Read Novel Full Chapter 225: Each to Their Own Path
Chapter 225: Each to Their Own Path
"The name's crossed out."
At eleven in the morning, she carried a plastic bag upstairs and set it on the windowsill—inside was a hallway lightbulb. The door stood open, three photocopied pages spread across the desk. Lu Jibai stood beside the desk; he hadn't sat down.
"Which page?"
"The first." He tapped the middle line with his knuckle. "Client materials handover checklist. The firm uses this form when they transfer a partner's active cases to someone else."
She picked it up and read. Eleven active matters, three advisory clients, listed line by line. In the handover column, his name had been struck through with a single red stroke. Next to it, another partner's name had been filled in.
"Clean stroke."
"It wasn't done on the spot." He nudged the paper half an inch toward the window. "Under the red line there's a crease—ink pooled there a little. This form was printed before the meeting started."
"What time was the meeting?"
"Eight-thirty. This was the first item." He said, "I walked in. Six pages on the table. Mine was on top."
"Who read it out?"
"Nobody had to. Whoever's name is at the top can see it for themselves."
He Xiufen came out from the back room holding her tea mug. She pulled the form over and read it top to bottom.
"What about the dispatch register?"
"In the mailroom's hardcover log, they drew a line through my name and added two small characters beside it." He pulled a folded note from his pocket and smoothed it open. "Re-assigned."
"You copied it yourself."
"Copied one line exactly as written. The logbook doesn't leave the room."
He Xiufen laid the note on top of the handover form and studied both twice.
"You keep these two pieces of paper," she said. "One is someone else crossing out your name. The other is you copying it yourself."
"What was said at the meeting?" Shen Zhixia asked.
"Chairman Han said one thing: each to their own path."
"That was all."
"He didn't name me. No one else did either. When they reached the last item, he said that one line, and the meeting adjourned."
"And after?"
"He stood with me in the hallway for a moment." Lu Jibai stacked the three pages and pressed them flat. "He said if a man wants to leave, he needs somewhere to go first."
"What did you say?"
"I said I'd handle the paperwork myself."
"What did he say?"
"He said the paperwork goes by procedure." He paused. "Whatever the regulations require, it's written on the form. The Association will comply."
He Xiufen set her tea mug on the desk with a soft clink.
"He's not stopping you," she said. "He's telling you to find a destination first. If you find one, you go. If you don't, you stay there in limbo."
"Just after ten this morning, one of the advisory clients called to ask if I was leaving."
"What did you tell him?"
"A case stays where the person is." He said, "I told him to stay with Hengzheng. A year of his advisory fees is worth more than the trouble I'd save by switching firms."
"You said that to all three?"
"Two. The third hasn't called yet."
"What about this month's hearings?" He Xiufen asked.
"They proceed. The hearing notices still carry my name." He said, "The form inside that office they can cross out—the paper outside, they can't change that fast."
He Xiufen lowered herself into a chair, the legs scraping half an inch across the concrete floor.
"You're not taking a single client with you," she said, eyes still on the handover form. "That building can only block you on one thing left."
"Paperwork," he said.
[Thud. He didn't take a single client. That building can only block him on paperwork now.]
* * *
At noon, the smell of scallion oil from downstairs crept up the stairwell. She went down and brought back two bowls of noodles, setting one in front of him.
"Put the noodles on my tab," she said.
"How much is left on your tab?"
"Enough for two bowls."
He picked up his chopsticks and ate a few bites. Her phone buzzed.
Tang Guo had sent a photo: an A4 sheet spread under a ring light, three sums of money, and the final line: "Apart from this, I have never received money from any party in any case." Below the photo was a line of text: Has anyone filled in the signature line on the 18th yet?
She replied: Almost.
"How many days is 'almost'?" Another message popped up from Tang Guo.
She didn't reply. She turned the phone face-down on the table.
"Where are you this afternoon?" she asked him.
"Going to the Association's first floor to get a form."
"What form?"
"Practice institution change registration form."
"What does the form require?"
"Two boxes of writing." He said, "One from the original firm. One from the receiving firm."
Her chopsticks paused over the noodles for half a beat.
"Have you decided which one?"
"I'll start by reading the form through." He poked at the noodles in his bowl. "We'll talk this afternoon."
Just past three in the afternoon, the landline rang. He Xiufen answered, listened for a moment, and lifted her eyes to Shen Zhixia.
"Director He, one question." Lu Jibai's voice leaked faintly from the receiver. "Does Zhengping Firm dare take someone coming out of Hengzheng?"
"I don't answer that kind of question over the phone." He Xiufen said, "Come up this evening. Bring a piece of paper."
She hung up the receiver and braced both hands on the desk edge for a moment.
"He's put the question on my desk," she said. "I'm passing it to you as-is—if we take him, that thin veil between Zhengping and Hengzheng gets torn clean off."
Shen Zhixia said nothing.
"Don't rush to answer." He Xiufen opened the metal cabinet, pulled a blue-gridded case intake ledger from the very bottom, flipped to the middle, and pushed it across. "Look at this."
Horizontal lines ran row by row. She pointed to the entries near the bottom.
"Last year, thirty-seven cases. Work injuries, wage arrears, child support—twenty-six were assigned to us." She said, "The remaining eleven, you brought in one by one: from the delivery riders, from Tang Guo, from the neighbors."
"Twenty-six were assigned."
"And where do assignments come from?" He Xiufen closed the ledger. "They come from that building."
"If we lose twenty percent, we turn off the lights."
"If we lose twenty percent, the light in this room is shaky too." She slid the ledger back into the cabinet. "Hengzheng doesn't have to lift a finger. It has plenty of ways to act without lifting one—reports, assessments, assignments. None of them wear the same face."
"What are you trying to say?"
"I'm saying if you answer 'take him' today, you'd better have calculated all of these." She sat back in her chair. "I'm not listening for a pretty answer. I want a clear one."
Shen Zhixia looked at the closed ledger.
"Why is he leaving?" He Xiufen asked. "Have you thought about it?"
"The material pages from the 18th—the signature line is still blank. He says he needs someone outside Hengzheng to sign it."
"That's the half-sentence he gave you." He Xiufen swiveled her tea mug half a turn. "What about the other half?"
"Nine years." She said, "He stood in that building for nine years. This handover form today was printed before the meeting. The red line through his name—somebody wanted to draw it long ago."
"So his leaving isn't running."
"It isn't." She said, "He's pulling his hand out of that page."
He Xiufen studied her for two seconds and smiled, briefly.
"What about you, then?" she said. "Once he lands at our firm, your two names get tied to one rope. That box he fills in—he's signing it for you, and for himself. Fall, and you fall together."
"My name's been tied to that rope for a while." She said, "The anonymous complaint letter dated July 4th—it was about me."
"Then remember one more thing." He Xiufen picked up her tea mug. "The signature line on your statement is still blank to this day. He only lands at our firm, and that box will have a name to fill."
* * *
Just past seven in the evening, footsteps sounded on the stairs. He came up carrying a single sheet of paper.
"The form."
"The window gave it to me, blank." He set it on the desk and smoothed it flat. "I meant to bring two pens, but there was only one left there."
Shen Zhixia looked down. Four columns: Name, Practice Certificate Number, Original Practice Institution and Opinion, Intended Receiving Institution and Opinion.
"The person at the window said something." He said, "She said this column has to be filled first before they can move forward."
"Which column?"
"The receiving firm's opinion." His finger slid across those words and stopped in the blank space.
"You gave them a firm name this afternoon."
"I did. She asked which firm was the intended recipient. I said Zhengping Firm."
"You didn't ask me."
"I already asked." He said, "Over the phone you wouldn't answer. So I said it next to a blank form, and let you answer while looking at it."
[Thud. Once words land in this box, there is no door left between the two firms.]
He Xiufen pulled her drawer halfway open, took out a pen, and set it beside Shen Zhixia's hand.
"Draft it," she said. "One page. Three sentences."
"Writing what?"
"First: our firm accepts. Second: our firm has verified his practice qualification. Third: our firm shall bear management responsibility in accordance with law." He Xiufen said, "Don't write 'welcome.' Don't write 'honored.' Don't write 'capable addition.' Give that box exactly what it asks for. One extra word is just for other people to see."
Shen Zhixia drafted three sentences, one page, leaving two signature lines at the bottom. Firm name. Date.
"What about the seal?"
"The seal's in my drawer." He Xiufen took the paper and read it through once. "Leave the writing for now. I'll sign it tomorrow morning."
The paper had barely been set down when the landline rang. Seven-fifty.
"Jiangzhou Zhengping Law Firm?"
"Yes," He Xiufen said. "Go ahead."
"This is the Membership Affairs Department of the Municipal Bar Association. This afternoon a lawyer came to the window to ask about the change registration procedures, and listed your firm as the intended receiving institution. We're calling the number on file to verify one thing—does your firm actually have this intention?"
"Documentation will confirm."
"Then I'll note: awaiting your written response." The sound of pages turning came softly through the line. "Regarding the receiving firm's opinion box on the form—that box must be filled first before we can move to the next step. One more per regulations: once the change is accepted, it will be entered into the directory for public notice."
"Noted."
"Additionally." The voice paused. "One of your firm's interns has supplementary materials due on the 18th. These two matters are handled by separate desks on our end."
"Handled separately."
"Correct." The voice said, "You're the firm director. I ask, you answer, and I note it down properly."
The call ended. He Xiufen replaced the receiver, opened her notebook, and wrote: July 13, 7:50 p.m., call from Municipal Bar Association Membership Affairs Department, verifying the intended receiving institution. Reply given: documentation will confirm. Also informed that the receiving firm's opinion box must be completed before acceptance can proceed; upon acceptance, the change will be entered into the directory for public notice.
"Handled separately," Shen Zhixia said.
"First floor and fourth floor handle things separately." He Xiufen capped her pen. "But there's only one staircase going up."
She picked up her tea mug. The paper underneath it lifted at one corner. The signature line was still blank.
"Tomorrow morning, eight o'clock." He Xiufen said, "I sign."
There was one more box on the form no one had touched—Original Practice Institution Opinion. The seal for that box was in that building.
As she went downstairs, she grabbed the plastic bag of lightbulbs from the windowsill—the one Zhi'an wanted was still in her hand. The stairwell was dark. The bag knocked against the railing with a rattle.