Chapter 3
As the days naturally pa.s.sed by like a running stream, spa.r.s.ely flowing past Wei Cai’s 30 years old spring.
Since the last time both of them ate together, these few weeks, Li Jia De appearing in his life constantly seems to become a norm.
Almost every Friday after work, he will drive to the front of the procuratorate to fetch up Wei Cai.
Next is eating together and watching a movie; playing these poor urban people’s entertainment.
In fact, Wei Cai very often finds it strange about this man who appeared out of nowhere.
He originally thought how can a person who is neither a foe nor friend can become like an old friend with years of friendship with him—— but being born with natural ability of being unable to reject people, he frequently had to agree to Li Jia De’s requests.
But deep down in his heart, he had to admit to himself that Li Jia De does have sun-like qualities that attracted him —— at his age, finding like-minded friends around his colleagues is really too difficult to accomplish.
“Ring——”1
The office on Friday afternoon after 4pm are always full of people who urgently want to get home soon.
Somewhat as he casually listening to Lao Ba and another new girl chitchat, Wei Cai had received a call.
“Jing Zhong Ke2 ,please speak”
“Is Wei Cai there?” The voice from the phone sounds a bit familiar.
“O, is it Ah De?” Wei Cai smiled involuntarily.
Because Li Jia De always complains his own name is difficult to say, Wei Cai granted his wish and gave him a nickname from then on.
But——
“Cai Cai, are you getting off soon? I’m on my way. I’ll reach your office in about ten minutes so you faster come down.”
Didn’t know when, Li Jia De gave him a very strange nickname. Even with repeated protests on his nickname, Li Jia De refused to change it and insisted on this nickname which caused Wei Cai’s hairs to stand when being called.
“Oii, didn’t I ask you not to call me like that?” This man really doesn"t listen.
“Hehehe…” Li Jia De’s greatest skill is using a kind of smirk that does not match to his age and status to dodge Wei Cai; leaving him to smile hopelessly.
“Okay, okay. I’ll come down now.” Knowing that arguing with him is futile, Wei Cai sighed in defeat and put down the phone.
“Section Chief, you recently got a girlfriend?”
Just after he put down the phone, Lao Ba with a grin on his face walked over mysteriously.
“Seeing you also leaving in a hurry these past Fridays, got a date ah?”
“Dates does have——” Wei Cai deliberately paused. Looking at Lao Ba’s eyes light up is indeed funny.
“But it’s not with a girl, it’s with a lawyer.”
“Ah— —” Lao Ba prolonged his disappointed tone. “Seeing you always got a car to fetch you, I thought you’re dating a wealthy girlfriend. Who knew that it’s related to job ah!”
Having no intention to explain to Lao Ba that he and Li Jia De going out is unrelated to work, Wei Cai picked up his briefcase.
“I’m leaving first la.” Raised and waved his hand, he threw the disappointed face in the office into the dust.
Smiling all the way down the elevator, he saw a red sport car parked far away on the street across the procuratorate.
“Eh, Young Master bought a new car la?” Knocking on the window, Wei Cai smiled at Li Jia De inside the car.
Following Li Jia De’s BMW being crushed by Wei Cai, he had been driving the car borrowed from a friend. But today, this car in front of him has a logo of a wild boar that Wei Cai had never seen him drive before.
“Couldn’t help it. The old man has too many ways la—— he heard that my car was crashed and specially had people pick for me.” Li Jia De, while helping him opened the car door, put on a face of regret and said.
——
Wei Cai showed a bit of fear on his face.
“Hey, take it as I didn’t hear it ah!” So not reporting out of obligation is not my matter ah—–Wei Cai made up the sentence in his heart.
——
“Ah, where are we going today ah?” Having sat in the car, Wei Cai asked.
“First we’ll eat dinner. After that, we’ll go to Qi Shi Lu3 —— the music there is not bad. How is it?”
Firmly steering the wheel to that direction, Li Jia De turned his head to Wei Cai and asked.
Wei Cai nodded his head and leaned his head against the headrest—— although the office work is relatively easy, but because it involves a lot of auditing of data, so the work is still heavy—— Seeing audit reports for the whole day, Wei Cai is really tired.
……
Seeing Wei Cai closed his eyes to rest, Li Jia De smiled gently and didn’t speak anymore.
“The food here is not bad right?” Seeing Wei Cai using the napkin to wipe his mouth, Li Jia De asked with a look of concern.
Wei Cai laughed “Pretty good. But why are you so nervous? The dishes are not done by you.”
Li Jia De laughed “Not cooked by me, but the food is what I picked. If it’s not accepted by the section chief Buddha’s dharma eyes4 ….”
Li Jia De stopped for a moment before continuing “Let’s come out again next time. How about it?”
——
——
“What how to do; go find your girlfriend and go out together ah!” Wei Cai replied randomly but accidentally saw Li Jia De’s face becomes disheartened.
“What happened?” Wei Cai hurriedly asked. “Had a fight with your girlfriend and displeased that I mentioned it?”
Seeing Li Jia De still having the look of a deadpan, he added “Don’t mind this big brother being long-winded, Girls ma——still have to coax them——
“Although I don’t have any practical experience.” In the end, he also felt that him; a 30-year-old and yet having no girlfriend, does not have the position to say this, so he can only add this sentence at the end.
“Hey, what happened? Say something ah.” Seeing Li Jia De still had the strange look on his face looking at him, Wei Cai was a bit impatient.
“What happened ma? You ate the wrong medicine ah?” What Wei Cai fears the most is when others say nothing which made him look like he committed a big mistake.
“Hey——”
Li Jia De finally spoke: “Cai Cai”
“Why——”
“Why do I feel like strangling you to death sometimes!”
With ferocious expression and tones, Li Jia De looked like a little girl with awkward expression.
“What——”
“Okay la —— I don’t have a face to stay. Let’s leave!” Dragging the confused Wei Cai out of his seat, Li Jia De laughed and pulled him out of the restaurant.
…...
——
“Oh—this place’s arrangement is unique ah”
Walking into Qi Shi Lu, Wei Cai could not helped but be impressed by this unique place.
What Qi Shi used is not the popular colours that other bars used as décor but instead, used a light colour that gives off shine as the main tone. Music also not the decadent hysteria but relatively soft blues.
“You like it?” Li Jia De looked very happy. He sat on the high stool next to Wei Cai.
After ordering the wine, both of them sipped while talking about neither-here-nor-there topics enjoying the rare leisure time.
“EH! Isn’t this Young Master Li.” A woman cried in surprise and broke the silence between them.
Wei Cai turned his head. Standing behind them is a group of men and women dressed in dazzling suits and dress.
A lady in the group wearing a very short colourful leather skirt looked at Li Jia De sitting at the side with a surprised look on her face.
“Is Xiao Juan ah?” Compared to the female’s enthusiasm, Li Jia De’s att.i.tude seemed a bit helpless.
“Hi, Qiao, Ah Qiang, Lee…” saying h.e.l.lo to several other men, the group of people also very naturally sat beside both of them at the table.
——
“And this is ——“the man who is called Jiao, looking like the leader, pointed to Wei Cai.
——
——
——
“Ah, my friend, Wei Cai—— Jiao” Li Jia De pointed at the two men which can count as being introduced.
Jiao smiled crookedly “Seeing your branded and unique Lamborghini5, I knew that you are here——”
So that is the world famous Lamborghini—— Wei Cai thought in his mind fuzzily.
A little confused looking at that group of people with cynical disposition, Wei Cai’s eyes caught the glimpse of that person called Xiao Juan affectionately holding Li Jia De’s arm. Her bare chest is almost attached to his body and Wei Cai involuntarily frowned.
Jiao did not let go of this action, "What? Are we disturbing you guys?"
Hearing his voice is unfriendly, Wei Cai shook his head "Where got ——"
Li Jia De smoothed things over at the side, “Cai——”
Seemed to be aware of the problem of this situation, he changed his tune “Wei Cai is a decent man, not used to it…”
“Oh——” Jiao nodded his head and glanced deeply at Wei Cai. He suddenly stood up.
Wei Cai was shocked by him. He came towards Wei Cai’s side and sat down on the stool next to Wei Cai.
“Whiskey.” Calling the bartender to bring the drink, he suddenly turned his face. His bottomless black eyes fixed on Wei Cai’s face.
Wei Cai was a bit scared by his stare but he spoke: “Ah De, isn’t this your that right——?”
Before Li Jia De replied to his odd sentence, Jiao’s hand was already on the side of Wei Cai’s face “Have the look of seriousness and exciting face——”
“What are you doing?” Wei Cai and Li Jia De shouted at the same time.
Wei Cai grabbed his hairy hand, wrinkled his eyebrows in disgust and said “Please give me some respect.”
“Hey——” Sipping the whiskey in his hands, Jiao’s eyes looked like he was already drunk.
“Big Brother wants to bully you. What are you going to do?” While putting his other hand on Wei Cai’s thigh, gradually slid between Wei Cai’s legs…
“What are you doing——” Wei Cai jumped up in surprise. But he accidentally knocked over the wine on the table which all spilled on his trousers.
Li Jia De also jumped up “Jiao, you’re drunk——”
Having threw a barely tolerable face at the two people at the side, Li Jia De dragged Wei Cai to the side.
“Today is almost over. We shall take a leave first.” Not waiting for the others’ reaction, he walked out.
Walking to the entrance, they still heard Xiao Juan shouted “Ah De, call me when you are free——“
Disgusting—— weird——
Both of their happy moments are destroyed. Wei Cai wiped his touched cheeks in disgust and cursed deep in his heart.
Li Jia De standing next to him worriedly asked “CaiCai, is it okay? Jiao is my good friend since young. Recently, he fell out of love—— he wasn’t like this in the past. You don’t put it in your heart ah——”
“Even if he was dumped by his boyfriend, he can’t anyhow touch others ah!” Wei Cai fiercely patted the leg which was touched, yet saw Li Jia De exposed a strange expression.
“Boyfriend? You know his boyfriend——“
Li Jia De seemed to have received a serious blow on himself, mumbled to himself, “You know ah——”
“Hey—— can you not have such an expression! I’m not a kindergarten child, I used to do the procuratorial supervision——what do I not understand——”
Amused by Li Jia De’s expression, Wei Cai felt strange because saying this topic felt a bit embarra.s.sing.
“O——Of course—— the prosecutor of the prison——” Li Jia De looked like he just remembered and nodded his head with a look of enlightened expression.
“Yeah ah—— last time on night patrol, I was also startled by a strange noise——“As though it is unbearable to recall, Li Jia De shook his head, because Li Jia De was telling his inexperience princess this funny matter, Wei Cai laughed.
“Next time, let’s go on an outing ba” Arrived at the carpark, Li Jia De got into the driver seat and suddenly blurted out.
“Just take it as an apology on behalf of my friend ba” Seeing Wei Cai’s puzzled look, he quickly added.
Wei Cai nodded——
He didn’t know why, he felt Li Jia De’s att.i.tude is a bit strange today—— but he was too embarra.s.sed to interfere in his friend’s matters.
He shrugged to himself and decided to remain silent.
Time still pa.s.ses so fast. In a blink of an eye, it is Sat.u.r.day ——
This morning with Wei Cai still in his dream, the phone rang beside his bed.
“Wei6——” His voice was drowsy.
Li Jia De’s pleasant voice transmitted over the phone “Cai Cai? I’m at your house downstairs. Come down quickly.”
“Ah——” Wei Cai’s still a little confused about the situation.
Li Jia De pretended to be angry and said “Didn’t we say everything last week—— You’ve forgotten?”
“O——” prolonging his sound, Wei Cai said in his heart, no wonder he didn’t call yesterday—— still thought he had some matters to attend to, “Then I’ll be down soon”
Hanging up the phone, he hurriedly freshened his look. He ran down the dormitory and saw a lot of curious eyes staring at the bright car at the courtyard.
Wei Cai got on the car watching the obviously disappointed eyes of the crowd ——they probably thought Li Jia De is here to pick up a girl? Wei Cai smiled at the thought.
“Well, for you.” A pack of warm breakfast was handed over. “I know you certainly haven’t woken up so I bought it for you.”
Lifting the hot buns and eating a mouthful, Wei Cai was a little touched “If in the future, that girl was to marry you, she will be very happy, having such a thoughtful husband.”
“Yeah——” Li Jia De prolonged his voice and threw a nasty look at Wei Cai. It was a hesitant look.
The car sped all the way on the road. Both of them tried to make a conversation. The car atmosphere become relaxing and pleasant.
“You know—— you’re famous in our company. A lot of girls are asking me to introduce you to them.” Wei Cai changed the topic.
“Then what was your answer?” Li Jia De asked with a little interest.
“Me ah—— I told them Mr. Lee’s girlfriend is so pretty that they couldn’t catch up even with their bare feet and asked them to quickly give up on the thought of being your girlfriend.”
Because Wei Cai remembered himself severely ridiculed by those women who always have their eyes at the top, Wei Cai had a kind of fantasy to laugh at their feelings.
“Ah, how come I don’t know I have such a beautiful girlfriend?” Li Jia De, surprised for the moment, asked quickly.
“Hey, from Yang Tian that something Na——” When it comes to that women, Wei Cai is still angry.
“You are talking about Luo Na ah—— She is Yang Tian chairman’s daughter who counted as my client only.” Once Wei Cai heard him said that, he revealed a face of relief.
Wei Cai laughed “You treat me as an idiot ah? —— The way she looks at you…. Ah De——” Sharpened his throat and followed the way that Luo Na whining way of calling Li Jia De. Wei Cai was laughing at his own imitation.
“She looking at me that way doesn’t mean I must look at her that way ah!” Li Jia De had a c.o.c.ky expression.
“Wei Cai was a little p.i.s.sed with him, “I know you’re very popular with women la, Big lawyer!”
Li Jia De quickly put on a ‘Xiao Sheng Zhi Cuo, Xiao Sheng Huang Kong’.7
Wei Cai shook his head a bit due to Li Jia De’s buffoonery, a little loss whether to cry or laugh.
He didn’t knew why, maybe two people meeting is up to affinity ba —— obviously, he is an introvert.
But with Li Jia De, he becomes more relaxed, and smiles constantly. Even Wei Cai didn’t know why he was like that.
The scenery at the side of the road was replaced by emerald green-colour scenery.
Haven’t left the city for a long time, Wei Cai was inevitably surprised. Staring out the window’s glittering views, his heart also seemed to become young again.
After buying the ticket and driving the car into the park, the scenery is even more verdant.
Picking a quiet corner, Li Jia De parked the car, and together both of them walk on that beautiful gra.s.sland.
“Wow——” Wei Cai set foot on the soft gra.s.s, could not resist and lie down. The beautiful clouds change its posture and drifting into his eyes, making him could not help but to gasp in admiration of the marvel view in front of him.
“The scenery is not bad right?” Sitting at his side, Li Jia De smile and asked.
“En!” Wei Cai uttered from his throat. He closed his eyes and let the cool breeze brushed upon his cheek.
——
Feeling Li Jia De also laid down, he can almost smell the floating faint cologne on the other’s body —— Wei Cai always felt a guy using perfume is sissy but the brand Li Jia De used has a hint of plain and clear smell which gave others a sense of good feeling.
“Yang Dong Lai, that case is almost to be on trial right?” The gentle breeze blew across Li Jia De’s voice. The voice was not in tune with the work topic.
Wei Cai gently rolled over and did not answer.
Li Jia De still did not give up “You say, how will it be sentenced?”
Unable to put up with it any longer, Wei Cai replied
“He’s dead.” From what he got from the reports these few weeks, embezzled funds from the astronomical figures are iron accounts. “If it is not a death sentence, it will be death sentence.”
“Are you really sure?” Li Jia De boosted his voice in a little disbelief.
——
“Anyway, this is what I think.”
“Then should we make a bet?”
“What are we betting?” Wei Cai opened his eyes but found that their faces are only a few centimetres away and he quickly pulled back his head.
“If it is imprisonment sentence——”
“How then?”
“Treat me to ten movies!”
“If it’s not?”
“I’ll treat you to ten meals.”
“Doesn’t that kinda unfair for you?” Wei Cai felt this is a bit unequal.
“Hahaha—— not at loss, not at loss……”
Ten times of dates—— Felt himself laughed oneself to death, Li Jia De replied quickly.
“Okay!” With his years of work experience, Wei Cai still feels his chances of winning are relatively high.
“Then let’s meet at court la——”
Finally—— the fourth day after the outing, the two met again.
“Chief Wei, long time no see.” The two of them pa.s.sing by the Intermediate People"s Court corridor, Li Jia De started the polite greeting.
Wei Cai also lightly nodded: “Lawyer Li”
Although there is personal relationship, but when handling cases at the court, communication is still branch of discipline—— both of them have this unspoken understanding.
However, when both of them are sitting inside the court’s waiting room, Li Jia De used the chance to secretly leaned over when the a.s.sistant is not paying attention and said “You look handsome wearing a uniform o”
Wei Cai could not helped but have the urge to laugh. Seeing the fitted-tailored green military-style on him, he gave Li Jia De a scornful look to ask him to shut up.
“All rise, Judges take a seat”. Court clerks with no expression read out the same old discipline. Everyone stood up lazily from their position.
From far, glimpse of Li Jia De face becoming sharp and serious, Wei Cai also kept his smiling face in check. He secretly reminded himself that he cannot be defeated on their first fight.
Judge Wu and the two other judges came out, nodded their heads to indicate that they can sit down.
“Now the trial will start——”
The same old ident.i.ty background make one want to yawn—— Wei Cai could not helped but glanced at Zhu Jian8 at his side.
That young lady also had a lazy-look while playing with the pen. He looked at Li Jia De’s a.s.sistant at the opposite side seriously jotting notes down (using a notebook).
He could not helped but secretly shook his head—— wages are not the same, att.i.tude is also not the same……
“Inspector Wei Cai, a.s.sistant inspector Yao Yan in court to support Public Prosecution side…… Defender Li Jia De from Jia De lawyer firm…… defendant, do you have for anything to say?”
As usual the answer is negative and finally starts the court investigation.
The sound of reading the indictment aloud, listening to his own voice echoed inside the high and wide hall, feeling Li Jia De at the opposite side kept looking at him, Wei Cai felt his mind could scarcely concentrated.
Confused, Wei Cai is not in the stage of his investigation state but continued to suffer the cannot-be-lazy debate process.
Both of them already knew the sentences that the judges will give, therefore there are no intense debate at the end speech.
Like one of the serious side of the drama
—— the pa.s.sion for the job at the beginning gradually faded among the darkness……
Still you come and find me saying some minor problems……
I’m really old
At three in the afternoon, already exhausted Wei Cai looked at the still sparkling Li Jia De. Inevitably in his heart, he sighed darkly.