Chapter 12

"Attorney Li, you've finally arrived. What's going on? You always make the ladies wait for you. Shouldn't you reflect on your behavior?"

Before Li Ye even entered the private room, Zhuang Keren arrived.

At lunchtime, the hall was full of people. Many people looked up when they heard this and saw a beautiful woman with her arms outstretched, hanging on another tall and slender woman with a cool demeanor.

Some men couldn't help but mutter to themselves, "Isn't this a waste? Can't we men have a share? Do you all have to keep it all to yourselves?"

The two were unfazed by the stares from those around them.

“Teacher Zhuang, you can’t be so strict. Just because you arrive so early doesn’t mean everyone else has to be the same.”

Zhuang Ke is very strict with herself when it comes to time, always arriving at meals fifteen minutes early, just like when she's teaching. Li Ye, on the other hand, is the kind of person who prefers to arrive at the last second before going to a restaurant, office, or classroom.

The two talked as they entered the private room and closed the door.

Su Che stood to the side, smiling as she watched Li Ye. Li Ye released Zhuang Ke, gave her a big hug, then took a step back, placed his hands on her arms, and looked her over a few times.

Today, Su Che wore a silk suit and black high heels, simple yet elegant, dignified and serious.

"Long time no see! Our beautiful Su has become even more beautiful. Being a CEO really makes a difference; she's gained a lot more domineering presence."

"Stop being so cheeky. I've never seen you this talkative before. After being a lawyer for a few years, you've become quite the smooth talker. With that mouth and that face of yours, you could probably fool a lot of girls. Why don't you ever bring a girlfriend to your parties?"

Su Che and Zhuang Ke were among the few people who knew Li Ye's orientation, so they spoke without any reservations.

"Perhaps she's old and faded, and no one wants her anymore."

Li Ye sighed, holding one in each arm, and was then flicked on the forehead by the two of them.

"You should just stop ruining other girls' lives, especially since you're old and faded."

They had experienced firsthand Li Ye's ability to attract suitors back then.

"Seriously, nobody cares about me right now. If all else fails, you two can just put up with it and send someone to take me in."

Zhuang Ke was alarmed and immediately pushed her hand away, sitting down in her seat. "I don't want to keep a crybaby at home."

Li Ye let go of Su Che and plopped down between them, picking up his teacup and taking a sip of water.

"However, I heard from Zhuang Ke that you're vying for a project with Leguang Group?" Su Che put away his joke and said seriously.

"Hmm, I knew you'd be quick to speak, but I didn't expect you to be this fast." Li Ye smiled and glanced at Zhuang Ke.

"You told me this just so I would tell Su Che in advance. Do you think I don't know you? You clearly don't dare to say it yourself."

The three were born in the same year. Su Che was born in the oldest month and Li Ye in the youngest month, so Su Che was like the eldest sister among the three. She took care of Li Ye a lot when they were in school.

Zhuang Ke sat to Li Ye's left. At this moment, she leaned to the right and hooked her left arm around Li Ye's neck.

"Attorney Li, tell us what it's like to see your ex-lover. Isn't Xu Wanyi still stunningly beautiful? Tell us the truth, have you fallen for her again?"

"Well, I only met her once, when she was giving a presentation. She only said two sentences, one at the beginning and one at the end," Li Ye said irritably.

"Presentation? What the heck! You haven't even signed the contract yet, how come you're already doing presentations?"

Zhuang Ke's reaction was exactly the same as Gao Gu Ke's, which shows how rare it is to have a lawyer give a presentation during the bidding stage.

"Alright, alright now. Looks like Xu Wanyi didn't even fancy you this time. You've really grown up; you've discovered that besides looks, there are many other things to consider. Or rather, she's just not interested in your face anymore." Zhuang Ke laughed heartily, mercilessly mocking Li Ye.

"You should focus on your business, but you need to think things through. Back then, you didn't part ways amicably; to put it bluntly, it was a complete mess."

Su Che remained vigilant; those two had caused quite a bit of chaos back in the day.

Ever since Zhuang Ke told her about Li Ye's encounter with Xu Wanyi and the whole Leguang Group incident, she has been feeling very uneasy. She is already in her thirties and doesn't want to go through what happened back then again.

If Li Ye hugs her and cries again, she really won't be in the mood to comfort her, and might even kick her a couple of times.

They were both too young then, and thought that two such good-looking young people together were a match made in heaven. Looking back now that they're a bit older, they really don't see how the two of them were a good match, except for their looks.

Their family backgrounds are vastly different, and their views on life and values ​​are not exactly the same.

The two were deeply in love and couldn't live without each other; even as outsiders, they could feel their pain.

Therefore, Li Ye's eventual departure from China was a great misfortune at the time, and it certainly added a lot of hardship to her life. In hindsight, however, it could also be considered her good fortune.

But now that they've met again, who knows what the future holds? It seems fate truly brings two enemies together.

"Don't even mention breaking up. Do you remember how many arguments you had when you were together? How many times did you come to us crying?"

Zhuang Ke took a sip of tea and then glared at Li Ye.

"What's past is past. The project has been finalized, and I'll sign the contract tomorrow."

The two women looked at each other, and they had originally wanted to advise her to quit this business if possible, so that out of sight, out of mind, and nothing would happen if they didn't see her.

I didn't expect Li Ye to act so quickly.

"But Zhuang Ke was right. When I went to see her at Leguang headquarters, she didn't react at all when she saw me. She didn't even glance at me. I swear. It was all business. I think she's long forgotten what happened back then. So this time we won't talk about personal matters, only business. You two can rest assured."

Li Ye spoke with absolute certainty, almost to the point of patting his chest in assurance.

Looking at Li Ye's flat chest, the two thought it was better not to take pictures, since there really wasn't anything worth taking pictures of.

"Alright, since you've said so, we won't say anything more. Congratulations on securing this big order."

Su Che raised his glass of red wine, and the three of them gently clinked glasses before drinking it all in one gulp.

Li Ye swallowed the glass of wine. The bitterness of the red wine seemed to travel down her esophagus into her heart, and her heart was filled with the slightly bitter taste of the red wine—in fact, she didn't know what her true thoughts were.

Reason told her that she should keep her distance from Xu Wanyi. She could clearly remember the flutter and panic she felt when she saw Xu Wanyi that day. Over the years, she had weathered many storms in the legal profession and the financial world, and she had never lost her composure like that before.

From the moment the pen fell onto the table, she knew she had never forgotten the past, and had never forgotten Xu Wanyi.

"Stop talking about me, talk about you, President Su. You got promoted but didn't tell me sooner. If it weren't for Zhuang Ke, I wouldn't have been kept in the dark until now."

Su Che's company's general manager was promoted to chairman at the end of last year, and Su Che, the general manager's most capable deputy, was promoted to chairman at the beginning of this year, becoming the youngest general manager in the history of Tonghua Group.

"Speaking of which, Su Che, is your company a competitor of Xu Wanyi's company?" Zhuang Ke asked after taking a bite of food.

"They're not exactly competitors, but they're all in the same industry chain, so I'd say they're upstream companies. These kinds of industries involving mineral resources are basically only done by state-owned enterprises and central enterprises now. The reasons are complicated, you know."

“However, Li Ye, I have dealt with Le Guang Group a few times. Although Xu Xuanming was the one who came forward at the time, I later learned that Xu Wanyi was the one who actually made the decisions. Your ex-girlfriend is no longer the beautiful rich girl who was devoted to you back then.”

"Hmm, she's that good now?"

Li Ye is no longer the stubborn fool she used to be. From her interactions with Leguang Group these past few times, it's clear that Xu Wanyi has changed a lot, but she can't quite put her finger on what exactly she's changed into.

"Well, let me put it this way. Our group, you know, is one of the top local state-owned enterprises in the industry nationwide. We've done business with so many companies, and the only one we haven't won against at the negotiating table is Leguang Group."

Zhuang Ke gasped. As a university teacher, she didn't understand the intricacies of the business world. But she knew about Su Che's group; when Su Che went to meetings, he received the treatment of a provincial or ministerial-level leader.

"You're doomed, Attorney Li. I think Xu Wanyi is really difficult to deal with right now. You're definitely not going to have a good time if you take this case. Maybe she's just forgotten love, but not hate. You'll be in for a world of hurt later. Let me make this clear, I'm not going to comfort the crybaby this time. If you get tormented by her and cry, don't come looking for me."

"Zhuang Ke, don't scare her. If she's really tortured, you'll have to take responsibility. Who else can she turn to if not you? She can't possibly come all the way to Beijing to find me," Su Che scolded.

Li Ye felt a chill run down his spine. Sending a lawyer to give a presentation in such a hurry was clearly a sign that he had forgotten love but not hate.

"Uh, even if you haven't been tormented by her, don't come looking for me. Do you remember the last time you went back to the academy to give a speech and then stopped by my office?" Zhuang Ke said, burying her head in her food while taking the time to tease Li Ye.

"I don't know who saw it and it spread. Ever since then, the threshold of my office has been practically worn down by your fans. What's worse, they throw all sorts of junk into my office, and they even leave notes reminding me to give it to 'my respected and handsome senior sister Li Ye.' It makes my teeth ache, I'm so annoyed."

"I told you to just throw it away, but why did you have to hoard it there?" Li Ye looked miserable; she didn't want it to be like this either.

"That's the passion and enthusiasm of these young people. If you don't accept it, how can I refuse to watch it?"

"See? You were just being nosy. Don't blame me. Blame yourself."

"Su Che, let me tell you, these students are so outdated these days. They don't use email or WeChat, they insist on writing by hand. Recently, all I've received are love letters to Li Ye. I'll read them to you when we get to my house later."

"Stop, stop, I can't listen to this anymore. Get rid of those things right now. Of course, you can keep the one written for you." This gave Li Ye a headache. She was a full twelve years older than a college student, and yet someone still wrote her love letters—literally "written"!

Su Che watched the two bicker with a smile, as if he had returned to his college days.

"Alright, heartthrob, let's eat. The food's getting cold. I have a meeting later this afternoon."

"Yes, President Su," the two replied in unison.

The meal was completed smoothly in a pleasant and harmonious atmosphere. Su Che had to go back to the company, and Zhuang Ke had to go back to school. Since they were going the same way, they left together. Before leaving, Su Che repeatedly reminded Li Ye, basically telling him not to mess with Xu Wanyi anymore, to keep a strict distance, and to limit his interactions to business.

I'm really worried sick about her.

Li Ye readily agreed. She had drunk quite a bit that day and wasn't originally planning to go to the institute, but then she thought she had nothing to do at home. So she waved her hand, hailed a taxi, and drove straight to the office building.

Their building has four entrances. The west entrance is the most convenient for her. Although the car came from the west, the entrance to the river-crossing tunnel is on the east, so she has to go around from the south to reach the west entrance.

Normally, in this situation, Li Ye would get off at the east gate and walk to the elevator area on the west side. Today, however, she didn't want to move at all, so she asked the driver to take a detour to the east gate.

As the taxi exited the tunnel and drove onto the mainland road next to the office building, Li Ye glanced casually at the East Gate. Suddenly, she noticed Jin Haifeng, a junior lawyer from her team, standing at the East Gate entrance, chatting and laughing with a man in a suit. The two seemed to know each other very well.

Li Ye took a closer look at the man. He was in his thirties, with a fair complexion and no beard. His ears were unusually large; it was the first time Li Ye had ever seen someone with such large ears. He had a buzz cut, was neither fat nor thin, and had slightly shrugged shoulders, suggesting that he was not a very active person. He was carrying a backpack.

This person was completely unfamiliar. Li Ye racked his brains but couldn't recall which client's employee he was. However, this was the financial district, and most finance professionals looked and dressed like this. Of course, aside from those ears, he might be someone Xiao Jin had just met.

Lost in thought, Li Ye watched as the taxi pulled up in front of the West Gate. He scanned the code to pay, opened the door, and got out. For some reason, he felt a little dizzy today. Damn it, Zhuang Ke had tricked him again; he'd unknowingly drunk a few too many drinks!

Li Ye was exasperated. He was usually very careful about his pitiful alcohol tolerance, so he never drank when he went out, and when he did drink, he strictly limited it to half a glass. But every time he saw Su Che and Zhuang Ke, he forgot all that and thought he was invincible. What could he do? He'd already drunk, and he was already here, so he might as well go to the office and take a nap.