Chapter 1071
Chapter 1071: Extra – Yuan Yang (Part One)
Four years later.
According to the internet, Meng Jinyang had become a famous criminologist in Country Z as well as a council member of the International Bar Association. She earned a doctorate in legal studies at the age of twenty-two. When she was twenty-three, she earned a doctorate in philosophy and became the professor of criminal law at Capital University’s law school in the same year. She remained the youngest professor of legal studies to date, and her representative works included ‘Preface to Criminal Law,’ ‘Criminal Law Studies,’ and ‘The Development and Perfection of Criminal Law in Country Z.’
Meng Jinyang wasn’t a genius; she owed her current success to her dedicated hard work. When she graduated from her doctoral program, the director of the Supreme Court personally came to recruit her—although she rejected his offer in the end. Word had it that the two had a long talk in Principal Ren’s office for the whole morning and that Meng Jinyang remained firm in her decision to remain in school and join Jiang Shenyuan’s law firm.
This matter was widely discussed by others, for it was the lifelong dream of everyone in the law faculty to work in the Supreme Court, yet she rejected that offer without any hesitation. There were a lot of speculations about her refusal to join; some said it was because of Gu Mang, while others said it was because of Jiang Shenyuan. However, there was no way to know the truth as Meng Jinyang had never clarified the matter.
In the blink of an eye, she had been in Capital University for a year. And in that year, there were two ‘sister’ faculties in Capital University; one was the medical faculty in the north side of the campus, and the other was the law faculty in the south side of the campus. They were known as the ‘North Medicine South Law.’
Professor Gu Mang of the medical faculty and Professor Meng Jinyang of the law faculty were goddesses in the hearts of all the students in both faculties. On top of that, Meng Jinyang was Gu Mang’s biggest fan. Everyone knew that the aloof beauty, Meng Jinyang, would only lift her normally expressionless face into a smile when she saw the cold and proud Gu Mang. The pairing ‘Mang Yang’ was well-known across the campus, and it even topped the popularity chart on Weibo.
However, both professors were very rarely seen together due to their busy schedules. Hence, the students would get really excited whenever they saw them together. The medical faculty and the law faculty even teamed up to become ‘sister’ faculties.
The two faculties also shared another unique point, and that was in their admission brochures. Both schools only had the names ‘Gu Mang’ and ‘Meng Jinyang’ printed on their respective brochures.
Both faculties had become the most popular faculties in Capital University. And ever since they had Gu Mang and Meng Jinyang, the admission scores of both faculties had become unbelievably high. That said, the top students from all provinces and cities would rack their brains and try to get into these two majors as soon as their college entrance examination scores were out.
…
Meng Jinyang had just ended a lawsuit yesterday, and she finally had some free time to herself after working non-stop for the past two weeks or so. Right now, the only work she had was the graduation theses of her three Year Four students.
The woman standing on the podium appeared cold and aloof in her dark brown casual suit jacket. Her black hair was loosely tied behind her neck, and her thick fringe covered the contours of her face, only revealing her beautiful features. It made her face look extremely small, and her fair skin looked like it was glowing. The aura she exuded was so cold that it seemed like nobody could enter her world and that she refused to feel any emotions.
After graduation, apart from giving lessons to the Capital University’s students and taking on cases and lawsuits, her social life was very dull and dry. That was the impression she gave everyone.
At the moment, she was currently helping her students with their theses. Her thin eyelids were drooped, and her voice was gentle but clear with her pronunciation. Even though she was clearly an extremely introverted person, she sounded somewhat stern as well. With a few taps on her laptop’s keyboard, she sent a few documents to their Wechat’s graduation guidance group. “Message me if there’s anything you don’t understand.”
“Got it, Professor Meng.”
Meng Jinyang closed the laptop and put it into the briefcase with Capital University’s logo on it.
The students’ eyes were filled with admiration as they watched her leave the classroom.
The most capable people were probably those who once fell into the abyss but could still climb back to their feet and glamorously reach the top—no matter how difficult the process was and regardless of the rumors. While everyone knew what happened to Meng Jinyang, nobody could become as strong and outstanding as she was.
…
At the Medical Faculty.
Gu Mang also had to guide two of her students on their graduation theses, so she came to the lab building today.
When Meng Jinyang arrived at Gu Mang’s lab, she saw Gu Mang explaining the main points of the thesis to a student while the other student was recording a video of it with their phone.
Gu Mang spoke at a slower speed and in a simple yet profound manner. With her explanation, the complicated thesis became simplified and easier for the students to understand.
When the first student’s turn was over, they exchanged places with the second student and took over the video recording.
Fifteen minutes later, Gu Mang tossed the pen into the pen holder, picked up her phone, and opened the WeChat app before placing it back on the table for the students to scan her QR code. She drummed her fingers against the table as she said, “Send me a message if you have any questions.”
The students quickly took their phones out to scan the QR code. Both were really excited that they were able to add Gu Mang on WeChat, especially since they hadn’t been able to do so because her doctoral students were the ones who had been guiding them previously. As they held onto their notebooks and documents, they suppressed their excitement and said, “Thank you, Professor Gu.”
They became even more excited the moment they turned around to see Meng Jinyang sitting on the side, though. “Professor Meng, are you here to look for Professor Gu?”
Meng Jinyang nodded. Although her expression was cold, her voice was gentle. “It’s getting late. You should hurry and go have your lunch now.”
“Okay.” The students looked back continuously and exchanged excited looks with each other as they left the lab.
With a leg put across her knee, Gu Mang turned her chair around to face Meng Jinyang. “The case has ended?”
Meng Jinyang walked over to her with a bright and radiant smile, no longer looking as cold as before. “Yes, I won.”
Gu Mang lifted her chin and smiled back at her. “Want to go back to Royal Garden and have lunch with me?”
“Sure.” Meng Jinyang nodded and took out a lollipop from her pocket for Gu Mang. “Will Little Suiyi and Little Suibian be around?”
Although Lu Zhan had forced Lu Chengzhou to change their names, the latter was always calling the twins Lu Suiyi and Lu Suibian. Eventually, everyone tacitly accepted those names as the twins’ pet names.
Gu Mang raised her eyebrows as she took the lollipop, unwrapped it, and nonchalantly said, “I guess so. Lu Chengzhou’s been taking care of them lately. Let me send a text to ask him.”
…
After packing her stuff, Gu Mang and Meng Jinyang left the building and saw Jiang Shenyuan’s car parked at the roadside in front of the building. The man was standing next to the car and appeared as if he was about to make a phone call.
“Brother Jiang.” Meng Jinyang looked at him. “What are you doing here?”
Jiang Shenyuan looked up, put his phone away, and smiled gently at her. “I heard that your case ended, so I wanted to ask you out to lunch, but your students told me that you came here.”
“I plan to follow Gu Mang back to Royal Garden to visit the twins.”
Gu Mang slipped a hand into her pocket while adjusting the brim of her cap with her other hand. She then looked at Jiang Shenyuan and asked in a light voice, “Join us?”
“Sure.” Jiang Shenyuan opened the back seat door and let them get in his car.
As it had been a long time since Meng Jinyang last saw the twins, she wanted to buy them some gifts. The trio thus dropped by a mall first.
After they were done choosing the gifts, Jiang Shenyuan wanted to pay for them, but Meng Jinyang refused to let him. In the end, they each paid for one gift.
On the way back to Royal Garden, Jiang Shenyuan asked, “When did Suiyi and Suibian come back?”
At the mention of her children, Gu Mang narrowed her eyes slightly in a dangerous manner. “The day before yesterday.”
…
After Lu Jilai and Lu Jixing were born, Gu Mang and Lu Chengzhou had adopted a free-range method to take care of them. They had basically set a rule that after the twins turned two, they would only take care of them during the festive occasions and holiday periods as they were usually too busy to do that.
The twins had spent a lot of their childhood at other people’s houses. They had been to Changning County to plow the soil and plant vegetables with Lan Sha and had been to Ming City to learn calligraphy from Gu Mang’s teacher, Tan Xicheng. However, their brushes would always end up landing at unexpected places.
They had also been to No. 14 Research Center, where the director would forcefully instill profound mathematics and physics knowledge in them. The twins were extremely sharp in mathematics and physics, so the director was always gushing about their talents and hailing them as ‘natural geniuses.’ He looked as if he had found his successors, but his over-enthusiasm to instill knowledge in them frightened them so badly that they fled at night one day.
The twins then went to the medical institute to learn acupuncture from Yu Mufeng and to Jijing Island, where they followed Ye Junci and Ye You around the major power centers and consortia. Huo Zhi had also taken them to Base 102 for training, where they became the most popular kids there. He realized then that Lu Jilai liked cold weapons, while Lu Jixing preferred thermal weapons.
Gu Si and Gu Hui even took them on a warplane and invaded the airspace of Country K without their permission. They were even nearly taken as terrorists and nearly shot to death.
That wasn’t the end of it. The twins snuck into the lab of Jijing Island’s arms institute to study explosives and missiles and ended up blowing up the lab. Word had it that Ye Junci and Old Master Bai had the shock of their lives when they heard the explosion in the middle of the night.
However, by the time Gu Mang and Lu Chengzhou rushed over to Jijing Island, Responsive Dragon and Flying Serpent had brought the twins to Mingyu Island to watch them trade weapons and engage in gang fights. When the gunfire was in its climax, the twins took one small stereo and played music there. They couldn’t be any wilder.
Gu Mang still had medical-related work to do, so she couldn’t go find them at Mingyu Island. In the end, Lu Chengzhou had to personally make a trip there and bring the twins back himself. The latter had been spending the past two days trying to educate them.
Royal Garden, study.
Lu Chengzhou was currently having a video conference with a few senior members of Red Flame. Midway through the conference, he cast a fleeting glance at the twins who were doing handstands at the corner.
Twenty minutes later, the conference ended. He shut down the laptop, walked over to the twins, and stopped in front of them.
It seemed that the boys had gotten completely numbed to Lu Chengzhou’s punishment, so they weren’t afraid of it at all. Their big round eyes rolled about, and the word “whatever” seemed to be written all across their soft and chubby cheeks.
Lu Chengzhou also couldn’t be bothered to ask them if they had learned their mistakes as their apologies were insincere. They had no intention of changing either. With one hand in his pocket, he looked down at the two chubby faces and said blandly, “Go think about how you’re going to explain it to your mother later.”
Hearing that, the little lads shivered out of fear and dropped back down to their feet. They looked up at their father and asked in surprise, “What?! Mommy is coming back today?!”
These little imps sure knew the one they shouldn’t mess with. Lu Chengzhou clicked his tongue when he saw the two identical faces with two identical wide-eyed and nervous expressions. “Are you scared now?”
The twins exchanged glances. Before they were brought back to the capital, they had looked into Gu Mang’s schedule, so they knew that she was very busy with her medical research project lately. Hence, they were planning to fool Lu Chengzhou into letting them escape to the Lu residence, where they could seek refuge with their grandfather. There goes our plan…
“Do you have any idea of how much your mother had to pay for the exploded lab?” Lu Chengzhou said nonchalantly.
Money was Gu Mang’s bottom line. She had to compensate for the explosion, especially since the director of Jijing Island’s arms institute came crying to her. It had cost a lot.
The twins fell silent. This was exactly the reason why they had fled to Mingyu Island.
Lu Chengzhou looked down at the two rebellious kids. “You even played music when there was gunfire going on. Pretty capable, huh?”
The twins twirled their fingers and carefully glanced at their father as they said, “Well… We were in the mood for some music…”
Silence lingered in the study for several seconds.
Gu Si sure has taught them well. Lu Chengzhou nodded. “Fine, you can repeat that to your mother.”
“How can we do that?!” They didn’t have the guts to do so.
“Why not?” Lu Chengzhou opened the study door.
The twins immediately hugged each of Lu Chengzhou’s legs and looked up pitifully. “Daddy, don’t be so heartless to us.”
“My heart is only reserved for your mother.” Lu Chengzhou remained unmoved as he lifted the little ones by their collars and put them on the ground. He then put his hands into his pockets and walked forward while saying coldly, “Don’t pretend to be close with me.”
Lu Yī and Lu Qi, who were bringing out the dishes in their aprons, smirked in amusement when they heard that.
The twins weren’t discouraged, though. Instead, they ran to hug their father’s thighs again and continued to pester him.
Lu Jilai puffed up his cheeks as he said sweetly, “Daddy, lend us some money so that we can pay mommy back.”
Lu Jixing echoed, “Yeah! Please lend us some money, daddy.”
Just like that, Lu Chengzhou walked over to the sofa and sat down with the two little kids hanging off his legs. He lazily said, “Married men don’t have money.”
Lu Yī and Lu Qi were rendered speechless. Can we… not do this anymore…? This job isn’t humane!
Lu Jixing squeezed out two drops of tears. “Daddy, you have to save us! Blood is thicker than water!”
Lu Chengzhou shot his sons a look. He probably found this strange because the three of them had never been loving father and sons.
Right at that moment, the door outside clicked.
Everyone instinctively looked over to see Gu Mang pushing the door open while holding a card in her hand. Behind her were Meng Jinyang and Jiang Shenyuan behind her.
Just a second ago, Lu Chengzhou could still feel the twins tightly hugging his thighs, but the very next second, they bolted to the doorway and placed two pairs of indoor slippers next to Gu Mang and Meng Jinyang’s feet.
“Mommy, Auntie Jinyang.” The twins obediently greeted them with flattering and toothy smiles on their faces. “Please change to these slippers.”
Jiang Shenyuan didn’t have such privilege and had to take the slippers on his own. It was only then that he heard them greeting him perfunctorily with an “Uncle Jiang.”
The little ones didn’t dare to get too close to Gu Mang. They just obediently put their hands in front of them like the good boys they were. “Mommy, lunch is ready. It’s all your and Auntie Jinyang’s favorite dishes.”
Lu Chengzhou was speechless as he watched this scene from afar.
There was no expression on Gu Mang’s face as she cast her cold gaze on them.
Instantly, the twins felt as if death was near, but they still tried their best to maintain the smiles on their faces.
It had been a while since Meng Jinyang last saw the twins. She squatted down and stroked their heads. “Little Suiyi, Little Suibian, take a look at what Uncle Jiang and I have bought for you guys.”
Jiang Shenyuan passed the gifts to Meng Jinyang.
The adorable and cool-looking twins had not only inherited their parents’ good looks and exquisite features but also their impressive IQ. Hence, Meng Jinyang bought for them a warship model and a warplane model that were highly difficult to assemble.
The twins’ eyes lit up at the sight of the gifts, and they loved it a lot. “Thank you, Auntie Jinyang, Uncle Jiang.”
Meng Jinyang pinched their chubby cheeks as she replied with a smile, “You’re welcome.”
All of a sudden, Lu Jixing wrapped his arms around her neck and rubbed his head against her. “Auntie Jinyang, I missed you a lot.”
Startled by this sudden display of affection, Meng Jinyang patted his back and said, “I missed you too.”
Maybe it was due to the telepathy between twins, but Lu Jilai immediately knew what his brother was up to. And so, he hugged Meng Jinyang as well. “Suiyi missed Auntie Jinyang badly too.”
Meng Jinyang, however, was confused, for the twins behaved exactly like Gu Si and were usually quiet, cold, and aloof. Why are they suddenly being so clingy?
Jiang Shenyuan was taken aback, too, having heard the wild stories about the twins. The way they were suddenly behaving made his scalp grow numb with fear.
“Auntie Jinyang, we found criminal law really interesting after reading a book on it, so we’d like to stay at your house and learn from you,” said Lu Jilai sweetly.
Meng Jinyang, who could never say no to the twins, naturally said, “Sure, I’ll teach both of you then.”
“Auntie Jinyang, we want to learn it as soon as possible. Shall we head straight to Uncle Jiang’s law firm right after dinner?”
Overwhelmed by their enthusiasm, Meng Jinyang agreed to it. “Okay…”
I’ve never seen them so eager to learn anything before. As soon as Meng Jinyang gave them her word, she realized that something was amiss. She looked enquiringly at Jiang Shenyuan.
Jiang Shenyuan looked at Gu Mang, who was expressionless and had her arms crossed in front of her chest, before looking at the twins again. Those two are probably seeking refuge. I wonder what trouble they have gotten into this time.
He rubbed the tip of his nose and laughed. “Sure, Auntie Jinyang and I will teach you.”
Lu Chengzhou walked over to Gu Mang’s side, uncrossed her arms, and then took her hand in his before lifting his chin toward his sons. “They sure know who to look for.”
Gu Mang coolly glanced sideways at him. “You didn’t discipline them?”
Lu Chengzhou sighed. “They couldn’t be controlled.”
“Your hands can only be used to grab my hands?” Gu Mang looked down at the hands that were playing with her fingers. What she meant was that he could smack the children.
Lu Chengzhou feigned a look of surprise and raised his eyebrows. “You only just realized that?”
When he saw how speechless she got, he couldn’t resist laughing. “I’ll make sure to beat them next time.”
Gu Mang glanced at her kids, who were hugging Meng Jinyang tightly. “They’re more capable than me, huh?”
Lu Chengzhou put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her toward the dining room. “Then let’s just let them stay at home. Forget about going to the law firm. I’ll punish them tonight. We can’t let them miss out on what other children have.”
Gu Mang turned her head to the back and silently looked at Meng Jinyang, who had already agreed to take the twins to the law firm and seemed very happy.
In the dining room.
“Mommy, Auntie Jinyang, take a seat.” Being the tactful kids they were, Lu Jilai and Lu Jixing diligently pulled out the chairs for them.
When Lu Chengzhou and Jiang Shenyuan saw this, they quietly pulled out the chairs themselves.
After Gu Mang and Meng Jinyang had taken their seats, the twins ran back to their children’s seats and held up the children’s tableware in preparation to take out the food they disliked from their meals.
Gu Mang coolly looked over at them, and the twins, who were prepared to toss the egg yolk aside with their forks, froze. They blinked their big round eyes in innocence and obediently said, “Mommy, Daddy, Auntie Jinyang, Uncle Jiang, please eat.”
Thereafter, they shoved the egg yolks into their mouths and chewed on them, their cheeks puffing up from the action. They dared not to look at Gu Mang throughout.
Lu Yī and Lu Qi had complicated expressions on their faces as they watched the twins, who only behaved in their mother’s presence. Both had their heads down as they quietly ate their meals, not even daring to be fussy about the peas and other green veggies.
Lu Chengzhou picked a piece of meat for Gu Mang. “Has the project ended?”
Gu Mang propped up her face in her hands as she softly replied, “No, we’re only halfway through. We’re taking a few days of break.”
Lu Chengzhou frowned when he noticed the dark circles underneath Gu Mang’s eyes. “Go take a nap after lunch.”
“Mm.” Gu Mang looked at her sons. “Don’t cause trouble for Auntie Jinyang and Uncle Jiang when you’re at the law firm.”
When the twins realized that their mother allowed them to go to the law firm, they looked up excitedly and chirped, “Got it, Mommy.”
Gu Mang then said to Meng Jinyang, “Don’t spoil them.”
Meng Jinyang, who had no idea about what the twins had done, stroked Lu Jixing’s head and said with a smile, “Little Suibian and Little Suiyi are so well-behaved. They won’t cause me any trouble.”
The twins nodded their heads hard, their eyes sparkling with sincerity. “Auntie Jinyang, we’re very well-behaved.”
Gu Mang was rendered speechless. They sure can act.
Jiang Shenyuan burst out laughing. Their sons… really are little imps.
After the meal, Lu Yī and Lu Qi brewed some tea and cut some fruits for them while they moved to the living room to chat. Meng Jinyang accompanied the two brothers to sit on the carpet and assemble the models she had bought for them.
Apart from the case that had ended a few days ago, Meng Jinyang had been attending meetings with Jiang Shenyuan to revise the criminal law.
At the mention of this topic, Jiang Shenyuan said as he picked up his teacup, “It’s been set and will be implemented in about two months.”
The law was used to restrain the evil of human nature, which was complex, to begin with, yet the lawmakers still had to prevent unscrupulous people from making use of the legal loopholes.
Revising the law wasn’t something easy to do. While others couldn’t figure out why Meng Jinyang refused to work in the Supreme Court, Jiang Shenyuan could roughly guess the reason.
There were many factors to consider when judging a case. The judge had to take into consideration the impact on the current and future society as well as special circumstances. Take Meng Jinyang’s childhood case, for example—the other party was only sentenced to twenty years of imprisonment because of all those factors.
The law could be gentle, but it could also be cruel.
Meng Jinyang could be considered Gu Mang’s student. Like the latter, the former excelled in everything she did once she set her mind to do it. She could’ve become the fairest and most impartial judge who took the development of the society into account, but her heart didn’t allow her to do so; she couldn’t not let her personal feelings get involved, for she was once the victim of a tragic case. Once the case lost its original fairness and had to take other factors into consideration, the guilt from not being able to seek justice for the victims would surely drive her mad.
Given Meng Jinyang’s mental state, Gu Mang knew that she was more suited to fight for the rights of the victims than being a cold and impartial judge.
It was a good thing that the law had been constantly revised over the recent years. In fact, Jiang Shenyuan even participated in one of those meetings just some time ago.
“Although it’s still not very fair to some cases, we can only take one step at a time,” said Jiang Shenyuan.
Lu Chengzhou nodded and was about to say something when Jiang Shenyuan’s phone suddenly rang.
It was a call from Jiang Shenyuan’s mother.
As they were all close friends, Jiang Shenyuan saw no need to step out to take the call. He answered it right there and then. “Mom.”
It was unknown what his mother had said to him, but it made him put down his teacup and rise to his feet. He then nodded his head to the others and walked to a corner to continue the conversation.
“Didn’t I tell you guys that I have no intention of getting married for the time being? You don’t have to arrange blind dates for me. I don’t want to waste their time.”
Even though Jiang Shenyuan was whispering into his phone, everyone in the living room still managed to hear what he said. Meng Jinyang looked down as she tightened her grip on one of the model parts.
At that, Lu Chengzhou and Gu Mang exchanged a look, but they didn’t say anything about it.
The balcony door was then pulled open and closed, blocking Jiang Shenyuan’s voice outside.
As it seemed to be too quiet in the living room, Lu Jilai and Lu Jixing’s actions unconsciously became gentler.
“Auntie Jinyang, you screwed this in the wrong place,” Lu Jixing pointed out as he looked at the screw in Meng Jinyang’s hand.
Meng Jinyang snapped back to her senses and laughed. “Oh, then where should it be?”
“Here.” Lu Jilai pointed it out for Meng Jinyang with his small finger.
After a while, Jiang Shenyuan returned back to the living room with his phone.
It had been so many years, and it was very obvious that Jiang Shenyuan liked Meng Jinyang. In fact, almost everyone in their clique could tell. But for some reason, the two of them never talked about their feelings.
Lu Chengzhou leaned over and refilled Jiang Shenyuan’s teacup. “Your parents urging you to get married?”
Jiang Shenyuan let out a helpless laugh. “Aren’t all parents the same? But the thing is, there’s no such thing as the right age when it comes to marriage—only the right person. You can’t be slipshod about this.”
At that, Lu Jixing, aka Lu Suibian, looked up in confusion. “Huh? Did you call me, Uncle Jiang?”
The sudden question broke the somewhat depressing mood in the living room. Both Lu Yī and Lu Qi couldn’t help bursting into laughter, as did Jiang Shenyuan. “Are you done assembling the model?”
Lu Jixing scratched his head. “Just a bit more.”
“Do you need my help?” Jiang Shenyuan asked out of courtesy.
Lu Jixing shook his head and patted his chest confidently. “Nope, I can do it. This is nothing to me.”
Just then, another phone rang.
It was Meng Jinyang’s phone this time. Sitting straight, she picked up her phone from the coffee table and said to the rest after taking a look at the caller ID on the screen, “It’s Principal Fu. It’s probably about the speech to the Year Three students.”
In the past few years, Meng Jinyang had been going back to Ming City High School to give a speech to the Year Three students before their university entrance exams.
Meng Jinyang answered the call. “Principal Fu.”
As soon as lunch was over, everyone’s phones started to vibrate. Even Gu Mang and Lu Chengzhou, who were on leave, received WeChat notifications. It wasn’t a problem for them to chat occasionally while replying to their messages.
Meng Jinyang’s eyebrows could be seen knitting tighter and tighter together. “How’s that girl doing now?”
The grave tone made Gu Mang stop typing and look up at her.
“Got it,” said Meng Jinyang. “I don’t have any cases for the time being. I’ll book the ticket in a bit. I should be able to reach her tonight. Please keep a close eye on her and make sure she doesn’t do anything foolish.”
Principal Fu then said a few more things to her.
“Okay,” said Meng Jinyang before ending the call.
“What happened?” Jiang Shenyuan asked with a tilt of his head.
“It’s a domestic violence fatality case in Ming City. It hit the headlines six months ago. I knew about it, but I didn’t follow up on the matter nor pay any attention to the results as I was rather busy at the time. As you all know, new articles appear on the internet very quickly, so everyone soon forgot about the case.”
Meng Jinyang looked up. “As for the specifics, I’ll only know when I arrive at Ming City.”
As she spoke, she started looking up rail tickets on her phone. However, a frown soon formed on her face as the rail tickets to Ming City for the day had been sold out due to the next day being the start of the holiday break.
Lu Chengzhou looked at Lu Yī. “Go arrange a private plane.”
“Will do,” answered Lu Qi respectfully as he stood up. He then immediately took his handphone and left.
Meng Jinyang looked at Lu Chengzhou in surprise. “Thank you, Mr. Lu.”
“You’re welcome.”
After thinking about it for a second, Gu Mang said, “Let Lu Qi go with you, and give me a call if anything happens.”
Domestic violence fatality cases tended to be complicated, and it was likely that some people might resort to violence when they went crazy.
Lu Qi, meanwhile, felt that he was a brick that would be moved to wherever needed him. Still, he respectfully answered, “Understood.”
Meng Jinyang nodded and looked to the side, only to notice that the twins had stopped assembling their models and were looking at her. She patted their heads. “I have some work to do now, so I can’t teach you this time. Once my work is settled, I’ll take you to Uncle Jiang’s law firm, okay?”
Being more mature than their peers, the twins naturally knew what was more important here. Hence, they sweetly said, “It’s okay, Auntie. Work comes first. We’ll wait for your return.”
Meng Jinyang smiled. “Okay, good boys.”
The private plane was soon arranged.
Everyone saw Meng Jinyang off to the door.
Jiang Shenyuan looked at her. “I have a meeting tomorrow. I’ll go look for you after that.”
Meng Jinyang smiled at him. “It’s fine, Big Brother Jiang. This case isn’t tricky. I can solve it.”
The current Meng Jinyang held the same status as Jiang Shenyuan in the legal world now. Besides, he wasn’t going there to help her. “I know you can, but I—”
Ding. The lift had arrived.
“The lift is here.” Meng Jinyang looked at everyone. “I’ll get going now.”
The rest of Jiang Shenyuan’s sentence got stuck in his throat.
Lu Jilai and Lu Jixing looked very depressed as they reluctantly watched Meng Jinyang and Lu Qi enter the lift. They then carefully glanced at their mother, who was standing next to them while wondering how much money she had compensated Jijing Island’s arms institute. Our clothes only cost ten yuan a piece… Mommy compensated them a lot of money… Are we going to get a spanking tonight…?
…
After seeing Meng Jinyang off, everyone returned to the living room and sat down.
Lu Chengzhou looked at Jiang Shenyuan. “Are you already 33 years old?”
Jiang Shenyuan froze and retorted, “My birthday hasn’t passed, so I’m only 32.”
Lu Chengzhou raised his eyebrows in amusement. “You’re quite sensitive about your age, huh? You’re no longer young, Lawyer Jiang.”
Jiang Shenyuan couldn’t figure out what Lu Chengzhou was trying to do by bringing up his age. “You’re not going to urge me to get married like my mother, are you? Are we that close to each other, Young Master Lu?” Is he trying to show off now that he’s married with children?
Gu Mang smiled but remained silent.
“We’re not.” Lu Chengzhou lazily put a leg across his knee. “But then again, are you just going to stay like this with Meng Jinyang?”
Jiang Shenyuan laughed. “I didn’t know that you’ve learned to care about others.”
In all honesty, Lu Chengzhou wouldn’t have bothered asking if not for the fact that Gu Mang was worried about Meng Jinyang. He poked a piece of muskmelon and fed it to Gu Mang. “I heard that Elder Bai intends to let her take over the International Bar Association. That means she’ll be based at Jijing Island in the future.”
Jiang Shenyuan’s smile stiffened as he turned to Gu Mang for confirmation. “Is that true?”
“Mm.” Gu Mang nodded as she swallowed the piece of fruit in her mouth. “She’s still considering it and hasn’t gotten back to Elder Bai.”
Even some of the reputable veterans were impressed by Meng Jinyang’s achievements in the legal world, so it was understandable that Elder Bai would want to pass the International Bar Association to her.
Jiang Shenyuan’s eyes drooped as he tightened his grip on the sofa’s armrests. Why didn’t she tell me? If she agrees to it, she’ll have to immediately go to Jijing Island and study for four years… Regardless of where she wants to go, I’ll support her. Distance isn’t a problem since it’s easy to travel around these days. I can even go to Jijing Island. But the problem is, why didn’t she tell me about it? Does she intend to leave the capital without saying goodbye?
Lu Chengzhou glanced at the somewhat panic-stricken Jiang Shenyuan as he quietly sipped his tea. He didn’t say anything more since what he said was enough.