Chapter 7 - 5: Legal Aid

A major criminal case?

Xu De frowned, glancing at Sun Hao before him.

The man wasn’t kind enough to assign him a lucrative case, which meant... Xu De’s brow furrowed again as he spoke:

"Criminal legal aid?!"

A brilliant smile spread across Sun Hao’s face. He reached out, squeezed Xu De’s shoulder, and patted it firmly.

"That’s right!"

And what exactly is legal aid?

Take this, for example.

Suppose you’re poor and need to sue after being hit by a car, but you have no money for a lawyer.

In that situation, to ensure you have legal representation, the government will assign a seasoned lawyer to you free of charge. In return, the lawyer receives only a meager retainer fee of a few hundred yuan.

The lawyer has virtually no right to refuse!

Of course, Xu De didn’t hate taking on legal aid cases. After all, it was a lawyer’s duty.

Normally, he would have resented Sun Hao’s arm-twisting tactics.

But right now...

A glint flashed in his eyes.

’I haven’t forgotten that precious skills from the system only appear in criminal cases!’

Immediately, Xu De looked up at him and asked:

"When is the client coming? And what kind of case is it?"

’This means... he took it!?’

Sun Hao was secretly delighted.

Looking at the overconfident Xu De, the corners of his mouth couldn’t help but curl into a smirk. He chuckled and said:

"Someone will tell you the details of the case. They know more about it than the firm does."

"As for the time..."

Just as Sun Hao was speaking,

a voice suddenly rang out from behind him.

"KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK~!"

"Where is Lawyer Xu?"

The voice was rather loud, drawing the attention of everyone working in the main office area.

Everyone turned to see a minibus parked at the law firm’s entrance, though no one had noticed it pull up.

At the same time, a burly, middle-aged criminal investigator was standing at the entrance, holding the door open with one hand.

"It’s about time. We should go."

As the officer spoke, his sharp eyes scanned the room.

The cigarette dangling from his lips burned slowly.

Seeing this, Sun Hao quickly called out.

"Officer Li, please wait a moment."

After speaking, he turned back to Xu De and urged him on with a gloating tone:

"The person’s here. Just sign the contract and you can leave with Officer Li!"

With that, he pulled a document from his briefcase and handed it to Xu De.

Xu De gave him a deep look, then signed his name on the document.

Seeing this, Sun Hao could no longer contain his smile.

"Haha, I won’t disturb you any longer, Lawyer Xu. I wish you a speedy journey to becoming the firm’s Gold Medal Lawyer!"

Xu De couldn’t be bothered to listen to his insincere words.

After signing, he turned crisply and walked toward the entrance.

Sun Hao was someone who got his job through connections, and his education was just an ordinary bachelor’s degree. Xu De, on the other hand, was a graduate of a top university in the country. Whether in talent or appearance, there was simply no comparison between the two.

In the end, it was all just jealousy.

Xu De had no interest in dealing with such a character. It would be better to take this opportunity to handle a few major cases and build his reputation!

Thinking this, he reined in his thoughts.

’The case is what’s important!’

Xu De paused, having already reached the entrance.

He stopped beside Officer Li and looked up at him.

Officer Li was smoking. Seeing someone walk toward him, he subconsciously stepped aside to make way.

But when he realized the person had stopped right next to him, he froze.

A hint of surprise appeared in Officer Li’s eyes. He looked at the young man before him and asked in a strange tone:

"You’re Xu De? Lawyer Xu?"

Xu De nodded. "I am."

"This young?"

Officer Li’s expression was a little odd.

But he didn’t say much else.

After all, this was just a free legal aid case.

Why look a gift horse in the mouth? It was good enough that a professional lawyer showed up at all!

"Get in the van."

Officer Li smacked his lips, stepped aside, and revealed the minibus at the firm’s entrance.

"Time is tight and the mission is critical. We can talk on the way."

With that, Officer Li stepped into the vehicle.

Xu De followed close behind. After boarding, his eyes instinctively swept over the interior.

A minibus from 2002 was a bit spartan, but overall, not too different from those of later years.

On the minibus, besides Officer Li, there were six other police officers. The six of them seemed distracted, merely glancing at him before paying him no further mind.

In addition, there was a middle-aged couple.

Both were about 1.65 meters tall, not very tall, with hunched figures. They wore thin, old clothes and were rail-thin, looking to be around fifty years old.

Their looks were unremarkable, very plain. They seemed honest and simple, like farmers... but even thinner.

At that moment, seeing the sharply dressed Xu De board the van, the couple pulled at the corners of their mouths, their wrinkles bunching up like crumpled old bark. Their eyes were shifty, only darting glances at him from time to time. On one such glance, they happened to meet Xu De’s gaze.

They instinctively lowered their heads, but looking at Xu De’s shiny leather shoes felt wrong too.

So they quickly looked up again, forcing an ingratiating, cautious, and sycophantic smile while anxiously wringing their hands.

"Zhang, get us moving. We’ve got a tough battle ahead. The sooner we solve it, the sooner we can clock out."

Officer Li called out from his seat.

As soon as he finished speaking, the van’s engine rumbled to life. Before long, the minibus was slowly pulling onto the road.

Officer Li took a drag from his cigarette, turned to Xu De, then glanced at the middle-aged couple, pursed his lips, and said:

"These two are your clients."

"Lawyer Xu, if you have any questions, ask them now. You won’t have time later."

"Alright."

Xu De nodded and walked over to the two, extending his hand.

"How should I address you?"

Hearing this, Wang Qiang seemed incredibly flattered. He quickly stood up, bowed slightly, wiped his hand on his clothes, and only then took Xu De’s offered hand.

"My name is Wang Qiang... She’s Xu Hong. She’s a mute, can’t speak..."

His voice was gravelly, as if he had phlegm stuck in his throat.

The middle-aged woman gave an embarrassed, awkward smile.

"Hello, Mr. Wang. I’m Xu De. I’ll be handling your case from here on out."

Xu De shook his hand.

The man’s palm was coarse, like a piece of sandpaper or a sheet of tree bark.

They let go, and Xu De looked at Officer Li beside him.

"Officer Li, could you fill me in on the details of the case?"

"You don’t know the case details yet?!"

Officer Li was taken aback, then he clicked his tongue in disbelief.

Hearing this, Wang Qiang and Xu Hong subconsciously clenched their hands.

"There’s still time to find out now," Xu De replied, showing no signs of nervousness.

"Tsk... I suppose so."

Officer Li smacked his lips, took another drag from his cigarette, and swapped the position of his crossed legs.

"My name is Li Xiang."

"This case... it’s an abduction case."

An abduction case?

Xu De asked, "How many years ago was it? These aren’t easy to crack, are they?"

Hearing this, Li Xiang raised an eyebrow at Xu De, clearly surprised that the young lawyer knew abduction cases were tough to solve.

He then said casually:

"It’s a ten-year-old case from Yang City. Back then, Wang Qiang and Xu Hong’s fourteen-year-old daughter was abducted. They heard nothing from her all this time."

"Not long ago, the Lusen City police department accidentally caught a human trafficker."

"During interrogation, we discovered he was the mastermind behind this very case. He even kept a list of victims. As soon as we released it, the family came forward."

A ten-year-old abduction case!?

’That would make it a case from 1992. And Yang City... that’s a southern city in Dongguo, a long way from Lusen City...’

"They’ve been searching for ten years!?"

"And they crossed twelve hundred kilometers? How did they get here?"

Xu De was surprised. He turned in his seat to glance at Wang Qiang and his wife behind him.

The couple looked uneasy, tucking their feet, clad in worn-out, threadbare cloth shoes, under their chairs.

"Heh, hard to believe, isn’t it."

Li Xiang chuckled, then his expression grew serious as he continued:

"The abducted girl’s name is Wang Mei."

"She was sold to be a wife in Li Family Village, a remote village deep in the mountains of Lusen City. She’s 24 now and has a 6-year-old child."

Hearing this, Xu De paused, his brow furrowing.

’From the sound of it, this means...’

"They haven’t been reunited yet? She’s still with the buyer!?"

Generally, you wouldn’t get a lawyer involved before a reunion has even taken place.

’So why did they ask for me!?’

"Nope. The police went twice. They saw her, but they couldn’t bring her back."

"But according to her wishes, an agency was commissioned in advance to find a lawyer to prepare for a custody battle."

Li Xiang sighed and shook his head.

He took a long, final drag on his cigarette, his eyes hardening as he said in a low voice:

"And this time... we brought some ’equipment.’ We’ll see if we can get her out."

After a moment, Li Xiang paused, then added:

"As for you..."

"Your main job is to sue the buyer for their involvement in the abduction and act as the victim’s litigation representative later on."

"If anything happens during the rescue... commit it to memory. We might need it later."

"If any conflicts arise, you’ll help mediate."

During the rescue phase, a lawyer isn’t strictly necessary on-site, but looking at the entire process of defending their rights, the earlier a lawyer gets involved, the better they can protect the legal rights and interests of the family and the girl.

Besides... a lawyer’s presence can be a deterrent to those villagers.

The place they were heading to was truly an impoverished and perilous backwater. Without a lawyer present, Wang Qiang and the others could find themselves in a disadvantageous position later.

"Alright, I understand."

Xu De nodded.

He turned to speak with the anxious Wang Qiang.

The scenery outside the van flowed by.

First, the asphalt road gave way to concrete, dust gradually rising in the air as skyscrapers turned into low-rise buildings.

Then, the concrete road became a dirt track, and the buildings became mud-walled, tile-roofed houses.

Finally...

The dirt track turned into a rugged mountain path. The minibus bounced and jolted relentlessly, enough to rattle one’s insides. The view outside the window was a desolate landscape with no end in sight!

...

「11:30 AM.」

"VROOM~!"

The minibus suddenly lurched, startling the weary passengers awake.

Immediately after, everyone looked up and instinctively glanced outside.

Outside the window was a barren mountain, utterly devoid of vegetation.

On this mountain... a few black dots could be faintly seen perched on the mountainside, like smudges on a painting.

And these black dots were...

A village.

Xu De narrowed his eyes, his gaze sharpening.

Just then, the voice of the driver, Officer Zhang, sounded out.

"We’ve arrived at Li Family Village!"