Are You Crazy? He’s only an Intern Lawyer?
Chapter 574 - 567: The Middleman’s Intelligence, The Enemy’s Clues

Chapter 574: Chapter 567: The Middleman’s Intelligence, The Enemy’s Clues

Longteng International Building.

Located within the Longdu Second Ring, it was a stylish high-rise office building.

At this moment, inside a partner’s office.

Chen Xiao was on a phone call with someone.

"You mean, the plan to frame the Cleaner’s death on the target’s son has failed?"

"Because it was so rushed, Qing Jiao didn’t take into account the surveillance cameras outside, and was caught on tape?"

"He infiltrated the Procuratorate Headquarters and met up with you to hand over the murder weapon to Zhu Yuansi, only to have Zhang Wei find a flaw in the end?"

Chen Xiao’s eyes were slightly squinted, seemingly dissatisfied with the news being reported from the other end of the phone.

"I understand!" Her expression unchanged, she hung up the phone with a cold voice.

But after hanging up, a hint of anger and disappointment appeared on her face.

"Zhu Yuansi, we went to such lengths to help you, I can’t believe you still lost!"

"But what they said makes sense, a plan made in haste is bound to have flaws. However, wasn’t Zhang Wei also rushed into taking on the case? Why was he so well-prepared?"

Chen Xiao’s eyes narrowed as if she had sensed how tricky this opponent in this round was.

The young lawyer named Zhang Wei had courtroom experience and a strong psychological quality that belied his actual age.

These qualities of an outstanding lawyer appearing in a youngster in his early twenties suggested that the opponent was certainly no ordinary person.

"No wonder the kid could win against Senior Procuratorate Qin; he’s indeed no ordinary individual!"

As Chen Xiao spoke, she didn’t put down the phone but dialed another number instead.

The phone was quickly connected.

"Our plan using Zhu Yuansi has failed, at least the first round of actions has, the prosecution has not initiated legal proceedings against the target’s son, Zhang Wei found flaws at the Procuratorate Headquarters, and even Qing Jiao might have been exposed!"

"Do we need to report to upper management and take care of Qing Jiao?"

On the other end of the phone, there seemed to be a moment of silence as if considering the need to deal with Qing Jiao.

"Not for now? But since Qing Jiao’s plan to go to the Procuratorate Headquarters has been exposed, if the opponent finds Qing Jiao’s location, it might..."

"Oh, everything has been cleaned up? Then I understand, there’s no need for me to take action!"

"Yes, I get it, I also want to make sure Tie Ruyun cannot recover from this calamity, letting him have no way of interfering with our plans; but I find that Zhang Wei is even more troublesome than Tie Ruyun!"

Chen Xiao paused for a moment, then analyzed, "Based on my understanding of the former, he might show certain skills and presence, but he ultimately can’t threaten us, because he has weaknesses!"

"But this Zhang Wei, he currently seems to have no weaknesses. His style of action, including his methods, almost leave no room for criticism. His performance in court can be said to be impeccable. If we don’t deal with him, he will be a more problematic presence than Tie Ruyun!"

"I know the next plan, as long as Guan Yuhong has no way to appeal, then nothing will be a problem, but just in case..."

"Oh, you’re right, even if there is this possibility, we have a backup plan!"

"After all, Guan Yuhong is a man in prison; what more could he do."

"I understand, leave everything to me..."

Chen Xiao hung up the phone, then her gaze seemed to pierce through the glass window, looking towards the horizon.

"Zhang Wei, tomorrow will be the second internal hearing, and I must make Tie Ruyun fall into disgrace, and I won’t make it easy for you either!"

In her eyes, a flash of hatred flickered...

...

Longdu Prison, visiting room.

Achoo!

Zhang Wei didn’t know why, but he suddenly sneezed.

Perhaps it’s likely that an enemy is plotting against him.

But right now, he had no time to think about which enemy might be keeping him in their thoughts.

He had someone to meet.

"Guan Yuhong, over here!"

At the guard’s call, Guan Yuhong, dressed in prison garb, entered the visiting room.

Guan Yuhong walked into the visiting room and then saw his son, Guan Ping, and Zhang Wei.

"Daddy!"

"Ah Ping!"

The father and son exchanged a glance and nodded to each other, neither of them showing too much excitement.

Then, Guan Yuhong nodded to Zhang Wei, his eyes filled with gratitude.

Zhang Wei naturally nodded back, and then all three of them sat down.

All was understood without words.

"Mr. Guan, now the charges against your son have been dropped, the prosecution will not pursue him any further..."

Hearing what Zhang Wei said, Guan Yuhong nodded solemnly.

"However, I have a question. How did you come to know about Lin Berte?"

"Before we get to that, I want to ask you something, Lawyer Zhang. Did you find Lin Berte’s backup warehouse?"

"Yes, I found it and discovered a lot of little gadgets he tinkered with in there!"

"Then, did you find any record files or some information that can prove he killed Sun Mou 12 years ago?"

"No, there wasn’t anything like that. After all, clients don’t like Cleaners who keep records. They hire people like Lin Berte to erase all traces afterwards."

Hearing what Zhang Wei said, a look of regret flashed across Guan Yuhong’s face.

But he still confessed, "I have a pretty good reputation in prison. Not to hide it from you, I’ve been studying law over the years and many people here, in fact, do not understand law."

"That’s true. If they understood the law, they wouldn’t be here," said Zhang Wei, laughing, clearly agreeing with Guan Yuhong.

"That’s why, with the knowledge I’ve gained over the years, I’ve made quite a few connections in prison. I’ve leveraged these connections to have many people owe me favors. And it was through these connections that I helped an informant who in turn told me about Lin Berte."

"Actually, Lin Berte is considered an expert among the Cleaners. The tools he crafted are mostly compact and exquisite, making it almost impossible to find faults. The informant mentioned in particular that his ’assassination tie’ is so unexpected..."

A scene flashed across Zhang Wei’s mind.

A man was happily humming a song while tying his tie; suddenly, the tie tightened more and more, making it hard for him to breathe. He struggled in vain, couldn’t cry for help, and ultimately was strangled to death by the tie.

To be exact, it was the mechanism inside the tie that strangled him.

Who could guard against that?

"It’s a pity, such a brilliant talent is now gone!" Zhang Wei also expressed his regret.

In comparison, Guan Yuhong and his son Guan Ping put all their hopes of exoneration on Lin Berte.

Unfortunately, the person behind the scenes also noticed the problem with Lin Berte and decided to silence him before anyone else could.

And it didn’t stop there; this person seemed to know that Guan Ping was aware of Lin Berte and even planned to frame him for Lin Berte’s death.

"Speaking of which, Lawyer Zhang, there’s a favor I’d like to ask of you!"

Guan Yuhong leaned in closer, speaking cautiously, "Originally, I wanted to ask Lawyer Tie for this favor, because I really don’t know who else I can trust. But since you helped my son, I know I can definitely trust you as well, so I need your help again!"

"Oh? What is it?"

Guan Yuhong looked around cautiously and whispered, "Actually, the informant holds some information from 12 years ago that obviously relates to my case. The favor I need from you is actually for him."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Wei was stunned.

The fact that Guan Yuhong could find a clue within this small prison was truly impressive.

"What do you need me to do?"

"He has a wife and children outside, but the crime he committed is quite severe, and he probably won’t get out in this lifetime. He also made a lot of enemies back in the day, so he doesn’t dare to let his family visit him in prison, fearing his enemies might find out, with unimaginable consequences. His only wish now is to see if his wife and children are doing well..."

"I understand!"

This kind of wish indeed needs someone trustworthy to fulfill.

Otherwise, the average person might betray either Guan Yuhong or the informant.

But this was not a problem for Zhang Wei.

"Then wait for me a bit, I know what to do!"

Having received the information from Guan Yuhong, Zhang Wei then took Guan Ping and bid farewell.

Since the informant held crucial information, that absolutely needed to be dealt with first.

...

hours later.

The same meeting room.

However, this time, apart from Zhang Wei, Guan Ping, and Guan Yuhong, there was another person present—that was the informant from the prison known to Guan Yuhong.

At that moment, the informant was watching a video on Zhang Wei’s cellphone.

"Honey, we’re going to the amusement park today~"

"Okay, Mommy, I love amusement parks the most."

"Right, your uncle will bring your little sister along today, and our family of four will finally be together."

"Ugh, got it..."

"And baby, this time when you see Uncle, you need to call him ’Daddy’, okay?"

"Mommy..."

"This time it’s non-negotiable. You have to promise me, call him ’Daddy’!"

"Fine..."

"Yes, my baby is the best. Mommy loves you!"

In the video, a woman was lecturing her seven- or eight-year-old son.

Upon seeing this, the Cleaner’s face was streaked with tears.

"She got remarried?"

"Yes, she did remarry, to a primary school teacher, and they’ve had a daughter who’s now nine months old."

The Cleaner nodded, reflecting, "A teacher, that’s good. At least he’ll be good to the kids."

"Yes, your wife’s current husband is said to have a good reputation in the primary school, with harmonious relations in the neighborhood and no conflicts."

Hearing this, the Cleaner finally cracked a smile through his tears.

"I can tell, my wife went through a lot with me, suffered a lot. Now they seem to be living happily."

At this point, the Cleaner turned to Guan Yuhong, "Old Guan, since you’ve helped me fulfill my wish, I won’t keep secrets from you."

Zhang Wei immediately sat up straight, adopting a serious expression.

No one knew what kind of information the Cleaner held in his hands.

"Actually, 12 years ago, I had dealings with Qing Jiao Gang and Lin Berte. Back then, I was a ’Cleaner’ and it was I who connected Qing Jiao Gang with Lin Berte."

"But I was just a middleman and not privy to their transactions, nor did I know that Lin Berte later killed Sun Mou. I only found out about the case afterward."

"I never imagined that Sun Mou was holding a child when he died, so the case caused a huge public outcry at the time. The major case squad had to solve it under pressure, and that implicated you!"

Guan Yuhong was similarly surprised to hear this news.

It turned out that the man before him had been hiding this all along.

"You said you connected Qing Jiao Gang with Lin Berte, besides asking you to hire a ’Cleaner’, what else did they commission you to do?"

Zhang Wei immediately asked a crucial question. If Qing Jiao Gang had business with the Cleaner besides the connection with Lin Berte, then it would be vital to the case!

"Actually, Qing Jiao Gang weren’t the ones who initially contacted me; they were also middlemen. The first ones who approached me were from a construction company. They wanted me to reach out to local gangs, saying there were some shady dealings they needed handling. I didn’t think too much and just agreed."

The Cleaner said, laughing, "Back then, many construction companies had dirty foundations; it was common for them to collude with gangs, so I would receive similar business every month, and my rule was to ask fewer questions the better!"

"People from a construction company?"

Zhang Wei’s brow furrowed, sensing something.

"What’s the name of this construction company, do you remember?"

"I seem to have taken a business card at the time, but I received so many cards during that period. I just remember it had a ’Long’ character on it..."

Seeing the Cleaner frowning as if struggling to recall, a name sprang into Zhang Wei’s mind.

"Is it Longxiang Construction?"

"Ah, right, it seems to be Longxiang Construction!"

The Cleaner had a sudden realization; he remembered that name.

"Oh~ so it’s Longxiang Construction."

Zhang Wei hadn’t expected it to be Longxiang Construction, that was a client of Chen Xiao’s at Longteng Law Firm... wait a second, Chen Xiao...

In Zhang Wei’s mind flashed Guan Yuhong’s case, and at the same time, Tie Ruyun’s case.

Were these two cases, by any chance, related? How else would Old Tie have been targeted by Chen Xiao right after arriving in Longdu?

"Longxiang Construction, I remember them too!"

Just then, Guan Yuhong also remembered.

He looked at Zhang Wei with a piercing gaze, "Lawyer Zhang, I seem to have received a business card from Longxiang Construction too. They wanted to buy the land for my grocery store for a development project, but I turned them down righteously!"

"Really, Longxiang Construction was planning to develop the land where your grocery store was located?"

Zhang Wei said, taking back the collected information from the middleman and then starting to search on Baidu.

"The location of your grocery store back then was here, right?"

"Yes, that’s the street, and now... Longxiang Building, Longxiang Apartment, Longxiang Entertainment City, Longxiang Shopping Center... This..."

"It seems like Longxiang Construction’s development was a success, huh!"

Zhang Wei opened the enlarged page of the Baidu map; the convenience store that used to house the grocery store had disappeared, replaced by residential buildings, office towers, entertainment venues, and a super shopping center developed by Longxiang Construction.

"Although I’m not a professional real estate lawyer, from my perspective, based on the development of this land, Longxiang Construction’s investment return must be at least this much!"

Zhang Wei said, spreading all ten fingers of both hands.

"10 times!"

Guan Yuhong and Guan Ping looked at each other in disbelief, both with shock in their eyes.

"That said, although I’m wearing shoes, my 10 toes are actually standing up too, so that’s 20 times!"

"20 times!"

"It might be even more than that, you have no idea how profitable the real estate market has been these past few years!"

Zhang Wei muttered to himself, recalling the apartment he owned at Dongjiang Yipin.

Riverside apartments next to Dongjiang, a single building worth 200 million.

But twelve years ago, the price there might have been just over 10,000 per square meter; a riverside apartment might have been bought for 5 million.

From 5 million to 200 million, the property prices have increased 40 times.

And that’s just the housing prices; Longxiang Construction also invested in developing office towers and shopping centers, among other things.

While these were not one-off sales, the continuous 12-year leasing of the commercial apartments and office spaces meant that the collected rent had long since covered the initial costs, and earned many times more.

The land which could originally be bought for 1 billion now, considering the returns, is barely worth 200 billion, isn’t that a 20 times profit?

Indeed, real estate really is outrageously profitable!

"Now we understand the target; Longxiang Construction initially contacted a middleman, so you helped them connect with the Qing Jiao Gang."

"The Qing Jiao Gang, for some reasons, needed to deal with Sun Mou, so they found the middleman again, and you helped them get in touch with Lin Berte."

"Lin Berte took action, eliminated Sun Mou, and left the murder tool near the scene to frame Mr. Guan."

"The serious crime team identified Mr. Guan by fingerprints on the murder tool, convicted him, and as a result, Mr. Guan’s grocery store could no longer operate and had to close down."

"With the grocery store gone, Longxiang Construction opportunistically bought out the other merchants in the convenience store and finally secured that piece of land for development, leading to now’s Longxiang Building, Longxiang Shopping Center, etc...."

Now, all the pieces were falling into place.

This might very well be the truth behind the death of Sun Mou 12 years ago.

Guan Yuhong was framed by the Qing Jiao Gang and Longxiang Construction to clear the way for Longxiang Construction to purchase that land.

After all, Guan Yuhong had clearly refused the purchase offer, and for Longxiang Construction to resort to dirty tricks didn’t seem surprising at all.

Fast forward to the present.

Guan Yuhong was preparing to appeal for a retrial. If the case was sent back for review, the investigative department might start looking into past events.

If Sun Mou’s death was traced back to Longxiang Construction, then those behind the scenes would not be able to rest easy.

That’s why as soon as Tie Ruyun arrived in Longdu, he was targeted by Chen Xiao.

Because if Chen Xiao succeeded in taking out Tie Ruyun, then Guan Yuhong would have no chance to file an appeal.

Similarly, Lin Berte, as the contractor at the time, and the Cleaner hired by the Qing Jiao Gang, was also a knowledgable party.

So, the person behind the scenes took care of him cleanly and quickly, then framed Guan Ping to erase any threat.

However, the mastermind clearly didn’t anticipate that although Tie Ruyun got hit, he managed to call in Zhang Wei.

The plan to frame Guan Ping was likewise thwarted by Zhang Wei.

"Thanks for your help; I think I have a general strategy for action now!"

Having gathered so much information, Zhang Wei expressed that he knew what he needed to do next.

After all, now that the enemy was clear, the next step was to investigate them thoroughly and then defeat them one by one in court!

However, this time his opponents were obviously people with tremendous power in Longdu; every move had to be made with extra caution.

Otherwise, a single misstep could lead to a desperate retaliation from his foes!

As Zhang Wei left the meeting room and stepped outside the prison, night had already fallen.