Chapter 46 Maybach

Chapter 45

Busy days always pass quickly, and before we knew it, the end of the year was almost here. Xia Zhiyu's legal aid case was successfully closed with the suspect being found not guilty, and the video materials that Jiang Zhiyan helped obtain played a key role in this.

Since returning to Beicheng, her only contact with Jiang Zhiyan has been Xia Xiaojiang. As if fulfilling a KPI, Jiang Zhiyan updates her on Xia Xiaojiang's situation every two days without fail. When Xia Zhiyu asked if he could go see Xia Xiaojiang, he even took the initiative to leave the house early, leaving time and space for Xia Zhiyu.

The two were like a divorced couple, their only connection being their child. Xia Zhiyu had visitation rights, but Jiang Zhiyan consciously withdrew when she exercised those rights.

This aloof attitude made Xia Zhiyu feel a sense of unfamiliarity.

On the other end of the phone, a friend in Sichuan asked, "I've already gotten the receipt for you. When are you coming back to pick it up, or should I mail it to you in Beicheng?"

"Let's wait a while. It's almost Chinese New Year, and no matter how busy we are, we have to go home for the New Year."

"What about after that? I've recently come into contact with a few pretty good marriage law teams. Weren't you considering coming back to develop your career? Would you like to get in touch with them?"

There was a light knock on the office door, and the newly hired assistant leaned in, holding up a tablet to her, indicating that there was new urgent work that needed her attention. Xia Zhiyu covered the microphone, turned to the side, nodded, and gestured for two minutes.

The young assistant closed the door.

"I'm not going back. I'll be developing my self-media business here in Beicheng from now on. I don't plan to be a lawyer anymore."

Although Song Yue felt that the homonym sounded more like "fish and shrimp," which inexplicably made her feel a little hungry, she still bravely invested 100,000 yuan. After all, with fish and shrimp, it wouldn't be easy for her own little one to go hungry, so she was quite satisfied.

Xia Zhiyu looked out the window at the cars coming and going on the road. Her rented small studio was in the suburbs. Although the location was remote, it was convenient because it was on the same subway line as the hospital, so she didn't have to transfer. Every night after get off work, she would faint on the subway and get to the hospital in 30 minutes to take over from the caregiver and stay with her mother.

After Song Yue's condition stabilized, she sent Lao Xia back to Beicheng. Leaning against the hospital bed, she busied herself knitting a sweater while chatting with the patients in the next room.

"Hey, what's the point of keeping him here? He's always staring at the classroom monitors watching his students, like a security guard. It would be better to let him go back to Chuancheng and keep an eye on those kids. That's how teachers are; their hearts are full of their students. I'd be content if I were half as good to them as he is to his students."

She complained, but a faint sense of satisfaction shone through her eyes.

A lover isn't someone who shelters you tightly and protects you, but someone who supports you in every aspect of life.

Her parents' support and warmth greatly nourished Xia Zhiyu once again. Although she was extremely busy during this period, constantly shuttling between her studio and the hospital, and only occasionally returning to her rented apartment to change clothes and take a shower, she rarely even stayed overnight. However, Xia Zhiyu felt fulfilled and happy.

After she hung up the phone, her assistant came in and told her that the previous advertisers wanted to add a few new elements to the proposal and hoped to meet with Xia Zhiyu to discuss it when they were available. She asked when they would be free.

“Let’s do it tonight,” Xia Zhiyu said, her brows furrowing slightly. “Wasn’t the advertising plan already finalized? Why are we changing it again?”

Moreover, they had collaborated with this company two or three times already, and she had met the project manager; they were quite satisfied with the plan before.

After recalling for a moment, the assistant explained, "It seems that they got a new boss, whose ideas differed from the previous manager's, so they said they were going to make changes."

Xia Zhiyu's eyes showed a hint of helplessness. That's the downside of personal studios. They are weak and powerless. Even if the plan is finalized, what can they do? If the client wants to make changes, even if they feel speechless, they still have to greet them with a smile.

Even when socializing, you can't go empty-handed. Putting aside everything else, there should be at least two bottles of decent white wine on the table. Who will carry the wine? You can't expect the esteemed client to buy it, can you? The most important thing for a service provider is to be observant.

Xia Zhiyu stood at the entrance of the reserved private room, carrying two bottles of baijiu, and sighed helplessly.

This career change is practically the same as not changing at all. When she was a lawyer, she was always subservient to her clients. Now that she's a social media influencer, she's still destined to be subservient.

Could it be that her destiny is to rely on her father for a living? Once she's done with this busy period, she definitely needs to find a fortune teller to study and see if she can come up with something to ward off evil spirits.

She mustered her courage and pushed open the door, her face quickly donning a professional smile. She cheerfully greeted the client, who was sitting in the main seat, and complimented him:

"It's been a long time, Mr. Zhu. You look better and better."

Manager Zhu, who was sitting in the main seat with a large pregnant belly and slicked-back hair, her face as shiny as her hair, glanced at her, didn't say anything, just nodded coldly to her, and then immediately started talking to the two people next to her.

Xia Zhiyu suddenly felt something was wrong. Although Manager Zhu had never been nice to them before, she had never been this cold before. Could it be that he didn't want to cooperate with her anymore?

"I heard from a friend who interned at another MCM company that they also received a proposal planning request from Manager Zhu's company!!!"

The client has even chosen a backup plan.

The meal lasted from 7:00 to 10:30. By the time the fruit platter was served and all the wine was gone, the topic of the plan was only brought up three times, and Manager Zhu evaded it every time with excuses.

He would either say "let's talk about it in a few days" or "there are still areas for improvement," urging Xia Zhiyu to work harder. When asked what specific effect he wanted to achieve, he would start offering irrelevant and irrelevant suggestions, never saying anything useful.

She was completely unyielding and wouldn't listen to reason.

After the social gathering, Xia Zhiyu was so exhausted that she wanted to collapse. She barely ate any food, but she was forced to drink a lot of alcohol. Her stomach must have contained at least eight ounces to a pound of liquor, even though her assistant helped her drink a lot. Otherwise, given the way Manager Zhu and the others were pressuring her to drink, Xia Zhiyu would definitely have passed out here.

Manager Zhu and his group were clearly seasoned social butterflies, and now they were discussing going to a karaoke bar to continue the party.

Xia Zhiyu wished she could kill Chuang Fei and the others, but she had to put on a smile. What could she do? She was the one who needed their help, and she was in a hurry to complete the project and get the funding, so of course they didn't care.

Manager Zhu seemed to be more attentive to what was being said in the KTV, but this was hardly a place to conduct business. The two of them had to shout at each other, as if they were trying to communicate from two different mountain peaks.

Around midnight, Xia Zhiyu excused herself to go to the restroom. After washing her face to refresh herself, she turned around and bumped into Manager Zhu, who was also getting some fresh air at the entrance of the private room. The two chatted for a few minutes and finally got to the point. Xia Zhiyu's spirits lifted immediately.

Unexpectedly, Manager Zhu's thick lips suddenly uttered a sentence,

Do you have a boyfriend?

What does this have to do with cooperation?

Xia Zhiyu was a little confused, subconsciously thinking that the client felt their Qixi Festival theme wasn't appropriate enough, and replied:

We talked before, but we broke up not long ago.

Manager Zhu slowly puffed on his cigarette, his short, thick fingers holding the cigar, the tips of which were stained yellow from the smoke.

Xia Zhiyu's stomach churned, and the pungent smell of smoke made her nauseous, but she still had to force herself to endure the nausea and discuss project-related matters with Manager Zhu.

Manager Zhu glanced at her and invited, "Let's go, the project materials and documents are in the car, let's talk in the car, and we can go buy some barbecue, it's stuffy in here."

Finally, they got to the important issue, and Xia Zhiyu's spirits lifted instantly, as if all the physical pain had vanished.

Manager Zhu drove a Mercedes-Benz, its body black and shiny, looking quite impressive.

However, Xia Zhiyu's eye for luxury was honed by following Jiang Zhiyan around to various luxury venues over the years. She was both sharp and accurate. She could tell at a glance that Manager Zhu's car was an old model from many years ago, and the so-called genuine leather seats were obviously fake to the touch.

But Manager Zhu didn't think so. When they arrived at the barbecue restaurant, he opened the car door, a hint of smugness on his face. "Isn't my car nice? It cost me almost a million yuan to get it."

Xia Zhiyu paused for a moment, then tactfully flattered Manager Zhu, easing the tension. Seeing Manager Zhu's increasingly relaxed expression, Xia Zhiyu seized the opportunity to ask...

"Hey, no rush," Manager Zhu lit another cigarette, took a couple of puffs, and said slowly, "Xia, we've known each other for a while now. Look, I drive a Mercedes and own an apartment within the Second Ring Road. I'd say I'm pretty well-off in the North City."

Xia Zhiyu was completely stunned. She wasn't stupid; she could naturally understand the implication behind Manager Zhu's words before she could even react.

Manager Zhu continued, "You're a Beijing drifter, right? Girls should find someone to rely on as soon as possible. Money isn't easy to earn these days. When will you be able to afford a house in the north of the city with your meager income? I may not be the best-looking guy, but I'm capable. So, think about it."

"I'm sorry," Xia Zhiyu said with a smile that remained unchanged, politely declining, "I have no plans to date or get married in the near future. I just want to focus on my career right now, and I have no other thoughts."

Manager Zhu continued to pester her. Seeing his behavior, Xia Zhiyu dared not ride in his car back. She insisted on walking back, pretending to sober up. Manager Zhu drove slowly beside her, even rolling down the window and turning his head to talk to her, acting in a lewd manner that was almost like sexual harassment.

Through the lowered car window, Xia Zhiyu saw the airbags suddenly deploy, pinning Manager Zhu to his seat.

A Maybach S-Class that had changed lanes was diagonally across his car, its door twisted and deformed from the impact.

Manager Zhu cursed angrily as the airbags retracted. He then angrily leaned out of the driver's side window and immediately spotted the Maybach logo.

The air suddenly became quiet.