Chew Slowly Chapter 6

Chapter 06

Yao Can was so busy with other cases that she was flying back and forth across the country within just half a month. When she returned to Shengda Law Firm, she looked half-dead from exhaustion, groaning at her desk, “I don’t want to work!”

The intern lawyer she was mentoring had only been at the firm for a month and was still trying to figure things out. He was so intimidated by the immense resentment radiating from Yao Can that he didn’t dare to speak.

Yao Can couldn’t bear to look at any more text, so she simply pushed her documents aside.

Chen Zongqian happened to step out of his office at that moment. Sensing the faint gaze directed at him, he held his mug and asked, “Do you want coffee?”

“I’ve had enough to throw up,” Yao Can said with a look of disgust. “I feel like I’m running hot. Should I drink some herbal tea?”

Chen Zongqian simply smiled and quickly returned to his office. About half an hour later, Yao Can knocked on his door, carrying a bowl of herbal tea and a bowl of mango pomelo sago dessert. When she entered, Chen Zongqian was busy and didn’t look up. Yao Can sat directly in front of his desk to wait.

She inadvertently glanced at Chen Zongqian’s consultation fee rate. At first, Yao Can didn’t realize anything was amiss with the number until she saw that the string of digits had one more zero than hers.

Jealousy! Yao Can gritted her teeth, pushed the herbal tea toward him, and started picking out mango pieces for herself.

This was the consultation fee Yao Can paid; she was here to chat with Chen Zongqian. The intern lawyer had just finished organizing the materials related to Lu Xiaoyun’s commission. Yao Can had skimmed through them and suddenly thought of the child who looked so much like Xiao Ran.

“His mother called me, nervously saying the child was in legal trouble,” Yao Can chuckled. As a side note, Xu Qiaochuan’s defense lawyer had also contacted Yao Can—an acquaintance from the Legal Aid Center.

She learned from this that Xu Qiaochuan was having a difficult time at school, and she also learned about the process of applying for legal aid, which Chen Zongqian had helped with every step of the way.

Chen Zongqian hadn’t followed up after meeting the person, and while Yao Can didn’t truly believe it was Xiao Ran, Chen Zongqian’s attitude was truly strange.

“You’re usually not enthusiastic about people. Why are you so personally involved in this matter?” After finishing her dessert, Yao Can took a tissue and wiped her mouth clean.

Her relationship with Chen Zongqian was more than just colleagues at the law firm. They had lived across the street from each other since childhood, and their relationship was as close as two peas in a pod. Others referred to them as childhood sweethearts, the golden boy and jade girl under Professor Chen. Close as they were, their relationship was entirely devoid of romantic feelings.

They knew each other inside and out, and both knew that being together romantically would only make the other miserable.

Chen Zongqian looked gentle and gentlemanly, but he had a cold core. Only after spending time with him did one realize he maintained a distance from everyone. Like the glass lenses on his face, his interactions with people were always mediated by a barrier.

But he managed this detachment and coolness so well that no one ever felt uncomfortable because of it. Only Yao Can knew his true nature.

“Is this considered personal involvement?” Chen Zongqian smiled. He hadn’t paid attention to the matter after his initial greeting. There wasn’t much he could do for Xu Qiaochuan.

Chen Zongqian completely freed his mind from work and took a sip of the herbal tea, which was even bitterer than coffee. He leaned back in his chair, recalling how Xu Qiaochuan had fallen asleep in the back seat, clutching the suit jacket, after they had walked until they were tired that night. He also remembered their parting at the school, when Xu Qiaochuan had called him “Gege.”

“It’s rare to see you care about someone else. Does that child really resemble Xiao Ran?”

A typhoon warning message from the meteorological station lit up his phone. The screensaver showed a photo of Xiao Ran. Chen Zongqian glanced at it but didn’t move. It had been nearly fifteen years since Xiao Ran went missing. Fifteen years was enough time for a child to grow into an adult, but he only had one photo that would never change.

Chen Zongqian didn’t know what Xiao Ran looked like grown up. Whether or not he looked like Xu Qiaochuan, he would feel sad.

“I almost took him for a DNA test. It was ridiculous,” Chen Zongqian said, drinking the dark brown, bitter liquid. The flavor flowed down his throat, spreading all the way to his lungs. This drink, which offered no sweet aftertaste, felt more like medicine. “He grew up living in the countryside with his parents. The age is similar, but the details don’t match up. He’s someone else’s child.”

“He is very sensitive and very smart. He made me realize how presumptuous I was,” Chen Zongqian sighed. After parting ways with the boy, there was nothing more he could do. Things could only be this way.

The way Xu Qiaochuan had called him “Gege” had left him confused and startled, but a bucket of cold water was quickly poured over him when Xu Qiaochuan coldly said, “I am not the person you think I am.”

Yao Can saw his gloominess, but Chen Zongqian merely said the herbal tea was too bitter; if it didn’t have a surprising efficacy, it wouldn’t be worth the shocking taste.

He was avoiding the topic of Xu Qiaochuan. After all, he wasn’t Xiao Ran, and nothing he did could change that fact now. Chen Zongqian reined in his emotions, unwilling to let the surging feelings of that time manipulate his reason.

“No wonder. Lawyer Su was very worried about why you suddenly dropped the matter and stopped talking.” Lawyer Su was Xu Qiaochuan’s defense lawyer, and Yao Can had spoken with him. She lamented that they truly were a family; their cases were equally difficult to handle.

The campus infringement dispute case was tricky. It required careful attention not only to the students who were the main subjects of the incident but also to the conflicts between the students’ guardians and the conflicts between the guardians and the educational institution.

Xu Qiaochuan’s family was a complete mess. Upon hearing about the situation, his father was even more agitated than his mother.

“He took people to the school to make a scene, shouting that he wanted compensation,” Yao Can recalled the man, who was short but whose cursing voice was loud and piercing.

Xu Qiaochuan’s resistance and aversion toward his parents didn’t seem fake. He was just waiting to graduate and start working in a factory so he could break all ties with that family. This incident blowing up would undoubtedly affect his future. Chen Zongqian knew he was quiet and reserved, accustomed to enduring, and wondered how much he had suppressed over the years.

“His family might make him choose a settlement,” Yao Can sighed, looking down. Lu Xiaoyun’s attitude on the phone clearly indicated she didn’t want to pursue the matter deeply.

The lingering bitterness of the herbal tea made Chen Zongqian’s mouth taste sour and his heart heavy. A thin, weak figure lingered in his mind. He seemed to know what Xu Qiaochuan would choose. That person hated trouble and must also feel that a settlement was the best solution.

Although they often mocked themselves as ambulance chasers, it was not the lawyers who initiated the lawsuits. Their job was to organize and analyze evidence and ultimately achieve a result. Whether it was a court judgment, court mediation, or a settlement reached through negotiation between the parties, they merely facilitated the outcome, rather than deciding it.

The solution they thought was best might not be the result the client wanted.

Yao Can pouted and said that this matter shouldn’t be troubling the two of them anyway, and the topic ended there. Chen Zongqian shut down his computer, picked up his jacket and keys, looking ready to leave for the day.

Yao Can’s eyelid twitched. Seeing the time on the clock was not yet four in the afternoon, she exclaimed, “You dare to skip work!”

Ignoring the envious and shocked stares behind him, Chen Zongqian walked away with a carefree air. Yao Can felt utterly miserable. She worried about her livelihood and couldn’t casually dismiss work like Chen Zongqian, meaning she couldn’t enjoy broad, free time.

If he wasn’t worried about his livelihood, naturally, he had other things to worry about. Chen Zongqian picked up a bouquet of fresh flowers he had ordered that morning and drove to Cining Hospital.

It was a bouquet of jasmine, looking pure white and lovely, smelling fresh and vibrant.

The last time Chen Zongqian visited, Du Hongwei had complained that the fruit basket was too practical and lacked romance. Furthermore, her illness made her lose her appetite, so most of the fruit baskets were given to the young nurses at the hospital. Chen Zongqian had bluntly asked her what kind of romance she wanted, making Ms. Du want to knock on his skull.

“Send flowers, of course. I want the prettiest ones.”

Later, when Chen Zongqian brought flowers to the hospital to visit her, Ms. Du was moved to tears: “Carnations? Can you guess how many I receive every Teacher’s Day and every graduation season?”

Du Hongwei had just undergone a round of chemotherapy and hadn’t fully recovered her energy even after resting for a few days. The young nurse caring for Du Hongwei spoke a few words with Chen Zongqian outside the door, when a cough came from inside. The sound was soft but signaled from inside that she could hear them.

Knocking politely on the door, Chen Zongqian announced his presence. Du Hongwei said gently, “Please come in.”

Her hair was smooth like satin, styled into a bun with a wooden hairpin by the young nurse caring for her. In Du Hongwei’s words, this was a gentle woman from the Chinese Department. It was only a pity that the hair was a wig and the person was a patient; fate was not very kind to her.

Each round of chemotherapy drained Du Hongwei’s energy. Her face was pale, her cheeks slightly sunken, and she looked weaker than the last time he saw her. The volume of the missing persons program on the TV was turned very low, but Chen Zongqian could still hear the emotional background music. Looking at Du Hongwei, her eyes were indeed red, and she clutched two damp tissues in her hand.

“I just finished talking to Dad on the phone, and now Gege is here?” Du Hongwei shook off her melancholy, reached out to take the flowers, and said, “I’m happy today.”

Chen Zongqian smiled, “It’s rare to finally satisfy you.”