lu Nanyang’s back.

…..

The courtroom handling the case was small, but a few people still sat scattered around to observe. As Liu Qiuyan walked through the main hall, she made sure to glare fiercely at Lu Nanyang.

Lu Nanyang found it amusing. He thought, What’s the point of glaring at me? Go convince the homeowner to change their mind if you can.

The homeowner was sitting right next to him, with some distance between himself and Li Xin, clearly trying to avoid her. While the clerk read the court rules, his lips were tightly pressed, his face stern and expressionless.

Lu Nanyang nudged Xie Quan’s leg with his knee. “Don’t be so tense. Just say what you need to say.”

Xie Quan turned to him. “You’re awfully relaxed, like you’re taking a stroll in your backyard.”

Lu Nanyang grinned. “It’s not my first time in court.”

Xie Quan looked him up and down. “Aren’t you a year behind me in school?”

“So what? Who said being a year behind means I can’t appear in court?” Lu Nanyang tapped his arm twice. “I’m just popular, okay? Get it?”

Xie Quan lowered his head and chuckled softly.

He hadn’t intended to continue the conversation, but it was like Lu Nanyang had opened the floodgates. He leaned in a bit closer and whispered, “Wanna know the weirdest case I ever took?”

“What?” Xie Quan played along, amused.

“A divorce case,” Lu Nanyang said. “The wife filed for divorce because the husband’s thing was too big. She couldn’t handle it.”

Xie Quan stared at him in surprise.

“But court needs evidence, right? So the judge had the bailiffs take the husband to the bathroom for inspection,” Lu Nanyang said, completely serious. “The bailiffs all came back and agreed—it really was huge. Said they’d never seen anything like it. So the judge granted the divorce.”

Xie Quan’s eyes widened. He couldn’t help laughing. Fortunately, the court clerk was still reading the rules aloud, and no one noticed.

“It’s a true story,” Lu Nanyang said with a grin. “Civil court cases are full of ridiculous domestic drama. There’s a ton of fun stuff like that.”

After speaking, Lu Nanyang propped his chin on his hand and looked at him, nudging Xie Quan’s knee with his own. “Feeling any better now?”

Only then did Xie Quan realize that Lu Nanyang had been chatting non-stop just to help ease his nerves.

…Completely unnecessary.

Xie Quan pushed his knee back to its original place and said in a low voice, “You should worry more about yourself. If you’re not as big, learn some better techniques.”

Lu Nanyang clicked his tongue. “Do I look like—”

The judge’s voice cut him off: “…We will now proceed with the court investigation. First, the plaintiff will present their claim and the grounds for the lawsuit.”

The judge was a woman with a gentle and kind demeanor, but she seemed to have a hard time controlling the chaos in the courtroom.

Almost as soon as the opening statements began, Li Xin and Liu Qiuyan started hurling insults at each other. Ten minutes in, the courtroom was in total disarray, like a marketplace. The judge’s gavel had slammed down more than a dozen times. Lu Nanyang looked at it sympathetically, feeling like it might snap in half any moment now.

“…You don’t remember? Well, I remember it crystal clear!” Liu Qiuyan slapped the table, spraying saliva. “I even have a recording! You said it yourself that you were giving me the house. Now you’re regretting it? Too bad! I have solid evidence!”

“What kind of bullshit evidence? Drunken words don’t count!” Li Xin shot back, louder and no less fierce. “If I told you to jump off a building, would you do it too?!”

Lu Nanyang was afraid they’d get thrown out of the courtroom by the bailiffs if this kept up. He quickly stood up and cut in, “Your Honor, whether or not my client made a verbal gift that night is irrelevant, because she is not the legal owner of the property and does not have the authority to give or sell it.”

As he spoke, Lu Nanyang stepped forward and handed a copy of the property certificate to the judge, continuing, “The registered owner of the property is Xie Quan, and he was completely unaware of Li Xin’s promise to gift the property beforehand.”

Li Xin frowned. “What do you mean ‘unaware’—”

The judge cut her off. “And what is the property owner’s stance on this matter?”

Lu Nanyang turned his head and gave Xie Quan a look.

Xie Quan understood it was his turn to speak. He paused, then moved the microphone in front of him.

Lu Nanyang noticed that Xie Quan’s eyelashes were trembling slightly, and his fingers were gripping the mic so tightly they were pale.

He did seem nervous.

Really? From someone who substitutes at the campus clinic all the time? It’s just a court appearance. Lu Nanyang was a little puzzled.

“I am Xie Quan, the legal owner of unit 301 in Building 8.” Xie Quan’s voice was calm, and his magnetic tone was pleasant to hear. “I was unaware of the dispute between Li Xin and Liu Qiuyan prior to this and I do not consent to gifting the property to Liu Qiuyan.”

The judge nodded. “So the plaintiff mistakenly believed the defendant was the property owner and made the gifting decision, but the actual owner knew nothing about it. Is that correct?”

“Yes,” Lu Nanyang replied.

The judge acknowledged with a nod and closed the file in front of her. Clearly, the facts were clear, and the evidence was solid—there was no need for further investigation.

Finally over, Lu Nanyang thought. It’s about lunchtime anyway—where should he eat?

Just as his thoughts wandered to the noodle shop near the campus gate, Liu Qiuyan suddenly stood up with a jerk. Her whole body was shaking with rage, her face flushed red as she pointed at Xie Quan and began yelling.

“You’re the owner? Bull-fucking-shit, that house should’ve been mine!” Liu Qiuyan’s voice was shrill, almost piercing the courtroom. “Who the hell do you think you are, you nameless bastard?! You’re not even good enough to lick his boots! You dog bastard!”

It all happened in an instant—Lu Nanyang saw the color drain completely from Xie Quan’s face, his hand gripping the mic turning a pale blue, as if he were about to crush it in the next second.