Chapter 4

Chapter 4

When Yang Ru came to pick me up, he even brought a bouquet of carnations.

He always joked that they were “old lady flowers,” yet they just so happened to be my favorite.

Yang Ru said, all smug and irritating:

“Ah, what a pity. I didn’t get to see the look on President Chen’s face when he saw me bringing you flowers.”

I accepted the bouquet and shot him a look.

“You’re imagining things. He practically couldn’t even recognize me tonight.”

Yang Ru snorted.

“Fair. He’s not your average successful guy anymore. He’s in a completely different world than us.

Let me tell you-last time, this Senior Brother of his tried to go over and drum up some business. I tried setting an appointment so many times, and I still couldn’t book him.

I mean, even if I weren’t his college senior, I’m still one of the partners at Zhongda Law Firm. With that kind of status, I shouldn’t be unable to see him even once, right?”

It was the first time I’d heard him talk about this, and I was genuinely surprised.

Because in my previous life, those two had been so close they were basically inseparable.

So I seized the chance to rub salt in the wound.

“There’s that, huh? Funny-tonight he treated the old classmates like a model of perfection.

We’ve got a girl in our class named Zhao Xiaoyu. Chen Ming barely interacted with her back then, and tonight he flat-out didn’t remember who she was.

And yet he didn’t even ask questions-he directly handed her a huge project.

Zhao Xiaoyu just returned to work from maternity leave. She’d been worried she was about to get laid off.

Now? With a project from Chen Ming in her hands, she’ll probably be made director before long.”

Yang Ru slammed a hand on his thigh, furious.

“Damn it! Chen Ming is seriously shameless!”

I drawled, “Then maybe you should think carefully about where you offended him.”

Yang Ru looked utterly baffled.

“How have I ever offended him?

From the day you two joined the Debate Team, I was the senior leading the team. I practically had you both tied to my belt!

If I had to name one thing, it’d be that time-when you graduated in your senior year-I confessed to you.

But back then, weren’t you two already not speaking?

Before I confessed, I even tested the waters with Chen Ming on purpose!

He said it with a blank face: ‘Whatever.’

That’s why I made a move!”

Back when Chen Ming and I entered the Debate Team, Yang Ru was in his third year and served as captain.

The three of us quickly became an Iron Triangle.

Later, when my relationship with Chen Ming ended and I went alone to the UK to study, Yang Ru saw me off at the airport. Before I boarded, he asked:

“Zhang Yue, once you’ve gone abroad and forgotten Chen Ming… do you think there’s any chance for us?”

I shook my head without hesitation.

“I’m sorry. You’re not my type.”

Even so, over the years, we kept the relationship as close friends.

After I returned to China, I entered Zhongda through his referral.

He used to be my senior; now he was my boss. But in private, we were still the best kind of troublemaking friends.

Faced with Yang Ru’s pent-up complaints, I could only try to soothe him.

“He wouldn’t look at you differently because of me. We’ve had nothing to do with each other for a long time.

Maybe he really just couldn’t fit it into his schedule.”

Only then did Yang Ru finally settle down.

After a while, he spoke again-but this time, it was business.

“Do you know about Juyuan’s plan to go public?

It’s just a bit of wind right now and not confirmed yet, but if you ask me, it’s nine times out of ten going to happen.”

I nodded.

“I’ve heard some talk.”

Yang Ru’s tone turned serious.

“Zhang Yue, you only just came back, and I don’t want to pile pressure on you.

You’re the Legal Counsel I personally hired. I trust your knowledge and ability.

But you know our line of work-what people value most is hands-on results.

No matter how dazzling your degrees are, you still need a real case-a real fight-to prove you can sit steadily in the Legal Counsel seat here at Zhongda.”

Then he turned, flashing a huge grin and tacking on:

“Of course, if you’re willing to marry me and stay home to take care of the family, pretend I never said any of that!”

I almost didn’t catch what he was driving at.

“You mean… you want me to go win the IPO engagement for Juyuan Technology?”

Yang Ru put away the grin and nodded, dead serious.

I gave him an enormous eye roll.

But since he was my boss, I still answered with professional restraint and laid it out plainly.

“With Juyuan’s size, a case this big is something even a Red Circle Firm would have to strain to take down.

Zhongda has been riding a strong wave these past few years, sure.

But what we’re good at is traditional commercial work. In the new-tech space, we don’t have any showpiece track record at all.

What are we going to use to negotiate with them?

Even if my doctoral thesis was titled ‘An Inquiry into Intellectual Property in Artificial Intelligence,’ and it happens to align with Juyuan’s business…

Chen Ming built his company to this scale. Do you really think he’d entrust something that could decide the company’s life or death to someone who just joined and doesn’t even qualify as an ex-girlfriend?

Besides, the moment news of a super-case like this leaks out, the top legal teams worldwide will swarm in.

There’s no way it would ever be our turn.”

Yang Ru’s brows knit so tightly they nearly formed a deep crease.

He thought for a long time. Then he sighed again and again, finally acknowledging how unrealistic his fantasy had been.

Zhongda was something he’d inherited from an old upperclassman from A University. It wasn’t first-tier, but it was still an elite firm that stood out.

In my previous life, a few years later, the economic climate was reshuffled overnight, and traditional commercial casework all but dried up.

Even after amputating limbs to survive, Zhongda could only barely keep its head above water.

Thankfully, in that previous life, Chen Ming eventually resigned from academia and, at Yang Ru’s invitation, joined Zhongda.

With his deep grounding in legal theory, he led Zhongda to carve out a path in technological intellectual property.

In this life, Chen Ming pushed the development of the AI field forward earlier, so Yang Ru also caught the scent of crisis earlier.

And I, through a twist of fate-accidental, and yet inevitable-ended up walking Chen Ming’s old road, becoming Zhongda’s Legal Counsel.