Chapter 37

“You are all lawyers for the Leguang project, so I won’t go into the details. The Leguang project is very important to our firm, and we cannot afford any mistakes. So, after discussing it with Attorney Li and Attorney Chen, Attorney Li will temporarily withdraw from the project team, and Attorney Chen will take over. The rest of you will not be affected and can continue with your work as usual.”

Jiang Yu had a premonition, so she wasn't too surprised. The others were different; they weren't a company, and their projects followed their partners. She'd heard of changing firms, but never changing partners. Besides, if it weren't for Attorney Li, they wouldn't have been able to secure this project at all.

Leguang is such a bizarre company. They're capable of keeping us here and replacing Attorney Li! What is Chen Chunlin anyway? He doesn't know anything.

Seeing the row of lawyers across from him exchanging bewildered glances, many of them still looking unconvinced, Chen Chunlin quickly said, "We have already communicated this plan with Leguang Group, and Leguang has no objections. All lawyers can continue to work according to the previous plan, and everything, including your compensation, will remain unaffected. Attorney Jiang will continue to handle the specific matters."

No one spoke, and the atmosphere was extremely awkward.

"Alright, everyone continue working according to Attorney Zheng and Attorney Chen's arrangements. You are still lawyers in my team, but Attorney Chen will be in charge of this project for the time being. Don't worry. There are other things for you to do after the project is completed."

Li Ye's voice rang out, sounding perfectly normal.

Only after the boss spoke did they soften their stance and reluctantly nod.

"Very good, that's the main topic of today's meeting. Everyone, go back to work. Meeting adjourned."

Fearing that these people might cause trouble again or ask inappropriate questions, Zheng Shengmao quickly ended the meeting.

Let's go.

Li Ye didn't linger and left immediately upon hearing the meeting was over. Her lawyers, seeing her gone, also vanished in an instant, leaving only Jin Haifeng behind.

"Attorney Jin, from now on, we'll be relying on you to handle the project team's affairs. I've already spoken to the director, and after Le Guang's business is completed, it can be used as your project to apply for a second partnership. So, keep it up!"

Chen Chunlin walked up to his seat and patted him hard on the shoulder.

"Thank you, Director. Thank you, Attorney Chen. I will do my best to live up to your trust. I'll get back to work now."

Jin Haifeng certainly understood that this was a good time to show his loyalty.

"Attorney Chen, you'll need to personally attend the Leguang Group meeting tomorrow, so please prepare well today."

Zheng Shengmao is now completely on their side and has started giving him instructions. He knows Chen Chunlin too well; he was the one Chen brought in a few years ago, and at the time, he valued Chen's "sales ability," not his professional skills.

"Okay, okay, I'll go to the director right away."

Chen Chunlin led Gong Xiaoxiao out of the conference room, his heart pounding with anxiety. This time, no one was there to hold the line; he'd have to be dragged along and put to the test.

That evening, Chen Fang informed Chen Chunlin that a meeting would be held at Leguang Group at 6 PM the following day in conference room A5 on the 21st floor.

The following evening, Chen Chunlin and Gong Xiaoxiao drove into the underground parking garage of the Leguang Building just two minutes before six o'clock. Both of them lived in Puxi and had never been to the Leguang Group before, so they misjudged the traffic situation.

It was 6:15 when they stepped into the conference room.

Xu Wanyi was unaware that they had been replaced. She hated people being late, and if it weren't for the fact that the late person was Li Ye, she probably would have already left. Now, seeing two men enter the conference room, with no sign of Li Ye, she glared coldly at Zhang Gang sitting beside her.

Zhang Gang's heart skipped a beat, but he quickly realized something was wrong. Chairman Xu probably knew nothing; she was likely angry about Chen Chunlin's lateness. This Chen Chunlin was utterly unreliable! He'd already unilaterally changed people, and now he was late for the very first meeting—he'd stepped on every landmine imaginable!

"Chairman Xu, this is another partner in the project team, Attorney Chen Chunlin." He made a point of introducing him to Xu Wanyi so that she wouldn't forget him.

Xu Wanyi had completely forgotten about Chen Chunlin. Only after Zhang Gang reminded her did she remember that there was such a person. She had glanced at him when she was looking at the bidding documents, but she had no recollection of what he looked like. However, she vaguely remembered that he was a criminal lawyer, which had nothing to do with their business, and he had not appeared in the past few months.

What does this mean? She connected the dots and the answer became clear. Zhang Gang is incredibly shrewd; he's managed to win over so many people.

"Attorney Chen, remember to be on time for meetings from now on," Zhang Gang said loudly to Chen Chunlin, while giving him a wink.

Chen Chunlin was covered in sweat. The weather was already hot, and he was quite overweight, so the sudden exertion made him sweat profusely, as if he had been pulled out of the water. He heard Zhang Gang's voice and followed his gaze, recognizing the man next to him as Chairman Xu.

It has to be said that the female boss of Le Guang is really beautiful, much prettier than some blurry photos he found online. Even with a serious expression, it does not affect her beauty at all.

Zhang Gang was furious when he saw him staring blankly at Xu Wanyi. "You son of a bitch, why aren't you following the plan?! What are you standing there for?! Haven't you ever seen a beautiful woman before?!"

Seeing the flames about to burst from Zhang Gang's eyes, Chen Chunlin suddenly realized what was happening.

"Excuse me, excuse me, Chairman, leaders, the traffic was terrible this morning. I am Chen Chunlin from Yuandesuo."

He had expected Xu Wanyi to respond to him, but Xu Wanyi simply leaned back in her chair with her arms crossed, looking at him coldly without any intention of speaking.

Chen Chunlin pulled out a tissue and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Xu Wanyi's brows furrowed even more.

Zhang Gang was extremely anxious. At this moment, he couldn't speak. He could only let Chen Chunlin say that they had replaced Li Ye on their own. If he took the initiative, everything would be too obvious.

“Here’s the thing,” Chen Chunlin continued, seeing that no one was paying attention to him. “Our director, Attorney Zheng, already knows what happened at Leguang and specifically asked me to apologize to Chairman Xu. After discussing it overnight, the firm decided to suspend Attorney Li’s work and have me take over for Leguang. Please rest assured, Chairman Xu, Yuande Law Firm is definitely the most professional and strictest law firm in the country. We will definitely do our job well and will never make the same mistake again. At the same time, we will also severely punish Attorney Li.”

Xu Wanyi's face was frosty. These people were really calculating. Zhang Gang was even more arrogant. I haven't made any decisions yet, and they've already joined forces to replace Li Ye. They're playing the game of acting first and asking for permission later. Fine, let's see what they want to do.

"So, what are Attorney Chen's plans for the work going forward?" she asked slowly, her tone completely flat.

"Uh, well... we'll proceed as planned. Attorney Jiang will finalize the report soon."

"Anything else?"

"Uh, anything else? What else? That's all." Even the strong air conditioning in the office couldn't stop Chen Chunlin from sweating profusely.

Zhang Gang felt like dying. This Chen Chunlin was a completely different person from when they were eating and drinking, as if he had been hit with a stick before a meeting and his IQ had dropped below 50.

“Chairman, Attorney Chen has probably already discussed the specifics with Attorney Jiang and the other lawyers. Let’s not waste your time listening to these trivial matters. Let’s have Attorney Jiang explain the details of the report.” Zhang Gang quickly stepped in to smooth things over.

Today was supposed to be the project progress meeting, and Jiang Yu was supposed to talk about the details of last week's work.

Li Ye had already told Jiang Yu roughly what to do, so Jiang Yu was prepared and knew what she should do.

She just hadn't expected Chairman Xu to agree to Yuan De's request so easily. She'd been daydreaming the entire meeting, her main thought being that all her shipping efforts had been for nothing—so what happened in the underground parking garage that night? It didn't seem fake. Could it be that the two of them had a fight…?

Just as she was thinking this, she heard Zhang Gang's words. She straightened her sleeves, didn't even glance at Chen Chunlin, and started the progress report directly.

The summer evening sun was still bright, bathing the entire conference room in a golden light. Xu Wanyi stood with her back to the window, her face appearing and disappearing in the backlight. As she listened to Jiang Yu's report, her thoughts were on Li Ye. She knew that if Li Ye hadn't voluntarily withdrawn, these people would never have let her leave.

She remembered that Feng Jing had told her that morning that Li Ye had introduced her to a lawyer named Gao Gu from Yuande Law Firm, saying that he could review the contract she had mentioned earlier.

She asked Feng Jing and Wang Du to talk to Gao Gu. After the conversation, both of them thought that Gao Gu was capable of handling the job. However, Feng Jing said that Gao Gu was actually a senior partner at Yuande Law Firm, not a lawyer under Li Ye.

Time ticked by, and soon the sun finally set. Xu Wanyi turned to look at the flickering lights outside, then at Zhang Gang and Chen Chunlin, silently thinking: No matter what happens between Li Ye and me, no matter how much I hate her, the only person in this world who can touch her is me! What you owe her, I will make you pay back sooner or later.

After the meeting, Xu Wanyi immediately returned to her office without saying another word. Looking at the time, it was 9:30 p.m., and another late night was about to begin.

Today's meeting was somewhat unexpected for her. It wasn't about replacing Li Ye; since Zhang Gang had said that last time and she hadn't commented, they were bound to replace Li Ye. What surprised her was how quickly and boldly Zhang Gang acted, which meant he had never been under her control.

No wonder, Zhang Gang had been in the group for many years and had always been her brother's right-hand man. After she took over Leguang Group, Zhang Gang handed over a lot of confidential information and also took the initiative to reveal a lot of secrets to her, helping her to take over Leguang Group smoothly.

Therefore, Xu Wanyi initially believed that Zhang Gang was genuinely surrendering.

However, once the major changes and overhauls were underway, around the end of last year, internal resistance within the Leguang Group began to emerge, making her feel that the execution of all the plans, big and small, was somewhat bumpy, and upon closer reflection, she couldn't figure out exactly where the problem lay.

It now appears that the resistance lies hidden in the daily documents and processes. The most active participants in this process are the people on Zhang Gang's side. If Li Ye hadn't confronted Zhang Gang several times, he could have enjoyed a period of peace and quiet.

Xu Wanyi figured she didn't have the time or ability to thoroughly study these trivial processes and documents, so it was impossible for her to see any major problems from these routine procedures on her own.

It seems that Attorney Li isn't entirely useless after all. Thinking of this, she opened the drawer and took out her pen drawing, looking at it silently. Recalling the hug and crying in the garage that night, the disappointment on Li Ye's face and the words he had said, she suddenly felt that perhaps she should go and see her.

"No, one must have principles. One cannot be so indecisive, changing one's mind every day," Xu Wanyi muttered to herself, rejecting her own idea.

A month passed just like that.

After attending one project meeting with Chen Chunlin, Xu Wanyi stopped going to the meeting frequently. If there was a problem, she would ask Jiang Yu directly, knowing that Jiang Yu was backed by Li Ye.

Later, she felt that as the chairman, she should at least show up to show her concern for the project, so she went again. However, she was so angry at Chen Chunlin, that idiot, that she left Wang Du and Feng Jing to keep an eye on things while she went off to do other things.