CH 56.1

Although Fu Zheng had said that he would deal with the matter of Jin Jianhua, Ning Wan actually wasn't holding out much hope for the result. Serious talk always came out of these sorts of scandals in the workplace, but in the end nothing much would be done. It was already very good if Jin Jianhua would be criticized internally or have some bonuses withheld. Instead, she, the victim and whistleblower, was the one who risked being talked about behind her back. At this time, Ning Wan was glad that she had never revealed that Cai Zhen was also a victim.

Cai Zhen was still young, and if this happened right as she was entering the workplace, she wouldn't be able to bear it. It would be better for her do so. After all, 'a dead pig isn't afraid of boiling water'.

However, it had always been that even if a report was received, a thorough investigation would have to be done and the process would take months. By the time something came of it, half a year might have passed.

Although she herself didn't care much about the matter of Jin Jianhua, Ning Wan was a little worried about Cai Zhen. The longer it took for Jin Jianhua to be punished, the longer the matter would take to settle. Jin Jianhua was over there, holding blackmail on Cai Zhen, who knew what sort of problems he might cook up? Besides, Cai Zhen couldn't wait. She had been frightened by this incident. Ning Wan feared that by the time Jin Jianhua received his punishment, Cai Zhen really would have left Rong City and gone back to her hometown, her whole path ruined and her future destroyed by the man...

No wonder they said that delayed justice wasn't justice at all.

Even though she and Cai Zhen were obviously the victims here, they were the passive ones when it came to safeguarding their rights.

But outside of Ning Wan's expectations, instead of six months, a conclusion came three days later - Jin Jianhua had resigned.

Almost as soon as the news came out, Shao Lili ran over to share the gossip. "Ning Ning, have you heard? Partner Jin resigned!"

At this moment, besides Ning Wan, Chen Shuo and Fu Zheng were also in the community office. Chen Shuo wasn't aware of the inside story and was very shocked by the news. "But why? Wasn't he doing quite well? I heard that he hit a new high in the amount of income he brought in this year, and that he might soon be up for a promotion to senior partner. Why would he suddenly resign right now?"

Shao Lili lowered her voice. "The story is that he resigned, but in fact I heard that he was basically fired."

"Fired?" Chen Shuo was very surprised. "Did he mess up some case and get a complaint lodged against him? But just one complaint wouldn't be..."

"I heard that it was sexual harassment. The whistleblower brought a recording as evidence, so there was no doubt about it. And after they investigated thoroughly, it wasn't his first offence. After the complaint came in, the senior partners attached great importance to it. They tracked down a number of female interns who had once been in his team, yet suddenly left for no reason to verify the matter. And guess what? Over half of them confirmed that they had been harassed by Partner Jin to varying degrees! Some of them had some evidence, which was all collected together."

At this point, Shao Lili took a sip of water to ease her throat. "Long story short, you never know until you look into something. I never thought he would be someone like that..."

"Who reported it?"

Shao Lili shook her head in response. "I have no idea. Thanks to this, they say that the office drafted a manual on preventing sexual harassment in the workplace in a single day and improved their internal reporting and handling procedures. It's clearly stated  in there that the privacy of the victim or whistleblower must be protected, so I don't know which warrior reported it, but well done them! Getting rid of trouble for the common people!"

"I only know this much because Cai Zhen, an intern that I'm close to, was also been invited to participate in the investigation," Shao Lili said indignantly. "That was how I learnt that Jin Jianhua harassed her! Earlier, she suddenly turned down an offer from Zhengyuan, and it seemed as though she couldn't wait to escape Rong City as fast as she could. It was all because of Jin Jianhua, that scumbag! Oh my God, I was furious! She was afraid to talk about it before, but now that Jin Jianhua is being investigated, she told me all about it and is going to stand up and say so publicly."

"Thank goodness the matter was reported around this time, or Cai Zhen would have been too scared to stay in Rong City. She almost turned down the opportunity to join Zhengyuan. Now she's over the moon and isn't planning on going back home any longer. Plus, she's extra impressed with Zhengyuan right now thanks to how they handled this, she thinks that they've really handled it in a fair and just manner and is pumped about continuing here."

"It's just that what a pity about all those other interns who had to leave their jobs over harassment from Jin Jianhua! We could have been doing so much better. It's all thanks to Jin Jianhua, that beast in human form, that we lost so many talented people!"

Shao Lili cursed out Jin Jianhua for a long time before suddenly remembering something and looking at Ning Wan. "Ning Ning, thank goodness you didn't agree to join his team. You've got a good eye, if you had gone who knows if he would have cast his evil eye on you!"

She didn't want to take credit for the incident now that it was over, and in addition this was the sort of thing that easily led to being gossiped behind one's back. Ning Wan laughed, "Back then, God knows what I was thinking, but I didn't care for the fact that Jin Jianhua was just a junior partner. I was bent on joining a senior partner's team. After refusing, I actually regretted, but now that you mention it, every cloud has a silver lining..."

Saying so, Ning Wan cast Fu Zheng a grateful look. Although she had recorded the audio evidence, for the senior partners to act so quickly after the incident had been reported, the credit was all Fu Zheng's. Who knew what kind of words he had used to make the firm pay so much attention to it and even create a manual to prevent future sexual harassment.

However, there is another thing she was quite curious about. "By the way Lili, which senior partner took the lead on this matter?"

A worshipful look immediately dawned on Shao Lili's face. "It was the new senior partner who's about to start. Oh heavens, the man is seriously a god of justice. He's not even here yet, and yet he's so resolute about dealing with mistakes within the partner group. He doesn't even get softhearted because the other person made a lot of money..."

Ning Wan was shocked. Although Fu Zheng had reported the matter to the new senior partner, she hadn't expected them to really handled it personally. She had thought that even if he took an interest in the matter, he would use a more tactful way, such as claiming that he had not officially joined the company and was unfamiliar with the situation, and handing over the report to the other senior partners. After all, by going this route he had offended the most people, since Jin Jianhua was quite good at making money even though he had character problems, as far as Ning Wan knew.

As expected, when Chen Shuo heard this he frowned. "But Jin Jianhua was soon about to be promoted and he brought in quite a bit of income. Why did the other senior partners just stand by and let this new partner deal with him? Doesn't that sounds illogical? Although Jin Jianhua was definitely in the wrong, are the rest of the senior partners so just and righteous?"

It was a very reasonable question. The high-ranking partners in the office had never only simply considered what was right and what was wrong, but also income, business management, and team handling. Jin Jianhua's case was one that could have been made big or small. It could easily have been handled in a more moderate fashion, instead of straightaway firing him. After all, Jin Jianhua was a senior lawyer of many years, and when he left a lot of his clients might follow him. It would be a big blow to Zhengyuan this year.

Shao Lili got even more excited. "Of course it goes without saying that those high-ranking fellows at our firm are all old foxes at turning a profit. They agreed to fire Jin Jianhua because the income the new senior partner brings in is ten times more than Jin Jianhua! It is said that this senior partner insisted that Jin Jianhua must be dealt with after receiving the report, and money talks so of course the other partners supported him. I heard that the income of this senior partner is more than what half our institute makes together!"

"Do you know what the craziest thing is? When this new senior partner first entered, apparently he wanted to branch out into civil law. To deal with this matter, he gave in and said that he would take on some commercial work as well in the future, to ensure that income would continue being generated by commercial law."

"He even changed his own career plans for this! Talk about having a conscience in this industry, tell me how many people are there like that in our whole legal circle? And not only is he conscientious, but he isn't poor either! It proves that even if you don't mess around and just do good work, a lawyer can still reach the summit!" Here Shao Lili slightly lowered her voice. "They say that he easily brings in over 100 million."

Now Ning Wan's eyes widened too. "So much?!"

Shao Lili nodded hard. "Yes! So, Ning Ning, you work hard to join his team, and your future career will surely take off!! Word is that to make things fair, they're going to hold a written test. If you pass the written test, then the senior partner will interview you in person."

Ning Wan was taken by the thought immediately. She gave Fu Zheng a nudge. "What an amazing guy! We'll have to work hard!"

Although Fu Zheng had made great merit by putting in that report, the unbiased one who had seen the truth of the matter and taken decisive action, playing a vital role in the case, had been the senior partner. Ning Wan remembered how approachable he was in their daily email exchanges and admired him even more.

After Shao Lili left, Ning Wan thanked Fu Zheng in secret before inevitably beginning to praise the senior partner, flattering him without reservation.

The result was that by the time lunch came around, Fu Zheng was the first to break. He cleared his throat and said, "Even though the senior partner is a good guy, you really don't have to talk about him the whole time. After all, you haven't even seen his face, he's like some rando on the Internet. You should pay more attention to the people around you..."

Wasn't he the one who had boasted at length about the senior partner the other day?

But nowadays she was very quick to understand Fu Zheng's underlying meanings, and soon recognized the sour taste of jealousy.