NOVEL NEXT vol. 1 chapter 5 - “The price of one life was only eighty thousand”
Chapter 5 – “The price of one life was only eighty thousand”
The door finally opened.
The grey sky outside darkened even more the already poorly lit apartment. The ceiling was lower than standard and was cramped for Qin Mu’s height of 1 metre 83, let alone Gang Zi, who was nearly 1 metre 90. He had to bend his head over as if he suffered from some spinal injury.
Old Mr Zhang’s home was simple and modest, tidy and neat, yet suffused with an indescribable smell. Like the smell of medicine, or perhaps the odour of damp musty quilts, or maybe it was simply the smell of old men who had stayed home for too long.
Two bird cages were hanging in the room, both empty. Floral-patterned curtains draped awkwardly to the side. The row of plants upon the windowsill was the only corner that emanated a sense of life.
“Old Sir, you keep birds? Oh, please don’t trouble yourself, let me.” Gang Zi swiftly took the hot water flask from Zhang Wenhua’s trembling hands and poured water for Qin Mu and himself. The old man had a hard time moving about and little strength. He was bent over and managed a few difficult steps before needing to cling to the armrest to help lower himself into the wicker chair.
“I used to. But ever since this sickness, you know, I haven’t been able to take care of them. I gave them away.” Zhang Wenhua looked hesitatingly at Qin Mu and, after a long pause, stammered the question, “Little Qin Attorney, tell me honestly, Attorney Xiao, he… Is it because of my case that….”
Qin Mu answered: “The perpetrator has not yet been found. It is too early to reach any conclusions.”
Zhang Wenhua lowered his eyes, his shrivelled fingers twisting together, and muttered: “He helped me out of kindness, didn’t take a single cent, and now this sort of thing happens, I really…”
“It has nothing to do with you.” Qin Mu said. His pupils were darkly coloured, the bridge of his nose tall, the eyes that hid behind the frames of his glasses appeared a deep intensity. Out of professional habit, when he spoke, he looked directly at people with a manner of sincerity that made you believe him. “Old Mr Zhang, whether Professor Xiao or I, we lawyers are merely the knife that serves to reclaim justice on your behalf. Whether or not you want to wield this knife, when you want to wield it, how you want to wield it, that is your discretion.” He paused a little, slowing his words down, “The purpose of hiring a lawyer and going to court is to seek justice. But justice, beyond the bounds and definitions of the law, it is a thing that exists as a scale within the hearts of all who are involved - to be able to be at peace, that is true justice.”
These words seemed to strike heavily upon Zhang Wenhua’s heart. He frowned and, after a long pause, managed only a sentence, “Little Qin Attorney, I really… don’t want the trouble anymore.”
“I can understand your circumstance and sentiment, and can guess the kind of difficulties involved.” Qin Mu looked directly at the other, “If you already have better options at hand or have received satisfactory compensation, then whether it is Professor Xiao or I, we can be at peace and let this trip be for nothing.”
Hearing him say this, the murky eyes of the old man started to redden, “Little Qin Attorney, I’ll come clean with you. The reason I’m ‘letting it be’ is because I have no other choice. The reasons within, please don’t ask me, it makes no difference whether you know them or not. We small folk who live at the bottom of society, once we meet with any trouble, we have no choice.” He sighed despairingly, “Life, it’s hard… Sometimes you just don’t have it in you, other times, you just can’t do anything about it. Little Qin Attorney, you are young, perhaps you do not understand this yet. My partner and I met late in life. Little Ran is from my wife’s previous marriage. She was already 16 when I met her. She’s not close to me and had a falling out with her mother, so she left to make her own life very early on. My partner had high blood pressure, and after surviving the cerebral haemorrhage, she was bedridden. Food, water, toilet, turning in the bed, washing, it was all on me. Three years we endured it before she passed. I really… I became scared of all that caretaking, afraid also one day I will end up stuck on a bed with no one to care for me and finish my life as this sad, miserable sight. So I thought to myself, I should buy some supplements to eat, give my body a chance to be healthy, make sure I’m not a burden, and I don’t suffer. But things didn’t go as I wished, I ended up getting sick from eating supplements.” Zhang Wenhua tugged the wrinkled corner of his lips and showed a pained, bitter smile, “It’s late stage. Whether I get treatment or not, I don’t have many days left to live, I don’t mind putting my life on the line one last time. But Little Ran’s entire life is still ahead of her, she never got much fatherly love, not from her biological father nor from me. I owe her. I cannot, as I leave this world, bring her and her family into this mess.” As Zhang Wenhua spoke, he raised his hand to wipe the corner of his eyes, and then, in a trembling voice, “Little Qin Attorney, I am thankful to Attorney Xiao, I am thankful to you. But… at this point in my life, I have nothing left in me to wield this knife…”
Those people had used Zhang Ran as his one weak spot and threatened Zhang Wenhua - one blow and the matter was settled forever.
As Qin Mu watched him wipe away his tears, a wearied bitterness came over his heart. He had made up his mind to do whatever was needed to persuade Zhang Wenhua of letting him fight the case. But now, all his carefully prepared words and carefully planned reasonings, he couldn’t bring himself to utter them. He remembered Xiao Chengzong, who was in that moment still lying in the morgue, and his heart tore violently into two desolate plains, one a boundless freezing glacier, the other a boundless raging inferno, frost and heat twisted together, impossible to untangle, to untassel. He pushed against his glasses, forcing himself to calm down, and asked: “Did they give you any compensation?”
Zhang Wenhua had no intention of hiding it and admitted plainly, “They gave eighty thousand.”
A mere eighty thousand.
The price of one life was only eighty thousand.
The hand that rested on Qin Mu’s knee quietly tightened into a fist. Unable to bear it, he said, “If we win, I can get you eight hundred thousand.”
Zhang Wenhua seemed startled by the number. He stared back blankly, thought for a moment and then shook his head, “… it is what it is, it is what it is. It’s my own misfortune, I’ll bear it.” Struggling, he got up and then took from the cabinet a stack of cash and handed it to Qin Mu, “Little Qin Attorney, it must’ve not been easy for you to come here, please take this money.”
“You would like me to leave then.” Qin Mu smiled resignedly. He rose and softly pushed his hand back, “Old Mr Zhang, I will be in J City for a few more days. If you change your mind, you can call me anytime. I came here not only for you, but also to finish what Professor Xiao couldn’t.”
Zhang Wenhua looked with a certain guilt at the young man before him. Several times, he seemed to be on the verge of speaking, but remained silent. In the moment Qin Mu was about to step outside the door, he sighed heavily and said, “Please wait a moment.” He lowered his head and took out a small address book from his pocket, then flipped to the last page where there was a number written down. The book had once been soaked in water, the ink of the letters had bled, the line of numbers and the three characters “Wu Guangming” were all a blurry fuzz.
“He used to also live in this complex, but moved away. When he heard I was sick, he came to visit. He said his mother had also developed complications from eating the supplement. He asked me if I wanted to seek rightful compensation together. I went along with him two times, but I became too ill to continue. He’s gone to government departments, media, and even Precious Health itself. None of it’s worked. I heard he’s tried several law firms in J City, trying to file a lawsuit, but as soon as they hear it’s a case against Precious Health, they refuse him. Little Qin Attorney, you can try and contact him.”
It was an unexpected boon. Qin Mu felt a warmth rise within his chest. He held onto the shrivelled hands of the old man and said with gratitude: “Thank you.”
Stepping out of the staircase, they found that it had started raining again at some point. Gang Zi asked: “Do we contact Wu Guangming now?”
Qin Mu shook his head, fatigued: “Let’s rest and regroup first.”
His assistant had booked the hotel, a Hyatt suite.
In actuality, when Qin Mu was away on business, he wasn’t especially picky about food or accommodation. So long as it was clean and quiet, five stars were fine, business hotels were fine. Buffets, street food, they were all fine. When he and Zhou Yi used to run cases as legal assistants, they had struggled through all sorts, there wasn’t much to be fussy over.
He called room service and sat on the sofa blankly.
From the moment he received the call about Xiao Chengzong, Qin Mu’s mind had been racing nonstop, going repeatedly over the details of the case, thinking over strategies and plans of action; he didn’t even sleep on the plane. And now that Zhang Wenhua’s case was no more, he started considering the next best step. As the air conditioning warmed the room, Qin Mu gradually relaxed and felt a heavy wave of exhaustion come over him. He was asleep before lunch reached him and didn’t even wake when Gang Zi placed a blanket over him.
Slouched on the sofa like so, Qin Mu slept. When he awoke his neck was stiff, but he finally felt somewhat recovered. He quickly took a couple of bites of the food and then dialled Wu Guangming’s number.
“Hello, is this Wu Guangming? I am calling from Yi & Mu Lawyers*, I am Qin…” Before he could finish his self-introduction, he heard an aggressive curse from the other end, “Fuck off!” and the phone hung up. When he tried calling again, all he heard was the busy signal. It seemed he had been blocked.
Qin Mu sighed with a sense of helplessness, “Do I really sound like a scammer?”
Gang Zi started to laugh and passed him his own phone.
Qin Mu sent Wu Guangming a text message explaining that he had gotten his number from Zhang Wenhua. A little while later, he got a call back from Wu Guangming.
“My apologies, my deepest apologies.” The man on the other end said, “My details were leaked somehow, and I keep getting spam calls. I thought you were another scammer.”
“No problem.” Qin Mu expressed understanding, “I heard from Old Mr Zhang that you want to find a lawyer to sue Precious Health, is this right?”
Wu Guangming was surprised, “You’re willing to take the case?”
Qin Mu briefly went over his relationship with Professor Xiao, Zhang Wenhua and Precious Health. Wu Guangming hesitated for a moment and then said nervously, “Attorney Qin, I won’t lie to you. I’ve used up most of the money at home on my mother’s medical treatment, and I still have two children ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) to feed, I won’t really be able to pay much in legal fees. But… if you can help me win this lawsuit, I will give you half the compensation fee, even all of it! You have no idea how much I hate them! I hate that bastard company so much I want to burn it all down to ashes!”
“The fee is of no importance.” Qin Mu said, “If it is convenient for you, Mr Wu, let’s meet.”
“Yes, yes.” Wu Guangming hastened to agree, but having done so, added a dispirited remark, “I’m very sorry, but is there any chance you could come to my house? I can’t really… leave home right now.”
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Translator’s Note:
1.The name “Yi & Mu Lawyers” is derived from Qin Mu and Zhou Yi’s names. In English, it is very common to name a law firm after the names of the primary partners. However, the Chinese characters used here are homonyms, and thus a double entendre, which is a very common type of word play in Chinese. Here, Yi 弋 has changed to a character Yi 易 meaning “to change” or “to move”, whereas Mu 穆 has changed to a character Mu 木 meaning “wood”. (This latter change will be a very common wordplay for Qin Mu’s name throughout the novel.) Together, the name of the law firm can mean “moving wood”. This may or may not be intended by the author, but this inevitably brings to Chinese minds the very famous story from history about Shang Yang moving wood. Around 350ish BC, Shang Yang, a legalist philosopher and law reformer who laid the foundations of a unified China, used the symbolic act of rewarding the person who moved a large log of wood to establish the credibility of law and the inviolability of the rule of law.