Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Yin Shixiong drove Huo Shaoheng’s silver Mercedes Benz Bentayga SUV that day. The car was tall with smooth and sleek lines. It was a car that subtly exuded luxury.
Yin Shixiong had a soldier’s build. A 180-centimeter tall man carrying Ma Qiqi at 170 centimeters in height… they looked beyond compatible and loving.
Ma Qiqi hugged Yin Shixiong by the neck and planted a kiss on his cheek, not caring who was around. “A present for you for carrying me down from the car,” she said, smiling prettily.
Gu Nianzhi tutted and almost laughed out loud. “Please, both of you! Stop being lovey-dovey in front of the court, will you? Please be considerate towards singles like me!”
A shiver ran down Yin Shixiong’s spine. He turned towards Gu Nianzhi and furrowed his brows. “…Single? You..?”
“Yeah. Don’t you know? Do you have any comments on that? Qiqi is an animal protection advocate. Aren’t you, Qiqi?” Gu Nianzhi batted her eyelashes at Ma Qiqi.
Ma Qiqi controlled her laughter and nodded. “Yes, of course! I am an advocate for single animals! I was their honorary member, but have since stepped down from the position!”
Yin Shixiong understood. He caressed Gu Nianzhi’s hair. “Playful girl. You want to make fun of your Brother Xiong?”
Gu Nianzhi turned her head to one side and flipped her hair. “Don’t get physical with me now, Brother Xiong! You are now attached, so you have to keep a distance from other girls!” she said, pretending to be stern.
“Yes, of course, I will keep my distance with other girls. However, you are my sister. I do not have to keep my distance from you, do I? Right, Qiqi?” Even though it looked like Yin Shixiong was doing things based on his very own rules, it was clear that he was still observing Ma Qiqi’s reactions whenever he makes decisions, doing his best to keep her happy.
Thankfully, Ma Qiqi was not an easily jealous girl. Moreover, she was a best friend to Gu Nianzhi. Therefore, she waved her hands in a relaxed manner. “There will be no need to. Then Nianzhi would be my sister as well! It is normal for older brothers and sisters to take care of the younger ones, isn’t it?”
Gu Nianzhi was speechless. What was this feeling of warmth inside her about?!
Jin Wanyi, who was standing across them, could not bear what she was seeing anymore. She smiled as she walked over. “This is so interesting. Going to court for an inheritance case with your very own sister, but pretending to be close to people who have no familial relationships with you. Why do you think they are being so nice to you in the first place…”
Even though she was facing Gu Nianzhi when she said those words, she was secretly looking at Yin Shixiong. Yin Shixiong and Ma Qiqi both remained silent and merely looked at Gu Nianzhi.
Gu Nianzhi squeezed both their hands and turned to Jin Wanyi. “Lawyer Jin, we will talk in court. Why should we waste our time here?”
Jin Wanyi held onto her suitcase tightly and said with hints of unhappiness, “…But weren’t you talking just now as well? So you weren’t wasting time too?”
Gu Nianzhi took two steps forward. She had already walked past Jin Wanyi. However, hearing her words, Gu Nianzhi backtracked two steps to stand in front of Jin Wanyi again. She smiled and said, “Well, that is entirely different. Talking to friends is considered bonding time. Talking to enemies is considered as wasting my time. You have to be clear on the different concepts, you know.”
With that, Gu Nianzhi turned around and caught up with Yin Shixiong and Ma Qiqi.
Jin Wanyi was so infuriated by Gu Nianzhi’s words that she intended to retaliate.
However, Gu Yanran walked over and pulled on her sleeves listlessly. “It’s okay Wanyi, she is already brainwashed by them and would never listen to you anymore.”
Jin Wanyi pursed her lips and entered the court with Gu Yanran. They were not attending the hearing on their own either. Gu Yanran had brought her caretaker, Mrs. James, her chauffeur, and bodyguards. They entered like an entourage.
In comparison, Gu Nianzhi only had Yin Shixiong and Ma Qiqi to accompany her to court. Therefore, it looked like she was not well supported.
When they had entered Court A, the courtroom where the hearing was to be held, the defendant had two to three rows of seats filled. The plaintiff, however, had only three to five seats filled.
When Yin Shixiong brought Ma Qiqi to the seats, he was extremely shocked to see General Ji’s secretary, Secretary Cao, already sitting there.
He went over and greeted Secretary Cao. “You’re here too? You don’t have any official work to attend to?”
“This is part of my official work as well, haha haha… How could I have free time?” Secretary Cao laughed. He looked at Ma Qiqi, who was sitting beside Yin Shixiong, and asked, “This is…?”
Yin Shixiong introduced her openly. “Ma Qiqi. She is Nianzhi’s dormitory mate.”
“Oh, so you are an honorary student in B University majoring in law as well? What a genius! Pleased to meet you!” Secretary Cao extended his hand to shake Ma Qiqi’s immediately.
Ma Qiqi felt over the moon. She smiled and shook his hands as well. “I am Nianzhi’s roommate. I am here to give her moral support.”
“That’s nice. Roommates have to like each other. If that’s not the case, how can you stay together in a room? It would be hard, wouldn’t it? Hahaha…” Secretary Cao nodded his head and sat beside Yin Shixiong.
Ma Qiqi sat on Yin Shixiong’s right.
A short distance behind them, a person walked over and sat on Ma Qiqi’s right. Yin Shixiong took a look and realized that this too was someone familiar.
It was Senior Speaker Long’s subordinate, Assistant Yang. However, he was not all smiles like Secretary Cao. On the contrary, he looked stern and solemn. The only time he did not furrow his brows was when he looked at Gu Nianzhi. However, at those times, his eyes looked like they were trying to scrutinize Gu Nianzhi.
Yin Shixiong smiled and greeted Assistant Yang. “Hey there! You’re free today?”
Assistant Yang nodded at him in acknowledgment but did not say anything in reply. He lowered his head and took out a notebook and a pen, beginning to take notes.
This was because, other than the plaintiff and the defendant lawyers, no one else could bring their mobile phones or any other forms of electronic devices into the hearing. Therefore, if they needed to take notes, they could only use the basic method of paper and pen.
When everyone was seated, the judge entered the courtroom. The bailiffs closed the doors of the room, signifying that hearing had officially commenced.
The judge was still Director Zhan. He had also been the judge for the past two hearings.
“Gu Nianzhi versus Gu Yanran over the family inheritance. Hearing three. The court is now in order.” The judge banged the gavel on the podium and turned to the defense lawyer, Jin Wanyi. “Defense attorney, you said that you would be looking for the proof of adoption for the plaintiff, Gu Nianzhi. May I hear what you have found?”
Previously, Jin Wanyi and Gu Yanran had said that they needed three months to get the proof of adoption. However, they still had not managed to find it.
As expected, Jin Wanyi replied, “Sir, due to our important witness, Mr. Gu Xiangwen’s appointed lawyer, Mr. Vanderbilt, being murdered in America, we are unable to get any information regarding the proof of adoption at this time.”
Jin Wanyi played her words well.
Mr. Vanderbilt was Gu Xiangwen’s lawyer in charge of his inheritance. He was by no direct means related to the proof of adoption.
However, when Jin Wanyi used “due to” and “therefore,” it somehow managed to link two unrelated things. It created a false idea of the contribution of Mr. Vanderbilt’s death to their lack of evidence. They wanted people to think that Mr. Vanderbilt was murdered exactly because he’d gone to look for the proof of adoption they needed…
Gu Nianzhi stood up to retaliate immediately. “Objection, your honor. The defendant has no evidence to prove that Mr. Vanderbilt had an immediate connection to the proof of adoption. These two issues are not related at all.” Then, she said, “Moreover, may I ask if the defendant has any evidence to show that Mr. Vanderbilt was my father, Gu Xiangwen’s, appointed lawyer?”
Mr. Vanderbilt was Gu Xiangwen’s lawyer. It seemed like he had a copy of Gu Xiangwen’s will. However, Gu Nianzhi was extremely wary that Gu Yanran alone was the one who’d mentioned this. However, shortly after that, Mr. Vanderbilt and his entire family were murdered.
This could mean a lot of things.
Jin Wanyi was taken aback. “Evidence? You’re asking me for evidence? Who does not know that the murder of Mr. Vanderbilt involved his entire family? Almost no one from his family is left, and here you are, still asking me for evidence?”
Gu Nianzhi opened her hands. “Lawyer Jin, please do not attempt to confuse everyone in the hearing. Until now, Gu Yanran was the only one who claimed that Mr. Vanderbilt was my father, Gu Xiangwen’s lawyer. However, before we could establish that to be a fact, unfortunately, Mr. Vanderbilt had already been murdered. I empathize with the cruel fate that Mr. Vanderbilt and his family faced, but the court is not a place to discuss empathy. When in court, what matters if logic and evidence. Therefore, since Gu Yanran said that Mr. Vanderbilt was my father, Gu Xiangwen’s lawyer, she should be able to produce some form of evidence.”
Jin Wanyi looked thoughtfully at Gu Yanran and asked her softly, “…Do you have any evidence?”
Gu Yanran glared at Jin Wanyi and turned to Gu Nianzhi. “He is already dead. How on earth do you want me to get evidence from him? Must I go down to hell to ask him if he was my father, Gu Xiangwen’s lawyer in charge of his will?!”
She had thought that her words were clever and humorous. Her caretaker, chauffeur, and bodyguards began laughing. The court became a lively place all of a sudden.
However, the judge banged his gavel again. “Silence. Please respect the formality of the court.”
Only then did the laughter die down.
Gu Nianzhi waited until they had enough of laughing before asking pleasantly, “Defendant, how did you get Lawyer Jin to be your representative lawyer?”
Gu Yanran’s brows furrowed. She did not understand why Gu Nianzhi had asked such a question. However, she knew that Gu Nianzhi would never ask any questions that were not related or useful to the case.
However, when she thought about it repeatedly, she could not manage to see the correlation between this question and the question she had asked just now.
After contemplating it for a while, she said carefully, “I called Lawyer Jin, and then we met up to discuss the details. I felt that she was reliable and capable, so I decided to engage her as my representative lawyer. Why? Is there a problem here?”
Gu Nianzhi wanted to roll her eyes as she said (with as much patience as she had left), “Nope, there is no problem. However, you merely chatted and she suddenly became your representative lawyer?”
Gu Yanran thought about it before replying carefully, “Of course not. We signed a copy of a representative agreement.”
“Now, that is correct.” Gu Nianzhi praised Gu Yanran all of a sudden. “Therefore, if you were going to engage a representative lawyer, you would have to sign a representative agreement. If the agreement were not signed, the representative relationship would not be valid. She, therefore, would not be able to represent you in this hearing anymore.”
Gu Yanran remained silent.
She looked at Jin Wanyi. Had Gu Nianzhi gone mad?
However, Gu Nianzhi spoke again and Gu Yanran came to a realization. “Therefore, since you said that Mr. Vanderbilt was my father, Gu Xiangwen’s representative lawyer for his will, may I know if you have the representative agreement that was signed between Mr. Vanderbilt and my father, Gu Xiangwen?”
Documents like these were usually signed twice on two copies. One copy was to be kept in the law firm, and one to be kept by the client.
