Chapter 74 Pei Shuwen: "So..."

"Or do you think this will affect your life?"

"No, that's not what I'm worried about."

Lin Chaoyue believed that Pei Shuwen's "unwillingness to admit" was mainly about "publicly dating".

Completely unaware that her resistant attitude led Pei Shuwen to mistakenly believe that she was just having a casual chat with him.

Pei Shuwen's emotions were clearly abnormal.

Lin Chaoyue was talking to herself, completely unaware.

"I just feel that we've just gotten together, and a lot of things are still uncertain. Besides, I can't work at the law firm forever, so there's no need to tell everyone at this time."

Most importantly, she felt that she had to clearly distinguish between dating Pei Shuwen and working with Pei Shuwen.

Otherwise, it will be like what just happened.

She was still immersed in the pink bubble of love when the next second she was pulled back to reality by the work arranged by Pei Shuwen.

But Pei Shuwen clearly didn't think so.

The word 'uncertainty' struck Pei Shuwen hard, causing his expression to turn cold.

Pei Shuwen: "So you want to leave?"

Even at this moment, Lin Chaoyue was still immersed in her own little world: "I'm only working at the law firm temporarily. I'll leave sooner or later. You know that."

“Although I used to drift through life and love to have fun, I’m the only daughter in my family. Even if I wanted to stay by your side forever, my parents would definitely not agree.”

“But even if I were to leave, it certainly wouldn’t be now. I promised to be your assistant for a year, and the contract is already signed. I can’t afford to pay the penalty for breaking the contract.”

This statement was actually made in a joking manner.

Pei Shuwen showed no sign of a smile.

Finally noticing that Pei Shuwen was in a bad mood, Lin Chaoyue didn't care that they were in the police station corridor and went up to tug at his sleeve: "Are you so afraid that I'll leave? Even if I wanted to leave now, I don't have any money. I'm a poor man now, and I'd have to stay at your house to freeload."

"What if you had money?"

"What?"

Pei Shuwen: "If you had money, would you be ready to leave immediately?"

Why would you think that of me?

Lin Chaoyue was somewhat surprised.

Pei Shuwen was speaking normally, so why did she suddenly start being sarcastic again?

She asked him twice what was wrong.

Pei Shuwen said nothing, but in a cold tone told her to go upstairs first.

When Lin Chaoyue slowly climbed to the fourth floor, she thought that the man's inexplicable anger had subsided.

She patiently waited at the door for a long time. Five minutes passed, and still no one appeared. Only then did she realize that Pei Shuwen hadn't followed at all.

What did she do to offend him?

Lin Chaoyue had limited experience in dating and was completely baffled.

Just as I was thinking of finding two 'strategists' in the group chat to give me some advice, someone came out of the meeting room.

"Lin Lu, are you waiting for someone?"

When Secretary Wu opened the door, he saw Lin Chaoyue standing motionless at the entrance.

Lin Chaoyue: "Ah, I'm waiting for Pei Lu. We came together today, but he hasn't come up yet."

Lin Chaoyue: "He said that I would take the lead in this event and asked me to come up first to go over the process."

Secretary Wu smiled and said, "Lawyer Pei told me in advance that the process is very simple, so there's no need to worry. Originally, Lawyer Pei didn't need to come this time, but with Lawyer Lin here, Lawyer Pei is paying extra attention to this promotional event."

As he said this, Secretary Wu naturally closed the door behind him, blocking out the sounds from inside and outside.

Lin Chaoyue blinked, not understanding what Secretary Wu said.

"Isn't this police and law enforcement awareness campaign important? Why doesn't Pei Shuwen need to come?"

Secretary Wu: "Of course it's important. Our law firm has always valued cooperation with the police in publicity. However, we have cooperated in this way many times before. The process is basically fixed, but the details in the middle may change. Therefore, Attorney Pei will not be present every time."

Secretary Wu smiled again: "But there's another reason. A few days ago, Officer Ma Yue helped recover a client's money that had been defrauded. It's quite difficult to recover money across borders, and the amount was huge. Officer Ma sacrificed several weekends, so Attorney Pei is just returning the favor."

A transnational scam? Money? A huge sum of money?

Lin Chaoyue's heart stirred.

"Excuse me, what is the client's name...?"

--

The process of this anti-fraud campaign was far more comprehensive than Lin Chaoyue had imagined.

Moreover, the secretariat has already prepared most of the work for the law firm.

The people from the law firm who came today were mainly there to learn and observe, in addition to providing legal education to the residents.

Lin Chaoyue is now nominally Pei Shuwen's special assistant.

There was no objection to her taking the lead in this event.

Secretary Wu went over the procedures with Lin Chaoyue twice, and then coordinated with the police station staff again.

In the morning, Lin Chaoyue was still confused, but by noon, she could at least go through the whole process smoothly, if not with complete ease.

I had planned to wait for Pei Shuwen to come back, use work as an excuse to talk to him, and also ask him about helping me recover the money I was scammed out of.

But we waited until lunchtime.

She didn't even catch a glimpse of Pei Shuwen.

Secretary Wu only mentioned it briefly halfway through, saying that Pei Lu was busy, but didn't specify what he was busy with.

Lin Chaoyue stared blankly at the rice in her bowl.

The fragrant braised pork ribs on the plate remained untouched even after they cooled down.

Secretary Wu sat down with a tray of food: "Lawyer Lin, is the food not to your liking? There's still an hour before the sharing session for the first event this afternoon. Would you like to go out and get something to eat? There are a few small restaurants nearby that are pretty good."

"I'm not going, I'm not very hungry." Lin Chaoyue put down her chopsticks. "Secretary Wu, who will be at the sharing session this afternoon?"

Secretary Wu: "Several leaders from the branch office, staff from the anti-fraud publicity department, heads of the local street offices, representatives of local residents, and parties involved in some typical cases have been invited to give brief presentations at the meeting."

Lin Chaoyue hesitated before asking, "What about the people from our law firm? Will everyone come?"

"I should be the only one at the first sharing session. There will be some outdoor activities later, and others will need to participate in the legal education."

Only a few senior members of the firm knew about Lin Chaoyue's case of being defrauded.

She will be present at this sharing session.

Secretary Wu saw that she was still hesitating and assumed that she was worried about this matter.

"Don't worry, Attorney Lin. The speakers at this sharing session will remain anonymous throughout, and all photos uploaded to social media will be blurred. I'm the only person from the firm here, so you don't need to worry."

She wasn't worried; she just wanted to ask if Pei Shuwen would be coming over later.

"Will Pei Lu come?"

She was the one who said they wouldn't go public and would keep their relationship secret, but she was also the one who couldn't help but find out Pei Shuwen's whereabouts.

Lin Chaoyue was somewhat annoyed.

But Secretary Wu's expression remained perfectly natural: "Lawyer Pei said he would come."

"Are you sure?" Lin Chaoyue finally perked up.

Pei Lu is always punctual.

--

As Secretary Wu stated, the sharing session was indeed conducted anonymously throughout.

Each guest was given a black mask, and all irrelevant people in the meeting room left in advance.

With Secretary Wu's assistance, the tasks assigned to her were very limited. On the eve of the event, she even had time to stare at her phone and drift off into thought.

Li Cong sent a message ten minutes ago saying that the batch of wine she had collected abroad had been shipped back to China, and asked where she had unloaded it.

Lin Chaoyue didn't even think about it and directly sent Pei Shuwen's address.

Less than two minutes later, Li Cong received a video call.

"Are you sure you want to send it to Pei Shuwen? Or I can send it to Tangwan instead. What if this batch of wine gets confiscated? You'll be out of luck again."

Freedom is precious, but love is even more valuable.

Lin Chaoyue walked to the stairwell, took off her mask, and said, "Tangwan's password has been changed, I can't get in."

"Just find someone's house to settle down at, like Mu Qiao's, or Li Wei's will do too. You can just casually start a relationship, it's not worth taking such a big risk."

It's no wonder Li Cong reacted so strongly.

This batch of wine shipped back to China is truly valuable.

But Lin Chaoyue felt that this was not the point at all.

Lin Chaoyue: "The money I was scammed out of abroad has been recovered. Although it's not all of it, I heard it's still a large sum of seven figures."

"Really? Didn't you entrust your case to Pei Shuwen? He's quite capable. Once the money arrives, you'll be able to live a carefree life again."

Lin Chaoyue sighed softly, "It probably won't work."

"What's wrong with that? What? It's one thing to confiscate that batch of wine, but he's not really going to deduct your money, is he? Didn't you already reach an agreement? You're already being generous by not squandering his money, do you think he's planning to spend yours?"

Li Cong raised his voice very high.

Lin Chaoyue's reputation, passed down through generations, is that she spends lavishly on men.

Although it's fake, it has really resonated with people.

Li Cong reacted again.

Lin Chaoyue: "No, he was going to give me the money, but I said the wrong thing. He thought I would just take the money and leave, and he hasn't shown up all afternoon."

Li Cong was a little confused by Lin Chaoyue's anxious tone.

"Wait, what do you mean? Shouldn't your story be a mature and rational business elite versus a spoiled rich girl? It sounds like the roles have been reversed."

Lin Chaoyue didn't have time to listen to Li Cong's fantasies about such a Mary Sue story.

Lin Chaoyue: "Stop talking nonsense and think of a solution. I don't want to break up so soon after we start dating."

She really wants to knock her past self unconscious right now.

They said that once the money arrived in their account, they would move out of Tianhe City.

He even said he wasn't leaving because he was broke and wanted to freeload.

It makes her seem like a useless woman who uses and discards others, and is keen on getting things for free. No wonder Pei Shuwen is unhappy.

Li Cong said in a nonchalant tone: "That's easy. You could have just said you weren't leaving. If you ask me, you don't need to go through all that trouble. Your batch of eight-figure liquor is already being unloaded at their place. Doesn't that speak for itself?"

Hang up the phone.

Lin Chaoyue probably had an idea.

Hearing someone coming upstairs, Lin Chaoyue realized it was almost time and was about to go out.

The man quickened his pace and caught up with her before she left the building.

"Miss, are you also the guest sharing your experience of being scammed today?"

The boy's youthful voice had a boyish quality, and although he was wearing a black mask, you could tell he was quite young.

His eyes, when he looked at Lin Chaoyue, were clearly shining.

Lin Chaoyue, preoccupied with other matters, replied half-heartedly, "Yes, you are too, right?"

"Yes! That's right! You're a student, aren't you? I thought I was the only student here today. We're really destined to meet."

She didn't really want this kind of fate.

I have no interest in chatting with a stranger in the hallway.

Lin Chaoyue didn't explain: "The sharing session this afternoon should be starting soon, I'll head back first."

“I’ll go with you! I see that except for the positions of the bureau leaders which are fixed, all the other positions are random. Why don’t we sit together later…”

The boy was quite outgoing.

But there was nothing wrong with just sitting together. Lin Chaoyue was preoccupied with whether Pei Shuwen would come later, so she didn't bother to argue.

I casually said "okay".

The two people went out the door one after the other.

The swaying glass door brought in a draft.

Pei Shuwen extinguished his cigarette and waited for the smoke to completely dissipate before lowering his eyes, composed himself, and slowly walked upstairs.