Chapter 8

"Attorney Li, where are you planning to go for the May Day holiday?" Gao Gu from the next office quietly entered Li Ye's office. Gao Gu was a nice person and one of the few lawyers in the firm that Li Ye was willing to associate with.

"I'm not going anywhere. I just went on a long trip around the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and my sunburn hasn't even gone away yet. Where else would I dare to go?"

“Attorney Li is good-looking, and even with her high-altitude rosy cheeks, she still looks beautiful.”

Upon hearing this, Li Ye thought, "No one comes to the temple without a reason. Gao Gu usually comes over, but he only exchanges a few pleasantries and then leaves. Why is he talking to me today?"

"Attorney Gao, is there any work you need guidance on?" She crossed her arms and looked at him with a half-smile.

"It's nothing much, the law firm just asked me to organize a May Day activity, like going rafting in Yuzhou. I've been calling around but not many people have responded. How about you join, Attorney Li?" Gao Gu had a good plan in mind. If Li Ye could participate, not only would it be one more person, but it would also attract many young women and male lawyers from the firm to participate. This way, the number of participants would increase rapidly, and he wouldn't have to worry about anything.

"I can't help you with that, Lao Gao. You should ask the young men and women in our team. I'm too old to do these thrilling sports anymore."

"You're getting old. You didn't look old when you beat up that guy last year." Gao Gu was referring to that old lecher.

"How can that be the same? That was self-defense; it's just that people's adrenaline surges in dangerous situations. I can't do that normally; I don't have that kind of energy."

Upon hearing this, Gao Gu knew there was no hope left, and asked again, "How's your Leguang Group project going? Chen Chunlin is so unreliable, what if it turns out to be a complete scam?"

“No, he’s not even a lawyer, but he wasn’t lying this time. Le Guang has already sent us a notice that we need to go to their headquarters next to the wetland park to give a presentation on the first working day after May Day.” Li Ye pointed to a courier envelope on his desk.

"What? What kind of presentation?" Gao Gu was surprised. He had heard of lawyers having to do work before the contract was even signed, but he had never heard of having to do a presentation during the bidding stage.

"Well, it's a big company, an industry leader. There's nothing we can do; that's what they require."

"Let me tell you, there are rumors in the industry that their people are difficult to deal with and very picky. Be careful when you go to Leguang's headquarters."

Gao Gu recalled that a client had told them that the young master of Le Guang was a spoiled brat, very arrogant, and looked down on everyone. The young lady, on the other hand, was reliable and beautiful, but had extremely high standards. She was serious and never smiled, and when she sat there, she was like an iceberg that even air conditioning couldn't warm her up.

Li Ye nodded.

She had a preconceived notion that Le Guang was under Xu Wanyi's father's control, and didn't consider the two siblings, while Li Ye remembered Xu Shenzhao as a very serious person. She thought Gao Gu was talking about Xu Shenzhao, and Gao Gu thought she knew Xu Wanyi and Xu Xuanming.

"Alright, I see you're really not going anywhere this May Day holiday. You'd better prepare for your interview, lest Le Guang skin you alive. Good luck!"

After saying that, he turned around, opened the door, raised his right hand, waved, and walked out with a flourish.

Li Ye knew that Gao Gu didn't really mean to cheer her on; he just thought the gesture was very cool and allowed him to fully express his own handsomeness. What he didn't know was that Jiang Yu and her group of young women privately said that Lawyer Gao lacked coolness and was more of a goofball. Li Ye didn't intend to tell him that.

After Gao Gu left, Li Ye leaned forward slightly and took Le Guang's notification to read it again.

"Going there on the first day after May Day, and demanding that I explain the Mingcheng Company case in detail, what kind of request is that? Isn't this making the lawyer knowingly break the law and openly violate the confidentiality agreement?" Li Ye threw the few pages of paper on the table, stroked his chin, and his eyes rolled. It was time to find something for Chen Chunlin to do.

She immediately dialed Chen Chunlin's voice call, "Hello, Attorney Chen, this is Li Ye. I have good news for you. We have received Le Guang's shortlist notification. Thank you for your and General Manager Huang's hard work."

Chen Chunlin almost jumped up on the other end of the phone and ran towards Li Ye's office with his short legs, not caring whether Li Ye was calling from his office or not.

Before Li Ye could finish speaking, the door was flung open with a bang, and Chen Chunlin appeared in the doorway, panting heavily.

"Attorney Li, congratulations! Let me see what a notice from such a giant corporation looks like."

"Here." Li Ye gently raised his head, gesturing for the documents to be placed on the desk.

Chen Chunlin grabbed it and hurriedly opened it, his eyes almost glued to the paper.

"Oh, you're in such a hurry? You want to go on the first day after the holiday. Uh, Attorney Li, you did a really good job with the Mingcheng project back then. We were all amazed. Leguang really has some experts who know the ins and outs of this project."

"Attorney Chen, the Mingcheng project is quite complex, with high technical requirements. You know, there are some influential local figures involved in Mingcheng. Which investor do you think we should approach?"

Chen Chunlin snapped out of his daze. This project in Mingcheng was very successful, which was why Li Ye was so low-key, not even mentioning it as his own project in the introduction, but instead placing it in the law firm's introduction. Le Guang specifically chose this project—wasn't he deliberately trying to cause trouble?

"Why don't you go and discuss with General Manager Huang and we can talk about another project?"

"Yes, yes, Attorney Li has thought of everything. I'll go right away."

Huang Peng already knew that Yuande Law Firm had made it onto the first round of lawyer shortlists. He was sitting at his desk, smugly drinking coffee, feeling like the money was already in his pocket. Chen Chunlin called him, hurriedly telling him about it.

He panicked when he heard this. Anyone with a modicum of common sense would know that Chen Chunlin was pointing out a problem. But that wasn't the real issue. There was something even more troublesome. His good friend in the legal department had been in charge of this matter before, but for some reason, after the first round of lawyer selection, his good friend was replaced by a newcomer he didn't know at all.

He had no choice but to bite the bullet and find an opportunity. When the Strategy Department needed to consult the Legal Department about some legal issues, he casually went to Wang Du, who was now in charge of the matter, to inquire.

"Mr. Wang, I heard that the presentations for the group's lawyer selection process this time must include concrete examples of cases they've handled before?"

"Ah, right. Using past cases can better demonstrate a lawyer's ability and also prove the falsity of their bidding documents." Wang Du looked at him like he was an idiot.

"But wouldn't there be some risk of violating confidentiality agreements?"

"Ah, there is indeed that risk. Mr. Huang has a strong sense of legal awareness. However, not all cases have such strong confidentiality requirements. Many cases can be discussed. Don't worry, Mr. Huang, we have already assessed this risk."

"But isn't the Mingcheng project that Yuande mentioned a bit sensitive?" Everyone knows how complicated Mingcheng is, but no one knows exactly how complicated it is.

"Uh, Mr. Huang, where did you get this information? We didn't specifically ask any law firm to talk about a particular project or case, did we?" Wang Du was a little suspicious. Was this guy trying to trick him? But what he said sounded very convincing and didn't seem fake. Besides, no one in the industry knew which lawyer was specifically handling the Mingcheng project. What he said wasn't baseless.

Thinking this, Wang Du quietly opened the system and looked at the electronic version of the notification sent to Yuan De. "My god, it really is written like that!" There wasn't even a final check yet, so where did things go wrong? Wang Du began to examine himself and find the bugs.

"Mr. Wang, what do you mean?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Du remembered that Huang Peng was still standing behind his computer, so he quickly turned off the notification.

"It's probably something a leader requested. I'm not at that level to see it. Mr. Huang, you know the company policy." He started speaking in a bureaucratic tone to Huang Peng. If the stamped version was written like that, it must have been changed by a leader with high authority, and he couldn't just say anything.

Huang Peng knew he was just giving a perfunctory answer, but he couldn't do anything about it; they were all at the same level and not even in the same department. At least he was certain that this was indeed the company's demand of Yuan De. Oh well, taking a step back would solve everything.

"Thank you, Mr. Wang. You go ahead with your work, I won't bother you any longer."

After Huang Peng left, Wang Du thought to himself that this was a big deal. If word got out, people would think that Leguang's legal department was just freeloading. So he immediately went to report the matter to his direct supervisor.

His direct supervisor was Zhang Gang, the group's chief legal officer. After he entered Zhang Gang's office and delivered a passionate report, Zhang Gang didn't even blink or react.

"Xiao Wang, I know about this, don't worry. It'll be fine."

"Ah, well, Mr. Zhang, it's good that you know. Then I'm relieved."

Zhang Gang was also at a loss for words. The young lady insisted on adding this nonsensical requirement, and forbade anyone to know it was her demand, leaving him to take the blame. Fortunately, it was just a label of being unprofessional and stupid, which was insignificant compared to the annual salary Le Guang offered. So he silently accepted the blame.

How did you find out?

"Huang Peng from the Strategic Management Department came to ask me, so it seems that Yuan Desuo is his contact."

"Okay, I understand. You can go back now, but don't make a fuss."

Zhang Gang thought to himself that Chairman Xu's judgment was accurate; sure enough, someone would come to inquire about this matter.

Huang Peng immediately called Chen Chunlin upon returning home and explained the situation. Before Chen Chunlin could even react, Li Ye instantly understood that Huang Peng had no say in the matter. What a shrewd operator who gets something for nothing. There are too many people like that in the market.

However, Li Ye wasn't angry. To be fair, she thought Huang Peng was alright; the business was genuine, and he had indeed invited them to bid. After all, there are countless law firms, and many good ones too. Why would someone invite you to bid, right?

"What are we going to do, Attorney Li?" Chen Chunlin looked distressed, as if a cooked duck had flown away.

"Let me think about it some more."

Seeing her furrowed brows and thoughtful expression, and considering that Huang Peng hadn't been of much help, Chen Chunlin felt a growing worry that Li Ye might want to change the profit-sharing ratio, and dared not stay any longer.

"Li Lu, think it over carefully. I'll go back and follow up again. We'll communicate promptly if there's any news." With that, he slipped away as if his feet were greased.

Li Ye ignored Chen Chunlin. She felt the request was unreasonable; as an industry giant, Leguang Group would never make such an unreasonable demand. What exactly was wrong with it?