Chapter 52

Zheng Shengmao was a little embarrassed. Asking such a question was indeed inappropriate. He was the one who asked Li Ye to step down, and now he was asking about Li Ye's situation. It seemed like he wasn't thinking straight.

“Okay, I understand. I’ll let Chen Chunlin think it over carefully. But Li, you’re still the project team’s lawyer after all. Once he’s figured it out, we’ll come to you together. What do you think?”

"Okay, I'll follow the director's instructions." Li Ye said in a relaxed tone with a smile on his face.

Zheng Shengmao left Li Ye's office and went straight to Chen Chunlin's office after taking a long detour. The office door was tightly closed, and there was no sound from inside.

"Open the door, hurry up!" Director Zheng pounded on the door without any politeness.

The door opened immediately, and Jin Haifeng stood in front of it looking dejected, while Chen Chunlin sat curled up behind the desk.

"Director, how did it go? Was it resolved so quickly?" Chen Chunlin, seeing that Zheng Shengmao had returned so soon, impulsively disregarded social hierarchy and voiced his most pressing wish.

Zheng Shengmao plopped down on the sofa, his anger finally finding an outlet: "You think that woman Li Ye is so easy to deal with? Then why don't you go find her?!"

After being yelled at by Zheng Maosheng, Chen Chunlin, unusually, did not fawn over him and sat there with a look of utter defeat on his face.

"Attorney Chen, tell me, what do you think is the best way to handle this?"

A moment of silence.

"I'm completely leaving the project team and will never get involved in Leguang's affairs again."

"Chen Chunlin, are you even speaking human language? Are you trying to walk away or do you want to solve the problem? If you're going to come up with this solution, go talk to Li Ye yourself and don't come to me again."

Zheng Shengmao was filled with regret. He knew exactly what kind of person Chen Chunlin was, so how could he have agreed to get on this pirate ship?

"No, no, no, Director, give me back the money. I'll give her all the money I received from Leguang, including the money from Xiaojin. I just beg her to let me go, and I'll disappear from her sight from now on."

He stood next to Jin Haifeng, not daring to utter a single word.

Upon hearing this, Zheng Shengmao recalled that Li Ye's previous condition was that the firm would settle the previous year's legal fees with her. Thinking about it carefully, it was nothing more than speeding up the payment process. That money originally belonged to her, which shows that Attorney Li still loves legal fees.

It's unlikely they'll reject the proposal outright.

"Let's go. Let's go talk to Attorney Li together." Zheng Shengmao got up to leave.

"director."

"director."

Chen Chunlin and Jin Haifeng shouted at the same time.

"What? You don't want to go? No way. You can implement your own proposals. I've already done more than enough by connecting you and even going with you."

Chen Chunlin and Jin Haifeng followed Zheng Shengmao with their heads hanging low, looking like they were going to their execution. They were completely devoid of their usual arrogance, and Zheng Shengmao also looked disheveled.

This scene opened the eyes of the lawyers in the public area, especially the lawyers from Li Ye's team. Looking at Jin Haifeng like this was like watching a monkey trainer leading a monkey across a stage.

Who would want to work with someone who sells out their master for personal gain?

"Refund the money and withdraw from the project team?" Li Ye was both amused and exasperated by Chen Chunlin's proposal.

Jiang Yu rolled her eyes so hard they almost reached the sky; if this continued, her pupils would disappear.

"Attorney Chen, Attorney Jin, are you paying me to handle your messy affairs?" Attorney Li slammed his hand on the desk.

The three of them were startled. Even Jiang Yu was somewhat surprised, which showed that Li Lu was really angry about this plan.

“Fine, since you’ve brought up money, we can settle this with money. Attorney Chen, transfer all the money you received from Leguang to me immediately. Also, pay an additional 50 million. Not a penny less.”

Li Ye didn't consider himself ungreedy. Fifty million was a large sum for ordinary people, but for people like Xu Wanyi, it was just a drop in the ocean. For lawyer Chen Chunlin, it was a huge burden. Even if most of the legal fees in criminal cases didn't end up in the lawyer's hands, it was still unimaginable for small-time civil lawyers.

Upon hearing this, Jin Haifeng's face turned green. He had only been working for a few years, and 50 million was an astronomical sum for him. At his current salary level, it would take him a lifetime to earn it.

Chen Chunlin was also shocked. He could barely afford the money. But even a single penny would sting him; fifty million would be enough to make him grieve for ten or eight years.

"Attorney Li, Attorney Li, I'm just a small-time lawyer, where am I supposed to find fifty million? Tell me something I can do? If it's fifty million, I'd rather go to jail!"

Chen Chunlin figured that he was going to get hurt anyway, so he might as well be tough and maybe Li Ye would give in.

"Alright, then Attorney Chen can just wait for the police to come knocking. You think this is just a case of framing someone by changing some documents? Goodbye and don't come back." Li Ye pointed to the door.

"Attorney Li, we're all colleagues from the same firm. Let's give each other a break and leave some room for maneuver so we can meet again in the future." At this moment, Zheng Shengmao became anxious again. If it really turned into a criminal case, he was afraid he would be in deep trouble.

Chen Chunlin actually just wanted to scare Li Ye. Usually, Lawyer Li was always smiling and spoke slowly and deliberately, so Chen Chunlin thought he could get the upper hand by getting to the point.

"Oh right, Lawyer Li, just tell me what you need. Don't kick me out. Your place has good feng shui, I'd like to stay a little longer."

"Attorney Chen, didn't you hear Attorney Li's demands? Fifty million, not a penny less." Jiang Yu couldn't help but speak for Li Ye; the ugly faces of these people were simply unbearable to look at.

Another silence followed.

"Alright!" Chen Chunlin recalled the scene of the entire Leguang Group being wiped out. Li Ye would inevitably be involved in such a thing. If he didn't agree, he would not only be making an enemy of Li Ye, but also of the Leguang Group. He weighed his connections within the Haixi Public Security Bureau—if Xu Wanyi wanted to get rid of him, it would be as easy as stepping on an ant.

Li Ye never expected that he would only be able to get the money thanks to his ex-girlfriend.

"But I don't really have that much cash on hand. Is installment payment possible?" Chen Chunlin added sullenly.

"Attorney Chen, why are you giving me money? What reason do you have to give me money directly? Are you planning to go back someday?" Li Ye's smile became even more pronounced.

Seeing that his little scheme had been seen through, Chen Chunlin wiped the sweat from his face. "How could that be? Attorney Li, please don't misunderstand. I, Chen Chunlin, have absolutely no such intentions."

“Attorney Zheng, Attorney Chen, you currently have these projects on hand.” As she spoke, Li Ye took out a piece of paper with a list of projects written on it. “Look, these are the ones.” She pointed to the words on the paper and added me as a project lawyer. I’ll discuss these legal fees today.

"No, Attorney Li, Li Ye, what does this have to do with me? Why are you including my projects in this? And you know, many of these projects are just helping others, just passing through other people's hands. It's not my money, it's not my money!" Zheng Shengmao said anxiously. He didn't expect Li Ye to include him in his scheme.

"Without Attorney Zheng's support and help, where would our Attorney Chen Chunlin have gotten such audacity... uh, human audacity, and how could things have turned out this way? I accessed the backend data long ago, didn't I?"

"Let me tell you another secret. Unfortunately, there happened to be a security camera at the place where you had lunch with Zhang Gang and Chen Fang that morning. Now that they've been arrested, and Attorney Chen has a dirty record, Attorney Zheng, do you think you can wash your hands of it and just walk away cleanly?"

Jiang Yu was so impressed she wanted to slap the table in approval!

Zheng Shengmao and Chen Chunlin's hearts skipped a beat simultaneously. If Li Ye had even discovered this, then nothing would be surprising.

"Okay, Attorney Li, we'll do it your way." Zheng Maosheng gritted his teeth and swallowed the bitter pill. He then looked at Chen Chunlin, his eyes practically spitting fire. You idiot, you caused this mess yourself, and now I have to clean up your mess. What are you hesitating for?

"Yes, I have no objection." After saying this, Chen Chunlin collapsed onto the sofa in Li Ye's office like a lump of rotten flesh.

"Jiang Yu, go and get a few forms done. While the two lawyers are still in my office, have them sign them now, and then go to the finance department to withdraw the money."

According to Yuande's usual practice, in urgent situations, they would act expediently and not go online. The signatures of the lawyer and the director were considered sufficient for approval, followed by financial approval.

Jiang Yu was so happy she was practically wagging her tail, and she hurried off to sign the documents. After Director Zheng Shengmao finished signing the remittance slip, Jiang Yu watched as the finance department transferred the money, and only then did Li Ye let the three of them go.

"Attorney Chen, I'll cover half of it for you. Consider this money what you owe me. Give me an IOU." Zheng Shengmao's face turned purple, and he said without any politeness.

"Director, this is the money you paid to Attorney Li, not me. We can't let this get messed up."

“Fine, then you can handle that project in Hebei yourself. As for your other legal fees, have someone else sign them for you. Also, about that time you went to the bathhouse, I gave the information on your phone to Attorney Li. One gift is a gift, two gifts are also gifts.” Zheng Shengmao suddenly stopped and yelled at Chen Chunlin.

A young independent lawyer happened to walk by and was so startled that he almost dropped his teacup.

"Good morning, Director. Good morning, Attorney Chen. I just came out of the restroom. I didn't hear anything, I didn't hear anything at all." After saying this, the young man hugged his cup tightly, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, and hurriedly ran away. From then on, there was a rumor in the law firm that Chen Chunlin had been cheating for years, and that the director had always gotten him out of trouble.

Neither of them had the mind to investigate whether anyone else had heard them.

"Director, Director, I'll sign, I'll sign, I'll sign, okay? Please calm down." That's the good thing about Chen Chunlin; as long as there's no sword hanging over his head, he can immediately revert to his true nature of being glib and obsequious.

"Don't follow me anymore, just looking at you makes me angry," Zheng Shengmao said angrily, and walked away without looking back.

"Attorney Jin, five million of this fifty million is your debt. From now on, you'll stay here and work for me to pay it off," Chen Chunlin said sarcastically, looking at Jin Haifeng, who was following behind him like a block of wood.

A surge of hot blood rushed to Jin Haifeng's head. Five million was really going to kill him. It wasn't just a casual remark; five million was truly a matter of life and death for him.

Just as he was about to retort, Chen Chunlin glared at him and said, "Don't tell me it has nothing to do with you. You're just following orders. Don't you have a brain? You just do whatever others tell you to do. You're a lawyer, and you still can't tell what you should and shouldn't do?"

Seeing that Jin Haifeng still looked unconvinced, he said, "Why don't you go back and find Li Ye now, and see if she will accept you to stay in her team? Let me tell you, if you go anywhere else, you're doomed, except by following me."

"Get out of the way, don't block the way!" Chen Chunlin said fiercely before returning to his office.

Jin Haifeng said nothing, his fists clenched tightly as he stared intently at Chen Chunlin's retreating figure, his lips trembling. After a long while, he finally relaxed his fists and walked heavily towards his workstation, his face so gloomy it could squeeze water out of it.

Lawyers who were originally going to follow his path all took detours, fearing they might be caught in the crossfire.