CH 55.2

Jin Jianhua knew that it was useless to pester her. Ning Wan had a recording in her hand, and a man at her side who looked as though he was not to be trifled with. He had neither the chance of overpowering her nor the possibility of a battle of wits. He could only soften and act as though he wanted to negotiate--

"I've drank too much today and maybe said something inappropriate, but everything can be discussed. Ning Wan, you can ask for compensation if you want. After all, I was the one first at fault for being drunk and confused..."

Here we go again. It was the same old routine. Cai Zhen had already fallen into this "compensation" trap once.

But just as Ning Wan was about mock him, Jin Jianhua spoke first, "You know my number. I understand that you'll need time to think about this kind of thing. Go back and first think about what kind of compensation you want? As long as I can give it, I will. Once you've decided, feel free to contact me."

He glanced at her. "You're a smart girl. You should know how to choose what's best for both of us, right?"

Done speaking, he didn't wait for Ning Wan to answer. He adjusted his collar, resumed his previous self-righteous appearance, and then left, cool as a cucumber.

Jin Jianhua was gone, but Fu Zheng wasn't. His face was ugly, and he turned to look at Ning Wan. "Were you trying to collect evidence?"

Ning Wan nodded, somewhat moved. "Thank you for coming forward, Fu Zheng."

Jin Jianhua was a junior partner of Zhengyuan Law. It was a position with influence much higher than that of Fu Zheng, an intern. For Fu Zheng to stand by her side and confront him on her behalf, it was impossible for Ning Wan not to be moved. She was very moved. And then immediately after she wanted to give him a good talking-to.

"Although I'm very grateful to you for standing up for me, don't do so next time without knowing the context. Jin Jianhua is a partner, and if I happened to be in the wrong, you would have offended him for nothing." Ning Wan's heart was still thumping with lingering fear. "Thank goodness I recorded everything, so he shouldn't dare to go too far, but I'm just an ordinary lawyer, and you're still an intern. It wouldn't take him even a minute to deal with us. I'm used to this sort of thing, but you... I've got to do something about you."

"Can you worry about yourself first?!" The result of her caring so much about Fu Zheng was that not only was he not grateful, but he actually seemed furious. "Why didn't you tell me in advance about this?"

"Tell you what?"

Fu Zheng massaged his brow as if he had a headache. "Did you not think that it would be risky to come alone and fish for evidence like this?" His tone was very serious. "What if on the off-chance Jin Jianhua managed to get you drunk and then took you to a hotel? How would you safeguard your rights afterward? You were lucky this time that he got baited, but what if he had been cautious the whole time and never admitted to anything to could be construed as evidence? Wouldn't you have come here and sacrificed yourself for nothing?"

Ever since he had confessed who he was1, Fu Zheng had always been very well-behaved in front of Ning Wan. He rarely spoke to her in such a severe, even rebuking tone, but this time he seemed to be serious. His expression ugly, he pointed out every part of her plan that had been impulsive, immature and full of loopholes.

It seemed that he was truly angry. He had even forgotten that she was his mentor. In a stern manner, he said, "You should at least have discussed with me, or taken me with you. Don't ever do something so stupid again."

Having been scolded so by Fu Zheng, Ning Wan felt humiliated and aggrieved. "I didn't want to drag other people into it. You'll be at Zhengyuan Law for a long time in the future. I don't want you to offend any partners because of me."

"He doesn't deserve to be a partner." Perhaps realizing that his emotions were getting too intense, Fu Zheng gradually calmed down. He looked at Ning Wan. "What are you going to do next?"

Before she could answer, he continued, "You absolutely musn't call him and settle it with talk of compensation. It's easy for him to trap you with talk of extortion..."

Of course she knew all of this already, but when she saw how anxious he was about her, Ning Wan couldn't help but feel touched. "Don't worry, I know."

She thought for a moment before simply telling Fu Zheng about Cai Zhen's situation. "I'm holding onto this recording in the hopes that Jin Jianhua will stay away from this intern in the future and won't harass anyone else. But I'm actually a bit torn about whether or not to report it to the firm..."

"Why?" Fu Zheng asked, surprised. "There's no way the senior partners will allow something like this to continue. They'll definitely correct the issue."

"But... even among the senior partners, there are those that aren't upright..."

Fu Zheng frowned. "What?"

"It's, it's Gao Yuan." Ning Wan carefully considered her words, "Has he slipped your mind? He's also a sexual harasser, isn't he? If I report Jin Jianhua, isn't it possible that Gao Yuan might protect him, since they're birds of the same feather?"

“……”

Fu Zheng fell silent. This silly sweet fellow, it was likely he really had forgotten all about Gao Yuan. But before the silence lasted too long, Fu Zheng finally said with difficulty, "Since you suspect that it's useless to report the issue to Gao Yuan, what about reporting it to the new senior partner? I've heard that he's an upright man who's fair and principled, just and incorruptible, has a good view on life and leads by example..."

Ning Wan's eyes lit up. "That's true!" Then she slanted a glance at Fu Zheng. "The senior partner really isn't bad, but you've never met him. Aren't you flattering him a bit too much?"

Although Fu Zheng's voice sounded a little dry, he insisted, "I feel like he must be that sort of person."

“……”

Fortunately, Fu Zheng quickly returned to his usual cute, obedient appearance. Trailing along behind Ning Wan, he asked, "Before, when you didn't enter Jin Jianhua's team but instead came here to the community, was it because he tried to coerce you?"

There was no longer any reason to hide these things. "Yes, Jin Jianhua had invited me onto his team back then. I hadn't expected the offer to come with certain other requirements. I refused, so I was 'exiled' out here to the community, where there's little money and a lot of work."

She looked up at Fu Zheng. "Aren't you in the same boat? Exiled out here because you didn't want to sleep with someone?" Ning Wan sighed as she said it. "Seriously, is the community some dreadful monster? Every time they want a little revenge, they send us out here. Honestly, if you work hard, there's actually quite a lot of opportunity to be had in the community. It's just that if there isn't anywhere else for you to get cases from, there's just no money to be made..."

The speaker had spoken carelessly, but the listener took it to heart. Previously, Fu Zheng  had misled Ning Wan by telling her that he had been sent out to the community due to having turned down a superior. For this reason, he had always felt that Ning Wan was a little too gullible. It wasn't until this moment that he realized that the reason why Ning Wan had believed him so easily was entirely out of a sort of feeling of empathy. That was what she herself had been through, so when he had by accident bumped into her sense of sympathy toward a fellow victim, she had swallowed his story hook, line and sinker.

It was just that when he looked back at it now, Fu Zheng felt terrible about it. His story of having been isolated and helpless had been made up out of whole cloth. But when Ning Wan had suffered under the hand of Jin Jianhua, she had truly been isolated and helpless.

"But... would it be appropriate to report it to the new senior partner? After all, he hasn't even joined officially yet, and now I've throwing such a hot potato into his lap... Furthermore, he'll have to deal with Jin Jianhua, and this is sure to upset people. After all, he and I have never even met each other in person. Wouldn't it be a bit too thoughtless..."

"I'll do it."

Ning Wan looked at Fu Zheng. "Huh?"

Fu Zheng smiled. "Give me a copy of the recording. I'll transcribe and report it for you. Leave the matter to me."

"But that's no good either, after all..."

Fu Zheng simply showed his resolve with action, reaching out and taking the recorder from Ning Wan's hand. "It doesn't matter. I'll take care of it. Trust in me."

Ning Wan thought about it, and then finally nodded her head.