Chapter 67: “Now I think that office romances aren’t entirely unacceptable.”

Once she entered case-analysis mode, Cheng Yao simply could not stop. She absorbed everything from Qian Heng like a sponge drinking water. Only after she had sorted through every clue did she realize they had already been discussing for two full hours without noticing.

A full two hours!

Even Qian Heng’s clients with cases worth hundreds of millions probably never received this kind of treatment!

For a moment, Cheng Yao was so moved that her eyes almost grew wet.

Because they had been so focused on discussing the case, neither Cheng Yao nor Qian Heng had paid attention to the desserts. Only now did they notice that at some point Xue Ming had finished every last one.

Qian Heng took a sip of water, then looked at the empty dessert tray on the table. “I didn’t get to eat a single one.”

Cheng Yao, however, smiled. Even though it was just the two of them, she still deliberately lowered her voice and spoke sneakily. “I secretly saved some for you!”

After saying that, she bounced off toward the kitchen like a rabbit. When she came back out, she was holding a small plate of baked cakes as if by magic.

“Just now I was afraid you wouldn’t have time to eat while explaining the case to me, so I set aside your portion in advance.” Cheng Yao presented the desserts to Qian Heng like offering treasure, her tone full of seeking credit. “This is the brownie—it’s my specialty. This cheesecake takes a lot of time to make; it has to chill in the fridge overnight, but the cheese flavor is very rich. I only made a few of these fruit tarts because they’re small, so I didn’t even take them out for Xue Ming earlier.” At this point Cheng Yao lifted her head and gave Qian Heng a radiant smile. “I specially saved them for you, Boss.”

Cheng Yao’s smile was pure and focused, yet under the stare of her bright, sparkling eyes, and hearing her say she had specially saved them for him, that feeling of irregular heartbeat returned to Qian Heng.

Palpitations, fluster, helplessness. In that instant, his emotions seemed no longer under his own control, but moved according to Cheng Yao’s every frown and smile.

“Last time you said the brownie I made was too sweet and you didn’t like it, so this time I used dark chocolate and halved the sugar in the recipe.” Cheng Yao remained completely unaware and continued smiling at Qian Heng. “Boss, try it. You should like this one. I specially adjusted it to your taste.”

Damn it.

Qian Heng almost lost composure and wanted to clutch his chest. The heart palpitations that had just barely eased started up again.

At this point, even he could no longer deceive himself. It had never been a heart problem—he had simply been enchanted.

Qian Heng glared at Cheng Yao almost fiercely, his mind in chaos.

It was definitely because Cheng Yao was always bouncing around in front of him, always having improper thoughts about him, even daring to send him that kind of gift, and now staring at him with such naked eyes.

That he had become like this was absolutely Cheng Yao’s fault.

But since Cheng Yao was so bitterly in love with him, Qian Heng felt she was rather pitiful. If she was sincere enough, trying things out with her wasn’t completely out of the question.

He ate a piece of brownie to calm down a little, then cleared his throat and decided to give Cheng Yao a hint. “I’ve been thinking… actually, office romance doesn’t necessarily have to affect work efficiency.”

Cheng Yao looked up, very surprised by this sudden topic. “Hm?”

Qian Heng quickly swept a glance at her, then just as quickly looked away. “I’ve carefully considered it. Matters of romance involve personal freedom. We can’t simply ban it across the board just because people are in the same firm. As long as the boundaries are handled properly and everyone exercises self-restraint and propriety, it’s not completely unacceptable.”

Although Cheng Yao found this baffling, she thought that once Qian Heng opened this door, Wang Lu and Li Minglei could be together openly. That was actually pretty good.

She agreed. “Yeah, as long as it doesn’t affect work. Everyone has a sense of propriety.”

“Mm.”

Qian Heng simply nodded, then said nothing more, only looking at Cheng Yao.

Cheng Yao felt a bit puzzled under his stare. On the topic of office romance, however, she felt she had nothing more to say. Unable to figure out what Qian Heng meant, she wisely chose to stay quiet.

Silence spread between them for a while.

Cheng Yao had nothing left to say, yet Qian Heng seemed to be waiting for her to say something. He kept staring at her. His gaze went from light and casual at first, to slightly puzzled later, then became somewhat agitated and restless, and finally turned into a fierce glare.

“Cheng Yao, do you have nothing else to say?”

Cheng Yao: ???

She looked at Qian Heng and probed carefully, “Is there something I should say?”

Qian Heng’s expression looked a bit ugly. He spoke word by word as if holding back his temper. “After you gave me the birthday gift last time, don’t you have anything else you want to say?”

Cheng Yao was confused. “No.”

“…”

She didn’t know if it was her imagination, but after she spoke, Qian Heng’s face seemed to darken a little more.

She thought about it. Could it be that after giving a gift one still needed to follow up on the boss’s feedback about the gift? So that next year on the boss’s birthday she could give something more to his liking?

“Boss, did you like the gift?”

“When I first received it, I didn’t really like it.” Qian Heng primly pressed his lips together. “Now I feel that after all it was your sincere intention. Although it was a bit too exaggerated, I can feel your feelings. I’ll consider it.”

Cheng Yao felt a bit nervous. The gift actually wasn’t to his liking? What did he need to consider? Whether to give her a raise or not?

She hurriedly said, “Then what kind of gift do you like, Boss?”

Qian Heng cleared his throat and looked into the distance. “Something more restrained, low-key, and understated.”

“Okay, okay.”

Cheng Yao thought, Anyway there’s still a year until next year’s birthday. I’ll think about what a low-key, understated, and restrained gift is after a year.

Once the case discussion was finished, Cheng Yao naturally didn’t dare waste another minute of Qian Heng’s time that converted to 166.666… yuan. She thoughtfully packed the remaining uneaten desserts for him, then considerately said, “Boss, I’ve already wasted your whole evening. You’re so busy with countless affairs every day—you probably still have work to handle when you get back. If you have things to do, just go. Oh, and take these desserts with you. You can eat them when you stay up late working overtime.”

Qian Heng gave Cheng Yao a complicated look, then turned his head away. “I don’t have any overtime tonight.”

“Oh oh! That’s really rare! You must want to hurry home to shower, sleep, and rest!” Cheng Yao said apologetically. “It’s all my fault for keeping you discussing for so long.”

Qian Heng cleared his throat. In the ambiguous light, the side of his face seemed to carry a faint flush. “It wasn’t that long. If you still want to discuss, it’s not impossible.”

“There’s nothing left!” Cheng Yao said gratefully. “Everything is sorted out now! After I see you off, I’ll go meet Li Mengting, communicate the new case approach with her, and double-check some information about the property.”

“…”

Qian Heng paused, then said as if naturally, “Should I drive you? It might be on the way.”

“It’s not on the way at all. Your villa and the place Li Mengting is living now are completely opposite directions.”

Qian Heng paused, then looked away and said steadily, “Oh, I’m not going back to my own villa.” He cleared his throat. “I’m going to my parents’ place tonight. Their place happens to be in the opposite direction from my villa, so it should be on the way to Li Mengting’s.”

Cheng Yao couldn’t ask for more. She quickly told him the address of the hotel.

The roads were empty at night, and the two of them soon arrived at the hotel.

Qian Heng, who should have said goodbye, didn’t drive away. He parked the car and got out together with Cheng Yao.

“Boss?”

Qian Heng said naturally, “Oh, my parents just texted me saying they have a dinner gathering tonight and haven’t returned yet. I didn’t bring the house keys. Going back would just mean waiting at the door anyway, so I might as well go with you. I can supervise whether your communication with the client is diligent or overstepping, as reference for year-end evaluation scoring.”

Cheng Yao nodded. With the case in front of her, she didn’t overthink it. She simply brought Qian Heng upstairs with her. Before entering, she had him wait outside while she first went in to inform Li Mengting that Qian Heng was also visiting. Only after obtaining her consent did she welcome Qian Heng in together.

Li Mengting was her classmate and friend, but at this moment she was her client—a pregnant client whose emotions could become sensitive at any time. At a time like this, without first obtaining her consent, even if it was Qian Heng, Cheng Yao should not casually bring him in to meet her without notice.

After entering the room, Cheng Yao didn’t waste time. She informed Li Mengting one by one of the results of tonight’s discussion with Qian Heng, including the situation she might face.

Although it was hard to accept, many things did not change according to one’s will.

Li Mengting indeed found it very hard to accept. “Why is it like this? Even though we didn’t get a marriage certificate, we lived together and even had a child. Why doesn’t the law protect this kind of situation?” Her tone was full of disappointment and anger. “It’s so ironic. I myself graduated from law school, yet when I encounter this kind of clearly unfair treatment, I can’t even protect my own rights.”

“Not to mention someone like me in a cohabitation relationship—even for those who cheat during marriage, cheating isn’t necessarily a reason that guarantees the cheating party gets less property in a divorce. It completely depends on the judge’s discretion and free judgment.” Li Mengting’s face was ashen. “Yaoyao, this kind of law is completely imperfect. It simply cannot practically protect the rights of the weaker party—women—in gender relations. Look, facing this situation, I as a law student have no way, and you as a professional lawyer also have no way. Then what’s the point of us studying law? We can’t even protect ourselves?”

Cheng Yao choked for a moment. For a while she didn’t know how to answer.

“Your four years of legal education were truly wasted.”

Just as Cheng Yao was struggling, Qian Heng’s cold voice rang out.

Li Mengting paused and looked toward this legendary “toxic tumor of the industry.”

Qian Heng was as cold as ever. He only lightly swept a glance at Li Mengting. “The law only helps the vigilant, not the lazy. Haven’t you heard this legal maxim?”

“Many people, because they don’t understand the law, or although they understand a little law, have not realized its importance, fail to plan their actions from a legal mindset and perspective when handling disputes in life and work. In the end, facing litigation, they discover they never managed to take actions that were legally advantageous to themselves, or failed to protect evidence, and either didn’t know to hire a lawyer or couldn’t afford one, ultimately only able to face the outcome of losing the case or even suffering legal sanctions.”

Qian Heng’s voice was calm and without much human warmth, yet every word struck directly at Li Mengting’s heart. “These people, limited by their origins, never even had the opportunity to receive legal education. They don’t understand the law and don’t realize its existence. Although the root cause is not their own fault, that cannot be used as an excuse to escape the binding force and sanctions of the law. Written law has a lagging nature and cannot be perfected to the point of completely keeping pace with the times. But written law exists in black and white. Even if it is imperfect, it is still a set of compulsory social rules. Whether you recognize it or not, this set of rules objectively exists. You are a person who has received a university education. Attacking or refusing to recognize the law, besides venting a bit of emotion, what use does it have for your real life? If you don’t recognize it, does that law cease to exist? Does it no longer apply to you? Or if you don’t recognize it, can you immediately change it?”

“I truly find it hard to imagine that you not only received a university education but also four years of legal education. The greatest significance of studying law shouldn’t be to vigilantly realize the existence of the law, learn it, master it, and make it serve you—doing sufficient prior relief before disputes even occur, calmly controlling future risks, and protecting yourself?”

Li Mengting was stunned.

Qian Heng rubbed his brow, looking very troubled. “The greatest advantage that distinguishes law students from others should be the ability to use the law to avoid risks in advance, not waiting until something happens to think about remedies, and then discovering there’s no way to remedy it and starting to curse the law for being unreasonable.”

Although Qian Heng’s words were harsh, they were completely correct.

A shameful and embarrassed expression appeared on Li Mengting’s face. “I… I didn’t study law that well either. I still haven’t passed the judicial exam…”

She had already spoken to this extent, which counted as admitting her own problems. Ordinary people would stop here, but Qian Heng was clearly not an ordinary person…

“It’s not a problem of studying law poorly. It’s that you never transformed from an ordinary person’s thinking to a legal professional’s thinking. You just lived muddle-headedly by instinct, content with the status quo, muddling through, going with the flow, not economically independent, completely unalert to future risks, and too lazy to think about how to use the law to avoid risks and protect yourself.”

Li Mengting, a pregnant woman, was almost brought to tears by the words. Yet Qian Heng still unhurriedly added another cut. “So right now it’s not Cheng Yao, and it’s not me—it’s you who is facing this predicament.”

Li Mengting finally burst into tears with a “wa,” yet she surprisingly held no grudge against Qian Heng for stabbing her so many times. She only sobbed, “Lawyer Qian, thank you for the advice. You’ve always been the… the invincible legend of the industry. I wanted to ask, for this case, if you give some guidance, can I get the house?”

Not only Li Mengting—Cheng Yao also looked at Qian Heng full of expectation. Qian Heng had so nobly and coldly criticized Li Mengting for a full ten minutes. Presumably after the criticism, he must have some winning strategy prepared, first suppressing then elevating?

Instead, Qian Heng raised an eyebrow with a completely matter-of-fact expression. “I’m not a deity. With the way you played this board of chess in the early stages, I have no room left to remedy it at all.”

“…”

“It depends on whether your opponent later messes up this board of chess themselves and makes a major blunder.”

Because of Qian Heng’s round of blows, Cheng Yao had to spend another ten minutes comforting Li Mengting before they finally left.

Tonight’s Qian Heng was a bit strange.

Normally, even when facing clients with cases worth hundreds of millions or over a billion, he would report only when there was business and withdraw when there was none, hating to say even one extra word unless he could charge for it. Yet today, facing Li Mengting’s case whose subject amount was so small he wouldn’t even glance at it, Qian Heng had actually said so much.

Especially these words—looking at the current situation of the case, they couldn’t reverse anything either.

“Boss, next time you see Li Mengting, don’t strike her like that again. She’s a pregnant woman after all…”

Qian Heng coldly snorted, unconcerned. “Precisely because she’s a pregnant woman, she should face the cruel reality even more. In the future, as a single mother of dragon-phoenix twins, without any particularly outstanding previous workplace experience or résumé, do you think her life will be easier than now? As a mother, she must be stronger than she is now. She can’t even take this little blow? Then why have children at all, why be a single mother?”

Cheng Yao scratched her head. “Then you could say it in a different way.”

Qian Heng focused on driving and said nothing.

Only after the Bentley turned a corner did Cheng Yao hear his voice again.

“I only said it because she’s your friend.”

Cheng Yao’s heart paused.

“Otherwise, do you think I would waste my time?”

Qian Heng’s voice was cold, yet Cheng Yao felt she heard warmth in it. She covered her mouth and smiled.

“Don’t overthink it. Just treat it purely as a thank-you gift for your dinner tonight.” Qian Heng became unnatural. After speaking, he pressed his lips tightly together again.

…

Not long after, Cheng Yao heard his voice again—

“According to my rates, just now I spoke for at least a quarter of an hour. On top of that I sat in and accompanied you to meet the client for half an hour, and the round-trip driving took another half hour. Even if we discount the travel time by half, I should still normally charge ten thousand.”

Qian Heng’s tone was casual and light. He glanced at Cheng Yao in the passenger seat with his peripheral vision, his tone full of implication. “Courtesy demands reciprocity. Your dinner and desserts—I’m not like some people who actually think cleaning the place can offset it. Even if I call professional cleaners to clean the entire house for a full day, it only costs a little over a thousand yuan. Hmph. Your seafood table tonight, plus your labor, is worth more than a thousand.”

“…”

If Cheng Yao still hadn’t quite reacted earlier, by this moment she fully understood.

Qian Heng was probably afraid she would truly become immersed in romance and lose interest in work, so he desperately hinted at Xue Ming’s shortcomings, hoping Cheng Yao would rein herself in before it was too late.

Regarding his worries, Cheng Yao felt she must immediately dispel them.

“Boss! Don’t worry! I’ve thought it through now! Within two years! I absolutely will not date!”

…

After hearing her guarantee, Qian Heng’s expression surprisingly did not clear up. Instead it became somewhat complicated and subtle. He was silent for a moment before saying, “This two-year time frame isn’t set in stone either.” Qian Heng cleared his throat. “If it’s truly a special kind of liking, the kind you can’t control, dating within two years isn’t completely impossible either.”

Cheng Yao recalled Qian Heng’s previous hardline attitude forbidding her from dating within two years, then compared it to his current understanding, and her heart was moved to pieces.

Her boss, although toxic, after getting along for a long time, was actually so human toward his subordinates!

How else could she repay him? Of course by not dating, focusing on work, and building socialism to repay him!

Cheng Yao immediately declared, “No need, Boss. I’ve thought it over these past two days. Love is like passing clouds and smoke—too short-lived. Only work and money are eternal. I’ve decided to devote my limited life to unlimited work! I won’t even date until I become Partner Cheng!”

“…”

After this guarantee, Qian Heng was probably so moved that even he, who was usually so eloquent, was touched into silence.

He simply kept a stiff face and continued driving, lips pressed tightly together, remaining silent as if afraid that one careless moment would leak the moved feelings inside him. Probably to keep Cheng Yao from figuring him out, he forced himself to hold back any moved expression and continued looking black-faced. It only made one feel that this partner was truly unfathomable.

Even after Qian Heng dropped her off at home, Cheng Yao couldn’t help sighing that she still needed to keep working hard before becoming Partner Cheng. Just looking at how Qian Heng seemed angry but was actually pleased, able to hide his true emotions everywhere and remain unreadable—she still didn’t qualify!