Chapter 62 - 53: 400,000, Terminate the Contract

"Lawyer Xu, are you short on cash? I can invest four hundred thousand on my end. And if you need cases, I... You don’t? Okay, okay, I’ll pay you a formal visit another day!"

Lusen City.

On a construction site where factory sheds were being built.

Zhang Hu, wearing a white hard hat, stood out in the open and hung up his phone.

Seeing this, a dark-skinned man, about five-foot-seven and a head shorter than him, came over.

"What’s this about four hundred thousand? Zhang, you got another order?" Sun Zhigang asked.

"No, it’s about that lawyer I told you about before. Let me tell you, my take on him is... that man is destined for much greater things!" Zhang Hu said.

"Heh, four hundred thousand? And he turned it down without a second thought!?" Sun Zhigang asked in disbelief.

"Four hundred thousand is nothing!"

Zhang Hu felt a wave of emotion. He was willing to spend a lot of money just to get on good terms with Xu De.

But it would have been absolutely worth the money!

Unfortunately, the man didn’t want it... He wouldn’t even take free money. The only way to build a relationship was by commissioning his services.

At this thought, he turned his head and looked at Sun Zhigang beside him.

"Old Sun, how about I introduce you to this lawyer?"

Upon hearing this,

Sun Zhigang let out a coarse laugh.

"Give me a break. I work construction. The only time I’d need a lawyer is if something goes wrong on site."

"Sounds like you’re trying to jinx me!"

He and Zhang Hu were childhood friends. But with his family’s help, the other man had started a company right out of college, while he himself had chosen to work construction after finishing middle school.

At five-foot-seven and over two hundred and twenty pounds, he was heavyset, with dark, rough skin. He was a quintessential boorish, middle-aged man, and not easy on the eyes either.

After so many years of work, he had actually managed to establish himself in Lusen City, starting a company that was even larger in scale than Zhang Hu’s!

However, this had also given him the air of a nouveau riche landlord.

"Heh, no good deed goes unpunished."

The two of them bantered.

And at that very moment...

THUMP!

A sudden sound jolted him back to reality.

Sun Zhigang frowned, turning to look. He then walked toward the source of the sound, where a few figures had gathered.

"Move! Move aside!"

Sun Zhigang shoved his way through the crowd.

There, he saw an overweight woman collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath. Beside her was a three-wheeled pushcart, its contents of freshly mixed cement now spilled all over the ground.

The woman was in her forties, with plain looks and graying hair. She stood around five-foot-two, was heavily built, and had the distinct air of a country peasant. She wore a worker’s camouflage uniform and was covered in cement dust, her hands thick with calluses.

If one looked closely, the angle of one of her legs was odd; she clearly had a limp.

Seeing this, Sun Zhigang’s face immediately twisted with anger.

"Cripple, how many times has this been this month!?"

"Can’t you even push a damn cart? Are you doing this just to piss me off!?"

He held nothing back, berating her in front of everyone.

"Did your bad back act up again? Why the fuck don’t you take half a month off to get it treated!? You think you can afford to pay for delaying my business?"

Hearing this,

Panic filled Zhao Li’s dark, sun-peeled face. After getting to her feet, she forced a cautious and timid smile and said:

"Foreman, my kid’s a high school senior with exams next year. I... I want to buy them an air conditioner, so they won’t be cold doing homework when winter comes, and they won’t be hot in the summer..."

An air conditioner?

At her words, Sun Zhigang’s anger only intensified. He pointed a finger in her face and cursed.

"Air conditioner my ass!"

"Needs an air conditioner just to do homework? Homework my ass! Just burn some coal..."

Zhao Li shrank back. A woman in her forties, being cursed at and pointed at in the middle of a crowd.

After a long moment,

Sun Zhigang finally turned to the onlookers and roared, "Scram! What’s there to see? Is all your work finished!?"

"A bunch of lazy bastards, every one of you!"

The crowd scattered, leaving only Zhao Li.

"You, scram! Are you just standing there waiting to die!?"

Sun Zhigang glared at Zhao Li, spraying spittle as he yelled.

Zhao Li opened her mouth, but no words came out. She could only lower her head and limp toward the construction site exit, hobbling with each step.

But she hadn’t taken more than a few steps before his voice sounded from behind her again.

"Is your fucking brain stuffed with shit!?"

She looked back.

Sun Zhigang’s face was flushed with even deeper rage, his chest heaving. He continued to curse as he said:

"Where do you think you’re going? Go find Engineer Liu and have him put you on cleaning duty. You’ll get your usual pay."

"Fucking idiot."

Hearing this,

Zhao Li was stunned for a moment. Hope surged in her heart once more, and her wrinkles squeezed into an awkward, cautious smile. She replied hurriedly:

"Oh, okay, I’ll go do it. I’ll go..."

With that, she began to wobble off to find the engineer.

But...

"Did I fucking tell you to go right now!?"

Sun Zhigang roared again.

Then, a reluctant expression appeared on his face as he pulled his wallet from his pocket.

ZZZZIP!

He yanked the wallet’s zipper open, revealing some cash inside.

Sun Zhigang shot her a glance, reluctantly pulled out a few large bills from inside, and threw them at her.

"Here’s your pay for a full day’s work."

"Consider the rest of it my shitty luck, like I owed you in a past life. Take it and get that busted back of yours looked at. Don’t go and have something happen just to blame my site again!"

"If this happens again... I’ll fucking string you up on a crane and parade you through the streets!"

Zhao Li managed an embarrassed smile, her dark, rough face stained with corrosive cement, looking utterly timid.

She didn’t know what to say. She squatted down to pick up the money, then looked at Sun Zhigang and whispered a quiet, "Thanks," before limping away, leaving only the sight of her five-foot-two, heavyset back.

Sun Zhigang let out a deep breath and turned around.

There, he saw Zhang Hu, sitting in the shadows and watching him with an unreadable smile.

Seeing this,

Sun Zhigang started walking toward him, grumbling and cursing as he went:

"Damn it, this bunch of morons. You don’t chew them out, they can’t do a single thing right..."

As for Zhao Li...

Zhao Li didn’t take the money to a hospital. After a moment’s hesitation and some quick mental calculation, she went to a roadside clinic and bought some medicinal plasters for her back.

Next, she went to the wet market to buy some beef ribs before returning home. She reached out, and the door swung open.

CREAK~

The door opened to reveal a simple, two-bedroom rental apartment. The inside was a bit of a mess.

In the cramped living room, a slender girl of about five-foot-three, dressed in a school uniform, came into view.

The girl had delicate features but exuded an air of solitude. Her head was bowed, short hair obscuring her face, and she seemed quiet and withdrawn.

Noticing the sound, she looked up, as if about to say something.

But in the next second...

"Lele, what a coincidence! The foreman gave Mom some extra pay today, and it’s the day you get home from school."

A trace of tenderness unconsciously appeared on Zhao Li’s previously timid face.

Her heavyset body limped along as she carried the plastic bag toward the kitchen, saying as she went:

"You and your brother are having ribs tonight. Eat up so you can grow big and strong. Then Mom will buy you that air conditioner, and after your college entrance exams, you won’t have to end up like me..."

Watching her retreating back,

Yang Jiale, who had been about to say something, moved her lips for a moment before ultimately lowering her head in silence.

「At the same time.」

...

...

Torch Road, Jinmao Law Firm.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

Xu De hung up the phone. He looked up at Director Han, who was sitting in front of him, and smiled.

"You see, Director, you don’t need to worry about the registered capital. You’re worrying for nothing..."

"I have more than enough funds."