Chapter 212 Shortlisted

"I have down jackets—you can take two. The rest are candles, matches, plus rice and cooking oil. See what you can manage to take with you..."

She was holding some bags of rice and oil.

In addition, there were two black down jackets, which were leagues warmer than the short-sleeved shirt he was wearing.

Zhang Da didn’t rush to take them.

He looked at her suspiciously, somewhat wary of this inexplicable kindness, and glanced up at Xu De.

"Take them," Xu De said.

These were all from the Daoist Temple.

Master Guanxin never coveted money. While White Cloud Temple didn’t receive as many incense offerings as the temples and monasteries in tourist areas, he never spent the donations. As a result, the amount of money that accumulated each year was quite substantial.

Every year-end, he would use the money to buy supplies in bulk, which he would then distribute before the Chinese New Year.

In a way, it was a matter of taking from the people to give back to the people.

As for the Daoist Temple’s repairs... people like Xu De and Lin Guodong naturally provided for them, and there were also official subsidies.

"Oh, oh."

Zhang Da eagerly reached out to take the items. But as he raised his arms, he revealed two hands, pitch-black with grime from digging through trash cans.

He looked at the clean, neat down jackets, then back at his own hands, a hesitant look on his face.

Fortunately, Lin Yue had also brought over a bag, and she proceeded to fold the jackets and put them inside.

"Thank you."

He said to Lin Yue.

"You’re welcome."

Lin Yue pursed her lips, standing to one side. Her posture was poised and elegant; caught in the light, her beauty seemed almost ethereal.

Zhang Da stared blankly, then glanced down at his own clothes and fell silent.

"Heh. ’The True Monarch of Pretension.’"

Xu De muttered to himself. ’This woman changes her act way too fast.’

She was a completely different person with outsiders compared to when she was with him.

But he couldn’t be bothered to think about it anymore.

He looked at Zhang Da and said:

"Go on back. The closer it gets to the Spring Festival, the more unsettled things become."

"Be careful on your way."

Xu De handed the food to him, then turned and left, his words echoing in the alley.

"Oh, right."

"I’m staying at White Cloud Temple now. If you need anything, you can come find me there."

With that, his figure vanished, leaving only a bottomless darkness that seemed poised to devour everything.

Left standing there, Zhang Da hesitated for a moment. But with bags both large and small, he ultimately decided to haul everything back in one go.

’If I try to carry this back in trips...’

’The stuff might all be gone by the time I get back for the second load!’

Luckily, the clothes were in a paper bag, so he just clenched it between his teeth. He carried the oil in one hand, the rice in the other, and dragged his woven sack along with him.

He was like a worm.

A worm in a dark sewer.

In the dark, forgotten corners of the alleys, he wormed his way along, a foul stench wafting from his body.

Zhang Da carried his things through several alley corners, and finally, an abandoned bridge underpass appeared before him. A figure was faintly visible at the entrance.

Seeing him return, the other person hurried forward, reaching out to take the items.

"COUGH, COUGH..."

"You’re back... Huh? Where did you find all this?"

A weak, coughing voice spoke up. As the load was lifted from him, Zhang Da sighed in relief and said:

"I saw that lawyer!"

"Is he okay?" Zhang Er’s tone was worried.

Zhang Da patted his chest. "He’s fine, doing great. Looked like he was alive and kicking."

"These things were given to us by a kind person with him."

As he spoke, Zhang Da seemed to remember something. The corner of his mouth hooked into a smile as he rummaged through his woven sack, finally pulling out a few strips of red paper.

"Look, I found some couplets!"

"We have clothes, food to eat, and couplets. We can celebrate the New Year too!"

Zhang Da said, his voice filled with pride.

Hearing this, Zhang Er nodded, feeling happy as well.

The two were overjoyed.

They took a couple of steps outside, looking at the abandoned bridge underpass, discussing where the couplets would look best.

The two huddled together, chatting away.

「A moment later.」

Zhang Da found some clean water and washed Zhang Er’s neck and wrists.

Finally, he had him change into a relatively clean undershirt before taking out the down jacket and helping him put it on.

Zhang Er wore it for a moment, then his eyes widened in astonishment. "Zhang Da," he said, stunned.

"Zhang Da, this jacket is biting me!"

Zhang Da smacked him. "You idiot!"

"That’s the jacket warming up!"

"Oh." Zhang Er nodded.

After a moment’s thought, he reluctantly took the jacket off.

"I’ll wait until the New Year to wear it."

"Mhm."

On this night, January 15th.

The night in Lusen City was as dark as ever.

Some residents were feeding their children, some were lying in bed watching TV, and others were driving to various entertainment venues to have fun. Lusen City was like a first-tier city full of the petty bourgeoisie.

And then there were others.

Huddled in dark corners, finding their own small joys.

「At the same time.」

...

「Qingwu Province, Wutong City.」

「Provincial Department.」

「Inside an office.」

"Yes, I understand. Elder Chen, we will give your opinion serious consideration... Mhm, everyone has a chance to vote, and the weighting is transparent. Rest assured, we absolutely will not favor any one side."

"Mhm."

"Okay, thank you!"

With a BEEP, the person on the other end hung up.

Shishan looked at his phone and let out a sigh of relief.

Seeing this, the people around him immediately swarmed forward, asking in a flurry:

"What’s wrong? Who called? A lawyer or a professor?"

"Elder Chen? Which Elder Chen? One of the ones from the Bar Association?"

"That can’t be right. I think it was someone from above..."

"..."

The person on the phone had been discussing something related to the finalist slots. That being the case, the caller was relevant to their work, so they had to question him thoroughly.

Shishan glanced back at them and said:

"It was Chen Jingshan!"

Chen Jingshan...

It really was Chen Jingshan!

Upon hearing this, someone asked, "The Chen Jingshan who went to the High Court back in the day?"

A few of the grading officials couldn’t help but exclaim, "Hasn’t he retired!?"

As soon as the words were out, memories from decades ago surfaced in everyone’s minds.

Chen Jingshan was a civil servant in his early years. He later rose to a position in the Provincial Department and then spent time at the High Court.

Calculating the time, that period should have been when the High Court was discussing legal reforms with the Political and Legal Affairs Commission, and Chen Jingshan was there for that matter.

When he returned, however, his face was full of anger, and not long after, he retired early.

After retiring, he became a lawyer and identified himself as such.

Of course, although he was a lawyer on the surface, you couldn’t really treat him as just a lawyer.

His qualifications, connections, level of access, and thinking were far beyond what ordinary people could reach. Even looking at the entire judicial system of Qingwu Province, there was no one who didn’t respect him!

There was nothing to be done about it.

The man was 65 years old. Never mind forty years ago, just starting from thirty years ago...

Heaven knows what kind of cases he had taken on!

However, he was only a local lawyer for a few years before he disappeared from the public eye.

No one knew which nook or cranny he had retired to. And similarly... heaven knows in which nook or cranny you might run into such a figure!

Usually, they would just contact Lin Guodong and have him pass on messages.

But today...

"Why would Elder Chen call you!?" someone exclaimed.

In past years, when selecting classic cases, Chen Jingshan had never bothered to get involved. To use his own words, the selected cases were "meaningless."

So why this year, at such a critical juncture, did he suddenly make a call!?

Shishan was silent for a moment before finally speaking.

"Elder Chen scored the cases."

’Scored... the cases?’

"Which cases?" someone pressed.

Shishan said: "Lusen City, the Li Family Village case, and the No. 18 Middle School case!"

It was those two!?

Everyone was stunned.

If one were to talk about the most unusual cases this year, it would have to be these two.

The former had a huge impact, involving a dormant law.

The latter involved minors, and the way the case was won was also extremely unusual—the authorities didn’t support it at all.

"What was his evaluation?" someone else asked.

’What was his evaluation?’

Shishan fell silent for a moment. Finally, he took a deep breath and said:

"The score he gave... wasn’t high, but it definitely wasn’t low either."

"If I had to put it simply, it was just enough for these two cases..."

"To be shortlisted!"