Chapter 20.2

After the chaos that day, Wu Jun sent the sets of clothes in a timely manner. Cheng Yao put on a pink down jacket and looked at Qian Heng’s cold face as he drove them home. She trembled in his Bentley for the entire journey.

Unfortunately, the very next day, they both caught a bad cold at the same time…

* * *

Cheng Yao didn’t get to sit in her seat for a long time before receiving an internal phone call from Qian Heng.

“Bring me a cup of ginger tea.”

His words were quick and concise. The boss had already hung up before Cheng Yao could even respond.

When Cheng Yao brought the ginger tea into the office, she couldn’t help but protest: “Wasn’t it you who said that female lawyers don’t come to work to serve tea and pour water?”

“It’s because of you that I caught a cold. As the culprit, shouldn’t you compensate me?”

Qian Heng coldly glanced at Cheng Yao. Unfortunately, his voice had a nasal sound and the corners of his eyes had tears left behind from yawning and the lack of sleep. None of those really had a deterrent effect.

However, good-looking people, even when they were sick, always looked a little more outstanding than others.

Tan Ying was right. With Qian Heng like that, he did indeed appear a little more human than usual. His eyebrows even carried a bit of charm?

Cheng Yao tried very hard to calm herself down. Her cold seemed to have caused some damage to her brain and sense of judgement.

Just as she was about to leave the office, Qian Heng stopped her.

“Bai Xingmeng’s case has just received the court’s notice. The court session is set to begin a month later.” Qian Heng finished and threw a document at Cheng Yao. “Notify our defendant.”

However, Cheng Yao did not expect that after hanging up the call with Bai Xingmeng, Qian Heng would phone her about another matter.

“Prepare the conference room. Xu Jun and his lawyer will arrive in an hour. They want to have a chat before the court session.”

“Do we need to inform Bai Xingmeng?”

Qian Heng pursed his lips: “I have already informed her; she won’t be coming. We can speak with her after the meeting. Bring a recorder.”

* * *

An hour later——

It was unclear if all lawyers gave people a sense of fear but Xu Jun’s attitude could be considered as humble and polite. Although his eagerness couldn’t be hidden, he was nowhere near being an aggressive man as Bai Xingmeng had described.

He was well dressed. He couldn’t be considered handsome but his speech and temperament gave people a sense of elegance.

If Cheng Yao hadn’t heard about him from Bai Xingmeng, she would have been fooled by Xu Jun’s appearance.

Successful people were very good at hiding their true colours.

However, it was not Xu Jun who surprised Cheng Yao. Instead, it was the familiar face that was walking behind Xu Jun. He was handsome and clean with a gentle and introverted temperament——

“Hello, Lawyer Qian. I am Gu Beiqing, the lawyer representing Xu Jun in this case.” Halfway through his words, he looked up and saw Cheng Yao. His face also showed an indescribable look.

Cheng Yao never expected that she would meet Gu Beiqing again at a place like this. At that moment, surprise flashed across her face.

Fortunately, Gu Beiqing restrained his personal emotions very quickly and gently gave her a reminder with his eyes. Cheng Yao swiftly re-entered her role. She straightened her body with the intention of smiling back at Gu Beiqing. However, as the corners of her mouth were beginning to rise up, Cheng Yao saw Qian Heng’s cold and ugly expression…

Although he didn’t say a word, Qian Heng’s gaze told her everything.

“If you smile, you’ll die.”

Qian Heng didn’t say a single word but a line of words was written on his forehead.

Cheng Yao didn’t dare to smile anymore; she quickly tightened her lips.

“Hello, Lawyer Qian. Today, my lawyer and I came here to…”

“Mr. Xu.” Gu Beiqing, who was standing beside Xu Jun, stopped him but Xu Jun just waved his hand and signalled to his lawyer that he wanted to do it himself.

“I want to reconcile.” Xu Jun’s attitude could be described as mild. “I came here today with my lawyer to talk about an out-of-court settlement.” His tone and gestures were very low. “I am willing to compensate her. I will give her all the property that is to be divided and not a penny will be missing. I just want to have a face-to-face meeting with Bai Xingmeng.”

Xu Jun was a little depressed after saying all that: “It’s just no matter how much I call her, she won’t pick up. Even for this meeting, she only entrusted her lawyers to attend. In fact, for our marriage to end like this, I am also very sad…”

Cheng Yao had always thought that an entrepreneur like Xu Jun would think silence was golden and be a man of few words. However, he was the opposite. Xu Jun liked to talk very much and could even be described as talkative. Even when he was facing his ex-wife’s lawyers, he could freely talk. However, Cheng Yao didn’t know why but she felt that he was a little too lively, thus carrying a subtle sense of discord.

Nevertheless, Qian Heng couldn’t even be bothered to listen to his own client’s sorrowful story, much less the other party’s. He interrupted Xu Jun: “Mr. Xu, you can just provide me with the settlement plan and I will pass it on to my client.”

“Lawyer Gu.”

Gu Beiqing, with approval from Xu Jun, took out a document: “This is the settlement plan we have drafted.”

Gu Beiqing did things as meticulously as always. Everything was in great detail. There were multiple copies of the settlement plan. As Cheng Yao turned over the settlement plan in front of her, she became more and more surprised.

The settlement plan was too generous. The property that Xu Jun had set out to give to Bai Xingmeng could not only be considered fair but also more than what Bai Xingmeng should have.

“Mr. Xu hopes that we can reach a settlement before the court session. I will presume that you have already investigated how much of the property Ms. Bai will be awarded if we go according to the normal procedure. Now that we are willing to settle in advance with a higher number. This agreement should be enough to prove Mr. Xu’s sincerity.”

Gu Beiqing smiled and looked at Qian Heng. Qian Heng also smiled and signalled for the other party to continue.

After receiving such a response, Gu Beiqing’s tone became much calmer: “What’s more, if we follow the litigation procedure, once the first and second trial is over. A year or more would have passed before Ms. Bai could obtain the settlement. The property value then will be less than it is now.”

Qian Heng continued to smile.

Gu Beiqing continued: “In addition, she is a member of the entertainment industry. At present, the media has yet to stumble upon any information of this lawsuit but once real legal action is taken, this case will drag on and sooner or later, there will be gossip. It won’t be good for her image. Based on their past affections for each other, Mr. Xu didn’t want to go to court and proposed this plan.”

A speech without flaws. On the front it appeared comforting, on second thoughts it was pressuring them from the side but in reality, it was actually attacking them from the back. It was an efficient and powerful attack. It was rare that today, Qian Heng didn’t speak while facing Gu Beiqing. Was he suppressed by the other party’s aura? Why was there suddenly no fighting power?

Cheng Yao was in a little trance. Was this Gu Beiqing, who spoke so sharply, really the senior who often smiled and brought snacks to her during university?

“It’s perfect, really perfect.” Qian Heng scanned the settlement plan with interest. He finally opened his mouth. He hummed and laughed softly before putting down the settlement agreement that was in his hands. “It’s just a pity that I won’t accept it.”

…

Gu Beiqing was obviously dissatisfied with Qian Heng’s casual attitude towards the case and said a little sharply: “Lawyer Qian won’t accept but will your client accept? You haven’t even communicated with your party yet and have simply rejected the settlement plan we provided for your own interest…”

“Oh? What own interest are you implying on? What does the divided property which will end up with Ms. Bai have to do with me?”

Gu Beiqing sneered: “I’m afraid that Lawyer Qian and Ms. Bai have signed a risk contract. If the lawsuit is withdrawn, you won’t be able to charge a fee that is proportional to the divided property.”

Qian Heng was not annoyed. Instead, he smiled faintly: “First of all, I, Qian Heng, have never signed a risk contract which doesn’t pay the corresponding lawyer’s fees in proportion to discussed settlement whether the lawsuit goes through or not. Secondly, the Supreme Court has long made it so that even if the parties have a settlement, the lawyers can still charge more than 24% of the fee stated in the risk contract. Or, did you not know about this?”

Gu Beiqing’s face was a little ugly. Obviously, he had misjudged Qian Heng’s combat abilities, let alone his toxicity.

Obviously, what he said made the other lawyer a little embarrassed but Qian Heng enjoyed this kind of unilateral abuse. His mood was very bright and there was even a smile on the corners of his lips.

He looked very handsome but also very evil.

“I refuse to accept this settlement agreement because I know that it is not the best settlement plan and that you can give more.” His tone was firm. “Mr. Xu, your company is currently being listed and at the same time of this lawsuit, we have applied to freeze all your key companies involved in the listing process. You know very clearly what this means. After listing, your property value will increase greatly. Comparing that with the property you are willing to provide to your ex-wife in the settlement plan is like dropping a dime in a well.”

“But.” Qian Heng smiled and deliberately paused. “If we don’t accept this settlement agreement, how many billions will you lose in your expected wealth if you fail to list? So you tell me, who will benefit more by signing this settlement plan? Think about it again before coming back to talk to me.”

* * *

A meeting of lawyers from both sides finally ended in discord.

Xu Jun was the first to go. Gu Beiqing turned around and smiled at Cheng Yao: “When we are free, let’s meet.”

That had slightly eased the tense atmosphere.

Although the strategy that Qian Heng had used was completely fine, Cheng Yao still had some doubts. After the other party had left, she couldn’t help but ask: “Boss, is it really okay to refuse without communicating with Bai Xingmeng first?”

“Of course, there is no problem.” Qian Heng coldly glanced at Cheng Yao. “No matter how powerful or how expensive the lawyer is, they can’t make any of the decisions for the client. Even if the client makes the wrong decision, as a lawyer, you can only respect their choice.”

“Then…”

“Before meeting Xu Jun, I had already spoken with Bai Xingmeng. She would not accept reconciliation no matter what settlement conditions Xu Jun planned to give her.”

“Then why did you make Xu Jun go back to think about whether or not he can provide a better plan?”

“It was in order to give him hope of reconciling.”

“Ah?” Cheng Yao didn’t understand why he would still give people hope for reconciliation when Bai Xingmeng was obviously not willing to accept. “Then is this to confuse and distract them? So they will be unprepared for the court session?”

Qian Heng looked at Cheng Yao like she was a retard: “Do you think I need to confuse others to win?”

“…”

“Stop asking so many questions. This is what Bai Xingmeng wants. As a lawyer, you should just do your job well and stay out of your client’s personal matters.” Qian Heng glanced at Cheng Yao. “But you, don’t start acting unprofessional in the case because the other party’s lawyer gave you a good impression.”

Cheng Yao: ????