Chapter 217 Sensation! Endless Regret

"Haha... I forgot. I think I left the number for Jinmao."

"Forget it. I’ll change it one of these days when I’m passing by."

As he finished speaking, Xu De took another look at the dark circles under Wang Chao’s eyes and asked suspiciously:

"Say..."

"Why’ve you been so mysterious lately? And what’s with the dark circles? What have you been up to?"

Wang Chao glanced at his reflection in the mirror, then straightened up and said solemnly:

"As the Master himself said: ’In teaching, there are no classes!’"

Xu De: "Speak plainly."

"Lawyer Xu, that barbarian from Yanjing you had me pick up is a completely uncivilized savage!"

Wang Chao sighed and said in a heavy voice:

"He’s so barbaric! He has no manners whatsoever!"

"So for the past two days, I’ve been trying to reform him. At the very least, turn this barbarian into a modern man before we can even think about integrating him into our firm."

’A barbarian from Yanjing?’

’Wow, he actually sees the guy from Yanjing as a barbarian!?’

Xu De’s eyes widened in surprise.

"How barbaric is he?"

Wang Chao said, "Sigh, he’s incorrigible. He actually thinks some people are apes!"

"Xu, just give me one more night. I’m sure I can successfully enlighten him. I’ll bring him to the firm to report in tomorrow morning!"

’Wow, now he’s talking about "enlightening" him...’

"Alright... fine."

The corner of Xu De’s mouth twitched, but he agreed.

’Looks like that Qian Hao is just as Master Guanxin described—a truly wild and untamable character. He’d only ever seen Wang Chao tormenting others; this was the first time he’d seen two people mutually tormenting each other! The law firm was thriving, and the collection of colorful characters was growing.’

Xu De sighed to himself. Glancing at the wall clock, he stood up and started walking toward the door, announcing as he went:

"Quitting time. Time to go home and rest."

The moment those words were spoken, Lin Yue’s eyes snapped open. She shot to her feet, raised an eyebrow, and said eagerly:

"I’ll go buy groceries! Let’s not eat out, it’s unhealthy. We can just eat at home!"

Ever since last night, she felt she was getting addicted to Xu De’s cooking. She had begged him to make both breakfast and lunch for her today.

Sigh.

’To think she, the great and mighty Nine Heavens Flying Dragon Jade-faced Thunder Origin Universal Transformation of Living Beings Demon-subduing Longevity True Monarch, had ever been subjected to such indignity!?’

"I’ll pay."

Lin Yue bit her lip, putting on a pitiful expression with her big, watery eyes, trying to stir a bit of compassion in Xu De.

Xu De was completely unmoved. "Heh. What an act."

However...

"That’s not out of the question."

Xu De chuckled, then stood up and headed for the door. Lin Yue’s face lit up with joy.

As for Wang Chao...

’What’s the deal with those two? Is Lawyer Xu living at White Cloud Temple now?’

Wang Chao watched them leave, looking thoughtful. But he didn’t dwell on it. He stood up and rushed excitedly toward Qian Hao’s place, forgetting all about dinner.

’As the saying goes: a lax teacher is a lazy teacher.’ The path to civilizing a barbarian allows for no laziness whatsoever!’

Wang Chao headed back to continue the little game known as "mutual torment."

...

...

「Five o’clock in the afternoon.」

Xu De drove toward White Cloud Temple.

As he neared the entrance, he saw the parking lot was completely full and raised an eyebrow.

"Heh. White Cloud Temple seems to be doing good business today."

He found a spot to park and chuckled as he looked at the tightly packed rows of cars.

"Nice license plates, too. Tsk, a three-of-a-kind."

Xu De marveled for a moment but didn’t give it much more thought. He and Lin Yue started walking toward White Cloud Temple, carrying bags of groceries.

However...

"TAP... TAP..."

In a blur...

Just as Xu De lifted his foot to step into White Cloud Temple...

Countless gazes suddenly shot from a stone pavilion toward the main gate.

There, a quick glance revealed at least a dozen men, all wearing official-style jackets, sitting and staring in his direction in perfect unison.

Xu De froze.

He looked at them and took a tentative step forward. Their eyes followed him.

He took a step back. Their gazes tracked him.

"Heh, Lawyer Xu. And you’re Xu, right...?"

In the stone pavilion, Historian Shi glanced at the silent Master Guanxin beside him, then looked toward the gate, a smile spreading across his face... a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

"The phone number left in the file wasn’t for your law firm, was it."

Xu De: ...

Although he didn’t know who this man was, one look at his posture and aura told Xu De that he was terrifyingly powerful.

He took a step back, pulling Lin Yue behind him, and said tentatively:

"I forgot."

"And your phone? Why couldn’t we get through?" Historian Shi asked.

Hearing this, Xu De pulled out his phone and saw that the battery was dead.

In those days, phones often died. They weren’t the absolute necessity they would later become, so people weren’t constantly checking their battery levels. It was common for a phone to just run out of juice without warning.

"It’s dead," Xu De said.

"Then what about your firm? You’re the director. Why weren’t you there?" Historian Shi demanded.

"Er... I just finished a case, so I went out to relax a little... and drum up some business on the side..."

Xu De replied, still treading carefully.

At this, Historian Shi let out an exasperated laugh.

Just from the questions he was asking, it was obvious they had been at their wits’ end. They had spent all day searching for him without finding so much as a shadow.

’And the result? He tells me he was tired after a case and went to take a break?’

Historian Shi and the other men narrowed their eyes. Looking at the young man before them, they unconsciously clenched their fists.

Perhaps, in that moment, their feelings were identical to those of Huang Shi when he’d been swindled, and of Zhang Bingxin when he’d been ambushed.

Xu De looked at the crowd before him.

He glanced down at the groceries in his hands, lost in thought for a moment.

Finally, he ventured:

"Well, since you’re all here..."

"And things being what they are... how about... we have dinner first?"