Case

The next morning, Su Feng bid the Song siblings farewell for now. When it came to Song Ren's turn, she nodded at him, reserving any affection. He grinned as he took his overnight case and walked out of the house, his presence leaving her empty.

Song Ren was not sure what she thought about his departure. Some part of her felt relief. Relief so she can gather her thoughts and feelings and senses before she commits herself to their relationship. But as the heiress to a large company, her duty must come before desire.

Su Feng assured her that he confidently wanted to marry her, but she didn't know how deeply his feelings ran. Perhaps he was like her. Unsure of what they felt, short-sighted by their past, and overwhelmed with their emotions. Song Ren had liked him in the past; she could not give him her entirety yet. She was afraid that once her feelings ran deep again, then it would not reciprocate like once before.

- -

Qian Meigui spent long hours and restless nights to prepare for the case defending Song Pharmaceuticals from a family claiming to have almost threatened their young son's life.

The family is from lower-class suffering from poverty. Qian Meigui always sympathized for the working class and knew that she would have to be careful working with this case. She wants to defend the company, but also prevent the other party from suffering.

Qian Meigui was going to meet the family today with lawyer Wen Zhaohui, as the representative of the company.

Wen Zhaohui was one of the son's of Wen Guozhi, the owner of Wen Law Firm.

The Jian family was scheduled to meet them at Wen Law Firm with their representatives. Mr. And Mrs. Jian arrived with their lawyer, without their son.

Respectfully, Qian Meigui rose to offer Mrs. Jian a handshake, who walked past her like filth. Qian Meigui smiled grimly and sat in her seat to mask the awkwardness.

Mr. And Mrs. faces were long and grave, as they stared at Qian Meigui.

"Where is President Ren?" asked Mrs. Jian.

Qian Meigui cleared her throat, "President Ren has urgent matters to attend to, so we are here on her behalf."

Mrs. Jian rolled her eyes, "Wealthy people believe that they could do what they want and escape the consequences."

"Mrs. Jian, this is Song Mei. Although our president is not here today, she allowed her sister to be a representative. Our president takes every matter seriously and believes that Song Mei was better suited to fit this case," Wen Zhaohui clarified bluntly.

Mrs. Jian stared at Qian Meigui with a hard, unfriendly gaze.

"Mrs. Jian," Qian Meigui began politely, "We want to make sure everything goes smoothly today. We will cooperate as we expect you to as well."

"Very Well then," Mrs. Jian said.

Wen Zhaohui began, "the plaintiff is accusing that the defendant—company Song Pharmaceuticals—has sold defective products resulting in injuries of the plaintiff's son, is this correct?"

"Yes," Mrs. Jian said. "They tried to kill my son and use him as an experiment."

"This is a severe accusation Mrs. Jian," Wen Zhaohui claimed, "if we proceed with this, you must make sure that you have the proper evidence to support your case. Otherwise, we can countersue."

"You would sue a low-income family? For what money? The Song family is abundant in wealth," Mrs. Jian looked toward Qian Meigui, "And you want to ruin a family that has nothing?"

Qian Meigui clenched her fists but quickly released them for professionalism. The woman was behaving unreasonably, blinded by black hatred and prejudice. But Qian Meigui could not let her emotions cloud what she was supposed to do, which was to defend the company.

"Mrs. Jian, you are right," Qian Meigui began, "This is about business."

"You're accusing the company of a serious offence, which is harmful to the business. But this is not about the reputation of the company—no. This about the thousands of jobs that you can put on the line for something that may not even be true. For something that may be motivated by self-interest."

"Let me rephrase if you are right, we will compensate how much you want and submit a public apology, but if you are wrong, we will sue for defamation. Our company has been built based on trust and integrity; we do not risk lives; we save them. Therefore, we do our best to ensure the health of our consumers," Qian Meigui finished.

Mrs. Jian's eyes were hard and cold, unforgiving. It appeared that even with her words, she would not convince the family to step away from burying themselves.

"I don't take the words of a spoiled heiress seriously," Mrs. Jian said.

"Mrs. Jian, I don't want to sue your family, that's the last thing I want. I am merely allowing you to step away. We can compensate for the fees of your lawyer and time, but we do not expect us to pay millions of yuan without a fair trial to begin."

"I want a trial; I want justice," Mrs. Jian stated.

"Very well then," Qian Meigui said, "thank you for your time."

The Jian's left the room, and Qian Meigui decided to prepare more for the case. But she realized she might need the help of an individual she had been avoiding.