Chapter 04 Chapter 4
*
High hopes will lead to disappointment
Actually, I haven't forgotten this saying.
——Sammi Cheng, "Sighs"
*
On the way home, Wen Ying sat quietly in the passenger seat.
Shen Li asked her, "Has your stomach felt better these days?"
"Thank you for the medicine. I didn't have it again." She suddenly remembered, "Oh, by the way, I haven't thanked you for the soy milk you bought me."
Chen Li said casually: "I went out for a morning run and bought it downstairs."
Wen Ying turned her head to look at him, carefully studying his expression: "But the breakfast shop downstairs is closed."
"There's another one not far away. I just happened to be passing by."
"The nearest soy milk shop is a twenty-minute walk away, and you clearly drove out to buy it," Wen Ying chuckled softly, "Chen Li, don't tell me you got up so early in the morning just to drive around on the deserted streets."
She added: "Never try to lie to a lawyer."
Chen Li smiled helplessly, "Wen Lu's skills are improving. Fortunately, you are the one handling the marriage and inheritance case, so we won't meet in court. If I really met you, I might not win."
Wen Ying wanted to see deeper into Shen Li's heart: "Why can't you just tell the truth? Just tell me that you got up early and drove out to buy soy milk for me, no?"
"I'm worried you might feel burdened," he said after a moment's silence. "You might even suspect I poisoned the soy milk."
"Haha, you've handled so many cases that you've developed a professional habit," Wen Ying couldn't help but laugh. "Why should I feel any psychological burden?"
Shen Li turned the steering wheel and the car was almost home.
He said, "Because you want to divorce me. My care for you at this time may influence your decision."
Wen Ying was speechless and corrected him: "I want to emphasize again that it's not that I want to divorce you. I'm just abiding by the conditions you put forward when we first signed the agreement."
The prosecutor keenly caught the loophole in the lawyer's words: "So what you mean is that you don't actually want a divorce?"
?
Wen Ying always believed that the dominant person in their marriage was Shen Li, not her.
The marriage was due to his proposal, and the divorce was also based on the conditions he had proposed.
Why now, it seems as if Shen Li is the victim being manipulated?
Wen Ying felt a little depressed and looked out the window unhappily: "Chen Li, you are really a little bored right now."
Her mood changed drastically. Shen Li wanted to say something else, but after looking at her, he opened his mouth but no sound came out.
Wen Ying said, "Why don't you just say what you want to say?"
Shen Li shook his head: "Forget it, maybe now is not the time, I'll talk about it when there is a chance in the future."
Wen Ying lost interest and looked down at his phone with a lack of interest. The car became silent again.
The cell phone rang, it was a landline in Minshi, the local city.
Wen Ying greeted her, and the woman on the other end spoke rapidly, "Is this Wen Ying, the owner of No. 68 to 72 Qingjiang Road?"
Qingjiang Road, that was the address of the Wen family's ancestral home that Wen Lin left for her.
Wen Ying responded, "It's me. May I ask who you are?"
"Mincheng District Sub-district Office," the man said succinctly, "a demolition plan discussion meeting will be held at 10:00 AM, the day after tomorrow, Monday, in the office's sixth-floor conference room. Remember to attend on time. If you can't make it, you can delegate it to someone else."
"Okay, I'll join you, thank you."
She hung up the phone and told Shen Li: "It seems that returning to Min City this time is the right choice. My ancestral home should be officially demolished soon."
Due to the pandemic, the demolition work has been repeatedly delayed, and the plan has been revised many times. Now, a new version of the demolition plan has finally been released, and it should be finalized soon.
Wen Lei was still eyeing the opportunity. He was determined to secure ownership of the Wen family's ancestral home. If Wen Ying wasn't in Min City at this critical moment, who knew what kind of trouble he would cause.
Shen Li had seen Wen Lei’s rogue appearance before: “I can take a leave of absence the day after tomorrow to accompany you.”
Wen Ying shook her head. "No, I'm just going to the meeting to listen to the demolition plan. I've been there before, and it was just to read out the various compensation conditions and solicit everyone's opinions. I don't know if they'll be revised in the end."
Shen Li nodded: "Call me anytime if you have anything."
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"Lawyer Wen," Wen Ying returned to the law firm with her bag. Assistant Yu Jiaran greeted her. "Lawyer Yao came by half an hour ago. I told him you were out for something."
Wen Ying walked into the office: "Did he say anything?"
Yu Jiaran shook his head.
"Go get busy." Wen Ying said, watched Yu Jiaran leave her office, and then pressed the call button on the landline.
"Brother, are you looking for me?"
After Yao Fangzhou recovered from his illness, he was as lively as ever: "I'll come find you."
Less than two minutes later, the door of Wen Ying's office was pushed open. Yao Fangzhou's hair was combed meticulously. "Long time no see, Junior Sister, did you miss me?"
Wen Ying sat down in her chair: "I hope you can knock before coming in next time."
Yao Fangzhou didn't take it seriously and sat on the sofa. "I already told you I would come. Wen Lu, don't be so unkind. You're always like an iceberg. No wonder Chen Li isn't close to you."
Wen Ying casually pulled out a pen from the pen holder and threw it over: "I knew you couldn't spit out ivory from your dog's mouth."
Yao Fangzhou took the pen and said, "I came to you because I have something to ask you."
"you say."
"Chen Li is too busy at work, and his income is significantly lower than yours. Since you're going back to work in Min City, have you considered encouraging Shen Li to resign?" Yao Fangzhou shrugged. "If he could come to Zhongsheng, he would definitely be the most powerful lawyer. We would all be impressed."
"Let Chen Li resign?" Wen Ying found it amusing. "Is it that you don't understand him or that you think I don't understand him?"
Yao Fangzhou lowered his voice and said, "This is the instruction from Yan Lu."
Yan Huai was one of the founders of Zhongsheng. No wonder Yao Fangzhou took his words as an imperial decree.
Yao Fangzhou added, "Of course, no one knows about the relationship between you and Shen Li, otherwise Yan Lu wouldn't have come to me."
Wen Ying didn't hesitate: "He won't resign. You can reply to Yan Lu."
"You haven't even asked him yet!"
"I don't need to ask him," Wen Ying said, a glint in his eyes. "He decided to become a prosecutor at the age of ten and has been working towards this goal for decades. Even if you called him and asked him in person, I believe he would give the same answer as me."
Yao Fangzhou tsk-tsk'd, and then smirked, "You're studying law because of Shen Li?"
Wen Ying didn't know why the topic suddenly turned to herself.
She lowered her head and flipped open the document, her intention to drive him away was obvious: "It has nothing to do with you."
"Alright," Yao Fangzhou rubbed his hands. "I'll get back to Yan Lu in a few days. But where were you just now?"
"My ancestral home is going to be demolished. I went there today to hear the demolition plan."
"You are actually going to become a demolition household," Yao Fangzhou's eyes sparkled, "No wonder you are so indifferent and unwilling to let go." Yao Fangzhou really couldn't say a serious word.
Wen Ying glared at him: "Don't force me to kick you out."
Yao Fangzhou laughed: "It's just a joke, Junior Sister, don't you understand me yet?"
He stood up and left, but stopped at the door. "Oh, I remembered one more thing. But it's not a big deal."
"Um?"
"I've been handling mergers and acquisitions for Bosheng Group lately, you know."
Wen Ying nodded.
Of course she knew. On Shen's mother's birthday, the person she received on Yao Fangzhou's behalf was the director of Bosheng.
Yao Fangzhou closed the door and lowered his voice, "I heard that Bosheng's boss, Zhou Boyu, seems to be planning a divorce. You just came back and got a promotion. Do you want me to help you take on this case?"
Zhou Boyu.
This name may not be a household name in Minshi, but it is well-known.
Bosheng Group is the largest real estate company in Minshi City, and its owner is naturally wealthy. If they took on Zhou Boyu's divorce case, the amount in dispute alone would likely be filled with a long string of zeros.
Wen Ying has always been ambitious about her work.
She hardly hesitated: "Thank you, Senior Brother. If it works, I'll split the profits with you."
Yao Fangzhou waved his hand generously: "It's a small matter. But let me be clear, I can help you with the connection, but I can't guarantee that you will win."
"I understand," she said. "Just a chance to meet is enough. I have confidence."
Wen Ying's cell phone rang. Yao Fangzhou didn't say anything, but gestured and quietly left her office.
It’s Wen Cong’s call.
Wen Cong is Wen Lei's eldest daughter, a senior at Mincheng University this year. She doesn't look very much like Wen Lei. After Wen Lin's death, Wen Cong is probably the closest member of the Wen family to Wen Ying, bar none.
"Congcong," she answered the phone, "Do you need me for something?"
Wen Cong's voice sounded cheerful: "Sister, I heard that you returned to Min City to work? We don't have classes this afternoon. I haven't seen you for a long time. Can you take me out for dinner?"
Wen Ying breathed a sigh of relief.
Wen Ying had just finished listening to the demolition plan at the street in the morning, and Wen Cong called her at noon. Wen Ying was worried for a moment that Wen Cong was looking for her because of the demolition.
"No problem," Wen Ying was always generous to her little cousin. "I have a few appointments this afternoon that will end around six o'clock. Can I pick you up from your school at half past six?"
The other end cheered: "See you tonight!"
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Wen Ying and Wen Cong got off a taxi at Pingchuan Road. It was dark, and the street lights were shrouded in the swaying sycamore leaves, with a faint halo of light shining through.
Wen Cong asked her, "Sister, don't you consider buying a car?"
Wen Ying nodded and said, "I'm considering it. Before in Jiangcheng, it wasn't very convenient to buy a car and register it. Now that I'm back, I really need a car."
Pingchuan Road is an old street that has been around for decades. Brick and tile houses with exotic styles are lined up on both sides, and the aroma of coffee wafts from the beginning to the end of the street.
Wen Cong took Wen Ying's arm and said, "Sister, which restaurant should we eat at?"
The restaurants here all have their own style, and the style and romance are at their peak.
She walked for a while relying on her memory and saw a familiar yellow sign in front of her - "Jichun".
"This one has the freshest crabs," Wen Ying said.
The first time she came to Jichun for dinner was during her freshman year, when Chen Li was also admitted to graduate school. The October 1st holiday coincided with the Mid-Autumn Festival, and she pestered Chen Li to go out for dinner.
Shen Li asked her what she wanted to eat. She thought for a while and could only come up with one word: "Crab, I want to eat crab."
Chen Li frowned and looked at her, but his eyes were clearly smiling: "You are a little kid with a big mouth. Do you know how much a crab costs at this time of year?"
Having said that, Shen Li still rode his bicycle to take her to eat crabs.
Wen Ying sat in the back seat of his car, her arms tightly wrapped around his slender waist. The wind blew his shirt up, and Wen Ying secretly pressed her face against it, greedily breathing in Shen Li's breath.
He parked the car at the entrance of Jichun and told Wen Ying, "This is owned by my classmate's family. They contracted a crab pond by the lake, and the crabs here are the freshest."
His classmate was called Feng Jichun. His name was poetic, but he was a stocky, strong man. After failing the college entrance exam, Feng Jichun devoted himself to running the shop.
At that time, Shen Li brought her to eat crabs. Feng Jichun was very enthusiastic and asked with a smile: "Shen Li, you are so good, you found such a beautiful girlfriend."
Wen Ying blushed. Shen Li glanced at her and punched Feng Jichun in the stomach, telling him to stop talking nonsense.
"This is my sister," he said.
Wen Ying lowered her head, and no one saw how dark her eyes were.
Sister. Just sister.
In the years that followed, Shen Li often brought her to eat crabs in late autumn. Feng Jichun knew she was Shen Li's sister and stopped making inappropriate jokes.
Until Wen Ying went to Jiangcheng, it had been three years since she last came here. I wonder if Feng Jichun still remembers her.
Wen Ying took Wen Cong in. There were many people in the store, but the environment was quiet and peaceful.
Feng Jichun was standing inside the bar, writing with his head down.
Wen Ying knocked on the bar and said with a smile: "Brother Jichun, long time no see."
Feng Jichun was startled when he saw her, then he smiled and greeted her at the bar: "Xiao Wen, you are a rare guest. It's been a long time since you came."
Wen Ying explained her job change to him: "Now that I'm back, I'll be coming here often. I had nothing to do today, so I brought my sister here to eat crabs."
Feng Jichun smiled and said yes, then was surprised: "You came alone? I thought you were with Shen Li."
"Chen Li?" Wen Ying was a little surprised.
Feng Jichun pointed to the stairs: "Zheng Di said she wanted to eat crabs, and Shen Li went with her. They just went up ten minutes ago and are on the second floor."
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