0006 A Thousand Pieces of Gold for a Spring Night
Zhai finally stopped working until after 3 a.m. and let her go to sleep.
Qu Zhong didn't sleep well. She had only dozed off for a few hours when a thin layer of sunlight began to pierce the curtains. The person next to her was sitting on the edge of the bed, slowly getting dressed.
Looking at his strong, narrow waist and recalling the sensation of last night, Qu Zhong felt a surge of excitement. She threw off the covers, sat up, and reached her hand behind him, clearly targeting him.
Zhai was caught off guard, his body tensing as she moved. Qu Zhong slowly reached out, leaning in to whisper a soft bite to his ear, "You sit in an office all day and still have abs?"
He restrained her restless hands, his gaze deep and wary, and said in a hoarse voice, "Don't provoke me."
Qu Zhong wasn't buying it. She raised her eyebrows and said, "So what if I invite you? I'm not afraid of being late, but you're not, are you?"
Partnership law firms offer relatively flexible working hours; there's no need to clock in or out, and being late or leaving early within a certain timeframe is acceptable. However, civil servants are different; their daily working hours are strictly regulated.
Qu Zhong was no stranger to dealing with the judiciary and procuratorate; she knew that Zhai Shi's words had no real deterrent effect on her.
Zhai remained silent, but she pressed her advantage, poking the hollow of his collarbone with her index finger, where there were scratches she had left: "Some people look so red and expert when they change into uniforms, but what's the result..." She paused, looked up and found his eyes, "...when they take off their clothes, they're just yellow and lewd."
Her hair was as soft as a feather, brushing against his jawline intentionally or unintentionally. Zhai's throat tightened slightly, but he knew now was not the time.
He ignored it. He picked up a button from beside him and got up to leave. Unexpectedly, Qu Zhong also stood up and walked straight up to him naked.
Zhai looked away and said, "Stop fooling around."
Qu Zhong's lips curled up even more. She leaned closer to him and reached out to unbutton the top button of his shirt, which she had been disliking for a long time: "Isn't it illegal not to button it up in the prosecutor's office?"
Not long after Zhai left, Qu Zhong stretched, slipped on her slippers, and went to wash up.
Before checking out, she posted her location in a three-person group chat called "Partner of Qianjinzhong Firm," followed by the message:
"A moment of spring night is worth a thousand pieces of gold."
Lin Qianqian replied instantly: Is it a person?
Besides Qu Zhong, the other two people in this group are Lin Qianqian and Feng Jing, who are Qu Zhong's graduate school roommates. Lin Qianqian is majoring in economic law, while Feng Jing is studying intellectual property law.
Due to a random assignment by the school, they were placed in the same dormitory room. The three girls had different majors, but they shared the same career aspirations.
On graduation day, they ran from the graduate campus to the undergraduate campus, taking photos in every corner of the school. As the sun set, the three girls were so tired that they sat hand-in-hand on the steps in front of the Socrates statue.
As the June wind blew by, they had a sudden inspiration. Taking the wind as their sign, they ambitiously made a ten-year pact: ten years later, they would establish a law firm in Shanghai together, named after the three of them.
The phrase "千斤重" in the group name is a homophone of their names.
Qu Zhong remembers that when they were in graduate school, the three of them would often go to a shopping mall called Dragon Dream near the school to have a feast, and the Renaissance Hotel was on the way to Dragon Dream.
Every time they passed by, they couldn't help but sigh, "Damn, it's so high-end and classy! It's obviously something we can't afford." They even joked in unison that their biggest dream before graduation was to book a room at the Renaissance Hotel for one night, which would definitely be a night of passion worth a thousand pieces of gold.
Seeing the location Qu Zhong posted in the group, Feng Jing was skeptical: Was it a joke?
Qu Zhong, however, firmly stated: No, it was an act of surrendering oneself to the authorities.
Her next sentence was even more powerful than bombarding a group chat with lucky red envelopes: Family, I slept with a man at the Renaissance Hotel last night.
Feng Jing: ? ? ?
Lin Qianqian: ? You should leave the group.
Qu Zhong's smile became somewhat uncontrollable: "Come to my humble abode for a small gathering this weekend, and I'll tell you all about it then."
Qu Zhong went home and changed her clothes. She had just looked in the hotel mirror and seen the varying shades of hickeys on her body, marked by Zhai Shi. Wearing yesterday's clothes would definitely not hide them. It wouldn't be appropriate to just show them like that; she didn't want to give people something to gossip about.
Fortunately, she had enough time and arrived at the law firm not too late.
As soon as I sat down at my workstation, I received a call from someone claiming to be a staff member of the Construction Management Committee, asking if I had called the citizen hotline a couple of days ago to complain about the noise pollution from nighttime construction.
Qu Zhong said yes, and asked how things were going.
The person on the other end replied, "Ma'am, we have already sent people to the site to check. This project has a nighttime construction permit. Regarding the noise issue, we have communicated with the construction company, and they will try their best to complete noisy operations before midnight in the future."
Most people might have stopped talking after hearing this, but Qu Zhong was clearly not going to be fooled by this reply. She started to talk about her expertise: "It's not about whether there's a night construction permit or what time the work is done, but that the construction company didn't take any noise reduction measures during the entire night's work. I didn't see any public notices near the neighborhood either, which is illegal. Furthermore, you said you'd try your best, which means you can't guarantee they won't be doing any loud work after midnight, right?"
The man seemed caught off guard by Qu Zhong's reaction, or rather, he didn't understand what she was saying at all. He could only follow up on her last question by asking, "Madam, you still heard loud mechanical noise after midnight last night, right?"
Qu Zhongxin was taken aback, then her tone softened: "I didn't hear it last night."
The man seemed to have found a way out and asked her again to confirm, "Madam, there was no noise last night, right?"
How dare you try to twist the facts in front of a lawyer?
Qu Zhong's temper flared up again, and she launched into a tirade to correct him: "I didn't hear it because I wasn't home last night, not because it disappeared. I'm telling you, can't you quickly report this issue to the urban management department under the street office? Your construction management committee is an approval department; you don't have the authority to punish noise pollution..."
Qu Zhong argued with him for a long time, wishing she could write down the legal subject, the basis of authority, the punishment standards, and so on into a written document and throw it in his face, then say, "Just do it this way and get things done."
The communication was unsuccessful. The other party continued to offer kind words of comfort and said that they had recorded all her opinions and would help convey them later.
Before hanging up, Qu Zhong said "thank you" without any expectation, lamenting that the legal awareness of Shanghai civil servants still needs to be strengthened.
Little did she know, her casual remark on the phone, "I wasn't home last night," had been caught by her colleagues. Taking advantage of their proximity, Liu asked her directly, "Attorney Qu, did you stay at the office to work overtime last night?"
Qu Zhong smiled and said, "Yes, there are too many cases."
That was partly true and partly false. She was indeed the last one to leave last night, but her not returning home all night had absolutely nothing to do with working overtime.
After finishing speaking, Qu Zhong logged into WeChat on her computer and sent a message.
Around 10 a.m., Zhai opened WeChat and found a red "1" in his contacts list.
Prosecutors typically communicate with external parties via landline. Zhai rarely engages in social interaction; in the past, he would have simply turned off his phone as if he hadn't seen it. Because in this era where the theft, sale, and criminalization of personal information are so serious that the state has enacted specific laws to regulate it, those who proactively add you are likely perpetrators of fraud.
But today, when Zhai saw that striking red number, his heart skipped a beat.
He didn't understand why he had subconsciously looked up and glanced around the office; it was like a burglar scouting the place beforehand to check if it was safe. He composed himself, clicked on "Contacts - New Friends," and the latest verification message that popped up read:
"Pay the room fee for last night."
It's quite obvious who added him.
Logically speaking, the prosecution and defense in a criminal case should not contact each other privately, but they had already slept together... After thinking about it, he clicked "accept".
I had so much to say, but he ended up asking the most unimportant and stupid question: Where did you get my WeChat?
Qu Zhong replied quickly: Do you know what H University's greatest strength is? It's its alumni network.
Qu Zhong is right about this: 80 percent of the judges, prosecutors and lawyers in Shanghai are graduates of H University.
Qu Zhong continued: I asked a female junior for it.
After saying that, she carried out the instructions in the verification message and transferred 526 yuan on the spot. That's right, a room yesterday cost a full 1052 yuan, which was indeed worth a fortune.
Zhai did not intend to accept it, and replied: No need.
Qu Zhong insists: Use it. Otherwise, it's unclear whether the money you paid is considered a debt or payment for prostitution.
Does this woman have to talk like that? Every word is barbed, laced with veiled barbs. Zhai frowned and retorted: "Then what about splitting the bill now?"
Qu Zhong responded fluently: calculating the average cost of occupying a double room at the Renaissance Hotel for one night.
...Awesome.
Zhai wanted to say, "No need for that, you can pay next time." But halfway through typing, his fingers froze on the chat screen. He was probably startled by this taken-for-granted idea; they'd only been apart for a few hours, and he was already thinking about their next time together.
Fortunately, Qu Zhong was using a computer and couldn't see his hesitant "typing is in progress" message. Before the silence became too long and awkward, Zhai finally went along with her and accepted half of the "occupancy fee".
He wasn't entirely willing, but he didn't know what to do with her, or rather, he didn't know how to define their current and future relationship.
He doesn't like the feeling of a train deviating from its tracks.
Qu Zhong had no worries about him. In the blink of an eye, she sent him another message, as if she was showing off: By the way, your office will be missing an intern starting today.
Zhai is: ?
Qu Zhong: Ye Xiaoxiao is a clever girl, I like her.
Zhai glanced at the empty seat next to him; nothing belonging to Ye Xiaoxiao could be seen there anymore.
Damn, he had no idea when his girlfriend was poached. It turns out it wasn't just a fleeting impression; she was genuinely showing off.
At Guanzheng Law Firm, Qu Zhong walked to the new intern's workstation, handed her a small cookie, and said with satisfaction, "Junior, thank you for giving me Prosecutor Zhai's WeChat."
Ye Xiaoxiao quickly waved her hand: "It's nothing, senior, it's no trouble at all."
He turned and asked, "Is there anything I can help you with?"
After Ye Xiaoxiao had a tantrum in the reception room yesterday, she felt that her three months of experience at the procuratorate was completely unfulfilling, so she decided to change her internship.
She was captivated by Qu Zhong's handsomeness in the reception room, so she contacted various senior students and expressed her desire to intern at Guanzheng. After receiving a "welcome" from Qu Zhong, she happily made her way out of the procuratorate, not forgetting to add all three people in the office as friends before leaving.
However, what Ye Xiaoxiao didn't expect was that Qu Zhong smiled and assigned her the task: "Junior, sort out these files first."
I never imagined that law firms also need to keep records.
Ye Xiaoxiao died at the age of 20. Cause of death: the medicine for regret was sold out.
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