46 Returning Echo | He Didn't Come Back

Lawyer Jin raised his eyes, and the wrinkles between his eyebrows were so deep that they could hold an A4 paper.

"Xiao Lin, you're here just in time. What on earth are you thinking about this silk book case?"

There was anger in his voice. He didn't say a single "no," but it completely reflected his opinion as the head of the law firm.

Lin Weifeng said firmly: "Sue."

Lawyer Jin insisted on using Jingbo's name: "What does Jingbo mean? What does Director Hu mean?"

"No," Lin Weifeng said matter-of-factly. "Jinlu, what we do is never to write a closing report for the Beijing Museum, but to leave a possible way for the cultural relics to return to China."

Lawyer Jin sneered.

Lin Weifeng took the initiative and said, "I know I will lose the case."

Lawyer Jin turned to Lin Weifeng and said, "That's easy for you to say! Do you think it's just as simple as winning or losing?"

Lin Weifeng swallowed and said nothing.

Lawyer Jin's eyes were sharp, like two tweezers. He continued, "What if you lose the case? If the legal avenues for recovering the silk manuscripts are unsuccessful, the government will have to step in. Can you guarantee they will succeed? There are so many factors that can lead to the loss of cultural relics. Can you guarantee that the government's reputation won't be ripped to shreds by foreign media?"

Lin Weifeng tightened his fingertips.

Lawyer Jin said word by word, "Do you think that we, Jin He, have great reputation?"

Everyone has a different position. Lin Weifeng understands that as a manager, Lawyer Jin needs to maintain the reputation of the law firm.

But she couldn't go against her own heart.

Upon hearing this, Sheng Xin gently broke the deadlock, his voice low and steady: "Cultural relic lawsuits are not common, but there is always a first time. Many law firms are now vying for this first time. Lao Jin, we can't let this opportunity go to waste, right?"

"I disagree."

Lawyer Jin's pen slammed onto the table with a thud.

Since today's talk didn't make sense, Sheng Xin took Lin Weifeng out and went to his office.

Sheng Xin lowered the blinds one notch, and the light fell just right on Lin Weifeng's shoulder, where a half-finger-wide dressing was still left.

Sheng Xin asked, "Are you feeling better?"

"Small movements are fine." Lin Weifeng raised his right arm with restrained movements.

"Sit down." Sheng Xin nodded and pushed a cup of black coffee over.

"Thank you, Sister Sheng Xin."

Sheng Xin said, "We can't just listen to everything Lawyer Jin says, but we can't just ignore it either."

Lin Weifeng took a sip of coffee: "Should we still sue?"

"Yes, it's an opportunity, but we have to lay the groundwork."

Before she finished speaking, she turned around, pulled out a stack of blue folders from the filing cabinet, and pushed them to Lin Weifeng's hand.

"The administrative team lost a case yesterday due to negligence with the evidence," Sheng Xin raised his chin. "They need our cooperation. The defendant runs a herbal medicine plantation and has leased a sloping plot of land. They signed a 'Cultural Relics Protection Responsibility Agreement' with the cultural relics administration last year, but without approval, they used a large excavator to clear the drainage ditch. As a result, they completely blew off the dome of a brick chamber tomb."

Lin Weifeng flipped through a few pages and found a few photos of the scene in the file.

The blue-gray tomb bricks were broken into jagged pieces, and broken pottery shards and black charcoal were mixed in the soil.

"We are responsible for the civil compensation part involved," said Sheng Xin.

Lin Weifeng turned to the last page and saw the estimated restoration cost - seven digits, followed by a bracket: not including the value of the cultural relic itself.

She said, "Sister Sheng Xin's idea is to make this case look good first, to appease Lawyer Jin, and then file a lawsuit."

"Let's do both. As you can see, he strongly disagrees, so none of the letters can be opened."

"Um."

"It's no problem to work from home. Just send me the legal opinion after you finish writing it." Sheng Xin patted her arm gently.

Lin Weifeng: "Okay."

After explaining the work, Sheng Xin turned sideways and took out a golden envelope from the drawer.

The envelope was printed with the North Bay Museum's logo and a short paragraph:

The eternal wind, a lingering knot, weaves a riot of flowers across the relics of the Kingdom of Li. From the ruins of the Ale Wall, they travel eastward along the long winds of the Silk Road, finally caressed by the constant-temperature lights of the Beiwan Exhibition Hall. And your arrival, too, will bring them together, a tender knot of flowers.

"I'm going on a short errand after finishing the work at hand," said Sheng Xin.

Lin Weifeng looked up, with surprise in his eyes that he couldn't hide in time.

"Going to North Bay City?"

"The Li Kingdom is at war. Their National Museum has activated its 'loan hedging' clause, sending a number of core cultural relics on a tour, and they just happen to be in North Bay City right now."

"I know," Lin Weifeng rubbed the raised lines on the envelope with his fingertips, and the flower-shaped curves undulated on his fingertips, like a folded piece of history. "Liguo's cultural relics also have flower-shaped curves, and they are frequently stolen."

Sheng Xin: "The Beijing Museum will host the next exhibition after the New Year."

"So we're going to issue a legal memorandum?"

"Yes." Sheng Xin looked up as a plane flew past the window, heading higher into the sky. She said, "The lights of the cultural relics are getting brighter, and the answers to our quest are becoming clearer."

Lin Weifeng understood: "Okay Sister Sheng Xin, I'll go take a look."

"Your injury..."

Lin Weifeng immediately responded: "It doesn't affect it."

Sheng Xin smiled and tapped the table lightly. "You've been in Nandun over the New Year's Day holiday. Your recent recuperation and work-from-home schedule count as compensatory leave. Theoretically, you should have until after the New Year. I've thought about it and decided I can't miss this hotspot, so I'll have to ask you to go."

"Yeah." Lin Weifeng was very happy.

Lin Weifeng turned and walked out.

Sheng Xin called her: "Breeze."

Lin Weifeng paused as he was holding the door handle.

The wind from the corridor came in through the gap, and she turned around: "Huh?"

"Don't give up," Sheng Xin looked at her. His voice was not loud, but it resonated in the empty office. "Heal your wounds, pave the way forward, but don't give up."

Lin Weifeng didn't say anything, but there was still a fire burning in his eyes as he stared at Sheng Xin.

"A seat on the management committee is vacant this year." Sheng Xin's voice suddenly dropped to a whisper. "They had previously nominated Mr. Zhou, a 53-year-old man from the administrative team. But you know what? In the case I just assigned you, he asked in the meeting, 'Why can't porcelain be compensated by the ton?'"

Sheng Xin snorted coldly: "He doesn't understand the core of the case at all."

Lin Weifeng saw Sheng Xin's nails digging into his palms.

The cultural relics team is always disparaged by the management committee's lawyers as "idealistic." This woman, who always wears exquisite makeup, now has foundation on her jawline that has floated to the edges and is tightly stretched.

"Breeze," Sheng Xin continued, "there's no money to be made in cultural relics litigation. A lot of planning and legal advice is just a floating ideal in the eyes of those people."

"I'm just a partner now and can't change their minds. I need you to help me get on the management committee."

"Become the first woman among them."

Sheng Xin's eyes were bright, and Lin Weifeng also felt a shock in his heart.

"The first woman." Lin Weifeng repeated.

"right."

"Sister Sheng Xin," Lin Weifeng smiled, and heard her own voice was clear, as if she was making a passionate vow, "How could I give up?"

The sunlight shines through the glass, casting the shadows of the two people on the wall.

Sheng Xin's eyes turned red and she said, "You need me today, but you should know that I need you too."

Lin Weifeng tightened his arms, and the smell of ink from the printer wafted from the documents in his arms.

The smell reminded her of countless late nights, the non-stop online meetings between her and Sheng Xin, and the warm heat emitted by the printer as they edited documents side by side.

She has not been fighting alone.

Lin Weifeng smiled and said that she would heal her wounds and pave the way for the better.

It was almost ten o'clock in the morning and Lin Weifeng drove home.

It was Police Day, and when I passed by Binjiang Square, the police flag on the flagpole was fluttering.

The red and blue flag was raised, reflected on the glass curtain wall of the Jingjiang Center Building opposite the square.

It turns out that today, the "Jingjiang Interpol Liaison Office" will be officially opened there.

Outside the cordon of the square, reporters' cameras were lined up in a row.

In the camera, Su Tian, ​​dressed in navy blue uniform, walked up the stairs steadily, his epaulettes shining coldly in the sunlight.

He raised his hand in salute, his movements quick and decisive.

Then he turned around and grasped a corner of the red silk. The other end was tied to a brand new bronze plaque with the words: [INTERPOL Liaison Office – JINGJIANG]

The ribbon-cutting knife fell with a "click" and thunderous applause.

Lin Weifeng squatted in the car and did not go out.

She didn't quite understand why Su Tianlai appeared on the screen.

Where is Jiang Yu?

Wasn’t it Jiang Yu who participated in the training and underwent the assessment?

Lin Weifeng turned on his phone and asked him: [Are you back?]

Yesterday at Nandun International Airport, Jiang Yu did not enter with Su Tian.

A well-dressed man, after completing the formalities at the immigration office, kept looking around, waiting for Jiang Yu.

The moment his chest intentionally bumped against Jiang Yu's phone, he smashed it and whispered in his ear, "Let's chat."

The contact informant is named Anan, and is Miao Zheng's subordinate.

Anan brought Jiang Yu to a green car, where a waitress about twenty years old was sitting in the back seat.

Jiang Yu opened the back door and closed it again.

Anan patted his shoulder and told him not to get used to it, and to sit in the front if he really felt uncomfortable.

The night was as dark as ink, extending from Jiang Yu’s shoulders to his feet.

Jiang Yu sat quietly in the passenger seat without saying a word.

The vehicle drove to an abandoned dock, where rusty containers were lying everywhere, and some of the boxes had blood stains on their surfaces.

A man stood beside the bloody spot, with his hands behind his back, waiting for his arrival.

It’s Miao Zheng.

Anan took him there and left.

Jiang Yu stopped and crushed a shell with the sole of his shoe. The crisp sound made Miao Zheng look up.

“Why don’t you reply to emails?”

Miao Zheng is old and his voice is a little hoarse.

Jiang Yu didn't say anything immediately. He just slowly pulled out his right hand from his pocket. On his palm lay a gilded bronze fish with the word "Kaiyuan" engraved on the gills.

He had picked it up from the seat of the car he had just been in. It looked like stolen goods on the black market.

The bronze fish turned over between his fingers, its scales flashed, and he threw it accurately into Miao Zheng's hand.

Then Jiang Yu said, "What Mr. Miao needs is not someone to reply to emails, but a dog that can speak at the police station."

The metal cut through the air, making a low hum.

Miao Zheng reached out to catch it, rubbing the incisions on the fish's belly with his fingertips, peeling off some gold powder.

"Dog?" Miao Zheng threw the fish toward the light on the container. A tungsten filament lamp went out with a crackling sound. "I want a little wolf like you."

Jiang Yu smiled: "Not everyone can be a howling animal, Mr. Miao."

"Do you really want to be a police officer?"

"You asked me this question a long time ago."

"I didn't stop you from being a police officer."

Hearing this, Jiang Yu said bluntly, "I don't know why you're attracted to me, but I believe in Mr. Miao's wisdom. He can see that I can never become the same as you were back then."

"You are different from me," Miao Zheng said immediately, "You are much more interesting than me."

Miao Zheng walked closer, put his hand on Jiang Yu's shoulder, patted him gently twice, and brushed away the salt frost on Jiang Yu's shoulder.

"Xiao Jiang," he called out affectionately, like an old leader he dealt with every day, "Are you afraid of ghosts?"

Jiang Yu said, "I'm not even afraid of you."

Miao Zheng lowered his head and smiled, his teeth glistening in the red light.

"That's perfect," he pointed to a temple under construction not far away, "Let's go and see what we're doing."

The unfilled containers behind me whimpered hollowly in the wind, and the unroofed temple in front of me exuded the smell of concrete mixed with sandalwood.

Miao Zheng stood in the center of the hall, his back facing a Buddha statue tied up with iron chains, which was a cultural relic lost from another country.

The Buddha statue was gilded all over, but the white hair on its forehead had been chiseled off, leaving a dark hole that looked like a bullet hole.

"The last coat of paint is missing." Miao Zheng raised his hand, his fingertips dipped in gold powder.

"After I got it, I took the sea route and it took me 30 days to get here." Miao Zheng seemed to be telling him a story. "I suffocated three workers in the cabin to get this golden coat."

He tilted his head, smiled at Jiang Yu, then raised his chin, motioning Jiang Yu to look at the corner.

There were several unopened boxes piled in the corner of the hall, with half of a Buddha's hand exposed at the cracks. The knuckles were elegant, but the thumb was missing.

"Mr. Miao invited me here just to admire these stumps?"

"No," Miao Zheng walked closer and held his wrist, "I admire you, not asking you to admire me."

Jiang Yu's heel rolled over a piece of broken porcelain, startling two gray pigeons on the beam.

They fluttered over the Buddha statue's shoulders, and their wings fanned off a layer of dust.

Jiang Yu just gave him a sarcastic look, and Miao Zheng let go of his hand.

Jiang Yu approached the case and asked, "These are all the world's precious cultural relics. Do you really want to take them for yourself?"

What was inserted into the incense burner was not incense, but broken jade hairpins with jagged ends, emitting a cold moon-like light.

Miao Zheng only said: "The next operation will be in half a month in Beiwan City. Are you willing to help me?"

"I?"

“You must have been there at that time.”

"What do you mean?" Jiang Yu subconsciously tensed his forearms.

A truck passed by, and its high beam swept across, and the Buddha's shadow suddenly enlarged on the wall.

Jiang Yu raised his eyes and saw the chisel mark on the Buddha's face. In the darkness, the black hole seemed to be staring at him.

He suddenly remembered that when investigating the Wang Lu case, the file recorded a missing female appraiser, and the last surveillance footage showed her in this temple.

At this moment, the hole where the Buddha's head was missing was just big enough to fit a human head.

Jiang Yu grabbed Miao Zheng by the collar: "Are you still human?"

As he was exerting force on his hands, he suddenly saw a shadow in the corner, with the outline of a gun handle protruding from the cuff of his sleeve.

"Don't be afraid," Miao Zheng smiled. "What I mean is, there are people you care about in Beiwan City."