Chapter
6.1: The Innocent Lawyer
After hanging up the phone, Chu Qianmiao banged her head on
the table for a full three minutes before finally taming the overwhelming
embarrassment and awkwardness.
Then she wondered, why would Ren Yan condescend to send her
the meeting notice personally? Why didn't he send it to Lawyer Zhang instead of
her?
The more she thought about it, the more her heart began to
wander. She felt as if she was being treated differently...
Pinching the inside of her thigh to clear her mind, she
stood up and went to look for Zhang Teng. He wasn't in the office. She called
him, but no one answered for a long time.
So she sent him a text message with the meeting notice.
It wasn't until almost two hours later that Zhang Teng
called her back. It turned out he'd been at the project Cheng Xiaodong was
working on and was in a meeting. His phone was on silent mode, so he didn't
answer any calls.
After this blunder, Chu Qianmiao quickly retrieved the email
Qin Qianyu had sent with the project address book attached, and entered the
phone numbers of all the staff members from various organizations into her
phone.
She had originally planned to save the phone numbers as
needed, but after this incident, she quickly changed her mind.
Later, Chu Qianmiao added Qin Qianyu's QQ number according
to the information in the address book, and under the pretext of transferring
files, she chatted with him. After a while, when the time seemed right, she
tactfully asked the painful question that had been lingering in her mind for a
long time: Why did President Ren send the meeting notice personally?
Qin Qianyu first sent her a tearful emoji, then replied,
"My phone fell into the toilet and got on something it shouldn't have. It
wasn't worth saving, so I flushed it! Only after I flushed it did I realize my
SIM card was still in there!!"
They had recently moved to a new office, and the landline
hadn't been installed yet. Ren Yan then said, forget it, he'll do the meeting
notices.
Qin Qianyu was initially embarrassed, wondering if he could
let his boss do this job. He then suggested to Ren Yan that three other members
of the project team make the calls.
But Ren Yan said, "Those three people aren't like you.
They're already well-connected with the company and other agencies. They're new
to this project and don't know them well. Don't rush into calling them."
Ren Yan said he'd do it himself; it wouldn't be a big deal;
he could just call the project managers of the agencies.
After hearing this, Chu Qianmiao sorted things out.
Then Ren Yan called Zhang Teng, but Zhang Teng was in a
meeting on another project and didn't answer. So he called her—so she wasn't
treated differently by Ren Baodai.
She even mistook his call for a harassing call and offered a
slangy counter-harassment response...
Chu Qianmiao shook her head, shaking off the embarrassing
and terrifying memory, and hurriedly continued saving all the numbers in her
address book into her phone.
***
The next morning, Chu Qianmiao accompanied Zhang Teng to a
meeting at Litong Securities' Beijing investment banking department.
Litong Securities had just moved to a new location on
Financial Street, very close to Fukai Building. Fukai Building is the heart of
China's financial sector, housing both the China Securities Regulatory
Commission and the China Securities Association.
Chu Qianmiao felt strangely excited as she passed the China
Securities Regulatory Commission. She asked Zhang Teng, "Lawyer Zhang, is
Fu Kai Building easy to get into? I haven't been there yet!"
Zhang Teng chuckled, "Don't even think about going in.
Being called in is either for an interview or to answer questions, neither of
which is easy."
Chu Qianmiao turned and glanced at the long plaque with the
inscription "China Securities Regulatory Commission" hanging at the
entrance of Fu Kai Building. As Zhang Teng explained, she felt that the plaque,
hung on the large column, exuded a solemn and murderous aura, as if silently
warning every financial professional: Don't try, or you'll be caught...
Arriving at Litong Securities, Chu Qianmiao greeted the
receptionist and told her she had made an appointment with CEO Ren Yan and was
there for a meeting.
The receptionist immediately called the extension to
confirm, but the call didn't go through. She asked Chu Qianmiao and Zhang Teng
to wait while she went to Ren Yan's office to inquire in person.
Chu Qianmiao and Zhang Teng sat on the sofa by the door,
waiting.
Someone walked in. Chu Qianmiao looked up and saw a man
about Zhang Teng's age, in his early thirties. He was decent-looking and
dressed with care, his hair neatly combed black, and his high-end suit so
perfectly straight that not a single wrinkle could be found.
He also saw Chu Qianmiao and Zhang Teng. He stopped and
asked, "Who are you..."
Zhang Teng stood up and said, "Hello, we are lawyers
from Xinfeng Law Firm. We're here to meet with Mr. Ren Yan."
It wasn't the words "Xinfeng Law Firm" or Ren
Yan's name that lit up the man's eyes. He immediately became incredibly
enthusiastic, taking out his business card and exchanging it with Zhang Teng
and then Chu Qianmiao. He introduced himself, "Hello, I'm Kan Qingzhou, a
colleague of Ren Yan's and the head of another department in Litong's Beijing
investment banking department!"
After enthusiastically introducing himself, he
enthusiastically led Zhang Teng and Chu Qianmiao to the meeting room.
"Wait here for a moment! I'll tell Ren Yan!"
Kan Qingzhou said, and then he left.
Chu Qianmiao flipped through Kan Qingzhou's business card
and said to Zhang Teng with admiration, "This Mr. Kan is so easygoing—so
humble and so warm!"
She usually enjoyed helping others, and meeting someone so
kind, she couldn't help but feel a liking for him.
As they were talking, Qin Qianyu pushed the door open and
greeted, "I went to the front desk looking for you, but couldn't find you.
So you found the conference room on your own!"
Chu Qianmiao said, "This place is like a maze. We
couldn't find it on our own. It was Mr. Kan who brought us here. He's so
welcoming!"
Qin Qianyu smiled at that, but said nothing, then turned and
left the meeting room again.
Chu Qianmiao checked the time and saw she had just enough
time to go to the bathroom. She stood up and left.
The Litong office area twisted and turned like a maze, and
Chu Qianmiao soon felt dizzy. She asked a Litong employee how to get to the
restroom. The employee gave her a shortcut: turn this way and that, then go
through the small door on the wall opposite General Manager Ren's office.
She followed the instructions and found the door. Pushing it
open, she found a corner outside. She couldn't see beyond it, but she could
hear it.
She heard voices coming from there. She tried to retreat
back through the door, but suddenly heard Kan Qingzhou's name.
"Boss, do you think Kan Qingzhou has lost his mind? Why
is he trying to steal our partner? If that's the case, I'll give our business
cards to the lawyers and accountants working on their project!"
Chu Qianmiao was stunned. She recognized Qin Qianyu's voice.
"If you dare embarrass me, I'll hand you over to their
department."
It was Ren Yan's voice. There was a hint of arrogance and a
touch of contemptuous mockery. Chu Qianmiao felt that if she were Kan Qingzhou,
and Ren Yan spoke to her in that tone, she would be furious and ready to fight
to the death.
There are those who, when they look down on others, are so
cold, so cold, so cold-hearted ... She wondered if, after working in the
workplace for a long time, one had to learn to wear a mask and see through the
realities behind others' masks. What about the ancestral virtue of treating
others with sincerity? What about the human touch in interpersonal
interactions? Would these things she once valued most be discarded one day by
those who wore masks in the workplace?
Chu Qianmiao suddenly felt a sinking feeling in her stomach.
She washed her face and looked at herself in the mirror.
Many people said she was beautiful, that she had a fair
complexion and bright eyes, and that she looked young and innocent. She
wondered if she could maintain that innocence in the future.
The more she thought about it, the more depressing it
became. She decided to go back to the meeting.
***
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