Chapter 13

It was necessary to have bail posted or a bailor for release to be granted.

Yan Suizhi turned his ring quietly. He calmly said, “Since I’m already standing here, will the bail bond be an issue?”

The judge thought for a moment, then shook his head. “We don’t encourage lawyers to pay bail bonds or act as bailors for their clients.”

Yan Suizhi raised his eyebrows. “Is it expressly prohibited by the law of the alliance?”

The judge, “No, it isn’t.”

Yan Suizhi, “Then is Wine City trying to revolt and issue a new law without a word?”

The judge, “…” What an audacious claim, would anyone dare answer that?!

Yan Suizhi, “Everything acts in accordance with the law. So, are there any issues?”

The judge wiped his face.

Two minutes later, the judge eventually picked up the gavel that he had been brushing his fingers over for a good while. He gave a resounding knock. Dong!

“All rise.”

As Yan Suizhi was already standing, he simply neatened his lawyer’s robe and raised his gaze.

“Regarding the dispute over Joshua Dale’s bail, the court declares—”

The court was always the quietest and the most solemn at this time. The judge paused. After his gaze swept around the room, it landed lightly on both the prosecution and Yan Suizhi. Finally, he intoned gravely:

“Bail is granted.”

✵

The crowd packed up their bags and gradually streamed out of the door. Yan Suizhi looked over. Gu Yan was leaning back against the chair as he waited for him to pack.

After thinking about it, Yan Suizhi decided he had to show the emotions a normal intern would have. Immediately, he clapped a hand to his chest, exhaled loudly, and said, “I was so nervous. Thankfully I didn’t stutter.”

Gu Yan, “…”

The judge who had come down, “…”

The prosecutor who was passing by on his way out, “…”

“Mr Ruan?” A young assistant judge sent over a document ejected from his photon computer. “You’ve to sign this document to pay the bail bond.”

Yan Suizhi nodded, taking the document and electronic pen. “Alright.”

Then, he turned over and passed it to Gu Yan. “Here, Teacher Gu. Sign it and hand over the money.”

Gu Yan, “…”

Actually, this development was something that they had discussed last night; this was also the essential reason that Gu Yan chose to put Yan Suizhi on the defence counsel.

In consideration that some judges really did mind if a lawyer paid for bail or acted as a bailor on behalf of the client, Gu Yan shouldn’t be the defence lawyer for this hearing. By avoiding direct confrontation in court, the judge might be a little more amenable to the proposal.

By right, this should have been a relatively safe play. But no one could have expected that a certain someone at the defence table would start to run wild and go absolutely lawless, not in the least bothering with tact at an occasion when one should stay tactful…

“Teacher Gu, do you have a toothache?” Yan Suizhi smiled merrily, looking at him.

“…My entire being aches,” Gu Yan frostily replied. After shooting him a pointed look, he lowered his eyes and signed his name with a flourish on the document for bail.

Yan Suizhi gazed at his signature and replayed the court proceedings from before in his mind. He felt that he had already reined himself in a little, but it wasn’t enough. It might have been more appropriate had he stuttered once or twice in the process.

But there was no lack of interns who could remain calm and confident when attending court for the first time. Gu Yan could have been one himself.

Further, Gu Yan wasn’t showing any reaction out of the ordinary in the present, at least, there wasn’t an element of suspicion in his eyes just now.

This meant… that there were no issues?

The esteemed Professor Yan very shamelessly awarded his earlier performance a solid 90 points. Except for his acting skills being a little half-baked, he hadn’t made any mistakes.

Sometimes, the more secretively and gingerly one tried to step, the easier it was for others to suspect shenanigans afoot.

In that way, why not just be a little more straightforward and composed, bold and confident to a degree. Others might suspect something but wouldn’t find it appropriate to mention.

Thereafter, Yan Suizhi and Gu Yan left Courtroom 7 together, running into Joshua Dale at the exit of the special passageway.

He didn’t look well. His head hung down the whole time, and his mind appeared a little too vacant. The two wardens were speaking to a bailiff, the officer in a court of law.

“Wake up. You’ve reached,” Yan Suizhi said to him.

Only after a long time when the warden behind him suddenly slapped his shoulder, Joshua then raised his head as if having just awoken from a light sleep. His jade-green eyes stared at Yan Suizhi for a while. “It ended?”

“…” Annoyed, Yan Suizhi turned to Gu Yan and said, “He must be sleepwalking.”

“It ended a long time ago. Why are you walking so slowly?” Gu Yan glanced at those two wardens.

Joshua still looked depressed. He laughed mockingly at himself and whispered hoarsely, “Alright, it ended again. And I’m going back to that damn place again…”

Yan Suizhi and Gu Yan exchanged a look.

“You must have been asleep in court earlier, right?” Yan Suizhi said curtly, “Bail has been granted. Where do you think you’re going?”

Joshua snorted in response. “I knew I shouldn’t have—what?”

He suddenly realised something midway, lifting his head abruptly. “Hang on. What did you just say?”

“Your bail has been granted.” Perhaps Yan Suizhi often joked about other things, but at this time, he suddenly became more solemn and showed more patience.

Joshua Dale stared at him, none of the words sinking in. His shoulders were hunched as if he hadn’t stood upright in a long time. He didn’t look at all like a fourteen-year-old boy, rather more like an old man in the twilight of his years.

“I said. Bail is granted. You can go home.” Yan Suizhi repeated once more, his words enunciated very slowly, and very clearly.

The corners of Joshua’s jade-green eyes all of a sudden turned bloodshot, stubbornly holding back a giant tide of emotions that wanted to rush out.

He stared dead-on at Yan Suizhi. He stared very intently, then whipped his head back to stare at the wardens and bailiff.

“He’s telling the truth. I already told you when I took you out of court earlier, didn’t you hear me?” one of the wardens said.

The warden glanced at Yan Suizhi and Gu Yan, and added, “Yeah, that’s right. You can go home. Can’t you see that we aren’t restraining you anymore?”

After the wardens and the bailiff finished their conversation, they nodded to the two lawyers and took their leave first.

It was only then that Joshua Dale truly believed Yan Suizhi’s words.

He stood on the spot with his head lowered for a moment, then suddenly raised his hand to cover his eyes.

Another moment later, Yan Suizhi heard a low, poorly muffled sob.

“Don’t go about crying yet.” Yan Suizhi seemed completely unaffected by his emotions and was even in the mood to crack a joke. “What did someone say before? If the release on bail is successful you’d call us your grandfather?”

Joshua clenched his teeth and choked his sobs back, but the hand covering his eyes stayed there. “Mn…”

His voice was thick and nasally. He nodded frantically.

Then Yan Suizhi went on to say, “Oh, forget it. You’d better not call us that, I don’t want such a stinky grandson.”

Gu Yan, “…”

Joshua Dale, “…”

Hardening his neck, he took a step back so that he wouldn’t smoke the lawyers with his stink.

“Don’t cover your eyes anymore. Go back, have a shower. Take your sister out for a meal. You’re each skinnier than the next, it’s frightening.”

The keyword ‘sister’ caught at Joshua’s heart. He vigorously rubbed his eyes and turned to barrel of the courthouse.

“Rest well today. I’ll look for you tomorrow.” Before Gu Yan could finish speaking, that rude youth had vanished.

“He didn’t even say a word of thanks,” Yan Suizhi watched his figure disappear and shrugged. Tilting his head, he said to Gu Yan, “Let’s celebrate our first victory. Come on, I’ll treat you to dinner.”

Gu Yan threw him a disbelieving look. “With that 5022 xi of yours?”

“Why? Are you looking down on my poverty?”

Gu Yan flatly said, “My intuition tells me that nothing good can possibly come out of this.”

last line is actually an idiom that goes – one who is unaccountably solicitous is hiding evil intentions.

thanks IrisReticulata, for qc’ing the legal terms

expect three updates this week. Tue, Thu, Sat.