Chapter 5
While Xu Wanyi was seething with anger, Li Ye was completely unaware of it, and walked along the riverside path with An Yue as if nothing had happened. There were many tourists on the riverside path.
It seems that the cold weather could not dampen the tourists' enthusiasm. Undeterred by the cold wind, they posed in various ways, letting their friends and family take photos of themselves with the iconic buildings of Haixi.
"Attorney Li, don't you think that when we were waiting at that intersection for the traffic light, someone in the car next to us was watching us?"
"Hmm, are you looking at us? I didn't notice. Let them look, we're not ugly, it's not a loss for us to be looked at."
An Yue thought to herself, "Maybe the person in the car was attracted by your face. How can you look so innocent?"
"Attorney Li, what do you do besides work?"
"Ah, what do you think I have time to do besides work?"
“Uh.” An Yue was speechless. It seemed that Li Ye spent all his time working and never went to bars or dinner parties.
She has been interning here for six months, and apart from today, she has hardly found any time to spend alone with Li Ye, let alone seen what Li Ye is like in real life.
"Don't think about it. I'm the same as I am now, there's nothing different."
Li Ye knew what these interns were thinking. Someone had asked her the same question before. She was basically the same in life and at work. She didn't want to pretend. It was too tiring to always put on a show.
Just as An Yue was racking her brains to find more topics to talk about with Li Ye, the three big red characters "Family Banquet" appeared on a rather elegant building in front of her, and the red neon lights illuminated the surrounding area for several meters.
"Hello, guests, how many are in your party? Do you have a reservation?" the greeter asked warmly.
"Ziguang Hall, Mr. Chen, it's set for 6:30," Li Ye replied.
"This way, please." After the greeter verified the information, another waiter enthusiastically came forward to lead the way.
Jia Yan Hui is a long-established restaurant by the river, specializing in local Shanghai cuisine. It operates on a membership system, boasts an elegant and sophisticated ambiance, and of course, it's not cheap.
The waiter led the two around half the corridor. The hall was already full of people. After all, it was a high-end restaurant, and not a single table was noisy. Everyone was talking quietly.
"Greetings, we have arrived at the Ziguang Hall. Please come in."
The waiter opened the door, and Chen Chunlin and another middle-aged man sat inside. Seeing Li Ye arrive, Chen Chunlin quickly stood up.
"Attorney Li is here! Oh, Xiao An is here too. Come, come, let me introduce you. This is my childhood friend, surnamed Huang, Huang Peng. Old Huang, this is Attorney Li Ye. This is An Yue from Attorney Li's team. Isn't she beautiful? Birds of a feather flock together. The people in Attorney Li's team are just like her, all good-looking, the men are handsome and the women are beautiful."
Li Ye was used to this kind of thing, so he took the initiative to extend his hand and said, "Hello, Mr. Huang, this is Li Ye."
An Yue had seen this kind of thing many times before. Standing to the side, she sweetly greeted, "Hello, Mr. Huang."
Huang Peng had long heard of Li Ye's reputation, which was the real reason he pushed the project to Chen Chunlin. He knew that his childhood friend was only good at drinking and bragging, and had no ability to take on the project.
"Hello, Attorney Li! I've heard that you are not only highly skilled but also quite handsome. Meeting you today, I can confirm that your reputation is well-deserved."
Huang Peng wasn't lying about this. He thought people said Li Ye was good-looking because she was making a lot of money and they were promoting her. He was prepared to accept a woman who was plain-looking but sharp-tongued. He didn't expect her to be genuinely good-looking. However, he hadn't anticipated Li Ye's androgynous style.
"It's all thanks to everyone for giving me face. I have to thank all the brothers and sisters in the martial arts world for taking care of me."
"Come, sit down first, let's talk while we sit down." After exchanging pleasantries, Chen Chunlin invited the group to sit down.
This was a room that could accommodate eight people, with purple velvet curtains and antique-style tables and chairs. Huang Peng, the client, sat in the main seat, Chen Chunlin to his right, Li Ye to his left, and An Yue next to Li Ye on the other side.
"Waiter, please bring the food. And open the wine too," Chen Chunlin said to the waiter standing to the side.
Cold and hot dishes were served one after another, and soon the table was full. The waiter opened a bottle of Wuliangye liquor, took four dispensing jugs, poured about half of each, and brought them to the table.
"You're going to drink, right? If you don't want to drink, you don't have to."
Li Ye knew that An Yue's family was in business, and judging from her appearance, she could roughly guess that this girl wasn't someone who didn't drink. However, just to be on the safe side, she still asked, as she didn't want any young girl to be forced to drink.
"Yes, it's a drink."
An Yue has a decent alcohol tolerance. If any of the children in her family are over eighteen and still can't drink, they'll be trained by their elders to drink.
The two chatted about various things for a long time, and Li Ye remained silent, waiting to see what they wanted to say. After downing a small pot of wine, Huang Peng finally got to the point.
“Li Lu, we’ve had our drinks, so I won’t waste everyone’s time and will get straight to the point. This project is a major project for our Leguang Group. The parent company’s board of directors made a resolution last year to vigorously expand into the East China, South China and Southwest China markets in the next few years, with Leguang taking the lead. This year, we will acquire and merge with a number of companies.”
"Mr. Huang, is Leguang the same Leguang we know?" Li Ye asked.
"Yes, it's the company that owns the Yunman series of ultra-luxury hotels. Hotels are only a small part of Leguang's business, but they can make a name for it. Our main businesses are pharmaceuticals and new energy."
Li Ye's fingers tapped slowly on the table. Of course, she knew this company. Rather, she had a special connection with it, albeit a tumultuous one.
So the question is, should she get involved? And, if she gets involved, will it cause the project to fail even faster?
"Old Huang, show that internal notice to Attorney Li," Chen Chunlin reminded him.
“Oh right, Attorney Li, although this plan hasn’t been officially announced, I’ve already obtained the internal documents. Take a look.” With that, Huang Peng took a folder out of his briefcase and handed it to Li Ye.
Li Ye carefully examined the document. It was quite detailed, logically sound, well-supported by evidence, and clearly written; the document should be genuine. She knew the heading and watermark of internal documents from Le Guang, and Huang Peng had no reason to forge it, since it only involved providing legal services.
"To be honest, this project involves a huge amount of money, which may eventually reach tens of billions. It's not something that an ordinary lawyer can handle. I've heard that you're very professional in this field, and your peers in the industry also highly recognize you. That's why I recommended you to my childhood friend. Actually, I just wanted him to work with you. He's a criminal lawyer; he doesn't know anything about these professional things."
"Yes, yes, I found it for you." Chen Chunlin was very clear about his position and didn't feel uncomfortable at all.
Li Ye thought about it and realized that such a large project must be very challenging and worth trying.
"Well, since Mr. Huang is helping with the introduction, we should definitely give it a try. Mr. Huang and Attorney Chen, please go back and discuss how best to proceed?"
When Huang Peng and Chen Chunlin saw that Li Ye had agreed, they were so happy that they called out to the others to clink glasses again.
"Okay, Lao Huang and I will discuss it later. I'll come to your office to tell you when we have a result."
When can we expect the results?
"We'll give you the results tomorrow."
Actually, Li Ye was trying to test whether they had agreed on the distribution of profits. Sure enough, they hadn't discussed anything yet, and these two were already thinking of getting something for nothing.
But no matter what, she didn't lose out. At the very least, she got a free meal and drank Wuliangye liquor with the kids, didn't she?
Thinking of this, she turned to look at An Yue. The girl's eyes were clear, and apart from her slightly flushed face, she didn't look like she had drunk so much. She was indeed from a business family; drinking was hereditary.
The meal lasted a full three hours. After the meal, Huang Peng and Chen Chunlin drank a lot and got quite drunk. Li Ye asked one of Chen Chunlin's male lawyers to take them home.
"Are you full? Can you go home by yourself?" Li Ye glanced at An Yue. The girl maintained a proper posture the whole time, but he didn't know what the actual situation was like.
Well, seeing that she didn't say anything, Li Ye thought he should just take her home, lest something bad happen just because they went out for a meal.
Where do you live?
An Yue was a little confused. She took out her phone, found Baidu Maps, and retrieved her home address from her favorites to give to her.
"Pretty sober, you can even find your home on the app," Li Ye said slowly. Just as she finished speaking, the girl suddenly leaned towards him. Li Ye quickly moved to catch her. She was still a bit too young. Huang Peng was such a cunning old fox; if he offered her a drink, she'd drink it. Seeing her enjoying herself, Li Ye didn't stop her. Anyway, he was sure he'd stay sober.
She supported An Yue with one hand, took out her phone with the other, and quickly called a ride-hailing car.
After turning thirty, Xu Wanyi began to enjoy running. She chose to live in Yunman because there was a riverside greenway next to Yunman. She doesn't like treadmills and would definitely choose to run outdoors if she had the choice.
After seeing Li Ye in the evening, she realized that she still couldn't let go. All those dead memories had come back to life and kept haunting her. She was angry whenever she thought of Li Ye standing with another woman.
After the waiter put her luggage in the room and everything was settled, Xu Wanyi brewed herself a pot of tea, took the teacup to the floor-to-ceiling window, and looked down at the lights of the sky and the neon lights of the various yachts in the distance.
She took a sip of tea. After all, she was no longer twenty years old. After so many years of hard work in the business world, she had learned how to talk to herself and knew that there were many things in life that she couldn't have just because she wanted them or keep them just because she wanted them.
Some things, once they're over, are over; let them go.
After making her decision, she planned to take a look at the latest version of the business plan that her secretary had given her that afternoon, but she couldn't calm down. After thinking it over, she realized that she wouldn't be able to work peacefully today, so she simply went out for a run.
Just then, she ran to the section of the greenway near Jiayanhui. This section of the greenway had some elevation changes, and the running track ran along the river, with several layers of green vegetation separating the road from the track. Coincidentally, she turned her head here and saw Li Ye and the woman from the evening standing side by side on the roadside, with Li Ye seemingly supporting the woman.
Although she had decided to stop dwelling on the past, Xu Wanyi's anger still flared up uncontrollably.
However, Li Ye didn't give her a chance to get angry. A ride-hailing car stopped in front of them. Li Ye let the girl in first, and even gentlemanly shielded her head as if afraid she would bump it. Then he got in himself, closed the door, and the car drove away.
Xu Wanyi stared at the car's taillights, thinking: Li Ye, were you born to annoy me? You did it back then, and you do it now. Can't you just disappear completely and cleanly?
Thinking this, he stopped running and turned back to the hotel.
What Miss Xu didn't realize was that she hadn't felt this surge of blood in many years, and today she had gotten angry twice because of Li Ye.
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