The next morning, Zheng Wanning got up and washed.
To her surprise, Nanny Li had prepared a lavish Western-style breakfast that filled the table.
After what had happened the night before, Wanning had only managed to drift off for a little while near dawn.
She brewed herself a cup of coffee to wake up, then went straight back to the law firm without eating.
After Shen Yanqing woke up, he got dressed and went downstairs, only to find the living room empty.
“Has Madam left?”
“Madam went to work first thing this morning,” Nanny Li said ingratiatingly. “Young Master, breakfast is ready. Please have some.”
Shen Yanqing fastened his watch and headed to the dining table. There, he saw the untouched breakfast spread.
“She didn’t eat?”
Nanny Li rarely saw Shen Yanqing at home, so naturally she hadn’t paid any attention to whether Zheng Wanning had eaten.
She answered casually, “Madam said she wasn’t hungry this morning.”
Shen Yanqing was in a poor mood himself, and his voice turned harsh. “There’s no way she’d eat a Western breakfast like this.”
Nanny Li stared at him, stunned.
His gaze sharpened. “You’ve looked after her for so long. Don’t you know she doesn’t eat Western food?”
Nanny Li grew flustered at his rebuke.
The truth was, she didn’t know what Zheng Wanning liked to eat. Wanning ate whatever she made, but not much of it.
“Well, Madam usually eats out in the mornings. So…”
Shen Yanqing looked at her with displeasure, his voice dropping low and cold.
“Nanny Li, looks like that million-a-year salary is too easy to earn. No wonder you’ve let her become stranger and stranger!”
Nanny Li hastily lowered her head in fright. It was true she didn’t pay much attention to Zheng Wanning, but how was her personality any of Nanny Li’s business?
How could he blame her for that too?
Seeing Shen Yanqing’s cold expression, she could only murmur, “Young Master, I’ll be more careful next time.”
In the end, Shen Yanqing didn’t eat any of the breakfast either. He got into the car Xiao Chen had brought around and left for the office.
Nanny Li was left staring gloomily at the tableful of breakfast she had gotten up early to make.
Shen Yanqing had come home for the night for once, and somehow she’d managed to do everything wrong.
~
Zheng Wanning had a divorce-property case in court that morning. She returned to the law firm to pick up the documents, then went to wait at the courthouse.
It was a fairly straightforward case.
The husband was Wang Keming, a famous North City electronics tycoon. After his company went public, he kept a young mistress. Now he wanted a divorce but refused to split the assets.
Wanning appeared in court as the lawyer representing the wife, Shen Panru.
After the first hearing ended,
“Attorney Zheng, thank you. Without you, my life would have been wasted,” Shen Panru said gratefully.
Wang Keming came out of the courtroom with his lawyer and sneered, “The second hearing hasn’t even happened yet. How do you know you’ve won?”
The moment Shen Panru saw him, she was consumed with rage.
“You heartless bastard! I went to my parents’ family for money to help you start your business, and now that you’ve made it, you want to throw me away.”
“I built this company from the ground up. What did you do? I told you I’d give you money, but you’re greedy—you want half my fortune.”
“Without me keeping the family together, could you have pursued your career with such peace of mind?”
Wang Keming was thoroughly impatient.
“Kept the family together! A nanny could do that! Shen Panru, I’ll pay you like a high-end nanny, all right? You still have to drag this into court and make yourself a laughingstock?”
Shen Panru was about to curse him again, but Zheng Wanning held her back and gave her a look, urging her to stay calm.
“We’ll let the court decide. Marital assets belong to both spouses. You don’t get to decide that she has no value just because she stayed at home.”
Wang Keming looked down at the young lawyer, intrigued.
She’d been more eloquent in court than the several male lawyers he’d hired. Most importantly, she was beautiful, too.
Shen Panru stood beside her like an old mother hen.
He laughed. “Attorney Zheng, you did well in court today. If you leave her and come work for me, I’ll pay you ten times what she does.”
“Wang Keming, don’t push people too far!” Shen Panru didn’t have much money; she could only afford a legal fee of 500,000 yuan.
She’d approached many lawyers at first, but they were all wary of Wang Keming’s influence. Zheng Wanning had been the only one willing to help her.
Now Wang Keming was offering ten times that—that meant five million! Shen Panru looked at Wanning anxiously, afraid she might abandon her too.
“Attorney Zheng, don’t go with him.”
But Wanning’s expression didn’t change in the slightest. She said calmly, “President Wang, I only stand up for what’s right.”
“You ungrateful woman. You won’t get anything by helping her! And in North City, if you cross me, your legal career won’t get far.”
“Ten times isn’t enough? I’ll offer you twenty. Think it over. My ex-wife has no money. The only way you’ll make any is by taking my case.”
Wanning didn’t even lift her eyes. “There’s nothing to think over.”
It was the first time Wang Keming had met anyone who wouldn’t bow to him, and anger welled up in his chest.
“Fine, fine! Let’s see how far you get!”
He flung out an arm and left with his entourage.
Shen Panru was so moved she didn’t know what to say.
She’d known Attorney Zheng wasn’t the sort to be blinded by money.
The first time she’d gone to see her about the case, she’d thought Wanning must be some wealthy family’s daughter. She had such a distinguished, elegant air.
“Thank you, Attorney Zheng. Thank you for not going to work for him. I wouldn’t have known what to do.”
After discussing the arrangements for the second hearing with Shen Panru, Zheng Wanning was about to return to the law firm.
On the way, Huang Yumei called and told her to come to the Shen family’s old residence.
What was coming would come sooner or later.
Lawyers had relatively flexible schedules; it mostly depended on their cases. Since the hearing was over and nothing else was urgent today, she hailed a taxi to the Shen Family Estate.
The Shen Family Estate stood in North City’s most expensive neighborhood. Iron railings enclosed the entrance, with two towering stone lions on either side. Several guards stood outside.
The driver was stopped at the gate. When the guards saw Wanning, they immediately opened the iron gate and arranged for one of the estate’s cars to take her to the villa inside.
Zheng Wanning entered the living room. Huang Yumei, elegant and imposing, sat sipping tea, while a servant beside her cut fruit.
When Huang Yumei saw her come in, she glanced at her coldly from the corner of her eye.
“Sit.”
Wanning sat obediently nearby and waited for her to speak.
Huang Yumei came from one of North City’s wealthy families. After marrying into the Shen family when she was young, she hadn’t stayed home like other rich wives, devoting herself to her husband and children. Instead, she had run Shen Group alongside Shen Qianfang.
Now that she was older, she had stepped back from the business.
But her presence was still formidable—the kind that made people afraid to approach her.
Wanning remembered the first time she’d met her. She and Shen Yanqing had only been dating for a short while.
One day, out of nowhere, a bodyguard had forced her into a Rolls-Royce.
Inside, she’d seen a wealthy-looking woman, just like the one before her now.
Huang Yumei had looked her over from the corner of her eye, her expression full of disdain and arrogance.
Back then, Huang Yumei had investigated Wanning’s family and background thoroughly and taken her for a woman who was after money.
“You’re Yanqing’s girlfriend?”
“Yanqing can have his fun. It’ll only cost a little money. The Shen family has plenty.”
“But I’ve seen plenty of women like you. You use your looks to seduce rich men, hoping to marry up and become a phoenix!”
Wanning had explained softly, “Auntie, that’s not who I am.”
“Not who you are? What are you talking about? Don’t tell me you love Shen Yanqing, not his money.”
“I…”
“If that’s really true, then when your father was hospitalized, wasn’t it my son who paid for his private nursing care?”
“A woman like you—I wouldn’t even deign to look at under normal circumstances.”
Those words had struck home. Back then, Wanning really hadn’t had the confidence to argue.
Her relationship with Shen Yanqing hadn’t begun for purely innocent reasons.
“I’m telling you, I can turn a blind eye to you being Yanqing’s girlfriend, but don’t even think you’ll become Mrs. Shen.”
Later, after Chen Feng had schemed to marry her into the Shen family,
Huang Yumei’s dissatisfaction and aversion toward Wanning had grown day by day.
Every so often, she would inevitably call Wanning in to vent her anger.
Fortunately, Wanning had gradually become independent over the past few years. When Huang Yumei reprimanded her, she no longer felt as frightened as she had at first.
Huang Yumei had no desire to waste time on pleasantries and went straight to the point.
“I called you here today because last week’s medical examination report shows that you can’t have children.”