Chapter 8

Cheng Yao walked over and handed the materials to Bai Xingmeng. She was so shocked that she simply forgot all her professionalism.

Until Qian Heng’s voice pulled her back to reality.

“According to the materials you provided, there are also some recordings. I have a few details to confirm with you. Your ex-husband Xu Jun founded Junchi Pictures on March 18, 2017 after returning to China. But you two did not officially register your marriage in the Civil Affairs Bureau until April 5, 2017.”

“Yes, that’s true.”

“Well, then Junchi Pictures belongs to Xu Jun’s pre-marital property.”

“But we got married in March 2017 in Las Vegas. We only registered for the marriage after two months. Junchi was a wedding gift given to me by Xu Jun to celebrate our marriage.” Bai Xingmeng was puzzled, “We got married abroad, but as long as the registration complies with the domestic ‘Marriage Law’ and the two parties are single and age-qualified, there should be no problem in acknowledging the marriage. Isn’t that recognized in our country? Even though we held the wedding in Las Vegas secretly, I still have all the recorded videos and information to prove it.”

Qian Heng smiled and said, “I never took the law for granted but Miss Li, your marriage has to comply with the Marriage Law to be recognised in China. If you want to register a marriage that has been held and registered outside China, you must approach the local government authority to issue a certificate, and then apply to the Secretary of State for verification. Then you have to go to the Chinese embassy or consulate in the local area for certification. Only after the certification is approved legal and valid, can you register your marriage held in Las Vegas in China. Even if the weddings are held following all procedures, it will not be recognized in the country as long as they are not certified.”

Bai Xingmeng lowered her head, to hide her expression, “Is it possible to prove that Xu Jun has lived in the United States for more than ten years?”

“En.”

“So he really calculated everything.” Bai Xingmeng raised her head and smiled a little sadly, “Before he met me, he had no connections in the film and television circles. After our marriage, since I considered Junchi Pictures as the symbol of our love, I had always wanted to make the company gain a firm foothold in the film and television industry. Overtly and secretly, using my own personal connections, how much investment has been made to Junchi, how many projects have been made and promoted, and even for the production of the film and television series, he relied on my favor to find someone… It turns out that all of this has nothing to do with me.”

Listening to Bai Xingmeng’s confession, Cheng Yao, as a girl, felt very sympathetic. After experiencing the sweetness of love and marriage, she found out that behind all that sweetness was nothing but crafty calculations? Who can take it easily?

”

”

However, Qian Heng was not moved by this at all. He coldly cut off Bai Xingmeng’s string of memories.

“Do you need me to remind you of my hourly charges?”

“…”

Bai Xingmeng was stunned, and the agent who came with her subconsciously said: “It doesn’t matter, we will pay for these hours.”

“Money is valuable. But my time is priceless.”

Qian Heng said coldly: “Emotions are the most useless thing. Xu Jun deceived you. There is no point in condemning him from the moral aspect. What good will seeking sympathy bring to you. Nothing.”

Cheng Yao shivered from his cold words. Her boss’ toxic chauvinism was beyond any cure.1…Even though a beauty like Bai Xingmeng was crying like raindrops on a pear blossom, he not only remained indifferent but also went to the length of admonishing her pitiful behaviour.

“Now, what I need for you to do is focus on the case and extract useful information so that we can find out his hidden property.” Qian Heng’s posture was cold and noble, but what he said was reasonable. Cheng Yao had no way to argue that.

“I know you are not satisfied. You want him to pay the price. Since what he loves most is his career, his money, and his company, then you can get your revenge by taking all that away from him.”

Bai Xingmeng was awakened by Qian Heng’s words. She nodded her head and finally stopped looking at her own shadow and feeling sorry for herself2. She started to answer Qian Heng’s question in a focused and cooperative manner.

* * *

In that one-hour meeting, not even a second was spared, not even for unnecessary talks. He made sure to stick to his word and did not waste any time. He only asked her the prepared list of questions and discussed the details of the properties involved in the marriage. Cheng Yao hardly had any time to write it all in her notebook.

She had to admit it, even though Qian Heng’s behaviour didn’t meet her eyes, once switched to his work mode, he was really a professional to the core.

As a popular star with a certain reputation, Bai Xingmeng tried everything to gain his sympathy, but Qian Heng was not at all moved. What was really shocking was that after the meeting, she told her agent that she wanted Qian Heng to conduct the legal counseling.

In response, Cheng Yao was stunned “Is Bai Xingmeng prone to abuse? I thought she would say that she was going to terminate the contract with us and change lawyers. After all, she is a star that is loved by thousands of people!”

Qian Heng glanced at Cheng Yao and said proudly: “When you become irreplaceable in a certain field, no matter how bad your attitude is, as long as your professional skills are unmatched, only others will adapt to you. ”

It turns out that you also know that your attitude is poor… Cheng Yao felt a little comforted. It seems that Qian Heng is at least self-aware.

“But still, you saved her from self-reproach and hopelessness. It was quite witty.”

Qian Heng raised his eyebrows: “When did I save her?”

“You just taught her not to give into the feelings of failure. You encouraged her to stand up and fight by providing more information so that we can fight for more property division for her!”

Qian Heng glanced at Cheng Yao strangely: “You think too much. I told her so, only for myself.”

Cheng Yao:??

“I signed a Contingent Fee Agreement with her. Therefore, the outcome of this case is directly related to my income.” Qian Heng pursed his lips. “I only care about my money. I don’t care whether she cheers up or not, or gives into her hopelessness or jumps into the river in the future. Understood?”

“…”

“Keep your distance from your client and keep yourself as close as possible to the case. You will find that it will only do good to both, the client and you.

“So what is the ratio decided for the Contingent Fee Agreement?”

“If the property share reaches up to 50 million yuan, 12% will be paid as attorney fees and if it reaches above 50 million yuan, 20% will be paid.”

A Contingent Fee Agreement means that the lawyer agrees to not charge the fees in advance. Instead according to the negotiated ratio, the attorney fee is collected from the amount of property that is finally obtained by the client. Of course, in order to ensure the proper collection of attorney fee, the lawyer can ask for a nominal fee in advance. This means that the client is required to pay a small fixed attorney fee in advance and then after the case, pay the lawyer based on the outcome of the case.

[T/N: Honestly I was confused with this because in a Contingent Fee Agreement the client does not have to pay the lawyer’s service fee in advance. The lawyer gets paid only if he wins the case.]

Under this model, the lawyer’s fee comes from the money awarded to the client after winning the case. This helps to stimulate the enthusiasm of lawyers, because the greater the property that can be obtained for the client, the more lawyers’ fees could be collected. But if the lawyer loses the lawsuit, then he receives nothing. It is precisely because of this risk that it is also famously known as the Risk Agreement.

“Wait!” Cheng Yao remembered something, “I heard that since marriage cases involve personal relationships, a Contingent Fee Agreement is not allowed? I have also seen a lawyer getting sued by the parties and the agreement becoming invalid because of the use of Contingent Fee Agreement.”

“The property can be divided again after divorce.” Qian Heng glanced at Cheng Yao disapprovingly. “The original intention of prohibiting Contingent Fee Agreement in marriage cases is to curb the profit-seeking nature of lawyers, who in order to obtain more fees would press for more property division. Thus this will become an obstacle to the mediation and reconciliation of the parties.” Qian Heng pursed his lips. “But in the case of Li Yan, the relationship between the parties has already broken down and the divorce has occurred. It is only after the divorce, she realized that the other party might have hidden his property. So, there is no possibility of mediation and reconciliation here. The focus of the dispute is also entirely on the division of property, which has nothing to do with personal relationships. Considering the difficulty of obtaining evidence and keeping track of the joint property, lawyers are required to do a lot of work. In the case of consensus, Contingent Fee Agreement can be used to extract a certain percentage of the property returned from execution as remuneration, which is very reasonable.”

Cheng Yao suddenly realized that it was so!

“Moreover, the current trend is to gradually liberalize the use of Contingent Fee Agreement in marriage cases. Guangdong Province has already liberalized it.”

“No matter what field it is, I am not afraid of encountering someone, but what I am most afraid of encountering is someone completely ignorant like you.” Qian Heng glanced at his watch, “Just explaining this common sense to you wasted precious ten minutes of my life.”

“I…”

“Stop.” Qian Heng interrupted Cheng Yao’s words, “From now on, just help me by not asking me these stupid questions anymore. If you do this again in the future, I will deduct my time’s value from your salary.”

“…”

“Bao Rui’s leg wound has worsened this afternoon. His investigation on Xu Jun’s business situation has not been completed yet, so you take over his work. When I come to work tomorrow, I want to see a clear and feasible investigation direction.”

“Huh?…..ok!”

Cheng Yao finished answering, and continued to subconsciously wait for Qian Heng’s next order.

Qian Heng lowered his head and flipped through the documents, only to realize that Cheng Yao hadn’t left his office. He didn’t lift his head, but waved his hand to Cheng Yao, “It’s okay, if you have nothing to do then you can kneel.”

“…”

Cheng Yao felt that the Instant-effect Jiuxin Pill (anti-stress pills) wouldn’t save herself. Her boss’s toxicity was so high that she felt as if she was going to be asphyxiated…

* * *

Throughout the afternoon, Cheng Yao continued to study the materials compiled by Bao Rui. Xu Jun’s business structure was very large and complicated. It took her a lot of time to finally draw up a shareholder structure chart, but Cheng Yao still had no idea how to investigate his hidden property.

In the corporate network structure of Tuan Tuan Online, there were indeed affiliated companies and subsidiaries established during the marriage. However these companies were too messy. First of all, these companies either had limited profits or had huge losses, which led to Bai Xingmeng only getting a very small portion of the property in the previous divorce proceedings.

Cheng Yao ran to several industrial and commercial administrations with a letter of introduction from the law firm, and transferred the inside files of several enterprises under Xu Jun, including Tuan Tuan Online. In fact, there was no technical difficulty in the matter of retrieving the files, but it was a job that required her to run here and there. Since it was November, the past few days saw bad weather with strong winds and rain. Cheng Yao struggled in the rain every day. Her neat suit, in no time, became wet and muddy.

But unfortunately, even though Cheng Yao was not afraid of hardship and fatigue, how can a man like Xu Jun, who had calculated his own marriage, leave such a conspicuous handle? She couldn’t find any clue in the industrial and commercial archives. In the end, Cheng Yao caught a cold and had a fever.

However, Qian Heng’s words stimulated Cheng Yao’s fighting spirit to a great extent. When she returned home that night, she blew her nose and then immersed herself into the case.

It was a pity that even though she had been studying for a long time, she still had no idea. At this moment, Qian Heng, who worked overtime, opened the door and entered the house.

Cheng Yao thought about it, and decided to be wise and submit to her circumstances. 3 She turned to Qian Heng for help.

“Boss…”

“No.”

“…”

Qian Heng glanced at Cheng Yao, “Don’t ask me your stupid questions.”

“…”

Cheng Yao choked and struggled to say something, “I just.. I want to ask…”

“You said it yourself. Off work, here, we are just roommates. So if it’s not during working hours, please don’t come to me to consult for work.”

“But didn’t you say to take advantage of this 1 month precious opportunity, so I was thinking…”

”

”

Qian Heng raised his eyebrows: “Which of us is the boss here?”

“You.”

“That’s my final say. Now, turn around and go back to your room.”

“…”

“Wait.” Qian Heng He said blankly, “In addition, I stayed up until two o’clock last night for the case, so now, I will go to my room to sleep immediately. Please keep absolutely quiet.”

Okay boss, who called you the boss, but you better pray hard that you don’t fall into my hands one day! ! !

[ Small theater]

Cheng Yao: Sooner or later, I will straddle Qian Heng to beat him up!!

Qian Heng: I didn’t know you liked this posture. Okay, I’ll try my best to cooperate with you.

Cheng Yao:? ? ?

Footnotes

(病入膏肓) idiom meaning beyond cure or utterly hopeless.

(顾影自怜) idiom meaning to self pity

(识时务者为俊杰) is a Chinese idiom that means He who understands the times is a hero or A wise man understands and submits to circumstances.