Skin - Chapter 23

Walking out of the technical department’s office, Meng Zhao began to think about the starting point of the campus bullying incident. The school was silent about what had happened back then, and the court happened to have lost the case files from that year. Was it really a coincidence… Which thief would go to the court to steal a specific case file?

　　Meng Zhao decided to take one more trip to the court. There would always be someone who would remember the relevant details. It could be the judge, the lawyers on both sides, and maybe the trial staff too.

　　In the afternoon, Meng Zhao took Cheng Yun to the court.

　　”Judge Yu who was in charge at that time has been transferred to the province.” The same staff member from last time received Meng Zhao. “As for the trial staff, let me ask around…” The other party also looked a little embarrassed, “It’s been ten years, and it’s really difficult to investigate. I heard that this case was never heard publicly because all the defendants were minors, and so even the staff present were reduced to the minimum number of people.” She showed Meng Zhao the chat interface on her phone, “Well, I asked in the group, but no one has replied to me yet.”

　　”Do you still remember the lawyers on both sides at that time?”

　　”Lawyers from both sides…” the other party recalled with some difficulty.

　　”It’s Lu Chengze.” Someone said next to him.

　　”Lu Chengze?” Meng Zhao looked up at the man, “Are you sure?”

　　”Sure,” the man nodded, “I remember that Lu Chengze was very handsome, and he didn’t look like a forty-year-old at all. At that time, many people wanted to watch him appear in court, but as Sister Lin just said, the defendants were underage so no unrelated persons were allowed to attend the trial, and many people were disappointed.”

　　”Are you disappointed?” Sister Lin next to her teased.

　　”I remember you were also disappointed at that time.” The other person joked back.

　　After leaving the court, Meng Zhao planned to visit Haoze Law Firm. Because he was not sure whether Lu Chengze was at the firm, he sent a message to Lu Shichen on WeChat 【Give me your father’s contact information.】

　　Lu Shichen replied: 【Why are you looking for him for?】

　　【”He was one of the lawyers in the campus bullying case, and I wanted to find out more about the case through him.”】 Meng Zhao sent a voice message, 【”Your dad is such a busy man, and he may not be at the firm all the time. If i asked him in advance, i wouldn’t waste a trip.”】

　　Lu Shichen didn’t ask any more questions and sent a series of numbers.

　　Meng Zhao called Lu Chengze, and it took a while before the call was answered. Lu Chengze not only didn’t look old, but his voice didn’t sound too old either: “Hello.”

　　”Uncle Lu, I am Meng Zhao from the Municipal Bureau,” Meng Zhao first introduced himself and then said, “I have a case that I would like to discuss with you. Is it convenient for you if I go to the law firm right now to find you?”

　　”Oh, Xiao Meng,” Lu Chengze said on the phone, “I’m at the firm right now, come over.”

　　The building of Haoze Law Firm had been renovated and rebuilt in the past ten years, and it looked more majestic now. Meng Zhao drove over, got out of the car, and looked up at the majestic office building in front of him.

　　Because of Meng Xiangyu’s case, it was difficult for him to not feel shaken when he stepped into the building once again.

　　Twelve years ago, when he stepped into the building with heavy legs, he did not think that one day he would appear there again as a detective.

　　Just like twelve years ago, Lu Chengze’s office was still located on the sixth floor. The secretary led Meng Zhao to the door. He first knocked on the door and went in to report that Meng Zhao had arrived. When the secretary came out, Meng Zhao opened the door and went in.

　　Lu Chengze’s office was transparent and bright. As soon as he entered, Meng Zhao first saw Lu Chengze seated on the leather chair behind the solid wood desk, working.

　　Then he noticed Lu Shichen sitting on the single sofa next to him.

　　Before Meng Zhao had come in, the father and son seemed to be talking about something.

　　Seeing Meng Zhao come in, Lu Chengze stopped writing in his hand, stood up, walked around the table, and briefly shook hands with Meng Zhao: “Sit down and let’s talk.”

　　Lu Shichen was still sitting on the sofa and did not move.

　　”Shi Chen, Officer Meng is here, you should at least get up and say hello,” Lu Chengze said with a hint of blame, “Why are you being so rude?”

　　Lu Shichen didn’t seem to listen, he just raised his chin towards Meng Zhao: “You’re here finally?”

　　”Why are you here?” Meng Zhaoyou looked at him and asked.

　　”I’m here to listen. This case is related to me after all.” Lu Shichen looked at him.

　　”Huh? Do you know the purpose of Xiao Meng’s trip this time?” Lu Chengze glanced at Lu Shichen in surprise, and he quickly speculated, “Could it be the same case as last time? Come Xiao Meng, sit down and talk.”

　　The three of them sat on the sofa, and the secretary brought tea. Meng Zhao briefly introduced Cheng Yun to Lu Chengze, and quickly got to the point: “Uncle Lu, to tell you the truth, I came here this time to speak about the same case as last time, the one involving Lu Shichen.”

　　”Is it still about that case?” When he heard that it was the same case which was related to Lu Shichen, Lu Chengze frowned, “I heard it on the news this morning that the murderer committed suicide by jumping off the building?”

　　”Yes,” Meng Zhao smiled helplessly, “but because she committed suicide, many details of the case cannot be investigated. If the truth cannot be found out, the case will not be considered over, and Lu Shichen will not be able to completely separate himself from the case.”

　　Lu Chengze nodded and asked, “Is it compliant for Shi Chen to sit here? If it’s not, just say so.”

　　Although Lu Chengze said it, Meng Zhao could not open his mouth to drive out Lu Shichen. He glanced at Lu Shichen. Lu Shichen seemed to be looking down at a legal magazine. Meng Zhao said to Lu Chengze: “It’s okay, Uncle Lu, let’s start.”

　　Meng Zhao picked out the details he could reveal and gave a general account of the subsequent development of the case to Lu Chengze. Lu Chengze didn’t say a word, his brows were furrowed, and he seemed to be listening attentively.

　　When he heard about the campus bullying case from that year, Lu Chengze interrupted Meng Zhao: “Zhao Tong? This name sounds familiar. I seemed to have taken over a case about campus bullying that happened in Wenzhao High School. The boy who committed suicide…”

　　”Yes, that’s Zhao Tong.” Meng Zhao took over his words, “Do you still remember that case? Actually, this time I came here to discuss that case.”

　　”Is it really about that Zhao Tong?” Lu Chengze had a slightly surprised look on his face.

　　”Yes, it’s about the campus bullying case you took on back then.”

　　”So you plan to start off with the bullying case from that year?” Lu Chengze pondered for a moment, “Although the traceback time is relatively long, the investigation should be more thorough. You said on the phone that you wanted to find out about the situation from me. What exactly do you want to know?”

　　”You were the defendant’s lawyer back then, right?”

　　”Yes.”

　　”I just came here to ask for the list of defendants at that time. It’s ridiculous to admit that the court actually lost the trial records, so I had to ask for lawyers about it. Thank you for meeting me today, otherwise this trivial matter would have been a headache. ”

　　”List of defendants? It’s no problem,” Lu Chengze agreed immediately, “I will ask my secretary to check the case records for that year.” After saying that, he called the secretary.

　　A few minutes later, the secretary called back. Lu Chengze pressed the speakerphone and listened to the call with Meng Zhao.

　　”Lawyer Lu, we have checked both the filing cabinets and the system, but we can’t find any case files from that year.”

　　”How is that possible?” Lu Chengze frowned, “Check who did the archiving of the cases during the same period and find out what happened.”

　　　After hanging up the call, Lu Chengze stood up and walked back and forth in the room. He seemed to finally realise that the matter was not simple: “The court’s trial records are lost, and somehow my case files here are also lost.” He pondered for a moment, “Xiao Meng, do you have a list of Zhou Yan’s high school class? If we really can’t find the list of defendants, then I can try to recall it.”

　　”I have the list here,” Meng Zhao said attempting to comfort him as he saw Lu Chengze’s angry expression, “Don’t worry, even if the case file is lost, there must be other ways to find it.”

　　”It would be fine if this was another case. The main thing is that this case involves…” Lu Chengze didn’t finish his sentence, but Meng Zhao knew that he was talking about Lu Shichen. It seemed that although both the father and son seemed to have a somewhat repulsive temperament, Lu Chengze would still show his worries as a parent when the matters finally came down to his own son.

　　A few minutes later, the secretary called again: “Lawyer Lu, the Xiao Sun incharge of the records that year, has already resigned five years ago. I just tried to contact her, but the number seemed to be used by someone else…”

　　”How could something like this happen?” Lu Chengze’s expression became angrier, “Please come to my office later.”

　　After hanging up the call and facing Meng Zhao, Lu Chengze suppressed the anger on his face: “Xiao Meng, show me the list of Zhou Yan’s classmates. I’ll try to recall it.”

　　Meng Zhao showed Lu Chengze the photograph he had taken of the roster at Wenzhao High School. Lu Chengze picked up his silver-rimmed glasses which were on the table and put them on. He looked at the list carefully, then took out a piece of white paper from the side and wrote down the names he could recall.

　　A few minutes later, he handed the list to Meng Zhao: “It’s been too long since that case, and I am not sure if these are definitely the defendants from that year. I can only say that maybe they are.”

　　”That’s enough.” Meng Zhao looked at the long list written by Lu Chengze on the white paper. He roughly scanned it and found that there were more than a dozen names. “So many?”

　　”Yes, I remember that the plaintiff was not sure who had forced her son to death, so she wrote down the names of all the classmates who were suspected of having contact with her son. The other party’s lawyer was not very experienced. On the day of the trial, the witnesses they sought did not even appear in court, so the defendant was able to win without a fight.”

　　Lu Chengze did not show any preference for the defendant he was responsible for defending at that time. Meng Zhao was about to speak, but found that Cheng Yun next to him had not spoken. She seemed to be hesitant to speak.

　　He turned around and asked Cheng Yun what she wanted to say with his eyes.

　　Cheng Yun was a little hesitant, but Lu Chengze also realised that Cheng Yun wanted to say something, and took the initiative to ask: “What do you want to say? Just say it.”

　　Cheng Yun then let go of her hesitation: “Lawyer Lu, I know it’s not my place to say anything, but I really don’t understand why you were in charge of the defendant’s side for that case? Did you also think that Zhao Tong was not forced to commit suicide because of the bullying?”

　　”That’s not the case.” When Cheng Yun mentioned it, Lu Chengze was silent for a moment, and then sighed, “I took this case for my own personal reasons. At that time, Haoze had encountered some financial problems and I almost lost my job. I wanted to raise the wages of the employees at the grassroots, so I decided to start taking over the legal outsourcing work of some companies. Do you know Linjiang Pharmaceutical? That was Haoze’s first big customer, and the price offered was enough to help Haoze lift up from its financial crisis. At that time when the contract was being signed, Lin Jiang’s boss made a request. It was simple, he wanted me to help his friend take over a case. He only asked me to put my name on it and show up on the day of the trial, nothing else.”

　　‘So that’s it,’ Meng Zhao thought to himself. It was understandable indeed. The image established by Lu Chengze during the migrant workers’ salary-demand case was enough to reverse the public opinion situation between the two parties. No wonder the defendant would choose to approach Lu Chengze.

　　”You were young at the time, so you probably didn’t pay attention to this case. Because it involved school violence and juvenile suicide, it caused quite a stir. However, the news in the media may have been withdrawn by now.”

　　”Yes,” Meng Zhao nodded, “Now there is almost no relevant news on the Internet regarding it.”

　　”Haoze’s financial situation at that time is an exaggeration to describe it as being on the verge of danger. Opening a law firm was the dream of Xiaochen’s mother and I when we were in college. The name ‘Haoze’ was chosen by her. It took a long time to establish the firm. Because I changed my plan temporarily and quit my job to take over the salary case, the realisation of this idea had been delayed for long. When i finally managed to achieve it, I really couldn’t watch this firm end miserably.”

　　As Lu Chengze spoke, he probably thought of his late wife. He paused and calmed down his emotions before continuing: “In order to keep this law firm, I agreed to the client’s condition.” He fell into memories and his expression became a little serious. “I didn’t expect that after taking over that case, the other party really didn’t let me get involved too much. They found many witnesses by themselves. It wasn’t until the day of the trial that I saw the defendants.”

　　Meng Zhao nodded. Lu Chengze’s reputation had been maintained not only because of the migrant workers case, but also because after that, he took over many difficult cases for free, such as cases of girls being sexually assaulted and disabled children being tortured, domestic violence cases, etc., such cases were low-paying and extremely time-consuming. It wasn’t surprising that Haoze fell into a financial crisis that year.

　　Fortunately, Lu Chengze was smart enough. After realising that the situation was unsustainable, he began to contract legal work for some large companies, which allowed Haoze to develop to its current level.

　　”Furthermore, Xiao Meng and Xiao Cheng, you are all high-level talents in the public security system. You should know that in the final analysis, the work of lawyers and police is to ensure the progress of justice. It’s just that you police have to identify the suspect based on clues, and we lawyers have to ensure that every suspect does not suffer injustice. If everyone assumes in advance that the person they identify is the murderer, then only more incidents like Zhao Yunhua strangling Zhou Yan to death will happen.”

　　Cheng Yun nodded quickly and said: “Lawyer Lu, I completely agree with what you said. It’s just that my question was superficial.”

　　”The case of Xiao Meng’s uncle was also like this. Before the results of the second trial were announced, everyone already believed that Meng Xiangyu was the murderer. Even now, as long as someone is simply suspected as a murder, some people will still identify him as the murderer.” Lu Chengze said At this point, he paused for a moment before continuing, “Even I, as a lawyer, initially thought that the evidence was conclusive and there was no possibility of overturning the case. Xiao Meng, you must still remember that it was for this reason that I almost didn’t take over your uncle’s case. The case almost led to a big mistake.”

　　”Anyone can predict who the murderer is, but we lawyers must not make such mistakes. So at that time, after taking over the campus bullying case, I was really determined to find out the truth. Unexpectedly, they didn’t give me a chance to intervene. Maybe it was retribution. Who would have thought that that case would involve Shi Chen ten years later…” He sighed and looked at Meng Zhao, “Xiao Meng, this case, if the truth is not discovered, I’m worried that… Shi Chen will also fall into the same desperate situation as your uncle at that time.”

　　”No.” Meng Zhao glanced at Lu Shichen opposite.

　　Lu Shichen had put down the magazine and was listening to their conversation. Meng Zhao paid attention to Lu Shichen’s expression, and he found that even when Lu Chengze expressed his concern for Lu Shichen, Lu Shichen still didn’t show any expression on his face.

　　‘This man is really…hard-hearted.’ Meng Zhao unconsciously had such a thought.

　　He raised his hand and patted Lu Chengze’s hand. It seemed strange to comfort a person of his father’s generation like that, but Lu Chengze’s words really touched him: “Don’t worry, I will definitely find out the truth. Besides, nothing has happened yet. You are being so serious. This case won’t reach the point where my uncle was at that time.”

　　After getting the list, Meng Zhao went over some details of the case with Lu Chengze: “Then do you remember whether Zhou Yan was on the defendant list at that time?” He took out his mobile phone and showed Lu Chengze the photos of Zhou Yan in high school. “It’s this boy.”

　　Lu Chengze looked at it for a few seconds and shook his head: “No. As I said, the list of defendants was selected by Zhao Yunhua. And she was very hasty. That’s because she couldn’t determine who exactly bullied her son . Considering all this, the list made by Zhao Yunhua is based on who she believed were the real perpetrators. So, this list may not necessarily include the real bullies.”

　　Meng Zhao nodded, just as he had guessed, if Zhou Yan’s name was also included in the list, then Zhao Yunhua would not have gotten along with him as harmoniously as she had over the years. But it was strange, if Zhou Yan was a member of the group responsible for bullying Zhao Tao, then why was he not included in the defendant list made by Zhao Yunhua…

　　After getting all his questions answered, Meng Zhao said goodbye to Lu Chengze, then stood up and left.

　　Just as Lu Chengze was sending Meng Zhao and Cheng Yun out, Lu Shichen also stood up and followed them to the door.

　　Meng Zhao opened the door, and after expressing his gratitude to Lu Chengze, he looked at Lu Shichen: “It seems that Uncle Lu has taught you well. You actually got up to see me off?”

　　”You still owe me a meal.” Lu Shichen looked at him with that matter-of-fact tone again.

　　Meng Zhao: “…”

　　Before Meng Zhao spoke, Lu Chengze couldn’t stand listening anymore. He turned around and scolded Lu Shichen: “Officer Meng came to me specifically for your case. You should treat him to a meal.”

　　”I know.” Lu Shichen stepped out of the room, held Meng Zhao’s wrist, “Let’s go.”

　　”I’ll go too. I need to inquire what happened to the missing files.” Lu Chengze held the door handle, closed the door, and walked towards the elevator with several young people.

　　After entering the elevator, his eyes fell on Lu Shichen and Meng Zhao who stood opposite him, and he chatted with Meng Zhao for a few words: “In a blink of an eye, you’ve already grown up so much. Has Xiao Meng started a family?”

　　”Not yet.”

　　”Didn’t find the right person?”

　　”That’s right.” Meng Zhao smiled.

　　”You are not in a hurry, and neither is Shi Chen…” Lu Chengze said and smiled helplessly.

　　When the elevator reached the third floor, Lu Chengze stepped out of the elevator. After Meng Zhao bid him goodbye, he noticed that Lu Chengze’s eyes lingered on his wrist for a moment.

　　When the elevator door closed, Meng Zhao realised that Lu Shichen’s hand was still on his wrist. He hadn’t let go.