56 Escaping is shameful but useful
After a nearly two-week break, Liu Yuwei returned to the steel jungle of the CBD, feeling as if she'd been transported a lifetime ago. Although she'd been in Germany since the Lunar New Year holiday, gossip about the personnel changes had spread through the dark web in the tea rooms and bathrooms, making everyone aware of the changes. Some gossipers in the company's commercial affairs department hinted at whether she had offended a high-ranking client, otherwise why would she be so peacefully exiled to the margins? Upon learning that she had just taken down Ling An and Changfa, everyone was even more baffled. Later, some speculated that Liu Yuwei, unable to transition into litigation, had resorted to a roundabout way, first practicing legal aid and public interest cases and raising her profile. This seemingly logical explanation took hold. Rumors spread like wild vines, spreading like legs through every corner of the company. Liu Yuwei lowered her head, sorting through the case files at hand. She'd heard the speculation, but she didn't bother to argue. On Friday afternoon, several younger members of the team helped Liu Yuwei shuffle around. Normally, she wouldn't have felt overwhelmed, but when it came time to pack up, the scattered office equipment, the mugs and thermoses with various logos, the toiletry items and spare stockings in the drawer, and the half-dead fiddle-leaf fig tree on the corner of her desk—it felt like ants moving house. That evening, a large group of people left work on time. Liu Yuwei booked a "farewell dinner" at a Cantonese restaurant near the law firm, treating her colleagues to a "farewell dinner." While it was called a farewell, they were still working at the same firm, and without the melancholy of parting, the meal felt more like a simple weekend get-together. Lawyer Wang hurriedly left the table after receiving a call. Without the presence of his superiors, the atmosphere suddenly brightened. After three rounds of drinks, someone shouted, "Where can we have a second party?" The group of suited elites revealed their true colors. Thinking it best to keep the money within their own reach, Liu Yuwei called Freelance and reserved a partially open private room on the second floor. Pushing open the heavy soundproof door, the vibrations of the subwoofer instantly pierced her chest. Liu Yuwei led the group across the dance floor with familiarity, the flickering lights falling like colorful raindrops on her shoulders. "Sister Yuwei, I didn't realize you're a regular at the bar?" The young people in the group, tormented by their contracts every day, seemed to be more sophisticated and excited at this moment than after a espresso. As they entered the room, they ran into Lao Zhang, the manager Ren Yiming had hired after three visits. Knowing that she had reserved a table with friends, Lao Zhang personally showed them to their seats and enthusiastically recommended a few good drinks. "Friends...
After a long vacation of nearly half a month, Liu Yu returned to the steel jungle-like CBD and had the illusion that he was in another world.
Although she was in Germany after the Spring Festival, gossip about the personnel changes spread on the "dark web" in tea rooms and bathrooms, and everyone knew about the job adjustments.
Some curious people asked the company's business department indirectly whether she had offended some big boss of the client, otherwise why would she be "exiled" to the margins.
After learning that she had just taken down Ling An, everyone was even more confused. Later, some people said that Liu Yuwei had no way to become a litigation lawyer, so she had to take a roundabout way to save the country, first using legal aid and public welfare cases to practice her hands and increase her reputation.
This logical-sounding reason took root, and rumors spread like wildfire in every corner of the company.
Liu Yuwei lowered her head and sorted out the case files at hand. She had heard those speculations, but she was too lazy to argue.
On Friday afternoon, several young people in the group helped Liu Yuwei move his workstation. On weekdays, he didn't feel that there were too many things, but when he really started to clean up, the scattered office equipment, mugs and thermoses with various logos, sanitary products and spare stockings in the drawer, and the half-dead fiddle-leaf fig tree on the corner of the table really felt like "ants moving house".
In the evening, a large group of people left work on time. Liu Yuwei booked a Cantonese restaurant near the law firm and treated her colleagues to a "farewell dinner." Although it was called a farewell, everyone was still working at the same law firm. Without the sadness of parting, the meal felt more like a simple weekend gathering.
Lawyer Wang received a phone call and left in a hurry. Without the presence of the leader, the atmosphere suddenly became lively.
After three rounds of drinks, someone shouted, "Where can we have a second show?" and a group of elites in suits and ties suddenly revealed their true colors.
Liu Yuwei thought it would be a good idea to keep the money within the family, so he called Freelance and made a reservation for a semi-open private room on the second floor.
Pushing open the heavy soundproof door, the vibrations of the subwoofer instantly penetrated my chest. Liu Yuwei led the crowd across the dance floor with ease, the swaying lights falling on her shoulders like colorful raindrops.
"Sister Yu Wei, I didn't realize you're a regular at the bar?"
Several young people in the group who were tortured by the contract every day were now more sober and excited than after drinking a strong American coffee.
As they entered, they ran into Lao Zhang, the manager Ren Yiming had hired after three visits. Knowing she had reserved a table for a friend, Lao Zhang personally showed them to their seats and enthusiastically recommended some good wines.
"It's my friend's shop. Welcome everyone to come visit often if you have the chance!"
Liu Yuwei explained with a smile and asked everyone to sit down first.
A moment later, she caught a glimpse of a familiar figure out of the corner of her eye. Ren Yiming led two waiters through the crowd and walked towards her. He had a black shirt rolled up to his forearms and was holding a dozen beers in his hands.
Liu Yuwei stood up in surprise to greet him.
"Why are you here?"
Her voice was almost drowned out by the drumbeats, and she had to stand on tiptoe slightly.
"Just now, Lao Zhang said that you probably wouldn't come to the store today!
"It's a rare occasion for you to come and patronize me. I have to entertain you personally."
Ren Yiming smiled and directed the waiters to bring the drinks. In addition to the mojitos and craft beers they ordered, there were also two fruit plates piled up like small hills and a bunch of snacks that instantly filled the entire table.
Ren Yiming glanced at the white-collar workers in formal attire and asked Liu Yuwei in her ear, "Are these all your colleagues?"
She nodded in affirmation.
Taking advantage of the break in the music, he warmly greeted the young people in the sofa booth.
"Good evening, I'm Ren Yiming, the owner of this bar, and I welcome all the barristers to Freelance!"
Everyone thought that the friend Liu Yuwei was talking about was the elegant middle-aged uncle, but they didn't expect that the real boss was actually a suave young man. In addition, the two of them behaved intimately when they were talking just now, and a group of people cheered "Yo" and "Oh" one after another. There was even a bold intern who grabbed Ren Yiming's sleeve and invited him to stay and drink together.
He knew it was not the right time to get involved, but he still deliberately glanced at Liu Yuyi and said with a look of heartache, "It's not that I don't want to stay, it's that your lawyer Liu is glaring at me!"
Liu Yuwei widened his eyes when he heard this.
"Let me treat you tonight's drinks!"
He pressed his palm lightly on Liu Yuwei's shoulder, and the warmth penetrated the silk shirt and burned into her skin.
“Everyone eat well, drink well, and have fun!”
The laser lights on the dance floor swept across, cutting his receding figure into fragments of light.
"Yu Wei, no wonder you're still single!"
The female colleague on the other side of the sofa drawled out her words and pointed her finger twice in the direction Ren Yiming left, "My friends are all handsome guys of this level. If it were me, I'd be spoiled for choice!"
"Master, be bold, charge!"
The boy opposite Liu Yuwei made an exaggerated gesture, "The way the boss looks at you is definitely different!"
The person who was speaking was Xiao Lin, who stayed for internship last summer. Since joining the school, Liu Yuwei has been his supervising lawyer.
Liu Yuwei seemed to recall something, the amber liquid swaying, reflecting the trance that flashed across her eyes. Then she raised her beer and clinked it with her colleague, deliberately putting on a stern face, "How disrespectful!"
"You think everyone is just like you young people, dating one month and breaking up the next, updating faster than the quarterly financial reports of listed companies!"
Liu Yuwei unconsciously poked a hole in the strawberries in the fruit bowl.
"At least this month we truly love each other. Isn't the true meaning of love to enjoy the present moment? Enjoy life to the fullest!"
"So you don't think about the future at all?"
Liu Yuwei regretted the words as soon as they came out of her mouth. Why did she seriously discuss the concept of love with the child?
"Master, what era is this? Holding hands and kissing means you have to spend the rest of your life together. That's too much to think about!"
"You're wasting your precious youth by hesitating and worrying about gains and losses! I think you've been brainwashed by your work. You need to reason with everything before you can move forward!"
The boy continued to talk nonsense while being a little drunk.
"Dating isn't like reviewing a contract, so why would you need so much careful evaluation?"
"Be a little indulgent. As long as you don't cross the legal line, you can enjoy it and it's worth having!"
Xiao Meng, who was standing next to him, slapped the boy on the back, causing him to stagger. "You little bastard, is the legal bottom line the only thing you have?"
"Yes, yes, there are also moral red lines! Sister Meng, you know, I just change girlfriends more frequently, but I never have any conflicts with them!"
Liu Yuwei looked at their playfulness and laughed out loud. Although Xiaolin was a playboy, there was a saying that seemed to be true - there are no wise men in love, only brave men!
She raised her glass, and the ice cubes clinked together.
After drinking half a dozen beers, the young people rushed downstairs and onto the dance floor, their white shirts turning into flowing blocks of color under the flashing neon lights.
Liu Yuwei leaned against the second-floor railing, the warmth of the alcohol slowly spreading from her stomach to her limbs. She took a photo holding her glass and casually posted it on Weibo, adding a quote from the poem "Song of the Wine": "When life is good, enjoy it to the fullest; don't let the golden cup face the moon empty!"
Xiao Lin's words just now, like a snake spitting out its tongue, quietly penetrated into Liu Yuwei's heart and wandered around in the corners that she had never carefully examined.
She looked at the young figures twisting freely on the dance floor and suddenly realized that her own emotional concepts were also a reflection of the times.
My parents' generation's view of love and marriage was as simplistic as a black-and-white movie. Dating was all about getting married and having children, fulfilling life's KPIs step by step. Love was just the icing on the cake; the essence of marriage was living together.
By Liu Yuwei's generation, both men and women alike constantly emphasize "never compromise." Living together to try out a marriage is like trying on shoes before buying them. It's a shame that while Taobao offers a seven-day no-questions-asked return policy, divorces require a 30-day cooling-off period.
Looking at the millennials who have already entered society, "staying safe without getting married or having children" has become a popular online saying among most people.
The times are constantly progressing and concepts are constantly being updated.
There was a time when she looked at those women who compromised and settled for life in their marriages, and she felt a bit of condescending pity and anger at their lack of fighting spirit.
But now in the eyes of younger girls, would a 30+ year old single woman like her who is hesitant and cautious be labeled as "stubborn"?
The phone on the table vibrated, turned over, and rolled to the ground.
Liu Yuwei collected his thoughts and bent down to pick it up. The moment the screen lit up, the familiar name came into view.
Ever since that night in Berlin, Jin Lang had treated their chat messages like a journal of his life—the sleepy early morning flight where he encountered a middle-aged man helping his daughter get a visa, the tomato and egg omelet with eggshells stuck in it during his work lunch, the 24-hour limit of clocking in across three provinces and four cities...
The picture I sent this time is of a pink drink. [I ordered a guava milk tea this afternoon that had a very springy feel. I wanted to recommend it to you, but it's just a show-stopper and doesn't taste good.]
Liu Yuwei used to be a big milk tea lover. When a southern milk tea brand entered northern Beijing in the early years, she dragged Jin Lang to queue for an hour.
Although I’ve been drinking less in recent years, it’s become a strange personal habit for me to search for local milk tea shops every time I travel to a new city.
She was holding her phone, hesitating whether to reply, when Xiao Meng suddenly appeared from somewhere, his whole body emitting steaming heat.
"Sister, stop playing with your phone and come dance with us!"
The drunken shouts exploded in her ears, and Liu Yuwei's hands trembled, exposing the chat history to the eyes of others. She subconsciously locked the screen, but it was too late.
Xiao Meng glanced at the phone that was very conspicuous in the dark. The white dialog box of the avatar on the left occupied the entire screen.
"Who is this, sending so many WeChat messages?"
The girl's cheeks were flushed with alcohol as she leaned in closer. "Is he your suitor?!"
"I told you they were just worrying too much! You're probably single because you have too many suitors. You're choosing the best. Wasn't there a mysterious man who sent you flowers earlier?"
"Did you know who sent it later?"
There was a gossipy glint in Xiao Meng's eyes.
Liu Yuwei nodded.
"Who is it? Do I know him?"
"Mr. Shen from Starlight Media!"
The girl's eyes widened. "No way! He..."
Liu Yuwei bent his fingers, tapped her forehead, and said with a smile, "What are you thinking? They sent me flowers to celebrate our happy cooperation!"
Xiao Meng had a skeptical expression, feeling that something seemed wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Liu Yuwei took the opportunity to pull him into the brightly lit dance floor.
The screen of the mobile phone that was turned upside down on the edge of the booth lit up again.
[Next time I have the chance, I will bring you the milk tea I made.]
…
When I opened my eyes the next day, it was almost nine o'clock.
It had been a while since he had drunk or danced until midnight. When he woke up, his sunrays were still throbbing. Liu Yuwei was like a stranded fish, lying on the bed for a long time before he reached for the phone on the bedside table.
The impromptu chat group showed 99+ members. These kids didn't sleep when they got home. They were so energetic. A few hours ago, she had struggled to stay awake until she was sure every drunk kid had made it home safely before finally falling asleep.
She squinted her sore eyes and flipped through the chat history, not even noticing that the quilt had slipped off her shoulders.
[Oh my god, I finally remembered! I was wondering why the handsome boss looked so familiar!]
Do you know him?
[Don't keep me in suspense, just tell me!]
I went to Ling'an with Wang Lu and Sister Yu Wei to bid. Didn't I tell you after I came back that I saw the top-of-the-line suit-style "Haier Brothers"?
【Then what…】
Can you talk less nonsense?
[How dare you all claim to be top students from five colleges and four departments? I've already given you this hint, and you still haven't thought of it. With your limited reasoning skills, just focus on reviewing the contract!]
[Is the handsome boss the legendary young master of Ling An? ]
[BINGO! Look, it’s still the young people who are the best!]
Oh my god!
Groundhog screaming.jpg
So, last night, the father of Party A treated a bunch of Party B's young lawyers to drinks? What kind of a counter-intuitive move is this?
[Is it you? You don't know what's going on. It's Sister Yu Wei's colleague!]
[Sister Yu Wei is Young Master Ling An's good friend... so all those hard work we put into the bid wasted?]
【Black Question Mark Face.jpg】
[If you say that, you should be kicked out of this group! Be careful, Sister Yu Wei might wake up tomorrow and see your outrageous remarks.]
"What's the big deal? Do you think Wang Lu didn't secure those projects through connections? Resources and connections determine career success, okay? If Sister Yu Wei doesn't change teams, she'll definitely be promoted to new partner in two years."
[My master's ambition is not here, how can you, a sparrow, understand the ambition of a swan?]
[Off topic, I just went to Baidu and looked up Young Master Ling An. He's a serious Master of Laws. I guess he's a classmate of Sister Yu Wei.]
[A man's intuition tells me that Mr. Ren is definitely interested in Sister Yu Wei.]
Liu Yuwei suddenly jumped up from the quilt, his back straight, and the dizziness from the hangover was mostly scared away. His fingers continued to slide downwards, and more so-called "hard evidence" popped up one after another.
Someone shared a photo of Ren Yiming whispering in her ear, the light and shadow blurring their outlines; someone mentioned the deliberate pat on her shoulder he gave her before leaving; someone even swore that Ren Yiming had been staring at Liu Yuwei on the dance floor while they were dancing...
I've been reading too many novels about overbearing CEOs falling in love with me lately. Next time, I'll just bring in CEO Ren and Sister Yu Wei. Art truly comes from life!
[Hahahaha, if the client knew that the lawyer reviewing his multi-million dollar contract usually passed the time by writing pornographic novels, he would definitely not dare to send you the documents next time!]
"I signed a labor contract, not a contract to sell my body. What I do after work is my personal business. Besides, what's wrong with porn? A brain orgasm is still an orgasm!"
【Beef beer.jpg】
Liu Yuwei threw her phone aside, as if avoiding some monstrous beast. The hangover headache intensified, and even more frightening was the fact that every little detail repeatedly confirmed to her that Ren Yiming was no longer the simple friend he once was.
She sighed. Although escaping was shameful, it was useful.
Liu Yuwei stood up and walked to the bathroom. While brushing her teeth, she stared at the dark circles under the woman's eyes in the mirror. The overhead light mercilessly illuminated a pimple at the corner of her mouth, and she smiled bitterly inwardly. After turning 30, staying up late is completely evident on your face; concealer wears out at the same rate as foundation.
A long, rumbling sound came from my stomach. I hadn't eaten much last night, and it was already past breakfast time.
In the past, Liu Wenjun would always cook a pot of thick millet porridge the next day after drinking too much at a social event in Yuyao. The aroma of meat buns from the steamer would seep into the bedroom through the crack in the door. The family sitting together at the table and enjoying breakfast together is a precious and happy moment in Liu Yuwei's memory.
Toothpaste foam dripped onto his chest, spreading a small white stain.
After washing up, Liu Yuwei was too lazy to cook, so she didn't even change her pajamas. She wrapped herself in a long down jacket and snow boots, and prepared to go to Qingfeng at the intersection to pack a Chinese brunch.
As she stepped out of the elevator, the cold winter wind blew into her pajamas along her chin. She shivered and trotted out with her neck hunched.
The pedestrian gate of the community was opened with a "creak". The moment he looked up, his footsteps suddenly stopped. A black business car was parked in front of the gate of Wangjiang New Garden.
Liu Yuwei curled the corners of her mouth in self-mockery. Even if she didn't look at the domineering president, it would not affect the woman's fantasy at all.
Author's Note
Lazy Cat on the Cloud
author
05-07
I'm working hard to fulfill my "promise" of updating three times on May 1st. It seems that some new friends have collected it in the past two days, thank you! Of course, I'm also grateful to my friends who are still following the update, love you guys
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