Blank Charge

A month is too difficult to endure.

After a few days, Jin Zhou began to regret it. He had been blinded by beauty. He had agreed to a month’s worth of kisses from Yang Shiyu just because he kissed him a little longer. It was like a massive discount sale.

Jin Zhou hadn’t seen Yang Shiyu for a while. One afternoon, he prepared the trial materials for the car downgrade case and planned to submit them to the court.

As he walked out of the car repair shop, he noticed a post scrolling on the electronic display screen at the bus stop. It was a police reward of one hundred thousand yuan for collecting clues in the Apartment case.

“They still haven’t caught the culprit,” Jin Zhou muttered and didn’t linger.

Arriving at the court, submitting the materials only took a few minutes. The bulletin board showed that Yang Shiyu was currently presiding over a simulated gun case, so Jin Zhou, who had nothing else to do, went to the criminal court where Yang Shiyu was.

Yang Shiyu wearing a judge’s robe gave off a sense of distance that made people not dare cross.

But as Jin Zhou touched his still unhealed lip, an inappropriate image of him pinning down Yang Shiyu on the judgment seat popped into his mind.

“Quiet!” Yang Shiyu struck the gavel and glanced at Jin Zhou’s lip. He paused for a moment but quickly turned away.

The courtroom was quite lively that day with several defendants’ relatives present.

The defendant had been selling imitation guns online and due to strict gun control regulations, if convicted, the defendant would face a minimum of ten years in prison, and the maximum penalty could be the death penalty.

The defense lawyer’s argument was that the imitation guns were not real guns, which was quite unique.

Originally, Jin Zhou had come to see Yang Shiyu, but he unknowingly got drawn into the confrontation between the prosecution and defense.

Prosecutor: “According to relevant regulations, when the muzzle kinetic energy is greater than or equal to 1.8 joules/square centimeter, it is universally recognized as a firearm. Therefore, the imitation guns sold by the defendant should be classified as firearms.”

Defense lawyer: “The relevant regulation is the ‘Court Scientific Criteria for the Lethality of Firearms.’ This regulation was independently formulated by the Ministry of Public Security based on industry standards and internal documents, which violates the ‘Firearms Control Law.’ In fact, in other countries…”

The people in the courtroom were engaged in a heated debate, and the only thing affecting the atmosphere was the relatives of the defendant.

Every time the prosecutor began to refute the defense lawyer, the relatives would create a commotion, and Yang Shiyu had to intervene and demand silence from the spectators’ gallery.

After a while, the relatives of the defendant started causing a disturbance again. Yang Shiyu became visibly impatient, furrowed his brow, and struck the gavel: “Quiet!”

When the relatives finally quieted down, he looked at the prosecutor and asked in a low voice, “Are there any other standards for defining firearms?”

The prosecutor whispered, “No, but in previous cases, this standard has always been used.”

“Well, how can that be?” The relatives in the spectators’ gallery started causing a disturbance again. “Why should we accept your standard? Give us an explanation!”

“Yeah, give us an explanation!”

Sitting in the corner at the back, Jin Zhou couldn’t help but feel an itch in his hands. If it weren’t for the inappropriate setting, he would have loved to call a few friends and teach those troublemakers a lesson.

Yang Shiyu struck the gavel a few times, but it didn’t quiet down the spectators’ gallery. Finally, unable to bear it any longer, he forcefully struck the gavel and raised his voice, “I said, be quiet!”

The courtroom instantly fell silent. A cylindrical object appeared out of nowhere and flew from the judge’s seat to the defendant’s side.

Yang Shiyu froze, and the prosecutor and defense lawyer were also dumbfounded. Jin Zhou stretched his neck and took a look. Goodness, Yang Shiyu had actually broken the gavel in his hand.

Everyone looked at each other, and the silence was so profound that you could hear a pin drop.

Then, a sudden “hahaha” laugh broke the silence, disrupting the tranquility.

“Hahaha.” Jin Zhou laughed hysterically, clutching his stomach and completely disregarding the impact. “The judge broke the gavel. Hahaha, I didn’t expect you to have such a talent for comedy, Judge Yang. Why don’t you participate in the annual comedy competition?”

As if guided by his laughter, the people in the spectators’ gallery joined in, laughing happily. The prosecutor and lawyers tightly pressed their lips, trying hard to suppress their amusement.

And so, Jin Zhou, who had attended many court hearings as an observer, was expelled from the courtroom for the first time due to disrupting the order.

The case was quite complex, and no verdict was delivered on the spot.

Jin Zhou had been waiting outside the courtroom, and when Yang Shiyu came out, he followed him.

Usually, Yang Shiyu would head straight to the elevator, but this time he stood still in the corridor when Jin Zhou approached and asked, “Why haven’t you left yet?”

“Just curious,” Jin Zhou said. “How will this case be judged?”

“Look up the verdict online yourself,” Yang Shiyu replied, then turned to leave. Jin Zhou took a step forward and asked, “Are you off work now?”

The case had taken a long time, and it was already past working hours.

“Is there something you want?” Yang Shiyu stopped and inquired.

“No,” Jin Zhou smiled, “I came to pick you up after work.”

“I have to work overtime,” Yang Shiyu said dismissively and continued walking towards the elevator without paying attention to whether Jin Zhou followed or not.

“Well, then I’ll wait for you,” Jin Zhou didn’t mind and said as he looked at Yang Shiyu’s back, “Just don’t make me wait too long.”

Jin Zhou was prepared to wait for half an hour, but when he arrived at the roadside and was about to put a cigarette in his mouth, a hand suddenly reached out from the side, took the cigarette from his mouth, broke it, and threw it into the trash can.

“Let’s go,” Yang Shiyu said without looking back and walked ahead without caring whether Jin Zhou followed or not.

“Hey…” Jin Zhou was annoyed. How could he not even be allowed to smoke a cigarette?

But seeing Yang Shiyu holding a thick file under his arm, Jin Zhou knew he had to work overtime at home, so he followed him with a good mood.

“What do you want to eat for dinner?” Jin Zhou asked.

“I’ll eat at home,” Yang Shiyu replied.

Actually, Jin Zhou meant that he would cook, but obviously Yang Shiyu didn’t know that he could cook, so he thought Jin Zhou was suggesting going out to eat.

“I mean, I’ll cook for you,” Jin Zhou grabbed Yang Shiyu’s wrist and pulled him towards the direction of the market, “You just order.”

“You cook?” Yang Shiyu pulled his wrist back and furrowed his brows slightly. “Are you trying to poison me?”

“Look at what you’re saying,” Jin Zhou said, “If I wanted to kill you, would I need to use poison?”

Yang Shiyu looked at Jin Zhou coldly.

“Hey, I was just joking,” Jin Zhou said helplessly, “Judges are no fun, too serious.”

The afternoon market was not as lively as in the morning, so they didn’t have to squeeze through the crowd.

The two of them strolled through the market unhurriedly. Since Yang Shiyu was holding an important file, Jin Zhou was the one picking and bargaining for vegetables.

“Carrots are so expensive? Let’s get them for fifty cents cheaper.”

 These are sweet carrots. You’ll know once you taste them!”

“Fifty cents cheaper, and I’ll come back next time.”

Carrying the carrots, the two continued walking forward. Jin Zhou looked left and right, and after a while, he suddenly noticed that there were also police reward notices posted in the market.

“Did you see that?” Jin Zhou pointed with his chin, “It’s about the  Apartment incident we went to that night. They still haven’t caught the culprit.”

“I heard about it,” Yang Shiyu responded.

Being in the same area, the homicide case was a big topic, and many colleagues had talked about it.

“The culprit was still in the act when we left,” Jin Zhou couldn’t help but speculate, “I remember when we were chatting by the window, someone was going upstairs behind us. Could it be the culprit?”

“Hard to say,” Yang Shiyu looked at the vegetables on the vegetable stall.

“The police investigated everyone but found no motive, which is strange,” Jin Zhou added.

“They definitely didn’t investigate the children in that house,” Yang Shiyu looked towards the pork stall.

“You think a child could commit murder?” Jin Zhou waved his hand dismissively, “That’s impossible. You have a dark mind.”

“Didn’t Jin the lawyer say he’s seen the world?” Yang Shiyu replied calmly, shifting his gaze back to the file, “Some children start killing at the age of ten.”

That’s true.

Jin Zhou didn’t continue guessing and happily hummed a tune, savoring the words “Lawyer Jin” in his mind.

When they arrived at Yang Shiyu’s home, Jin Zhou put on an apron and started cooking in the kitchen, while Yang Shiyu sat on the sofa and began reading the file.

After a while, Jin Zhou wanted to find something and turned his head quickly towards the living room, asking, “Where’s the rice jar?”

Their eyes met directly, and Jin Zhou didn’t expect Yang Shiyu to be looking at him. He asked inexplicably, “Why are you looking at me instead of the file? Are you really afraid that I’ll poison you?”

Yang Shiyu’s Adam’s apple moved, shifting his gaze from Jin Zhou back to the file, and said, “I’ve never seen you wearing an apron before.”

After saying that, he added, “The rice jar is in the second cabinet on the right.”

“You haven’t seen a lot of things,” Jin Zhou bent over, opened the cabinet, and said, “Should I take off my clothes and perform a nude apron show for you?”

There was no response from the living room. Jin Zhou straightened up and glanced over, only to see Yang Shiyu untying his tie, heading towards the bedroom, presumably to change into casual clothes.

Jin Zhou cooked a few home-style dishes. Despite his confidence in his cooking skills, he still sat eagerly bitting his chopsticks, looking forward to Yang Shiyu’s reaction.

“It’s okay,” Yang Shiyu tasted a bite of the leek and shredded pork, giving a moderate evaluation.

“Just okay?” Jin Zhou asked, displeased.

“Better than I imagined,” Yang Shiyu took another bite of the dish.

Jin Zhou gave up, not expecting any positive words from Yang Shiyu’s mouth. However, at that moment, Yang Shiyu suddenly said, “The number of firearms might be reduced.”

“Huh?” Jin Zhou couldn’t catch up with the topic.

“Aren’t you curious about the verdict?” Yang Shiyu said, “Reducing the number of firearms, the sentence should be below five years. The specifics will be evaluated by the panel of judges.”

A faint smile appeared on Jin Zhou’s lips as he said, “So this lawyer is quite capable.”

After dinner, Yang Shiyu took the initiative to go to the kitchen to wash the dishes.

Jin Zhou was sitting on the sofa, trying to digest the food when he suddenly received a call from Liu Yongchang, asking him to go to a bar for a drink.

Jin Zhou couldn’t easily refuse Yongchang’s invitation, so he agreed and went to the kitchen door. Leaning against the doorframe, he said to Yang Shiyu, “The case I’m working on is about to go to trial. I have to go back and prepare for the hearing.”

In fact, Jin Zhou was going out for a drink, and Yang Shiyu couldn’t control that, but he inexplicably felt guilty and didn’t dare to honestly tell Yang Shiyu.

Yang Shiyu continued washing the dishes without turning around and said, “Okay.”

About an hour later, Yang Shiyu received a photo on his phone.

The person who was cooking in their own home wearing an apron earlier was now dressed in a low-cut V-neck top, smoking a cigarette while happily drinking with the person next to them.

Below the photo was a message: “I’m at the bar.”

Yang Shiyu replied with three words expressionlessly: “I know.”

1The firearm case mentioned is based on a real case and has no relevance to the main or subplot. Just a cameo appearance.

 

1The firearm case mentioned is based on a real case and has no relevance to the main or subplot. Just a cameo appearance.