Chapter 38
After a period of hectic activity, Xu Wanyi realized it was already late August.
During this period, Li Ye never contacted her even once.
She recalled Jiang Yu's performance, trying to find any clues that Li Ye had instructed, but after thinking it over, she couldn't find any trace of it. As for the lawyer Gao that Li Ye introduced, his skills were good, but his style was not the right one for her.
"But Attorney Li, you are at least nominally the lawyer for this project. The second legal report is about to be released, and you haven't shown up even once. Isn't that a bit too insensitive?" Xu Wanyi muttered to herself.
For some reason, even though she had driven Li Ye away, she didn't really intend to never see him again. To be honest, she still hoped that Li Ye would discover something that she could use to deal with those stubborn old fogies in the company.
"How about this, go and walk around her office building. If you bump into her, great; if you don't, great. If you do bump into her, it means God is allowing you to see her, and that doesn't violate your principles."
The moment this thought crossed her mind, Xu Wanyi, disregarding the fact that it was already night, immediately began to move her hands and feet.
"Feng Jing, I'm going back now. Could you tidy up the materials on my desk and then go home?"
"Yes, Chairman."
Xu Wanyi carried her bag to the garage, stepped on the gas, and sped east along the riverside road. She rarely took this riverside road. Ever since she started driving to and from work, she had always used navigation software. These apps would always give her what they thought was the fastest route, not the shortest one, which was the main road a little to the south.
Unfortunately, in reality, plans never keep up with changes, and navigation software cannot reflect real-time traffic conditions. Xu Wanyi was always stuck at those major intersections, and the actual time spent on the road was much longer than the software estimated.
Tonight, she didn't use navigation software but followed the route Li Ye had mentioned before the previous meeting, and it was indeed very smooth. Fifteen minutes later, she arrived next to Li Ye's office building. But what exactly was she there for? It was all rather unclear.
If we're talking about a chance encounter with Li Ye, should we just look at it from the street, or go inside and explore? And should we park the car, or just drive around the building slowly?
Only then did Xu Wanyi realize that she had come without thinking things through.
She drove aimlessly around the building and realized that the financial district was indeed much more bustling than their area. There were many people standing in front of almost every building and on the streets, with taxis and private cars coming and going, which was quite different from what most people in the world thought the late night should be like.
But it suited her accustomed late nights. In Beijing, the area where her office building was located looked similar. Overpasses and billboards displayed indices for major stock markets, futures markets, and commodities from around the world, along with bright streetlights and flashing neon lights on the glass curtain walls of each building—truly a city that never sleeps.
Xu Wanyi drove around for a while, but didn't see Li Ye or anyone from his team. As she drove, she couldn't help but chuckle to herself. Was this behavior fundamentally different from how she pursued Li Ye back in college? Only back then it was more flamboyant and direct.
Thinking of this, she suddenly recalled those unpleasant past events, and the hatred in her heart began to surge again. How childish! At her age, she still wants to stage some kind of chance encounter!
She was currently on the road west of the Liye office building. When she reached the intersection, she turned the steering wheel to the right, intending to continue driving back to the hotel along the riverside road. Generally speaking, the riverside area, whether it was the roads or the office buildings, was much quieter, and the lush vegetation also made the light much dimmer.
As she was driving leisurely at 10 miles per hour, turning right along the direction the road was extending, she suddenly saw a familiar figure in her right rearview mirror.
She actually ran into him! Xu Wanyi knew Li Ye definitely recognized her car, so she swerved the steering wheel and drove onto a small square on the right, separated from where Li Ye was standing by a green belt. She didn't want Li Ye to find her in this area so late at night, no matter what.
Li Ye did not see Xu Wanyi, nor did he even notice the car.
As she walked out of the north gate towards the roadside, Xu Wanyi's car had already passed her. Although there weren't many cars on this road, it wasn't completely empty either; with several cars driving by in succession, who could possibly make out what kind of car it was or what its license plate was?
"An Yue, why aren't you going home this late? What are you doing wandering around here?" Li Ye's voice rang out.
"An Yue? Isn't that Li Ye's intern?" Xu Wanyi thought to herself.
Although An Yue wasn't in the project team, Jiang Yu would ask her to help out when they were busy, so Xu Wanyi had met her a few times. Her impression of her was that she was a fashionable and beautiful young woman. However, it would be a bit difficult for Xu Wanyi to describe exactly what An Yue looked like right now.
Therefore, Xu Wanyi was unmoved by these words, but she quietly got out of the car and walked to the back of the car, wanting to hear what they had to say.
“I’ll be waiting for you here, Attorney Li.”
"Huh? How did you know I'd be here at this time?"
Li Ye has rarely come to the office lately, but she had to come in person today because she needed to sign a legal opinion. Even so, she rarely comes to the North Gate.
An Yue is waiting for me here? Something doesn't sound right.
“Look, your car…” An Yue looked up at Li Ye’s car parked on the side of the road.
Li Ye left home too late today, and when she drove to the underground parking garage, she couldn't find a parking space. She had no choice but to turn onto this riverside road, knowing there were some parking spaces along the roadside, and that she might find one if she was lucky. Sure enough, she was very lucky! As soon as Li Ye drove up from the underground garage, the car in front of her drove away, and she parked there without any problem.
"You have sharp eyes, you can see that."
How could An Yue not see this? She always parks here whenever she drives to work. Her family is well-off; her parents bought her a house and a car in Haixi a long time ago, and it's a luxury car at that.
As an intern, she was too embarrassed to be seen driving a luxury car to and from get off work every day, so whenever she drove, she had to park in the north, a place where the lawyers from Li Ye's team rarely came.
She forgot her lipstick in the car today. After lunch, she was about to go get it when she saw Li Ye's car slowly pull up about three parking spaces in front of her. But she hadn't seen Lawyer Li for a while!
"After such a big thing happened, I wonder how Attorney Li is doing? Is she very sad but too embarrassed to tell others?" An Yue thought to herself as she watched Li Ye get out of the car and stride towards the North Gate.
In a flash of inspiration, she decided to wait for Li Ye to get off work today. She wanted to find an opportunity to be alone with her, although she didn't know what to do or say when she was alone with Li Ye.
"You've been waiting here the whole time?" Li Ye sent his team back at eight o'clock, but didn't come down until ten o'clock.
"Um."
Hearing this, Li Ye was quite surprised and had some guesses in his mind. There were three steps from the small square of the office building to the sidewalk. Li Ye had already gone down to the second step when he suddenly stopped and turned to look at An Yue.
An Yue was standing to her right, still on the steps. As Li Ye turned around, the height difference between them decreased, and they were now facing each other directly. Suddenly, she smelled alcohol.
"Have you been drinking?"
The small plaza and sidewalks around the office building were filled with trees and shrubs. In the height of summer, their lush foliage blocked out most of the dim streetlights. In the dappled light, An Yue's face flickered between light and shadow, making her appear somewhat uneasy.
From Xu Wanyi's angle, she could already see the two figures. She recognized An Yue's back; this was the woman beside Li Ye when she first met him. Because An Yue was so young and appeared as Li Ye's intern, she had never considered this possibility and therefore hadn't recognized her at all.
Looking at it now, isn't it obvious?
"Yeah, I had a little something to drink while I was waiting for you," An Yue said, pointing to a bar not far away.
"Attorney Li, they've been bullying you like this, are you just going to accept it?" Fueled by the alcohol, An Yue finally mustered the courage to ask this question after much deliberation.
"Huh? You mean Chen Chunlin and the others? Yeah, what else can we do?" Li Ye's tone was indifferent, as if he didn't care too much.
"But this is a project we worked so hard to secure, and now we've found evidence that Jin Haifeng swapped the documents. Why didn't you object when they said they were going to replace you?"
"Uh, An Yue, just focus on your work and don't overthink it. I have my reasons for doing this."
"And today I also heard them say that Leguang Group accepted the change of partners in the project team. What's going on with Leguang Group? Isn't their chairman supposed to be very shrewd? Can't she see that Chen Chunlin doesn't understand anything? Is she blind?"
As if she hadn't heard Li Ye's words, An Yue not only continued talking, but also got angry as she spoke.
Xu Wanyi stood in the shadows with her arms crossed, looking completely innocent. How could she hear someone calling her "blind" in the middle of the night?
"Attorney Li, is there something you're having trouble telling us? Or... what did you do?"
"Hahaha," Li Ye laughed, "Don't worry, I didn't do anything illegal. I can still pay the internship salary, and the team's other business is still going strong."
"The kind that Mr. Xiao is like?"
An Yue was provoked by Li Ye's nonchalant attitude. She was angry and indignant on Li Ye's behalf, and even wanted to solve the problem for her. How could this person not feel anything at all?
"Which kind? An Yue, how much did you drink?" Li Ye's face darkened as he heard her words becoming increasingly strange.
At this point, An Yue became more open and decided to say everything she wouldn't normally dare to say, even if it meant quitting the job starting tomorrow.
"Attorney Li, can't you see that President Xiao has taken a liking to you? He's always running around here for no reason, constantly asking you to have meals and drinks with him, and he always wants you to explain any new laws or judicial interpretations. What kind of client would do this?"
Li Ye wondered what had gotten into this girl today? Alcohol really does make things worse, or does she really think that I, Li Ye, make a living by selling my face or my body?
Before Li Ye could speak, An Yue continued, "Attorney Li, I know you are very capable and professional, but if you can meet all the requirements of a client like President Xiao, can I also hire you as my lawyer?"
"An Yue, you're drunk. Don't talk. Get in the car first, and I'll find someone to take you home."
“I won’t reply. I’m telling the truth. I can get all my family’s companies to hire you as their legal counsel. You should stop going to Mr. Xiao’s drinking parties and dinners. I’m a woman too. You can come with me to dinner and to the movies.”
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