Chapter 175

Chapter 175: Jiang Shixu Competes with Lu Shuci Less than half an hour after the contract was signed. A large remittance suddenly appeared in the firm's corporate account. Xiao Liu from finance was utterly stunned and immediately rushed to Ruan Chutang's office. "Lawyer Ruan, the firm suddenly received a remittance of eighty million!" Xiao Liu said, her face full of shock, eyes wide as brass bells. "What's going on?" "We just signed a major deal with Jiangshi Group. This is the legal fee—there's still a final payment after the case closes." Chutang said very calmly. "What? You—are you saying this is only part of it? There's still a final payment?" Xiao Liu's face was full of disbelief. "Mm." Chutang smiled, her eyes clear and bright. "Friday gathering—my treat." "Awesome!" Xiao Liu beamed with joy. Not long after Xiao Liu left, Lu Shuci arrived. "I heard the firm got new work? A big deal from Jiangshi Group?" "Mm, I'll assign a few cases to your team in a bit." Lu Shuci looked a bit uncomfortable and said, "President Jiang is really generous. The upfront legal fee alone is eighty million—what's the total?" "This much." Chutang held up two fingers in a peace sign. Two hundred million. Lu Shuci let out a "tsk" and joked, "After finishing this deal, can we just kick back and relax?" "What about your ambition, Lawyer Lu?" Chutang glanced at him with a smile. "My goal is to make Huayue the number one firm in Jiangcheng." "Shengke can't even pull in two hundred million in legal fees in a year," Lu Shuci laughed. "Just on revenue alone, we've already surpassed Shengke by a wide margin. It's just that our headcount and visibility aren't there yet." "Don't worry—after we finish these big cases for Jiangshi, our reputation will shoot up. Let's go!" Chutang patted Lu Shuci. "I believe in you." Lu Shuci said, "The firm also needs to expand." Chutang said, "That's for sure. I'll have HR step up recruiting more lawyers and assistants, and we need to refine the rules and regulations too." Chutang distributed the several Jiangshi Group cases she'd just signed to the legal teams, and tagged everyone in the main group chat, saying she'd treat all firm colleagues to dinner after work on Friday. She told everyone to work hard, and that once the Jiangshi cases closed and the final payment came in, she'd give everyone bonuses. Everyone was overjoyed and threw themselves into their work with renewed vigor. The entire firm was filled with a joyful atmosphere. A little past four in the afternoon. Delivery workers came one after another, bringing food to the firm. Milk tea, small cakes, fruit, and fried chicken and fries from KFC and McDonald's. The front desk girl was completely dumbfounded. She went to Ruan Chutang's office and asked, "Lawyer Ruan, does the firm have afternoon tea this afternoon? Didn't we just have it last Tuesday?" The front desk girl had always been in charge of afternoon tea. She remembered very clearly—there was no afternoon tea today. Chutang looked up, utterly confused. "What afternoon tea? I don't know anything about it." "Huh? You don't know either? That's strange then." Chutang followed the front desk girl out and saw the table in the lobby piled high with deliveries, her face full of confusion. "Could it be that Lawyer Zhang or another lawyer ordered it?" the front desk girl said. Lawyer Zhang was Zhang Yang, another partner at the firm. Today the firm had landed a big deal and received a large remittance—it would make sense for a lawyer to happily treat everyone to afternoon tea. Chutang took a photo and sent it to the lawyers' group chat, asking who had treated them. Chen Yuning: 【Wow, we have afternoon tea today too? I'm out in court—save some for me.】 Wu Tao: 【Not me. I have court in a bit too.】 Lu Shuci: 【I already treated everyone to coffee this morning. Not me either.】 Zhang Yang: 【Not me.】 Chen Yuning: 【Wow, then who's the kind mystery benefactor?】 Chutang was just wondering when a familiar face suddenly flashed into her mind. It couldn't be him, could it? Just as she was thinking, her phone rang. Looking at that familiar string of numbers, Chutang fell silent. She had deleted Jiang Shixu from her contacts, but that number she knew by heart. After hesitating for a few seconds, Chutang answered the call. "Did the afternoon tea arrive?" The man's voice carried obvious delight, pleasant and alluring. "It really was you." Chutang's lashes lowered, her tone unreadable. "Guessed it?" Jiang Shixu let out a low chuckle. "Lu Shuci treated me to coffee, so I'm treating him to afternoon tea. I've never liked owing anyone anything." When he'd gone to the firm today, he'd noticed there were a lot of young people there. The front desk staff, the assistants, and many of the lawyers all looked like young people under thirty. He'd specifically asked his assistant Lin Sen what the young working crowd these days liked to eat and drink. Lin Sen had rattled off a whole list. Jiang Shixu said, "Order afternoon tea for Tangtang's firm. Handle it personally." Lu Shuci treats everyone to coffee to win people over, does he? Then he'd treat them to afternoon tea. Lin Sen was always thorough in his work. As the CEO's executive assistant, Lin Sen knew exactly how Jiang Shixu felt about Ruan Chutang. Ordering afternoon tea for the future Mrs. President's firm—naturally, the more impressive, the better. The milk tea he ordered was fresh milk-based without non-dairy creamer, the fruits he bought were all expensive imported ones, and the cake was from Black Swan. ... When Chu Tang heard Jiang Shixu say this, the corner of her mouth twitched. Was it really because he didn't like owing people anything? She couldn't bring herself to call him out on it. This morning, in front of his subordinates, he'd said it was his own law firm, and now he was competing with Lu Shuci. Thinking that everyone had been working hard, and since the food had already been delivered and couldn't be returned, and it would be a waste to throw it away, Chu Tang had no choice but to say, "How much did all this cost? I'll transfer the money to you." She could treat everyone herself; there was no need to owe Jiang Shixu anything. Jiang Shixu's voice carried a hint of laughter. "Lawyer Ruan, it wasn't bought for you, so why would you transfer me money? You'll be dividing my company's cases among everyone to work on, right? I'm just buttering them up first, so they won't have as many complaints when they're working on the cases during office hours." Chu Tang was left speechless for a moment. "What do you mean?" She frowned, her tone displeased. "Are you saying that working at my law firm, they carry complaints?" "You clearly don't understand what it's like to be a wage earner." Jiang Shixu chuckled. "Nobody likes working. Who goes to work without at least a bit of a grudge?" Jiang Shixu didn't actually know much about this either; he'd heard it from Lin Sen. Chu Tang was at a loss for words. Fine. Thinking back to when she'd practiced law elsewhere and worked for others, she supposed she did have some grievances back then. Especially during those three years in Haicheng, when she'd cut off all contact with her family, living month to month on that meager salary, with a boss who was overly demanding—she'd indeed harbored plenty of resentment back then. "Don't you dare transfer me any money." Jiang Shixu emphasized again. "I bought all this for the sake of my company's cases." "Even without you buying these, we'd still handle your company's cases properly." "Then I'll leave it in your hands, Lawyer Ruan." Jiang Shixu sounded in a very good mood. Chu Tang thought that what Jiang Shixu said did make some sense. When working, having these little perks would definitely be appreciated by the employees. She had no reason to decline this goodwill on their behalf. She hung up the phone. Chu Tang said to the receptionist, "Have everyone come out and eat. Tell them it's from our client, President Jiang." "Yay!" The receptionist exclaimed excitedly. Before long, the table in the lobby was surrounded by people. "Whoa! Am I seeing this right? Black Swan cake? And this many of them? This must cost over ten thousand, right? President Jiang is too generous! I've never eaten such an expensive cake in my whole life!" "Wuwuwu, working here really makes me so happy." "I love work! Work makes me happy!" "All my favorites. Dinner tonight is saved." "President Jiang, I love you! Lawyer Ruan, I love you!" Yu Jiaojiao was so happy her eyes sparkled. "President Jiang is YYDS!" "Who's President Jiang?" Xiao Xiao asked Yu Jiaojiao. Yu Jiaojiao said excitedly, "He's that handsome guy who came this morning! Didn't you see him?" Xiao Xiao shook her head. "No." Yu Jiaojiao lowered her voice. "He's really handsome, and President Jiang is also our Lawyer Ruan's ex-boyfriend. I really hope they get back together soon." Lu Shuci stood outside the crowd, his deep eyes unreadable.