Are You Crazy? He’s only an Intern Lawyer?
Chapter 441 - 438 Chai Jingjing Seeks Help, Xiao Baihe Calls for Assistance?

Chapter 441: Chapter 438 Chai Jingjing Seeks Help, Xiao Baihe Calls for Assistance?

Monday, a workday.

The time had already reached the third week of August.

For the students, summer vacation was counting down.

But for those who needed to work, it was the last chance to endure the high temperatures and earn the heat allowance.

Once September came and the weather cooled down, there would be no more heat allowance.

Of course, there was no heat allowance for those office workers enjoying the air conditioning.

Like lawyers, for example...

At Jincheng Law Firm, in the Criminal Division office...

When Zhang Wei arrived at the firm, he saw his colleagues all gathered together chatting.

As soon as Zhang Wei appeared, the group automatically dispersed.

Then everyone did what they had to do.

Those organizing documents opened their folders, those writing documents picked up their pens, and those reviewing case summaries also put on their glasses.

Even the little apprentice Lin Yumeng, tried to act busy by turning on the computer, and closed the webpage she had just opened.

"Hey, what’s everyone talking about, fill me in?"

"I’ve been busy with cases recently. Has there been any new gossip at the firm?"

Zhang Wei didn’t return to his office but joined the group instead.

"Lawyer Zhang, you want to listen to our little gossips too?" A newcomer looked up cautiously, not daring to look at Zhang Wei.

"Do you think there’s a generation gap between me and you?"

Zhang Wei pointed at himself, looking puzzled.

"I’m the same age as you guys. I was just graduating from law school. If my litigation skills weren’t just a tiny bit better, I might still be an intern lawyer like you!"

As he spoke, he gestured with two fingers, indicating just a tiny bit.

The colleagues in the Criminal Division looked at each other.

We don’t believe you, you cunning old fox!

"Come on, tell me, what’s the latest gossip at the firm?"

Zhang Wei leaned in close to the newcomers again and whispered.

The newcomers looked at each other, and a girl tentatively said, "Our boss, it seems like he’s in love recently. I don’t know if it’s true..."

"Haha!"

Zhang Wei rolled his eyes. Wasn’t that obvious to anyone with eyes? And here they thought they had some explosive news.

"You guys are out of the loop. Old Tie is now a lovesick young man!"

"Lovesick young man?"

The newcomers looked at each other again, and then shook their heads in unison.

"Lawyer Zhang, you’re joking."

"Big Tie is a partner, after all. He used to be a five-year lawyer; his age is there for everyone to see!"

"Yeah, Big Tie often helps some women in trouble with their legal cases; he must have met lots of women."

Seeing that his colleagues were not only disbelieving but also countered with reasons, Zhang Wei smirked dismissively.

"Don’t believe it, huh? Watch this."

He took a moment to gather his thoughts and then shouted towards the door, "Hey, Team Leader Lin Ruonan, why are you here?"

"Team Leader Lin is here? Where, where? Please come in quickly!"

Then they saw the door of the office at the far end suddenly open and Tie Ruyun poke his head out, his face filled with excitement and eagerness.

"Old Tie, it’s already past spring. Why are you still like this?"

Seeing Tie Ruyun’s foolish expression, Zhang Wei couldn’t help but tease him.

Tie Ruyun immediately realized he had fallen for Zhang Wei’s trick.

"Zhang Wei, you..."

Embarrassed and angry, but unable to lash out.

All Tie Ruyun could do was snort coldly and close the door to the office again.

"Hahaha..."

"Lawyer Zhang, you’re too good."

"With just one sentence, you brought Big Tie right out!"

"This is just too funny, could Old Tie be any funnier?"

After a brief silence, peals of laughter broke out from the criminal department, as everyone just let loose.

Normally, according to the firm’s rules, department leaders should maintain a certain level of dignity.

But does Tie Ruyun have any dignity?

Ever since his scandal involving solicitation, his reputation had plummeted and only his loyal buddies had stuck by his side. As for dignity, that was long gone.

However, everyone quite liked Tie Ruyun, and now witnessing this funny scene, everyone tacitly understood and just laughed it off.

Since Zhang Wei had started the ball rolling, the atmosphere in the criminal department became much more relaxed.

And then, another girl dropped some juicy gossip.

"Right, I heard that there have been some issues in the property department recently. The second-in-command there seems to have some insider dealings with the bank!"

"Oh, there’s trouble in the property department?"

"It’s just something I heard, from my aunt’s cousin’s girlfriend’s mother. She’s the secretary for the account verification accountant in the Financial Bureau’s Discipline Inspection Department, and she overheard our firm’s property department being mentioned in the office."

"It’s okay, these issues are for the big boss to worry about. If the sky falls, there will be tall ones to hold it up."

Zhang Wei waved his hand dismissively; these rumors were not insignificant but had little to do with their criminal department.

With Jincheng Law Firm’s capabilities, a bit of minor investigation could be easily handled.

"I heard that project team’s Young Master Lin has gotten himself another girlfriend, and she’s a celebrity no less!"

"Lin Yufeng’s taste in girls, honestly, is just so-so. The girls he finds are just like him—all show and no substance."

Zhang Wei scoffed and waved his hand again, looking down on Lin Yufeng.

"Lawyer Zhang, I heard you’ve had a run-in with Young Master Lin before?"

"Yeah, in a mock court, that kid’s skills were just mediocre!"

Seeing Zhang Wei’s contemptuous expression, the rookies all gave him a unanimous thumbs up.

Lawyer Zhang was tough indeed, daring to offend the firm’s young master.

"By the way, Lawyer Zhang, I heard that the big boss is really bad at golf—is that true?"

"Who did you hear that from?" Zhang Wei’s face changed, and his demeanor instantly turned cold.

"Well... just from a friend, I don’t know anything..." The joking newcomer’s face also changed, internally worrying that he may have misspoken and might lose his job.

"That friend of yours..."

Zhang Wei narrowed his eyes, but just when the atmosphere was becoming unbearably tense, he suddenly burst into laughter: "...has quite an eye for people, haha!"

Seeing this, the newcomers joined in the laughter, which echoed through the criminal department for a long time.

"Right, right, Lawyer Zhang, I also heard..."

"Me too, me too, my friend works in the administrative department of the firm. She said that inside our firm, someone..."

As Zhang Wei livened up the atmosphere, the office was filled with laughter and chatter.

The newcomers couldn’t help blurting out gossip, offering Zhang Wei plenty of juicy tidbits.

Some division head was fooling around with his subordinate’s wife.

A female lawyer from some department was having an affair with the team leader of the same department.

Indeed, when a group of newcomers got together, the most popular topic was gossip.

The whole morning passed joyfully amidst laughter and good cheer.

And then, around noon, Zhang Wei received an unexpected phone call.

The caller ID showed it was from the Procuratorate Headquarters.

...

Meanwhile.

At Lin Mansion on Sifang Gate Street.

After eating the breakfast Zhang Wei made, Zhao Xiaoxiao punched in for her "workday" inside Lin Mansion.

Her job was straightforward—monitor the network servers in the southern region for the special combat and cybersecurity departments and maintain network security.

The most crucial task was likely to fend off foreign hackers.

Under her, Liu Dashun’s, and Zhu Erdan’s maintenance, the network security of the southern region had improved greatly. Even the frequency of network slowdowns and breakdowns had drastically reduced.

So Zhou Xiaoli was very satisfied with having employed Zhao Xiaoxiao and the other two to work. In her words, it would be a waste not to employ such excellent talents for the country’s benefit.

"Ah, time to get off work!"

Zhao Xiaoxiao checked the time. It was almost 11 o’clock, and she was hungry again after having breakfast.

"It’s all that guy’s fault, waking me up at 6 every morning. Now Missy here is hungry again!"

Touching her flat belly without an ounce of extra fat, Zhao Xiaoxiao pursed her lips, feeling sulky.

Zhang Wei!

If not for that guy, she wouldn’t need to clock in for work every day, living the life of a wage slave.

But she never thought about how no ordinary worker had it as comfortable as she did, working from home every day, resting whenever she wanted.

There was no need to attend meetings, no obligatory emails to send, and unless necessary, barely anyone would contact her.

"I’ll order takeout... Wait, I should go out instead. That guy did say I should get out more..."

If it were before, Zhao Xiaoxiao would have decided on takeout to treat herself.

But now, since she started "work," she felt that staying at her "workstation" all day wasn’t good, and that she needed to go out for leisure.

After getting ready, she walked out of Lin Mansion and onto Sifang Gate Street, then casually picked a snack shop and ordered a set meal.

The snack arrived in less than a minute.

Just as Zhao Xiaoxiao was about to start eating, a figure sat down in front of her.

Zhao Xiaoxiao initially didn’t care since Sifang Gate Street was a trendy area frequented by young people.

But the person opposite didn’t order any snacks and seemed to keep staring at her.

Zhao Xiaoxiao lifted her head and vaguely saw a girl with slightly dark skin.

"You are..."

She was startled to see the newcomer.

"You’re Zhao Xiaoxiao, right?" The girl lowered her head, seeming a bit embarrassed as she spoke.

"I have nothing to talk to you about!" Zhao Xiaoxiao picked up her snack, ready to leave.

"Miss Zhao Xiaoxiao, I beg you, I need your help!"

The girl quickly blocked Zhao Xiaoxiao’s way, pleading, "I know, Bin wronged you; he incriminated you in court to get an exemption for himself. But he did it to be with me, he had no choice!"

"Hmph, tell Viper I can’t help him!" Zhao Xiaoxiao put down the snack, hands on hips, and turned away.

It turned out the girl was actually Chai Jingjing, the girlfriend of the witness Viper, also known as Cui Yibin, in the prosecution of a spy crime.

"Miss Zhao, I beg you, only you can help us now. If you’re still angry, I apologize to you; I sincerely apologize!"

"I don’t want your apology!"

"Then I’ll kneel for you. I’ll kneel and let you decide what to do!"

Chai Jingjing kneeled down in the snack shop in front of everyone.

Suddenly, all eyes turned to the scene, people from the pedestrian street crowded around, and someone began taking photos with their phone.

"What are you doing? Why are you kneeling?"

Zhao Xiaoxiao panicked at this sight.

People around her began pointing fingers and whispering that what she was doing was inappropriate.

"Sister, don’t kneel, the ground is cold, it’s bad for your health," a little boy who saw the scene said immediately.

The boy’s grandmother, queued up, turned around to see Chai Jingjing kneeling and immediately accused Zhao Xiaoxiao, "Young girl, what’s the matter with you? She’s kneeling for you, why don’t you help her up?"

"Stop kneeling, girl. Our knees are only for kneeling to our parents or the ground, not for anyone else!"

"Exactly, exactly. That girl doesn’t look reputable at all, why kneel for her?"

"If you have any trouble, just tell us, we will definitely stand up for you!"

Many people began to accuse Zhao Xiaoxiao, feeling that her actions were improper.

Zhao Xiaoxiao was at a loss for words because not forgiving Viper was her right; it seemed now as though she was being coerced by others.

Not forgiving someone meant she had to face all this condemnation?

"No, it’s my fault, all my fault. I should never have bothered Miss Zhao!" Chai Jingjing timely spoke up, admitting her mistake.

But her admission only heightened the whispering around them.

"Ugh, how annoying!" Zhao Xiaoxiao felt overwhelmed and her head started to ache.

"Get up, don’t kneel down!" Eventually, with no other choice, she conceded.

"Miss Zhao, you agreed, thank you, thank you so much!" Chai Jingjing said, her face flush with excitement, as she expressed her gratitude immediately.

Then Zhao Xiaoxiao looked around and could only take her away from the snack shop to a pavilion on Sifang Gate Street to rest, and incidentally learn more about what happened.

Chai Jingjing told Zhao Xiaoxiao it was Viper who got into trouble again.

"What, didn’t he get immunity from that Qin Yang case?"

"It was immunity, but only for some parts of the spy crimes he had already admitted to,"

said Chai Jingjing with a worried look, "But for some reason, just when we thought we could start over, lead a good life, he got arrested again, and on a trumped-up charge!"

"A trumped-up charge?" Zhao Xiaoxiao blinked, a little confused.

She’s not good at this kind of thing, so why ask her for help?

"But I don’t understand any of this stuff," she protested.

"I know, I just want you to help me contact Lawyer Zhang, he’s so capable, he definitely can help me and A’Bin!"

"There are so many lawyers in Dongfang Capital, can’t you find someone else?"

"Actually, I’ve already tried others. Before I came to you, I visited a lot of law firms and even asked lawyers from the Top Ten Firms. They all said this case was unwinnable."

As Chai Jingjing spoke, her face was a picture of helplessness, "Out of all the lawyers in Dongfang Capital, if your Lawyer Zhang says he’s second, then no one would dare to claim they’re first."

"What do you mean, ’my Lawyer Zhang’? That guy is not my family member at all!" Zhao Xiaoxiao said, turning her head away again, refusing to acknowledge any connection.

"Yes, yes, yes, but I really want to ask Lawyer Zhang for help, he’s the only one who can help us," Chai Jingjing insisted, her face serious.

"A’Bin is definitely being framed. He might not be innocent of espionage; he has hacked into some network servers, but he definitely didn’t do that particular case, I can assure you of that!"

"Is that so?" Zhao Xiaoxiao was somewhat skeptical.

If Viper had any integrity, he wouldn’t have betrayed her for his own sake.

Anyway, she couldn’t trust Viper’s integrity at all.

"Miss Zhao, please, you must help us with this, ask Lawyer Zhang to definitely look into it, I can assure you, my A’Bin is innocent, he has been wrongfully accused!"

Chai Jingjing kept holding Zhao Xiaoxiao’s hand, pledging repeatedly. Zhao Xiaoxiao could only force a polite smile and agree.

In the evening, after sending Chai Jingjing off, Zhao Xiaoxiao hesitated for a long time before finally making a phone call.

"Hello, my second girl, why did you suddenly find the time to call me? Can’t you say it on WeChat?"

"It’s something serious, very serious!"

"How serious?" On the other end of the phone, Zhang Wei’s tone became serious as well.

"I need to talk to you, at a quiet place where we won’t be disturbed!"

"Perfect, I’m at the Procuratorate Headquarters, why don’t you come here? It’s definitely impossible for anyone to eavesdrop here!"

Zhao Xiaoxiao was quite surprised, why was Zhang Wei at the Procuratorate Headquarters.

But she nodded in agreement anyway.

...

Meanwhile.

At Dongfang Capital Procuratorate Headquarters, Serious Crime Division Office.

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Wei’s expression became somber.

"Zhang Wei, did Xiao Xiao just call you?" In the office, Xiao Baihe turned to look at Zhang Wei, surprised.

"That girl has always been careless, but her calling me suddenly got me concerned," he sighed.

Zhang Wei exhaled deeply. The bitterness of an old father, who could understand?

Then he looked back at Xiao Baihe, "Speaking of which, even you, Old Xiao, have cases you can’t handle, and you’re coming to me now?"

"Humph, do you think I wanted to?"

Xiao Baihe rolled her eyes and then turned on her computer, inputting the case information.

"This case was personally referred to me by Team Leader Zhou of the special ops group. She said that her cyber security team only listens to you, and it would be easier to handle with you around!"

"That is true. Not to mention Xiao Xiao, Liu Dashun and Zhu Erdan are more likely to listen to me."

Zhang Wei nodded his head, indicating he understood.

"So, what’s the situation?"

"It’s okay. We have gathered some evidence, and we’re preparing to prosecute the suspect, Cui Yibin, who you refer to as Viper, the hacker!"

Xiao Baihe said, pointing at some disclosed documents, "Although he was granted partial immunity for espionage, this time he’s accused of attacking aviation safety. He hacked into the airline’s servers, nearly causing two airplanes to collide, which is why the airline has hired us to prosecute him personally this time."

"Oh, is that so? Then why don’t you just prosecute him, bring out the evidence and let him be sentenced?"

"The one in charge of defending him this time is from Blackfoot Law Firm."

"Is it Old Hu?"

"No, it’s a woman named Li Meijia. She apparently studied abroad and is an international lawyer. I didn’t expect her to be doing criminal defense this time."

As he heard Xiao Baihe’s words, an image flashed in Zhang Wei’s mind—of a face that at first seemed stunningly beautiful but also gave off a sense of unreality.

This Li Meijia seemed to harbor a strong antagonism toward him.

"Also, since this case involves hacking technology, we must involve someone equally proficient in the field. I’m not familiar with computers. The tech division can handle some minor hackers, but it gets tricky with international hackers like them."

"Alright, I understand. When Xiao Xiao arrives, I’ll have her act as a network expert, providing you with some professional advice," Zhang Wei said, agreeing to help. After all, he too was serving as an advisor and wouldn’t be directly involved in the case.

But he was just going to sit on the sidelines and watch the play unfold; what trouble could possibly arise?