"Why hasn't his company contacted his family? It's been so long since his business trip, has the company not done anything?"

Confronted by Fu Zheng's questioning, the policeman sighed. "Because it was a death during a business trip, it's classified as a work-related injury. The company didn't want to lose money on the payout. This particular company isn't operating under the standard regulations¹ergo, it's doing a lot of under-the-table unregulated business, so it didn't provide Yao Kang with workplace insurance or workers comp. If something goes wrong, you pay for it yourself. The HR manager is just as horrible of a person. Even knowing the state of Yao Kang's family, that his parents were dead, that he had no siblings, and that he was divorced with a little one, they simply made the decision to privately cremate him so that they wouldn't have to lose a penny..."

There were certainly no lack of wonders in the wide world. Ning Wan and Fu Zheng looked at each other. They had seen farcical company operations before, but nothing to quite this degree.

"Then Fei Fei..." Ning Wan thought of the child still watching cartoons the next room over, and her heart bled. When they had been on the way to the police station, he had still been eager to see his father as soon as possible...

Thankfully, the policeman was quite responsible. "The good news is that I have been able to contact the child's mother. I've already spoken to her over the phone, and she will be here to pick up the boy today, so you won't need to worry about him. In short, thank you for your trouble in having taken care of the child last night."

The policeman who had been with them last night kept apologizing as well. "Since the boy had a breakdown last night, we weren't able to sort out all the details in time. It was a special case in which we couldn't just drag him out kicking and screaming. Thank you for your understanding, even though it must have been inconvenient for you."

"If you want to, you can head out now. I think the kid is in a fairly stable mood, and not as tired and hysterical as last night. You can leave him here at the police station and when his mother comes by to pick him up, we'll take care of the rest."

But even with that being said...

While Ning Wan was hesitating, Fu Zheng unexpectedly spoke up. "According to the law, close relatives of workers who did from work-related injuries should be eligible for a funeral subsidy, along with a pension for any dependents and a one-time subsidy for death incurred on the job. Yao Kang has divorced his wife and has neither parents nor siblings, so the money should be due to Yao Fei, his son. Is the company in which Yao Kang worked in any way willing to take on this responsibility?"

"Not at all," replied the policeman helplessly, "This is a 'black factory', a small workshop that does a lot of under the table work. They probably don't provide insurance to most of their employees, or even have them sign contracts. I had to negotiate for a long time before even finding out the truth. It would be like moving heaven and earth to get an enterprise like that to offer compensation for injuries occurred on the job. If they had ever intended to give out workers compensation, do you think they would have cremated their dead employees in private?"

"We've seen this kind of thing a lot. It weighs on the conscience, but only the parties involved can choose to go to court. It won't be easy to defend their rights."

"Then if you don't mind, we'll stay here with the child while he waits for his mother."

Although Fu Zheng's request was unexpected, the two policemen nodded. "That's fine, you can just wait in the next room with the kid. It would be better to wait for his mother to get here before breaking the news to him... it might be too hard on him otherwise... ahh, that poor thing..."

Though he had clearly said that he disliked children, and always looked impatient and annoyed whenever Yao Fei was about, Fu Zheng didn't jump at the chance to be rid of the child by leaving him at the police station. Instead, he looked toward Ning Wan. "If you have things to do, you can head out first. I'll stay here."

Ning Wan's heart felt moved, but on the surface she remained calm and just as usual. "What are you going to do? Fei Fei will be safe here at the police station with these two good policemen…" She checked the time. "Don't laze around over here, why don't we both go to work? Yesterday there was a parking space dispute Auntie Li brought in that we haven't dealt with yet, and we could get it done today."

Fu Zheng seemed uncomfortable and twisted in his seat, but in the end, he didn't get up and leave. "This is also community work I'll be dealing with," he said, looking at her.

Then looking away hesitantly, he added, "Yao Kang can kind of be considered a Yuelan tenant, so the child's affairs fall within the scope of community legal services. It isn't looking good for their family. It'll take money for his mother to raise him as a single parent. No matter what kind of person Yao Kang was, event though he may have colluded with a real estate agent to deceive another, his family is innocent. It was illegal for the factory to privately cremate his remains and to be unwilling to recompense a work injury and funeral expenses. After the boy's mother is informed of the situation, I think she'll need a lawyer."

"So you're preparing to offer legal aid to Fei Fei?"

"Yes."

"Aren't you allergic to children?"

Fu Zheng had slapped himself in the face, but at the moment though he was feeling tense, he pretended to stay calm and answered confidently. "I don't like them, but I dislike lawbreakers even more. If I didn't know it was happening it would be one thing, but now that I know, I can't just let it be. I'm not blind."

He glanced back at Ning Wan after saying so. "You can go back to the office if you've got a lot to do there. I'll take care of the kid. It won't take up any work hours, I'll use my off-day to handle this case…"

He seemed to want to continue explaining, but Ning Wan no longer wanted to hear it. She met his gaze and interrupted, "Looks like my vision isn't bad after all. I've taken a good apprentice."

Her eyes sparkled. "You don't need to explain this to me. What you're doing is precisely what a community lawyer should do. We are the lawyers for the common people, and we deal with the common people. Although we may be at the bottom of the food chain in the law industry, and lawyers who do commercial work likely look down on us for not doing what ordinary lawyers do, we're still the ones who must handle the most ordinary of things."

"When I was in law school, every year my teacher would tell us that legal market was saturated, and that employment of law students fell behind all other majors. Except for a very few students who took the examination to become civil servants, most other law students finally chose completely different majors. They went to banks and large enterprises. Few chose to become lawyers, not only because it was hard to become a lawyer, but also because there were too many lawyers and only so many cases. The majority of lawyers had nothing to do."

"But when I actually became a lawyer, I found out that this wasn't the case at all. It's true that there are many registered lawyers in China, more than 400,000 in 2018, and by now there are definitely more than that. But among these 400,000, 80% serve only 20% of the people. Everyone competes for those 20% rich clients and cases, while a huge number of underserved people in the community or in the even more remote rural areas languish with no lawyers willing to work on their behalf."

"I once despised the job of community lawyer, but once I really started doing it, I found that it was a meaningful and valuable experience. Every little bit of legal aid that we deliver changes the lives of other people. The money may be scant, but don't you feel your blood heat up watching your struggles make a difference in this world?"

"When you first came here to the community, you often felt ungrounded in your ideas and practices, but of late your actions have become more and more compassionate and responsible." Ning Wan considered it. "How do I phrase it? Though you were excellent before, there was an airy sense of distance about you, but now you feel very down-to-earth, solid and reliable."

At the end of the day, the only difference between a lawyer who served the ordinary people and lawyers who worked with large commercial firms were price. Both were a necessary existence and in demand. There was no distinction making one higher or lower than the other.

Ever since she had become a community lawyer, Ning Wan had been often looked down on by others. It had affected her mentally at first, making her slack off, but after adjusting to it she had begun devoting herself wholeheartedly, and now she found great satisfaction in her job.

Occasionally it seemed to others that she was just meddlesome or that she had a savior complex, and though she was very busy she was still poor. But who cared! It was good enough to be living out her passion. That's what they called being 'poor, but happy'!

Thinking all these things, Ning Wan heaved a great sigh. She looked at Fu Zheng and said sincerely, "As your mentor, I hope that you can really enjoy your job and find value in it. In this way, even if you switch to commercial work in the future, you'll still remember this experience. Stay true to yourself, and don't become a lawyer willing to do anything for money."

She patted him solemnly on the shoulder. "Well done, Fu Zheng!"

Then deliberately lowering her voice as if sharing some huge secret, Ning Wan whispered, "To tell you the truth, I've recently been in touch with the mysterious senior partner who'll be starting soon at our firm. When I join his team, I'll introduce you too! Keep up your current enthusiasm. I think if you work hard for another half year, you'll certainly be able to catch someone's eye! Don't lose heart, keep working hard! "

“……”

frostcrystal

The more I translate of I Advise, the more I feel like the position of community lawyer is somewhat akin to a public defender or legal aid, except hired on by a neighbourhood association rather than the state. Unfortunately I don't know very much about the legal system in China.