Are You Crazy? He’s only an Intern Lawyer?
Chapter 100 - 99: You want to go to court without a license? Lawyer Bai noticed.

Chapter 100: Chapter 99: You want to go to court without a license? Lawyer Bai noticed.

Bai Meiqi arrived.

This ace of the litigation department, dragging a lady’s suitcase and wearing high heels, walked into the meeting hall like that.

All eyes were on her.

"Assistant Wang, take care of my luggage!"

With a casual order, Assistant Wang immediately took over the suitcase, scurrying out on her high heels.

The latter moved quickly, afraid that a slow pace would upset Lawyer Bai.

Bai Meiqi had an independent office in the litigation department, facing south with plenty of sunlight.

Her office was almost as big as the criminal team’s working area, a privilege only the ace would enjoy.

"Lawyer Bai, you’re finally here, we’ve been waiting for you for so long!"

As soon as Bai Meiqi arrived, Li Qingshou and Wang Jianren immediately fawned over her, showing none of the leaders’ airs.

They bent over and rubbed their hands with ingratiating smiles, like bootlicking rat spirits.

Bai Meiqi glanced at the two, smiled faintly, and said, "Sorry, you all know about Dongfang Capital’s traffic."

"Yes, yes, we understand!"

Li and Wang nodded repeatedly, not daring to disagree.

On the first day of work after the start of the season, who doesn’t know about the traffic conditions in Dongfang Capital? Many are still stuck on the road.

They all owned cars and could relate.

It was good that Lawyer Bai had come, as this would allow them to explain to Young Master Lin.

Seeing Li and Wang relieved, Bai Meiqi seemed to sense something.

"Did Young Master Lin come to ask for an appointment with me again?"

Bai Meiqi had no respect for the leadership; her voice turned cold as she directly questioned the two.

"This..."

Li and Wang exchanged glances, and finally, Li Qingshou, as Bai Meiqi’s direct superior, spoke up:

"Lawyer Bai, Young Master Lin is currently delivering a speech to all staff. After the meeting, he said he wants to see you. After all, you are the ace of aces in our law firm, it’s only right for him to want to see you!"

"Oh, is that so."

Bai Meiqi didn’t say much, she tilted her head back, looking down at them with a superior attitude.

"If he comes over later, just refuse him on my behalf!"

She dropped this remark and walked back to her office without looking back.

"Ah, this..."

After hearing this, Li and Wang showed an "as expected" but still puzzled look; they were in a real predicament now.

But Bai Meiqi didn’t care about any of this; she didn’t attend the all-staff meeting and didn’t want to see Young Master Lin at all.

This scene was witnessed by other lawyers in the litigation department, but all of them wore an unsurprised expression.

Even many male lawyers, upon hearing Bai Meiqi’s refusal to meet Young Master Lin, seemed visibly relieved.

Many female lawyers looked at Bai Meiqi with complex eyes - there was admiration as well as jealousy, and even various indescribable elements.

In their eyes, having the chance to be personally seen and meet with Young Master Lin was already rare.

After all, he was the big boss’s son - they couldn’t even find an opportunity to curry favor.

In the corner.

"So this is the litigation department’s ace, huh? She really is incredible, not even giving face to the big boss’s son?"

Zhang Wei nodded in acknowledgement as he watched Bai Meiqi leave.

He had some admiration for Lawyer Bai in his heart.

"Of course, if you could become the ace of our litigation department, with the highest win rate in the company, you could be just as arrogant!"

Tie Ruyun spoke up with a chuckle.

He didn’t mention performance because the criminal team wouldn’t have high achievements, but the win rate was something they could work on.

After many years with the criminal team, he had seen plenty of overconfident newcomers. Various comments emerged after witnessing Bai Meiqi’s arrogance.

However, to become such a powerful figure, effort alone was not enough; talent was also required.

"Alright, but what I really care about now is when this speech will end." Zhang Wei smacked his lips with a bored wave of his hand.

It must be said, no matter where, listening to leaders’ meetings and speeches is always the most boring thing.

Especially in law firms, leaders’ speeches are full of pompous gibberish, ceremonial talk, overblown expectations, and insubstantial promises repeated over and over - he felt like falling asleep listening to them.

Of course, when he made speeches to lawyers, he followed the same pattern.

It was mainly because the assistants wrote the scripts, which were all quite similar.

Thus, Zhang Wei concluded that this speech wasn’t drafted by Lin Yufeng himself, but was written by an assistant, and it was even a direct copy-paste of templates found online.

After the staff meeting finished, it was almost noon.

When the members of the criminal division left the large conference hall on the 26th floor, they all looked worn out.

"It’s already noon, you guys go have lunch first, rest for a while after eating, I’ll continue to show you around the firm in the afternoon!"

Tie Ruyun instructed and then returned to his office, leaving Zhang Wei and the others to their own devices.

"Zhang Wei, it’s lunchtime, what are you going to do?" Lin Yumeng asked with curiosity.

"What else can I do? I’ve decided to give Jincheng’s canteen one chance to see if it can keep me!"

Zhang Wei chuckled and pointed at the floor beneath them.

He was going to try the canteen food, and if it was edible, he would not bother bringing his own lunch.

But if the food did not meet his satisfaction, then he would rather eat what he cooked himself.

"Oh, I’ll go too..."

After thinking it over, Lin Yumeng decided to join Zhang Wei and they went to the elevator together.

Jin Mingming and Li Yueqin didn’t follow, perhaps in their eyes, dining with Jincheng Group employees might be beneath the stature of a lawyer.

The underground canteen.

Zhang Wei and Lin Yumeng arrived early enough to have hot food.

But the taste...

"Ouch, this stir-fried pork hasn’t been marinated at all, has it? Without starch, the slices of meat turned out a bit tough!"

"The braised pork has a strong flavor, alright, but it’s too greasy. The chef didn’t add Sichuan peppercorns to cut through the grease..."

"Great, it’s seaweed egg soup again. I thought this dish was exclusive to school cafeterias, tasting just like plain water. I’d rather drink plain water than this."

Overall, Zhang Wei was very dissatisfied with the quality of the food.

He suspected that the person who contracted the canteen was a relative of some higher-up within Jincheng, securing the business of the employee cafeteria through this connection, and that leader was probably taking kickbacks as well.

He was very disappointed.

Although Zhang Wei didn’t waste food, the canteen lost its chance to retain him.

Lin Yumeng felt the same, having barely touched her food, not moving her vegetables at all, but somehow finished two bowls of the plain seaweed egg soup.

The two stepped into the elevator and returned to the 26th floor.

In the elevator, Zhang Wei began to complain:

"A company’s canteen can reveal the company’s attitude towards its employees, and Jincheng Group’s attitude towards ordinary staff does not seem very friendly..."

"It’s only their leaders who wouldn’t eat in the canteen. Let them come down to try this taste, and I bet the canteen boss would be replaced the next day!"

"No way, I have to bring my own lunch. Starting tomorrow, I’ll make an extra portion. I can’t shortchange anyone, least of all my own stomach!"

Zhang Wei finished venting just as the elevator reached his floor.

Upon returning to the criminal division, he indeed saw Tie Ruyun and Tie Cuilan eating from their lunch boxes at their desks.

Jin Mingming and Li Yueqin were nowhere to be found.

"Old Tie, that’s not fair, you let us eat that terrible food in the canteen without warning us!"

"If I had said it was terrible, would you have believed me? I thought you’d have to experience it yourselves!"

Facing Zhang Wei, Tie Ruyun chuckled.

"That’s true, whether it’s good or bad, one has to judge for oneself!"

Zhang Wei nodded, acknowledging that although the canteen food wasn’t great, many Jincheng employees still ate there because of the reasonable prices – it had its market.

"By the way, Old Tie, do we have anything planned for this afternoon?"

Zhang Wei followed up with another question.

"This afternoon? There shouldn’t be much scheduled for you guys. Cuilan will take care of the new employee paperwork. If there’s real work, it probably won’t be until tomorrow."

Tie Ruyun continued eating without looking up, answering offhandedly.

"Oh~"

Zhang Wei understood, but immediately asked, "When can we go to court?"

"Uh..." Tie Ruyun almost choked on his food.

The kid was on his first day at work and already thinking about appearing in court.

"You’ll have to wait until you get your practice license, you can’t go to court without one, can you?"

"Criminal division is different from the business and civil divisions, you can go to court without a license, just need to take on public service cases."

Zhang Wei seemed very clear on the matter, moving closer to Tie Ruyun with a beaming smile:

"Old Tie, from now on you’re our direct superior. In other words, we’re one of your own. Between brothers, there’s no need for secrets – you must have quite a few public service cases on your hands, right?"

"How do you know that?" Tie Ruyun stared at Zhang Wei in astonishment.

"Come on!" Zhang Wei gave him a look as if to say, you should have figured that out.

"Doesn’t the big boss hold these titles—Chairman of the Dongfang Du Law Association and Honorary President of the Dongfang Capital Law Aid Society? I figured if Jincheng didn’t have many public service cases, he wouldn’t have taken the positions, right?"

"You’re right about that, but the cases are still too early for you guys!"

Tie Ruyun rejected Zhang Wei’s request. He glanced at Lin Yumeng, and then thought of Jin Mingming and Li Yueqin before finally deciding to turn them down.

Not everyone is like you, Zhang Wei, daring to handle criminal cases before even getting their practice license.

For newbie lawyers, the initial work is dry and dull, and many don’t even set foot in a courtroom during their first year, probably never even having sat at a hearing bench.

Tie Ruyun wasn’t just leading Zhang Wei, but the entire criminal group, and he had to consider the progress of others as well.

Zhang Wei was very disappointed with this outcome.

Without cases, what’s the point of being a lawyer?

But after all, Old Tie was the leader, and although this leadership seemed nominal, it wasn’t good for Zhang Wei to take things too far.

It was only right to give the leader some face at the beginning.

Once they got to know each other better later on, if Tie Ruyun turned out to be unreliable, then Zhang Wei wouldn’t keep giving him face!

...

After lunch.

The criminal group took a rest for no more than 30 minutes before they started bustling about again.

"The four of you, here’s the information needed for the job entry. Please fill it out. I also need to process things like your salary accounts and so on,"

Tie Cuilan, as the only assistant of the criminal group, started processing new employee information registration for Zhang Wei and the others.

This busyness took up the better part of the afternoon.

During this time, Zhang Wei thoroughly read through the Jincheng Law Firm’s employee handbook.

It goes without saying that big law firms have many rules, all sorts of stipulations, even visiting clients outside required reporting to office assistants for registration, otherwise, an unregistered departure would be considered absenteeism.

"So many rules~" After reading the employee manual, the cute girl held her head with a pained expression.

"In my view, rules are there to restrict those without the power. Look at Lawyer Bai, she’s not bound by them!"

Zhang Wei casually muttered a comment.

The new employee handbook stated that staff were required to attend staff meetings, but Bai Meiqi could leave whenever she wanted—such was the privilege of capability!

"Mhm, mhm, I want to be as awesome as Lawyer Bai!" The cute girl nodded vehemently, full of anticipation.

"I’m going to use the restroom!"

Zhang Wei sighed, stood up, and prepared to head to the bathroom.

"Me too..."

Seeing this, Lin Yumeng quickly got up and followed Zhang Wei out of the office.

Leaving the criminal group’s area, they had to walk past half of the office zone to get to the restrooms on the edge.

On the way, Zhang Wei saw other groups’ lawyers busying themselves and also noticed the private offices scattered around the perimeter of the office area.

Some of these offices were occupied, and some were vacant.

"I’ll try for my own office in the latter half of the year!"

Zhang Wei, looking at these offices, felt the awakening of something called ambition within him.

First, a small goal, say, making a hundred million in performance, and then get a private office!

Zhang Wei had his eye on a south-facing office with good lighting and a clear view, but unfortunately, it was already taken.

The office belonged to Bai Meiqi, who occupied the best of them.

Even the two deputy directors of the criminal group could only settle for other places.

Zhang Wei felt that to become the new star of the litigation department and drive Bai Meiqi out of her office was his current goal.

It wasn’t anything personal against Bai Meiqi; it just so happened that she was in the best office, and Zhang Wei had taken a fancy to it.

Meanwhile, Lin Yumeng, tagging along, looked at Zhang Wei curiously. She felt something was off about the way he kept staring at Lawyer Bai’s office.

After using the restroom, Zhang Wei walked out first.

He waited a moment for Lin Yumeng to come out as well before they both returned.

Accompanying a girl to the restroom was rather strange to Zhang Wei.

In his memory, wasn’t this kind of thing supposed to be done in the company of other girls?

Unfortunately, it seemed like Li Yueqin didn’t really get along with Lin Yumeng; the former always kept a cool distance, hardly giving the cute girl a chance to get close.

But on their return journey, they happened to see Bai Meiqi walking out of her office.

"Lawyer Bai!"

"Good day, Lawyer Bai!"

"Good afternoon, Lawyer Bai!"

Along the way, whether it was from the civil or the commercial groups, even the clerical assistants passing by, everyone greeted Bai Meiqi with great respect.

Bai Meiqi, however, took it all in stride, not even responding to the greetings from others.

When she walked by Zhang Wei and Lin Yumeng, Lin Yumeng instinctively went to greet her but was stopped by Zhang Wei.

"Hm?" Bai Meiqi’s footsteps halted suddenly, then she turned to look at Zhang Wei and Lin Yumeng.

"You two, new here?"

Bai Meiqi looked puzzled, but quickly came to a realization, "Haven’t seen you guys on the 26th floor—did you pass the interview yesterday?"

"Exactly, we’re the newbies, pleased to meet you, Lawyer Bai!"

Zhang Wei stepped forward and greeted Bai Meiqi, speaking with neither servility nor overbearingness, as if they were equals.

Bai Meiqi’s eyes narrowed slightly, and a flicker of surprise crossed the corners of her eyes.

It was uncommon for newbies to be so composed in front of her.

"Which group are you in?"

"Criminal division, under Old Tie!"

"Old Tie, Tie Ruyun, you mean?"

Bai Meiqi almost didn’t catch on; she had never heard this nickname before, but luckily, there weren’t many Ties in the office.

"So you’re from Group 7. Welcome to the litigation department!"

Bai Meiqi, deviating from her usual demeanor, actually greeted both Zhang Wei and Lin Yumeng, who was shrinking behind him.

She glanced at Lin Yumeng out of the corner of her eye, then her gaze settled on Zhang Wei’s outfit.

To gauge a person, their attire can reveal quite a bit.

Bai Meiqi had long since developed a keen eye for this.

"That’s an Orion suit you’re wearing!?"

When she saw the suit on Zhang Wei, the surprise in Bai Meiqi’s eyes intensified, even more so than if she had seen the big boss.

Because she had only seen Orion suits on the big boss, where anyone of that stature could wear whatsoever they pleased.

But Zhang Wei, just a newbie in the criminal division, could actually afford such a suit?

Bai Meiqi suddenly walked up to Zhang Wei, grabbed the collar of his suit, and felt it in her hands.

"Lawyer Bai, what are you..."

Zhang Wei was speechless—why were you so interested in my clothes?

And was the name Orion supposed to be famous or something?

"Indeed, an Orion suit—meticulously tailored, top-notch fabric; it’s the real deal," Bai Meiqi said, ignoring Zhang Wei and focusing on the feel of the fabric in her hands.

"I really can’t imagine how you can afford this suit?"

"Is this suit expensive?" Zhang Wei didn’t know what Bai Meiqi was thinking and quipped.

But internally, he mumbled: I got this for free, and I have no idea how much it costs.

"Hmph, this suit is worth more than your annual salary!" Bai Meiqi said and then suddenly remembered, "Oh, I almost forgot, you all are still interns! Then... probably three times your yearly salary!"

A new lawyer typically makes tens of thousands a year, so three times that would be over a hundred thousand.

"This suit is so expensive; how much does Old Zhao make in a month to wear a suit worth over a hundred thousand and even give it away?"

Zhang Wei hadn’t anticipated that the suit he got for free was worth over a hundred thousand, and although he was taken aback internally, he showed no sign of it on his face.

The cost of making the suit, no matter how expensive, surely wouldn’t be that exorbitant.

The reason an Orion suit is pricey is probably for the brand cachet.

It’s not the clothing but the three words "Orion" that are valuable—the logo on the collar.

"It seems the criminal division has gained an impressive person; I’ll remember your name and tell Tie Ruyun you’re one to watch!" Bai Meiqi said as if she had uncovered something significant, giving Zhang Wei a meaningful look before she walked away.

"This woman, what was that all about..."

Zhang Wei pursed his lips and could only head back to the criminal division with Lin Yumeng in tow.

Nevertheless, he informed Tie Ruyun about what had just happened.

However, he omitted the part about the suit and simply mentioned encountering Bai Meiqi and having a "brief introduction."

"What, Bai Meiqi said she’ll remember you!" Tie Ruyun was shocked when he heard this.

Even Tie Cuilan, who was sitting by the door, poked her head inside, visibly intrigued.

"Unexpectedly, you’re the first to meet Lawyer Bai," Li Yueqin spoke to Zhang Wei from her desk—it was her first time addressing him, sparked by Bai Meiqi.

At the next desk over, Jin Mingming was a mix of envy and jealousy, sourly saying, "I also want to meet Lawyer Bai... no, I want to..."

"I want to be Lawyer Bai’s dog..."

As soon as those words were spoken, the entire criminal division fell silent, with everyone’s gaze turning to Jin Mingming.

Sometimes, social suicide happens in an instant!

When Jin Mingming said that, it definitely hadn’t gone through his brain first.