211: Chapter 211 Lingering Feelings?

Lü Yan tilted her head in confusion.

"Chen Ling? Your Ex-wife, right?"

"I've been busy with a rather tricky case lately, so I haven't been paying much attention to your lawsuit. Did something happen?"

Shen Yan answered bluntly, "Chen Ling has been arrested."

At those words, Lü Yan's eyes immediately widened in shock.

"Your Ex-wife was arrested? Why?"

Shen Yan briefly explained the whole story to her.

"So that's how it is... Well, it looks like you're definitely going to win this lawsuit."

As she said this, Lü Yan seemed to suddenly remember something and paused.

"Wait, I remember you said before that you wanted to stall the lawsuit until the court date... You didn't know back then that she'd be arrested, did you?"

Shen Yan curled his lips into a smile but remained silent.

Seeing this, Lü Yan immediately knew she had guessed correctly. She shook her head and sighed, "Actually, you didn't even need to hire me as your lawyer; you could have handled this yourself."

Shen Yan replied humbly, "No, no. The main reason things went so smoothly is thanks to you."

"By the way, I came to see you today because of Chen Ling. I wanted to ask, given her situation, how many years do you think she'll be sentenced to?"

Lü Yan replied, "Actually, I'm not entirely sure about that. I mainly handle civil cases, and your Ex-wife's situation is a criminal matter."

"If you want a more accurate answer, I can ask my Senior Brother for you. He primarily handles criminal cases."

Shen Yan didn't stand on ceremony and nodded. "Then please consult him for me."

Hearing this, Lü Yan didn't hesitate. She took out her phone right in front of him and called her Senior Brother.

"Hello, Senior Brother, are you busy right now?"

"Not busy. What's up?"

"It's like this, I have a case here..."

After listening, the Senior Brother on the other end replied, "This is a very complex situation. Generally speaking, we'd need to review the files and combine various factors before we could estimate how many years she'll be sentenced to."

Lü Yan glanced at Shen Yan and then asked her Senior Brother, "Then, based on your past experience, can you guess what the minimum sentence would be for this kind of situation?"

The Senior Brother didn't refuse and answered directly, "Based on my experience, no matter what, she'll be sentenced to at least ten years of fixed-term imprisonment."

"And that's the optimistic scenario. If things aren't looking good, twenty years or even life imprisonment is possible."

Having received the answer, Lü Yan thanked her Senior Brother repeatedly and hung up.

"You heard that. For someone in your Ex-wife's position, it's at least ten years. You... you don't still have feelings for her and want to protect her, do you?"

At those words, Shen Yan immediately gave Lü Yan a horrified look.

"I only asked you how many years she'd get. Where did you get the idea that I want to protect her?"

Lü Yan replied with a smile, "I was just asking. Isn't your reaction a bit exaggerated?"

Shen Yan let out a cold laugh.

"My reaction is only this 'exaggerated' because your guess was so outrageous. Our split wasn't nearly as peaceful as you imagine."

Lü Yan nodded. "I figured as much. Otherwise, the two of you wouldn't be making such a fuss over the child."

"But did you come here just to ask how long Chen Ling would be in prison?"

Shen Yan shook his head.

"Of course not. Chen Ling wants to see me now. I'm wondering why she wants me to go meet with her."

As his voice trailed off...

Lü Yan looked at Shen Yan and then whispered, "Is it possible she still has lingering feelings for you and wants to see you a few more times before she goes in for good?"

Shen Yan: "...Could you stop telling me bad jokes every chance you get?"

Lü Yan curled her lip and replied, "It's not a bad joke. Based on my experience with civil cases, I think this is actually quite likely."

Saying this, she glanced at Shen Yan again. "After all, you were husband and wife, and you have a child together. It's normal for her to want to see you."

Shen Yan couldn't take it anymore. He raised his hand to stop Lü Yan's horrifying conjectures and said, "What you're saying is giving me goosebumps. I'm telling you, there's no way she's calling me over because of 'lingering feelings' or wanting to see me before she goes away."

Hearing this, Lü Yan immediately asked Shen Yan excitedly, "Why? What exactly happened between you two?"

Seeing the fire of gossip burning in her eyes...

Shen Yan thought about it and told her the reason he and Chen Ling had split up.

"Holy crap! She was that heartless?!"

Although Lü Yan had handled many divorce cases, this was the first time she'd seen someone act so ruthlessly.

She patted Shen Yan's shoulder sympathetically and said with concern, "It's okay, it's all in the past."

Shen Yan took a deep breath, removed Lü Yan's hand from his shoulder, and said, "Thanks for the sentiment, but this really is in the past for me. You don't need to comfort me."

After that, he checked his watch and said to Lü Yan, "Alright, I've asked everything I wanted to ask. Just give me a quote based on your usual hourly rate."

Lü Yan asked blankly, "What quote?"

Shen Yan was stunned, his face full of confusion.

"Don't you lawyers charge consultation fees by the hour?"

Only then did Lü Yan realize that the "quote" Shen Yan mentioned was for a consultation fee. She smiled and said, "Forget about consultation fees. You've treated me to so many meals; how could I possibly charge you?"

Since Lü Yan wasn't short on money, Shen Yan didn't insist on paying her.

"Alright, since you won't name a price, I'll treat you to another meal next time to make up for the consultation fee."

Saying this, he looked at his watch again.

"I have things to do later and need to head back to the office, so I won't stay any longer."

Lü Yan nodded nonchalantly.

"No problem, I'll walk you downstairs."

Shen Yan stood up and refused, "No need. It's just a short walk; I can go down myself."

His refusal didn't work, and Lü Yan still insisted on walking him down.

After going downstairs, Shen Yan went straight to his car.

Just as he was about to say goodbye and leave, Lü Yan tapped on his car window.