Chapter 66: Your scheming, money-grubbing boss is now online.

Almost first thing the next morning, Cheng Yao took Li Mengting to the civil affairs bureau to check her own marriage registration status.

As expected, she was still listed as “unmarried.”

Zhang Hao had really made a fake certificate.

All the previous work had now become completely useless. The phone notarization was of no value whatsoever. Everything had to be overturned and started over from scratch.

The property division plan upon divorce stipulated in the marital loyalty agreement was naturally completely invalid. For the “marital home” they had jointly purchased, it was no longer possible to make Zhang Hao walk away with nothing. They could only accept reality and divide the other property from the cohabitation period, fighting for the maximum benefit for her.

Although Li Mengting’s face was pale, she had no choice but to accept reality. Amid her anger and shock, she began thinking of countermeasures. “Yaoyao, does what Zhang Hao did count as the crime of forging official documents? And while using a fake marriage certificate to cohabit with me, he’s now gotten a real marriage certificate with Liang Qiongqiong. Isn’t that bigamy? It’s a criminal offense—can we make him go to jail?”

From the legal provisions alone, Zhang Hao’s behavior was undoubtedly a crime. The problem was that proving his actions required evidence.

“You only have your own fake marriage certificate here. And you already told me that the ‘getting the certificate’ matter was all communicated by phone or verbally—you didn’t record anything, so there’s no evidence left at all. Even if you produce this fake marriage certificate, Zhang Hao can completely say that this certificate wasn’t made by him and wasn’t given to you by him.”

Cheng Yao remained very calm. “He can completely claim that although he cohabited with you, you were only boyfriend and girlfriend the whole time. He only married Liang Qiongqiong after he broke up with you. This fake marriage certificate is something you specially made out of love turning to hate after the breakup, in order to frame him.”

Li Mengting instinctively retorted, “No, how could it be me?”

“I know it’s not you. The presiding judge might even think the same as me in his heart. But the law is the law. Without evidence, we cannot rashly convict Zhang Hao.”

“Yaoyao, although there’s no evidence that Zhang Hao made the fake marriage certificate, I think I can find evidence proving that while he was cohabiting with me and got me pregnant, he also got Liang Qiongqiong pregnant. If we find these details, can we form an evidence chain to prove he committed bigamy?”

“Bigamy is very difficult to prove in practice. It requires having a spouse and then marrying another person or living together under the name of husband and wife. But right now Zhang Hao can completely say that with you it was only a cohabitation relationship. From beginning to end he never said anything about marriage, and never lived with you under the name of husband and wife. You don’t have a job, so naturally there are no colleagues who can prove that Zhang Hao presented you to the outside world as husband and wife. And as your lawyer and friend, the weight of my testimony can be imagined.”

Cheng Yao glanced at Li Mengting. “The reason Zhang Hao kept delaying and refused to hold a banquet in City A inviting colleagues and friends to attend the ‘wedding banquet’ was precisely to prevent this kind of situation. As for the phone notarization, that won’t work either, because Zhang Hao is already married to Liang Qiongqiong. No matter who I pretend to be when calling him, he won’t admit to any relationship with you anymore. His line will definitely be ‘ex-girlfriend after the breakup.’”

Li Mengting bit her lip tightly.

“Moreover, the Supreme Court issued a Reply on How to Determine Bigamy Behavior , which also stipulates that ‘if the circumstances of bigamy are clearly minor and the harm is not great, it shall not be considered a crime.’ In judicial practice there is also a lot of controversy over how to define the crime of bigamy itself.”

The two paths of bigamy and forging official documents were clearly both blocked.

For this reason, Cheng Yao had no choice but to communicate urgently with Li Mengting for a long time again. Without realizing it, she spent the entire day sorting out the situation of Li Mengting and Zhang Hao’s case and their jointly owned property.

By the time she came back to herself, it was almost time to get off work.

Cheng Yao checked her phone and only then remembered that she had arranged to have dinner at home tonight with the son of her mother’s close friend. She hurriedly packed her things and prepared to rush home.

On her way out, Cheng Yao passed Qian Heng’s office and subconsciously glanced toward the door. Qian Heng wasn’t there.

Originally Cheng Yao had planned to discuss the situation of Li Mengting’s case with Qian Heng, but when she went to knock, she discovered he wasn’t in at all.

Cheng Yao was quite curious. In theory, on an afternoon with no schedule, Qian Heng would not leave the office. She curiously asked Bao Rui, “When did Qian Par leave? Did something come up?”

“Not long ago. Seemed like he had an appointment with someone. I heard the phone alarm in his office ring before he grabbed his bag and left.”

For no reason, Cheng Yao’s heart skipped. “Could it be another blind date?”

“Doesn’t seem like it. He looked stern-faced, not very happy.”

Oh… for some reason, hearing that Qian Heng was unhappy made Cheng Yao feel relieved instead…

On the way home, Cheng Yao was still thinking about the breakthrough point for Li Mengting’s case. As a routine procedure, because the case facts had undergone major changes, she briefly reported the general situation to Qian Heng in an email. So far, however, she had not received any reply from him.

Because of the evening gathering, Cheng Yao didn’t dwell on it further. Almost the moment she returned home, she began preparing dinner. By the time the table of dishes was ready, the doorbell rang right on cue.

The son of her mother’s close friend was named Xue Ming. Although they had been childhood playmates and had stayed in intermittent contact over the years, it had still been a long time since they last met. Facing the tall young man at the door, Cheng Yao felt a bit awkward for a moment.

Xue Ming was quite open and generous. He raised the things in his hand. “Your mom happened to ask me to bring you some thicker clothes.”

Cheng Yao thanked him and led him inside.

The two of them chatted a bit, bringing up some funny and embarrassing stories from the past, and the atmosphere quickly warmed up quite a bit.

Looking at the abundant spread of dishes, Xue Ming sincerely exclaimed, “Your cooking skills are way too good. Whoever marries you in the future will be convinced.” He glanced at Cheng Yao, then lowered his gaze. “But I heard from your parents that you ran into a scumbag before and have just returned to being single?”

“Uh…” Cheng Yao gave a dry laugh. “Sort of.”

“Then the other party had bad taste.” Xue Ming looked at Cheng Yao and smiled. “Holding a treasure and not knowing how to cherish it.”

This… this was a bit awkward…

Cheng Yao considered for a moment before saying, “I know my mom must have gone crying to your mom, saying I was heartbroken and pitiful, afraid I wouldn’t be able to get married or something. You don’t have to take it seriously. You don’t need to compliment me like this just to comfort me. I’m really fine. Look at my mood—it’s still pretty good. Please don’t feel that your mom is pressuring you to comfort me or that it would be best if you dated me, and then force yourself.”

But Xue Ming smiled. “I’m not complimenting you. I genuinely think that.” He was quite direct. “Next month I’ll be transferred from the City B branch to the City A headquarters. From then on we’ll be in the same city, both from the same place, and our families know each other inside out. Compared to those blind dates meeting for the first time outside, we’ve known each other since childhood and have an emotional foundation. I’m single, you’re single—I really think we can try.”

Eh???

“Starting as friends is fine too. Really, Yaoyao. Actually, I’ve liked you for a while…”

Just as Cheng Yao was awkwardly unsure how to respond, the door to the master bedroom suddenly opened—

Qian Heng, wearing pajamas and looking sleepy, walked out of the room.

Cheng Yao: !!!

Ever since Qian Heng moved out, although his room was still reserved, the door was always kept closed. When Cheng Yao came home tonight, the door had been closed as usual, with no light and no sound, so she had never imagined that somehow a living Qian Heng would suddenly walk out of it!

Cheng Yao was shocked. Xue Ming was naturally shocked as well.

But Qian Heng seemed completely unaware of their gazes. Amid their shock, he walked very naturally over to the dining table, pulled out a chair, and sat down with them.

“Seafood tonight? Nice.”

His movements and words were so natural that both Cheng Yao and Xue Ming forgot to question him, simply staring blankly as Qian Heng took a pair of chopsticks for himself and prepared to start eating.

About a minute later, Xue Ming finally reacted. He looked at Cheng Yao with a somewhat complicated expression. “Yaoyao, this is…?”

Cheng Yao braced herself and hurriedly explained, “Ah, this is my former roommate from when I was renting. He just moved out recently. Maybe he came back for something. He’s my colleague, my colleague…”

Cheng Yao didn’t want to explain why her boss had been sharing a place with her, so she directly blurred the information and called him a colleague.

After speaking, she looked at Qian Heng. “Um, Old… Old Qian, why are you here?”

“Oh, I suddenly felt a bit unwell this afternoon, so I came back to sleep for a while.” Qian Heng said without the slightest psychological burden. “I accidentally overslept. Just woke up and realized it was already mealtime.” Only at this point did he lift his head and say without sincerity, “Am I interrupting you two? If you mind, I can leave.”

“…”

With things already said to this point, Cheng Yao thought, Am I supposed to kick him out on the spot?

Xue Ming naturally couldn’t bring himself to be so blunt either. “Hello, Old Qian. My name is Xue Ming. Since you’re Yaoyao’s colleague, then let’s eat together.”

…

What had originally been a two-person dinner suddenly became three, and the atmosphere immediately turned subtle.

Fortunately Xue Ming was good at livening things up. After eating a mantis shrimp, he greatly praised, “This is truly the best mantis shrimp I’ve ever eaten. Yaoyao, your skills are really amazing.”

Qian Heng picked up a mantis shrimp while slightly lifting his eyelids. “Oh, Cheng Yao’s level with mantis shrimp tonight is only average. The abalone she made for me last time was better.”

“…”

Qian Heng, even the mantis shrimp isn’t as cheeky as you today!

Xue Ming paused, then decided to ignore Qian Heng. He looked at Cheng Yao. “If I’d known earlier we should have just eaten out. Eating at your place tonight, you must have worked hard preparing this whole table of dishes. After I transfer to City A next month, I’ll cover your dinners for a month as repayment for this meal.”

Before Cheng Yao could speak, Qian Heng expressed his stance first. “No need.”

Xue Ming looked at Qian Heng in confusion.

Qian Heng pressed his lips together. “Oh, she’ll be working overtime the entire next month.”

Cheng Yao was shocked. “Eh?”

Qian Heng said calmly, “There are quite a few cases next month. Everyone on the team will have to work overtime together.”

Xue Ming looked at Cheng Yao with some heartache. “Your lawyer industry is way too hard. How can overtime casually last a whole month? Have you thought about changing jobs? Your law major is actually pretty good for taking the civil service exam. Besides public security, procuratorate, and courts, a lot of civil service and public institution positions require a matching law major.” Xue Ming sincerely suggested, “Or going to a state-owned enterprise to do legal work is also pretty good. I know a mid-level manager at a state-owned enterprise. They’re recruiting legal specialists recently. If you’re interested, I can help submit your résumé?”

Qian Heng said nothing. He gave Cheng Yao a light but very dangerous glance.

Seeing that Cheng Yao had no reaction, Xue Ming specially asked again, “What do you think?”

Cheng Yao wanted to cry but had no tears. Xue Ming, ah, you’re bringing up exactly the wrong topic. Digging at my boss’s wall right in front of him—do I have the guts of a bear or a leopard to say anything?

Cheng Yao could only declare righteously, “I’ve still decided to be a lawyer and struggle for the legal profession my whole life. I like this kind of life with challenges every day—especially exciting!”

Xue Ming paused, then said, “As long as you like it. It’s not easy for people to find work they like. It’s just that you’re a girl. Sooner or later you’ll still have to get married and have kids. If you’re still this busy after starting a family, it’ll be hard to balance.”

“Oh, Cheng Yao isn’t planning to date or get married within two years. She wants to focus on her career.” Qian Heng discarded a mantis shrimp shell and smiled lightly and casually. “Especially since the reference points around her usually are too outstanding. Her standards are very high now.”

“…”

This conversation clearly couldn’t continue…

Fortunately, although Xue Ming’s face had darkened a bit, he ultimately didn’t say anything. Only when Cheng Yao stepped away to the kitchen to check on the baking pastries did Xue Ming finally not hold back—

“Brother, you’re so hostile toward me. Do you also like Cheng Yao?”

Qian Heng refuted without even thinking. “Impossible. I absolutely will not engage in office romance.”

“Then why are you targeting me at every turn?” Xue Ming was very puzzled. “Have we met before? Did I offend you in the past?”

“…”

Qian Heng pressed his lips tightly and glared at Xue Ming, yet found he couldn’t answer.

“You’re clearly deliberately obstructing communication and interaction between me and Yaoyao.” Xue Ming was a straightforward person. He analyzed rationally, “Or is it that Yaoyao offended you? So you don’t want her to leave singlehood and experience the beauty and happiness of love?”

What Yaoyao? Qian Heng thought. Are you that familiar? Just childhood playmates from eight hundred years ago? And the beauty of love? What beauty can love have? Can it be more beautiful than money and work? Hmph.

Xue Ming didn’t understand and continued, “If Yaoyao accidentally offended you at work, I’ll apologize on her behalf. She’s a relatively simple person, naive in character, sometimes doesn’t understand worldly affairs, still a little girl who doesn’t understand anything…”

Qian Heng really couldn’t hold back. He glanced at Xue Ming. “Do you really understand Cheng Yao?”

“Ah?”

Qian Heng rubbed his brow. “Cheng Yao is sometimes very simple, but she’s not as weak as you think, needing comprehensive protection from others, or having to rely on you or anyone else behind the scenes to escort and pave the way in order to live well.”

“In daily life her self-care ability is very strong. She’s a very independent person. Cooking goes without saying—she can also fix water pipes and change light bulbs without problem. At work she’s extremely serious and hardworking, good at thinking and summarizing, never arrogant, able to calmly see the gap between herself and others and absorb others’ strengths. In personality she’s a very easygoing person. Even if others criticize her harshly, she never gets angry. Not delicate, willing to endure hardship, and very patient, with a kind of resilience.” Qian Heng’s voice was still as cold as usual as he calmly stated, “She is indeed still young, and many things she handles are still immature, but she has always been growing. She doesn’t need to rely on a man’s care to establish herself, and she herself doesn’t like living a life of dependence on others. She’s someone with ideas, goals, and dreams, and she can struggle to achieve them. She seems easy to talk to, but on matters of principle she’s stubborn and has a very obstinate temper. Eighty percent of the time she won’t turn back until she hits the southern wall.”

While Qian Heng was saying these things, Cheng Yao had just taken the baked desserts out of the oven and was about to return to the table. She paused in the kitchen, suddenly feeling a bit sweet inside, and also a bit sour.

So her efforts—Qian Heng had seen them all.

Although he usually seemed never to look at anyone properly, it turned out Qian Heng had always been quietly paying attention to her.

Qian Heng, whose every minute converted to 166.666… yuan, could say so many words for her in one breath. Cheng Yao only felt as if both calm and surging tides were washing through her heart.

In life, sometimes one cannot truly understand oneself. Cheng Yao had never expected that Qian Heng would understand her so accurately.

Being seen through like this mostly made one feel dangerous, yet if the other party was Qian Heng, Cheng Yao felt only moved. In front of him, she felt very safe.

The instigator who had thrown Cheng Yao’s heart into chaos, however, had no idea she was listening. He looked coldly at Xue Ming. “If you think Cheng Yao is more suited to being kept at home to support her husband and teach children, then you and she are not suitable.”

…

In that instant, Cheng Yao’s heart suddenly raced wildly. If there really were little deer in one’s heart, at this moment the deer would probably have crashed around so hard it had already crashed itself to death…

Hey, don’t even mention it—when Qian Heng protected his own, he was truly lethally handsome.

Fortunately, in the end she calmed her mood and facial expression before finally carrying the desserts over.

Unfortunately, Xue Ming was also a very resilient person. After Qian Heng’s round of attacks, he still wasn’t successfully dissuaded. He continued eating through the meal amid Qian Heng’s veiled sarcasm and cold mockery, and even showed clear intention of staying after the meal to continue chatting.

“Thank you for the hospitality tonight, Yaoyao.” Xue Ming was very enthusiastic. “I’ll wash the dishes and clean up.”

Cheng Yao would never let a guest wash dishes. She insisted, “I’ll do it. You sit and rest for a bit.”

Xue Ming’s calculations were quite good. If he insisted a bit more, the final result would most likely be the two of them cleaning the kitchen together. That way they could be alone, getting rid of Cheng Yao’s male colleague who looked quite good but was especially snide.

Things were indeed developing according to Xue Ming’s plan. Under pressure, Cheng Yao could only agree to let him help in the kitchen. But—

“Cheng Yao.” The man who had finished freeloading and was now sitting on the sofa with no intention of helping, watching them coldly, suddenly called Cheng Yao’s name.

“Eh?”

That man looked up at his watch. “I happen to have ten minutes.”

“If you want to discuss Li Mengting’s case with me…”

“I do have quite a few questions, but the kitchen isn’t cleaned up yet…”

Qian Heng glanced at Xue Ming, then looked at Cheng Yao. “Isn’t your friend volunteering to repay the peach with a plum by cleaning up alone to repay you for dinner?”

“…”

With words said to this point, no matter how unwilling Xue Ming was inside, for the sake of image he could only reluctantly and hypocritically say considerately, “Yaoyao, your work is important. Discuss with your colleague first. After the ten-minute discussion, once your colleague leaves, we still have plenty of time to chat. I’ll clean the kitchen.”

Xue Ming deliberately emphasized the words “ten minutes” and “once your colleague leaves,” consoling himself while also attempting to score a point back.

Unfortunately…

Unfortunately, the moment Cheng Yao entered work mode, she completely forgot herself.

“Property division under a cohabitation relationship is completely different from property division under a marital relationship. If they were married, then Zhang Hao’s personal income would all belong to joint property, and Li Mengting could divide it. But with only cohabitation, personal income generally belongs to the individual.”

Qian Heng pointed out the different principles of property division under cohabitation versus marital status very concisely. He lightly tapped the materials in his hand with his finger. “Given that Li Mengting and Zhang Hao’s cohabitation period wasn’t long either, the main joint property involved is the house the two of them jointly funded and purchased.”

After listening, Cheng Yao felt a bit emotional. “So the Marriage Law still has meaning. In a cohabitation relationship, even if two people live completely like a married couple—for example, the man earns money outside while the woman manages the household—just because there’s no marriage certificate, once they break up or the man cheats, the woman can get almost no economic compensation.”

In a cohabitation relationship, personal income still belongs to the individual, and the loyalty agreement is also invalid. So in so many years of cohabitation, most women truly served as free nannies while also satisfying the man’s physical needs, wasting their youth for nothing.

“The Marriage Law has meaning to begin with. Because of the marriage law and the marriage system, in the Dong Shan case, after Dong Shan died, half of all the joint marital property first belonged to Jiang Wenxiu. Only the remaining half was Dong Shan’s divisible estate, and that portion of the estate was then divided equally among Jiang Wenxiu, Dong Min, Dong Shan’s father, and Dong Shan’s illegitimate son. See—the bulk of the estate still flowed to the legal spouse and the legitimate children.”

Only at this point did Cheng Yao finally understand.

The line Dong Min had shouted after the first-instance trial—“The Marriage Law doesn’t protect marriage at all”—was actually incorrect.

Although the Marriage Law was still imperfect and had loopholes, in the greatest overall balance, what it tended to protect was still the rights and interests of the legal spouse and legitimate children. And because she lacked the protection of a marital relationship, Li Mengting was much more passive than Jiang Wenxiu.

Cheng Yao rallied twelve parts of her energy. “The house is the property Li Mengting and Zhang Hao originally intended as their marital home. They spent 4 million in full to buy it. From the bank statements Li Mengting provided, Li Mengting contributed 1.5 million, so the remaining 2.5 million was all contributed by Zhang Hao.”

Qian Heng scanned the materials. “For jointly owned real estate that is unsuitable for physical division, the court will consider actual living needs when dividing, but neither Zhang Hao nor Li Mengting’s family situations are such that losing this house would affect their lives. The greater likelihood is that the court will, according to the amount of contribution, prioritize allocating it to the one who contributed the larger share, while the other party receives monetary compensation according to their share of co-ownership.”

This was very unfavorable.

Nowadays housing prices were soaring. Even if Li Mengting received monetary compensation for her share at current market prices, according to the current real estate market, that money would in no way be enough for her to buy a new house. Unable to convert it into real estate, whether left in the bank or used to buy financial products, it faced depreciation. What’s more, why should her own original money be used for free to let the scumbag Zhang Hao lock in a house? Once the house was awarded to Zhang Hao, without even thinking, it would definitely be used as a love nest with that mistress.

But based on the evidence and information currently in hand, once a lawsuit for property division during the cohabitation period was filed, this was the most likely judgment outcome.

Cheng Yao and Qian Heng discussed, completely forgetting Xue Ming’s existence, leaving Xue Ming alone to finish cleaning the kitchen, then clean the living room. Half an hour passed, and Xue Ming had almost finished cleaning the entire house, yet Qian Heng was still clarifying the train of thought for Cheng Yao with no intention of ending whatsoever.

Xue Ming’s heart was simply filled with extreme indignation!

What happened to the ten minutes?!

Unwilling to give up, he waited another hour—

In the end Cheng Yao still showed no sign of remembering him. Instead, Qian Heng looked at him from on high with a light, floating glance.

Xue Ming didn’t quite know how to describe a person’s expression, but when he saw that look on Qian Heng’s face, three big characters immediately floated through his mind—scheming dick!

Although he wasn’t smiling, his entire face was full of the pleasure and smugness of a scheming dick who had succeeded!

Yet even though Xue Ming saw through the routine, he had no solution at all. In the end, until he truly couldn’t wait any longer and stood up to take his leave from Cheng Yao, Cheng Yao finally seemed to remember him and apologized all over the place.

And that scheming dick! That scheming dick even saw him to the door with a half-smile, saying “Take care” like a male host!

Xue Ming was almost so angry that smoke came out of his seven orifices! Turns out he had come over just like a door-to-door housekeeper cleaning the place! Housekeeper is fine, but this one didn’t even get paid! Pure freeloading!