Chapter 369: You Have Two Choices
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Gu Nianzhi crossed her arms and blocked the door with an icy look. She spoke to Yan Kehua first, “Classmate Yan, please take back what you said. Otherwise I’ll be suing you too.” She shifted her gaze from Yan Kehua to Miao Yunxiao, then in the other direction. Gu Nianzhi then said to Miao Yunxiao, “You still haven’t answered me, how did you get in my room?”
Miao Yunxiao’s eyes glimmered, too afraid to look at Gu Nianzhi. She lived in this unit alone for the past six months so it was normal for her to have keys to both bedrooms. Gu Nianzhi just moved in today so Miao Yunxiao didn’t have time to return the extra key to the faculty yet.
“You’re too afraid to admit it? Do you have keys to my room?”Gu Nianzhi could already guess what happened and pointed to the two girls, “Great, then I can sue the both of you.”
“Sue me?! Are you serious?!” Yan Kehua also panicked, “What did I say wrong? How can you sue me?! Didn’t you hear me try to ease the tension for your benefit?!” Yan Kehua hastily blinked at Gu Nianzhi to stop her from crossing Miao Yunxiao. Yan Kehua grew up in a normal family but was a genius since she was young so she was admitted to the best law school in the Empire, B University. She then continued from undergraduate studies to post-grad, and if she really go sued then her clean resume would have an ugly blemish–even if Gu Nianzhi didn’t win the lawsuit it would negatively impact her future career prospects. Also Miao Yunxiao’s background was not one normal students like them could challenge, so she helped Miao Yunxiao because she was also afraid that Gu Nianzhi would unknowingly cross her. An orphan girl who painstakingly got admitted as Professor He Zhichu’s post-grad student at the B University Faculty of Law shouldn’t ruin her career over one impulsive decision.
“Kehua, stop being so nice. She doesn’t accept your kindness anyway” Miao Yunxiao balled her hands into fists, “You’re right, she’s an orphan girl who lost both parents, ywt uses such expensive skincare and makeup. Who knows how she got the money!”
“How i got my money? How about you tell me.” Gu Nianzhi replied as she put her hand in her pocket to secretly turn on the audio recorder on her phone. It had been modified by Zhao Liangze so it was easy to record.
“Who wouldn’t know? Stop pretending.” Miao Yunxiao smirked, “Don’t make me paint the picture.”
“Say it! I just met you today, but you already somehow know where my money came from. Can you tell the future too?” Gu Nianzhi stuck her hands in her pockets casually to wait for Miao Yunxiao to fall into the trap.
“I don’t need to tell the future, it’s merely a simple logical inference.” Miao Yunxiao walked around Gu Nianzhi once, “You have a normal background and no parents. You’ve always been in school but live luxuriously and also have decent looks. Anyone with a brain can tell that your money can’t be explained, or maybe it’s dirty to begin with!”
Gu Nianzhi puller her phone out from her pocket and pressed pause as she said to the two girls, “Ok. From a legal perspective, what you two said just now is already considered slander to my reputation. I reserve the rights to pursue legal action, contingent upon your future behavior.”
“You dare to sue me?” Miao Yunxiao couldn’t hold it back anymore and steadied herself with Yan Kehua’s shoulder as she laughed hard, “Go find out who the presiding judge at the Imperial Capital Intermediate People’s Court is. –Are you sure the courts will accept your case if you sue me?” If the courts didn’t take the case, then what good would suing do for her!
“Oh?” Gu Nianzhi paused thoughtfully, “So the judge at the Imperial Capital Intermediate People’s Court is your family?”
“Of course.” Miao Yunxiao looked at her smugly, “Still want to sue me?”
“Why wouldn’t I? Gu Nianzhi shrugged, “Your relative should distance himself from my case due to conflict of interest. I don’t believe that your relative will betray legal procedure and abuse his power for personal gains.”
Miao Yunxiao’s face grew ashen, “What did you say?!”
“What? Are you scared now? If your relative dares to abuse his power for personal gains, I’ll be happy to take this all the way to the Supreme Court. –What? Haven’t you heard of judges being sued?”
Miao Yunxiao deflated in an instant. The presiding judge at the Imperial Capital Intermediate People’s Court was her uncle. Her mother had two sisters but was the only one to marry a businessman. One sister married a soldier and the other a judge, so their families were more powerful than her’s. But Miao Yunxiao’s family was wealthy, so the three families managed to get along well. But if this troublemaker Gu Nianzhi really caused a scandal and took the case all the way to the Supreme Court, then even Miao Yunxia’s own uncle wouldn’t dare speak up for her… Also it had always been her family asking her two uncles for favors, how can she dare to give them trouble? She just wanted to frighten Gu Nianzhi earlier. All the other students knew about her background so they were very polite to Miao Yunxiao, so she never had to make threats using her uncles’ names before. She didn’t expect to use both their names and still not deter Gu Nianzhi. Could the man supporting Gu Nianzhi really be that rich and powerful? Miao Yunxiao couldn’t help recalling the man from that afternoon. She had never seen such a handsome person before, one glance nearly made her suffocate. And Gu Nianzhi came to campus in a military vehicle… Piecing all the clues together, Miao Yunxiao didn’t dare make a rash move. She finally suppressed the anger in her heart and said to Gu Nianzhi reluctantly, “Fine, Classmate Gu wins. It was my fault, so can you be generous enough to forgive me this one time?”
Yan Kehua was stunned, she’d never seen Miao Yunxiao acquiesce before… Why did she shrink back as soon as Gu Nianzhi threatened to sue her? Yan Kehua glanced at the other two girls suspiciously.
However Gu Nianzhi already detested Miao Yunxiao to the extreme. Above all, Miao Yunxiao’s speculations on her relationship with Huo Shaoheng crossed the line, so she didn’t want to live with someone like that. “Classmate Miao, if apologies could solve everything then why do we have the law?” Gu Nianzhi cocked her head, “I’ll give you two options. One, move out of of this dorm. Two, I’ll take you to court for slander and attempted theft.”
Miao Yunxiao’s face flushed instantly as she warned quietly, “Gu Nianzhi! Don’t take this too far! I already apologized but you still won’t let it go, don’t think that I’m afraid of you! When this gets out, we’ll see who is the ashamed one!”
“Oh? So you still want to slander my reputation?” Gu Nianzhi would never forgive her now, “If you keep spouting nonsense, I’ll send you to jail!”
Because they were both law students, they both disregarded and valued the law. The disregard was because they all knew what was happening so they weren’t ordinary citizens who knew nothing about law and got terrified when sued. The value was because they all knew the serious consequences to law–an innocent person who got involved with a lawsuit and ended up sentenced would have their life ruined. Yan Kehua and Miao Yunxiao watched Gu Nianzhi’s unrelenting and aggressive attitude with increasing trepidation. They didn’t dare argue with her directly again.
Yan Kehua pulled at Miao Yunxiao’s shirt hem and whispered, “Yunxiao, let it go. It’s wrong of us to speculate about our classmate.” She apologized sincerely to Gu Nianzhi, “Classmate Gu, I really made a mistake today, I shouldn’t have said those things. We are all law students and we know the principle of innocent until proven guilty. What I said earlier had no evidence supporting and was slander to your reputation. I’m sorry, please forgive me and allow my another chance.”
Gu Nianzhi was not an obstinate person, and Yan Kehua was fundamentally different from her roommate. She considered it quickly before nodding and relaxing her tone, “The fact that Classmate Yan can see her mistake and learn from it is the important thing. This incident ends here and I won’t pursue it any further. You are also the class rep so I’ll give you a chance to improve your behavior.” Her words were soft yet had an edge to them, so even though she stated that there would be no accountability, Yan Kehua was still o the hook. “Improve your behavior” prevented Yan Kehua from going back on her word in the future.
Yan Kehua understood what Gu Nianzhiw as implying–she was truly scared and didn’t have a strong background like Miao Yunxiao. She didn’t dare to go against Gu Nianzhi who had no fear for any power or authority. “Thank you, Classmate Gu. My message has been delivered, please make sure to go to Professor He’s for the meeting tonight. Yunxiao, I’ll be leaving now. Remember to go to our class meeting tonight too.” Yan Kehua didn’t even finish her sentence as she hurried out of Miao Yunxiao and Gu Nianzhi’s dorm to return to her own place. Yan Kehua didn’t live in the building with two person units, but four person units. After she left, only Gu Nianzhi and Miao Yunxiao remained in the dorm room.
Miao Yunxiao rolled her eyes and put her hand on the doorknob, “Leave now, I’m going to close the door.”
“Just one second.” Gu Nianzhi blocked the door with her foot, “We’re not done here yet.”
“What else is there? Didn’t I apologize already?” Miao Yunixao said impatiently, “Also I won’t say anything about your situation to others, you can relax.”
“Relax? What about my situation can’t be mentioned to others?” Gu Nianzhi sneered, “Why would I worry about it? So you not slandering me is some kind of graciousness? I’ve never heard of such twisted logic.”
“Get out!” Miao Yunxiao was enraged by Gu Nianzhi’s stubbornness. She pulled the door hard to shut her out.
Gu Nianzhi reacted quickly and kicked a stool from by the wall to block the door. “Classmate Miao, this is not a joke.” Gu Nianzhi peered at the garbage can.
This is the evidence of you attempting to steal from my room, how about we call the police to check for fingerprints?”
Miao Yunxiao was both angry and scared–she still feared Gu Nianzhi enough to not lose her temper. She was merely a law student who had never been in court like Gu Nianzhi. In terms of both verbiage and attitude, Gu Nianzhi would completely destroy her. “What do you want anyway? I already apologized!” Miao Yunxiao sniffled and nearly started crying, “I’ve never bowed down to a person like you in all my life, what more do you want?”
“It’s not what I want, but what you want.” Gu Nianzhi watched her calmly, “I already told you, you have two options. One, move out of this dorm and I won’t pursue the issue for now. Two, if you refuse to leave, I’ll sue you. You’ll end up in jail so you’re moving anyway.”