Fu Zheng had a very memorable night. Although he didn't get any sleep for most of it, he wasn't tired at all. On the contrary, apart from seeming a little lazy, he was in excellent spirits. Even Gao Yuan sourly described him as looking 'radiant'. 

Because he was at the end of his time at the community, Fu Zheng had already begun to deliberately take on his new role at Zhengyuan Law. His team selection was now up to the final round of interviews, and relevant lists and plans had all been announced. He was almost ready to officially become a partner at Zhengyuan Law.

Although HR had not yet made it official, thanks to a series of drastic reforms and the handovers he had been doing, Fu Zheng's identity was no longer hidden. The fact that he was the new senior par was already a well-known secret.

Gao Yuan was the sourest about this. "Why didn't anyone throw me a welcome party when I joined, but you get one? They keep telling me that things have changed and we have to keep up with the times, and everyone nowadays holds welcome parties. Please, isn’t it just because of your looks? I'd like to see if they would have done the same if you had been some bald, paunchy partner!”

The more Gao Yuan talked, the sadder he sounded. "If you want to make me believe it's not about your appearance, then tell me, how many little interns have sidled up to me to ask if you're single? When I first joined, I was single, too! Why didn't anyone care about me and introduce me back then?!”

Fu Zheng was sitting in Gao Yuan's office, lightly drinking tea. "Just tell them I'm not single."

"Oh come on. With your pretty face, people might even wait until you break up and become single again!"

"Then just tell them I'm getting married soon."

Gao Yuan perked up. "Are you and Ning Wan getting married?"

"Sooner or later."

"Do you always do things at rocket speed?" Gao Yuan asked, quite shocked. "I hadn't even had time to introduce you to someone yet before you stopped being single, and now you're determined to get married. Are you even going to tell me when you have a kid in the future?"

"It's not impossible. Preparing red envelopes in advance is always the right move." Fu Zheng smiled. "Successful people don't waste time. Falling in love, getting married, having children, everything's like going through a green light. Quick, accurate, efficient.”

The two of them bantered back and forth a little more before getting back on topic.

As soon as they returned to work, Gao Yuan's expression turned grave. "Are you serious about abolishing the talent pool system in our firm?"

"Yes." Fu Zheng set down his teacup and said in a resolute tone, "Too many young lawyers like Ning Wan are wasted in the talent pool. I saw one Ning Wan and reached out to give her a hand, but what about all the many other young lawyers that no one sees? They waste away in obscurity, with no hope of joining a team and getting on the right career track."

"That's true, but once we abolish the talent pool, what will all the remaining young lawyers do? Will we have to lay them off? You have to know that our team can't absorb all these young lawyers right now. Where do you want them to go? The economy isn't doing well at the moment, and competition is fierce. If they were in the talent pool, they would still at least get a fixed income, but if you abolish the system and they're unable to enter a partner's team, how will we deal with it?"

"If you don't believe me," Gao Yuan analyzed, "Take a poll. I would say around 80% of the lawyers in the talent pool will be unwilling to have it dissolved. Once that happens, they won't even have the original guarantee of income, and it becomes even more embarrassing for them. It's true that there are serious people like Ning Wan in there, but there aren't many who are as qualified as her. Ning Wan might have been able to achieve her current growth through two years of work in the community, but most lawyers in the talent pool would take longer. They have neither Ning Wan’s quality nor her character, so where do you expect them to go?”

"I've never expected the talent pool to peacefully transition into completely dissolution. But after chatting with Ning Wan a few days ago, I was inspired." Fu Zheng paused, "I intend on forming a team focused on community legal services in Zhengyuan Law, and any lawyer from the talent pool who isn't absorbed by a partner's team can choose to join it.”

"Having been in the community for so long, I've found that there are actually quite a large number of cases to take at the lowest, grassroots level. However, most mature lawyers aren't willing to take on such cases because they don't pay much. But if a young lawyer is willing to take on such cases, they'll grow very fast.”

"However, most young lawyers nowadays are busy at the middle and lower levels of law firms. They don't have the time or economic ability to take on such cases. Even if they were willing, they wouldn't be able to. But if our firm can devote a certain amount to subsidizing young lawyers to handle such community cases, this would allow them to take on cases and obtain practical experience without having to worry about income. It's a win-win situation."

Now Gao Yuan reacted. "So you mean to cancel the talent pool system and funnel these surplus young lawyers into the community and have them take on community cases, which the firm will subsidize? At least allowing them to maintain the treatment of when they were in the talent pool?”

"Yes. If you take on a lot of community cases, though they may be small, you'll pick up quite a bit of money by accumulation. With our basic subsidy added on top, they might even make a lot more."

Fu Zheng smiled. "You've met Ning Wan. She was never systematically taught by a mentor, nor was she from a prestigious school. But thanks to her hard work and practical experience from community cases, she is now an independent lawyer in her own right. What’s the point of the current talent pool system apart from letting every young lawyer waste their time? It would be better to let those in the talent pool who are willing to work hard and aren't afraid of hardship go out and get experience. Once they've got a large number of cases under their belt, they'll certainly improve in skill. At that point, even if they're not taken in by a partner team at headquarters, they ought to be able to take on cases independently just by relying on the contacts formed from community cases. Although they might not be rich, they'll certainly be able to support themselves."

"I don't know if the other partners will like it, but the Lawyer Association will surely love you to death," Gao Yuan raised an eyebrow. "The community's always been short of lawyers, and a few days ago, they inquired if we could expand the scope of our services there.”

"Once I officially join the company, I'll hold a meeting. Of course, I can't ask other partners to do what I tell them to, and I can't guarantee that they'll be willing to allocate part of their income to subsidizing this plan, but I'll definitely lead by example in using the money I bring in to support this system."

Gao Yuan pondered for a moment, then thought of a new issue. "The other partners may not disagree, but after spending so much hard work and money to train up young lawyers, what if they leave once they become mature enough to handle cases independently? Doesn't that just mean that we're cultivating our own competitors? Giving a subsidy isn't vocational training, so we can't sign a training agreement."

"Whether or not we can retain people is our firm's problem," Fu Zheng smiled. "Isn't Zhengyuan Law just about to undergo reform? If environment, remuneration, and philosophy are all in line, I believe that most young lawyers won't leave.”

"Even if they leave, they'll go to another law firm in Rong City. At the very least, life won't force a mature lawyer to change careers into selling insurance or something. In short, they'll have no issue supporting themselves, so we can think of it as avoiding the loss of legal talent. That's not a bad thing for Rong City's legal ecological environment. After all, the more intense the competition in the legal market, the more training lawyers receive, and the clearer the future of the legal system. After all, we lawyers, in addition to taking care of ourselves, must also have some compassion and commitment to home and country.”

Gao Yuan finally could no longer hold it in. "Fu Zheng, are you still the Fu Zheng I know?"

"What's wrong?" Fu Zheng asked, raising a brow.

"I feel like you've changed a lot." Gao Yuan paused. "You've really changed ever since going to the community."

Fu Zheng smiled. "Did I get better or worse?"

Gao Yuan considered it seriously. "For others, better. You have a greater sense of social responsibility, your ego isn't so delicate, you have more compassion for young lawyers, and you even care about the future of law in China. How should I say it? You're so much warmer; but for me specifically, it’s terrible!”

"Oh?"

"I'm in charge of human resources. Here you are wanting a community service system to replace the talent pool system, and on top of that we have to ensure that young lawyers won't jump ship after we train them. Aren't you just throwing this puzzle in my lap, asking me to provide better benefits and career paths? Otherwise, if we put in a lot of effort to train up these young lawyers for nothing and the other high-rankers catch sight of the turnover rate, won't they all hold me responsible? You're pushing me into a fire pit! I already don't have much hair left!” Gao Yuan grabbed onto his already scarce strands in in distress, “You're 'making a family already in poverty even worse off'¹Originally a classic voice-over from a TV program, this is now used as a meme.!”

But despite his words, Fu Zheng knew that Gao Yuan was in full support of his plan. Although already well-established²'Although having reached the age of thirty': from the Analects of Confucius. The full quote is as follows:  'At fifteen I set my heart upon learning.
At thirty, I had planted my feet firm upon the ground.
At forty, I no longer suffered from perplexities.
At fifty, I knew what were the biddings of Heaven.
At sixty, I heard them with docile ear.
At seventy, I could follow the dictates of my own heart; for what I desired no longer overstepped the boundaries of right.', Gao Yuan's passion and belief in the legal profession was second to none.

Fu Zheng had never thought that he might still change at this age. He couldn't help but smile again, thinking of the person who had changed him.