Are You Crazy? He’s only an Intern Lawyer?
Chapter 286 - 284: Martial Arts Tournament, A Simple-minded Person Participates Too?

Chapter 286: Chapter 284: Martial Arts Tournament, A Simple-minded Person Participates Too?

The next day, Wednesday.

In the kitchen on the first floor of Lin Mansion

Zhang Wei sat there eating breakfast with a newspaper beside him.

After spooning some porridge into his mouth, he opened the newspaper and flipped to the second page.

On the second page, there was a fairly noticeable headline, with the text marked out in red.

"The unscrupulous lawyer’s death curse, the last straw that killed Cheng Lisha!"

"Pfft!"

Upon seeing the content on this page, Zhang Wei spat out the porridge in his mouth.

"Well, look at that, they really treat me as the murderer!" he hurriedly wiped his mouth and muttered to himself.

Thankfully, his second daughter wasn’t having breakfast with him, otherwise...

He began reading the article and saw it highlighted Cheng Lisha’s civil lawsuit, even going so far as to specifically mention his name, Zhang Wei.

The article explicitly stated that after suffering defeat in the criminal lawsuit, Cheng Lisha was also "threatened and warned" by Zhang Wei, facing a huge claim for damages in the civil lawsuit.

This woman was already under immense pressure, and Zhang Wei’s final warning acted like the needle that bursts a balloon, the last straw that broke the camel’s back.

In utter despair, Cheng Lisha chose the most hasty method to end her life.

Although the article didn’t explicitly say Zhang Wei killed Cheng Lisha, it connected her suicide to the civil lawsuit led by Zhang Wei.

The implications here were bound to let one’s imagination run wild.

Toward the end of the article, there was also an interview with an anonymous lawyer from the industry.

"Zhang Wei is an absolute scoundrel. He is not only ruthless in his doings but also unscrupulous. To win, he would stop at nothing,"

"Cheng Lisha just slightly offended him, and I didn’t expect her to be driven to death by him. Having such a person work as a lawyer in Dongfang Capital is an absolute disgrace to the entire legal profession!"

"He completely disregards human life, and such actions that seek wealth at the cost of lives are simply appalling!"

Those were the exact words of that anonymous lawyer, and after giving it some thought, Zhang Wei realized who was behind this post.

"Hu Yaode, you lost the case, your client died, and this is how you take revenge on me?"

"This tactic really has the smell of a cornered dog jumping over the wall, how utterly boring!"

Having figured out who started this article, Zhang Wei felt surprisingly calm.

And why not?

How could such an article do him any harm?

He still had to go to work, didn’t he?

Instead of wasting energy on these media reports, it’s better to develop more clients and earn more attorney fees.

In the past few days, he had earned another attorney fee of over a hundred million. People should be more realistic; why bother with such vain reputations?

"Second daughter, I’m off to work now. Remember to wash your dishes after you eat, bye~"

After saying goodbye to Zhao Xiaoxiao upstairs, Zhang Wei headed straight to Zhang Family Martial Arts School next door.

Early in the morning, Zhang Xinyan was waiting at the entrance of the school with an armored SUV.

Different from yesterday, the car’s paint had been changed from red to black, making it slightly more low-profile.

In the passenger seat, the driver was already waiting inside.

"Let’s go, drive me to the law firm!"

Zhang Xinyan started their daily commute with Zhang Wei.

A trip that should have been a subway ride, with the "help" of the vehicle, turned from under 30 minutes to nearly an hour.

If you ask about Dongfang Capital’s traffic, the driver’s answer is always... stuck on the road.

...

Jincheng Law Firm, Criminal Law Department.

After sending Zhang Xinyan off and telling him to stand by nearby, Zhang Wei started his work.

But his work was actually happily slacking off in the office.

Browsing the web, checking the news, maintaining his clients, and then looking for new cases.

The Criminal Law Department hadn’t yet gotten on track, and the source of cases had not stabilized.

However, for Tie Ruyun and the Criminal Law Department, the most lacking element was not cases, but people!

So, to recruit staff, Tie Ruyun and his team were busy outside.

After enduring a shower of resumes yesterday, their task today was job interviews.

Jincheng Law Firm would arrange for the HR department to conduct preliminary and secondary interviews. Once someone passed both tests, Tie Ruyun would still have to interview them personally.

As Tie Ruyun’s only two "elite troops," Li Yueqin and Lin Yumeng naturally had to be involved.

The whole department was comprised of just three people, all of whom had to be active.

Compared to them, Zhang Wei, who had an independent office, appeared to have a more relaxed situation.

Outside the office.

Three figures passed by, they were the Old Tie trio.

Tie Ruyun had a serious expression, while Li Yueqin was bursting with excitement.

In contrast, the little apprentice had a gloomy face, following behind Tie Ruyun and the other.

"Boss, do I really have to attend the interview? You know me, I’m just not cut out to be a team leader, let alone manage people~o(╥﹏╥)o"

"Today’s interview is a departmental task. Even if you don’t want to go, you have to go!"

The little apprentice’s complaints were met with Tie Ruyun’s cold response.

"Also, how many times have I told you, I’m not a team leader anymore; I’m the head of the department. You should call me Boss Tie!"

"I’m used to calling you that~~~"

Lin Yumeng felt helpless, as it was out of habit, and she couldn’t change it so quickly.

The three of them passed by Zhang Wei’s office, nodded to him as a greeting, and then entered the elevator to head to the second floor.

The interview location was on the second floor. In the next few days, the buddies would probably be busy with recruiting new members.

Even Tie Cuilan was busy serving tea and water on the second floor these days.

Within this vast 25-story building, only Zhang Wei was left.

The criminal department’s office seemed especially empty.

"Alright then, this morning I’ll catch up on the news, keep an eye on what’s been happening in Dongfang Capital lately, and this afternoon..."

Zhang Wei spent the morning busying himself with searching for cases.

But to say he was busy, it wouldn’t be over the top to describe his browsing of information as "paid idling."

Unfortunately, other than the "Cheng Lisha’s suicide" incident, there weren’t any other news stories in Dongfang Capital of interest to him.

Instead, a term called "Martial Arts Tournament" had been crazily trending in Dongfang Capital’s community forums recently.

Zhang Wei even unintentionally clicked on this news and browsed some information.

Martial Arts Tournament.

It was an annual event held by Dragon Country’s martial arts community.

This type of event was essentially like the ancient martial arts tournaments, competing to be the best in the world, but with the development of modern technology, it had become a promotional gimmick.

The final tournament was nothing more than gathering a bunch of martial arts practitioners to perform for the audience, making a fuss and competing for a "pre-determined" first place.

And the person who dominated the tournament would be honored with the title of "the number one martial artist in the world."

Of course, the real masters were always low-key and subdued.

Those who participate in such events are usually there for the traffic and the buzz.

As Zhang Wei often said, in the internet era now, with enough traffic, even a pig could fly.

Therefore, in Dongfang Capital and even the entire Southern Region, all the famous martial arts schools and clubs, along with various martial arts training organizations, would register to participate in the Martial Arts Tournament to be performers.

If one could achieve a good ranking, or be lucky enough to win first place, it would attract significant public attention, which was naturally a huge boon for the business of the schools and organizations.

Besides, as a martial artist, why would you practice martial arts all year round? Just for fitness and health?

Don’t make me laugh!

Isn’t the purpose of your martial arts training to defeat all opponents? Can you honestly say you’ve never dreamed of doing these attention-grabbing things?

And now, the opportunity lies before you!

The title of "the number one in the world" is right in front of you, wouldn’t you want to strive for it?

At the Martial Arts Tournament, you would face warriors from all over and compete for the title of Dragon Country’s number one!

That was the promotional slogan for the Martial Arts Tournament.

All morning, the information Zhang Wei viewed the most was just about this.

After lunch.

As Zhang Wei was about to continue browsing, he received a message from Xia Qianyue.

[Xia Qianyue: Zhang Wei, are you there?]

[Zhang Wei: Silly, what do you want?]

[Xia Qianyue: Are you free today? Do you want to come watch my competition?]

[Zhang Wei: Competition?]

[Xia Qianyue: Yeah, our Martial Association also has a quota to participate in the Martial Arts Tournament. Today is our internal selection for the spot, and I’ve signed up.]

[Zhang Wei: Of course, I’ll be there!]

After ending the conversation with Silly, Zhang Wei immediately sent a message to Zhang Xinyan.

After getting a reply, he glanced at the criminal department office one last time and then left.

Now that he was a star lawyer, he had a lot of freedom within the law firm; even if he didn’t show up for a few days, it didn’t matter.

Besides, Zhang Wei didn’t have to rely on clocking in for wages to get by; such "petty cash" didn’t interest him.

In the underground parking lot, inside an SUV,

Zhang Wei waited for a while until Zhang Xinyan arrived.

"Boss, where to?"

Ever since Zhang Wei had saved him once, Zhang Xinyan had embraced his identity as an employee and had become Zhang Wei’s personal driver.

This was a job he used to beg for but couldn’t get.

Good pay, light work, and close to home—he had it all.

Though calling Zhang Wei ’boss’ felt awkward at first, he had no choice but to adapt since the man truly had some skills.

Moreover, Zhang Xinwu had repeatedly insisted that he must follow Zhang Wei, so Zhang Xinyan had no choice but to compromise.

"To the Martial Association Headquarters!"

"Oh!"

Upon receiving the order, Zhang Xinyan once again started driving, taking Zhang Wei towards their destination.

However, the journey was still infuriatingly congested.

"Boss, are you picking up another case?"

"I wish. Since the case on Monday ended, I’ve been idle for almost two days now."

Zhang Wei looked somewhat bored, his face listless, "You know, being idle makes a person prone to overthinking. These past two days without a case have really made me anxious."

Zhang Xinyan just curled his lips and said nothing.

But he always felt that Zhang Wei was showing off.

"By the way, you’re also part of the martial arts community, right? Do you know about the martial arts tournament?"

"Of course! Our Zhang’s Martial Arts School is competing. My sister registered both herself and me!"

Zhang Xinyan got excited talking about the martial arts tournament.

"Right, boss, if the martial arts tournament really takes place, can I take a few days off to compete?"

"You don’t need to take time off, because Simple-minded person is going, and I’ll definitely be going to watch the competition too!"

"Simple-minded person?"

A scene popped into Zhang Xinyan’s mind.

A woman kicking, sending him flying through the air.

This image made him shudder because it was truly terrifying.

Zhang Xinyan chuckled awkwardly, "The Simple-minded person you mentioned, is she tough?"

"It’s not about whether she’s tough or not. She’s that kind of unique woman... the kind that can captivate you..."

...

In the afternoon, at the Martial Association Headquarters.

The headquarters had an indoor gymnasium buzzing with noise.

A temporary competition stage had been set up there, with two members wearing martial arts attire sparring on the platform.

Their exchanges were restrained, focusing on not going too far, and with a referee watching, there was clearly no big issue.

The sparring session had drawn quite a crowd, and they entered the gym with smiles on their faces, visibly excited.

There was no helping it—as employees mostly busy with tasks and work, there was hardly any time to rest.

Today, they had the chance to watch a free sparring session, a friendly competition among their own, and everyone was there to enjoy the show.

"Wow, so many people!"

When Zhang Wei walked into the gym, he saw it was filled with Martial Association employees and field agents.

There were also girls from the internal affairs and personnel departments cheering at the base of the stage, serving as cheerleaders.

The two guys competing on the stage were clearly energized by the girls’ cheers, fighting fervently with moves that looked impressive and powerful.

"Zhang Wei~"

Not too far off, the sharp-eyed Xia Qianyue spotted Zhang Wei and immediately waved her hand.

Today, Xia Qianyue was also dressed in a simple martial arts uniform, looking like one of the competitors.

Next to Xia Qianyue, Captain Wu and others from the Major Case Squad 7 were similarly attired.

"Silly, Captain Wu, what’s this..." Zhang Wei approached Major Case Squad 7 and quickly asked.

"Ah, don’t even bring it up!" Old Xing looked as if love for life had left him, "The leadership said the martial arts tournament is our Major Case Squad’s chance to make a name for ourselves, to change the old-fashioned image of the squad and to make an appearance at the tournament."

"The leadership also said we should aim for a good ranking at the tournament, to show Dongfang Capital’s citizens that the officers protecting them are skilled, and to increase the public sense of safety!"

Zhang Wei understood after hearing this.

He got the reasoning, but having the Major Case Squad compete seemed a tad too ostentatious.

After explaining, Old Xing leaned closer to Zhang Wei and said, "Actually, we are joining this martial arts tournament not to fulfill the leadership’s mission, but for the ranking prize money!"

"The first prize in the tournament is rumored to be in the tens of millions, with even endorsement contracts from sponsors, and based on the rankings, the top ten will also get hundreds of thousands to a million in prize money. I have a very practical reason to compete—I want the money!"

Upon hearing Old Xing’s words, Zhang Wei finally understood.

Even though they were Martial Association employees and couldn’t accept commercial endorsements, they could still take the prize money.

Tens of millions—it was more than their lifetime salaries. Who wouldn’t be tempted?

Zhang Wei looked at Tamu and Ah Ni, both dressed in martial arts attire. They nodded subconsciously in agreement with Old Xing’s statement.

Indeed, wealth moves the heart.

"Captain Wu, what about you?"

"I was pushed by the leadership. I didn’t want to participate at first, but the leader said that everyone from the serious crime unit should show their face, and there’s a selection today anyway. We have more than a dozen spots inside our Martial Association; whether or not I can be selected is another matter!"

Wu Yong waved his hand. He wasn’t particularly interested in the martial arts tournament, but since the leadership had assigned him this task, he naturally had to make an appearance.

"Captain Wu, what are you talking about? Aren’t we all aware of your skills?"

Old Xing laughed heartily, nudging Wu Yong with his elbow. "In the whole serious crime unit, even within the criminal investigation department, the only people who could possibly win against you with certainty are that old tiger from unit 1 and..."

His gaze swept across the crowd, ultimately coming to rest on Xia Qianyue, from his own team.

In his mind, Old Xing added, "And this even more terrifying little lass right by our side!"

As teammates, Old Xing and the others were naturally well aware of Xia Qianyue’s combat power.

Although, apart from himself, everyone in the serious crime unit 7 was skilled, all capable of taking on multiple opponents in a fight.

But if one were to talk about the limit of unit 7’s combat power, it had to be Xia Qianyue.

God knows how such a small girl could have such immense power within her—it was practically... a monster!

"Silly, when are you going up?" Zhang Wei hurried over to Xia Qianyue and whispered.

"Oh, I’m waiting for the notice!"

Xia Qianyue was limbering up her joints as she gestured with her hands.

She was brimming with fighting spirit today, with every cell in her body seemingly ablaze.

Standing beside Xia Qianyue, Zhang Wei could feel the temperature around him rising.

"Unit 7, it’s your turn!"

Just then, a referee on the stage announced.

"Let’s go!"

Wu Yong led the way, with the others from unit 7 following suit.

"Silly, good luck!"

Zhang Wei hurriedly cheered for Xia Qianyue, but then thought it might be superfluous.

Xia Qianyue’s combat power was such that, without saying she could defeat everyone in the Martial Association, at least against an ordinary member, perhaps a casual fight would end it all.

He just needed to sit quietly, and he would watch Xia Qianyue end the fight.

Unit 7 was not fighting each other; their opponents were other groups from the criminal investigation department, and their first-round opponents were also a five-person team.

The Martial Association had more than a dozen spots for the martial arts tournament, and the upper management’s idea was for everyone to compete.

However, for some universally acknowledged powerful contenders, the spots were essentially pre-determined.

For example, two spots had already been set aside for the serious crime unit—both for the unit 1 team leader Lei Hu and the deputy team leader Lin Ruonan.

It was said that Lei Hu was somewhat unhappy when he learned that his spot had already been decided because he wanted to exchange moves with members of other teams on the stage.

But hearing that Lei Hu didn’t have to compete, the rest of the serious crime unit breathed a sigh of relief instead.

After all, this guy could smash a table with his bare hands—his combat power was already beyond the scope of ordinary people.

Zhang Wei was actually very eager to see the showdown between this tiger of the serious crime unit and a certain humanoid Tyrannosaurus. It would have been really exciting.

"The martial arts tournament, huh? That must be really interesting, at least Silly will be very happy!"

Watching Xia Qianyue rubbing her hands by the ring, ready to go up and compete, a look of fatherly affection flashed in Zhang Wei’s eyes.

If he had the chance, Zhang Wei would definitely say to Xia Qianyue, "Whatever you want to do, I support you, because I spoil you!"

A few minutes later.

"Ah—"

With a scream, a figure spat blood from the corner of his mouth as he was sent flying backwards.

Xia Qianyue remained in her punching pose, her face filled with panic.

"I’m so sorry, really sorry, I didn’t control my strength. I only meant to use half my power, but when you roared, I ended up using an extra ten percent."

Xia Qianyue looked flustered, apologizing repeatedly to the colleague she had sent flying.

Unfortunately, the latter could no longer hear her.

"The winner, Xia Qianyue from the serious crime unit 7!"

The referee hurriedly declared from the stage but was equally anxious as he looked at a certain individual.

He could feel the piercing wind from that punch even standing by the side.

Too terrifying!

Is this even human?

By the ring, Zhang Wei’s eyes were also wide with shock.

Many around were gasping, looking astonished at the figure on the stage.

There was an incredible shock in their hearts at Xia Qianyue’s combat power, exclaiming that it was terrifying indeed!