Chapter 89 “W-What? Cheng Yao and Qian-par are boyfriend and girlfriend???”

Cheng Yao suspected nothing. Her mind was lost in thoughts of her own future development path. She fundamentally did not know that the first thing Liang Yiran did after leaving the copy room was to find several female colleagues who looked easier to break through and sound them out about Cheng Yao and Qian Heng.

She also did not know how tormenting Liang Yiran’s heart was at this moment, more ups and downs than riding a roller coaster.

From the start of freshman year, after one startling glance at Qian Heng, Liang Yiran had almost without resistance fallen in love at first sight. The young man was handsome and sharp, like an unsheathed blade, carrying the beauty of a cold weapon. Clearly knowing it was dangerous, Liang Yiran still could not help falling. At a debate competition in the law school she was conquered by Qian Heng’s calm reasoning and powerful logic, and from then on began a seven-year unrequited love.

Liang Yiran was a beauty. Beauties unquestionably never lacked people chasing them. At the beginning she reservedly kept appearing around Qian Heng, vainly attempting to give hints so that he would come chase her of his own accord. Only it was a pity that no matter how gorgeously she dressed, Qian Heng actually never even gave her a proper look.

The plot of the story after that was also not fresh. The fallen flower had intention; the flowing water had none. Liang Yiran designed countless kinds of “chance encounters,” thought of countless strategies for getting close. In the end she could not hold back and even discarded a girl’s reserve, actively confessed, and was rejected in one breath, with no room left.

Only although she had been rejected, Liang Yiran had not truly given up. She had known Qian Heng for eight years. She even felt that in this world there was no one who understood him more than herself. What kind of person was Qian Heng? Cold outside and hot inside, saying one thing while meaning another, never giving a pleasant look, extremely principled, believing only in the law, not changing for anyone, and also not waiting in place for anyone. A man like this was outstanding to a terrifying degree, outstanding to the point of giving people a sense of distance.

Over so many years Liang Yiran had successively changed several ambiguous partners, but she ultimately had to admit that although those ambiguous partners had Qian Heng’s shadow on them, none of them was Qian Heng. And as if in the unseen she was waiting for herself, these years Qian Heng had actually always been single. He seemed not to have opened the aperture in matters of love, absorbed in his career, and also had no plans for romance or marriage.

Liang Yiran had been promoted to partner at Golden Brick Law Firm for a year. Her career foundation was very stable. Before the old partner who mentored her retired he left all the case sources in his hands to her. From the perspective of career development Liang Yiran should have stayed at Golden Brick to continue building her résumé. Yet in the end, in order to jump to Junheng, she would rather not even want those case sources.

Naturally this was not a consideration for career. Liang Yiran was one year younger than Qian Heng and this year was also twenty-seven. She felt it was time to settle down. This job hop she almost carried a determination of certain victory to get Qian Heng. Even if he said he was a non-marriage-ist and DINK, so what. A female partner would not retreat for anything. Liang Yiran liked Qian Heng to death. She even felt that as long as Qian Heng was willing to be with her, even if it was no marriage and DINK, she could accept it.

Only she had not expected that on the first day of starting work she would suffer a major blow.

In the five minutes of crossing paths with Qian Heng in the morning she keenly noticed the distinctive necklace at his neck. And at this moment the women’s version of this necklace appeared on Qian Heng’s pretty, young little assistant lawyer. This was not a mass-market style of couple necklace. And Cheng Yao’s subtle attitude when asked about Qian Heng’s situation finally also received a reasonable explanation.

When had Qian Heng started dating? Why had Qian Heng actually dated a subordinate? What exactly had Qian Heng taken a fancy to in that little assistant lawyer? Just because she looked pretty, young, and had a good figure? How far had they progressed? A string of questions in her mind almost crushed Liang Yiran.

Yet she ultimately steadied herself. She carried a coffee cup to the pantry. As expected, several female lawyers of Junheng were chatting while making tea.

Li Meng had originally been idly chatting with Qian Hui in the pantry about a recently popular TV drama. Encountering Liang Yiran striking up a conversation she was very pleasantly surprised. She was not very satisfied with the mentoring lawyer she currently followed, always complaining that the subject amounts of the cases the other party gave her were too small and that the other party always would not let her independently handle cases. She was just having some slight stirrings of wanting to switch to another mentoring partner. Therefore nowadays she simply could not wait to brush up her favorability in front of Liang Yiran, hoping she could be transferred to her team.

Liang Yiran looked very down-to-earth and actually chatted with them about soap operas for a few minutes. As they chatted they naturally also chatted about colleagues in the unit. Liang Yiran showed weakness. “Actually I’ve only remembered you few people’s names. As for the remaining several colleagues, why don’t you introduce them to me, especially those of Lawyer Qian’s team. I still don’t know any of them.”

Li Meng suspected nothing and introduced them one by one. “There aren’t many people on Qian Par’s team. Just Bao Rui, Tan Ying, and Cheng Yao.”

“I’ve already met Bao Rui and Tan Ying. Cheng Yao? Is Cheng Yao that especially pretty young girl?”

Although she worked hard to restrain it, some emotions only needed a slight expression to be transmitted. Li Meng lightly laughed, her tone subtle. “Yes. She’s truly especially pretty.”

Just from the tone Liang Yiran heard the volume of information. First, Qian Heng and Cheng Yao’s romance had probably not been made public. Second, regarding Cheng Yao, the contemporary lawyers at the firm clearly had a bit of opinion…

Li Meng did not say it, but Liang Yiran could also guess that Cheng Yao was afraid not only young, pretty, and shallow in qualifications. In work she probably also could not convince the crowd. She again asked a few questions as if casually. As expected, it was the same as she had guessed.

A young little girl like Cheng Yao, one imagined, her original intention in entering Junheng was not to work properly but to take a shortcut and attach herself to a wealthy partner. If she could transform into a partner’s wife, that would be even better. If she failed, at least in those few years of dating, case sources would not be a worry, and what she received would also be real gold and silver.

Liang Yiran sneered in her heart. She thought, only it was a pity Cheng Yao’s luck was bad. She had run into herself.

She said naturally, “I remembered. Qian Heng mentioned Cheng Yao to me once. He said this little girlfriend of his was both pretty and cute. I hadn’t seen her in person before. This time seeing her I discovered Cheng Yao is truly very pretty.”

Everyone in the pantry was stunned. “Wh-what? Cheng Yao and Qian Par are boyfriend and girlfriend???”

Complete surprise appeared on Liang Yiran’s face. Only then did she widen her eyes as if caught off guard. “Ah? So you people didn’t know?” She immediately apologized as if she had done something wrong. “Sorry. I didn’t know they hadn’t made it public to you. I thought you all knew…” She glanced at the crowd with varying expressions. “But since they want to keep it secret there should be their considerations. I was inconsiderate. This matter, then let’s keep it secret from each other. You must not say I said it. Otherwise if Qian Heng hears it he’ll deal with me.”

The crowd nodded, their souls not in place. On the surface they were still composed, but their hearts had probably exploded until even their three views were gone. And among them Li Meng’s reaction was the strongest. On her face appeared the relief and contempt of “so that’s how it is.” Now why Cheng Yao’s qualifications were shallower than her own, her résumé worse than her own, yet she could still independently handle such large cases—all of this had an answer.

Liang Yiran was very satisfied with everyone’s reaction. There were no secrets under the sun. Employees in a law firm who could stay in the pantry this long chatting about TV dramas were basically all the most gossipy and unprogressive employees. She almost did not need to think to know that this explosive news of Cheng Yao and Qian Heng being together would, within half an hour, spread throughout Junheng from top to bottom.

Regarding the exposure of the romance, Cheng Yao, the party involved, was instead the last to know. She had originally been seriously researching that case with a subject amount of 2.3 billion when she received a message from Tan Ying telling her to go to the conference room.

Cheng Yao entered the conference room a bit blankly and was only then grabbed in one motion by Tan Ying who had already been waiting inside.

“What’s going on?” Tan Ying’s face was anxious. “Why does the whole firm know you and Qian Par are together?” She urgently clarified. “I swear I didn’t say it. Bao Rui even less possibly. He’s in court with Qian Par right now. How exactly did you and Qian Par get exposed?”

Regarding this fact, besides being shocked Cheng Yao was also very surprised.

Tan Ying was more anxious than her. “This kind of thing you really should have kept well secret. Office romance is already sensitive. Dating a partner is even more subtle.” She glanced at Cheng Yao. “Although our Junheng’s atmosphere has always been good, gossip of this kind—no matter how good the work environment—cannot be stopped. There will always be people talking behind backs, especially recently recruiting this batch of interns who aim high and have low ability.” Tan Ying paused, seeming to weigh her words. “Do you know what some of them are saying now?”

Cheng Yao was not unaware. She bit her lip. “Saying my cases all came from dating a partner. Saying I entered Junheng relying on looks. Saying my achievements all came from a man. Right.”

Tan Ying was very angry. “These people. Did they see you staying up late researching cases on ordinary days? Did they see you looking at the court’s classic precedents even while walking? Did they see you so busy you even forgot to eat dinner? Which of them is as serious as you? Which of them has this toughness of yours? You can’t only see the thief eating meat and forget the thief getting beaten, right? This bowl of rice of being a lawyer—aren’t achievements all piled up by paying and time?”

Tan Ying’s tone was contemptuous. “Right now the one leading the chewing of tongues behind backs is Li Meng. With this time of hers why doesn’t she go properly develop her professional ability? Complaining from morning to night, feeling that because her graduating school is better than yours and her work experience more than yours she must develop better than you? What kind of logic is this? Does a high starting point mean leading for a lifetime?” Tan Ying had a fiery temper. “Just now when I passed by I heard her talking about you. I couldn’t hold back and confronted her with a few sentences.”

At this moment Cheng Yao’s heart was extremely panicked, but she was also extremely grateful. “Thank you, Tan Ying. Thank you for not thinking that way. Thank you for standing on my side…”

“Let’s go. I’ll pull you to confront them.” Tan Ying was a person of action. “Li Meng herself has the face to talk? Relying on being a woman she all day long this shift I won’t work overtime, that assignment I won’t go on, this meeting I won’t attend, that material I won’t do. Feeling that having a few more years of work experience than you is full of superiority. I look down on that bit of work experience of hers in state-owned enterprise legal affairs. What kind of bad habits has she been spoiled into? Still thinking she’s a state-owned enterprise daddy. Now we are the service provider. We are party B! Not eating from a big pot! Where is there any principle of lying down and winning!”

Although in the instant of knowing Cheng Yao’s reaction was the same as Tan Ying’s—that was to go confront—thinking rationally this was not suitable. Precisely because she was Qian Heng’s girlfriend, some things that originally could be done now because of the subtlety of this identity became things that could not be done.

“If I confront them, won’t that just confirm the reputation of relying on a big mountain and acting without scruple?” Cheng Yao pressed her lips together. “I’ll think of another method. Besides, many things are useless relying on quarreling. Even if you win the quarrel the other party still won’t be convinced in their heart. So it’s nothing more than wasting words and also making it look ugly. At a time like this only relying on action can stop other people’s mouths.”

Tan Ying paused and muttered, “Ai, I have to say, your manner and tone just now in an instant were like Qian Par possessing you. Could this be couple resemblance?”

Cheng Yao smiled and said nothing. Only in her heart she already had a plan.

To avoid suspicion she had to change teams and could not continue following Qian Heng. She should switch under another partner’s name and then seriously do a few cases, slowly proving herself. Although changing teams midway would always consume some of her energy, for long-term development this was already an arrow on the string.

Only she had not expected that before it was her turn to tell Qian Heng this matter, Liang Yiran would already put this matter on the table.

The cause of the matter was very simple. When Liang Yiran went to the copy room to get materials she unexpectedly ran into several interns chattering and gossiping about Cheng Yao and Qian Heng. And Liang Yiran did not sit and watch without intervening. She immediately called these several interns to the open office area, called them in front of Cheng Yao, her attitude serious and earnest.

“I hope you apologize to Lawyer Cheng.”

The interns’ faces flushed red. They mumbled and dared not open their mouths, only lowering their heads to look at the ground.

In the open office area everyone fell silent. The atmosphere for a time was a bit oppressive. And it was also at this time that Qian Heng returned to the firm with Bao Rui.

Qian Heng looked at the two interns shrinking in front of Cheng Yao, slightly furrowed his brows, and looked at Liang Yiran. “What’s going on?”

Cheng Yao also somewhat at a loss looked at Liang Yiran, not knowing what had happened.

Liang Yiran, however, smiled gently toward her. She did not answer Qian Heng’s question. Because very quickly this capable female partner collected the smile on her face, seriously and solemnly looked around, and slightly raised her voice. “Today is my first day joining Junheng. But since I am already a Junheng person I also must have the self-awareness of being born a partner. My principle is hoping everyone’s atmosphere at the firm is harmonious and not attacking and slandering behind backs. Dating is not wrong. Office romance is also not illegal. I don’t want to hear anyone arranging Lawyer Cheng behind her back anymore. I hope colleagues can respect each other. Dating also will not affect Lawyer Qian and Lawyer Cheng’s professional attitude. The meaning of a team is to be consistent toward the outside, not to engage in internal strife.”

After speaking she looked at the two interns, her words carrying pressure. “You are still young. But there will be no next time.”

How would the two interns still dare speak. They only kept nodding in shame and softly apologized to Cheng Yao.

Matters having reached this point, Qian Heng naturally also reacted. His and Cheng Yao’s matter, it seemed, had been exposed. Only this scene he could still suppress with the boss’s prestige. But Cheng Yao’s situation also became quite awkward.

Qian Heng swept the crowd in the open office area with low pressure, then carefully glanced at Cheng Yao who had lowered her head and dropped her eyes, then pressed his lips together and glanced at Liang Yiran. “Come to my office.”

And once Liang Yiran and Qian Heng left, everyone finally recovered a breath.

“Liang Par is so cool.” Tan Ying was the first to come to Cheng Yao’s side. “I originally still treated her as your imaginary enemy. Looking at it now she’s actually quite a good person, has a sense of justice. Seeing injustice on the road she can still stand up for you!”

Tan Ying was clearly not the only one who thought this way. On everyone’s faces there was more or less admiration, appreciation, and lingering fear.

Friendly, approachable, and gentle, yet at the critical moment still with the bearing of a king, forceful and decisive, swift and vigorous.

No need for more words. Just this one small interlude and Liang Yiran easily established her authority at Junheng, letting everyone see her methods and ability as a female partner. Although she unceremoniously reprimanded the interns to their faces, everyone’s evaluation of Liang Yiran was even higher than before.

Liang Yiran followed Qian Heng into the office and casually sat down. “I passed the copy room and heard that gossip. I feel this kind of discussing behind backs is very bad. Besides I also feel Cheng Yao is quite a good little girl…”

“Thank you.”

Liang Yiran paused.

Qian Heng moved his gaze away, somewhat unnatural. “Thank you for speaking for her.”

This was the first time in Liang Yiran’s life she had heard Qian Heng say thank you. Mixed in her heart were joy and enormous jealousy. She endured her emotions and lightly indicated it was a small matter. Only she raised her head and looked at Qian Heng. “So you like that type?”

“Hm?”

“Cheng Yao’s type. Young and pretty?”

Qian Heng pressed his lips together. “She’s not only young and pretty. She’s outstanding in every aspect. In work I have never been partial to her.”

Liang Yiran endured the sourness in her heart. “I don’t know how your romance was made public. But in the current situation, if you want what’s good for her, you should no longer continue serving as her mentoring lawyer. Both for you and for her you should avoid suspicion and let her transfer to another partner’s team.” She smiled. “I know with your professionalism you will not let private feelings affect work. But not everyone can think the same as I do. You are a partner. You must hold a bowl of water level and balance the subtle relationships among everyone at the firm.”

Almost at the same time Qian Heng received Cheng Yao’s text—

“I want to change mentoring lawyers.”

Qian Heng’s silence looking down at his phone made Liang Yiran decide to press the victory. “I just came to Junheng and happen to need to build my own team. If you can trust me, and if Cheng Yao is also willing, why not let her come to my team.”

“I’ll talk with her.”

Liang Yiran smiled as if with no other thoughts. “You can rest assured. I’ll take good care of your little girlfriend. Besides I’m also a woman. If Cheng Yao goes on business trips with me you can also be comparatively at ease, right?”

Qian Heng was struck in his heart by her words. One had to say, handing Cheng Yao to any other male partner at the firm, he would not be at ease. Even handing her to Wu Jun would not do.