Ning Wan was completely unaware of the twists and turns of the matter. Her face brimmed with real happiness, and full of proud exuberance, she sat herself down before her computer and chewed on the end of a pen, studying the case.

The senior partner had given her three days, but that night Ning Wan didn't sleep. Instead, she stayed up into the wee hours of the morning to sort out the case and get her logic straight before writing up a detailed plan and sending it back.

Although nervous and fidgety afterward, she wasn't expecting a quick reply. After all, the senior partner was very busy. He must be overwhelmed with work email every day. It was touching enough already that he had taken time to write to her, she certainly couldn't hope to have priority on a reply. She waited patiently.

But to her great surprise, the next morning as she was sitting in her office documenting her notes on community cases she received a reply--

The document was in revision mode. It contained the mistakes in her plan, omissions in her consideration and practical points to bring to her attention, carefully corrected, and finally a second plan was suggested. The other had been so meticulous as to even revise and mark the format and punctuation of the document for her.

"Often, a lawyer is judged professionally by not only the quality of their work, but also the appearance and format of their documents. The reason why many customers would rather pay a higher fee to cooperate with such a firm is that apart from simply receiving a more professional service, the documents they provide are clearer and easier to understand."

"Though there may not necessarily be a big difference in service quality between a new lawyer and an experienced one, the difference in professionalism is reflected in the text. Your ideas are remarkable, but you should pay more attention to the formatting and other small details."

"The solution you gave to this case receives a score of 70 points. You can try something more challenging. I will send you the case materials later."

When Ning Wan read that, she was so moved she could have run into a wall. "Fu Zheng, did you hear this?! Listen to this person's work attitude and how they care so meticulously for young lawyers! No wonder he's a senior partner! This is what the light of human nature is like! A truly special case among bosses! The guiding light of my life!"

A pity, but Fu Zheng didn't seem equally affected with her enthusiasm. Not only that, but Ning Wan was just noticing that ever since he had arrived at work today, Fu Zheng had been staring at his phone. His fingers were flying across the screen as if he were answering something. There were no cases today, and he wasn't in charge of any general office business. The highest likelihood was that he was texting someone passionately. When Ning Wang inched a little closer, he locked the phone immediately as if he were somehow allergic to her presence.

"Are you talking to someone?"

Fu Zheng nodded stiffly. "Um..."

Having just gotten tips from the senior partner, Ning Wan was initially in a very good mood. But seeing Fu Zheng not making progress, she couldn't hold back. "Fu Zheng! You just got a mortgage, work a little harder! Look at the senior partner, he got up early just to answer my email. What about you? You're chatting online instead!"

Fu Zheng looked away, coughed, and then said uncomfortably, "Everyone gets absent-minded sometimes, it happens... and then once you look at your phone you can't help but say something... it's just out of your control..."

Ning Wan hated iron for not being steel. "There might be nothing going on in the community recently, but you have to be self-disciplined enough to go looking for cases! Why don't you give me your phone?" she suggested. "I could set a password for you. For awhile when I was uncontrollably distracted by my phone, I asked a friend to set me a temporary password to make me quit cold-turkey. I later found that during that time, I was very efficient and made a ton of progress!"

"No need..."

"Give it a try, let me set a password for you. I'll unlock it after lunch," she offered sincerely. "Talk less, work more, Fu Zheng! We have to emulate the example that the senior partner is setting for us!"

Ning Wan's enthusiasm for learning was currently high, and as the 'mentor figure leading the way', she was full of passion. She immediately took Fu Zheng's phone, set a password, and threw it back. Then she went back to her computer and began refreshing her email intently.

The senior partner had said that he would send her a new case shortly! Ning Wan concentrated on waiting, nervous and anxious, yet after an hour no new email had arrived...

"Perhaps he's busy?" she pondered, a little depressed. "Ahh! I don't know when I'll get that next email... "

……

"If you unlock my phone password, maybe you'll get your email."

Apparently not only had Fu Zheng failed to motivate himself, but he had even fallen further into the pit of depravity. He was at the point of asking her shyly for his phone password! And to claim that if she unlocked it, she would receive the prize of an email from the senior partner?!

Ning Wan felt faint. "Don't even think about it, Fu Zheng. You can't play with your phone at work today!"

“……”

Regrettably, the god of slacking off must have been listening. The whole time during working hours while Fu Zheng, that jinx, wasn't allowed to play with his phone, Ning Wan never got that email she was waiting for...

When she saw that it was nearly time to leave, Ning Wan felt that she couldn't possibly waste the whole day just waiting for the mail. She had to get something done. Grabbing Fu Zheng, she said, "Come on, I'll take you to buy furniture!"

Fu Zheng's new house had been handed over, and the landlord had already moved out the mahogany furniture. It was high time for him to get new furniture so that he could experience the joy of a warm home.

However, Fu Zheng was oddly and noticeably resistant.

"What's wrong? The sooner you buy furniture, the sooner you can move in. Won't this save you rent? Your mortgage will be easier to pay, too."

Fu Zheng bit his lip. He obviously still didn't want to go.

Ning Wan scrutinized him for a moment, then suddenly realized, "Are you worried about bring able to afford furniture? Don't worry! I'm pretty familiar with a few second-hand furniture store owners. We'll get you the best second-hand furniture at the lowest price. Let's go!"

……

Worried about the furniture being expensive? Fu Zheng was worried that the furniture would not be expensive enough! He had already spent money on an old, run-down apartment and thought that it was the worst shopping experience of his life. Unexpectedly, it wasn't over yet. Second-hand goods, truly his eternal enemy! Now along with a second-hand house, he would soon own second-hand furniture...

Ning Wan pulled him over to the subway, and after that they boarded a bus. In the crowded, work-hour rush, Fu Zheng was squeezed until he begun doubting life. His sense of smell was dying from the odor of sweat in the carriage. Finally, they got off the bus and walked a good long time until Ning Wan led him to an ugly little alleyway.

Carefully avoiding the puddles on the ground, he followed her into a cramped little shop. The door lintel was so low that he had to bend to get in. When he got in, however, he found that the shop was rather unexpectedly a place of unique beauty. It wasn't the messy used furniture market that he had imagined. Instead, the decor was tasteful, and the environment clean and neat. Although second-hand, the furniture looked to be in good quality and well-maintained. But they all had a single characteristic in common--

They all looked cheap...

There was a dining table right in front of Fu Zheng. He glanced at the price tag - 1200 yuan¹$180USD. My friend Fu Zheng, you call that cheap? I will have you know that I pick up free furniture off the side of the road during moving season!.

……

This was a little bit too...

"This is way too expensive! Shopkeeper!" At that very moment, Ning Wan's voice rang out. "Have you been marking up your prices recently? The economy hasn't even been doing well lately, and you ask for 1200 yuan? Why don't you go rob a bank instead?"

When she finished, she winked at Fu Zheng and said in a whisper, "You've been eyeing this for a bit. You must like it? Hold on, I'll get you a bargain."

The shopkeeper was a middle-aged man in a changshan²One of those long male-version cheongsam robes. Picture at the bottom. with a nice, trustworthy-looking face. When he heard Ning Wan call, he came up to them and said, "Xiao Ning, how much are you offering? If it's you buying, well of course I'll give you a discount."

"Well all right. I'll give you 1000."

"..." Fu Zheng was dumbfounded. Was 1,200 yuan not cheap enough? 1,000 yuan second-hand dining tables existed in the world? Did you have to eat a 5-yuan boxed lunch to meet it's standards?

The boss declined, of course. "I paid more than that for the table. I would lose money at that price."

"Then how about I take this desk as well and those two chairs over here? Since I'm buying in bulk, why don't you give me a discount on all of them and round it down to 2000?"

"Oh, alright. Since you're an old friend, and I'm a straightforward man, I'll let you have it for that price."

"And delivery?"

"Just two thousand yuan and you want me to do delivery too? No, no, that won't do! For delivery we'd have to add another 500 yuan! In total for everything would be 2,500!"

……

Fu Zheng had already lost the desire for survival after witnessing the quality and price of these pieces of furniture. Yet unexpectedly in this situation, Ning Wan was still reckless enough to snatch food from the mouth of a tiger. She lowered the price another 300 yuan.

"Two thousand two hundred! 2,500 is an unlucky number, take 300 off!"

"What's so unlucky about 2,500?" The furniture store owner asked, dumbfounded.

"It's ten times 250³Sounds like the word for 'idiot'., isn't it? It sounds like a swearword, that's no good."

"...Alright, alright, just take the things. But 2,200 yuan will only pay for downstairs delivery on a truck. We won't carry it upstairs for you."

"No problem!"

……

Perhaps he become accustomed to these blows. Fu Zheng strangely found himself quite calm. That's not so bad, he thought, it only cost two thousand two hundred after all, not ten times two hundred and fifty...

But soon, he could no longer continue consoling himself with having triumphed in spirit.

Ning Wan gave the address, oversaw the packing of the furniture onto the truck, and had the truck driver cart it back to Yuelan Community. Then the two of them took the bus and the subway, and finally returned to the ground floor of Fu Zheng's "brand-new mansion". The truck had already arrived, and was being unloaded.

The truck driver unloaded the desk, chairs and dining room table that Ning Wan had chosen. Since she had said that he wouldn't need to take them upstairs, once he was done and the receipt signed, he got in his truck and headed off.

Fu Zheng looked at the second-hand furniture sitting on the ground. He was actually a little curious. To have them carried upstairs for three hundred yuan was actually not pricey at all. His "second-hand mansion" was an old building, and back then the craze for twenty-story high-rises had not yet caught on among developers. Because of this, the building only had six floors. It was a garden-style house⁴A small, typically suburban block of houses, built with European or North American architecture and emphasis on space and greenery. The ground floor might have a garden, and the top floor a terrace., so there was no elevator. Fu Zheng's "mansion" was on the sixth floor. It wouldn't be easy to carry these shabby bits and pieces up.

Since Ning Wan had refused without hesitation, Fu Zheng knew her well enough to know that she definitely knew of some cheaper delivery service. But... three hundred yuan was already so low, shouldn't there be a bottom line when it came to exploitation? Weren't these people who were willing to move these shabby tables and chairs to the sixth floor for less than 300 yuan pricing themselves too low?

Unexpectedly, there were still such men who lived such miserable lives nowadays, selling the labour of their young bodies for just one or two hundred yuan...

Fu Zheng felt a little sympathy, but at the same time felt a tiny little superior. They were both men, yet the difference between them was truly like heaven and earth. When he thought of himself and how even if he had spent money to buy this pile of junk, why, 200 yuan was still nothing at all to him. He had quite a decent social status, and his hourly salary was as high as 1,200USD, enough to have someone else move furniture for him...

Feeling a little bad for that poor man, he decided that he would secretly give him a little extra tip while Ning Wan wasn't paying attention, and maybe mention a little advice. A man couldn't think so low of himself! One couldn't rely on undercutting the price, that would just bring down the entire market for porters. They needed to grow a backbone! It wasn't worth selling one's body for a couple hundred yuan. How humiliating!

But the longer he waited, the less it seemed like Ning Wan was going to call someone. She just kept staring at him. Fu Zheng cleared his throat, about to ask when the porter would arrive, but before he could, she said--

"Fu Zheng, start with this desk!"

?