First-Class Lawyer

The apartment Locke was looking for was very close to the Southern Cross Law Firm, but the residential area was a bit old, and the outside of the building looked mostly gray and inconspicuous, living like a patch of baldness among the large buildings.The most embarrassing thing is that the newly erected floating lanes and elevated roads have passed over its head perfectly in the past few years, and even a commercial street opposite it has lost its popularity, and its original commercial value has dropped rapidly.

As we all know, this place will be taken over and re-planned sooner or later, so the various homeowners are hoarding it in their hands and do not intend to sell it easily.

But the younger generation of homeowners don't like to live here, so there are only old people and tenants who don't like to move.

"It just looks a little old here, but everything else is pretty good." Before entering the gate of the residential area, Locke glanced at Yan Suizhi's face, and explained a little embarrassedly: "I looked around and bought Things are convenient, but the traffic is a bit... But you can walk to the Southern Cross here, you don't need to drive. In short, there is nothing to say except the traffic. There are three major districts here, and students from several schools like to rent houses here , there are not many people, so the security is not bad.”

"The way you look at me makes me feel like I'm a living bomb." Yan Suizhi said angrily.

Locke smiled and scratched his head: "No, I'm just afraid that you think this place is too old."

Although Yan Suizhi told him that as long as the rent is suitable and the house is clean, there is no other requirement.But he always felt that Yan Suizhi was like the kind of person who grew up with rich clothes and fine food, and might not be able to bear this kind of dusty old district.

"How could it be?" Yan Suizhi didn't care much, "I don't sleep on the bench in the community, it doesn't matter to me whether the outside of the building is old or not."

In fact, when he was particular about it, he really had requirements for the environment outside the house, but Locke had already troubled him for a long time, and he would not spoil the little intern's interest.

The apartment is on the 9th floor, and the landlord is tall and thin, with pale skin and blue eyes.It can be seen that when he was young, he should have been a slightly thin handsome guy, but at this time, there were already deep wrinkles around the corners of his eyes and lips.

"I'm actually ready to wait until night." The landlord said, reaching out to shake hands with them, "Mervyn Bai, a poor landlord who has been waiting for you for a century."

Yan Suizhi: "Sorry, I almost have to go on a business trip again today, so I'll make you wait for the second century."

"Then I will engrave the rental contract on my epitaph, and I will rest in peace after you sign it."

Locke: "..." You two are really interesting.

Mervyn Bai seemed to be an acquaintance, and he made a fool of himself when they met for the first time, but it did make people feel a lot closer and less restrained.

"Come on, I'll show you the layout first." He beckoned to Yan Suizhi, "Come with me, the shoe rack at the entrance is equipped with disinfection and sterilization functions, you can take it off and put it on casually without any peculiar smell , but I smelled it just now, and I think this function is useless for you, but if there are guests, it will be very useful."

Yan Suizhi: "...Do I want to thank you for the compliment?"

"You're welcome." Mervyn Bai said again, "The password for the door is set here. After you sign the contract, I will allow you to press your thumb on it. Of course, it's not possible now."

He walked through the entrance and the short corridor directly opposite, and pushed open a door on the left, "This is the living room. There are two sets of sofas to lie on at will, each of which can be very comfortable. Pass through this glass partition door, is In the kitchen and dining room, although the pots and pans are not newly bought, they are not much different from the new ones. There may be some milk and frozen meat in the refrigerator, and they are all yours. Then here... is the bathroom and utility room , I will give you a suggestion, close the sliding door on the bathtub when taking a bath, so as not to splash water. This place is a bit slippery, and a fall on such a beautiful face of yours may ruin it. And here is the bedroom—”

He speaks very quickly, and his reaction may not be able to keep up with his rhythm if he reacts a little slower.

But the house is indeed very clean, with plenty of light, it is indeed a very comfortable place to live, and what is commendable is that it has an artistic atmosphere.The paintings hanging on the walls are very particular, and the lines and colors match every space just right.

While waiting for the landlord to open the bedroom door, Yan Suizhi raised his hand to touch a nearby painting.

It was an outline of a character drawn with charcoal and minimalist lines, a bit like the sketch of a character without facial features that fashion designers like to draw, but this one is not focused on expressing clothing, nor is it colored.

It can be seen that there is a man and a woman in the painting. The woman is sitting gracefully, reaching for a cup of tea, and the man puts a thumb rose in her tea cup as if teasing her.

Seeing his movements, Mervyn Bai raised his eyebrows and asked, "How is it? Is this painting not bad?"

Yan Suizhi nodded, "Very good, it can be seen that the painter is a chic person."

As soon as Mervyn Bai heard what he said, he became more interested, "Really? You can see this too? What else can you see?"

"It can also be seen that the painter should be a bachelor for thousands of years." Yan Suizhi said.

Mervyn White: "..."

Yan Suizhi admired it for a while, and then noticed the silence of the broken-mouthed landlord, "What?"

Mervyn Bai looked at him numbly for a long time, then poked himself with his thumb, "Thank you for the evaluation, the artist is here."

Yan Suizhi nodded knowingly, "It seems that what I said is very accurate."

"..."

For a moment, Locke regretted introducing the two of them, and always felt that the landlord would kick them out of the house at any time if they were poked twice again.But then he realized that he was thinking too much, Yan Suizhi was never pleasing, oh, except when he met the old lawyer Hobbs.

In short, within two sentences, the landlord was already smiling and ready to hook up with Yan Suizhi, "You know a lot about painting."

Professor Yanda, who doesn't like to get too close to people, avoids his claws calmly, "Are you the ones who painted these paintings in the room?"

"That's right." Mervyn Bai said, "I've been living on rent and painting since I resigned. It's been more than 20 years."

Yan Suizhi nodded.

Locke was a little curious, "Resign? Then what did you do before?"

Mervyn Baizhou exudes the temperament of "enjoying life without restraint" all over his body, which is a bit of a stingy taste. The clothes and pants are the most loose. A braid was casually tied behind the head.

Judging from his current state alone, it is hard to imagine what kind of work he did before.

Mervyn Bai seemed a little unhappy when he mentioned his previous work.

"Eh? Sorry, did I ask something that shouldn't be asked?" Locke noticed his expression sensitively, which shows that he has improved a bit after practicing during this period.

"Ah——" Mervyn Bai dragged his tone, "It's not aimed at you, I just think of my previous work and I'm a little bored. My donkey face is for work, not for you."

He didn't evade Locke's question, and even drooped his dead fish eyes and said to Locke, "What do you think my job was before?"

"I don't know, it's hard to guess." Locke said, "It feels like a painter, an artist, or an art and book fair, or a designer?"

Every time he said one, Mervyn Bai shook his index finger, and at the end of the shaking, he was a little more proud, "Unfortunately, it's all wrong. It seems that I have been very good these years, and I have washed away my original temperament. It was a great success, and it’s great to congratulate.”

He made a fool of himself before saying, "I work in a hospital."

He tapped on the painting of a man and a woman on the wall again, "I saw these two in the hospital, they were one of my patients in a sense, when the specialist doctor met them in the back garden of the hospital, I happened to pass by, and I was a little impressed by that scene, and then I occasionally remembered it and drew it."

Locke was stunned for a while, "To be honest, I can't tell at all, is it a doctor?"

"Not really." Mervyn Bai said, "I'm in the research laboratory, not clinical, but I still have indirect contact with patients."

Now even Yan Suizhi was a little surprised.

Locke asked: "Research room? Research what?"

Mervyn Bai waved his hand, "Forget it, it's all in the past, so I don't want to mention it. And it's been more than 20 years, and I've forgotten all about my work."

During the subsequent visit to the bedroom, Locke couldn't help but glance at him for a while, and couldn't help but glance at him again for a while.

"Although this version of the temperature control device has been installed for ten years, the effect is not bad." Mervyn Bai said, "If something breaks down, you can call this number. This classmate, you have already shot me 47 times If you look at it two more times, I will suspect that you want to start a grandparent relationship with me."

"..."

Locke looked horrified, "Don't wait, what grandchildren? How old are you?"

Mervyn Bai gave him a shocking look, "Is there something wrong with your focus? I calculated with my fingers, and I'm not very old, maybe 70 years older than you."

According to this calculation, he is now in his 90s.In fact, the base of the tail is still in its prime at 90 years old, and it will take another 20 years to reach the tip of the tail.From this point of view, the folds between the eyebrows at the corners of his eyes and the nasolabial folds around his mouth are a bit too deep, especially the two lines between the eyebrows, if he hadn't been frowning for many years, he would rarely have such deep lines.

Based on what he said just now, it seems that his previous work did bring him a lot of trouble.

Mervyn Bai didn't push Locke any more, but led them to the last door, "This is also a bedroom, but it's not within the scope of the rented house, and it's all my own things. In fact, this is my occasional bedroom." I don’t plan to vacate the room I will live in.”

He said so, and opened the door of this room, "Although I don't rent it, I don't mind letting you take a tour. Cherish this opportunity. After a while, it will be locked, and you will never open it again." Right now."

Compared with the previously tidied up spaces, this bedroom really has traces of people living in it. There is even an antique notebook on the bedside, with a pen in it, as if it was a temporary exit in the middle of writing.

There are several rows of bookshelves in an artistic style nailed to the wall, which are well arranged.There are two rows of picture albums of the collection, and two sketchbooks unfolded on a certain page. The other rows are placed with various photos, and occasionally a few pots of freshly colored cacti are sandwiched between them.

"Look, for the convenience of renting a house, I specially replaced the flower vine with a cactus, you don't need to worry about it." Mervyn Bai said.

Yan Suizhi was very sincere: "I won't take care of it, don't worry. All the flowers and plants that I took care of in the past are dead."

Mervyn Bai: "...Then it's better to hold your hands high."

Yan Suizhi glanced over those photos, most of them were photos of Mervyn Bai painting or holding art exhibitions, but there were two exceptions.

Those two photos are quite old at first glance. From the style of dressing to the style of scenery, it can be seen that they should be more than 20 years ago.In the photo is a cemetery. Mervyn Bai is holding a white resting flower and walking slowly among the pines, cypresses and green trees. On his side and farther behind are rows of silent tombstones.

The other photo is still the cemetery, but from a different angle, this time even Mervyn Bai himself didn't leave the country, and only took pictures of the countless tombstones spread far away among the dark green trees.

When Locke saw these two photos, he was speechless silently, thinking that the landlord really didn't know how to avoid taboos at all. These two photos were very artistic, but it was a bit too much to put them in the bedroom facing the bed. Strange, don't you feel horrified when you glance at it suddenly when you sleep at night?

Also looking at these two photos, what Yan Suizhi was thinking was completely different from him.

Although the photo did not capture the gate of the cemetery, nor did the name of the cemetery appear anywhere.But Yan Suizhi recognized it at a glance, "Is this the juniper cemetery in District [-] of Helan Star?"

Mervyn Bai nodded, a little surprised: "Yes, you can see this?"

"It happens to be familiar." Yan Suizhi said.

Of course I can recognize it, because for a long time, Yan Suizhi would go there every day and stay there for an entire afternoon. The position of the tombstone there, what kind of trees were planted there, which piece of land is higher, and which one is on the steps? He was a little tired, and he knew which piece of land was lower, and the water would easily accumulate in patches when it rained.

Because his parents are buried there.

Yan Suizhi looked at the two photos for a while, and there were hundreds of tombstones in them, and under two of them lay the people he missed the most.

"What's the matter?" Mervyn Bai asked.

After a while, Yan Suizhi turned his eyes away and said apologetically, "It's nothing, I'm a little distracted."

"Oh, it's okay," Mervyn Bai said, "Every time I look at these two photos, I'm easily lost in thought, and the whole afternoon passes in a daze."

He took the two of them out of the room, locked the door again, and said: "My hometown is Helan Star. When I used to work, I mainly stayed in Decama. After I resigned, I went back for half a year and stayed here for half a year. Yes. Recently there was a joint art exhibition in Decama. I was supposed to be here to pick up the news, but last night I suddenly received a message that my mother was ill and had to go back to Helan to take care of it for a while, otherwise I might not even think about entering it in the future. The door is closed."

"What disease? Is it serious?" Locke asked with concern.

Mervyn Bai said with a smile, "At this time, you really look like a blond little angel, and if you are a little fatter, you will look more like a wine. It's nothing serious, maybe she caught the flu and has a little fever, and she is already in the hospital. But even if she It’s better to be alive and kicking in the evening, I have to go back, and I have to take a look before I can rest assured.”

"Then—" Mervyn Bai returned to the living room with the two of them, and he pulled out the rental contract that he had prepared from his optical brain, and spread the simulated paper pages on the glass coffee table, "If you have no other questions, we will signed the contract?"

In fact, before entering the house, Yan Suizhi tended not to rent, because the environment of this residential area was really not good.But now he changed his mind a bit.

Perhaps it was because the layout of the house was really good, even beyond his expectations.Or maybe because of those two photos of the cemetery...

Yan Suizhi thought for a while and said, "To be honest, I am very satisfied with this place, but due to certain reasons, I may not be able to confirm the lease period for the time being—"

Mervyn Bai glanced at Locke, waved his hand at Yan Suizhi again, with a chic face: "It's okay! I know, I heard from my classmate Locke that the salary you can get during the internship is limited, and you can live independently. Under the premise of the situation, no matter which one may not be able to pay half a year's rent in one go. It's normal, I have met children from the Southern Cross before, and I know it too well."

He mistakenly thought that the reason Yan Suizhi said was "pocket-tied", and of course this understanding was correct to a certain extent.Of course, what Yan Suizhi was actually thinking about was that he might lose his sheepskin soon after he lived there.

But this can't be said to the landlord, since the landlord has found a reason for him, of course he is very happy, nodded along with the words, and said: "That's it, I'm sorry, but I'm currently a poor ghost."

This poor ghost does not have the self-consciousness of a poor ghost at all, his temperament is first-class, and he is extremely calm.

Locke glanced aside, then silently turned his head and covered his face.

Unexpectedly, Mervyn Bai laughed loudly, "Hey, I just like your personality! To be honest, it's not easy to meet such an interesting tenant. How about this, while I'm in a good mood, I might as well talk to you first. Sign a one-week trial living agreement. Anyway, I will stay in Helan for about a week. It would be nice if someone could help me look at some houses. And you can also move your luggage here first, and live for a few days to buffer. If I really like it here, you can renew my contract month by month, how about it?"

Locke glanced at it secretly, thinking that most people would not be able to agree to this agreement.Under normal circumstances, when you see the landlord is so easy-going and considerate, you should say: "No, how can this work, sign for one month first" or "Let's sign for three months first", which is equivalent to taking a step back, and both parties are happy.

Unexpectedly, Yan Suizhi actually nodded and said, "Really? It would be great if this is really possible, thank you very much."

Locke: "..." What do you mean?

Professor Yanda is really kind.

He said, bowed his head and scanned the content of the agreement fluently, and then filled in the lease period for 7 days very naturally, and filled in several other places, and finally signed his signature at the end.

When signing, he got stuck in the shell again, and when he turned around, he still gave a "tsk" in his heart. Xin Dao didn't have classmate Gu coughing in time, and it was really easy to make mistakes.

Mervyn Bai didn't care. He took the agreement, checked the information filled in a few places, and signed his name without hesitation.

Everyone was happy except Locke.

With these two people around, the process of renting a house, which should have been prudent, was surprisingly fast. It took less than half an hour from viewing the house to signing the agreement.

Until Yan Suizhi said goodbye and was about to leave, Locke couldn't react a little bit, "Is this all right?"

"if not?"

When he walked to the door, Mervyn Bai suddenly remembered something, slapped his forehead, and said, "Hi—I forgot to mention it in a moment of excitement, you can live here as you like, but there are two exceptions."

"Which two?"

"No animals." Mervyn White said, "No animals, don't let me see any traces left by animals. I am very sensitive to this matter, and I will choke if I see it. No kidding, this is It's a serious matter. I have a little... psychological shadow on this kind of thing. So be sure! Be sure! Don't violate it."

Yan Suizhi nodded, "Don't worry, it's very difficult for an intern's salary to support me, and I don't have extra money to raise pets."

Mervyn Bai said: "That's good."

"..."

"Uh, no, I wish you guys an early salary increase." Mervyn Bai said again, "The other thing is that you are not allowed to bring your girlfriend over. This is also very serious, and it is also my psychological shadow. In the past, there was only the previous rule. Without adding this, the only thing you can do in life is to hate when you meet three tenants in a row who are all like humanoid motors, regardless of the occasion or location, ah...it's a nightmare, anyway you just treat it like this It is a sensitive spot of a bachelor who has been around for ten thousand years and cannot be touched, so promise me not to take it."

Yan Suizhi couldn't laugh or cry, "I don't have a girlfriend, I don't know if this can comfort you."

Mervyn Bai added categorically, "Not even a boyfriend."

Yan Suizhi: "..."

"Why are you silent?" Mervyn Bai's eyes were full of mischievous suspicion.

Yan Suizhi said unhappily, "No, not at all. If I look at it this way, I might have to delete the agreement."

Mervyn Bai nodded reassuringly, "Okay, I've given you a seven-day permission for your fingerprints, and you can move in tonight and enjoy your new life."

……

Yan Suizhi told Gu Yan when he planned to return to the Southern Cross Law Firm.

In fact, at the moment of signing the agreement, he once had the idea of ​​calling Gu Yan to ask a question, but the moment the thought flashed, he was crossed by himself.As for why, he didn't think about it.

Or in other words, he actually knew why, but a certain kind of consciousness involved didn't make him think too much.

However, when he returned to Southern Cross Law Firm, he found that the office on the second floor was empty.

He thought for a while, and sent Gu Yan a message on his smartphone: "Have you gone to the port?"

After a while, the other party's message replied: "Already on the shuttle."

"So fast?"

"Hurry up."

After a while, another message from Gu Yan came: "I'm leaving Hong Kong, you go back by yourself at night."

Yan Suizhi thought for a while and replied to him: "By the way, Locke helped me find a new apartment. I signed a short-term agreement just now, and I will move in two days."

After all, if he lives there, it will cause trouble for Gu Yan. Although Gu Yan himself doesn't care, Yan Suizhi can't make fun of his future.

It's just that this time, after waiting for a long time, Gu Yan's message did not reply again.