Chapter 210 - 126: Case Closed! A Spot at the Provincial Department

’He’s so full of it!’

Xu De looked at her with a teasing smile, but Lin Yue pretended not to notice.

The two had spent half a year together, and he had clearly learned to be more thick-skinned.

This playful banter naturally didn’t escape Master Guanxin’s notice.

The old man, dressed in simple robes, was strolling over and said gently,

"When you get old, your sense of taste fades. Besides, I’ve already had dinner."

"It seems I’m not fated to have any today."

Master Guanxin stopped. His figure was withered and stooped, but his tone was very easygoing. "You two go on and eat," he said. "I just came out for a walk."

"We’re already finished!"

Xu De and Lin Yue said.

"Mm." The master nodded.

He was about to turn and leave when, unexpectedly, Xu De pulled out a plastic bag he’d swiped from the kitchen and started packing up the leftovers.

"Young friend, there’s a refrigerator in the kitchen. You don’t need to use a plastic bag. You..."

Master Guanxin began to say.

"No, I’m taking it for someone else to try."

"There are a few ’wild men’ nearby. I feed them when I have nothing better to do."

Xu De said this as he picked up the food, ready to head out.

’Wild men?’

’Does he mean the homeless, those who wander the wilds?’

Watching his retreating back, Master Guanxin paused for a moment. Then, as if in a daze, his aged voice, like a dry leaf, drifted to Xu De’s ears on the cold wind.

"Young friend."

"What are your thoughts on the provincial case selections? The deadline for nominations is approaching."

At the entrance of White Cloud Temple.

Xu De, who was about to leave, stopped in his tracks. Hearing this, he glanced back at the master, thought for a moment, and said casually,

"I don’t really have any. They’re a stagnant pool of conservative cases."

"But that’s normal. After all, the rule of law is about maintaining stability. Conservative cases are beneficial to society."

’A stagnant pool?’

’So radical?’

Master Guanxin chuckled as he looked at him and asked again,

"I was asking about you, young friend. This old man has read in the papers that you’ve handled two major cases."

Xu De raised an eyebrow, thought for a moment, then shook his head.

"I doubt they’ll even be nominated."

"But it doesn’t matter. I didn’t take those cases for the sake of winning a classic case award."

Xu De’s principles were situational. He was highly moral toward some people, but others would curse him as being worse than an animal.

But generally speaking, he still had his own set of principles. Even without the panel, he’d still take on the cases he felt he had to.

After all, the cases varied in difficulty, and the panel didn’t require him to take on major ones. He could have easily found smaller, easier cases to handle. There was no need to put himself in danger; it was purely a matter of personal choice.

"You’re quite open-minded, young friend. I’m just afraid that if you get nominated and the debate round starts, you’ll be so scared by the sight of all those leaders that your legs will go soft and you won’t be able to speak."

Master Guanxin laughed heartily, his withered frame straightening up.

"Me?"

Xu De laughed.

"Master, if there’s one thing I have, it’s strong legs."

’What a joke.’

’The round trip to Lianshan County was four thousand kilometers, not even counting all the hiking and wading through rivers. He’d nearly walked Wang Chao to death. His legs were hard enough to forge iron; how could they possibly go soft?’

Besides... "The cases are too unique. I won’t be among the nominees."

Xu De shook his head, pushing the thought aside.

He turned and left.

"I’m off to feed the wild men."

With that, he and Lin Yue left together, disappearing through the main entrance.

The selection process by those guys at the provincial level was extremely strict. Submissions from the city had to be screened first to select the nominees, and then a few dozen would be chosen from among them.

Under these circumstances, forget being selected; just getting nominated was incredibly difficult.

Sometimes, an entire city wouldn’t have a single nomination in a whole year!

If one did, even if it wasn’t ultimately selected, it was still considered a major political achievement!

So, Xu De hadn’t given the matter much thought, especially since his cases were highly controversial. With dozens of leaders having conflicting opinions, the whole thing was a tangled mess like a torn fishing net.

"The nominations..."

In the stone pavilion.

Master Guanxin murmured.

...

...

7:30 PM.

Qingwu Province, Provincial Department Office.

"Phew~"

"We’ve reviewed just about everything. These are the nominations."

"What about those two cases submitted by Lusen City this year..."

"Sigh, it’s tough. The cases are too unusual. In any other year, they wouldn’t have even made it this far. It was purely due to the lawyer’s efforts and the shocking nature of the verdict that they even got to the nomination review stage. But the way he won is extremely controversial..."

"It’s a pity. No one is willing to endorse him and let him come and debate it."

"I’m quite optimistic about that [Li Family Village Case]. If it’s really selected... it could increase the probability of ’not guilty’ verdicts across all of Qingwu Province, a major province with a population of 100 million. It would be the first sign of dormant clauses being activated."

"What are you dreaming of? It won’t even get nominated..."

"..."

Wutong City, Office of Rule of Law Research and Supervision, Provincial Department.

Inside the office.

Shishan and a few others were looking at the scores in their hands, along with simplified reports of several submitted cases, and started chatting.

As they chatted, expressions of amazement appeared on their faces.

Those two cases from Lusen City.

If their nature were different, or if he had used different methods to win, they would have been shoo-ins based on difficulty alone.

But in reality, there are no ’ifs.’ As it stood, it looked very difficult. Barring any surprises, the collective consensus would be to keep them off the nomination list.

What a pity.

Just as they were all thinking this.

Suddenly, a harsh telephone ring broke the silence.

"RING RING RING RING~!"

Shishan looked down at his phone, and his expression changed drastically when he saw the caller ID.

The people around him were puzzled, not knowing who was calling.

As for Shishan, he hastily pulled out his phone and quickly answered the call.

"BEEP~!"

Shishan said respectfully, "Elder Chen!"

’Elder Chen?’

The people around him froze, and then a storm of shock raged in their minds.

’*The* Chen Jingshan!?’

Shishan now said, "Elder Chen, it’s so late. What are your instructions?"

There was a long silence on the other end of the line.

After a long moment, an old and slightly hoarse voice slowly came through the speaker, startling everyone into a state of stunned disbelief.

"Shi, I heard..."

"...that Lusen City recently submitted two rather special criminal cases for the classic case selection?"