Chapter 10
After doing all this, Chairman Le Guang still hadn't appeared. Li Ye waited listlessly, unaware that she had once again habitually started turning the ballpoint pen in her hand upside down.
This was the way Xu Wanyi made her spin the pen back then. Everyone else spun it clockwise, but Xu Wanyi insisted it didn't look good and made her spin it counter-clockwise. Li Ye practiced desperately back then, and eventually forgot even how to spin the pen clockwise.
Xu Wanyi noticed something that Li Ye hadn't. As soon as she entered the conference room, she saw Li Ye's right hand unconsciously twirling a pen counterclockwise. This was something she had unreasonably demanded of Li Ye years ago; she hadn't expected Li Ye to still remember it.
The meeting room was right next to her secretary's office, which was outside her office; she entered through the secretary's office door.
The conference room was large, and one door opened onto the other side, so Li Ye hadn't even noticed that there were two doors in the room. When she heard the sound, stood up, and turned around, she was stunned and froze on the spot.
How could it be Xu Wanyi! Her blood rushed to her head, and her heart raced. The pen in her hand fell softly to the table with a "clatter."
She stared intently at Xu Wanyi, watching her walk from one end of the conference table to the other and then sit in the middle seat.
"Attorney Li," Jiang Yu tugged at her sleeve, reminding her softly. She had never seen Attorney Li so rude before. The big client had arrived, and instead of greeting him, she was staring at his face.
However, the chairman of Leguang Group is indeed very good-looking, and even I couldn't help but take a few more glances at him.
But staring intently is a bit impolite.
Li Ye reacted immediately. She reflexively picked up the pen again, gripped the pen holder tightly, and forcefully suppressed her emotions. A few seconds later, she composed herself.
"Hello Chairman Xu! I am Yuan Desuo Liye. Thank you for giving us this opportunity to give a presentation."
Xu Wanyi was not as surprised as Li Ye. After all, she already knew that she was the one giving the presentation. She had seen her photo, her profile, and even met her in person twice in one day recently.
As soon as she entered, she felt that Li Ye's gaze never left her face. She couldn't stare back, otherwise Li Ye would think that she hadn't forgotten anything or that nothing had passed.
She didn't want to give her that impression; this time, the two were discussing business, keeping things strictly professional.
Zhang Gang and Wang Du, who came in with Xu Wanyi, had serious expressions. The normal procedure for this presentation was that their legal department would receive the person first, have a general discussion, and then have the lawyer give a report to the chairman.
However, Chairman Xu directly asked Li Ye to give a presentation on the 49th floor, catching them completely off guard.
"Hello, Attorney Li! I am Xu Wanyi, the chairman of Leguang. Let's not waste any time and get straight to the point." Her tone was flat and emotionless, which made the two people next to her break out in a cold sweat. It was rare for the chairman to be so indifferent to outsiders. Could it be that Li Ye had offended their chairman at some point? Logically speaking, they didn't even know him.
Wang Du glanced nervously at Zhang Gang, who shook his head.
Li Ye knew that Xu Wanyi hadn't looked at her seriously since she came in, and after hearing what she said, he thought to himself: It's over, I wasn't planning on saying what she wanted to hear, this project is definitely going to fail.
Hey, wasn't this woman supposed to be living a life of leisure and luxury? When did she start working so diligently?
Well, since I'm already here, I might as well finish the presentation. It won't be a waste of all that staying up all night to work on it.
So she put aside her random thoughts, organized her mind, and gestured for Jiang Yu to open the slides and start explaining from the beginning.
Once he got into work mode, his earlier panic vanished completely, replaced by a confident, articulate, and composed Li Ye.
Aside from the introduction, conclusion, and other high-sounding content, her report is mainly divided into two parts: one part is a more detailed legal plan written based on subsequently obtained information; the other part consists of two cases similar to the Mingcheng project.
Xu Wanyi looked at Li Ye with no expression on her face, but she was filled with emotion in her heart. This person has really grown up and can now stand on his own.
Many of the things Li Ye talked about were plans she had been pondering for a long time. It was hard to imagine that she could come up with so many things without communicating with me.
As for the Mingcheng project, she knew Li Ye wouldn't talk about it. That's just Li Ye's personality; she likes to use this head-on approach to protest things she considers red lines.
However, Li Ye clearly put thought into selecting two cases, which basically covered her focus on the Mingcheng project, so she could barely be considered to have completed her task.
Xu Wanyi looked at Li Ye quietly. In the bright light, she was tall and slender, with serious eyes and a deep, clear voice, without any unnecessary words.
He was able to answer the professional questions raised by Zhang Gang and Wang Du promptly. Xu Wanyi was not from a legal background, but Li Ye explained things in a simple and easy-to-understand way, and she easily understood them. Moreover, from the expressions and body language of the two men, it was clear that they were satisfied with Li Ye's answers.
The report was almost finished, and she had heard everything she wanted to hear. Unconsciously, her mind started wandering. She was over thirty, but her face was still the same as it had been years ago, without a single wrinkle. No wonder those middle-aged and elderly male lawyers fantasized about her wearing high heels and having long hair.
Thinking of this, she was completely unaware that her eyes were full of tenderness and doting.
"Chairman, what do you think?" Zhang Gang's voice pulled her back to reality, and she instantly withdrew her gaze that had betrayed her true feelings.
Unfortunately, Li Ye and Jiang Yu were too focused on their work to notice Xu Wanyi's change, and Zhang Gang and Wang Du, who were sitting in the same row with her, couldn't see her eyes at all.
So much so that no one in the room, including Xu Wanyi herself, realized their true inner thoughts.
“Very good. Attorney Li is very professional. She covered all aspects and answered many of our professional questions. Thank you for your time.”
After Xu Wanyi finished speaking in this official tone, she looked at Zhang Gang. Zhang Gang immediately understood.
"Attorney Li, thank you for your report today. It was excellent, and we benefited greatly from it. According to the procedure, we have two other law firms that will be giving presentations. Once this process is complete, we will select candidates fairly according to the group's mechanisms, and we will notify you of the results in a timely manner."
"Hmm, when will we expect the results?"
Seeing Xu Wanyi's cold and aloof expression, as if she didn't recognize him, Li Ye knew that she hadn't forgiven him yet. With a "nothing to lose" attitude, he asked one more question.
Xu Wanyi looked down at her notes and didn't say anything.
Seeing that the chairman didn't speak, Zhang Gang continued, "We've been quite busy lately, so we can't confirm a specific time yet. How about this, you have Attorney Jiang add our Xiao Wang on WeChat to keep in touch, and we'll let you know as soon as there's any progress."
After listening, Xu Wanyi nodded slightly in agreement.
Upon hearing this, Wang Du quickly went over and added Jiang Yu on WeChat.
When Li Ye saw this, he thought, "Goodness, they've already said so much, giving me plenty of face. Asking any more questions would be pointless."
"Thank you, Chairman Xu, and thank you, General Manager Zhang and General Manager Wang. We'll wait for your notification."
After saying that, she stopped looking at Xu Wanyi, packed up her computer and files, and left the conference room with Jiang Yu.
Outside the door, Feng Jing, who had come out a step earlier than them, was already waiting and saw them off again. After exchanging pleasantries, Li Ye and Jiang Yu drove away.
After watching Li Ye leave, Zhang Gang asked, "Chairman, should we arrange for the remaining two companies to be placed here as well?"
Xu Wanyi's eyes were still fixed on the conference room door, as if Li Ye's figure was still lingering there.
"You can talk to the other two companies first, and report back to me when you're done. If there are no major issues, the presentation will be held in the conference room next to the Ministry of Justice."
After saying that, Xu Wanyi closed her laptop and left the conference room with a clattering sound in her high heels.
Zhang Gang and Wang Du looked at each other, wondering what had happened.
"Mr. Zhang, we haven't done anything wrong, have we?" Wang Du's forehead had been sweating non-stop all day.
"Think less and do more. Just do what the chairman tells you to do, and don't overthink things." Zhang Gang didn't understand either, but he couldn't tell his subordinates directly, so he could only give Wang Du a lecture.
"Oh. Yes, Mr. Zhang." Wang Du, being of low status, felt as if he were bearing an undue burden.
Meanwhile, Jiang Yu sat in the passenger seat with her laptop, not daring to utter a sound.
Li Ye's uncharacteristic silence made her feel like she was facing a formidable enemy. In the past, after meeting with clients, Attorney Li would always appear relaxed; although she didn't talk much, she was at least cheerful and talkative. This time, something was wrong, very wrong.
Jiang Yu glanced at Li Ye discreetly and saw that she was staring straight ahead, her hands gripping the steering wheel tightly, as if she was afraid that the steering wheel would be uprooted halfway through the drive, poor Li Lu's Mercedes.
Li Ye's turbulent emotions had subsided, but the throbbing in his heart, like the fine autumn rain, permeated his entire body and seeped into his soul, impossible to wipe away.
How do you think of our performance today?
Jiang Yu rolled her eyes; this was a death trap. "I think Attorney Li spoke very well today, covering all the key points. Judging from the reactions of Chairman Xu and their legal department, they seem very satisfied."
"Do you think they are very satisfied?" Li Ye stared straight ahead, his voice even more indifferent.
"Uh..." Her question made Jiang Yu doubt herself, and she thought about the whole process again. "Well, I think they were very satisfied. For a while, Chairman Xu was staring at you without blinking."
Li Ye sighed deeply in his heart. Chairman Xu wasn't satisfied, he was angry, you know that?
"Oh, and one more thing, well, I feel like Attorney Li, you're a little different today than when you meet with clients. How should I put it? Yes! You seem less relaxed, but it was only for the first minute, so I personally don't think it had a big impact."
"Hmm." Li Ye responded without saying anything more, and Jiang Yu also wisely kept quiet.
Sigh, in the end, I still lost to this young lady. Li Ye couldn't help but laugh at himself. This older sister used to be a famous beauty at school. Back then, her beauty was unrestrained, free-spirited, flamboyant, and passionate.
When I saw her again years later, her beauty had not faded at all; in fact, she had gained a sense of composure and poise, and her every move exuded the charm of a mature woman.
During the presentation, Li Ye occasionally felt sharp gazes, unsure whether Chairman Xu was targeting him specifically or if this was just her style these days.
"I don't think we have a chance this time."
After a moment of silence, Li Ye suddenly spoke.
"Huh? Why?"
Jiang Yu looked bewildered. "Attorney Li, even when you're in a daze, you're still incredibly handsome. It can't be because of... why? Nothing happened... you've lost business, haven't you?"
"Anyway, the chances are slim. You should focus on other things these next few days and put Le Guang's matter aside. Don't worry about Chen Chunlin for now either."
"Oh..." Jiang Yu was a little disappointed. She was very interested in the Le Guang project and had done a lot of research beforehand. During the presentation just now, she answered many questions very promptly and comprehensively.
This is one of the reasons why Li Ye appreciates Jiang Yu: she is smart, has a good attitude, knows when to relax and when to be serious.
"Stop sighing. You have three more groups of clients coming to talk this week. You should prepare yourself. You should lead the negotiations on that Qi Mao investment dispute. Let me rest. I'm too tired."
Jiang Yu was overjoyed upon hearing this. She had been following this case for a long time, and the contract should be signed this week. Attorney Li meant that she would be in charge of the case, which meant that she would not only lead the litigation strategy, but also receive more money.
"A good leader, fulfilling the mission!"
Seeing her full of fighting spirit, Li Ye couldn't help but sigh. It's so good to be young. You do everything with enthusiasm, unlike her now, where everything seems like a routine.
Hopefully, given her current tranquil state of mind, she'll forget about Xu Wanyi before the week is even over. The past is gone; why dwell on those distant dreams?
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