The friend’s younger brother was named Jiang Sheng. He was twenty-four, while the man who had allegedly been assaulted was eight years older and went by Song Yue.
According to Jiang Sheng’s sister, the two men had previously been in a relationship for more than three years. Then, for reasons she didn’t know, Song Yue broke up with Jiang Sheng.
Even so, during the six months since the breakup, they had remained in contact on WeChat and had even gone out for meals together.
Lou Mingxu quickly did the math in his head. “So they’ve been dating since Jiang Sheng was in college.”
“Yeah.” Qiao Yushan gave her own take on the matter. “If they never deleted each other on WeChat and were still willing to go out to eat together, then obviously neither of them had really moved on. I don’t know why Song Yue suddenly reported Jiang Sheng for sexual assault.”
Lou Mingxu’s romantic history was a blank slate, so he had no emotional insight whatsoever into the practice of staying connected with an ex. All he could do was ask, “Then how did Jiang Sheng get into Song Yue’s house that day?”
“Song Yue lives on the first floor. It’s a villa. Jiang Sheng climbed in through a window.”
Lou Mingxu nodded. “And after he got inside? What exactly happened?”
Qiao Yushan looked embarrassed. “I don’t know the details either. All I know is that there was a used condom in the room, and the police found Jiang Sheng’s semen at the scene.”
Lou Mingxu asked another question. “Is there a big difference in their builds? Does Jiang Sheng work out?”
Qiao Yushan shook her head. “I don’t know about their relative sizes. I’ve only met Jiang Sheng, never Song Yue. Jiang Sheng is pretty solidly built. He’s got to be around six-one.”
Lou Mingxu asked her several more questions, but she didn’t know the answers to any of them.
Qiao Yushan gave an awkward little laugh. “Sorry. I’m not a lawyer. I didn’t think to ask that many questions at the time.”
“It’s fine. That’s perfectly normal.”
Lou Mingxu thought for a moment before saying, “Have your friend sign a retainer agreement first. Then Lawyer Zhou and I can go to the detention center and meet with Jiang Sheng. We need to hear his side of the story before we can determine whether what he did actually constitutes sexual assault. Personally, I think it’s questionable. The two of them were still in contact, and there doesn’t seem to have been any major conflict between them. As for Jiang Sheng climbing over the wall, that could potentially be treated as unlawful entry.”
“Oh… Does that mean he could go to prison too?”
Whether someone would go to prison, and for how long, was always the first thing a client wanted to know. But ultimately, that was for the judge to decide. An experienced criminal defense lawyer might be able to make an educated estimate, but Lou Mingxu had only just started working. He couldn’t exactly recite the law and promise her a sentence.
“Whether he’ll actually be convicted is complicated. It depends on what he did after entering the house. If the sexual-assault charge doesn’t hold up, then the consequences won’t be nearly as serious.”
Qiao Yushan nodded. “I’ve met Jiang Sheng several times. He’s usually pretty shy and very polite. It’s hard to imagine him doing something like this. Aren’t there a lot of setups like this going around online? I’m wondering if Song Yue and Jiang Sheng had some kind of falling-out and Song Yue deliberately told the police this story.”
Lou Mingxu reassured her. “There’s not much point in guessing right now. We need to meet the client and find out what actually happened.”
Qiao Yushan had barely been gone a few minutes when Zhou Yan returned. Lou Mingxu mentioned Jiang Sheng’s situation to him, only to see Zhou Yan’s brows knit together.
“Who told you that you could just agree to take this case? Couldn’t you at least call me first?”
If anyone else had walked into the firm, Lou Mingxu would certainly have called Zhou Yan to check with him. Unfortunately, today’s visitor was Qiao Yushan. Lou Mingxu had assumed that since the two were so close, Zhou Yan would have no hesitation about helping her if she was in trouble. He hadn’t thought twice before taking the case.
“But Shanshan isn’t an outsider. She came all the way here to ask for help. How was I supposed to turn her down?”
Lou Mingxu tried to guess what Zhou Yan was worried about. “Are you concerned the case might go badly? If Jiang Sheng ends up being convicted of sexual assault, you’ll lose face in front of Shanshan?”
Zhou Yan tapped a piece of paper that had been stuck behind his monitor for who knew how long. In thick paint-marker strokes, it read:
NO CRIMINAL CASES.
Lou Mingxu’s neck instinctively pulled back. “When did you put that up? How come I never noticed it?”
“It’s always been there. I don’t like taking criminal cases.”
Lou Mingxu remembered that years ago, there had been quite a few criminal cases under Zhou Yan’s name on China Judgments Online. Later, though, they were all civil disputes.
“Why not? Did some disgusting defendant scar you for life or something?”
That was the only explanation he could come up with. Criminal defense lawyers were always criticized for representing people accused of crimes, after all.
Zhou Yan didn’t answer. Instead, he changed the subject.
“Let it go this time. You already agreed to take it, so we’ll take it. But next time you run into a criminal case, remember to tell me first.”
“Oh. Got it.”
The real-estate agent sent Lou Mingxu a whole stack of listings and asked when he would be free to go look at them.
Lou Mingxu glanced through the photos. He wasn’t particularly impressed by any of them, but the balance in his bank account was shrinking by the day. If he dragged this out much longer, he might not even be able to afford a deposit.
So he picked the best of a bad lot: the attic of a detached house in Fenglin Garden.
During his lunch break, the agent took him there on a little electric scooter.
The attic wasn’t large, and the ceiling was low. At its highest point it was barely over two meters. For someone pushing six-two, Lou Mingxu’s first impression upon entering was one of claustrophobia. In many places, he had to tilt his head just to walk around.
Once he sat down, though, it was much better.
The attic had a sloping design. From the side, the whole thing looked like a giant triangle. Two outward-opening glass windows had been built into the slanted wall, both facing south, letting in plenty of sunlight during the day.
Aside from the basic furniture—a bed, wardrobe, desk, and so on—the room also had a small refrigerator and a projector.
The only inconvenience was that the bathroom was downstairs. It had been carved out of the awkward triangular space beneath the staircase, in the sloped area between the stairs and the floor.
In other words, it was Harry Potter’s bedroom.
Small. Dim. Without the light on, you could barely see your hand in front of your face. There was no natural ventilation, so a ventilation fan had been installed in the wall.
Lou Mingxu liked the balcony adjoining the attic. It had been cleaned up nicely, and in winter it would be the perfect place to curl up with a book and bask in the sun.
The landlord told him that the balcony belonged exclusively to the attic tenant and wasn’t a shared space.
Faced with the balcony overflowing with living green plants, Lou Mingxu gritted his teeth and paid six months’ rent as stipulated in the contract.
That left him with less than two thousand yuan.
At first, he had thought the landlord’s bedding was hideous and wanted to buy a new set. But after looking at the prices of decent-looking bedding, he decided it wasn’t worth the money.
After weighing his options, he asked Tang Yingzi to send him the old set from home, along with his clothes and toiletries.
Tang Yingzi replied:
⌊ Got it. I’ll have Lao Zou come over tomorrow and help me pack everything. ⌋
Lou Mingxu immediately responded:
⌊ Don’t let him touch my stuff. ⌋
Ever since Tang Yingzi’s divorce, men had flocked around her like NPCs in a video game. After her investments went south, most of them stopped contacting her. But one or two of the men she called her “platonic confidants” were still more than happy to help her out.
If Lou Mingxu remembered correctly, this Zou guy was about the same age as Tang Yingzi. He had been divorced once, had no children, and was financially comfortable. He had even shelled out more than 1.7 million yuan to help Tang Yingzi pay off her debts.
The downsides were that he was a little old, a little bald, a little out of shape, and talked a little too much.
The old Tang Yingzi would never have given him the time of day.
But after the past few years of business setbacks, her attitude seemed to have changed too. Or perhaps time had simply worn away her pride and perfectionism, teaching her to lower her head and accept the many imperfections life came with.
Even the negative emotions Lou Mingxu displayed at home now met with her patience and understanding. The two of them had more to talk about than they used to.
Tang Yingzi replied:
⌊ How am I supposed to ship it without touching anything? You’ve got several wardrobes full of clothes. How long do you think it’ll take me to pack all that by myself? ⌋
Lou Mingxu said:
⌊ Don’t send anything really old. Just send the stuff that looks good and still fits. Video-call me later and I’ll point out which ones I want. ⌋
Tang Yingzi took a swipe at him:
⌊ What a pain. I wonder who you inherited that from. ⌋
Lou Mingxu replied:
⌊ Look in the mirror. ⌋
A while later, Tang Yingzi video-called him again and asked about his job.
When she learned that he really was only making three thousand yuan a month during his internship, she was deeply sympathetic.
“That’s so little. Can you live on that?”
“No.”
Lou Mingxu asked bluntly, “Why don’t you consider investing a little in me? Once I get this practice up and running in a few years, I’ll pay you dividends.”
Tang Yingzi scoffed. “That’s one hell of a pie you’re drawing. I suppose it’s big enough to keep you from starving.”
Lou Mingxu’s phone was almost dead. As he reached into his bag for the charging cable, his fingers brushed against the fountain pen Zhou Yan had given him years ago.
He played with the pen for a moment before asking, “By the way, Mom, do you remember when I was in high school and got into a fight with someone? I almost got convicted. You found a lawyer for me and got me out of it.”
“Of course I remember. Why?”
“Do you remember that lawyer?”
Tang Yingzi thought for a moment.
“I remember him. Pretty handsome young guy. I think his surname was Zhang?”
Lou Mingxu was speechless.
“His name is Zhou,” he said, drawing out the words.
“Oh, really? Then I remembered wrong. Why did you suddenly think of him?”
Lou Mingxu gave her the abridged version.
“Nothing. I saw him at the law firm. I’m going to be working with him from now on.”
“Oh, that’s nice. You two really are connected, aren’t you?” Tang Yingzi laughed. “Did he recognize you too?”
Lou Mingxu thought, What connection? Isn’t the entire thing just the result of my own reckless persistence?
He admitted unhappily, “Not at all.”
Tang Yingzi comforted him. “Well, he sees so many people every day and deals with so many tedious cases. It’s normal that he forgot. Besides, it’s been so many years.”
Being forgotten was the normal thing?
Lou Mingxu didn’t feel particularly good about that, but he couldn’t be bothered to dwell on it. He rolled over and went to sleep.
Moving somewhere new meant buying all kinds of everyday necessities. Before he knew it, there was barely any money left in Lou Mingxu’s account.
There was still a while before payday, so he had no choice but to slash his food budget again.
His usual lunches of stir-fried beef and scallion pancakes stuffed with egg were replaced by UFO instant noodles.
After watching him eat them for three days straight, Zhou Yan finally couldn’t help asking, “Are those really that good?”
“Not bad.”
Lou Mingxu drained off the broth, mixed the noodles, then politely offered, “Want some? I haven’t eaten yet.”
“No, I already ordered takeout.”
As Zhou Yan unpacked the plastic bags, he added, “You can’t keep eating that every day. It’s not healthy.”
Lou Mingxu turned around with his cup of instant noodles in hand.
He was just about to say, Look who’s talking. Your prepackaged mystery-meat buns aren’t exactly healthier than my instant noodles.
But, surprisingly, Zhou Yan had ordered a proper Chinese meal that day, complete with meat, vegetables, and soup.
The corn-and-pork-bone soup came in an enormous container and smelled even better than the instant noodles.
Zhou Yan pulled two pairs of disposable chopsticks from the bottom of the bag.
“Huh?” He looked at them in surprise. “Why did they give me two pairs?”
Lou Mingxu froze.
Could Zhou Yan have deliberately ordered enough for two?
But he was afraid of reading too much into it and didn’t dare ask.
Only when Zhou Yan handed him the extra pair did he say, “Why don’t you have some too?”
Lou Mingxu’s lips curled into a smile. He turned his chair around and said, “Thanks, Master.”
Zhou Yan immediately said, “Actually, don’t call me that. It sounds weird.”
Until then, Lou Mingxu had never really used any form of address when talking to Zhou Yan. He would simply turn around and get straight to the point. If Zhou Yan happened to be sleeping, at most he would knock on the desk and start with, “Hey, can I ask you something?”
He had only started calling him “Master” because he’d overheard another lawyer addressing Zhou Yan that way on the phone.
They worked at the same law firm. Why should someone else get to call him that when he couldn’t?
Lou Mingxu was the one who found it strange.
“Why not? That lawyer who called you the other day called you ‘Master’. I heard him.”
Zhou Yan didn’t hold back.
“I hate it when he calls me that too.”
“Then why don’t you tell him to stop?”
“He doesn’t work right next to me. If you start calling me that, I’ll have to hear it every day.”
“Then what am I supposed to call you?”
“Just call me what everyone else does. ‘Brother’ or ‘Lawyer Zhou’ is fine.”
Compared with “Master,” Lou Mingxu thought “Brother” was much more intimate.
The problem was that none of his friends or relatives had an older brother, so the word felt strangely unfamiliar in his mouth.
His lips opened and closed a few times, clearly struggling with it.
In the end, he simply said, “Oh,” and lowered his head to eat his ribs.
“Is the food here pretty good?” Zhou Yan asked before even picking up his chopsticks.
The way he phrased it made Lou Mingxu realize this wasn’t the first time Zhou Yan had ordered from this restaurant.
Normally, if someone had never tried a place before, they would be curious about how it tasted.
Zhou Yan’s question sounded more like he wanted Lou Mingxu to confirm something he already suspected.
Lou Mingxu nodded enthusiastically, then hesitated.
“Then that extra pair of chopsticks…”
Zhou Yan immediately tried to cover his tracks.
“The owner must have thrown in an extra pair.”
Lou Mingxu couldn’t help it. He snorted with laughter, the corner of his eyebrow lifting as he deliberately said,
“Why are you getting so nervous? I wasn’t even asking about that.”
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