Chapter 113: Reconciliation

“What boss? I’m just running a small business on my own,” Xu Fei said with a smile.

“Why aren’t you working?” Judge Zhao said, pulling Xu Fei into the living room.

He took the main seat on the sofa and patted the spot beside him.

Xu Fei smiled and sat down.

“I used to work at the Donghai Sugar Factory.”

“Right, I saw in the file that you’re from Donghai Sugar Factory. The person you hit is called… Zhang Dajun, right?”

Xu Fei nodded.

Judge Zhao continued, “He seems to be your colleague?”

“Yeah.”

“The report says the argument happened after work and you hit him, but it doesn’t look like something you’d do.”

At that moment, Xiao Zhang came out carrying tea.

“Here, have some tea.”

She smiled and handed the tea to Judge Zhao first, then passed the cup to Xu Fei.

“Yeah, you seem like such a good and sensible person. It really doesn’t seem like you.”

Xu Fei shook his head helplessly.

“Actually…” He paused to think. “I was bullied by Zhang Dajun, that’s why I chose to leave.”

“Oh, you quit?”

“Yes. The Donghai Sugar Factory was all his people. Our workshop supervisor Wang Guoqing and Zhang Dajun targeted me from the moment I joined. They even docked my wages…”

Xu Fei recounted every detail of his experience at the sugar factory to Judge Zhao and his wife.

“That’s serious!” Judge Zhao frowned.

“Old Zhao, see? There really is some injustice here,” Xiao Zhang said.

Seeing her say that, Xu Fei quickly waved his hand.

“No, no, I was wrong to hit someone. This matter is my fault,” he said, lowering his head.

“It’s just that I have two younger siblings at home. If I really get sentenced this time, I don’t know what will happen to them… My sister is taking the college entrance exam this year, and she’s always done well. If I go to prison, I’m afraid no one will earn money to support her schooling.”

Despair flickered in Xu Fei’s eyes as he spoke.

“Xiao Xu, don’t overthink it. You have to believe the law is just,” Xiao Zhang said, nodding.

“Yes, yes, you must trust the law,” Judge Zhao added, turning to his wife. “Xiao Zhang, go get the money.”

“Oh.” Xiao Zhang got up and went to the bedroom.

After a while, she came out holding a stack of cash.

“Here.”

Judge Zhao took the money.

“This is for the TV, a total of one thousand. Count it,” he said.

Xu Fei glanced at the money.

“Judge Zhao, this isn’t right. We agreed on an 80% price.”

“Forget it. Just having you deliver the TV made us happy enough. Consider the extra money as our transportation fee.”

Xu Fei took the money and pulled out ten 100-yuan bills.

“I’ll take nine hundred. You keep the rest.”

“What do you mean?”

Judge Zhao and his wife exchanged a glance.

“Nothing. As I just told you about my situation, your words really taught me a lot. At first, I doubted this lawsuit. Actually, I’d already heard that Zhang Dajun hired people, but with good judges like you two, I, Xu Fei, believe the law must be fair.”

He stood up.

Xu Fei bowed deeply to Judge Zhao and his wife.

“No, no, what are you doing?” Xiao Zhang stood up to help him.

“I feel at ease now, truly. Tomorrow I will appear at court on time, no matter the verdict, I will accept it willingly.”

He nodded to Judge Zhao and Xiao Zhang before turning toward the door.

“Wait, the money!”

Xu Fei had already opened the door.

He didn’t wait for Xiao Zhang to follow; he closed the door and walked out.

“Old Zhao, what do you think of this?” Xiao Zhang looked at her husband still seated on the sofa.

“Such a good comrade couldn’t be a thug who hits people intentionally. That Old Chen is just talking nonsense,” Judge Zhao slammed his hand on the table in anger.

“Yeah, when Old Chen came to talk about this case, we believed what he said. But he’s been a longtime comrade, a famous lawyer in Donghai, how could he stoop to this?”

Judge Zhao nodded.

“I almost wrongly accused a good comrade.”

“What about tomorrow’s case?” Xiao Zhang asked, looking at Judge Zhao.

“I have a feeling about it.”

…

Outside the door, listening to the conversation inside, Xu Fei smiled and nodded.

It seemed he was right—Zhang Dajun really did hire someone. The “Lawyer Chen” mentioned by Judge Zhao and his wife must be Zhang Dajun’s lawyer.

Xu Fei felt somewhat reassured.

He turned and went downstairs but saw the liberation truck parked in front of the residential building, surrounded by several people. Zhang Mingyang was checking off names one by one.

“Don’t worry. By this time tomorrow, we’ll have the TVs delivered. Everyone, no need to pay now. With Judge Zhao here, we can trust everyone,” Zhang Mingyang said, glancing at Xu Fei coming out of the stairwell.

“Old Fourth, how’s it going?”

Xu Fei smiled and nodded at him.

Zhang Mingyang handed him a sheet with five or six names on it.

“These are the judges who want to buy TVs. Tomorrow, around this time, we’ll deliver to here.”

Xu Fei looked over the list—seven names—and nodded.

“Are you in charge?” A woman with curly hair among the crowd asked.

“Yes.”

“I heard the TVs from Judge Zhao’s group are discounted. Since so many of us are buying, could you give us a discount too?”

Xu Fei smiled and nodded.

“Since you’re Judge Zhao’s colleagues and you asked nicely, I can give you all a discount.”

“How much?”

The curly-haired woman asked eagerly.

“How about 5% off?”

“Really!?” She glanced around at the others.

“You’re not tricking us?”

Xu Fei smiled. “No way. Just be here on time tomorrow to receive the goods.”

“Great!”

Everyone smiled and nodded enthusiastically, clearly satisfied.

…

Evening.

Xu Fei returned home.

Du Man hurried out from the courtyard.

They nearly bumped into each other.

“Where are you going in such a hurry?” Xu Fei asked.

Du Man’s solemn expression softened a bit upon seeing Xu Fei.

“My brother just came and asked me to find you to go home together. Since you weren’t back, I was about to look for you.”

“Your brother?”

Xu Fei nodded.

“Don’t go. I’ll go back myself. They can’t do anything to me. We don’t have money, at worst, they’ll just scold me,” Du Man said, turning to leave.

Xu Fei grabbed her hand.

“We’ll go together.”

“You’re coming with me?” Du Man shook her head quickly.

“No, you go. They’ll say unpleasant things again. Besides, the money was borrowed by me in the first place. I’ll handle it myself. It really has nothing to do with you.”

Xu Fei smiled.

“Although you borrowed the money, wasn’t it for the Xu family?”

Du Man hesitated.

“All right, let’s go.”

Xu Fei took her hand and headed toward the Du family home.