14 If you can grow wings yourself, why rely on ladders?
Liu Yuwei's business trip came unexpectedly. A colleague's wife, over eight months pregnant, had abnormal fetal monitoring and was rushed to the hospital for a Caesarian section. The new father rushed back, leaving another junior lawyer at a loss at the client's location. The client, a lithium-ion battery manufacturer, had capitalized on the booming new energy vehicle market and had built a new industrial production base near the Jiangming coastal port two years ago. They planned to purchase land near the base to build offices and staff dormitories. Liu Yuwei had a general understanding of the client's situation before arriving in Jiangming, and his colleague had confirmed that the contract was not a major issue. However, with hundreds of millions of dollars involved, every necessary step needed to be completed. This inevitably involved dealing with a number of people. Liu Yuwei got off the train and headed straight for the client's office, where the client was enthusiastic and excited to finally have someone relevant. "Lawyer Liu, our leadership is very serious about this partnership with Jiangming Urban Construction. Once our company building is completed, Jiangming will become our sub-center for industrial investment. Please help us with this," Mr. Zhang, the client's manager, emphasized to Liu Yuwei. "Don't worry, Mr. Zhang. Even if you don't tell us, Tiancheng will ensure legal compliance. I just reviewed the materials. The land certificate for this plot of land still states it's for industrial use, but our subsequent construction of office buildings and residential buildings will clearly be commercial." "Don't worry about that. The Binhai District Government has been in close communication with us, and the land use change has been approved." "Have you received the new land certificate yet?" "Not really, but it shouldn't be a problem." The other party seemed confident. The land certificate was crucial to the contract, and Liu Yuwei, unsure, decided to go to the Land and Resources Bureau in person. At the gate of the city government compound, Liu Yuwei stamped his foot, wondering how he would greet the visitor. After all, this time he was asking for help. Just as she was thinking, someone gently took her arm and a gentle female voice reached her ears, "Yuwei, why didn't you tell me you were coming to Jiangming?" Liu Yuwei turned her head, her lips curling slightly. The middle-aged woman opposite her was delicate and elegant, her long hair tied up in a bun, and the pearls on her ears glistened. Perhaps it was because they had lived together for so long, but she looked very much like a teacher. "Auntie Zhang Lu, I'm sorry to bother you directly. I need a small favor at work." "We're family, so it's okay! Did you contact your father before you came?" The two walked side by side towards the government building. "Not yet. Work can't get me away for the time being."
Liu Yuwei's business trip was unexpected. A colleague's wife, eight months pregnant, had abnormal fetal monitoring and was rushed to the hospital for a C-section. The new father hurried back, leaving another junior lawyer at the client's place, bewildered.
My colleague's client is a lithium-ion battery manufacturer. Capitalizing on the booming new energy vehicle market, they built a new industrial production base two years ago near the Jiangming Linhai Port. This time, they plan to purchase land near the base to build offices and staff dormitories.
Liu Yuwei had a rough idea of the client's situation before arriving at Jiang Ming, and his colleagues had reported that the contract was fine. However, with hundreds of millions of dollars involved, every necessary step had to be taken. This inevitably involved dealing with a few people on a business-related basis.
Liu Yuwei went straight to the client's office after getting off the train. The other party was very enthusiastic and excited to see that someone who could do the job had finally come.
"Lawyer Liu, our leaders attach great importance to this cooperation with Jiangming Urban Construction. Once our company building is completed, Jiangming will become our sub-center for industrial investment. Please help us with the review!"
Mr. Zhang, the account manager, emphasized this to Liu Yuwei.
"Don't worry, Mr. Zhang. Even if you don't tell us, Tiancheng will ensure legal compliance. I just reviewed the materials. The land certificate for this plot of land still states it's industrial land, but the subsequent construction of office buildings and residential buildings will clearly be commercial land."
"Don't worry about this. The Binhai District Government has been in close communication with us, and the land use change has been approved."
"Have you obtained the new land certificate?"
"Not really, but it shouldn't be a problem." The other party looked confident.
The land certificate is the key to the contract. Liu Yuwei was worried and decided to go to the Land Bureau in person.
At the gate of the municipal government compound, Liu Yuwei stamped his feet, secretly wondering how to greet the visitor. After all, this time he was the one who needed help.
Just as I was thinking, my arm was gently lifted up, and a gentle female voice came into my ears, "Yu Wei, why didn't you tell me in advance that you were coming to Jiang Ming?"
Liu Yuwei turned her head, her lips curled up slightly. The middle-aged woman opposite her was delicate and elegant, with long hair tied up in a bun and pearls shining in her ears. Perhaps because they had lived together for so long, she looked very much like a teacher.
"Aunt Zhang Lu, I'm sorry to bother you directly, but I need your help with something small at work."
"We're all family, so why bother? Did you contact your father during your visit?"
The two walked side by side towards the government building.
"I haven't had time yet. I'm busy at work and can't leave right now." She explained seriously, "I'll call him later today."
After entering the office, Liu Yuwei immediately stated his purpose. It was not a complicated matter and was quickly confirmed by the official.
The change in land use has indeed been approved, and a new land certificate will be issued immediately after the public notice period. It seems that there is indeed no major problem.
Before leaving, Zhang Lu asked her if she would come to their house for dinner that evening, but Liu Yuwei refused, citing work as an excuse. However, she knew that since she had already shown up, she would inevitably have to go to their house.
After leaving the city hall, Liu Yuwei called a colleague and went to the area near the plot of land. This area was less than five kilometers from the factory, and the surrounding commercial and residential areas were already quite large, making it a good choice.
For the entire afternoon, Liu Yuwei took his young colleagues to walk through the streets of the nearby residential area, chatting with old men playing chess on the side of the road, and communicating with parents picking up their children at the kindergarten gate. The colleagues, who were confused at first, gradually understood Liu Yuwei's true intentions.
This plot of land is surrounded by older residential communities, and many residents worry that the new office and residential buildings will not only affect daylight, but also hinder the normal use of the nearby green park during construction. If these residents collectively object to the land planning proposal during the public notice period, the entire process will be halted, and the client's investment will be wasted.
The next day, the two informed Mr. Zhang of the information they had learned, and accompanied him to conduct another survey of the surrounding communities.
In between her busy schedules, Liu Yuwei received an invitation from Song Miao for dinner. She said she was on a business trip and not in Beijing. The other party quickly replied, "How about the weekend?"
Liu Yuwei was still a bit resistant to the idea of the two of them having dinner alone. She felt that Jin Lang would be an unavoidable topic. If it weren't for the last hot search, she could have continued to pretend that nothing had happened.
Unable to guess Song Miao's true intentions, she couldn't refuse again. She had to face what was coming. Finally, the two agreed to meet at a hot pot restaurant on Sunday night.
On Friday, after several rounds of communication and discussion, the client finally decided to supplement the contract terms in accordance with Liu Yuwei's opinion, clarifying that Jiangming Urban Construction would bear the legal risks of the land use change.
The new contract was delivered to the customer, but Liu Yuwei did not feel relieved at all.
There are always solutions to work problems, the difficulty level varies. But the people and things in life always develop in an uncontrollable direction.
Sometimes, you are in the situation but just a bystander, unable to intervene and unable to change it.
...
On Saturday morning, Liu Yuwei packed her luggage and left it at the hotel front desk. She then bought a box of milk and a bag of fruit at a nearby supermarket and took a taxi to Liu Wenjun and Zhang Lu's home in Jiangming.
Liu Yuwei sometimes felt that she was an emotionally cold person. She was not unaware of the deaths of her relatives, the divorce of her parents, and the gossip of her relatives and neighbors behind her back.
"What a heartless child! Grandpa treated her so well, and she wasn't sad at all when he passed away."
"This child has never been close to her mother since she was young, and I don't know who she takes after."
Later, Liu Yuwei realized that happiness is often only realized afterward, and the same is true for pain. Extreme sadness sometimes doesn't show up immediately, the brain carefully sealing it away with elaborate self-protection mechanisms. However, in those fleeting moments, insignificant incidents puncture that protective shield, and repressed emotions can flood over you like a tide.
When her grandfather passed away, she hurriedly asked for leave and returned to her hometown in the countryside.
The paint-chipped vermilion gate was half open, and from a distance one could hear people in the yard happily discussing family matters in northern dialect. Among them, my third aunt had the loudest voice.
As soon as she entered the door, her third aunt, who was still laughing and talking happily, immediately came to greet her, "Xiao Wei, you're back, go and kowtow to your grandfather!" Then she tied a white cloth strip on Liu Yuwei's head and dragged her to the old house.
"Dad, why are you leaving like this? How are we, the younger generation, going to survive?" The hypocritical crying voice was immediately heard.
Liu Yuwei looked at the photo of his grandfather and felt that the world was absurd and ridiculous.
"Yu Wei, kneel down and kowtow!" Seeing that she did not move, Aunt San stopped grieving and pressed her shoulders hard.
Liu Yuwei accompanied the whole play until the funeral of her grandfather, without shedding a single tear.
A month later, a colleague returned from vacation and brought everyone some red bean paste rice dumplings made in their hometown. As Liu Yuwei ate them, she couldn't hold back her tears.
In the past, all her relatives and friends would send her blessings on her birthday according to the Gregorian calendar, but only her grandfather would call her every year on the Dragon Boat Festival and ask her with a smile, "Xiaowei, happy birthday, did you eat rice dumplings today?"
As for her parents' divorce, Liu Yuwei felt not sad at all at the time, and was even very happy that she didn't have to act with them.
Ever since Liu Yuwei could remember, there had been constant quarrels at home. Her parents thought that by closing the door and lowering their voices, the child would not hear their angry roars; that by refusing to speak and pretending nothing was happening, the child would not feel the pressure at home.
If Liu Yuwei's parents' love story had ended at the time of her birth, it would have been a classic novel. A bright, strong city girl pursues a poor, handsome country boy in college, falls deeply in love, and after graduation, they marry and have a child.
Fairy tales usually end here, but life has just begun.
With the birth of her child, the rural mother-in-law moved to the city, and conflicts between them surfaced. Differences in living habits, diet, and parenting philosophies were all issues. Once her child was older and started kindergarten, Ms. Yuyao couldn't wait to return to her law firm, seeking her own fulfillment amidst the busy schedule.
To be with his beloved, Liu Wenjun chose not to return to his hometown upon graduation, but instead stayed on to teach at Acropolis University. Because of the flexible work schedule, Liu Yuwei always followed her father around like a little tail during her childhood. Their father-daughter relationship has always been very harmonious, and Liu Yuwei naturally relied on Liu Wenjun more in her life.
Later, Yuyao became successful in his career and opened his own law firm. He was constantly busy with work and social engagements, leaving even less time for his family.
A man may be able to accept a strong woman, but if this woman is better than him in terms of background, family, and career, then the relationship is like adding too many weights to one end of the scale and is destined to be unbalanced.
Around junior high school, Liu Yuwei noticed that her parents rarely argued violently anymore, and at first she thought it was a good sign. But her youth and ignorance didn't understand that love itself is full of endless arguments, and silence is the true parting of ways.
When Liu Yuwei was in the first year of high school, Liu Wenjun was transferred from Acropolis University to Jiangming University and was promoted to the vice dean of the Law School. He only went home twice a year during the winter and summer vacations.
During the Chinese New Year that year, Liu Yuwei overheard her aunt ask Yuyao at her grandmother's house, "Are you two divorced?"
Yuyao replied that it made no difference whether they divorced or not. He said that it should not affect Xiaowei's studies, so let's wait until she graduated from high school.
Liu Yuwei was not sad when she learned the truth. Instead, she decided to accompany her parents to finish the play.
She had always been a sensitive and thoughtful child. As a child, she wondered in her diary, "If they hated each other, why did they give birth to me?" Later, she stumbled across her parents' handwritten love letters, revealing the fiery love of their youth, captured in words.
Liu Wenjun also told her that the name Liu Yuwei could be understood as the only baby between Liu Wenjun and Yuyao. The character "羽" (Yu) is the same as "余", which is taken from the saying "If you can grow wings by yourself, why bother looking up at the ladder to the sky?"
Liu Yuwei also has two nicknames: Xiaowei by her mother and Xiaoyu by her father. Liu Wenjun often jokes that the queen of the family is Xiaoyu and the darling princess is Xiaoyu.
As she grew older, she began to understand and believe in the love her parents had for her, as well as their love for her. However, the lives they pursued were so different that they gradually drifted apart.
After the college entrance examination, Liu Yuwei was successfully admitted to her favorite university. Liu Wenjun invited his daughter to go to Jiangming to play and relax.
Before leaving, Yu Yao, who has always been decisive, seemed hesitant to speak to his daughter. Liu Yuwei said frankly that she already knew the truth, that she was an adult, and understood her parents' original intention of concealing the truth.
Yuyao gave her daughter a tight hug for the first time, and said in a very cheesy way that mom will always love you.
Afterwards, the mother and daughter packed their luggage, one took a train to visit relatives in Jiangming, and the other took a plane to Guangzhou on a business trip.
Liu Yuwei had so much to say to Liu Wenjun. She wanted to tell her father she had a crush on a boy she'd been in love with for a long time, but she didn't dare tell him. She wanted to tell him she'd worked hard to get into Beijing University so she could be closer to him, but he'd gone to Shanghai instead. She wondered if she should give it her all or give up completely.
But in the end, she never had the chance to say these words. After staying there for only one night, she fled back to her home in the Acropolis.
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