Ye Qianxi opened her phone. A group chat called “Picking Up Sugar Everywhere Again Today” already had 99+ unread messages.
[Receptionist Xiao Li: Breaking news! This morning, President Lin personally drove Lawyer Fu to work!]
[Admin Yan: Lawyer Fu looks so much like a college student today. Are the young couple trying out some new kind of fun?]
[Marketing Xiao Qin: Could he be the domineering female CEO’s newly kept young lover? Exciting. I love it.]
[Admin Yan: Oh my god, oh my god! They’re holding hands!!]
[Admin Yan: So sweet! But Lawyer Fu seems really nervous. President Lin even told us just now not to laugh.]
[Receptionist Xiao Li: I saw it too, hahaha.]
……
[Secretary Ye: Everyone, don’t wander around the president’s office later. If there’s anything urgent, report directly to me.]
[Receptionist Xiao Li: Holy crap! Is it for the reason I’m thinking of?]
[Finance Wang Xin: My little face just turned yellow. Hehehe.]
[R&D Cheng Cheng: I want to press my ear against the wall and listen. Sss-ha, sss-ha.]
[Secretary Ye: Manager Cheng, think twice.]
Inside the office, Lin Zhihua knew nothing about her Secretary Ye’s behavior of “believing and spreading rumors.” She lifted her chin at the clueless Fu Shengyan and held up her access card.
The three letters “CEO” in the position field were particularly eye-catching. “See clearly now? Come on, let me hear you call me President Lin.” Lin Zhihua waved the access card and smiled slyly. “If you say it nicely, I might consider letting you become President Lin’s personal little assistant.”
Fu Shengyan: “……”
Embarrassed and angry, Fu Shengyan kicked off with both feet, spinning himself and the chair around so that the back of his dark head faced Lin Zhihua.
Lin Zhihua burst out laughing. Eighteen-year-old Great Lawyer Fu really was thin-skinned. She pinched Fu Shengyan’s earlobe. “Why are you shy again? And you’re still occupying the president’s seat. What kind of little assistant behaves like this?”
Fu Shengyan suddenly reached out, pulled her onto his lap, and wrapped his arms completely around her. Resting his chin on top of Lin Zhihua’s head, he said in a muffled voice, “Zhizhi, you deliberately made fun of me.”
“When did I?” Lin Zhihua refused to admit it. She patted Fu Shengyan’s hand. “Let go of me first. I still have work to do.”
Fu Shengyan reluctantly released the person in his arms, looking somewhat uncomfortable. “Then what do I do seven years from now? I can’t really be a full-time househusband…”
Lin Zhihua walked over to the window and pointed at the building opposite them. “There. Great Lawyer Fu, your office is over there.”
Fu Shengyan followed the direction Lin Zhihua was pointing and indeed saw the sign for “Zhihua Law Firm” on the glass curtain wall.
Being a lawyer wasn’t bad either.
Fu Shengyan rubbed his chin and imagined himself verbally defeating an entire room of opponents.
As Lin Zhihua organized the documents for the meeting, she suddenly remembered the work arrangements Fu Shengyan had mentioned to her last week. “Check the work memo on your phone and see if there’s anything important you need to complete. Your assistant, Xiao Liu, resigned last week. For the time being, I’ve arranged for Yu Yao to stay with you.”
Fu Shengyan opened the memo on his phone and glanced over this week’s schedule. He asked her, “Ruan Wanning’s case goes to court the day after tomorrow. Does that count as something important?”
“What do you think?” Lin Zhihua rolled her eyes. She checked the time and quickly said, “I’ll have Yu Yao bring your computer over. First, look through Ruan Wanning’s contract and the case materials. We’ll talk about everything else after I finish the meeting.”
She sent Yu Yao a message, then took the documents and went up to the conference room on the top floor.
Lin Zhihua pushed open the door, and the previously noisy conference room instantly fell silent. She stood steadily before the main seat, gently pulled out the chair, and sat down.
“Secretary Ye, begin.”
Two hours later, when Lin Zhihua returned to the office after finishing the meeting, she saw Fu Shengyan lying bored on the sofa playing on his phone, while Yu Yao beside him stared at the computer with sweat covering his forehead.
The sound of the door opening caught Yu Yao’s attention. He guiltily glanced at his boss and frantically signaled Fu Shengyan with his eyes.
Fu Shengyan, who was preparing to passionately argue with his teammates, failed to notice Yu Yao’s signals at all until Lin Zhihua called his name.
“A-Yan, have you finished reading all of Ruan Wanning’s materials?”
Seeing that Lin Zhihua had returned, Fu Shengyan hurriedly sat upright and cleared his throat. “I finished them. Ruan Wanning’s entire family is absolutely awful. I’m planning to bring a few bodyguards along and have them reason with those people.”
Yu Yao stared at Fu Shengyan in shock at his astonishing words and tremblingly reminded him, “Lawyer Fu, threatening other people is illegal!”
Lin Zhihua’s temple twitched. She really must have lost her mind to feel comfortable letting Fu Shengyan handle a case.
She took a deep breath. “Yu Yao, contact Ruan Wanning and have her sign an additional engagement contract. You’ll speak during the courtroom debate.”
Yu Yao was one of the few people who knew the inside story of Fu Shengyan’s amnesia, and he was also very capable at his job. Before losing his memory, Fu Shengyan had already organized all the evidence and materials. Yu Yao would only need to go up and follow the prepared material, so Lin Zhihua felt perfectly comfortable letting him appear in court.
Yu Yao was dumbfounded. He stammered, “Um, President Lin, why don’t you choose someone else?”
Lin Zhihua hadn’t expected him to refuse. She frowned slightly and looked at the résumé on the computer. “Doesn’t your academic background say you have a master’s degree in law from C University? You also obtained your Class A legal qualification certificate three years ago.”
Yu Yao wanted to cry, terrified that the boss might suspect he had inflated his résumé. “President Lin, I’m a textbook theory type! If you ask me to sit an exam and answer questions, I’m fine. But I’m timid. When I get nervous, I stutter and can’t speak properly. I never even got selected for a single school debate competition. I became a secretary precisely because I couldn’t work as a lawyer!”
Lin Zhihua held her forehead. Looking at his round body trembling away, she helplessly waved her hand. “Then for now, you’ll be responsible for driving him around and helping him deal with social engagements.”
Yu Yao breathed a sigh of relief and nodded repeatedly.
Lin Zhihua didn’t want too many people to know about Fu Shengyan’s amnesia. If someone with malicious intentions found out and deliberately smeared him, one mishandled incident could deal a devastating blow to Fu Shengyan’s career.
She rummaged through the drawer for quite a while before digging out a certificate. “Yu Yao, send me a copy of all the case materials.”
Back then, she had thought she might as well take the exam together with Fu Shengyan. After all, having another skill never hurt. She hadn’t expected there would actually come a day when she would need it.
“Okay, President Lin.”
Sinking herself into the wide chair, Lin Zhihua rubbed between her brows and looked with a headache at Fu Shengyan, who had collapsed onto the sofa and was playing games.
All his attention was on his phone. He had even turned on his microphone and was enthusiastically greeting his teammates.
“Marksman, do you even know how to use a basic attack? Even a pea plant I grew would be better than you!”
“Is our jungler still farming his step count in the jungle? Top lane has enough troops for a military parade!”
Lin Zhihua couldn’t help grinding her teeth. The moment she heard the game-ending sound, she walked to the bookshelf, pulled out a book, and threw it into Fu Shengyan’s arms. “If you can’t memorize this, you’re not eating dinner tonight.”
Fu Shengyan lowered his head and looked at it. The title Professional Ethics and Professional Conduct for Lawyers practically blinded him from the cover. He flipped to the end and checked the page count.
168 pages.
Fu Shengyan: “……”
Even model essays for the college entrance examination weren’t this thick, right?
“I’m afraid you’ll get distracted, so I’ll confiscate your phone for now.” Lin Zhihua coldly took his phone away.
Fu Shengyan’s protest was ineffective. Just as he was painfully chewing through the book, a ringtone suddenly sounded. Lin Zhihua glanced at the caller and answered the phone for him.
“Lawyer Fu, do you have time this afternoon? Ruan Xingyun just called me…” Ruan Wanning’s voice on the other end sounded extremely anxious.
Inside a private room at Yunqiaoxuan, soft warm lighting fell across the exquisitely arranged tableware and dishes that looked, smelled, and tasted delicious. However, none of the people in the room had any appetite at the moment.
Lu Yunsheng frowned slightly, his eyes filled with worry and concern. He sighed softly and was the first to break the silence. “Ningning, if Ruan Xingyun hadn’t called me, were you planning to keep hiding this from me?”
Ruan Wanning lowered her eyes, her fingers unconsciously tracing across the tablecloth. “I’m sorry, Brother Lu. I’ve caused you trouble.”
“Is that what I mean?” Lu Yunsheng was almost laughed into anger by her. “Why didn’t you tell me when something this serious happened? Why insist on carrying everything by yourself? Would I not help you solve it?”
She bit her lip, her eyes slightly reddening. “Brother Lu, it’s not that I don’t trust you. You’ve already helped me so much over the years. I was afraid telling you would make you worry, and there were some things I thought I could handle myself.”
Lu Yunsheng looked at the girl he had personally discovered and supported step by step until she reached where she was today. His gaze softened, and his voice was gentle but carried a trace of seriousness. “Your matters have never been trouble to me.”
Ruan Wanning’s heart trembled slightly. The moment she heard those words, her tears could no longer be held back and began to fall.
When Ruan Wanning was born, her family’s circumstances were fairly good, and she had enjoyed a relatively warm and happy childhood for a time. That lasted until she was five years old, when her father became addicted to gambling. Her parents frequently fought over the smallest things, and in the end, her mother even caught evidence that he had been cheating.
Yet her mother believed that all of it was Ruan Wanning’s fault and vented all her dissatisfaction on her.
“If you had been a boy, your father wouldn’t have cheated!”
“The doctor clearly told me back then that it was a boy. Why did it suddenly become a girl when I gave birth? None of you Ruans are any good. You all look down on me because I can’t give birth to a boy, don’t you?”
Amid her mother’s sobbing, Ruan Wanning learned that her mother had already lost two children.
Before long, her mother became pregnant again. After getting checked at several hospitals, she decided to keep the baby.
Fortunately, it was a younger brother.
Her father began coming home again, and smiles returned to her mother’s face. Before Ruan Wanning could even finish breathing a sigh of relief, all kinds of household chores and the heavy responsibility of taking care of her younger brother were placed on her shoulders.
At some point, her mother began constantly calling her a “money-losing burden.”
“What use is there in a girl studying so much? Once she grows up, she’ll belong to someone else’s family anyway. How could she compare to our Juncai? He’s the pillar of this family. He’ll definitely bring honor to our ancestors in the future.”
During the day, Ruan Wanning had to attend school while working part-time jobs. At night, she still had to return home to do housework and tutor her younger brother.
Even though Ruan Wanning’s grades were among the best, after she finished middle school, Ruan Xingyun and his wife still insisted that their daughter go out and earn money.
She was too young, and legitimate factories wouldn’t employ child labor, so she could only wake early and stay up late working numerous part-time jobs. In the end, all the money she earned was taken away by Ruan Xingyun and his wife.
On the day she became an adult, Ruan Wanning secretly took her household registration booklet and left the city with the eighty-six yuan she had been paid that day.
Ruan Wanning had inherited almost all the best features of both her parents. As she grew older, she became increasingly beautiful, but this also brought her a great deal of trouble.
One day, while passing by a bar after work, she encountered a man causing trouble under the influence of alcohol. By coincidence, Lu Yunsheng, who had come there for entertainment, saved her.
Lu Yunsheng looked over the plainly dressed girl whose delicate beauty still couldn’t be concealed and smiled as he asked her, “Kid, do you want to become a celebrity?”
From then on, her life changed.
It was as though all the suffering of her first eighteen years had been leading up to this moment. She successfully signed with a talent agency, and with the help of gold-medal manager Lu Yunsheng, her career in the entertainment industry could be described as smooth sailing. In less than five years, Ruan Wanning had already become an A-list young actress in the entertainment industry.
Just when Ruan Wanning thought her life would continue sailing smoothly, fate dealt her a heavy blow.
Half a month ago, her father, Ruan Xingyun, somehow obtained her private phone number.
“Ningning, it’s Dad. I never thought my daughter would become so successful. Now you’re a famous celebrity known in every household.” That unfamiliar yet greasy voice came from the other end of the phone, making her feel as though she had fallen into an icy cellar.
Her hand hung up the call before her mind could react, and she collapsed onto the sofa. By the time she came back to her senses, Ruan Wanning realized the clothes on her back had already been soaked through with cold sweat.
Her phone vibrated several times. The number from just now had sent several voice messages. With trembling fingers, Ruan Wanning tapped one open.
“Ningning, during these years after you left home, your mother and I were both very worried about you, but no matter what we did, we couldn’t find you.”
“A person can’t forget their roots. Your mother and I worked so hard to raise you. Now that you’ve become successful, of course you should repay your parents even more.”
“We’re not trying to make things difficult for you. Your younger brother is in university now, and there are plenty of things he needs money for. As his older sister, it’s only right that you help support him.”
More messages kept popping up afterward, but Ruan Wanning didn’t dare open them. She transferred fifty thousand yuan to them, then blocked the number.
Unexpectedly, another unfamiliar number called the next day. This time, the person on the other end was her mother, Li Suhui.
The moment she answered, the familiar stream of abuse came through the phone. “You money-losing burden! Fifty thousand yuan? Are you trying to get rid of beggars? And you even dared to block us? How can you face me after I carried you for ten months and gave birth to you…”
Ruan Wanning silently listened, her heart sinking.
“What’s wrong?” The friend sitting opposite her noticed something was wrong with her expression and asked worriedly.
Ruan Wanning shook her head and hung up. After so many years, she knew all too well how greedy that family was. She asked the friend opposite her whether she knew any reliable lawyers she could recommend.
Yan Jie recommended her high school classmate and repeatedly assured her, “Lawyer Fu is incredible. Who knows how many people want his contact information? You’re lucky we’re close. I wouldn’t give it to just anyone.”
That night, Ruan Wanning dialed the number.