Are You Crazy? He’s only an Intern Lawyer?
Chapter 451 - 447: Financial Investigation Division, Are You Disowning This Nephew-in-Law?

Chapter 451: Chapter 447: Financial Investigation Division, Are You Disowning This Nephew-in-Law?

Chengbei District, a certain hotel.

In the hotel’s first-floor lobby, an engagement party was in full swing.

Engagement party music had already begun to play, and the two figures on stage had become the center of attention.

The ceremony had reached its climax.

The atmosphere at the scene had also become lively.

Under the host’s guidance, the engagement party had reached its most crucial step, the exchange of tokens of promise.

The tokens were diamond rings, which Zhan Qingze placed on Li Feifei’s finger, and Li Feifei did the same for Zhan Qingze.

After the token exchange was complete, all the guests stood up, and applause erupted like a mountainous roar or tidal wave, continuous and unending.

At this moment, as the star of the engagement party, Zhan Qingze was very smug and excited.

Gazing at the "wife" before him, who was blushing, his mood was naturally one of tremendous excitement.

He came from out of town, and even though his family’s condition wasn’t considered poor, they still weren’t wealthy.

The house he had bought in Dongfang Capital had cost over ten million, which had emptied his parents’ lifetime savings, in addition to his own hard work, frugality, and saving.

He had even taken on debt, and just the monthly mortgage payments to the bank were twenty or thirty thousand.

But that didn’t matter anymore because he had married an excellent wife.

Li Feifei’s family background was definitely a point that attracted him.

Li Feifei was the daughter of Li Qinghe, who was the sister of Li Qingmu, the owner of Qingmu Law Firm, a well-known law firm in Chengbei District.

And by becoming the son-in-law of the Li Family, Zhan Qingze was certainly considered to have connections and support in Dongfang Capital.

Zhan Qingze was very smug.

Extremely smug, secretly pleased, and his expression showed his excitement.

He had recently been promoted at his company as well, leading an investment department and becoming the person in charge.

If he performed well in this department for a few years, he might become part of the mid-level or even senior management of the group.

At that time, it could be a rise to an annual salary of a million or several million.

Moreover, he had always performed well in the group. Because of his outstanding performance and excellent results, the president had even met with him personally.

Thus, he was a newcomer who had been granted a private audience with the president, and the president had even chosen him to be the head of this investment department.

Thinking this way, if he held on tightly to the president’s coattails, it wasn’t impossible for him to take over in the future.

To use the most popular saying, it won’t be long before I get promoted and get a raise, become the general manager, become the CEO, marry a rich and beautiful wife, and reach the pinnacle of life. Just thinking about it gets me a little excited!

Wonderful days were beckoning to him.

If there was one thing in Zhan Qingze’s mind that irked him, it was probably that he was more outstanding than 99% of the people in Dongfang Capital, but he still wasn’t as excellent as Li Feifei’s other brother-in-law.

Zhang Wei!

Zhan Qingze still remembered the first time his future mother-in-law, Li Qinghe, took him to meet her sister, Li Qinghua, when he wanted to show off a bit, but instead, Zhang Wei had publicly slapped him down.

His annual salary was several hundred thousand, exceeding the vast majority of the working class.

But what about Zhang Wei?

With a flip of his hand, just one case brought in three million in legal fees, and he also had long-term big clients, with annual revenues reaching tens or even hundreds of millions.

This sort of annual income was something he didn’t even dare to dream of.

How could being a lawyer be so lucrative, even more so than working in finance?

Their company’s CEO’s annual salary plus bonus was just about a hundred million. How could that kid, who had graduated not long ago, earn so much money?

Moreover, he had emptied his parents’ pockets and even taken on a mortgage just to buy a hundred-plus-square-meter house in Dongfang Capital.

Zhang Wei, on the other hand, casually led them to Dongjiang Star River View Mansion, a place where each house cost at least a hundred million or two.

That kind of house, he would have to work for ten or twenty years to afford, wouldn’t he?

What kind of cases had that kid taken on, what kind of lawsuits had he fought, to be able to earn so much money?

Thinking of Zhang Wei’s capabilities and money-making methods, Zhan Qingze felt a bit resentful.

And as another son-in-law of the Li Family, Zhan Qingze also thought about how in the future, he would always be compared with the other by Li Qingmu or other members of the Li Family.

Although Zhan Qingze considered himself very outstanding, surpassing 99% of the young people in Dongfang Capital.

But as the saying goes, it’s no use surpassing others, you need to surpass the person you most need to.

The person he most needed to surpass, the problem was he couldn’t...

It was so annoying!

Thinking of this, even the excitement brought about by his engagement to Li Feifei had diminished somewhat.

Comparing people sure can be infuriating.

Fortunately, the engagement ceremony had ended.

Next, it was time for the newly engaged couple to meet the elders.

As the person in charge of the Li Family, Li Qingmu took the stage to exchange a few pleasantries before introducing the son-in-law, Zhan Qingze, to the guests present.

"Thank you to all the guests for attending my niece Feifei’s engagement banquet. Allow me to formally introduce to you, this young man here is my niece’s fiancé, Zhan Qingze, who will also be a part of the Li Family in the future."

"When it comes to little Zhan, he truly is an exceptional young talent. At such a young age, he has already made a firm place for himself in the financial industry. Recently, he has even been promoted to lead an investment project. Right now, he is personally handling projects, and moreover..."

It must be said that Li Qingmu, as one fitted to be a lawyer, indeed had impressive oratorical skills.

The introduction of Zhan Qingze, which could have been completed in just a few minutes, was stretched by him to last for over ten minutes.

On stage, he continued to speak effusively in praise of Zhan Qingze, as if this son-in-law was his own.

There was no helping it; when the niece’s fiancé was so capable, it reflected well on him too.

As Li Qingmu spoke, his gaze swept across the entire hall, finally settling on a table in the corner.

He saw Li Qinghua, his other niece Xia Qianyue, and Zhang Wei, another Li family son-in-law.

Well then!

The other son-in-law might just be more impressive than himself.

Li Qingmu finally stopped speaking and waved to acknowledge the gathered crowd.

Seeing Zhang Wei, he no longer even felt like talking.

Sigh—

If it hadn’t been for that case, perhaps he might have gained an even better son-in-law...

Every time Li Qingmu thought about this, he couldn’t sleep at night, and would even find himself alone, thumping his chest and deploring why he let a more excellent son-in-law slip through his fingers.

But now, it had all passed, and he’s come to terms with it.

Just let whatever happens, happen.

At worst, after today’s event, he would find a chance to have a talk with Zhang Wei. Maybe they could even improve their relationship.

Let’s see how it goes. After today, find an opportunity...

This is what Li Qingmu had planned.

But sometimes... plans can’t keep up with changes.

Just as the engagement ceremony was continuing, with Li Qingmu leading Zhan Qingze around to meet all the relatives and friends to get acquainted with the attending guests,

an unexpected turn of events occurred!

A group of people stormed into the entrance of the hall.

"Excuse me, sirs, a engagement banquet is currently taking place in the hall." The hotel manager hurried to block the path of the group.

However, the newcomers simply ignored him, and with everyone watching, they went straight to Li Qingmu and Zhan Qingze.

"Who are you..."

With the eye of an experienced lawyer, Li Qingmu could tell at first glance that these people were up to no good.

Not just him, but many in the crowd seemed to recognize the origins of this group and quickly averted their eyes.

"Hey ho, these people clearly look like they’re from the Investigation Department. But it seems they’re not from the Criminal Investigation Department..."

In the corner table, Zhang Wei’s eyes swept over the "guests’" bearing and directly inferred their origins.

This group represented the very kind of professionals ordinary people least wanted to deal with.

"Hello, you’re Mr. Zhan Qingze, aren’t you?" the person leading the group asked coldly, looking at Zhan Qingze.

"I am..." Zhan Qingze responded subconsciously.

"Hello, I am Li Qingmu. May I know why you are looking for my niece’s fiancé?"

Seeing this, Li Qingmu quickly stepped forward and confronted the leader.

His implication was that you should at least give your names and explain why you are looking for my niece’s fiancé; otherwise, I, Li Qingmu, will not let this go so easily.

The leader looked at Li Qingmu and sneered again, "We are from the Financial Bureau Investigation Department, and we suspect your niece’s fiancé is involved in a particularly large financial fraud case. Please come with us!"

As these words were spoken, the entire hall was in shock.

Zhan Qingze was involved in a financial fraud case, and the Financial Investigation Department had come to arrest him?

"Little Zhan, you..." Li Qingmu hurriedly looked towards the latter, the target of the visitors, his own niece’s fiancé.

"I’m wrongfully accused..."

Zhan Qingze naturally cried injustice; he had just taken over a new project, and work handover hadn’t even been completed. How could he have had the mind to engage in any fraud?

"Whether you’re wrongfully accused or not, come with us and everything will become clear!"

The visitors didn’t bother with niceties, but instead, with a grand gesture, the Financial Investigation Division officers directly encircled Zhan Qingze.

"Take him away!" At that command, they promptly escorted Zhan Qingze away.

"Excuse me, you from the Investigation Division, what..."

"Oh, Lawyer Li, my surname is Chen, Chen Weitian, the leader of Group 1 of the Financial Investigation Division. Here’s my business card."

The visitor handed his business card directly to Li Qingmu.

"Leader Chen, may I ask, my son-in-law, he..."

"This case, we’ve been monitoring it for months, and the evidence is indeed conclusive. Next, we will submit the evidence to the municipal court, and your son-in-law might have to appear for trial. If Lawyer Li intends to take on this case, of course, we will not obstruct you."

Saying so, Chen Weitian left with a faint smile: "However, I would still advise Lawyer Li, today is just the engagement party, not the official wedding, meaning your son-in-law hasn’t formally become a member of the Li Family yet. If he has indeed committed a crime, it’s not too late for you to abandon him!"

"This..." Li Qingmu’s face showed difficulty.

"Lawyer Li, I know you’re a person who cares about reputation, so I’ve said all I can."

Chen Weitian continued, finally whispering with a smile to Li Qingmu, "Whether you take this case or not doesn’t matter much to me; in the end, this case will be transferred to the Procuratorate Headquarters. If you really do take the case, then I advise you to start preparing early!"

After saying so, he gestured grandly and led his team away.

But this time, when he left, he took Zhan Qingze with him.

The originally bustling engagement party turned deathly silent following Chen Weitian’s arrival.

With one of the protagonists of the engagement party taken away, what’s there to continue?

"Uncle, they..." As the other protagonist, Li Feifei was also dumbfounded and quickly sought Li Qingmu.

"Big brother, about Xiao Zhan..." Li Qinghe was equally gloomy as she approached her brother.

But Li Qingmu simply gestured dismissively before sighing, "What kind of trouble has little Zhan gotten himself into that he could alarm the Financial Investigation Division?"

"Um, Lawyer Li, I’ll be leaving first, alright."

"Right, my wife just finished her beauty treatment, I need to pick her up."

"My son just finished his tutoring class too, my wife is urging me already, I have to go."

"Lawyer Li, I have something at home, I won’t disturb you any longer."

"I’m off too..."

The guests, seeing the Financial Bureau Investigation Department appear, were eager to avoid them, making up various excuses to leave.

In their hearts, they also feared the Financial Investigation Division; when they saw these officials arrive, they were alarmed, fearing they had come for them.

Fortunately, it wasn’t themselves but Li Qingmu’s son-in-law who was the target.

Having narrowly escaped, they dared not linger and made a quick exit.

Suddenly, the engagement party began to empty of guests.

In just five or six minutes, the hall that had previously been almost full was now deserted.

"Uncle, they..."

Being one of the main characters, Li Feifei was unhappy seeing this scene unfold.

What’s with these uncles and uncles-in-law? They had just congratulated her, but as soon as there was trouble, they fled faster than rabbits.

With everyone gone, was there even an engagement party to continue?

But with Zhan Qingze taken away, she supposed she couldn’t carry on alone, could she?

"Big brother, what do we do now?"

Li Qinghe hurried over, her face showing concern: "Xiao Zhan has been taken away; is there some misunderstanding here?"

"A misunderstanding?" Mentioning this made Li Qingmu quite angry: "The Financial Investigation Division has come knocking on our door; what misunderstanding could there be?"

"Aren’t we familiar with the operations of the Investigation Division? Would they apply for an arrest warrant without concrete evidence? Would they dare to take someone away in front of so many people?"

"Little Zhan, he must have really gotten into some trouble. All we can do now is..."

As he spoke, Li Qingmu took out his phone and dialed a number.

Once connected, he quickly put on a smile and exchanged pleasantries.

But then, the person on the other end gave an unsatisfactory reply, and the call ended shortly thereafter.

Li Qingmu, unwilling to give up, made two more phone calls. However, as soon as he mentioned the incident and the involvement of the Financial Investigation Division, the calls were quickly ended.

A few minutes later, Li Qingmu had a dark expression, filled with frustration and helplessness.

"Big brother, how did it go?"

"As for Xiao Zhan’s situation, let’s take it one step at a time. Later, Qinghe, you’ll accompany me to the Financial Bureau to ask about the details!"

Although Li Qingmu said this, he was well aware that the current situation was no small matter.

They would likely have to prepare for negotiations with the Procuratorate Headquarters and possibly a court appearance.

The thought of contending with the Procuratorate Headquarters made Qingmu’s brows furrow tightly.

Dealing with the people from the Chengbei District Public Procuratorate’s Office was already troublesome enough.

Now, facing the much stronger Procuratorate Headquarters, wouldn’t the difficulty multiply?

"Uncle, why all the long faces? Isn’t today a day for celebration?"

Just then, a teasing voice sounded.

Qingmu and Li Qinghe instantly looked over to see Zhang Wei approaching with curiosity written all over his face.

There were only a few guests left in the entire hall, but those remaining were mostly relatives of the Li Family, not business partners, and they weren’t as wary of the Financial Bureau Investigation Department.

However, most who stayed were there to watch the drama unfold, and few were genuinely interested in Qingmu and Zhan Qingze’s situation.

One could say that Zhang Wei was the only one who stayed and was somewhat interested in the case.

"Zhang Wei, this has nothing to do with you. This is a family matter for the Li family right now, so don’t interfere..."

Qingmu waved his hand, signaling for Zhang Wei to stay out of it.

If I, Li Qingmu, can’t even save my nephew-in-law, wouldn’t I lose all my face?

He gritted his teeth, rejecting Zhang Wei’s offer of help, and after giving a piece of advice to Li Feifei, left with Li Qinghe to head to the Financial Bureau.

Seeing this, Zhang Wei didn’t feel it was appropriate to say much more, as it was, after all, a private family affair.

"So, we’re leaving too?"

He looked at Xia Qianyue and his in-laws.

Today’s engagement party obviously couldn’t go on, and they naturally had to leave.

On a big weekend, why not go home and rest?

Li Qinghua and Xia Donghai, as elders, consoled Li Feifei for a bit before they too decided to leave.

After the group returned to Dongjiang Yipin, Zhang Wei naturally took his leave and went straight back to Lin Mansion.

At the same time.

Dongfang Capital, Financial Bureau.

Li Qingmu and Li Qinghe met an acquaintance who was a department head at the bureau.

"Old Xue, what’s the situation with my nephew-in-law? Have you heard anything?"

The man called Old Xue bowed his head and leaned in to whisper, "Lawyer Li, it’s not that I don’t want to help you. It’s just that the case involves too much, and I can’t really intervene."

"Moreover, I must tell you, this case seems pretty solid against your nephew-in-law. He’s probably not going to get away. I’d advise you to start thinking about..."

He was speaking when suddenly he muttered, "I remember that today was supposed to be the engagement party, not a wedding, right?"

"Yeah, the engagement party."

"That’s good to hear!"

After hearing this, Old Xue breathed a sigh of relief, then advised, "Your nephew-in-law is likely not getting out; you better be decisive."

"This..."

"Think about it. It’s just an engagement party, not a real marriage. Your niece is in good condition; aren’t you afraid you won’t find a better candidate than that kid who got locked up?"

"This..."

Qingmu bit his teeth, somewhat reluctantly.

But Old Xue continued to persuade, "In the end, I’ve said my piece. Instead of wasting time on a young man who can’t be saved, why not just give up on him to avoid getting yourself involved too?"

"Breaking off contact early on can be considered cutting your losses. After all, he’s not really your nephew-in-law yet, since they aren’t married, right?"

Ten minutes later, Qingmu and Li Qinghe emerged from the Financial Bureau with darkened faces.

"This little Zhan, why did he get involved in such trouble? He..."

As soon as they came out, Li Qinghe couldn’t help but start.

"Don’t say another word!"

But Qingmu directly raised his hand to interrupt her. After a moment of contemplation, he finally made a decision.

"From today on, this little Zhan is no longer my nephew-in-law. You should also persuade Feifei to come to terms with this fact as soon as possible."

"Big brother, are you..."

"Old Xue is right, make the cut when you have to!"

Qingmu had thought it through carefully. His face was emotionless as he said, "Taking advantage of the fact that this matter hasn’t affected me yet, it’s best to cut my losses now!"

Li Qinghe looked at the ruthless demeanor of her big brother and could only sigh.

Looks like this nephew-in-law is one they could no longer keep!