CH 33

Fu Zheng put on the ring. It felt very natural, so much so that after his shower, as he was drying his hair, he glanced at his finger to find that he had been wearing the Cartier the whole time. Examining his hand carefully, he felt like it didn't look half bad at all to wear it. It reminded him of Ning Wan.

He couldn't help but chuckle. She really had an out of the box approach to things. She could even think up something like wearing a wedding ring to avoid being hit on in the community...

Fu Zheng felt like he should do something to repay Ning Wan's seven or eight thousand yuan on this Cartier. After some thought, he opened his email...

Shortly after he finished writing an email to Ning Wan, the phone rang. It was Gao Yuan with some questions about his current M&A case. Fu Zheng analyzed the case with him, then made some casual small-talk. In the end, it began getting late, and Fu Zheng forgot about the ring again, finally going to bed with it still on.

Completely against Fu Zheng's expectations, however, fate changed in a single night...

The next day, Fu Zheng was awakened by an itch on his finger. To be precise, it was both tingling and itchy. When he glanced down bleary-eyed, his first reaction was to wonder if he was still dreaming--

How had his long, beautiful finger become so thick and swollen, red and green?

Fu Zheng rubbed his eyes disbelievingly, but even after his sight cleared, the swollen, ugly finger was still there. In fact, the tingling and itching was getting worse...

It really was his finger!

All around the Cartier ring, any skin that touched it had become red and swollen, and when he lightly stroked it, it felt itchy...

What poor quality garbage was Cartier selling!?!

Fu Zheng yanked off the ring in a fury, then got up and washed. Some luxury brands were really going too far nowadays. There must have been something wrong with the metal the ring was made of that was causing a skin allergy.

As for Cartier, Fu Zheng decided that he would sue its executives until even their own mothers wouldn't recognize them.

When Ning Wan arrived at the office, Fu Zheng was already in his seat, his expression rather gloomy. It looked like the last calm before the Big Boss Villain in a video game became violent. He was hammering hard at his keyboard with his right hand as if to let off steam. Ning Wan leaned over curiously--

"An indictment? Who are you suing?"

Fu Zheng replied shortly, "Cartier."

Why sue Cartier? What did Cartier do?

Before Ning Wan could ask in detail, Fu Zheng looked to her and said, "Please show me the sales invoice, product verification certificate and warranty manual for the ring you bought for me yesterday."

? ? ?

Was Fu Zheng dreaming in broad daylight? She had bought it at a roadside stall for fifty yuan. Where would she get a sales invoice, product certificate and warranty manual???

Fu Zheng looked away when he saw her at a loss, and awkwardly said, "I know you're not at fault for this. Don't worry. I know you meant well by buying me a Cartier, and I accept your intentions. It's not your fault that there was a problem with the quality, but since we're lawyers, we have to defend our rights."

? ? ?

Fu Zheng didn't pay attention to Ning Wan's vacant look. He bit his lip and continued, "On the bright side, this isn't a bad thing. If the brand like Cartier has enough quality issues to cause a skin allergy, I'm sure that I'll get a a hefty amount in recompense. If nothing else, it can go to the court of public opinion..."

Unfortunately, all the while Fu Zheng was looking determined to get revenge, Ning Wan seemed to be completely blanking out. "Fu Zheng, do you have a fever? What nonsense are you talking about?"

"..." Fu Zheng paused, as if he didn't want to say it, but at last he had no other choice. "The Cartier ring you bought for me... after I wore it yesterday, I had an allergic reaction..."

The question marks Ning Wan had had in her mind before turned into a string of exclamation marks.

Fu Zheng was allergic??? No, wait, when had she bought a Cartier ring for Fu Zheng??? Or did allergies lead to insanity???

But the most important thing was Fu Zheng's health. "Allergic? Where?" Ning Wan demanded anxiously. "Let me see!"

Fu Zheng seemed a little uncomfortable. "Forget it, there's nothing to see. I'll go to the hospital later to confirm that it's a skin allergy caused by the ring..."

Since it was an allergy caused by the ring, it must be on his hand! Ning Wan assessed Fu Zheng's sitting posture, only his right hand was on the table, while his left hand was hidden underneath. He had only used his right hand while typing just now...

"Show me your left hand."

"I don't want to."

"I just want to see how serious it is! Just a quick look!"

But Fu Zheng turned his head away and refused. "No."

Ning Wan couldn't help it. She yanked his hand out. Who knew what Fu Zheng was thinking, but at such a time he actually shrank away like a coy and maidenly daughter-in-law, not wanting to show it to her. After some wrestling, Ning Wan finally got his left hand out from under the table--

She stared at the swollen, thick fingers. Her eyes widened. This was quite a severe allergy...

Fu Zheng almost immediately threw her off and hid his hand behind his back. Then he looked away and said with a slightly off tone, "Forget you saw that! Just keep in mind how my hands usually look. It's too ugly right now, not at all to my usual level..."

He was concerned about being ugly at a time like this?!

"I'll take you to the hospital!" Ning Wan said anxiously. 

"Give me the sales invoice, product verification certificate and warranty manual first," Fu Zheng insisted. "I'll go after finishing the indictment. I can't just let Cartier get off scot-free like this."

What indictment was he going to write?! The Cartier family was innocent!!!

Ning Wan fidgeted with her hands and said warily, "So... what you said... I don't actually have it... Let's go have the allergy looked at first?"

Unfortunately, Fu Zheng was adamant. "How could you not have it? With how dignified the Cartier brand is, even if the product is of such poor quality surely they'll have after-sales service? "

"This..... so actually... when I bought it... it isn't Cartier..."

Fu Zheng frowned, just as expected. "What?"

"Um... I didn't buy a Cartier."

"Impossible." Fu Zheng didn't believe it. He looked at her. "Don't think that just because Cartier is a big brand and has their own professional legal team that we can't touch them. Us lawyers should be serious when the time comes to be serious. The ring you gave me came in a Cartier box, and its design was the simplest model that Cartier sells. Besides, the word 'Cartier' was engraved inside the ring. Who made it, if not Cartier?"

"..." Ning Wan tried to organize her words. "So... you may not know if you don't buy jewelry, but... nowadays there are quite a few domestic manufacturers who like to emulate well-known foreign brands, such as making imitation versions of someone else's packaging, and using someone else's design to make a very similar product..." She cleared her throat. "Of course, so long as you look carefully, you can always find inconsistencies between the true branded products and their imitations. But this requires you to look very, very carefully..."

She gave him a sidelong glance. "Did you turn the ring over and examine what words are really engraved in the ring?"

Fu Zheng frowned. He seemed unresponsive.

It seemed like she could only punch him to sober him up...

"Where's your ring?"

Fu Zheng pointed to a corner of the table. Ning Wan picked up the box and took out the ring from inside. She showed the inner side of the ring to Fu Zheng. "Do you see the inscription?"

"Cartier," said Fu Zheng, puzzled.

"Look closer!" Ning Wan shoved the ring a little closer to his nose. "Do you see? The first letter of the word isn't 'C'. If you look at the 'C', don't you see a little mark behind it?" She said as if attempting to wake him from a deep sleep1, "This is a Gartier, not a Cartier! You can't sue Cartier just because G and C look alike, can you?"

“……”

“…………”

“………………”

At first, Fu Zheng didn't respond. But soon, shock began showing on his face. He gazed at the inscription on the ring as if in a trance, gritted his teeth and repeated, "G-a-r-t-i-e-r?"

"You didn't buy me a Cartier?!"

Ning Wan didn't dare look directly into Fu Zheng's eyes. Looking away, she pretended to gaze at the clouds outside the window. "Uh, well... it's the thought that counts, not the price, right... Listen, when I saw a stall selling rings, the first thing I thought of was of buying you one to keep you from being harassed. That's some sort of true friendship, isn't it? Right? As lawyers, it's important to think about all points of view, isn't it?"

Sadly, her guidance didn't succeed in enlightening Fu Zheng. His gaze was fixed rigidly on Ning Wan. "So that was why you bought me a Gartier ring? How..." Fu Zheng looked as if he was about to ascend to heaven, "How much was this Gartier?"

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"Tell me," Fu Zheng said in a cold and lifeless manner, pinching the bridge of his nose.

The man was a little scary when he was serious. Ning Wan confessed honestly. "The stall owner asked for 200 yuan, but I bargained it down and finally got it for 50 yuan1... but honestly though, the design was really lovely, I just didn't expect the quality to be such a problem... I'm sorry."

Fifty yuan...

Fu Zheng almost died from anger. What a defeat from the most unexpected direction! But honestly, hadn't he just received a ring in Cartier's style? Had he been so happy that he hadn't looked too close? Now, when he really examined the ring, he realized that he had been blind. How was this anything like Cartier? Yes, the style was quite similar, but the workmanship was rough, and the material was obviously all wrong. And he had even thanked Ning Wan by saying that he hadn't expected himself to be so valuable to her! And not only that, but he had been so moved as to send an email back to Ning Wan under his identity as senior partner?!

Oh yes, he was valuable to her.

He was worth a whole fifty yuan!!! What a lot!!!

"I didn't mean to lie to you. I just thought that you'd just use it once in awhile to ward off a few suitors, so I didn't pay much attention to whether or not it was branded. I just liked the style. I usually wear this sort of thing as costume jewelry. I didn't expect you to be so allergic to it!" Upon reflection, Ning Wan felt like it really was her fault. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know that your skin would be so delicate... I used to buy and wear this sort of stuff from the stalls all the time, and nothing happened... maybe my skin is just thicker..."

She grabbed Fu Zheng by his healthy right hand. "Come on, let's get you to the hospital."

……

Ning Wan hadn't at all expected Fu Zheng to think that she had bought him a Cartier ring. After learning that it wasn't, and that he was too sensitive to wear it on top of that, his face looked terribly ugly. Thankfully, he was soon in line to see a doctor. The diagnosis was that it was just a simple allergy. All he had to do was to take a little medicine.

But though the doctor had said that it wasn't serious, Ning Wan was still concerned. After all, Fu Zheng's finger was so swollen. While he was picking up the medicine, she couldn't help but ask, "Doctor, you said that his hand was red due to swelling from the allergy, but what about the green? Why was my friend's skin both red and green? Did some sort of toxin leach into his skin?"

The doctor explained patiently, "It's just discoloration. The ring contains copper, and it likely got wet. He will have no issues if he just takes his medicine as prescribed."

Discolouration? For the colour to change so much must have taken a long time... Ning Wan wasn't stupid. There was only one explanation - Fu Zheng had taken a shower with the ring on.

He hadn't even wanted to take off the ring in the shower! He hadn't wanted to be separated from it even for a minute!

Ning Wan was even more horrified and distressed... How much did this man want a Cartier ring?! And I went and gave him a Gartier!

This was truly a case of 'those who hear it are sad, and those who see it shed tears'...

I'm so sorry…

When I get rich, I'll definitely present him with a real Cartier...

When Fu Zheng returned to the office after taking his medicine, he still looked dark and unhappy. Thinking that she would give him some time to compose himself, Ning Wan sat beside him quietly and turned on her computer to see if there were any business emails to return. But upon refreshing her inbox, she couldn't believe her eyes.

That mysterious senior partner! Actually wrote her an email!! Just last night!!!

Ning Wan almost forgot to breathe. Adrenaline surged through her veins. She felt so excited that she was about to explode. Her fingers trembling slightly, she opened the email.

Although it wasn't an offer to join the team, the other had actually sent her an encouraging email--

"Due to you having almost no experience in commercial cases in your professional background and resume, it is impossible for me to make an exception to bring you into my team. However, I am willing to give you a chance to prove yourself. The following case analysis is a simplified version of a case I have worked on in the past. What would you do? Give me your ideas and solutions within three days."

At the end of this concise paragraph was attached a Word document and some scanned evidence PDFs. Ning Wan clicked on them with excitement to find that the Word document described the case meticulously, while the PDF had mosaics blurring out the details of the contracts and documents for the sake of privacy.

The more Ning Wan looked at it, the more the emotions in her heart surged. "There is true love in the world, and I love this senior partner!!"

Her excitement caught Fu Zheng's attention, and he looked up at her.

Ning Wan couldn't help but brag. She pulled Fu Zheng over. "Do you know whose email I just got?"

Fu Zheng didn't seem to understand her sudden happiness. Thanks to his hand allergy, he didn't even put on a fake business smile. Fortunately, Ning Wan was so thrilled that she didn't even care if he was unsupportive.

"Did you know about the senior partner joining us here at Zhengyuan Law? Well, that senior partner just voluntarily wrote to me!!! And encouraged me!! He even gave me an exercise!! Does this mean he's going to take special care of me?" Ning Wan was so elated her voice trembled in happiness. "It must have been my sincerity that moved the heavens and the earth!!! All my effort must have finally paid off!!! It must have been all my fawning and flattering and ass-kissing!!”

Only Ning Wan was excited. Fu Zheng, watching the whole thing, just wanted to roll his eyes and sneer.

Ha.

It wasn't your sincerity that moved the heavens and the earth, but that I, Fu Zheng, was blind enough to mistake 'Gartier' for 'Cartier'…