Chapter 73.3: “Since the day Ye Zhaoxia died, I have decided that I don’t want to be a good person anymore.”

Lin Hui’s story didn’t need to continue. Bai DuanDuan could already guess the rest. Many cases that ultimately failed were not complex cases, but rather small cases like this. Although these cases seemed simple, they could be very complicated in reality. Regardless of the circumstances, evidence could always be left behind, but with a case that was too simple, many parties involved had a low level of legal knowledge and didn’t consciously preserve evidence. Without evidence, it became difficult to prove the facts, and the case became thorny.

Sure enough, Lin Hui was experiencing the situation that Bai DuanDuan had predicted: “Not having signed a labor contract is indeed a good situation to prove, but my client did not pay attention to preserving any evidence. He didn’t have a work card, no proof of signing for goods, and even no text message or phone call records. There was nothing after the first three months. I really did my best to gather evidence, but there was nothing. Since Ji Lin’s father’s case, I haven’t done anything out of line, and I have always acted according to the rules.”

“So you lost this case?”

“Yeah,” Lin Hui nodded. It was clear that he didn’t want to reminisce, but he continued despite the strong emotional pressure he was feeling. “I really tried my best and carefully sorted out the process of investigating and the facts of the case with the parties involved. However, the client couldn’t accept it. At the time, I started taking on some paid cases besides pro bono cases, but he heard a rumor and assumed that I neglected his case because it was free and put all my effort into the paid cases.”

Bai DuanDuan fell silent. She had encountered unreasonable clients before. Some clients always believed that if they paid for a lawyer’s services, the lawyer should win. Otherwise, the service wasn’t worth the money. If they lost, it was the lawyer’s fault. But they never thought to compare it to medical care. Even if medical treatment wasn’t always successful, you still had to pay for surgery and medical treatment to have a chance at success. Doctors are like that, and lawyers are the same. They are both professionals, but lawyers’ services are often more difficult for the public to understand.

“I provided him with pro bono legal services and ran back and forth for half a month, trying various ways to gather evidence, and came up with several litigation strategies. But since he himself had no legal awareness and didn’t take any action to preserve the evidence, all of it was lost. But I really did my best. I did it out of goodwill and kindness. No law required me to take on this pro bono case. I put in one hundred and twenty percent effort, but because I didn’t win, the client blocked me at the law firm and insulted me with the most vulgar and insulting language, humiliating me and my mother. But I wasn’t even obligated to help him. Litigation for the sake of justice was just a matter of sentiment. This client didn’t insult his employer who didn’t pay him, but trampled on me, the person who helped him, in the cruelest way possible.”

Lin Hui’s tone gradually rose, and even though he tried to suppress it, his anger and resentment leaked out. “He called me a hypocrite who took on pro bono cases for the sake of reputation and to appear as a good person. He accused me of being greedy, using the pro bono case to climb up the ladder, and then randomly fobbing off the pro bono case to focus on paid cases. He harassed and insulted me with all sorts of messages and phone calls, and I still put up with it.”

“I thought that was all. As long as I put up with it and waited for the situation to pass, as long as I continued to do what I was supposed to do, time would reveal what kind of person I really was, and everyone would have a fair evaluation of me.”

Speaking of this, Lin Hui’s face was full of pain, his eyes slightly reddened, and his voice was a bit hoarse: “But I never expected that I could endure it, while my client couldn’t. He still believes wholeheartedly that it was because of my fault and negligence that we lost the case. He even dug up my past reports. Why did I win when others were in the same situation, but he lost? He never thought that even though the same law may apply on the surface, the facts of the case can be vastly different! And even if he hates me, can’t he come and fight me directly? Why would he hurt Zhaoxia, who has nothing to do with this?”

Lin Hui’s emotions finally broke down. The usually calm and steady man left tears in front of Bai DuanDuan: “Duan Duan, do you know that the night before the accident, Zhaoxia was still advising me that we could take our time with the money for our marriage, even if we had a simple wedding. She asked me not to take more cases just for the money, and to take more public interest cases instead. There are too many poor and vulnerable people in this world, and we are better off than them. Every little bit of help counts.”

“Yes, I was a despicable person blinded by fame and fortune in Ji Lin’s case. I deserved any revenge on me. But what did Zhaoxia do wrong? She was such a kind person, why did she end up like this?”

Lin Hui’s voice was not loud, but every word hit Bai Duanduan’s heart like an arrow. Bai DuanDuan had never known the true story behind Zhaoxia’s accident, and now her eyes were also red.

Yes, even though Lin Hui was in the wrong in many ways, what did Zhaoxia do wrong?

“But have you seen what happened to that person later? Because he was poor, he was assigned a lawyer, who was a true ‘public interest lawyer’ who used sophistry to argue that the man’s deliberate revenge against Zhaoxia was just a crime of passion caused by drunkenness, and not a serious social threat. He got a very light sentence in the end, even though he knew me but didn’t know that Zhaoxia was my fiancée.”

Lin Hui looked at DuanDuan with a numb and lifeless tone: “So is this my karma on Ji Lin’s family for what I did? But the heavens are blind. These revenge actions are not against me, but against the person I love the most. Zhaoxia is gone, and I, this dirty and unclean person, am left in this world.”

Lin Hui stopped there and had not yet expressed his true feelings, but Bai DuanDuan had already understood his change gradually.

Why did Lin Hui change his previous style of taking public welfare cases after Ye Zhaoxia’s death and began to only take cases with large influence or high amounts at stake? As long as there was no legal responsibility, he would do anything to win. In just a few years, he rapidly expanded ZhaoHui and became dominant.

On the one hand, after Ye Zhaoxia’s death, he shifted his attention to his career as a way to transfer his emotions. On the other hand, perhaps the part of Lin Hui that was genuinely kind and beautiful died along with Ye Zhaoxia on that day.

He is still Lin Hui, but he is no longer the same Lin Hui.

With Ye Zhaoxia gone, his beliefs are gone as well. The person who used to gently guide him back on track when he was lost is gone forever.

Lin Hui, with tears streaming down his face, took a sip of wine and then burst out laughing almost hysterically: “Kill and burn for a golden belt, repair bridges and roads without a corpse. This phrase really describes me well.”

“I had selfish motives and behaved improperly. I failed to uphold professional ethics and contributed to the tragedy of the Ji family. But what did I get? I gained fame and fortune. Overnight, everyone knew me as a young lawyer who brought down such a big enterprise as Ji Xin.”

“And when I behaved properly, followed the rules, and did everything for the public good without taking a penny, only wanting to safeguard the rights of the vulnerable, what did I get? I got ingratitude, misunderstanding, and hatred from others. Even for a symbolic fee, I had to kneel down to beg for it. And in the end, I caused the death of the woman I loved the most.”

He was laughing, but Bai Duanduan felt that Lin Hui was even more sad than crying. His tears had dried up, and it seemed like he could no longer shed any more tears. However, his hollow eyes and numb expression reminded Bai Duanduan every moment that although this man was alive, he was already like a walking dead.

Finally, he looked at Bai Duanduan again: “Duanduan, being a good person is too tiring. There is no reward for being a good person. Being a bad person is easier and can get you everything you want.”

“Since the day Ye Zhaoxia died, I have decided that I don’t want to be a good person anymore.”