Chapter Seventy-Eight: Attorney Jiang's Connections

In early September, Lin Yu received a call from Chen Guang. She hadn't received any messages from him since she blocked him on WeChat.

Just when she thought their relationship had already tacitly come to an end, five months later, Chen Guang's name appeared on her phone again.

At that time, she was accompanying Jiang Chuan to a social event. Their industries were unrelated and their circles were different, so apart from private dinners, she rarely interfered in his work.

But this time, Jiang Chuan unusually spoke up, saying he needed a female companion and hoped she could accompany him. Lin Yu agreed without much thought.

Tonight is the annual dinner of the law firm collaboration organization. Although it's called a dinner, it's more like a relaxed networking event. Most of the attendees are long-term clients of Jiang Chuan's law firm.

A buffet was laid out on the long dining table, and people gathered in twos and threes with their wine glasses in hand, talking about contracts, business, and occasionally chatting about anything else.

Lin Yu wore a moon-white cheongsam with neatly fastened buttons at the collar and delicate embroidered patterns on the skirt, the smooth texture of which could be faintly seen under the light.

The skirt is slightly tapered at the waist and slits up to above the knee, revealing a slender calf when walking.

The two hems of her skirt swayed gently with her steps, exuding a gentle and graceful charm. Standing next to Jiang Chuan, who was dressed in a black suit, she resembled a magnolia swaying in the wind.

"Mr. Jiang! You've finally arrived!" Upon seeing Jiang Chuan, Mr. Zhao, who runs an electronics business, warmly greeted him with a wine glass in hand.

"Thanks to your law firm for overseeing last year's export contracts, you helped me avoid a major disaster. I must toast you three times today."

Mr. Zhao is from Anhui. He came to Shanghai to make a living in his early years and started his business in relays. He is a generous and easygoing person. He and Jiang Chuan met when they were both struggling and felt like they had known each other for a long time.

Jiang Chuan smiled and clinked glasses with him. "You're too kind, Mr. Zhao. Yuan Jie's team has been handling your case all along, and it's only right that we do our job well. It would be a disservice to Mr. Zhao's trust in us if we didn't do a good job."

"You've gotten more and more slick these past few years, hahaha!" General Manager Zhao chuckled, swirling his wine glass. "Your two senior brothers aren't here today?"

"Yeah, they're all so busy they don't even have time to rest, I'm the only one with nothing to do." Jiang Chuan joked, half-jokingly, with a lazy smile in his eyes, which made President Zhao laugh out loud.

His gaze finally fell on Lin Yu beside him, and he asked with interest, "And who is this?"

Jiang Chuan turned to the side, his arm naturally encircling Lin Yu's waist, and introduced her briefly: "Lin Yu, my girlfriend, an engineer!"

Lin Yu smiled and nodded in response, lightly supporting the bottom of his glass with his fingers, and clinked glasses with President Zhao. "President Zhao, hello."

"An engineer?" Mr. Zhao's interest was piqued, and he swirled his wine glass between his fingers. "Which specific area do you work in?"

"Environmental protection." Lin Yu paused, then added, "...It's about automatic control."

"Automatic control? Oh, what a coincidence!" General Manager Zhao scratched his head with his finger, his eyes darting around, and suddenly clapped his hands. "Old Zhang and his team have been having trouble finding an expert in this area lately. Would Engineer Lin mind if I called him over for a chat?"

Lin Yu smiled and shook his head. "Mr. Zhao, you're joking. I'm afraid I'm just showing off my limited skills in front of an expert."

"Hey, Engineer Lin is too modest. How could President Jiang's girlfriend be just anyone!" He said, pulling out his phone and dialing with great interest. Jiang Chuan lowered his head, took a sip of his drink, and a knowing smile flashed in his eyes.

While waiting, the two naturally started talking about renewing their contracts for the next quarter. Lin Yu stood to the side, feeling bored, thinking about how they had discussed visiting his grandmother at the nursing home the next day on their way here.

Although they had been together for more than half a year, and Lin Yu would often buy some supplements and ask Jiang Chuan to take them over, this was the first time he had personally visited her.

Despite Jiang Chuan's repeated reassurances that he was there for Lin Yu, Lin Yu still couldn't help but feel nervous, like someone meeting their parents for the first time.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a hearty laugh. Looking up, she saw a tall, middle-aged man striding towards them, a wine glass in his hand, a familiar smile on his ruddy face.

"Attorney Jiang!" Mr. Zhang patted Mr. Zhao on the shoulder familiarly and raised his glass to clink with Jiang Chuan's.

"Thanks to Attorney Jiang for reviewing that letter of intent last time." The glasses clinked together, making a crisp sound. "The land transfer contract for the new industrial park will require your firm's continued attention."

Jiang Chuan smiled faintly in agreement, his gaze subtly sweeping over Lin Yu beside him, as if the previous pleasantries were merely a prelude to this moment. "I heard that General Manager Zhang's factory is currently undergoing renovations?"

"It's mainly about upgrading the control system," Mr. Zhang said, taking a sip of his drink, his tone suddenly becoming serious. "These days, everyone's advocating for cost reduction and efficiency improvement, and the government has been strongly supporting automation upgrades in the past two years—it's about keeping up with the times..."

He paused. "However, we don't have a dedicated technical department to handle this, so we'll definitely have to outsource this part." Although he didn't mention the financial subsidies, his silence didn't mean Jiang Chuan was unaware of them.

However, Lin Yu was unaware of these details. She only knew that the conversation had touched on a topic relevant to her, and instinctively looked up to respond, "Are you referring to a factory-level intelligent monitoring system?"

Mr. Zhang was taken aback, his gaze shifting between Jiang Chuan and Lin Yu. "And who is this...?"

Mr. Zhao laughed loudly, "This is Attorney Jiang's fiancée. She's an engineer, specializing in intelligent control systems."

After saying that, he winked mischievously at General Manager Zhang. "Weren't you just worried about not finding a reliable technical consultant? Well, just when you were feeling sleepy, this pillow was delivered to you."

He was cunning and shrewd, and of course he understood Jiang Chuan's intentions. He was also willing to do Jiang Chuan a favor, as it was a sure-fire way to make money for him.

"Just call me Lin Yu." Lin Yu's voice was clear and gentle, neither humble nor arrogant. Jiang Chuan's hand remained on her lower back, the warmth of his palm seeping through the fabric of her cheongsam, bringing a sense of reassurance.

Having just finalized a contract renewal agreement with Jiang Chuan, General Manager Zhang inquired with great interest, "Ms. Lin, have you heard of the Green Realm Technology project?"

"I heard their CEO mention it at the last seminar. He said they are developing a fully automated control solution that has a very good effect on optimizing incineration efficiency."

Lin Yu tightened her grip on the wine glass. "The model is still being tested and optimized; it's too early to draw conclusions." She spoke conservatively, but in reality, the patent had already entered the substantive examination stage.

Jiang Chuan, standing behind Lin Yu, added at the opportune moment, "This project is being done by their team." He lightly tapped Lin Yu's waist with his fingertips. "Once the public announcement period is over, we won't be talking about this here anymore."

"Oh?" Mr. Zhang immediately understood and leaned forward unconsciously. "Ms. Lin, would you mind briefly explaining this plan? Of course, we don't need to go into the core technology, just talk about the pain points it can solve."

Lin Yu glanced at Jiang Chuan, who nodded at him, so he paused and carefully spoke. "This system is mainly for old factory renovations, and so far we have only tested it in the pilot plant at headquarters."

When talking about her area of ​​expertise, she became confident, her voice calm and measured. "You need production line process data to support your self-learning."

"The current level of automation is around 80%, and the model will be further optimized in the future."

After hearing this, Mr. Zhang became even more interested. He took out his phone and added Lin Yu on WeChat, inviting her to the company for a detailed discussion. He also promised to pay her double the market price for the consultation.

Lin Yu hesitated for a moment, gave Jiang Chuan a meaningful look, and was about to speak when his phone rang in his bag.

The sudden vibration felt like a sharp sword forcefully invading their connection. She glanced at the incoming call, then calmly pressed the hang-up button. Two seconds later, the ringtone rang persistently again.

Lin Yu picked up his phone somewhat impatiently and glanced at it. Jiang Chuan's gaze inadvertently fell on the screen, a smile playing on his lips. He casually asked without any emotion, "Aren't you going to answer?"

He remembered the name, the boy in the photo that was placed deep inside Lin Yu's bedroom bookshelf.

Despite having a clear conscience, Lin Yu felt inexplicably guilty in front of Jiang Chuan. He leaned forward and raised the phone. "Sorry, it's work-related. I'll go take care of it over there. You two talk first."

She didn't have time to think about why she lied to Jiang Chuan. She turned and walked towards a quiet place, not noticing the sudden contraction in Jiang Chuan's pupils amidst his smile.