Blank Charge

Jin Zhou followed Yang Shiyu to a municipal park not far from the residential area. In a corner of the park, among the bushes, he saw Xiao Wu sleeping soundly while Sun Yi was stripped down to his underwear.

“Jin Zhou!” Sun Yi trembled in fear, huddling in the bushes. “save me!”

A cold gust of wind blew through the bushes, making a rustling sound, and Sun Yi shivered from the cold.

Jin Zhou immediately understood the situation. Xiao Wu had tried to overpower the handsome guy but ended up being knocked out, and Sun Yi, attempting to escape, had his clothes stripped off, leaving him with nothing.

“What about Yu He?” Jin Zhou asked Sun Yi while signaling the handsome guy to return the clothes to him.

“His buddy called him for something.” The clothes were thrown onto Sun Yi’s head. He shivered as he quickly dressed and woke up the unconscious Xiao Wu. “Who would’ve thought Xiao Wu couldn’t handle it?”

Jin Zhou also realized his mistake. Xiao Wu’s strength was not the same as Tiger’s. He should have called Tiger to tag along instead.

Xiao Wu, lying on the ground, woke up drowsily and saw the handsome guy standing close to him. Without thinking, he was about to attack him again.

Jin Zhou quickly stopped him. “Stop, fighting won’t work.”

“This guy is simply too savage!” Sun Yi complained from behind Jin Zhou. “If it weren’t for my continuous resistance, he would have stripped off my underwear too!”

The handsome guy glanced at Sun Yi and said to Yang Shiyu, “Judge Yang, they were the ones who started it.”

Yang Shiyu glanced at Sun Yi and Xiao Wu and said, “I see.”

Sun Yi, who had been persistent about filing a complaint, immediately shrank his neck when he heard what the handsome guy said. He whispered behind Jin Zhou, “Jin Zhou, so this other handsome guy is actually a judge?”

Sun Yi was best at handling divorce cases and had never dealt with criminal cases, so it was normal for him not to know Yang Shiyu.

“Yes,” Jin Zhou absentmindedly replied. He watched as the handsome guy voluntarily walked over to Yang Shiyu’s side, and the two seemed to have an unspoken understanding, which made him inexplicably annoyed.

“Impressive, Jin Zhou,” Sun Yi said, taking out his phone. “You can even pursue a judge. No wonder you haven’t been paying attention to any of your lovers recently.”

Jin Zhou caught a glimpse of Sun Yi opening a certain WeChat group and slapped the back of his head. “You’re good for nothing except gossiping. Close that group immediately!”

Caught gossiping again, Sun Yi nervously put away his phone. “Okay.”

Seeing that Sun Yi and Xiao Wu were safe, Jin Zhou let them leave first.

However, before leaving, Sun Yi pointed at the handsome guy from a distance and menacingly said, “You just wait . Today’s incident won’t be forgotten!”

The handsome guy coldly looked at Sun Yi and casually lifted his arm. Sun Yi immediately grabbed Xiao Wu’s sleeve and pulled him. “Let’s go, let’s go. Hurry.”

How embarrassing.

Jin Zhou sighed.

After Sun Yi and Xiao Wu left, Jin Zhou raised his chin and pointed at the handsome guy, asking Yang Shiyu, “Aren’t you going to introduce him?”

“Zhuang Yu,” Yang Shiyu looked at the person beside him, as if introducing him to Jin Zhou, but also hinting for Zhuang Yu to say hello.

Zhuang Yu immediately nodded at Jin Zhou. “Lawyer Jin.”

In Jin Zhou’s eyes, Yang Shiyu just called out a name, and Zhuang Yu voluntarily said hello. He suddenly became even more displeased because he had never imagined that Yang Shiyu had such an obedient person by his side.

—he was suddenly curious who this Zhuang Yu was

Various strange thoughts flashed through Jin Zhou’s mind. He suddenly noticed Zhuang Yu’s surname and asked uncertainly, “Zhuang Yu? Does he have any relation to Boss Zhuang?”

“That’s my dad,” Zhuang Yu replied proactively.

The Boss Zhuang Jin Zhou mentioned was the victim in the case of the businessman who was seriously injured and killed.

In order to quickly obtain the demolition compensation, Wang and Tai had instructed Wei Jie to use violent means to drive away the businessmen, resulting in the serious injury and death of the businessman surnamed Zhuang.

Jin Zhou’s father was bribed so as to remain silent by Wang Darong during the trial of that case.

“So, you are also a victim’s family member,” Jin Zhou couldn’t help but feel emotional. When his parents had an accident, he was already eighteen years old. However, looking at Zhuang Yu’s age, he should have been in elementary school or junior high school, when he lost his dad.

Jin Zhou couldn’t be resentful towards someone who shared the same fate as him.

He had wanted to comfort Zhuang Yu with a few words, but when he put himself in Zhuang Yu’s shoes, he realized that he didn’t need anyone’s comfort either. Perhaps Zhuang Yu was like that too.

Besides, they had just met a while ago, if he started saying sentimental and heavy-hearted words that soon It would definitely be weird.

So he simply walked up to Zhuang Yu’s side, put his arm around his shoulder like a little brother, and said, “I’ll look out for you from now on, little brother.”

Zhuang Yu didn’t respond, slightly furrowing his brows as if he didn’t appreciate such close contact with others.

Previously, when they were at a distance, Jin Zhou hadn’t noticed, but now that they were closer, he realized that there was a touch of heroism in Zhuang Yu’s handsomeness.

Perhaps this heroism came from the burden he had to carry from his past, which added some more points to Jin Zhou’s first impression of him.

Jin Zhou looked at Zhuang Yu’s profile and suddenly had a mischievous thought. He lightly scratched Zhuang Yu’s chin with his finger and said jokingly, “By the way, you went to the bar to ask about my romantic history. Could it be that you secretly admire me, little brother?”

Yang Shiyu instantly furrowed his brows and looked over with an unfriendly expression.

Jin Zhou wasn’t surprised at all by Yang Shiyu’s reaction, but unexpectedly, he thought that Zhuang Yu would be at the age of fooling around. However, Zhuang Yu was even calmer than Yang Shiyu, just slightly dissatisfied as he said, “Judge Yang, please take care of your wife.”

Jin Zhou: “…”

Walking home, with the cold autumn wind blowing, Jin Zhou looked up at the moon and sank into philosophical contemplation.

“Is this the relative and absolute in Marxist theory?”

Yang Shiyu glanced at Jin Zhou, not knowing what he was rambling about.

“In front of my lovers, no one dares question that I am exceptionally masculine,” Jin Zhou said, with a hint of sadness on his face. “But when I’m with you, everyone thinks I’m your delicate little wife.”

Yang Shiyu calmly said, “Well everyone must be right then.”

“No! I will fight against fate!” Jin Zhou raised his right hand and clenched his fist tightly. “I will defend my position to the death!”

Yang Shiyu reached out and held Jin Zhou’s fist, pulling him in the opposite direction. “Let’s take the foot bridge.”

“Okay.” Jin Zhou temporarily put away his fighting spirit and obediently followed behind Yang Shiyu.

After walking a few steps, Yang Shiyu seemed to dislike the grip of Jin Zhou’s fist and suddenly used his thumb to pry open Jin Zhou’s palm, then his five fingers squeezed into the gaps between Jin Zhou’s fingers.

On the foot bridge where occasional pedestrians passed by, the two walked hand in hand under the moonlight towards home.

All thoughts of resistance and defense were thrown out of Jin Zhou’s mind.

Because hey, his wife was holding his hand.

As they came down from the foot bridge, Jin Zhou remembered his previous annoyance and asked Yang Shiyu, “Do you like submissive or bratty ones?”

Yang Shiyu looked ahead , knowing it was a pointless topic, but still cooperatively said, “What do you think?”

“You like submissive ones.” Jin Zhou had long known the answer. “But I’m not submissive.”

Yang Shiyu had long been accustomed to it. 

“I know you’ve been in contact with Zhao Qing,” taking advantage of the good vibe between them, Jin Zhou felt it was suitable for open and sincere conversation.

He thought that if Yang Shi Yu could be frank with him, he wouldn’t mind telling him about Zhang Rui’s financial dealings with Zhao Qing.

Approaching from two directions would surely yield faster results, right?

However, it was evident that Yang Shi Yu had no intention of being open and honest with Jin Zhou. He simply responded in a flat tone, “You checked the license plate.”

The focus of the conversation remained on Jin Zhou, with no mention of Zhao Qing.

“What exactly do you plan to do?” Jin Zhou felt Yang Shi Yu’s resistance and insisted on getting to the bottom of it.

“You don’t need to worry about so many things,” Yang Shi Yu said. “I will handle everything.”

“Yang Shi Yu.” Jin Zhou stood in place, furrowing his brows. Since the two were still holding hands, Yang Shi Yu had to stop as well. “Can you trust me for once? Don’t give me the ‘it’s all for your own good’ nonsense. I’m already twenty-seven. Do you think I still need a guardian?”

“If I hadn’t arranged for Zhuang Yu to protect you,” Yang Shi Yu furrowed his brows as well, “you might have already been…”

“That time was my own carelessness,” Jin Zhou interrupted Yang Shi Yu. “I will be more careful in the future.”

In fact, Jin Zhou’s current mood, rather than being angry, could be described as frustrated.

He understood that Yang Shi Yu was worried about him, as he had almost gotten killed. If it weren’t for Wei Jie’s incident, perhaps he could still have some way to justify that he could protect himself, but now there was no reason for Yang Shi Yu to believe that he could protect himself.

“It will only get more dangerous in the future, and it’s not a matter of you being a little careless,” Yang Shi Yu’s attitude was firm, not allowing opportunity for Jin Zhou to convince him.

“What about you then?” Jin Zhou grew angrier. “You can do all the dangerous things, but I can’t?”

“Yes,” in the face of Jin Zhou’s anger, Yang Shi Yu remained calm. “I value you more than myself.”

“You…,” hearing those words, the fire in Jin Zhou’s anger seemed to burn out gradually.

Why is he so good at saying sweet words?

He was unable to stay angry.

After calming down, Jin Zhou suddenly recalled certain details and a bad feeling surged within him. He looked at Yang Shi Yu and asked, “Yang Shi Yu, are you planning to resign?”

Yang Shi Yu’s eyebrows twitched slightly, breaking his usual calm demeanor.

“Resign and work as the legal counsel for Wang and Tai??” Jin Zhou abruptly released Yang Shi Yu’s hand, a more intense anger surged through his chest.

He turned his head, exhaled a breath of anger, and then looked at Yang Shi Yu again. “I saw your car in the underground parking lot of He Tai Tower before. I wondered why you weren’t going to work and went there instead. A few days ago, you and Zhao Qing had dinner at a five-star hotel, and afterwards, you openly rode Wang and Tai’s Maybach home. All of these indicate that you are deliberately making contact with Wang and Tai.”

Normally, judges couldn’t accept invitations from others, and even if they did, they would be cautious not to raise suspicion. They wouldn’t act as blatantly as Yang Shi Yu did.

Unless Yang Shi Yu had planned to resign from the very beginning.

Recalling various details, Jin Zhou became even more convinced of his thoughts.

“You never participate in any social activities at the court, every day it’s just work, work, but you actually attended the university alumni gathering, which indicates that you have already planned to resign and pave the way to become Wang and Tai’s legal counsel.”

Only then did Jin Zhou realize that point, deeply regretting his carelessness. He looked at Yang Shi Yu with a complex expression and asked, “Am I right?”

How much he hoped Yang Shi Yu would refute him and point out the flaws in his words, but instead, Yang Shi Yu pursed his lips and reluctantly said, “Yes.”

Jin Zhou closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and tremblingly said, “I’m against it.”

“Yang Shi Yu, I won’t allow it.” Jin Zhou gritted his teeth. “You fucking have to be a judge for me!”

This time, Jin Zhou was truly angry. In any case, he couldn’t accept Yang Shi Yu giving up his career as a judge.

Yang Shi Yu seemed to notice that that matter clearly hurt Jin Zhou. He sighed slightly and spoke in a softer tone, “Alright then.”

Jin Zhou glared at Yang Shi Yu. “Alright what?”

 Yang Shi Yu said expressionlessly. “You choose, between me resigning as a judge or me being your husband”

Jin Zhou:”…..”