Fu Zheng's business trip was actually only for two days, and they were video calling every night, but hearing her colleagues mention his name, Ning Wan suddenly missed him for no reason.
In the end, she couldn't hold back. Taking out her phone, Ning Wan sent Fu Zheng a message saying: "I miss you a little."
Unfortunately, probably because he was busy, Fu Zheng did not reply.
She knew that this time Fu Zheng was away on a bankruptcy and liquidation case, and that because it was somewhat complicated, it would take time to negotiate. It would be nice if he was able to rush back to the annual meeting and somehow make it halfway. But when the annual meeting started, everyone beaming with joy, Fu Zheng hadn't appeared yet. Ning Wan couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.
The program soon began with Gao Yuan, as the representative of the partners, giving a brief opening speech. After that, he passed it over for public performances.
After the new employees who had joined this year performed a series of off-tune singing, fashionable dancing, inspiring poetry recitations, and a series of strange projects such as a rather cursed law recitation competition, case analysis quizzes and so on, the climax of the annual meeting finally arrived - the lottery!
Shao Lili was very excited. "Draw me! Draw me!"
Alas, reality was cruel. Shao Lili must not have been sincere enough in her worship at the temple, because she ultimately missed out on the raffle. But she quickly cheered up, saying, "No big deal, there's still the random participation prizes! Please let me get the biggest box. Please! The biggest, the biggest, the biggest!”
Maybe it was sheer luck, but when the host read out the number corresponding to the biggest box, it was indeed Shao Lili.
Shao Lili was elated. Using a little trailer, she excitedly dragged the biggest box to her side from the stage. "Look at that! What's luck? This is luck! I got the biggest one out of all the random prizes!"
And perhaps Ning Wan was just unlucky, because what she got from her random number was a... very, very small box?
Shao Lili had gotten the largest box from the prize pool, while Ning Wan had gotten the smallest...
Looking at the small box in Ning Wan's hand, Shao Lili said sympathetically, "Ning Ning, your luck mustn't be very good... Next time, let's forward a few more koi memes1Koi are lucky, and therefore forwarding pictures of koi brings good luck together. You can do it too..."
Although she hadn't expected to get the most expensive prize, Ning Wan had been quite hyped up for the random prize. Upon getting such a small box and Fu Zheng not being around on top of that, she felt a little down. But she forced a smile and said, "Maybe even though the box is small, what's inside will be expensive."
"It's so small. No matter how expensive, it's only half the size of a phone box. There aren't too many electronics that can go in a box that size, and it's not even heavy. I doubt it'll be anything expensive…”
Shao Lili had won the biggest prize in the entire audience, and the mixture of pride and sympathy was written all over her face. Ning Wan smiled helplessly. At that moment, she received a message from Fu Zheng--
"Be there soon, two minutes."
It was just a simple sentence, but Ning Wan jumped for joy. Even her eyes lit up. It didn't matter if she had drawn the smallest box in the lottery, because Fu Zheng was her greatest prize.
At almost at the exact same moment, there was a slight commotion at the door. Ning Wan looked up and from across the heads of her many colleagues, saw the person she had missed so much - Fu Zheng, in a suit, dusty and travel-stained, was making his way toward the annual meeting venue.
"Partner Fu, you're back!"
"It's been so hard on you!"
"We should thank you for joining us this year!"
Almost spontaneously, applause broke out. No one knew who had taken the lead.
"Partner Fu, say something!"
"That's right! The annual meeting just happens to be ending, give us a concluding speech!"
It could be seen that all their colleagues had great trust in Fu Zheng. Although he had only been at Zhengyuan Law for a short time, his reputation and popularity even exceeded that of Gao Yuan, veteran and founder of the institute...
Fortunately, Gao Yuan was not jealous of his old classmate. Amidst the hooting of his colleagues, Gao Yuan hopped onto the podium and looked over teasingly at Fu Zheng. "Since everyone has decided, Fu Zheng, come up here and say a few words.”
Fu Zheng had originally seemed as though he was looking for someone, but before he could find them, he had been cut off by Gao Yuan. He had no choice but to step onto the stage. However, the first thing he did after getting onstage was to continue searching for somebody in the crowd--
When his eyes fixed on Ning Wan, she was finally sure that the person Fu Zheng had been looking for was herself.
There was obviously a hint of fatigue in the lines of his brows because he had just returned from a business trip. However, the moment their eyes met, his gaze lit up and a slight smile dawned on his face, immediately dispersing the solemn indifference.
It was an unconscious, completely undisguised emotion, as if there was only one person left in the world. As if as long as this person was by his side, he could do anything with peace of mind.
Fu Zheng's glance at Ning Wan lasted only a few seconds. Soon enough, he returned to his role as senior partner, looking around, greeting every colleague with a smile.
He was everyone's Partner Fu, but only Ning Wan's Fu Zheng.
Although he was well-known in Zhengyuan Institute, Fu Zheng still kept a proper distance from his colleagues. Everyone felt close to him, yet also respected him. As soon as he went on stage, he adjusted the height of the microphone, and then swept the audience lightly with his gaze. The noise and commotion calmed down.
Everyone stared at the handsome senior partner with bated breath.
Fu Zheng seemed very casual. Smiling, he said, "Good evening everyone. Don't look so serious. We're not in a meeting or in court. In private, us lawyers are just ordinary people."
"Frankly speaking, I'm actually a little ashamed to be standing here as the final speaker of the annual meeting, because I might be the last person in this room to have joined the family of Zhengyuan Law. The establishment and development of Zhengyuan Law has all been thanks to the efforts of our other senior partners, and I would like to thank them for giving me the opportunity to deliver this closing speech."
Fu Zheng said this glancing at Gao Yuan and other partners sitting in the audience. "They're probably expecting me to stand up here and say something like 'let us remember today and look forward to tomorrow', something to make us all look forward to a bright future and an unforgettable night."
"But they're wrong," Fu Zheng smiled. "I'm not going to say anything like that. They might immediately regret putting me on stage. Maybe they'll even want to throw me off."
He looked around the audience. "But since I'm standing here, there's something I would like to say."
"It was fate that I joined this office. However, after I came here, I quickly discovered that there were big problems in both human resources and the reward and punishment system in Zhengyuan Law. Before officially joining the office, I worked for several months at the grassroots level in the community. As you all know, I did not disclose my identity at the beginning, so back then I had a kind-hearted 'teacher' who enthusiastically and knowledgeably taught me all their lifelong salted fish secrets, including how to shift the blame, how to slack off on the job, and how to suck up to the boss while getting work done on the side..."
"After working hard to learn all these 'arts', I made a decision. When I joined this institute, I hoped to fundamentally change the long-held practice of blaming, taking advantage, and sucking up..."
Fu Zheng was speaking calmly on the stage, but in the audience, Ning Wan felt her face sting a little...
Although he hadn't mentioned her by name, no one was stupid. She was receiving sympathetic, laughing looks from all directions, and her love for Fu Zheng had suddenly disappeared.
She had told him so many other things, why could he only remember these? Couldn't he forget all about these pot-tossing, messing-around type skills?
Trash man! You'll be sleeping on the couch tonight!
Ning Wan's face burned. She felt so embarrassed she wanted to crawl into a hole. This insidious, treacherous man, holding onto a grudge from so long ago. He must have started thinking about how to get back at her ages ago and 'learned from the foreigners the skills to defeat them'. Ever since learning her ways, he had prepared to use her own methods against her...
However, just as Ning Wan's heart was in mortified knots, Fu Zheng smiled and looked over lovingly at her--
"Alright, alright, Ning Wan, I'm not trying to embarrass you at the annual meeting."
His tone softened. "Because it wasn't your fault."
He looked back at everyone, regaining his decisiveness and solemnity. "When an employee who had been willing to work and endure hardships instead wants to shirk responsibility, take advantage of the situation, and go behind the boss's back, this isn't the employee's fault, but the company’s.”
"Such an atmosphere at Zhengyuan Law was not caused by any individual employee. It was never the employees who should have reflected, but us partners. Because a truly good firm will never have allowed a good employee to fall to the point where they had to rely on blame-shifting and finger-pointing to survive. A truly good firm would never let an honest employee's efforts be in vain, nor chill the hearts of a hard worker, nor leave room for those who take advantage of others to thrive."
"For a long time now, we have been parroting the slogan of helping young lawyers grow, but in fact, sometimes we forget that we partners too need to grow and look at things from different perspectives."
"I would like to thank Ning Wan for having taught me sincerely, without ever holding anything back. Also, I hope that everyone understands that I'm now a professional in how to shirk responsibility, take advantage, and defy your bosses, so after the reorganizations are done, no one will ever be able to get away with it in front of me again, since I'll know exactly what you're doing." Fu Zheng smiled, "In that regard, Ning Wan truly is a professional."
Ning Wan didn't hold it all in. She was the first to laugh.
