Chapter 42

Chapter 42 (New) Every Profession Has Its Own Mysteries—I Wish You Success Gu Zechuan watched the sunlight streaming in, his eyes lowered, his voice low. "Ruan Chutang." Jiang Yuzhou was so shocked his voice went up a pitch. "What? Ruan Chutang? She's getting engaged? To who?" "Who it is doesn't matter." Gu Zechuan's voice carried a stubborn, almost manic edge. "I won't let her get engaged to that man. She can only be mine! I'll win her back!" "Uh..." Jiang Yuzhou was momentarily struck speechless by Gu Zechuan's words. After a moment, he spoke cautiously. "Zechuan, you... isn't this a bit unethical?" Gu Zechuan sneered. "Ethics? I don't care about ethics. I only care about having her by my side." Jiang Yuzhou was left speechless by that. Seriously, bro? When she was with you, you treated her like a stand-in. Then when your first love came back from abroad, you went back to messing around with her. Now that you've broken up and she's about to get engaged, you're here playing the devoted lover? And saying you don't care about ethics, you just want her by your side. Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. Jiang Yuzhou opened his mouth, then let out a sigh. "Bro, I've never stolen someone else's fiancée before, so I don't really know the ropes. Every profession has its own mysteries—I wish you success." ... Weekend. Mingjiayuan Apartment. Jiang Shixu cooked lunch for Chu Tang. After the meal, Chu Tang said, "I've arranged with my colleagues to visit a coworker who's hospitalized this afternoon." "Is it the victim from the knife attack last time?" Chu Tang nodded. "Mm. A few of us from the litigation department are going together. We'll need to pick up some flowers, fruit, and supplements on the way." Jiang Shixu said, "I'll have my assistant prepare those." Chu Tang didn't refuse. "Alright." Lin Sen drove over to pick them up. "President Jiang, these are the fruit baskets, flowers, and supplements you asked me to buy." Lin Sen opened the trunk of the Cullinan—everything inside was exactly what Chu Tang needed. "Mm." Jiang Shixu nodded. Chu Tang smiled and said, "Thank you for the trouble, Assistant Lin." Lin Sen smiled back. "You're too kind." Fifteen minutes later, the Cullinan pulled up at the hospital entrance. Chu Tang got out of the car and walked around to the trunk to retrieve the fruit basket. Just as the Cullinan drove off, Chen Yangyang walked over. "Oh, Lawyer Ruan, am I seeing things? Did you just get out of a Rolls-Royce?" Chu Tang frowned. "What's the matter?" Chen Yangyang gave a strange smile. "Wouldn't have guessed it, Lawyer Ruan." The male colleague beside her, Kong Weijie, looked eager for gossip. "Lawyer Ruan, who was that just now?" Chu Tang answered truthfully. "My boyfriend." "Boyfriend? Hahahaha." Chen Yangyang said with dripping sarcasm. "Sure, we understand." Chu Tang ignored her weirdness and walked off with the fruit basket. "I'll go see Lawyer Zhang first." Once Ruan Chutang was far away, Chen Yangyang watched her retreating figure and gossiped to her male colleague Kong Weijie: "That guy driving the Rolls-Royce must be Ruan Chutang's sugar daddy. Tsk tsk, wouldn't have thought she's being kept by someone." Kong Weijie was also a gossip. He nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that explains it. I was wondering why she treated the whole firm to dinner at Xiangmanlou as soon as she arrived—spent nearly a hundred thousand on one meal without batting an eye. Turns out she's got a sugar daddy behind her." Chen Yangyang's eyes were full of contempt. "A disgrace to the legal profession." ... The next day, Monday. Shengke Law Firm. Near the end of the workday, supervisor Yang Xiaojing walked over to Ruan Chutang's desk and handed her a file. "Xiao Ruan, per firm practice, case negotiations are usually the business department's job, but as you know, being a lawyer requires negotiation skills. It's best if you can negotiate cases yourself when possible. I have a case here that needs you to go negotiate." Chu Tang picked up the file and looked it over. Yang Xiaojing said, "If you land this case, I'll give you a twenty percent commission based on the business department's standard, and it can stack with the subsequent attorney fee commission." Chu Tang wasn't particularly focused on the commission. What she valued was the chance to exercise her negotiation skills through handling cases. Back at the law firm in Haicheng, it was also the business department that negotiated cases before handing them to the lawyers. She hadn't had much of a network or resources in Haicheng either, so she'd almost never had the opportunity to go out and negotiate cases herself. Chu Tang accepted the assignment and looked up at Yang Xiaojing. "Alright, Supervisor Yang." Yang Xiaojing patted Chu Tang's shoulder reassuringly. "Seven o'clock tonight, Xingyuan Club. I'll have Kong Weijie go with you. Sorry to make you work overtime." Chu Tang nodded. "Okay, no problem." ... 6:30 PM. Chu Tang took the initiative to go to Kong Weijie's desk. "Lawyer Kong, how are we getting there?" Kong Weijie looked at her with a strange expression, tinged with what seemed like contempt. "Drive over in your boyfriend's Rolls-Royce Cullinan to show off some status." Yesterday at the hospital visiting their colleague, Chen Yangyang and Kong Weijie had seen Chu Tang get out of the Cullinan, and Kong Weijie had asked her about it then. Chu Tang frowned at his words. "It's too late to have him drive it over now. I'll just take a cab myself." She did have a car, but she had driven it back to the Ruan family villa yesterday. Jiang Shixu had driven her back to the apartment, and her car hadn't been brought over yet. Besides, Yang Xiaojing had only told her at the end of the workday that she needed to go out to discuss a case, so there was no time to have her car brought over by now. Kong Weijie said in a sarcastic tone, "Oh, can't bear to part with it? I get it. People like us, ordinary workers, don't deserve to ride in your sugar daddy's Cullinan. And you want to take a cab over? Are you looking down on my Porsche Macan? Well, of course, how could it compare to a Cullinan?" Chu Tang frowned at him, her tone displeased. "What nonsense are you talking? Do you have a problem with me? Calling me 'sugar daddy' left and right—what do you mean by that?" Kong Weijie smirked. "Oh, don't misunderstand me, Attorney Ruan. I don't mean anything by it. I'm just complimenting you on your good fortune, being able to latch onto a big shot who drives a Cullinan. I'm envious, that's all." Chu Tang said irritably, "I haven't done anything to offend you, have I? Why are you being so snide? Did buying that Cullinan cost you any money?" Kong Weijie snorted coldly. "Where would I get that kind of money?" Chu Tang shot back without hesitation, "I've never seen anyone as gossipy as you. Instead of being jealous here, why don't you work hard yourself? What's there to be sour about?" That word "jealous" hit Kong Weijie right where it hurt. Provoked, the man's face darkened, and he said rudely, "Yeah, yeah, I'm jealous. I hate that I wasn't born a woman, so I can't just spread my legs and seduce men like you do." Chu Tang's face turned pale with anger. Clenching her teeth, she said, "You're a lawyer too. You know that spreading rumors and slander is illegal. You'd better watch your mouth, or don't blame me for disregarding collegiality and having you locked up!" Kong Weijie probably realized he had gone too far. He rolled his eyes and said nothing more, picked up his briefcase, and left on his own. Chu Tang calmed herself down and hailed a cab. Xingyuan Club wasn't far from the law firm—about a ten-minute drive. When Chu Tang pushed open the door to the private room and walked in, Kong Weijie was already drinking with two clients. Both clients were company presidents, middle-aged men in their forties, each with a heavily made-up hostess cuddled in their arms. The moment Chu Tang entered, everyone in the room turned their attention to her.