Are You Crazy? He’s only an Intern Lawyer?
Chapter 116 - 115: The Criminal Division Has No Status? Bai Ruoyun’s Commission (Please Subscribe)

Chapter 116: Chapter 115: The Criminal Division Has No Status? Bai Ruoyun’s Commission (Please Subscribe)

February, late in the month.

Monday morning.

Zhang Wei sat in the kitchen, sipping tea, leisurely reading the newspaper.

"Meeting my uncle-in-law like that was really quite strange!"

He recalled the events of yesterday, his expression somewhat unnatural.

Xia Qianjun and his two companions had dinner at Zhang Wei’s place, during which Zhang Wei noticed Xia Qianjun looking at him with a peculiar gaze.

It was a mixture of suspicion and scrutiny, with an undertone of threat, all too familiar to him.

Xiao Baihe!

That was the exact look Xiao Baihe gave Zhang Wei back then.

It was the look prosecutors and lawyers gave to suspects, and Zhang Wei knew it all too well.

"Seems like I haven’t left a good impression on my uncle-in-law!"

Even though Xia Qianjun didn’t have a good first impression of Zhang Wei, Gao Yang and Luo Qi were full of praise for the meal he cooked.

After all, they had always been on the move, surviving on canned food.

Having suddenly tasted Zhang Wei’s homemade dishes, any jealousy quickly evaporated.

Too bad winning over those two was pointless; they weren’t going to be his future uncles by marriage.

After the meal, Xia Qianjun and his group excused themselves, as they seemed to be heading to the Martial Association to report.

After this return, Xia Qianjun probably wouldn’t be leaving again, and he was set to join a special division within the Martial Association.

According to Xia Qianyue, this division was called "Special Combat Unit," and many of its members were ex-frontline warriors from the War Department.

To say that this unit was the Martial Association’s most elite fighting force wasn’t an exaggeration.

However, these matters were too distant for Zhang Wei, who simply made a mental note of the Special Combat Unit, reminding himself to be cautious in the future.

After all, his future uncle-in-law was in it, and he didn’t want to mess with anyone from the Special Combat Unit lightly.

Zhang Wei glanced at the time, seeing that it was almost 7 a.m., and decided to head off to the law firm.

"Second daughter, I’m off to work, remember to get up for breakfast, okay?"

"Ow~~"

Hearing the lazy response tinged with a hint of perfunctory impatience, Zhang Wei smiled lightly.

This girl probably pulled an all-nighter again yesterday.

Zhang Wei felt helpless; why couldn’t Zhao Xiaoxiao keep a "normal" schedule?

What he didn’t realize was that in Zhao Xiaoxiao’s eyes, he was the one who was abnormal.

Who else would go to bed at 10:30 p.m. just after graduating from university, making sure to get a full 8 hours of sleep, and wake up at roughly 6:30 a.m.?

Didn’t you develop a "proper" routine in university?

Too bad, both the original owner of the body and Zhang Wei, now, were model early risers.

With no cases on hand, Zhang Wei didn’t rush the morning but instead joined the crowd during morning rush hour, squeezing onto the subway to work.

After getting off the subway and walking for a few minutes, Zhang Wei arrived at the entrance of the Jincheng Building.

"Master~"

Just as Zhang Wei stepped out of the subway, Lin Yumeng hurriedly followed, catching up from behind.

"Little apprentice, what a coincidence."

Seeing Lin Yumeng, Zhang Wei also stopped and waved at her.

The little apprentice came from Dongjiang, which wasn’t the same subway as Zhang Wei’s, so they could only meet up at the building entrance.

"Master, you didn’t come early today?"

"Of course, because we don’t have any cases today."

Zhang Wei’s remark carried a slight sense of resignation.

But that was expected; if you don’t have a case, why come in so early just to be a top performer?

"Master, let me tell you, last week I won a case for the first time in my life, man. Although I didn’t manage to secure an acquittal for the client, I did get the prosecution to drop their charges. And, I even managed to deliver the closing argument in full. The group leader even praised me for doing well..."

Walking inside Jincheng Building and squeezing into the elevator with Lin Yumeng, the little apprentice chattered non-stop, quite spirited.

Zhang Wei simply nodded in agreement, appearing somewhat more composed.

After all, a master must maintain his dignity.

Soon, they arrived at the 26th floor.

After taking a couple of turns and bypassing a large office area, they reached the corner office of the criminal division.

But as soon as they arrived, Zhang Wei sensed something unusual in the atmosphere.

With a dark expression, Tie Ruyun had a grim face, Li Yueqin sat in silence at her desk, and Jin Mingming...

"Eh, why is this guy so early today?"

Jin Mingming was usually the last to arrive, but today he had even beaten Lin Yumeng to the office—this was not normal.

Since it was out of the ordinary, there must be an issue!

Zhang Wei looked at Jin Mingming and saw an air of arrogance about him; he didn’t even give Old Tie a second glance.

He hurriedly sought understanding through eye contact with Tie Cuilan, who gestured with her eyes for Zhang Wei to look at what Tie Ruyun was holding.

Zhang Wei edged closer and sneakily glanced at the document in Tie Ruyun’s hands.

"Well, what do we have here? An application form, requesting a transfer of groups."

Seeing the signature of Jin Mingming, Zhang Wei understood.

This guy was indeed thinking of transferring.

"Group Leader, ever since the outcome of the first case, I realized I’m not quite cut out for work in the criminal division, so I’ve formally applied for a transfer. It so happened that Tian Bin, the head of Business Group 2, agreed to my request, and Director Li from the department has already signed off on it, so I came especially to inform you!"

Although Jin Mingming was informing Tie Ruyun, his demeanor resembled that of a victor boasting to the vanquished.

Seeing this, Zhang Wei wasn’t surprised.

Even though Old Tie was the group leader of the criminal division, if you wanted to transfer, you needed his approval.

But the authority of a group leader wasn’t greater than that of a department head, and Li Qingshou’s rank was one level higher than Old Tie’s. Once he signed off on it, Tie Ruyun’s opinion on this personnel change didn’t matter much.

This was the confidence behind Jin Mingming’s lack of courtesy to Tie Ruyun; he was already part of Business Group 2, no longer related to the criminal division.

This application form didn’t even need Tie Ruyun’s signature; it was merely a notification.

"Alright, since you’ve made your choice, I understand!"

Tie Ruyun had never had much expectation for Jin Mingming; he knew well why the latter had joined the criminal division.

Whether he left sooner or later, Jin Mingming would eventually go.

It was just that Tie Ruyun hadn’t expected him to be so impatient that he wouldn’t wait even a week after the conclusion of the first case.

Similarly, Tie Ruyun was surprised that Jin Mingming had found a backer so quickly, connecting with Tian Bin, the head of Business Group 2.

"I’ll take my leave, everyone!"

Without hesitation, Jin Mingming adjusted his suit and walked out of the criminal division office, full of vitality.

At that moment, he was the victor.

Leveraging the connections he made during his free time, he had successfully squeezed his way into Jincheng Litigation Department’s business group—was this not a victory?

Watching Jin Mingming leave, Tie Ruyun remained silent, but his already dark expression grew even more sullen.

Looking at the now vacant spot, he sighed without uttering any defeatist remarks.

"Everyone, what just happened was a minor internal department transfer; don’t take it to heart!"

Upon hearing this explanation, Li Yueqin said nothing, Zhang Wei curled his lips, and Lin Yumeng, looking at Tie Ruyun and then at the other two colleagues, fell into confusion.

"Group Leader, next month, shall we strive to outperform Business Group 2 in achievements?"

Zhang Wei suddenly spoke up.

"Outperform Business Group 2 in achievements?" Tie Ruyun was taken aback.

With just the three of you, even with me included, it’s impossible to surpass the business group in performance!

While the litigation department consisted of seven groups, the last performance ranking was Business Group 1, Civil Group 4, Business Group 3, Civil Group 5, Civil Group 6, and then Business Group 2.

But Business Group 2 was still a business group, and lawyers in a business group naturally have higher fees than those in a criminal group. How could it be easy to beat them in performance?

With the current staff and capability of the criminal division, it was utterly impossible.

They could only handle pro bono cases now, earning merely a few hundred bucks in attorney fees per case—how could that compare to the hourly billing of others?

"We may not outperform them in performance, but we can compete on the win rate!"

Zhang Wei chuckled and hinted, "I’ve looked at the statistics; the win rate of Business Group 2 in the last month before the year was only 51%, barely mediocre, not even reaching a passing level. We just need to beat that, right?"

"Our firm, Jincheng Law Firm, actually isn’t short on cash, and doesn’t mind the billable hours. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be offering a 1,000 Yuan subsidy for winning public welfare cases, which is even higher than the cost. That is to say, what our firm values more is the win rate,"

"Otherwise, why would the Civil Four Group be ranked second on the performance leaderboard instead of Commercial Three Group? In terms of performance, it’s obvious that Civil Group’s fees can’t compare with Commercial Group’s. But because Civil Four Group has a win rate of 77%, second only to Commercial One Group’s 81%, I understood that win rate is the primary factor considered in performance ranking!"

"Moreover, why does Commercial One Group have such a high win rate? I’ve looked at the data, and it’s because Bai Meiqi, the ace of our litigation team, is nominally part of Commercial One Group. She’s the one who has boosted the overall performance of the group."

Having said this, Zhang Wei looked toward Tie Ruyun.

I’ve said so much, Old Tie, don’t you have any opinion?

"Zhang Wei, your expectations are optimistic, and you’re not wrong either. Everyone inside Jincheng knows this, the big boss relies on Jincheng Group, so the firm has access to almost limitless resources. He doesn’t care about money; what he values more is indeed our lawyers’ win rate,"

"But you also mentioned something, that Group One has Bai Meiqi, which is why their win rate is the highest. But does our group have such an ace?"

After speaking, Tie Ruyun threw the question back to Zhang Wei.

"Old Tie, what do you think of me?" Zhang Wei pointed at himself, his face full of expectation.

"You, you don’t seem like..." But Tie Ruyun shook his head.

"Well, that’s great, you have no confidence in your own people!"

Zhang Wei was speechless; how pessimistic could you be?

It was at this moment that someone walked toward the door of the criminal division.

"Jin Mingming, you dare to come back?"

Upon seeing the person, Zhang Wei couldn’t help but mutter a comment.

The person was none other than Jin Mingming, who had just "left" the criminal division.

"Everyone, there’s a situation!"

However, the latter strutted in with an air of arrogance, followed by several assistants.

He threw a stack of files onto his former desk and then ordered Zhang Wei and the others:

"These are archive files from our commercial group. Since your criminal division hasn’t had many cases recently, you can process these files."

After speaking, Jin Mingming didn’t care whether Zhang Wei and the others agreed or not, and he left without turning back.

However, when he reached the door, he paused, turned back to remind them, "By the way, this was personally ordered by Director Li, so make sure you do a good job!"

With that, he left.

"Well, that’s great, he dips out and then sells us down the river right away. Now Jin Mingming is just a lackey for the commercial group?"

Seeing the guy who came into power and trampled all over the criminal division, Zhang Wei couldn’t restrain from scoffing.

"This Jin Mingming, he’s too much!"

Li Yueqin usually didn’t like to speak much, but upon witnessing Jin Mingming’s attitude, she couldn’t help but curse.

"Yes, yes, Jin Mingming is so bad, dumping so many files on me..."

Lin Yumeng, seeing the pile of files in front of her, felt overwhelmed.

She had already experienced a bitter day buried in a sea of files and did not wish to go through it a second time.

Processing files all day, where’s the comfort of working on cases? At least with cases, you have a lot of freedom with your time.

Although Tie Ruyun was also somewhat indignant, he sighed and urged Zhang Wei and the others, "Hurry up and get busy, after all, these are assignments."

"I know you don’t like processing files, but you are intern lawyers, after all. No matter which law firm, the main job of intern lawyers is document work, and you should be well aware of that, right?"

"Old Tie, that’s true, but you also have to consider whose documents we’re processing. The commercial group dumps the files on us for review, editing, and annotation. Do you think we can feel good about that?"

Zhang Wei’s point was also very clear: doing your own work, even if it’s a bit tougher, is acceptable.

But this, this is doing someone else’s work, without any benefits. If it’s not done well, it might even lead to trouble from members of the commercial division. In essence, it’s a thankless job; how can we feel comfortable about that?

Everyone knows that, while documenting work isn’t hard to do, it’s very tedious.

The commercial division surely knew that the criminal division would be free labor, which is why they tossed these "annoying" tasks over.

Straight up, they’re just being petty!

"You stop that, doing this work can also help you enhance the speed of your document review, and reviewing the files prepared by other lawyers can also accumulate experience for your future,"

Tie Ruyun said, putting on an attitude of you guys better work hard, clearly accepting the work.

"Group Leader Tie, Director Li is calling you over for a meeting!"

Just then, a female assistant arrived at the door.

Director Li is looking for me?

Surprised to hear Li Qingshou was summoning him, Tie Ruyun seemed taken aback.

Although the other party was the deputy director of the Litigation Department and a department leader, he managed the commercial group and hardly ever dealt with the criminal group, which was correct.

"Anyway, you guys keep up the good work. I’m going out to see what Director Li wants, why he’s looking for me?"

"Still Director Li, he’s clearly just a lackey!"

Zhang Wei heard this and sneered disdainfully, waving his hand for Tie Ruyun to hurry on his way.

They still had a lot of paperwork to deal with.

...

Litigation Department, meeting room.

When Tie Ruyun arrived, he found that in addition to the commercial group’s Li Qingshou, the civil group’s Wang Jianren was also here.

Not only that, but there were two women here as well.

"Both directors, as well as Manager Bai and Lawyer Bai, how come you’re all here?"

The two women were none other than the head of the family department, Bai Ruoyun, and the Litigation Department’s ace, Bai Meiqi.

"Sister Bai, Tie Ruyun is responsible for the criminal group in our Litigation Department. You can ask him about the problem you encountered!"

Li Qingshou bowed and nodded to Bai Ruoyun, yet beckoned to Tie Ruyun as if summoning a servant.

Wang Jianren nodded as well, showing no objection to Li Qingshou’s actions.

"Alright then, Group Leader Tie, come and sit down, I have some questions I would like to consult you about!"

Bai Ruoyun stood up, courteously nodded to Tie Ruyun, and then invited him to sit down.

Facing such a grand gesture, Tie Ruyun was a bit overwhelmed, as he had never received such treatment in the Litigation Department.

However, since they were from different departments, Bai Ruoyun was courteous to everyone in the law firm, treating Tie Ruyun with the same respect as others.

"The problem I’ve encountered is quite thorny, not just because of the lawsuit but also because of..."

Bai Ruoyun spoke and paused for a moment, seemingly hesitant to continue.

"Cousin, please speak up, we will all be your advisers!"

Bai Meiqi also spoke up from the side.

It was unexpected that Bai Ruoyun was Bai Meiqi’s cousin.

"Alright then, listen up. The problem on my end is that an old client’s granddaughter has recently gotten involved in a lawsuit, and the one suing her is Procuratorate Headquarters of Dongfang Capital, with the famous ace prosecutor Xiao Baihe leading the charge..."

Upon hearing "Procuratorate Headquarters," Tie Ruyun was slightly startled.

And when he heard the name "Xiao Baihe," his expression changed even more.

"Manager Bai, hold on a moment, you’re in charge of the family department, why is your case involved with the Procuratorate Headquarters, which handles criminal cases?"

"Yeah, Cousin, as far as I know, the Procuratorate Headquarters is responsible for criminal cases, aren’t the cases you handle all in the juvenile court?"

Not only was Tie Ruyun surprised, but Bai Meiqi was too.

"Actually, my client’s granddaughter is innocent. The one who committed the crime was her grandson, but he has run away without a trace. In the end, when the Martial Association searched their home and found evidence, they detained her granddaughter. I went through a lot of trouble to bail her out, and she had no choice but to come to me for help."

Bai Ruoyun said, shaking her head: "If they had caught her grandson, I would have nothing to say, and I wouldn’t have bothered you, but her granddaughter is a good girl, young and with a bright future. I can’t just let her spend the prime of her life in prison!"

"Is it that serious?"

Tie Ruyun, hearing all this, became thoroughly grave.

Bai Ruoyun sighed again and then began to explain the reasons to everyone present.

And as Bai Ruoyun elaborated, Tie Ruyun’s expression turned completely somber.

He sensed the difficulty of the case; it could be said that the evidence was conclusive and hard to dispute!

"In summary, that’s the situation with this case. If it were in juvenile court, I could handle it myself. But since the lawsuit is being brought by the Procuratorate Headquarters, and my client’s granddaughter has turned 18, the standards of juvenile court no longer apply to her. I can only entrust your Litigation Department and the criminal group with this responsibility..."

"Don’t worry, Sister Bai, I promise on behalf of Group Leader Tie and the rest that we will handle this case well!"

After listening, Li Qingshou directly bypassed Tie Ruyun and took the case.

This left Tie Ruyun wanting to say something, but Li Qingshou had ignored him.

"Then, I entrust everything to you. If there’s anything you need, come to the family department, and I will do my utmost to help!"

Bai Ruoyun was very serious about the case, showing a solemn expression.

In the end, Li Qingshou and Wang Jianren escorted Bai Ruoyun out.

As for Tie Ruyun, the two department leaders didn’t spare him a glance or consult his opinion at all.