Chapter 34
"Chairman Xu, do you need any help?" She took a deep breath, mustered her courage, got out of the car, and walked towards Xu Wanyi, pretending that nothing had happened.
Xu Wanyi was bending slightly over and looking under the car, seemingly trying to figure out why it had stalled. But only she knew that part of her motivation was to find out why it had stalled, and part was to avoid Li Ye.
She had seen Li Ye's car long ago. It was so late at night, there were hardly any people left in the office, and even fewer driving. Who would have thought that a brand-new car would have a problem at this time? And who would have known that the car that came up behind would be Li Ye's?!
"The car has stalled." Xu Wanyi straightened up and continued to look the car up and down.
"Stop looking, we definitely won't find the cause now. Either I take you back, where do you live? Let the property management handle the car."
"No need, I'll have Feng Jing take me." Xu Wanyi rejected Li Ye's suggestion without even thinking about it; she didn't want to be alone with her at this time.
"Uh, okay, it's the middle of the night, I'll wait with you for a while." Li Ye had expected to be rejected, so he changed his excuse.
Xu Wanyi didn't say anything. The two of them tacitly chose the right side of the car, leaving the left side of the road open. Li Ye stood not too far from her, and the atmosphere became a little awkward for a moment.
"Chairman Xu, about what happened today. Do you need me to explain?" Li Ye thought for a moment and then asked the question. Although he felt that his guess was pretty accurate, it would be better to get to the bottom of it.
“No need to explain, I know Zhang Gang has a problem, he wants to use this as an excuse. But,” Xu Wanyi looked up at Li Ye, “I want him to make his move.”
"So you're telling me not to say anything?"
"right."
Another silence followed.
"What if I really can't find any evidence?" Li Ye asked again, unwilling to give up.
"Whether you can find the evidence or not, Zhang Gang must fulfill his wish."
Li Ye was furious when he heard this. Why should he be allowed to do this?!
"Chairman Xu, you're asking me to admit to things I didn't do. Do you know what's most important to a lawyer? It's reputation! Admitting this is tantamount to admitting your incompetence and stupidity. Have you even considered my feelings?"
"I haven't thought about you at all? I've thought about so many things for you in this life, even considering your future at one point, and what have you done? You just disappeared on a stormy night! Have you ever thought about me?"
Xu Wanyi finally couldn't hold back and spoke out her grievances for the first time. Perhaps the portrait had stirred her emotions, cutting a small wound in her gradually hardened heart.
After he finished speaking, there was a moment of silence. The heavy breathing of the two men was amplified in the dimly lit space.
Li Ye initially felt she held a trump card and victory was assured. Unfortunately, even though she had won rationally, this victory became so pale, powerless, and meaningless in the face of Xu Wanyi's accusations.
"Then what do you want?" Li Ye's voice sounded cold and deep.
Perhaps provoked by her tone, Xu Wanyi strode towards Li Ye, grabbed her collar, and pressed her against the rear window of the BMW: "What do I want? Tell me what I want? I once wanted to be with you forever, and after you left, I wanted you to never appear again. Do you think I can have whatever I want?"
Her voice became hoarse, grew lower and lower, and finally disappeared into the empty underground parking garage.
Hearing these words, Li Ye felt a pang of bitterness and heartache. Xu Wanyi leaned forward, very close to her, her rapid breaths brushing against her neck, making her feel agitated.
On countless lonely nights, she longed to see Xu Wanyi again, just once, and now she was so close to her!
Li Ye's eyes were red and her whole body was trembling. She wanted to kiss Xu Wanyi's lips without thinking, but she was no longer the twenty-year-old Li Ye. She knew that passion alone could not solve any problems.
Finally, she regained her composure, raised her arm, hesitated for a moment, and then hugged Xu Wanyi tightly in her arms.
Xu Wanyi's tears welled up instantly, falling in large drops that soaked Li Ye's shirt. Deep in her heart, she had waited so many years for this embrace, for to see this person again. She let Li Ye hold her, thinking, "Let me set aside my principles and enjoy this moment of tenderness, just for a moment."
The two hugged for a while, then Xu Wanyi forced herself to stop crying, pulled herself together, and stepped out of Li Ye's arms.
Both of their faces were flushed, and their eyes were red too. Xu Wanyi looked at Li Ye without saying a word. She saw the overflowing heartache and affection in Li Ye's eyes, and her heart ached, and tears almost fell again.
Knowing that Feng Jing was about to arrive, Li Ye handed Xu Wanyi a tissue, which Xu Wanyi took and used to wipe her tears and snot.
Seeing that Li Ye seemed about to say something, she made a quiet gesture, turned her back, and spent a few minutes composing herself. She wasn't the Xu Wanyi of the past anymore; now she was rational, knew what she wanted, and knew what was best for her. This hug couldn't solve anything; the problems still had to be faced.
"Li Ye, thank you for letting me relive the happiness of the past, but it's a pity that time has passed and things have changed. No matter how hard we try, we can never go back to the past."
Li Ye remained silent for a long time. Xu Wanyi's words had a sense of farewell. She had really changed and had not lost her rationality due to momentary emotions.
“Yes, things have changed, people have changed, I understand.” Her face was full of disappointment. “At least, I can give you what you want now. I will remain silent and let you do what you want.”
Xu Wanyi understood that Li Ye was willing to give up her so-called reputation and career to cooperate with her in completing her plan.
“Okay,” Xu Wanyi replied.
Suddenly, a blinding ray of light shone from the side, and Li Ye saw a tear still on Xu Wanyi's face. He was momentarily lost in the moment and his slender fingers were about to wipe away the glistening tear when he suddenly realized that it would be inappropriate to do so at this moment, and he awkwardly withdrew his hand.
To cover her embarrassment, she stammered, "Uh, that, that first draft?"
"What first draft? The one that got wet with milk tea? It's long gone. If you want to find it, ask the cleaning lady."
Li Ye knew that Xu Wanyi must have seen the painting, but since she said that, it seemed that she didn't intend to return it to him. He didn't know whether she had lost it or kept it.
“Attorney Li, no matter what you think, or what you do now or in the future, things are different now. We are now lawyer and client. I hope you understand and remember this. Some things can’t be forgotten just because they’ve been said, but some people are gone forever.”
Xu Wanyi had recovered from her earlier passion and loss of control, reverting to her usual cold and aloof demeanor as Chairman Xu. She needed to nip this in the bud, for her sake and for Li Ye's.
A portrait, an embrace—these cannot heal the heart-wrenching pain of that time and the lonely nights of the past ten years. We promised never to fall into that situation again, and we must eliminate the source of that situation.
"Here's the contract I told you about last time. Have one of your team's lawyers sign it and keep looking at it."
"Okay." Li Ye knew that there was no point in saying anything more at this point, so she comforted herself by saying that at least Xu Wanyi hadn't kicked her out.
As they spoke, the blinding light moved closer and closer to them, finally stopping not far behind Li Ye's car.
"Chairman, Attorney Li, you're both here." Feng Jing received Xu Wanyi's message and immediately drove over. She saw that both of them looked serious, and the chairman seemed to have been crying. The atmosphere was very strange; something must have happened!
But as a competent assistant, she knew that keeping quiet was the best option at this moment.
"Let's go." Once the car came to a complete stop, Xu Wanyi got into the passenger seat without saying another word or even glancing at Li Ye.
"Attorney Li, we'll be going now. See you tomorrow!"
"Uh, see you another day tomorrow." Li Ye remembered that tomorrow might come, but in the future, he might not come at all.
Feng Jing reversed, turned the steering wheel to the left, drove into the left lane, and then accelerated and disappeared from the lane.
Li Ye sat back in the car, carefully considering everything that had just happened. She understood that Xu Wanyi's crying was just a momentary emotional breakdown. She found it hard to forgive herself, and might never forgive herself in this lifetime, yet she couldn't say anything.
Alas, the road ahead is long and arduous; let us first prepare for the coming storm.
Xu Wanyi returned to the hotel, washed up, and took out her pen drawing from the folder. She looked at it again and again, her emotions churning for a long time. She realized her own feelings, but she didn't want to be so easily moved by a piece of paper that she would give up and revert to her old ways.
The world doesn't always go as planned, and she would rather choose to grow old alone than relive the path she came from.
This obvious inner conflict tormented her, making it difficult for her to fall asleep. When she closed her eyes, all she could see was Li Ye's face and the doting look in his eyes. Then, she would see their fierce arguments and her own hysterical crying. She tossed and turned in bed until the early hours of the morning without being able to sleep.
Finally, she had no choice but to get up, take two melatonin pills, and manage to fall asleep.
The next day, Li Ye arrived at the office very early. As soon as Jiang Yu saw her enter the office, she immediately went into the office as well.
“Attorney Li, we’ve sorted through half of the emails, but strangely enough, we haven’t found the electronic copies of the basic materials that Le Guang sent us. I mean the ones sent in bulk.”
Generally, such materials are sent to the lead attorney or the coordinating attorney, and then copied to senior attorneys and partners.
"Hmm, let's look again. Maybe it's with other documents. Also, check the cloud drive. They have so many materials. I remember sending them through the cloud drive a few times."
"Hmm, there's too much stuff on the cloud drive, it'll take some time to find it all. Can you finish looking through it before you leave work today?"
"Okay, by the way, Jiang Yu, there's something I need to tell you. Some things might happen later, but I'm not sure yet. If they do happen, don't get agitated. Just follow my instructions and do what you're supposed to do. The same goes for the other lawyers; you should manage them well."
Jiang Yu's heart skipped a beat. Lawyer Li rarely spoke so seriously, and this was the first time he had said something like this, which meant that the matter was very serious. Her brows furrowed.
"Attorney Li, what exactly are you referring to?"
"There's definitely a mole within our ranks. Who it is isn't that important; there are only a few lawyers, and we'll find out quickly. But what the mole has done and what impact it will have are currently unclear. It could very well have a significant impact on me, and I'll do my best to keep our team running smoothly. Of course, I also want to see what they're really up to, so if you discover anything or anyone, don't make a fuss, just tell me. Understand?"
"Understood." Jiang Yu nodded seriously.
"Alright, go get back to work. Stop frowning. Life goes on, and you can keep drinking milk tea. Oh, and close the door behind you."
Jiang Yu glanced at Li Ye, quite helplessly, and gently closed the door. What time is it, and he's still thinking about drinking milk tea!
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