Chapter 40
It was already the end of September, and the National Day holiday was just around the corner. Li Ye realized he'd been loafing around for so long and it seemed time to get back to work. So he packed his things and arrived at the office very early Monday morning.
"Great, Attorney Li, you're finally here. I really can't take it anymore, Leguang Group is too difficult to deal with. Did you know this was going to be so hard before you gave it to me? I want to live a few more years!" Before he could even sit down, Gao Gu came in with a long face and started howling as soon as he closed the door.
They were close, and Gao Gu didn't mince words when he spoke.
Li Ye's eyes darted around. Could it be that Xu Wanyi had transferred her hatred for him to Gao Gu and was torturing him in various ways?
“Gao Pa, that’s not how it works. Why didn’t you say you were charging too much when you were collecting lawyer fees? Also, I’ve been talking to you on the phone a lot lately. I answered all your questions. I was very open and honest with you.”
“I only asked professional questions, and of course you answered them all with ease. Why didn’t you say earlier that Leguang Group has even higher requirements than state-owned enterprises? This contract has been revised almost ten times, and President Feng said that their chairman is still not satisfied.”
"Didn't you communicate directly with their chairman?"
"Communication my ass! They're too busy to see me. I've been there a few times, and it was always their chairman's assistant, Feng... Feng something, who saw me."
"Feng Jing".
"Yes, Feng Jing. You already told me before that these contracts don't go through the legal process, so there's no legal department to handle them. I need to explain the legal concepts to you first, then explain why the contract terms are written this way, and then give you my legal opinions on them."
"Hmm, isn't this going quite smoothly? What's the difficulty?" Li Ye leaned back in his office chair with ease, stroking his chin as he asked.
"Right, you see, that's what you think too. But when I write my review opinion according to this set of rules, it always gets rejected. The reasons for rejection are also vague, like, 'Let's look at this in more detail and explain it.' or 'This doesn't seem to conform to the previous ruling of the XX court.' What kind of nonsense is this? Am I the lawyer or are they the lawyers?"
Gao Gu became increasingly angry as he spoke. He hated those self-righteous clients who thought they were experts just because they had read a few legal articles online, and they would argue with conviction no matter what you said.
"Attorney Gao, calm down. Why are you getting angry about this at your age? If they're not satisfied, just keep revising it."
“Attorney Li, I’ve revised this more than ten times, you know? I only had a sudden flash of inspiration last night and figured some things out. I was just about to call you today when I arrived, and I didn’t expect you to show up. Don’t you think we’re telepathic?”
"Who says you're telepathic? Just say what you have to say and get to the point. If you have nothing else to say, hurry up and leave. I still have work to do." Li Ye had finally decided to work seriously for once and deal with all the accumulated issues that needed to be handled on-site, but before he could even turn on his computer, he had been listening to Gao Gu grumbling all morning.
“I think Chairman Xu doesn’t care about the contract review opinions at all. She wants you to!” At this point, Gao Gu stood up, walked to the desk, pointed at Li Ye’s nose from above, and said, “You, Li Ye, you yourself, explain to her personally.”
After saying that, he plopped back down. "To put it bluntly, she doesn't want to give me these cases at all; she's blatantly making it clear that she wants you to audit them!"
"Are you comfortable in that new car you recently got?" Li Ye asked out of the blue.
"Don't change the subject, what's with all this car stuff, uh..." Gao Gu's voice trailed off as he scratched his head.
Li Ye grinned, revealing her signature captivating smile. "Attorney Gao, if you're going to take someone's money, you'd better do their bidding."
"Old Li, I admit what you said makes sense, but I really have nowhere else to turn. If this continues, it's not impossible for Chairman Xu to make me return the lawyer's fees. You really have to help me."
"Okay, send the stuff to my email," Li Ye said reluctantly. Gao Gu had given her a referral fee for this project that was far above market rates. Besides, she was probably the only one in the world who knew what Xu Wanyi wanted to get from these contracts.
What Chairman Xu wanted was never something as mundane as a lawyer personally explaining the contract to her!
"Great, I'll send it to you right away. Wait here, wait here." With that, Gao Gu skipped out like a little puppy, completely losing all the airs of a senior partner. He was so happy that he even forgot to close the door to Li Ye's office.
Li Ye patted his legs and stood up, walked to the door, and as the door was half closed, the sound of high heels suddenly came from outside.
Good morning, Attorney Li.
She recognized the voice, of course, and opened the door again. An Yue, dressed in a Gi haute couture outfit and wearing makeup that was noticeably more mature than usual, stood gracefully outside the door.
"An Yue, good morning, is there anything I can help you with?" Li Ye asked with a smile.
Since her failed confession, An Yue has become somewhat reckless and no longer tries to hide her feelings. She drives luxury cars directly into the garage, and various luxury items are displayed one after another. She dresses more and more maturely, and her high heels get higher and higher.
"An Yue is already beautiful and youthful, and with the added bonus of money, all the male lawyers in the office, young, middle-aged, and old, are practically drooling. There are so many men pursuing her that you can't even count them on two fingers. Attorney Li, your position as the most beautiful woman in the firm is in jeopardy." These were the words Jiang Yu said to Li Ye on the phone a few days ago.
At the time, Li Ye dismissed it as mere whispers and forgot about it after a moment. But seeing her in person today, he had to admit that Jiang Yu's words weren't an exaggeration. However, no matter what clothes or shoes Jiang Yu wore, what makeup she wore, or how beautiful she was, in Li Ye's eyes, she was still that childish little girl.
“Well, Attorney Jiang told me earlier that she had some things to discuss with you, and I happened to see you here, so I came to tell you.” An Yue said slowly, her eyes fixed on Li Ye, her gaze no longer as evasive as before, but instead filled with affection… and resentment.
Li Ye thought so too. An Yue's words were utter nonsense; her tacit understanding and work style with Jiang Yu meant they didn't need anyone to specifically inform them of such things. An Yue had deliberately come over to talk to her.
She had assumed that An Yue would forget what happened that day after a while. Young people, after all, have their moments of impulsiveness. There are so many things in this world that attract attention; old fogies like them would soon be forgotten. But seeing it today, it's not like that at all. This problem really needs to be addressed, otherwise it might be difficult to salvage.
Being prepared is a fundamental skill for lawyers.
"Okay, then you come in first. I'll have Jiang Yu come too, and we'll analyze it together." Li Ye saw through her intentions but didn't say anything, letting An Yue in. An Yue walked in confidently as well.
"Sit down." Li Ye didn't close the door, turned around and walked in, pointing to the sofa. Actually, she had told Jiang Yu over the weekend that they would meet today to talk, and Jiang Yu should be arriving soon.
“Attorney Li, I said some very unpleasant things that day, please don’t take it to heart,” An Yue suddenly said.
"Well, young people are always quick-witted, and it's understandable that they might say something impulsive after drinking."
“Uh, I mean, what Mr. Xiao said.” An Yue had no intention of denying her confession.
"Mr. Xiao? It's nothing. It's not like you just found out today that a lot of people are saying this. Rumors can become facts if they're repeated." Li Ye pretended not to understand.
"Hmm." An Yue didn't say much. She remembered that when she first arrived, she treated this as gossip, but later, as her feelings for Li Ye grew stronger, she unknowingly became genuinely emotional and got truly angry. However, after returning home that day, she thought about it carefully and already had her own plans.
Before the two could continue speaking, two soft knocks sounded on the door.
Jiang Yu appeared at the door of Li Ye's office. As soon as she arrived at the door, she saw An Yue inside. She politely knocked twice and came in, closing the door behind her.
"Li Lu, good morning. An Yue is here so early too. You're such a good employee of the boss." Jiang Yu was unaware of what had happened between them and spoke with unusual tact.
"Alright, stop joking around. Tell me, what did you find?" Li Ye said with a smile.
Li Ye had already read the information Jiang Yu sent her and had a general idea of what was going on, but she wanted to hear the overall situation and Jiang Yu's assessment.
"Let me start with one: Chen Chunlin is a real talent. He always leaves Feng Jing speechless when he asks questions at the regular meetings, and he never looks at or mentions anything. Once, he even went to the meeting after drinking alcohol."
"Didn't Chairman Xu say anything?" Li Ye knew that Xu Wanyi hated it most when people worked after drinking.
"Chairman Xu hardly attends the regular meetings anymore, and Zhang Gang seems to be tied up with something too. It's mostly Wang Du and President Feng who come. But that time Chen Chunlin was drinking, she happened to be there, and coincidentally, Zhang Gang was there too." Jiang Yu laughed heartily.
"Sister Jiang Yu, what happened?" An Yue was very curious about this, as she hadn't participated in the Le Guang project for a while.
"As soon as Chairman Xu came in, he noticed that something was wrong with Chen Chunlin, and then, you'll never guess what happened!"
Jiang Yu's words successfully piqued the curiosity of the two women, and they both looked at Li Ye expectantly.
"She made Chen Chunlin read the due diligence report from beginning to end! Not a single word could be missed, and the meeting wouldn't end until it was finished."
As soon as she finished speaking, An Yue burst into laughter, while Li Ye, as the boss, managed to maintain his composure.
It takes the average person one to two minutes to read a page of A4 paper. Financial reports are relatively simple, only about two hundred pages long. A quick calculation will show you how long it would take.
"Moreover, Chen Chunlin had been drinking, so his reading speed was slower than usual. Our great lawyer Chen read from morning till night at Leguang Group!" Jiang Yu added.
"When did Chairman Xu leave?" Li Ye could almost hear Xu Wanyi's anger and the ridiculous scene at the time.
"Chairman Xu left after sitting for a while. When he left, he specifically instructed General Manager Zhang Gang to make sure that Attorney Chen finished reading, and also said that Attorney Chen had to speak loudly, at least loud enough that General Manager Feng next door could hear him clearly with the door open."
“Attorney Li, do you know? I peeked into the meeting room after get off work and there were only the two of them left. Two important figures were sitting opposite each other, one with a livid face and the other with a pale face, and the sound of them reading aloud could be heard incessantly.”
After saying this, even Li Ye couldn't help but laugh along with the two girls.
Miss Xu, I must say, you're good at doing big things, and you're just as good at making things difficult for others!
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