Chapter 11 Strange Rumors

The next day at noon, Lü Maowang, carrying two empty buckets, knocked on the door of Old Man Wang's house.

The old man opened the door, saw it was Lü Maowang, and, with one hand on the doorframe, asked, "What is it, Little Lü?"

On the boat, the old man had seen Lü Maowang's selfish and callous nature and wanted nothing to do with such a person.

"Nothing, I'm delivering water to your upstairs neighbor. I was passing by your house and thought I'd stop in to see how you're doing." Seeing that the old man had no intention of inviting him in, Lü Maowang didn't mind and continued chatting with him from the doorway.

Old Man Wang, unsure of the other man's purpose, sized him up and said, "I'm the same as always. I see you can carry water now. Your injuries must be completely healed, right?"

Lü Maowang flexed his arm, showing off his muscles. "They healed a long time ago. Even though I'm not the smartest guy, my body is in top shape. The doctors were amazed."

Old Man Wang said flatly, "That's good."

"By the way, Old Man, when I opened my shop today, I saw your grandson taking a taxi at the entrance of the complex. His hand seemed to be wrapped in a bandage. Was he injured?"

Old Man Wang paused, wondering why he was suddenly asking about this, and nodded. "Yes, he accidentally fell off his motorcycle."

"Oh, really? It seems motorcycles can be quite dangerous. Has your grandson often fallen while riding before?"

Seeing his strange expression, Old Man Wang frowned. "What exactly are you trying to say?"

Lü Maowang looked around, lowered his voice, and said, "Don't you think it's strange?"

"Strange about what?"

Lü Maowang leaned closer. "Haven't you noticed that anyone who gets involved with Jia Wenjun has bad luck? Look, as soon as she came ashore, her parents had one accident after another. Now your grandson is helping her, working as that defense lawyer for her, and he's injured too. I think she's done too many bad things, and Heaven is punishing her. Anyone who helps her is doomed."

Old Man Wang was annoyed. "What nonsense are you talking about! My grandson isn't her defense lawyer. He's a trainee lawyer, just running errands. What does it have to do with him?"

"Hey, what are you getting so worked up about? I'm just saying. You can think about it yourself. You and I were on the boat together and know how cunning and ruthless Jia Wenjun is, but your grandson doesn't know. Young people have a lot of drive, which is a good thing, but it's not worth it to help the wrong villain and suffer the consequences, right?"

Old Man Wang's face darkened. "Do you know something about my grandson's injury?"

Seeing Old Man Wang suspect him, Lü Maowang quickly said, "Don't bite the hand that feeds you! I'm telling you, it's not just me saying this, the whole complex is saying it. If you don't believe me, go ask around. Your upstairs neighbors were still talking about it when I went up to deliver water just now. I'm only reminding you because we were on the same boat and shared life and death. If you don't want to listen, that's your business."

Lü Maowang turned and left. Old Man Wang slammed the door shut, his face dark.

After sitting at home for a while, he was still agitated, so he decided to go out for a walk. The complex was full of gossiping women. He wandered out of the complex and unknowingly reached the entrance of the pet hospital.

In this complex, Bai Ma Shan was the only person he felt like chatting with. Seeing that there weren't many people inside, he pushed open the door and walked in.

A staff member came up to greet him, but the old man waved his hand. "You guys go ahead with your work. I'm going to find your Director Bai."

With that, he went upstairs on his own.

Bai Ma Shan was eating lunch. Seeing the old man come in, he quickly greeted him. "Just arrived, want to eat some?"

The old man waved his hand and sat down. "I've already eaten. You eat yours. I'm just taking a stroll since I have nothing to do. Am I bothering you?"

"There aren't many people today, and even if there were, it wouldn't be my turn to work. Let's just have some tea and chat." Bai Ma Shan closed his lunch box and got up to brew a pot of Liuan Melon Seed tea. "Try my new tea."

The old man picked up the cup, took a sip, and nodded. "Not bad."

After a pause, the old man couldn't help but ask, "Have you heard any rumors about Jia Wenjun recently?"

"What rumors?" Bai Ma Shan asked back.

Old Man Wang remembered his grandson's instructions not to casually discuss Jia Wenjun with others. The words reached his lips, but he swallowed them back down. "Nothing, just some gossip."

Bai Ma Shan took a sip. "I have heard some gossip, from the pet owners in the complex when they come by, but these things are all based on hearsay. You know, Jia Wenjun's dad got hit by a car right after she came ashore, that was an accident. The next day, her mom said she was burned in the hospital after being haunted by a ghost. Now that ghosts are involved, it's just nonsense. But, those two old people are quite pitiful, one injury after another. They're still recovering at home."

Although Bai Ma Shan meant that it was an accident, Old Man Wang felt even more worried after hearing him.

Old Man Wang had only felt annoyed when he heard Lü Maowang's words earlier, but after hearing Bai Ma Shan's words, he finally started to worry.

This concerned his grandson. After leaving the pet hospital, Old Man Wang hesitated again and again before calling Lawyer Liu.

The line was noisy when the call connected. Old Man Wang asked, "Little Liu, are you busy? If you are, I won't bother you."

Lawyer Liu quickly said, "I'm not busy, Old Man. I'm at the hospital right now."

The old man frowned as soon as he heard "hospital." "Is your client at the hospital?"

"No, I accidentally spilled coffee on the back of my hand in the office, so I came to get it checked out."

Old Man Wang's heart skipped a beat. Lawyer Liu was the main lawyer in charge of Jia Wenjun's case. Was he injured too?

"How's your arm? Is it serious?"

Lawyer Liu laughed. "It's nothing, Old Man. I've already had it checked out. If I put on some ointment for a few days, new skin will probably grow back."

The old man was anxious. "How could you be so careless?"

Lawyer Liu was also speechless about this matter. "It was an unexpected disaster. A receptionist in the office brought in a cup of coffee, accidentally twisted her ankle, and the coffee spilled out and burned the back of my hand. By the way, Old Man, is there something you wanted to talk to me about?"

"I... I wanted to ask how Xiao Peng's been doing at work lately."

Speaking of Wu Peng, Lawyer Liu's tone became much lighter. "Xiao Peng has been very motivated recently. He familiarizes himself with the legal provisions whenever he has time, and he actively asks about anything he doesn't understand. He's really learned a lot from Jia Wenjun's case. I've seen Xiao Peng's changes with my own eyes. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he's a different person from before. Everyone in the law firm is looking at him in a new light. If he continues to maintain this momentum, in a few months, he'll be able to become a real lawyer."

Old Man Wang was naturally gratified to hear this. After all, his grandson, who had always wanted to change careers, was finally willing to knuckle down and do a good job. But he was also worried that something would happen to Wu Peng if he continued to follow this case.

"Little Liu, could you have Xiao Peng take charge of other cases first? Let someone else handle Jia Wenjun's case." He had mentioned this to Lawyer Liu before when Wu Peng was fighting with the drug dealers and was injured for the first time. Now that he was bringing it up again, he could only use the excuse that Wu Peng had been too engrossed in this matter recently and had even been injured in a car accident yesterday. He was worried about his grandson, otherwise, he couldn't just say that he was afraid of getting involved in Jia Wenjun's case again, lest he suffer bad luck and get hurt.

Lawyer Liu tried to persuade the old man for a while, and finally said, "Xiao Peng has grown a lot because of this case, so I actually still want him to continue working on it, but since you're so worried, I'll have him take charge of other cases when I get back."