tiantianyingshi

He had to keep his parents, his wife, his children, and his siblings alive. The entire family was like a group of vampires, sucking all of his energy out of him. He had to work all day and night, which was why he had gone into the reverse direction that night and had crashed into a car. Liu Man felt that even if her father hadn’t drunk wine that night and drove normally, or even if her father had never passed that road, Wang Chunhua would’ve still bumped into some other car and died.

Wang Zhihua said, “Don’t try to cut the price and waste time. Last time we asked for three million, and that offer is still on the table. If you want us to sign the letter of forgiveness, you have to pay us three million.”

Zhang Pei had already been prepared for the obstinacy that would come from the other side. Lawyer Sun told her that they wouldn’t be afraid. If they wasted any more time, the other side would probably ask for four million.

Zhang Pei nodded, “Okay, but we can only pay you the full amount after the end of the year.”

Seeing that the three million was about to be paid to them, Mrs. Wang and Wang Zhihua didn’t even bother hiding their happiness. Even Mrs. Wang’s tone had gotten softer, “It’s alright. You will definitely need some time to prepare for all the money. We won’t bother you .”

“Then, let’s start drawing up the contract,” Lawyer Sun opened his suitcase and took out a letter of forgiveness he had already pre-made, “Excluding the hundred thousand RMB Zhang Pei paid you last time, my client still needs to pay two million and nine hundred thousand RMB.”

Wang Zhihua waved his hand, “No, no, no. That hundred thousand RMB cannot be counted in.”

Zhang Pei was stunned, “Why can’t it be counted in?”

“That was your payment to express condolences, and the payment for my son’s funeral. We also need to spend money to pay our lawyer. Everything needs money to be spent, now that hundred thousand is already gone,” Mrs. Wang took it all for granted.

“It was your own fault not to agree to our three million deal the last time we met. This time, it has increased to three million and a hundred thousand. If you still won’t agree, then it will be three million and two hundred thousand next time. Let’s see who can afford the delays,” Wang Zhihua continued.

Zhang Pei felt really tired seeing the cupidity from the other side. She didn’t want to talk much longer with this kind of family, for she only wanted to quickly sign the contract and leave, to get far away from them. She told Lawyer Sun, “Alright, let’s do what they say. So, to conclude, the total amount we will compensate them with, will be three million and a hundred thousand.”

Lawyer Sun also felt as if the other side was hard to deal with. It was useless to reason with them, and even if they went to court, the judge wouldn’t know how to deal with them either.

Lawyer Sun finished drawing up the forgiveness letter and handed it to Lawyer Zhao, “You can take a glance over it.”

Lawyer Zhao took out a pair of glasses to put on, then perused the letter sentence by sentence, “The day they will pay the total amount will be March the first. Do you think it will be fine?” He asked the mother and son of the Wang family.

The old lady whispered something to Wang Zhihua, then spoke, “It’s fine.”

“Will there be any need to set up a fine for a breach of contract?” Lawyer Sun spoke again.

Zhang Pei gave a brittle laugh, “Everyone in my family keeps their promises. Now that lawyers from both sides are here, I will tell you that we will pay all of the required amount by March 1^st. We need time to get a loan from the bank and mortgage my house. Even if we breach the contract, how many days would we be able to delay? Just for that interest during those few days? Keep in mind, we will give you a hundred thousand more than what was negotiated.”

Lawyer Zhao smiled, “Okay, I don’t think you would dare to neglect the contract either.”

Under the witness of their lawyers, Zhang Pei and Mrs. Wang both signed their names on the letter, along with the date and their IDs.

The contract was saved in four copies. Zhang Pei, the old lady, and the lawyers each were given one copy.

After receiving the contract, there was a huge difference between the expressions shown on the two families’ faces.

Mrs. Wang and Wang Zhihua instantly grinned, and thanked Lawyer Zhao multiple times in front of Zhang Pei and Liu Man. Wang Zhihua said with a toady tone, “Thanks so much, why don’t you eat lunch with us later? We’ll treat you.”

Lawyer Zhao rejected their offer, “Thanks, but I still have business to attend to. I have to get to my other client in the northern part of the city during this afternoon.”

“Then, we’ll treat you to a meal when you have time.”

Zhang Pei didn’t want to say anything else to the trio. She took Liu Man’s hand, turned around, and was just about to leave the room.

Wang Zhihua was probably way too happy. He called out, “Wait,” He walked to Liu Man and stared at her, “You look very familiar.”

Liu Man frowned and stepped back.

Before, his mind was filled with money. But right now, Wang Zhihua realized that the daughter in this family was quite a beauty. She looked even prettier than the prettiest girl in their school.

Wang Zhihua was in his sophomore year, just like Liu Man. He went to a secondary college in the capital city, and was the only one in his family who had gone to college. His family members were all very proud of him.

Although they were the same age, Wang Zhihua looked much more time-beaten. His eyes weren’t that small but were lusterless. His eyes were always filled with snobbishness.

Liu Man had been studying in the musical university for a very long time and had seen many handsome boys. When she looked at Wang Zhihua, she only felt that Wang Zhihua looked wretched.

“Mom, we should get getting,” She told Zhang Pei.

Zhang Pei held her hand tight, walked past Wang Zhihua, and went out without turning back once.

Lawyer Sun glanced at Wang Zhihua with a faint smile, nodded lightly at Lawyer Zhao’s direction, and then left too.

Mrs. Wang poked Wang Zhihua, “You need to find a girlfriend now. Stop looking at other girls.”

“First of all, this is the first time I’ve seen someone so pretty in real life. Second of all, that girl really seems familiar. It’s as if I’ve seen her somewhere before,” Wang Zhihua still felt very confused.

Lawyer Zhao was very good at anything to do with logic. He helped Wang Zhihua analyze, “Since you’ve never met her before in real life, and you think she looks familiar as if you’ve seen her before, then you’ve naturally seen her somewhere in the virtual world.”

His statement instantly reminded Wang Zhihua, “Oh, yeah, yeah. I’ve seen her before on the internet. Yesterday, I saw a video on Tik Tok, which is popular in our school. People say she’s someone from the musical university. So, it’s her! She looked like a super star in the video.”

“Ah! Why didn’t you tell me that before?” Mrs. Wang berated her youngest son, “They must be really rich then. It’s a pity that we only asked for three million. We could’ve asked for more, and they definitely would’ve been able to afford it.”

Even Zhao Feng, their lawyer, felt disgusted when seeing how avaricious the old lady was.

Zhao Feng wasn’t that bad of a person, to be honest. He had just graduated from law school last year and had come from the countryside of China. He did not have any social connections, nor did he have any background. To survive in the capital, he could only work hard and do his job. However, he was only a neophyte, and his law firm never gave him any cases with a high salary. He could only take small cases on worthless fights, until he met the Wang family.

The Wang family’s case was only a very common car crash, and the predecessors at the law firm were too arrogant to take it. So, he had to take it. Different than other families of victims, the Wang family told him that they didn’t care if the other side had to serve in jail. They had nothing to do with it. They only wanted money and compensation. They wanted as much money as they could get, and they would pay him an expensive fee for his work.

Zhao Feng was someone outside of this matter. He didn’t care about the indifference from the other side, for he only cared about the money. He had done some research on Liu Chenyu’s family and background, and he knew everything about him: from his houses, his cars, all the way to how much he paid for his daughter’s annual college tuition. He made an approximation on exactly how much Liu Chenyu’s family would be able to compensate, and he was the one who came up with three million as their final number. And, the result was not out of his expectations. The other side was cowardly, and they thought the husband’s reputation and the daughter’s future was more important. They had to compromise and agree to the high amount of compensation. According to the contract, Zhao Feng would be able to receive four percent of the entire compensation, which was about a hundred and twenty thousand RMB. This was also why the Wang family was so stubborn and hadn’t wanted to count the hundred thousand RMB in.

Although he disliked the way the Wang family was, he and the Wang family were all going after the same thing: money.

Zhao Feng told Mrs. Wang, “I have to go now. My task has been completed for now. Our next meeting will be on March 1^st, after Chinese New Year.”

On such a festive day like the Chinese New Year, he did not want to have anything to do with the Wang family.

The old lady and her youngest son had no idea about what he had been thinking. They walked him out of the teahouse and watched him get onto a taxi with much gratitude in their heart.

Credits: Dora, Sydney, & Kathrien