Chapter 6
The next morning, Li Ye arrived at the office early. This business trip had been too long, and he had a lot of things to deal with, so he had to be on time like a white-collar worker. Unfortunately, he couldn't leave on time like others.
However, it seems that no one cares about whether they leave work or not, and everyone takes unpaid overtime for granted.
"Forget it, there's no point in comparing misery. There's always someone worse off than you. Let's think about something positive, at least no one's watching you." Thinking this, Li Ye took the coffee Jiang Yu had bought and turned on his laptop.
"Have you encountered any urgent matters or difficulties recently?"
"No, oh, does what happened to President Xiao yesterday count? If so, then that's one."
Jiang Yu was taking the files out of the filing cabinet. It was the first day of work, and everyone was still getting into the swing of things, so they were chatting casually with the boss.
"Is she really that bad?" Li Ye couldn't help but ask. In her eyes, apart from the fact that Xiao Chenyue had inappropriate thoughts about her, which she couldn't accept, she was otherwise alright. At least she didn't slack off at work, and her professional skills were passable, much better than other clients who only knew how to eat, drink, and talk about kickbacks.
“Li Lu, you don’t know, but I feel that she often deliberately makes things difficult for us just so that… you will personally step in to resolve the issue.”
"Well, if you can't handle someone at her level in the future, just tell me."
Li Ye is not afraid of trouble. She has no other feelings for Xiao Chenyue. As long as it is a work-related problem, no matter how small, she is willing to solve it. Anyway, it will all be included in the bill. Her fee is several times that of the other lawyers in the team, so why not?
"Li Lu, next time you go on a business trip, you should take President Xiao with you. Don't let her stay in Haixi and torment us." Jiang Yu didn't mince words.
She had followed Li Ye for many years and knew everything about Xiao Chenyue and the boss's affair.
“Sure, you can come along too. You’ll be in charge of accompanying President Xiao the whole time.”
Jiang Yu couldn't help but roll her eyes. Did this sound like something a boss would say? After taking the documents, she quickly slipped out. She had never won a verbal battle against Li Ye.
After Jiang Yu left, Li Ye quickly got into work mode. She was very focused and efficient, and finished processing all the accumulated paperwork in one morning.
Just as I was about to go out for some fresh air, the office door opened a crack, and a fat, big-eared head poked out from the gap.
"Attorney Li, I just finished discussing it with Lao Huang. Are you free now? If you are, I'd like to talk to you about it."
Looking at his swollen eyes and messy hair, Li Ye realized that these two really wanted the project, which reflected the huge profits involved. It was both a good thing and a bad thing.
"Attorney Chen, you're still at work today? I thought you'd be resting today since you were so tired yesterday," Li Ye said with a grin.
"For a project worth tens of billions, I'll come up with a cooperation plan even if I don't sleep. Why would I need to rest? Once this deal is done, I can rest for several years."
"Come, sit down and let's talk. What would you like to drink? I have some fine Australian red wine here."
"Uh, water, water is fine." Chen Chunlin knew he was a heavy drinker. There was no need to drink so much in that situation yesterday. He only got drunk because he wanted to.
"Old Huang and I have reached an agreement. He's not greedy, so he'll take 20% according to market rules. Since we're cooperating, we'll split the rest in half. How about that?"
Upon hearing this, Li Ye realized that Huang Peng was a pimp and Chen Chunlin was also a pimp. Two pimps on one project. It was one thing for Huang Peng to ask for 20%, but for Chen Chunlin to ask for half was really not treating himself as an outsider.
Li Ye looked at him with a half-smile.
"How about this, you get 60% and I get 40%. If there are any problems within the group in the future, I'll have to step in and coordinate." Chen Chunlin conceded a step, then emphasized his role again.
"I'll take six and you take four. As for how you distribute the money among yourselves, I don't care."
“Attorney Li, you’re asking for way too much. This is a huge amount of legal fees. Besides, nobody in the market charges like this.”
"Attorney Chen, you know lawyer fees are high. Do you know what high lawyer fees mean? It means there's a lot to do and a huge workload. No one on your team can handle this, so ultimately all the manpower is on my end. You know that M&A involves a lot of travel, which will affect my team's existing work. The usual brokerage fee is 20%, but I've already given 40%. Do you think I'm asking for an exorbitant amount?"
Chen Chunlin wiped away his sweat.
“Alright, let’s go with Attorney Li’s idea. But there’s one thing I need to make clear to you first: their group is very strict in selecting lawyers. First, they invite bids, then they submit them. Once selected, the lead lawyer must personally give a presentation to the big boss. Only when the big boss nods in approval can the project be considered truly secured. After that, there are internal procedures such as contract review.”
Li Ye looked at him, waiting for what he would say next.
“Well, Attorney Li has to give this presentation in person.”
I thought it was something serious; Chen Chunlin seems to think I'm just another lawyer like him. I, Li Ye, am not some hands-off manager.
"Of course, since it's a project I took on, I'll naturally go."
Chen Chunlin breathed a sigh of relief. He knew he was useless in this kind of business and was worried that Li Ye would make him contribute more during the project acquisition phase. He was sweating bullets if he was asked to give a presentation, even as one of the lead lawyers.
Because Huang Peng told him that their entire group attached great importance to this plan, and the big boss's daughter was personally involved. His exact words were: "Our young lady is not as easy to fool as the average rich second generation. I have never seen such a rich second generation who is both rich and hardworking. She is decisive, fair in rewards and punishments, extremely generous to those who work hard and are professional, and ruthless to those who are half-baked and lazy. She is the kind of person who will lose her temper on the spot. She has made employees cry in front of her many times."
Therefore, if he were to take the lead, he might not only fail to secure the project but also be publicly berated by Chairman Xu in front of everyone, a disgrace Chen Chunlin couldn't bear. However, he couldn't tell Li Ye this information; it wouldn't be good if Li Ye also knew Chairman Xu's style and tried to drag him along.
Let her handle this tricky matter herself.
Li Ye knew that Le Guang was owned by Xu Wanyi's family, so the big boss must be her father, Xu Shenzhao. Many years ago, she had a few opportunities to appear in the same places as Xu Shenzhao, but it was the kind of situation where she had met Mr. Xu, but Mr. Xu had not met her.
She was quite certain that Xu Shenzhao had never noticed her, and might not even have heard of her, so there was nothing wrong with her giving the presentation. Besides, even if there was a problem, so many years had passed, he had long forgotten about it, and what billionaire would keep such a thing in mind all the time?
Once the profit-sharing arrangement was agreed upon, everything else became routine.
Li Ye called Jiang Yu and An Yue, and arranged for another lawyer from the team, Liu Shuang, to contact Chen Chunlin, obtain the tender documents, draft a confidentiality agreement and send it to him. Subsequent matters could proceed as with previous projects.
What makes Li Ye happy is that her team members are reliable and very experienced. With just a little prompting from her, everyone knows what they need to do and their responsibilities. Without her having to urge them, they will complete all the tasks according to the process.
After arranging everything, it was lunchtime. She didn't want to eat carbs for lunch, so she asked the children to bring her a salad.
"Li Lu, your lunch." Liu Shuang knocked on the door and placed Li Ye's salad on her table.
"What's wrong? You look so miserable."
Liu Shuang paused for a moment. It wasn't a big deal. She hadn't planned to tell Li Ye, but since Li Ye asked, she decided to vent to her.
“Attorney Li, how exactly do we add Liu Chunlin to the bid? He has absolutely no experience in the capital market, not even a decent corporate case; it’s all criminal cases, along with some civil cases attached to the criminal cases. They’re all so absurd; I don’t know how to add them properly.”
Liu Shuang's two thick eyebrows were almost furrowed together.
The part of the tender document that Jiang Yu assigned him to handle included the resumes of the team members. What should have been a simple task was turned into a nightmare by Liu Chunlin.
"Hmm, it's very simple. List all the capital market participants as our people. Then add a criminal team, embellish their case, and basically say that we have a criminal team to protect them and reduce the criminal risks in the merger and acquisition."
"Attorney Li, you're so clever! How come I didn't think of this? By making Chen Chunlin a bonus gift, it won't affect our image. Sigh, he still dragged down the overall appeal of our bid."
Li Ye glanced at Liu Shuang. She had always thought Liu Shuang was gay. You're just making a tender document, why do you care about the appearance of your team members? It's not like you're going to a beauty pageant.
“Then, Mr. Li, you go ahead and eat. I’ll go and beautify Chen Chunlin, and also Photoshop an ugly picture of him.”
The public office area was bustling with activity. Chen Chunlin was strolling near Jiang Yu's seat when Jiang Yu, who had just opened the tender invitation from Leguang Group, was having others adjust the materials according to the requirements of the tender.
"Attorney Chen, have you taken a fancy to any girl in this area? You've been loitering here for almost an hour. I told you, the tender document won't be ready anytime soon."
Jiang Yu was really annoyed by him. Their area was originally full of young men and women, with fresh air and a lively atmosphere. But when Chen Chunlin walked around, not only did everyone stop talking, but he also brought a greasy smell with him, literally a greasy smell.
“Attorney Jiang, I’ve never seen a tender document before, so I’d like to learn from you.”
"How about you give me five hundred yuan and I buy this tender document?"
Chen Chunlin fell silent at the mention of money.
"So this tender document costs money? These big companies are just incompetent."
“Le Guang doesn’t want money. Money is useless there, otherwise why would they directly invite bids?” Li Ye’s voice rang out. She also saw that Chen Chunlin had been disturbing the team’s work.
"So, Attorney Chen, client relations are extremely important for this project. You should go back and contact General Manager Huang as soon as possible to see if there are any ways to speed things up, find out about their strategic plans, and most importantly: what the big boss wants to hear."
Li Ye's meaning was clear: since it's a collaboration, don't just stand around aimlessly; at least make some contribution.
"Oh right, Attorney Li is right. I'll go discuss it with Lao Huang." Chen Chunlin got excited when the topic of speeding up the project came up, and started walking back.
"Ah, Li Lu, you've finally arrived."
At first, everyone groaned, then seemed to come back to life, some bending over to stretch, others spraying air freshener or air purifier. However, everyone heard Li Ye say that the tender documents had to be mailed out before the end of the day, and they quickly returned to their work.
"An Yue, everything's fine. Print it out, stamp it, and mail it out. Jiang Yu, do the final check." Li Ye did a final proofreading; there were no problems. Liu Shuang had already gone through the stamping process, and the administration was waiting for their documents.
"Okay, Attorney Li." The two hurried to the administrative office, afraid that the administrator would slip away first.
The two arrived at the administrative office and found it brightly lit, with the portly administrator sitting comfortably inside. "Attorney Jiang, you've arrived. We've been waiting for you. Zhang is here."
Jiang Yu was wondering why the administrative staff, who usually walked so fast, showed no sign of leaving get off work when her eyes suddenly caught sight of a dessert box on the table. It was from a very popular, delicious, and of course, extremely expensive online dessert shop, the kind that she herself hadn't been willing to buy.
Who else but Attorney Li could be so meticulous and willing to invest so much?
"Sigh, if Attorney Li were to pursue a young girl, he would be invincible. How come he's still single?" She thought to herself as she watched An Yue stamp the document.
"But then again, with Attorney Li's face, she would have a lot of men and women throwing themselves at her even without buying any desserts. So it's really strange that she's single."
After watching An Yue finish stamping, she picked it up and carefully checked the clarity of the stamp, the position of the stamp, and whether each original document had been stamped. Then she went through all the materials again.
"No problem, send it out via SF Express. Remember to keep the receipt."
An Yue took the documents and went out.
"Mr. Zhou, that's delicious, isn't it? Isn't our Attorney Li known for her excellent taste?"
Jiang Yu and Xiao Zhou, who works in administration, are about the same age and have a good relationship in private. In particular, they both like to gossip about Li Ye, and Xiao Zhou can occasionally ask Jiang Yu about Li Ye, which greatly promotes their friendship.
"Of course it's delicious! A cake costs a hundred yuan, how could it not be delicious? Most importantly, it was a gift from your lawyer, Lawyer Li. I'm so touched." Xiao Zhou pretended to cry and looked like she was about to throw herself at Jiang Yu.
"Hurry up and get off work, Mr. Zhou. Your dear husband is waiting for you at home to cook dinner."
"Alas, it's a pity I'm already married. I'm too unlucky to enjoy such a good person as Attorney Li."
"You've already eaten such an expensive cake, what more could you want? We haven't even seen a glimpse of the box."
Hearing Jiang Yu say that, Xiao Zhou was even happier. She packed her bag, sang a song, and left work with her head held high. Before leaving, she even gave Jiang Yu a satisfied wink.
"Li Lu, the package has been sent out. The tracking number is this."
"Let's get in touch with Chen Chunlin and tell him it's up to him."
As night fell and the city lights began to twinkle, Li Ye gazed at the skyscrapers across the river, a glass of red wine in his hand, sitting in the darkness, and spoke without turning his head.
“Okay.” Jiang Yu didn’t disturb her; she knew this was Attorney Li’s habit.
This was a habit Li Ye had for a long time. After dark, he would sit alone in the darkness, looking at the bustling world outside, drinking a glass of red wine, and thinking about the past.
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