Chapter 232 - 135: The Fury of a Common Man, Blood Splatters Five Paces

"Perhaps... we could wait until after the 23rd to pay the deposit?"

But Xu De countered, "You said it yourself, the case is important. Why should I trust you without any guarantee whatsoever!?"

His words were logical and convincing.

At the same time, Xu De added,

"Of course, I just want a show of good faith. The actual amount doesn’t matter."

"Lawyer Sun... if you can’t come up with anything, then there’s no need to continue this discussion. Lanhua Law Firm clearly has no sincerity!"

Seeing this, Sun Jianshan started to panic.

’If I mess up something this important...’

’What will happen to my future!?’

’My dream of getting a promotion and a raise, of first becoming a mid-level manager and then clawing my way into the executive ranks—won’t it all be for nothing!?’

’This is such a great opportunity...’

’Besides, he just wants a show of good faith. He doesn’t even care how much money it is...’

At this thought, Sun Jianshan gritted his teeth and pulled a card from his wallet.

"Lawyer Xu, this can serve as the deposit. It’s not a lot of money. The PIN is 17652xx. There’s eighty thousand in there."

"I’ll sort things out with the firm later."

"Rest assured, Lanhua Law Firm’s sincerity is absolutely genuine!"

Staring at the bank card that had been slid across the table, Xu De paused for a moment, then calmly pocketed it.

"Mm."

Seeing this, a look of delighted surprise appeared on Sun Jianshan’s face, and he immediately stood up.

"Excellent, Lawyer Xu! I’ll head back to my firm right away and get everything arranged for you!"

With that, he hurried out the door.

’Eighty thousand? It was only eighty thousand. He would use this eighty thousand to secure a brilliant future for himself!’

Watching his retreating figure, Xu De, still in the lounge, narrowed his eyes, a dangerous glint in their depths.

「A moment later.」

"You’re going to sell the firm?"

A soft, questioning voice spoke up.

Xu De turned to see Lin Yue. He didn’t know when she’d arrived in the lobby, but she had obviously overheard their conversation.

"I was looking for you and saw you weren’t in your room, so I came to the lobby on the off-chance you’d be here," Lin Yue explained.

She then sat down beside Xu De, looking at him with a puzzled expression.

"I’m not selling," Xu De said.

"Not selling?"

"Then what are we going to do?"

Lin Yue frowned and fell silent.

"The situation is obvious now. Lanhua wants to swoop in and reap the benefits, to swallow our firm whole... It’s a hostile takeover."

"If you don’t sell, Feng Ji will find a way to sabotage our bid for the classic case selection."

’To save the nomination, he would have to sell... and that meant selling the firm’s people, even Xu De himself, to Lanhua Law Firm!’

They hadn’t given him a choice from the very beginning.

It was either become their dog or die.

’Confront Lanhua Law Firm head-on?’

’What a joke.’

"Lanhua Law Firm is ranked... thirteenth in the country. If you don’t count the Red Circle Firms, they’re fourth. Right now, we probably couldn’t even break the top thousand..."

Xu De murmured, as if talking in his sleep.

Lanhua was too big.

The firm was a veritable behemoth, a colossal tree with roots dug deep into Qingwu Province. There was no chance of fighting back.

Scale, capital, case history, honors, reputation, personnel, quality...

Lanhua Law Firm crushed them on every single front!

’Resist?’

’Resistance was impossible. Outside the context of this review committee, Feng Ji could probably crush their firm with a single word.’

In fact, even if Xu De gave up on the selection and just went home... Feng Ji might still target their firm simply because he was in a bad mood, or because he felt someone had defied him.

A hostile takeover.

The only path left was to cut off their tail to survive.

"So we’re going to be absorbed by Lanhua?" Lin Yue asked, her voice laced with worry.

She was already wondering if she should ask Lin Guodong to intervene. Perhaps there was still a chance.

"No!"

Xu De took a deep breath, fury blazing in his eyes.

"We..."

"Are going to blow this whole thing wide open!"

Lin Yue was stunned, not quite understanding what he meant.

"Blocking our firm’s path, the strong bullying the weak, abusing their power... they can only pull that off as long as everyone plays by the rules and no one flips the table."

"The 23rd... Heh..."

Xu De suddenly seemed like a stick of dynamite, ready to explode. He was like an unhinged fanatic, willing to drag everyone down to hell with him at the slightest provocation.

The sight of him now was even a little frightening to Lin Yue.

Then, Xu De pulled out the bank card and stared at it, his voice tight with an unprecedented fury.

’Ranked thirteenth in the country, fourth if you exclude the Red Circle Firms? The big bullying the little guy who can’t even break the top thousand?’

’I’m not allowed to play fair, just forced to take the money and walk away?’

’Fine. Then nobody gets to play.’

"On the 23rd, during the review of the Li Family Village case, we’re going to war with Lanhua!"

"After all, I’m just a small firm that can’t even crack the top thousand nationwide. So what if the entire province ends up hating me, furious with me, or even drives me out? It doesn’t matter. The firm’s only been around for half a year."

"I’ve got nothing to lose."

"But Lanhua Law Firm, on the other hand..."

Xu De took a deep breath, his gaze turning deadly serious.

"I’d like to see just how you, the supposed fourth-best law firm in the nation outside of the Red Circle..."

"Can bear the responsibility for skewing the entire judicial direction of Qingwu Province for your own selfish gain!"

...