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Ch64 - In Preparation (iii)
How so?
The question curled around Yan Suizhi’s tongue before being swallowed back down. For some abstruse reason, he didn’t ask. Perhaps because the rain outside was too loud and would muffle his words. Or, perhaps because Gu Yan’s soft breathing was turning calmer and calmer, and any words would have shaken him out of the vestiges of sleep.
So, he didn’t ask, and Gu Yan didn’t answer.
Once again, stillness enshrouded the inside of the car. Once more, flickering lights glowed outside of the car.
Although their journey met with congestion, there was bound to be an end. The car glided smoothly for a period of time, stopping at the hotel. Gu Yan had not yet woken up. When he was awake, he always maintained a cold and meticulous facade. It was difficult to tell whether or not he was tired. But his sleeping countenance exposed his fatigue.
To have made it back to Zone 3 by afternoon, he must not have rested well before.
Gu Yan didn’t mention a word of this, but Yan Suizhi knew from firsthand experience. He was well versed with exactly how long these trips took.
He had furtively pulled out the driving control panel from the backseat, turning off all notifications before any destination arrival alerts could prompt. Silence, amplified by the static white noise of rain, held like a spell in the car. There were no sudden sounds that could startle Gu Yan.
Yan Suizhi glanced towards the front. He set up his photon computer and pulled up the case file, calmly beginning to go through it.
This scene was reminiscent of another long past, much like a late spring afternoon from many years ago.
The dean’s office was very large. Apart from Yan Suizhi’s own office desk and a large row of standing cabinets that he used to store files, there were also two desks for students to use, set up by the window.
Sometimes, he would lead a few academic projects and allow the participating students to drop by the office with their photon computers and materials. They could use those two desks whenever they wanted, in that way, if they ran into any trouble, they could just raise their heads and ask him.
Only, few students actually did so, for they were all a little afraid of him.
Gu Yan was probably the student who used them the most. Due to a project he was handling then, he had picked Gu Yan as his only direct student. During those three months, Gu Yan spent most of his time in the dean’s office.
And that afternoon, was like today. Yan Suizhi seldom spent the whole day in his office. He had his glasses on the entire time, his head lowered as he went through the stacks of documents and case materials in his photon computer as well as occasionally replying to a few emails
The office was as quiet as this, with only the mellow birdsong intermittently passing through from outside the window.
Somehow, Gu Yan seemed not to have gotten much sleep the previous day. Rare traces of lethargy were visible on his face that day.
When Yan Suizhi lifted his head, giving his eyes a break after clearing a load of documents, he saw Gu Yan. The student’s chin was propped up on a hand and he was still holding the posture of flipping through the academic text; yet, he had already entered shallow sleep.
Long tendrils of green ivy hung down outside the window, gently swaying in the wind, casting clear shadows on the straight line of his nose and the profile of his face.
Professor Yan was a very broad-minded teacher. So, at that time, he didn’t call him awake. Instead, he smiled and let him continue to doze off.
But at the same time, Professor Yan was also a teacher who by nature enjoyed teasing people. So he created a fresh sheet of paper on his desktop and sketched the sleeping young student with an electronic pen. Then, writing a flowing line of words, he sent it to the student’s email.
The photon computer dinged softly. Gu Yan’s eyebrows creased together slightly and, just like that, he awoke.
Opening his eyes, he was greeted with the sight of paper being spat out from his photon computer and when he saw the sketch, he froze up. He read that free and elegant line of writing:
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Student Gu, did you sneak out thieving last night?
“…”
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—
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As a result, he saw the once-sleeping Gu Yan now with his eyes partially opened, gazing at him through the rearview mirror.
“Awake?” Yan Suizhi gave a start. “When did you wake up?”
“…Just.” Gu Yan pinched the bridge of his nose, only then fully pulling into consciousness. “How long has it been? Why didn’t you wake me?”
The timbre of his voice carried a slight rasp from the remnants of sleep that had yet to fully dissipate. Perhaps because he spoke very quietly, a sliver of gentleness coloured his voice.
“I got distracted flipping through the case file and forgot.” Yan Suizhi’s blindly-made half-truths immediately formed the moment his mouth opened.
Gu Yan didn’t comment on it, simply undoing his seatbelt. He told him, “Let’s go.”
Possibly, Gu Yan’s sleepiness in the car infected him. Yan Suizhi, who had been easily shaken from sleep recently, slept very well that night.
It was still pouring the next day. This time, Yan Suizhi didn’t go to the detention centre alone but with Gu Yan.
When passing the guardhouse, Yan Suizhi first, then Gu Yan, each swiped their identification card. Just like a regular pair of a lawyer and their intern—only, in other situations, the lawyer would lead the charge, the intern bumbling behind as they listened. Whereas here, they were clearly the opposite; the intern always walked ahead with exceptional assertiveness.
“You’re here?” The fierce-looking warden had experienced secondhand a few consecutive days of a spirit being worn down and was already familiar enough with Yan Suizhi’s presence to give a greeting. “And this is?”
“The lawyer I’m under,” Yan Suizhi replied.
The warden had an odd look on his tiger-fierce face. Somehow, the tone with which this intern said this sounded just like ‘the student under me’. He really had to kudo the lawyer for being able to tolerate it.
When meeting with a client, the lawyer was allowed to bring in an assisting lawyer or other such associates. So, despite their curiosity, they let them in without further questions.
Chen Zhang was brought in less than two minutes later.
Since loosening his tongue, his cooperative level not only rose a notch, but he even walked here much quicker than before. However, he still froze for a moment when he entered and saw Gu Yan. “You… Lawyer Gu? Why are you here?”
Yan Suizhi, very candidly, answered for him. “To oversee my work.”
Gu Yan, “…”
“Do you mind having one more?” After saying this, Yan Suizhi gave a roguish smile. “Of course, it doesn’t make a difference even if you do.”
Chen Zhang, “…I don’t mind.”
“That’d be for the best.”
Gu Yan duly said to Chen Zhang, “You don’t have to worry. He’s still the one in charge.”
“No. Today, you’re the one in charge.” Yan Suizhi nodded at Chen Zhang. “You said you had a part to play in what happened to George Manson. So tell me, what was your part, exactly?”
Chen Zhang rubbed his clasped hands together for a long time. He spoke after some deliberation. “Actually, I knew beforehand that something was going to happen.”
He paused. Then, he said, “Or, rather, I should have known that something was going to happen at this gathering…”
Joe had sent out the invites for this party far in advance. Others confirmed their attendance a month before. Following tradition, Joe had even made sure to call Gu Yan, with his perpetually packed schedule, half a month earlier.
Once confirming the approximate number of people, Joe made an appointment with Hardymont Club, requesting for them to arrange a few instructors to follow on the dive.
Upon receiving the request, a notice was sent out internally to the instructors on their payroll, asking those without other commitments on those days whether they could spare the time.
An affluent young master like Joe, who was straightforward with people and generous with his tips, was a hit. Even instructors with other commitments for those days had deliberately freed up a few days to sign up with the coordinator.
“If I recall correctly, all the instructors signed up that day. Every single one.” Chen Zhang said, “Of course, myself included.”
There were nearly thirty instructors in the Yaba Island branch. All of them had signed up, and the competition was actually quite heated. Among them, Chen Zhang didn’t hold a very senior position, so his being selected was seriously a fluke of luck.
“When I saw the final list of six, I was really excited. But I never expected that this excitement would be punctured the next day.” Chen Zhang paused for a moment, then said, “Someone came to find me. I don’t know why they locked their sights on me, but in any case, they said they wanted me to help with something.”
“As soon as those two came, they dredged up my entire past, including the genetic modification, Chen Wen, and so on. I… I was too nervous and somewhat flustered. As such, I didn’t manage to hold steady, allowing them to find a breakthrough.”
Those people had only given Chen Zhang a succinct rundown. They said that there might be some things that they needed his help with to cover up for a lie.
Chen Zhang intuitively felt that this couldn’t spell anything good, therefore didn’t directly agree in the beginning. The other side didn’t press hard at first, only offering him a price high enough to make his head spin, letting him consider it.
This step back was actually quite crafty. It offered him a taste of temptation and room for consideration, which gave him the illusion that they weren’t being particularly unreasonable and thus their demands shouldn’t be too outlandish.
“I was in dire need of money during that time. My… My body isn’t in good condition. I just got the hospital’s diagnosis; they told me that my back and leg skeletal issues would eventually deteriorate to the same state as my family’s. I’ve three years, at most,” Chen Zhang said. “I refused them very firmly at first, but I couldn’t sleep in the days after. My mind couldn’t let go of it, even when I’m walking, resting, and in bed. My thoughts kept gravitating around the words they said like a curse.”
After thinking about it for three days and three nights, Chen Zhang took the initiative to contact through the method they had told him to, saying that he wanted to hear more specifics before he decided whether to help.
This was his first mistake.
Once he, of his own accord, gave someone an opening, it was unlikely that he could close it again after that.
The attitude of the other side changed abruptly. They no longer used the persuasive methods they employed previously, but directly went in hard, trapping Chen Zhang in his house for two days. They also used his family in the welfare hospital as a coercion point, whilst sweetening the deal—
“They said that if I was willing to help them, they would pay for my granddad, my parents, and my sister’s lifetime expenses at the welfare hospital in one lump sum.”
That such an offer could be made meant that this was by no means a simple task they wanted him to help with. At that time, Chen Zhang was already vaguely aware that as long as he agreed, what he was getting onboard with wouldn’t be something as simple as a regular job…
But the other side pushed him too hard. The benefits they offered to entice him hit him right smack in his heart.
“I stared at my diagnosis for a whole day and night, thinking that I might… soon have no other employment. So I agreed.” Chen Zhang said.
Such a premise was actually in line with what Yan Suizhi had expected and didn’t come as much of a surprise.
He nodded. He asked Chen Zhang, “Do you know who those people are?”
“…I don’t know,” Chen Zhang answered.
Yan Suizhi, “Well, that’s expected. Then do you remember what they look like?”
“…They were wearing masks and caps. I could only see their eyes.”
“Was there anything special about their eyes? Will you be able to point them out if you see them again?”
Chen Zhang hesitated, saying awkwardly, “One had blue eyes, the other had dark brown eyes. They were very… normal eyes. No moles, nothing that stood out in particular.”
Yan Suizhi asked again, “Then do you have any other proof of their coercion and deal?”
At first, Chen Zhang shook his head. Just as Yan Suizhi was about to entirely move past this topic, letting him continue his story, Chen Zhang suddenly seemed to think of something. “Voice recording. I… I should have a voice recording. The first time they came to find me, I took extra caution and taped a recording pen to a compartment above the ceiling. After they left, I was too distracted to remember to take it down. So the second time they came, the recording pen was still up there.”
Yan Suizhi got a little more upbeat at first, but on second thought, he asked again, “Do you mean the traditional type of recording pen, like the one I let you listen to last time?”
Chen Zhang nodded. “They’re cheaper…”
Right after he said this, he saw the two lawyers opposite him pinch the bridge of their noses at the same time, seeming particularly lost for words.
“What’s wrong?”
Yan Suizhi said, smiling, “That type of recording pen can only last for a day and a night with a full charge. So, obviously, it wouldn’t be able to record any key information the second time around. At best, it’d be able to record your sleep talk from the first night.”
Chen Zhang, “…”
What now, then?
“Forget it. Keep going.” Yan Suizhi motioned for him to continue. “I want to hear, before it happened, did you know who was behind it and what was going to happen? I only listen to the truth.”