Chapter 7

It was already early April, and there was no sign of warming up in Haixi. The late spring cold snap was even colder than winter.

Li Ye took a sip of his drink and calculated the time. The deadline for bidding was April 20th, and the first round of shortlisted law firms would be selected on the fourteenth working day after the deadline. Why was Le Guang taking so long? It took them a month to find a lawyer? This was not their usual style.

What she didn't know was that Huang Peng was indeed well-informed and had some connections, which allowed him to send them the invitation to tender so early.

Actually, this plan was only proposed at the end of last year. Xu Wanyi found it very reasonable after receiving it, and at last year's work summary meeting, she approved it as the group's strategic development plan for this year. In other words, until the end of last year, this plan was only one page long, and the specific implementation plan only officially began at the beginning of this year.

Such a large business plan, with a preliminary report completed in less than two months, cannot be described as slow. Rather, Xu Wanyi acted swiftly, pursuing multiple fronts simultaneously, both internally and externally. Even as the internal plan was still in its early stages, she had already begun seeking external consultants.

About a 20-minute drive upstream from the Yunman Hotel, there is a cluster of modern buildings constructed in recent years, aptly named "Corporate Headquarters." This area houses the headquarters of numerous large domestic and international companies. The Leguang Group owns a 50-story building near the river, which was the last decision Xu Wanyi's mother made before she went to live in Australia—to buy a piece of land and build a new building.

Xu Wanyi's office is on the 49th floor of the building, one of the best-viewed spots in the entire building. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, one can see the rolling river and the high-rise buildings opposite without any obstruction. The office itself is about 50 square meters, and in addition, there is a lounge, a toilet, and a shower room.

Outside the office is the secretary's office, which has a door leading directly to a large conference room. This conference room, located in a corner, is right next to Xu Wanyi's office and faces the river on two sides. It is where she often holds meetings.

At this moment, she was sitting in her office chair, listening with a furrowed brow as her secretary, Feng Jing, reported on the progress of the plan. She realized that in order to achieve her plan, there were more and more things to be done, and they were becoming increasingly complicated.

She wasn't very familiar with the local law firms and accounting firms in Haixi, but didn't want to make a big fuss about it, so she opted for a bidding process to select a third-party service provider.

"Has the invitation to tender been sent out?"

"We sent out invitations to ten accounting firms and law firms. Sixty percent of them are from the Haixi region, and we also sent out a few to Beijing and Shenzhen. Mr. Zhang from the legal department said that the best lawyers and accountants in the capital markets are almost all from Haixi."

Xu Wanyi believed this, after all, Haixi is one of the most economically developed cities in China and has close ties with foreign countries, so it naturally has an advantage in doing this kind of business.

"Oh, by the way, Chairman Xu, several law firms have already sent their tender documents. They're under that stack of documents on your right. You can take a look if you have time." Feng Jing noticed the chairman's interest in this matter and gave him a special reminder.

"Okay, you can go now. I'm going to take a nap. Don't wake me up unless it's absolutely necessary."

"Yes, Chairman Xu."

After Feng Jing left, Xu Wanyi rubbed her temples, went into the lounge, and lay down on the bed, trying to get a short nap. This plan concerned the future development direction of the group and also determined her fate. Therefore, she had to plan meticulously and consider every detail, and hadn't had a full night's sleep for several days.

After graduating from university, she refused to stay in Haixi and returned directly to Beijing to work in the family business. She gradually rose to become the head of the group's North China, Northwest China, and Southwest China businesses, while her brother was in charge of the East China and South China businesses. Unfortunately, her brother's health has been poor in recent years, and her father is also getting old, so she gradually began to get involved in the East China and South China businesses.

In fact, for many years, she had always wanted to get involved in the business in these two regions. These were the most profitable areas for the entire group, and she believed that the group's future development mainly depended on these two regions, especially East China. If it weren't for Li Ye, she would have stayed in Haixi back then, and wouldn't have had to spend so much time getting to this point.

Thinking of Li Ye, a bittersweet feeling welled up in her heart and spread throughout her body. But soon, anger overshadowed the bitterness, and she wished she could find her and tear her heart out.

Didn't I say I wouldn't think about her?! But it's like you've adopted a little white dog. Before you got it, you never even noticed there were little white dogs in the world. After you got it, you find you see little white dogs everywhere you go. The appearance of the little white dog is completely beyond your control!

"Fine, I'll get up and get to work." She sighed; she knew she wouldn't be able to take a nap. She grabbed her small blanket, changed into her suit, and went to the restroom to touch up her makeup. Looking at her tired eyes and slightly dark circles in the mirror, Xu Wanyi sighed silently in her heart.

Although her father is nominally still in charge of the group, and her brother is in charge of East China affairs, she actually makes all the important decisions, putting her under immense pressure. She is the final answer and the anchor, always appearing calm, composed, and unperturbed in front of outsiders. She thought back to her university days, when they were so carefree, so passionate and uninhibited. Ah, that's life—a fleeting existence, with too little joy.

Ten minutes later, she sat down at her desk again.

Remembering the tender documents Feng Jing had mentioned earlier, she got up and pulled out several beautifully packaged folders from under a large stack of documents. Each folder looked like a book. She held a few documents in her hand and weighed them in her hand; they could even be used as self-defense weapons.

Are lawyers these days even rolling up the covers and styles of their legal documents? They're more elaborate than fashion magazines! Xu Wanyi couldn't help but complain. But which great man once said, "Empty talk harms the country, hard work builds it"? Although she understood this practice, deep down she didn't really take it seriously.

She started reading from the top book, then the second, and the third. All three law firms had good reputations, ranked highly in various legal magazines, and possessed considerable experience in the field. The lead lawyers on their profiles all looked energetic and professional. However, none of the overall legal proposals for the group's business plan satisfied her; they were either too vague or their ideas were completely different from her own.

Of course, she didn't have high hopes. After all, it was still in the initial stage, and these lawyers could only write legal proposals based on the briefs in the invitation to tender, so they couldn't be too detailed. However, given that the reputation, experience, and team configuration were all similar, a two-page legal proposal obviously couldn't stand out.

Of these three law firms, one is from Beijing, one is from Shenzhen, and only one remains. Xu Wanyi rubbed her forehead and placed the last document in front of her. This law firm seemed to be local to Haixi, as the watermark on the cover was a silhouette of a landmark building in Haixi.

She opened the file, skipping the first page; she was tired of the same old introductions. The second page featured an introduction to the law firm, a well-known one in the industry, of course.

When she turned to the third page, she was stunned. Li Ye's large headlamp hung prominently in the upper right corner, bearing the words "Senior Partner, Capital Markets Committee Director, Yuande Law Firm." She hadn't expected Li Ye to end up as a lawyer. No wonder she'd bumped into her twice in the Financial City yesterday; lawyers specializing in this kind of work were mostly concentrated there.

Xu Wanyi looked at that face, her heart filled with mixed emotions. Her instinct was to close the file immediately, out of sight, out of mind. If she didn't look anymore, there would be no chance of seeing him again, and she wouldn't have to think about it anymore. But she couldn't help but continue reading. This was the first time in so many years that she knew anything about Li Ye, even if it was all very official information.

She wasn't sure if she still loved her, but she was certain she hated her. The more she hated her, the more she wanted to see her.

All the other lawyers used full-body photos, wearing skirt suits or blazers, looking very professional and imposing. Only she used a close-up photo; although she was also wearing a suit, no one could help but be drawn to her face.

Logically speaking, girls who cut their hair short would look childish, but she is strange. Her face doesn't give off a childish vibe. People who see her know that she is a girl, but at the same time, they can clearly tell that she is androgynous.

"He really knows how to leverage his strengths," Xu Wanyi muttered to herself. Continuing on, below were the capital market projects Li Ye had worked on—all well-known state-owned enterprises, central enterprises, and private companies—and he had also collaborated with various domestic and international financial institutions and leading private equity firms.

Is she really that amazing? Why don't I know who Li Ye is? She thought back and realized that she had been focusing on real industries for the past few years, either expanding the scale and number of factories or building supply chains. She hadn't really been involved in investment and finance, so it was normal that she didn't know him.

It must be said that these experiences were very appealing to her, fulfilling her expectations of an ideal lawyer. There's one last item: the legal proposal, a section that other law firms have generally done poorly on; let's see how Li Ye writes it.

Xu Wanyi skipped directly to the page on the legal plan, surprised to find that Li Ye's legal plan took up two-thirds of the entire document! She was somewhat astonished, then flipped through the pages one by one, becoming more and more satisfied with each reading.

Based on the brief introduction in the invitation to tender, Li Ye analyzed all of Leguang Group's business lines and gave several possible development directions. Then, along these development directions, he proposed specific expansion methods that could be adopted. Finally, he analyzed these expansion methods from a legal perspective and even gave specific examples of certain subsidiaries or sub-subsidiaries as vehicles.

Xu Wanyi was very satisfied! Li Ye's business ideas were quite to her liking, and he also gave specific suggestions and some legal operation details. It was clear that he was someone who had really handled such a large-scale project.

So here's the question: Should I really hire her as my lawyer? Should I have her constantly in my sight? What about all those sleepless nights I've endured over the years?

After thinking for a while without reaching a conclusion, Xu Wanyi decided to review the tender documents from all ten law firms before making a decision. If there really wasn't anyone better than her, then she would handle it professionally and invite them as necessary. As long as she was mindful of boundaries and maintained a distance, nothing could go wrong.

In the past few days, the tender documents from six other law firms have also arrived at Xu Wanyi's office one after another. Because of Li Ye's legal proposal, she was no longer satisfied with the other firms' proposals.

"Sigh!" Xu Wanyi sat on the large sofa in her office and let out a long sigh. It was indeed true; it's easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go back. Once the standards are raised, it's almost impossible to lower them again. Li Ye's face flashed through Xu Wanyi's mind, and she couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness.

Well, things will work themselves out. Let's select three law firms as the initial shortlist. Maybe Li Ye is only good at written preparation, but when it comes to the presentation, she's not as good as the other lawyers. We can eliminate her then.

Moreover, looking at her resume and experience, she might actually be of some value to me. Having made up her mind, Xu Wanyi finally got up and went downstairs, asking the driver to take her back to Yunman.

By the time she left the office, she had been there for a full eighteen hours. She didn't know why she was working so hard. Her childhood dream had always been to be a carefree rich girl, which was exactly who she was. But after graduating from university, she turned into a workaholic.

She looked out the car window at the streetlights and buildings receding into the distance, and gave a self-deprecating laugh: "We've met by chance, I suppose. As for the future, whether it's good or bad, that's up to fate. Even if we really fall into an abyss, we'll have to bear the consequences ourselves. To be honest, who can we blame?"