Chapter 6, Chapter 06: "Don't let Pei Lu stare at you..."

Pei Shuwen said, "Students who fail this assessment will be temporarily assigned to the Financial Securities Department, where I will personally serve as their mentor. Once they pass, they will be assigned to a suitable team. I believe that passing the assessment is only a matter of time."

He never thought there was any rotten wood; if it could be carved, then so be it. Otherwise, he wouldn't mind spending time crushing it and reshaping it.

The morning is for onboarding training, and the afternoon is for everyone to familiarize themselves with their workstations and office areas.

Since most lawyers don't work regular office hours and are out handling cases, and these assistant lawyers weren't assigned mentors, HR didn't require them to gather in the afternoon, allowing them to have lunch and explore on their own.

If you have any questions, you can ask any lawyer at the law firm today, and you can also get to know some people along the way.

During lunch, everyone who joined at the same time was talking about how Jun Tianliangmu was the most humane person in Ningcheng's top law firm.

Lin Chaoyue looked at the message Pei Shuwen had just replied to.

She couldn't help but complain: "Where is the humaneness in this? There aren't even any parking spaces in the underground parking lot of this building with so many people working there." Not only was there a car accident, but Pei Shuwen also wouldn't let her use her insurance to pay for the repairs herself.

In the past, she would have bought him a new car to compensate him, but now that he knows she's penniless, he still tries to exploit her.

Pei the Skinflint! A villain!

Nie Shanshan rarely agreed, but she just pursed her lips and said, "Exactly."

The thought of her brand-new car having a scratch on it, and then being deemed equally responsible by the traffic police, made her want to tear Lin Chaoyue apart! And to make matters worse, Lin Chaoyue was dressed haphazardly, looking nothing like a lawyer, and they really were from the same cohort!

"You two bumped into each other this morning because you were fighting over a parking space?" someone asked with a strange expression.

On the way to lunch, everyone had heard about her feud with Nie Shanshan.

"Yes." Lin Chaoyue shrugged, clearly somewhat helpless.

"So you didn't know the underground parking garage has four levels?" the man continued.

Nie Shanshan: "???"

Lin Chaoyue: "..."

--

Qin Wen from the Human Resources Department had been waiting outside Pei Shuwen's office for a long time.

She was dressed in a sophisticated yet simple style, with exquisite makeup, but she didn't seem to be in a good mood. When she saw Pei Shuwen return, she picked up her laptop and walked briskly forward.

“Pei Lu, how come these recent graduates have no sense of time? I heard from Wang Qing that some people were late for today’s onboarding training, and some were even an hour late.”

“During the free time allotted for visits, some people just lay down and slept at their workstations. I suggest that attendance be included in the evaluation of this batch of assistant lawyers.”

Qin Wen swiped the screen twice, brought up the surveillance footage, and showed it to Pei Shuwen.

In the middle of the black, white and gray desks, Lin Chaoyue, wearing a pink short-sleeved shirt, stood out. She had brought out a ginger-yellow blanket from somewhere, spread half of it on the desk, and covered her eyes with the other half, sleeping soundly with her face buried in it.

They've adapted quite well.

Pei Shuwen glanced at it twice and then looked away.

Pei Shuwen: "I'm not often in the office, so the assessment will require the cooperation of your HR department. You can draft the specific details, and I'll sign them off."

"But there are people in this batch..."

Pei Shuwen guessed what Qin Wen wanted to say and continued before she could speak: "Treat everyone equally, no one needs special treatment."

With Pei Shuwen's words, Qin Wen felt somewhat relieved and temporarily suppressed her dissatisfaction with Zhao Huai'an for sending people into the institute.

Qin Wen: "I'm relieved to have Attorney Pei here. I came here today mainly for another matter: Chu Chengjie's withdrawal procedures have been completed."

“I trust you to handle things.” Pei Shuwen said, pouring Qin Wen a cup of tea: “Sit down and have a taste, this is the finest Biluochun.”

Qin Wen wasn't in the mood for tea: "When I went there today, Lawyer Chu wasn't very happy."

"Leaving your long-time employer, especially since you were forced to leave, must be unpleasant. He probably has a lot to say to you."

Pei Shuwen spoke casually, as if Chu Chengjie were just an insignificant person, but just half a month ago, Chu Chengjie had pointed his finger at Pei Shuwen and cursed him in this very office.

Qin Wen was also there at the time.

"Hmm." After a brief silence, Qin Wen's expression turned serious. "He talked to me about my career plans today and mentioned that there's a good opportunity at Ansong. He hopes I can go there with him and that I can persuade Lao Feng and the others. From the perspective of the HR department, I think we need to prepare some contingency plans in advance, otherwise we'll be in a very passive position when the time comes."

"No rush, take a look at this first." Pei Shuwen pushed the file on the desktop in front of her.

The document was right in front of her from the beginning, but Qin Wen was preoccupied with other things and didn't pay attention to it.

"This is... the law firm's financial report for last quarter? It's out so quickly." Qin Wen was somewhat surprised.

"Yes, Lao Feng is efficient. We'll have to rely on your HR department for the salary adjustments in the institute later."

Qin Wen understood the implication in Pei Shuwen's words and guessed that the revenue for this quarter must have increased again, but when she saw the '19 percentage points' highlighted in red, she was still shocked, and all her previous worries were put to the back of her mind.

"This quarter's revenue growth has broken records again? I remember this is the fifth consecutive quarter of revenue growth."

Their quarterly financial reports are all published, and this data is quite encouraging.

Qin Wen thought carefully: "Ningcheng Legal Magazine has been trying to invite us to participate in the law firm index ranking again, and I think now is a good time."

Influence is also a part of strength.

Pei Shuwen: "You decide on this matter, but don't tell Zhao Huai'an about Chu Chengjie. He's sensitive and it will affect his work efficiency if he finds out."

"What are you talking about? I think I heard my name." Pei Shuwen's office door was open, and Zhao Huai'an walked in casually after seeing someone inside.

Seeing Qin Wen there, he teased her in a slick, flirtatious tone, "Sister Wen, you look even more beautiful today. I didn't see you this morning. Did you skip work to go on a date?"

"I went there to take care of serious business." Qin Wen rolled her eyes at Zhao Huai'an: "Do you think I'm like you, the kind of people you used to get into the company through connections? I just showed this to Pei Lu, you should take a look too. They're just openly sleeping at their workstations during work hours."

"Really?" Zhao Huai'an had indeed recently followed Pei Shuwen's example and sent two people to the institute as a favor.

But those people are all top students in the law department of Ningcheng University, and they were introduced by his teacher's wife. They can't be that unreliable, right?

Zhao Huai'an leaned over to take a look and immediately spotted Lin Chaoyue.

He chuckled, wondering who it might be.

Zhao Huai'an took a step back and spread his hands, looking completely innocent: "Sister Wen, you're wronging me. If you want to hold Pei Lu accountable, you're doing it through his connections. I was just helping to collect a resume; it has nothing to do with me."

Seeing how eager Zhao Huai'an was to distance himself from the situation, Pei Shuwen chuckled and said, "Well, he's related to me, so he's one of my people."

Qin Wen had read Lin Chaoyue's resume. The school was okay, but the grades were too average. There was no social practice or internship experience. Her hobby was collecting wine, and the resume photo showed her with dyed pink hair.

It looks completely unprofessional.

No matter how you look at it, I'm not suited for this line of work.

Qin Wen had confidence in Pei Shuwen's judgment, but out of her professional instincts, she couldn't help but offer a word of advice.

“Attorney Pei, if you want to train assistant lawyers, I think the two boys who recently joined Beicheng University are more suitable and can keep up with your workload.”

"Sister Wen, you don't understand. Our Lawyer Pei prefers challenges." Zhao Huai'an deliberately changed the subject, leaving Qin Wen somewhat confused.

"What do you mean?" Seeing Zhao Huai'an's expression, Qin Wen couldn't help but let her mind wander in a less serious direction.

A young, pretty, but unambitious girl.

Pei Lu even said he was his man, so it couldn't be what she imagined...

Zhao Huai'an deliberately left things unsaid.

Pei Shuwen didn't give Qin Wen any room for imagination. He looked at Zhao Huai'an with a half-smile, but said to Qin Wen, "The client's daughter was sent here for renovation. Your HR department should put in a lot of effort. Next quarter, you'll get an extra three percentage points of revenue from this client, deducted from Zhao Lu's team."

"After all, it has nothing to do with him." He deliberately slowed down his tone for the last sentence.

Zhao Huai'an, who was initially gloating, has now turned green with anger.

Qin Wen is shrewd; she managed to find a partnership with Pei Lu and Zhao Lu, and even three percent of that is a significant sum.

She knew Pei Shuwen was trying to reassure her about Feng Lang's poaching, but she wasn't planning on changing jobs anyway, so she smiled and said to Zhao Huai'an, "Boss is so generous."

After Qin Wen left, Zhao Huai'an slumped onto the sofa in Pei Shuwen's office, looking like a deflated balloon.

"You don't love me anymore? That's a three percent difference! How could you bear to just use me like this?"

Pei Shuwen didn't even look up: "I'll give you my compensation, any other questions?"

"That's all! Boss is so generous!" Zhao Huai'an felt that he was easy to coax. With just five words, "I'll make it up to you," he was back to his senses.

Then, the person smugly approached Pei Shuwen and said, "What are you looking at so intently... the surveillance camera? What's so interesting about the surveillance camera?"

--

The air conditioning in the law firm was blasting.

Even with the blanket over her head, Lin Chaoyue felt a chill creep up her neck.

She changed her position, exposing half of her face, and continued sleeping.

This time, though she was in a daze, she felt that someone was watching her.

She slowly opened her eyes and saw only the ceiling equipped with surveillance cameras, so she closed them again with peace of mind.

Hearing the noise, Wen Ya thought Lin Chaoyue had woken up, but seeing that she was about to go back to sleep, she finally whispered, "Lin Chaoyue, are you still sleeping? It's almost three o'clock. Isn't it a bit inappropriate to sleep like this on your first day of work?"

Wen Ya was the young lady who sat next to Lin Chaoyue during the onboarding training; her workstation was right across from Lin Chaoyue's.

Lin Chaoyue got up too early, ate too many carbohydrates at noon and felt sleepy, and now her brain is a complete mess.

His words were incoherent: "It's only three o'clock? get out of class is still so long before it ends, Professor, don't call on me unless you take attendance..."

Wen Ya: "..." At noon, Nie Shanshan said that Lin Chaoyue's university degree must have been obtained through shoddy means, and she did not believe it. Now she suddenly felt that there was some truth to what she said.

But it wouldn't be good to let Lin Chaoyue stay asleep like this. She thought about going around to wake her up, but when she was halfway up getting up, her gaze inadvertently fell on the elevator, and she silently sat back down.

--

This time, Lin Chaoyue felt someone pulling on her blanket.

Half-asleep, she thought the professor was calling roll, and reluctantly raised her hand: "Here, Ayla."

The people around Pei Shuwen were a little nervous because of his 'sudden' appearance, but they were all amused by Lin Chaoyue's 'Ayla'.

What's so funny? It's so noisy.

Lin Chaoyue frowned, annoyed by the noise, but finally managed to sit up.

As a result, when I opened my eyes, I was caught off guard and met Pei Shuwen's gaze.

She didn't react for at least five seconds because her hand was still raised.

"Ayla? Her English name?" Pei Shuwen asked before she could speak.

Lin Chaoyue nodded mechanically.

Pei Shuwen: "It's not international business, so we don't usually use English names in the office. You can speak Chinese next time."

Did Pei Shuwen come here specifically to see her make a fool of herself? Even if she's slow to react, she'd know what happened by now.

She was just too tired and took a nap, why did he have to come down and wake her up himself?

Pei Shuwen pretended not to know me at the cafeteria at noon...

Oh well, at least today is my first day working for Pei Shuwen.

Even if you're just putting on an act, you have to.

Despite the two marks still visible on her face from the shoveling, she nodded obediently, then added after a moment's thought, "I understand, Pei... Pei Lu."

Pei Shuwen could see through Lin Chaoyue's little scheme. But he didn't mind; on the contrary, he looked forward to one day seeing the true nature of this girl beneath her facade.

Pei Shuwen: "Come to my office at 3:30. I have some work to assign you."

"Oh, I see." Being Pei Shuwen's slave means doing all the work for him; she'd mentally prepared herself for that over the past two days.

Having spent so many years abroad, she's mastered the art of slacking off, so she should be able to graduate smoothly from her studies and find a job without any problem.

Pei Shuwen is gone.

Lin Chaoyue was 'full of confidence' and selectively ignored the sympathetic looks from those around her. After she was fully sober, she went to the restroom to touch up her makeup. Lin Chaoyue went to the office upstairs at 3:30, and even rehearsed her speech on the way.

The gist of it is: 'My abilities are limited,' 'I just graduated and can't do very complicated work yet,' 'I will work hard, but please give me some time.'

She even mentally rehearsed the expression she should use when saying those words.

As Lin Chaoyue silently lamented for the third time that it was a pity she didn't go to the Oscars to win an Oscar, she finally arrived at Pei Shuwen's office door.

But after lingering at the door for a while, she realized that Pei Shuwen wasn't there at all. Only a secretary was left in the office to wait for her. The secretary gave her a key, told her to organize the files in the storage room within a week, and left without saying anything else.

Holding the key, Lin Chaoyue was filled with questions.

What's going on? That's it? She hasn't even started her performance yet!

Lin Chaoyue was baffled and fumbled with her phone, preparing to send a message to Pei Shuwen to ask him.

Before she could even find her chat with Pei Shuwen, Ms. Zhong replied to her message.

Her parents, along with Xu Zhu, had blocked her phone number, but for the sake of pocket money, Lin Chaoyue had been persistently sending WeChat messages to several people these past two days.

While waiting for the traffic police after her car accident this morning, she posted a few more updates out of boredom. This time, she also included a picture of her scraped elbow. She felt the scraped area wasn't red enough, so she pinched it a couple more times before taking the picture.

The most striking word is 'miserable'.

Before opening the message, her heart started racing for no reason, and she felt a faint sense of anticipation. She unconsciously swallowed, and even a fleeting fantasy of returning to being a rich second-generation heiress flashed through her mind.

But the illusion was quickly shattered.

Upon opening the chat window, Ms. Zhong replied with only a few words: "Work hard and don't let Mom down again."

--

Lin Chaoyue went up and down the stairs in less than ten minutes, and her enthusiasm turned into listlessness.

The newly hired assistant lawyers were all on the first floor. When she returned, the others gathered around her.

"I heard Pei Lu arranged a job for you? What kind of job? Is it difficult?"

"have no idea."

Lin Chaoyue wasn't in the mood for gossip; she was sending a message to Pei Shuwen.

Did you tattle on me to my mom?

She pouted unhappily when she didn't get a reply.

But the more people around her saw her like this, the more interested they became: "Before I joined our institute, my senior gave me a piece of advice."

Lin Chaoyue replied dismissively, "What advice?"

"Come, Juntian Liangmu, don't let Pei Lu target you, or you'll be in big trouble." The speaker spoke mysteriously.

Lin Chaoyue finally looked up with some interest: "Why? I heard that the interns he mentors are all very capable. Don't you want to join his team? He seems quite gentlemanly."

Although it's highly likely that he was faking it.

Nie Shanshan, who had been silent until now, snorted coldly, as if she had heard a joke, and said sarcastically, "Then you can fail the test and give it a try."

Lin Chaoyue shrugged, ignoring Nie Shanshan's words, and continued to message with her head down.

Why weren't you here? Your secretary only gave me one key. How am I supposed to organize the files? I don't know how.

There has still been no reply to this one.

Lin Chaoyue didn't know whether Pei Shuwen hadn't seen it or was simply refusing to respond.

But there was no response, and she felt like she was punching cotton, which was very unhelpful.

She leaned back in her chair, dejected, and played on her phone, listening to everyone's conversation in a half-hearted manner.

It wasn't until she caught the word 'Party' that she finally became interested: "Are we having a party tonight?"

Someone joked, "You're dressed more appropriately. If we dressed like this to a party, outsiders would probably think it's a business gathering."

Wen Ya patted Lin Chaoyue on the shoulder: "Parties aren't common in China. This is just a dinner party tonight, organized spontaneously by everyone. I'll add you to the group."

Lin Chaoyue was pulled into the "Zhang San, the Outlaw" group chat.

Lin Chaoyue: "..."

Wen Ya: "Don't take these private entertainment groups seriously. We're all law-abiding citizens."

Lin Chaoyue believed it.

She opened the restaurant location sent in the group chat, and it seemed a bit far. She had already sent her car for repairs after the accident that morning.

Lin Chaoyue sent Pei Shuwen another message, relentlessly.

The dinner venue tonight is quite far away. You live nearby, could I borrow your car?

She thought the message would disappear into thin air again, but her phone lit up a minute later.

This was Pei Shuwen's reply.

She was pleased with herself for improving her persuasive skills, but the smile froze on her face the next second.

What the hell is this?! What a heartless bastard!