Are You Crazy? He’s only an Intern Lawyer?
Chapter 426 - 422: Welcome Party, The Rival Returning from Training

Chapter 426: Chapter 422: Welcome Party, The Rival Returning from Training

Serious Crime Unit, Office.

After taking some time off due to injury, Lei Hu, the leader of Squad One of the Serious Crime Unit, had finally returned to the squad.

Upon his return, he immediately called an urgent meeting.

He summoned most of the people from Squad One, along with Squad Two, Three, and Seven, to a brief meeting.

The main purpose, naturally, was to get up to speed on recent events and see if there were any significant cases worth noting.

When Lei Hu learned that the biggest recent case was one of espionage, and that some lawyer surnamed Zhang had won it, all he could do was grind his teeth in frustration.

He also learned that the person in charge of the case was the second in command of the special operations department; not only had he botched the job, but he had also been knocked out in court by a girl.

Moreover, that girl was the same one who had injured him.

"In summary, I understand the situation now. You’re saying that the person responsible, named Zhang Lang, is now facing multiple criminal charges and is undergoing an internal investigation, right?"

"Currently, our squad doesn’t have any major cases. The only thing of note lately is the charity gala that may take place this weekend?"

"Since that’s the case, we cannot afford to take this lightly. If possible, find an opportunity to scope out the event on-site. After all, those attending the gala will be the elite of Dongfang Capital."

Having grasped the situation, Lei Hu gestured emphatically.

"Meeting adjourned!"

Inside the office, people began walking out one after another, returning to their respective workstations.

No sooner had Lin Ruonan sat down than three people next to her stood up.

"Team Leader Lin, it must have been tiring having that meeting!"

"If you know I’m tired, can’t you show up a little later?"

Truth be told, upon hearing this greeting and seeing Zhang Wei and Tie Ruyun, the duo who appeared, Lin Ruonan could hardly keep her composure.

In the Serious Crime Unit, the last people you want to bump into in the office are criminal defense lawyers.

The moment you see them, you know it’s not good news.

"Team Leader Lin, look at what you’re saying. Recently, you should be congratulated."

"Congratulate me? Congratulate me on what?"

She looked at Zhang Wei, having no idea why he would be congratulating her.

"Congrats on your Squad One boss returning; your upcoming tasks should be a bit lighter."

Zhang Wei explained, then immediately pulled Tie Ruyun over, "See, Old Tie thought you were working too hard and wanted to invite you out this weekend to relax a bit."

"Sorry, I’m busy this weekend."

Lin Ruonan refused without a second thought.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to go out, but she had a mission lined up for the weekend.

"Team Leader Lin, why so busy? What will you be doing this weekend?"

"Does my weekend assignment have anything to do with you, Lawyer Zhang?"

"Ah, I was just feeling sorry for Old Tie, you know. He was looking forward to connecting with Team Leader Lin over the weekend, and now there’s no chance."

Zhang Wei said, patting Old Tie on the shoulder.

There’s a saying: The blossoms have their desires, but the water flows heartlessly; it seemed Lin Ruonan truly was...

"It’s a pity about the charity gala tickets. I thought I could take Team Leader Lin to broaden her horizons, but it looks like Old Tie, you’ll have to find another female companion. How about we choose a girl from our department? I believe they would be more than willing."

Tie Ruyun, feeling helpless, could only clutch the auction tickets in his hand and prepare to leave.

"Wait, are you talking about the charity auction taking place this weekend?"

Just as the two were about to leave, Lin Ruonan stopped them.

"Yes, Team Leader Lin. Old Tie was planning to invite you to that auction."

"Then I agree."

"Huh?"

Sometimes, happiness comes too suddenly, like a tornado.

Zhang Wei and Tie Ruyun were both stunned, clearly not having expected her response.

"Team Leader Lin, you’ve agreed?"

"Yes, this weekend is it? I just happen to be free!"

A moment ago she wasn’t free, and now suddenly she was?

Indeed, a woman’s mind changes as quickly as turning the pages of a book.

After double-checking, Tie Ruyun finally cleared away the clouds of his mood, and Zhang Wei, too, was delighted.

"Old Tie, congratulations!"

"What’s there to congratulate or not congratulate? I..."

"Now that you’re done here, you can take a left turn out the door, thank you. I still have things to do."

Zhang Wei promptly ushered Tie Ruyun out, reminding him of a few cautions along the way, then returned to Lin Ruonan’s side.

"Lawyer Zhang, do you have anything else?"

Lin Ruonan, seeing Zhang Wei returning and Zhao Xiaoxiao, who had stuck close to Zhang Wei the whole time, looked puzzled.

"Yes, Team Leader Lin, it was Old Tie who invited you just now, but I too have something to discuss with you."

Upon hearing Zhang Wei’s explanation, Lin Ruonan’s gaze grew intense.

It seemed that this was the real issue at hand.

"What case is it? Speak."

"Team Leader Lin is really straight to the point, so I won’t beat around the bush either. It’s about the fire case at Old Tan’s pickled fish restaurant."

As Zhang Wei revealed his purpose, Lin Ruonan’s brows furrowed once more.

"Are you the defense lawyer for the owner of that restaurant?"

"Correct!"

"Understood!"

Now that Lin Ruonan knew Zhang Wei’s identity, she directly pulled out a stack of reports and documents from the drawer.

"The case records and fire report are all in here. I’ve already submitted a copy to the prosecution, and this one is specifically for the defense attorney. Everything you need is inside."

"You were prepared for this, Team Leader Lin?"

"Yes, I’ve been waiting for you, Lawyer Zhang."

Zhang Wei took the records, glanced over them, and knew they were correct.

"Right, who is the prosecutor for this case?"

"The case has just been transferred, and the prosecutor has not yet been decided. I’ve heard that the Procuratorate Headquarters is dealing with something these days, but I’m not clear on the specifics."

As Lin Ruonan spoke, she glanced at Zhang Wei, "Aren’t you quite familiar with a certain Ms. Xiao from the Procuratorate Headquarters? Why not go and ask her yourself?"

"Team Leader Lin, on my honor, I’m acquainted with many people at the Procuratorate Headquarters. You don’t have to single out Old Xiao."

Zhang Wei cried out indignantly, for there was absolutely nothing untoward between him and Old Xiao.

"Heh." Lin Ruonan gave a cold laugh and sat down.

Anyway, I’ve handed over the documents to you. How you use them is your business; the rest has nothing to do with me.

Seeing this silent cue to see him off, Zhang Wei certainly understood.

"Then, Team Leader Lin, we won’t disturb you any longer."

He left the Serious Crime Division Office with Zhao Xiaoxiao, heading straight for the Procuratorate Headquarters.

...

Meanwhile.

In Dongfang Capital, at the Procuratorate Headquarters.

A certain auditorium was hosting a welcome event at that moment.

Even the mysterious Chief Prosecutor of the Procuratorate Headquarters had made an appearance on the stage.

The Chief Prosecutor of Dongfang Capital Procuratorate Headquarters, surnamed Hou, was standing on the stage, delivering a speech.

After a speech that might not have been stirring but was certainly heartening, he led the applause.

The clapping thundered through the hall.

"Let’s welcome back our colleagues who have returned from their exchange study at the Longdu District Procuratorate Office!"

Several men and women on the stage, standing beside the Chief Prosecutor, waved to their colleagues below.

"I believe that during the six months in Longdu, they have all made great progress. Let’s welcome them back to the big family of our Procuratorate Headquarters once again!"

"Now, I will pass the opportunity to speak to the representative of this study exchange. He will share a few words with you. I shall take my leave first."

The Chief Prosecutor handed the microphone to a young man beside him and quickly left the stage.

"Hello everyone, I am the representative of the exchange study, Hou Liangliang. I am very happy to meet all of you again after six months of training."

The young man on stage started his self-introduction.

Below the stage, the enthusiasm had waned somewhat since the Chief Prosecutor had left.

Especially in a particular spot, where two women were whispering to each other.

"Ying Ying, how can someone be so shameless? This guy is the representative for the exchange study? If his father weren’t the Chief Prosecutor, could he be selected for the training?"

"Every time the selection for the Longdu study requires over five years of complete prosecutorial experience. But if you exclude the internship period, Hou Liangliang has less than four years of experience."

"If he’s eligible, does that mean I, Xiao Baihe, am also eligible? Although I have less than a year’s prosecutorial experience, I’ve handled no fewer cases than he has."

Obviously, Xiao Baihe was quite resentful of Hou Liangliang’s privileged position.

"Sister Baihe, you shouldn’t say that. I heard that Senior Hou always gets excellent ratings and his performance is the best among his peers."

"Heh." Xiao Baihe rolled her eyes.

However, Tan Yingying continued to explain, "I’ve also heard that Senior Hou has been achieving excellent grades ever since he was young, with so many awards he could hardly hold them all. Even his elementary school essay won a city-wide commendation."

"What do you know, which essay is it?"

"It seems to be ’My Father, the Chief Prosecutor’ or something along those lines..."

"Heh..."

Xiao Baihe couldn’t hold back her sarcasm anymore.

"This kid is quite smug... How come I’ve never seen him before?"

As Xiao Baihe and Tan Yingying were talking, a voice suddenly sounded beside them.

Xiao Baihe glanced at the person next to her, her mouth twitching slightly, "Of course you haven’t seen him, he went to Longdu for a six-month training and has just returned."

"Oh, to go to Longdu for training, he must be a big shot."

"Nonsense, if that speaker didn’t have a father who’s a chief prosecutor, could he have gotten this qualification?"

"Old Xiao, you sound quite discontented?"

"Nonsense, I, Xiao Baihe, in terms of competence, am surely no worse than him. If it weren’t for my short working time, that training spot would definitely have included me."

"Old Xiao, you’re really awesome!"

Being praised by the person beside her, Xiao Baihe crossed her hands and couldn’t help but show off a bit.

But a few seconds later, she felt something was off.

Who was this person next to her, speaking in such an irritating tone?

Also, this time, weren’t all the attendees of the welcome party supposed to be colleagues from Procuratorate Headquarters? How did he sneak in?

"Zhang Wei, what are you doing here? And isn’t that Xiao Xiao, why is she also..."

"Old Xiao, you just realized?"

Zhang Wei chuckled and then pulled Zhao Xiaoxiao and Xiao Baihe together to greet each other.

"I just went to your office looking for someone, but there was no one there, and after asking a cleaner, I learned that you all had come here for the welcome party."

Hearing Zhang Wei’s explanation, Xiao Baihe was speechless.

"When did you get here?"

"My chief prosecutor father..."

Xiao Baihe understood, he had been there for quite a while, and she hadn’t even noticed.

"Speaking of which, you’ve never come to our Procuratorate Headquarters without causing trouble. What is it this time?"

"Old Xiao, listen to how you’re talking. Can’t I just come to see you?"

Zhang Wei spread his hands and claimed innocence.

But all he got in response from Xiao Baihe was a roll of her eyes.

I don’t believe you for a second!

Alright then, Zhang Wei conceded.

"It’s just that there’s a case recently that was just transferred to your Procuratorate Headquarters, so I..."

"Then wait. After the welcome party is over, the director will assign the case!"

"Oh, then we’ll wait."

Zhang Wei, holding onto Zhao Xiaoxiao, blended into the ranks of the Procuratorate Headquarters staff.

However, he felt that these folks were really too boring; to have a welcome party drag on for so long.

After a boring hour, the welcome party finally ended.

A crowd streamed out, heading back to their workstations.

Among them, as a representative of the trainees, Hou Liangliang was walking with Zhao Chunming and Guo Wufeng.

"Director Zhao, Director Guo, upon my return, I’ll still be an assistant prosecutor, continuing to hang my name in your office."

"Sure, we’d like to see just how much you’ve advanced in skill after your training in Longdu."

Zhao Chunming and Guo Wufeng naturally had no objections to Hou Liangliang.

His father was their superior after all; what objections could they possibly have?

As for the name-hanging, it really didn’t matter.

Hou Liangliang himself also had good abilities, or else he would not have obtained the qualification to train in Longdu.

"Hey, isn’t that Xiao Baihe?"

While Hou Liangliang was talking, his eyes sharply caught sight of a girl.

He knew about Xiao Baihe; a newcomer who had become an ace with strong abilities.

Moreover, she had high attractiveness, standing out among the female prosecutors as a rare beauty.

Hou Liangliang naturally took great interest in beautiful women.

Unfortunately, after she had joined the Procuratorate Headquarters, he had gone to Longdu for training and had few opportunities to interact with her.

Now back, he was starting to have some small thoughts about this beautiful ace from his own department.

"By the way, who are those walking with her? Is that guy also one of our new recruits?"

Hou Liangliang glanced over and saw two girls and a boy beside Xiao Baihe, but one of the girls seemed to be dressed too casually to look like a prosecutor.

Hissss—

Zhao Chunming and Guo Wufeng also looked over, then both sharply inhaled.

The person walking with Xiao Baihe was not one of their own; it was clearly the terrifying Zhang Wei.

"Young Hou, that guy, he’s not from our department, he isn’t even a prosecutor," one of them said.

"Yeah, he’s a lawyer!"

"A lawyer?"

Hou Liangliang found it strange that a lawyer was at the Procuratorate Headquarters, and he seemed quite familiar with Xiao Baihe.

Not only that, but from the tone of their conversation, it seemed it wasn’t just a simple acquaintance.

Hou Liangliang decided to observe the situation.

As he watched, he noticed that the lawyer and Xiao Baihe were extremely intimate, frolicking right there, pulling and tugging at each other, knocking and hitting.

A surge of anger flashed through Hou Liangliang’s heart. A female prosecutor, actually acting like this with a male lawyer in front of everyone... What was this coming to.

So Hou Liangliang just watched as Xiao Baihe and Zhang Wei, along with four others, entered the Serious Crime Division Office together.

After tidying up, naturally, it was time to work.

"Ahem, let’s start assigning the tasks now!"

Zhao Chunming said, then glanced at Zhang Wei sitting next to Xiao Baihe and could only pretend not to see him.

"Who will take charge of the recent fire case?"

"Fire case? Isn’t that an accident? Why does the Procuratorate Headquarters need to be troubled with this, can’t we just treat it as an accident?"

"Zhang Wei, don’t get cocky!"

Zhao Chunming finally couldn’t hold back and called out Zhang Wei.

"Old Zhao, why bother? I’m just here to support the work of the Procuratorate Headquarters. Do you need to have this attitude towards me?"

"Supporting work? Is that how you support, by coming to our office as a defense attorney? What kind of propriety is that?"

Zhao Chunming couldn’t help but lash out. Don’t you think, just because you beat Senior Procuratorate Qin, that you can be so full of yourself.

Let me tell you, we at the Procuratorate Headquarters are not afraid of you!

Of course, these were not the words that Zhao Chunming actually said out loud. He just pointed at Zhang Wei: "Looking at you, you took this case?"

"Indeed, I took this case!"

Zhang Wei was not about to back down. Standing up, he asked, "Now, tell me, who is in charge of the prosecution?"

Upon these words, inside the Serious Crime Division Office, many people lowered their heads, or turned on their computers, started writing documents, creating spreadsheets, and so on.

But no one answered Zhao Chunming’s question.

Seeing this, Zhao Chunming cursed inwardly, these good-for-nothings, letting people walk all over us.

"Director Zhao, why don’t you let me take charge of this case?"

Just then, someone spoke up.

"Xiao Hou, you’ve just come back, do you need to adjust a bit more..."

Zhao Chunming said this, but what he really meant was, you can’t handle this case, it’s easy to mess up.

"I’m quite interested in this case, and having just returned from Longdu, I’ll take this case as my first post-study one."

Hou Liangliang took the case file from Zhao Chunming’s hand, then looked at Zhang Wei with a provocative smile, "Lawyer Zhang, it seems we’ll be opponents in this case then. Please, advise!"

"Prosecutor Hou, right? Please, also advise me!"

Zhang Wei glanced at Hou Liangliang, already sizing him up.

That look in his eyes, filled with full-on hostility, clearly showed he was not someone who would easily agree to a settlement.

Moreover, the other party had just received the case summary; by the time he finished reading it, it would probably be tomorrow.

Zhang Wei didn’t want to waste this time either.

He left with Zhao Xiaoxiao, without looking back.

"Xiao Hou, are you confused? Why would you take this case?"

On Zhao Chunming’s end, after Zhang Wei had left, he finally spoke up. "Let me tell you, Zhang Wei is really tricky to deal with. Wouldn’t you rather consider another case?"

There were some things that couldn’t be said in front of others.

"Director Zhao, I think this case is quite good. Besides, what’s the problem with Zhang Wei?"

"Xiao Hou, you don’t know, Zhang Wei’s track record is a bit... unnatural. He..."

Zhao Chunming immediately leaned close to Hou Liangliang and whispered, explaining Zhang Wei’s track record in detail.

"...Especially the recent cases, he even defeated the Senior Procuratorate Qin of Longdu!"

"What, Senior Procuratorate Qin was defeated!"

Hearing about this record, Hou Liangliang was visibly unsettled.

But soon, his expression was replaced by excitement.

"That means, if I defeat Zhang Wei, could I not soar to great heights?"

Zhao Chunming was inwardly speechless. Dream on, you really think you can defeat Zhang Wei? Do you have the capability?

How many seasoned prosecutors have been beaten by him, and yet a young upstart like you dares to fantasize?

But then he remembered that Hou Liangliang was the Prosecutor General’s son, and he couldn’t rebuke him directly.

"Xiao Hou, I still suggest you consider another case..."

"Director Zhao, no need to say anymore, I’ve chosen this case!"

Hou Liangliang didn’t give any chances and made up his mind on the spot.

Afterward, he took the case summary and went straight into his own office.