If Zou Weijun’s company was inspired by industry marketing cases to use a lawsuit to boost Youth Idol’s fame, rather than genuinely aiming to restore the reputation of the author Reverse Flow Fish, Zheng Zhihe had no interest in being used.
He took lawsuits seriously.
A case with no chance of winning could still be fought, but one where the client’s stance was shaky or their motives impure? Zheng Zhihe wouldn’t touch it.
He believed Zou Weijun’s assurances.
But in the end, Zou Weijun might not have the final say.
Zou Weijun didn’t catch what Zheng Zhihe truly cared about, but Wen Ying, as a fellow lawyer, did.
Wen Ying stood and bowed to Zheng Zhihe.
Lawyer Zheng, I don’t know what others think, but I’m determined to see this lawsuit through. It’s about my personal reputation, which matters deeply to me. For Youth Idol’s sales, I can tolerate being criticized temporarily, but sacrificing my reputation deliberately to sell books? I can’t do that. This lawsuit is my own demand. I asked Auntie Zou to act on my behalf because I have some concerns. I want to keep my writing separate from my real life and, for now, don’t want too many people knowing Reverse Flow Fish is my pen name. That’s why I didn’t directly commission you.
Her words didn’t sound rehearsed by Zou Weijun or anyone else at the publishing department.
She understood him and responded with clear thinking. No wonder she could create literature at such a young age.
Satisfied with Wen Ying’s firm response, Zheng Zhihe nodded, I now understand your resolve to fight for your rights. Let’s talk about evidence. Ms Zou mentioned you have some materials?
Wen Ying hadn’t known Zou Weijun hired Zheng Zhihe. Talking to him felt like being quizzed by a professor in her university law classes, making her more cautious.
I kept screenshots of my chats with Editor Xiao Ni. I know QQ chat logs might be weak as evidence, but I have other things too.
The chat logs could prove Wen Ying didn’t deliberately delay or refuse to submit her manuscript. Instead, she wasn’t sure if the QQ account was still Xiao Ni’s.
Plus, I was busy with final exams recently and didn’t have much time online. Later, I messaged Xiao Ni to discuss serialization after the July issue, but she didn’t reply. After my exams, Aige’s July issue came out, announcing they’d terminated my contract. When I tried contacting Xiao Ni again, I found she’d deleted me as a friend.
Being unfriended didn’t affect the screenshots Wen Ying had saved.
Whether a court would accept chat screenshots as evidence was uncertain, but Wen Ying had done her best to preserve proof before being unfriended.
She copied all her evidence onto a CD and handed it to Zheng Zhihe.
Zheng immediately loaded the CD into his laptop.
He quickly noticed Wen Ying’s evidence-gathering was somewhat professional.
At first, he was puzzled. Just a few screenshots, why not use a USB drive? It’d be more convenient.
After viewing the contents, he understood, a USB drive’s storage wasn’t big enough.
Wen Ying didn’t just take screenshots.
She used a camera to record her screen as she took them.
If someone else were present, it’d be like self-notarizing.
It was certainly cumbersome.
But a video-backed screenshot was far more credible than a plain QQ chat log.
If the recorded screenshots showed Wen Ying had some cleverness, Zheng was genuinely shocked when he opened the second piece of evidence.
Seeing Wen Ying’s evidence, Zou Weijun, the other party involved, was equally surprised.
How did you think of…
Zheng Zhihe started to speak but stopped.
Wen Ying looked innocent, Don’t detective novels always do this? I call it planning ahead. Who knows if someone might bully me for being young? And now it’s come in handy.
Detective novels might write it that way, but that doesn’t mean a young girl should do it.
Who lives their life like a novel?
And anyone bullying you must be blind.
Beneath Zheng Zhihe’s serious facade, he was mentally rolling his eyes.
Don’t do this again. This evidence might not be admissible, as it’s not through conventional means.
Zheng chose his words carefully, but Wen Ying smiled shyly, It might not work, but it can still help a bit, right? Knowing it can assist you, Lawyer Zheng, puts me at ease.
Her tone was sincere, leaving Zheng at a loss for words.
If the girl trusted him, how could he not trust himself?
If he couldn’t win this case, his law license must’ve come from some shady market stall.
He’d planned to sternly lecture Wen Ying on what she could and couldn’t do, but seeing her round face, his heart softened. She was a smart girl. You couldn’t just criticize someone like her bluntly, you had to guide her gently onto the right path.
School starts soon, and you’ll be in your second year of high school, right? Ms Zou said you’re at a top provincial school in Rongcheng. Your thinking is sharp, have you considered studying law in the future?
Advising someone to study medicine invites divine retribution.
Advising someone to study law invites a thousand cuts.
These are famous sayings, but many don’t know why they exist.
Doctors and lawyers require years of groundwork.
For doctors, after undergrad, you grind through grad school, doctorate, and then start as a resident. You burn out your liver staying up late, go bald writing papers, and suddenly you’re in your thirties, half your life gone, earning less than a pharmaceutical rep.
When saving patients, you’re an angel in white to their families.
But one mistake, and you’re a demon in white, a heartless butcher.
Lawyers aren’t much different.
Wen Ying saw a joke online: in 2019, how do you hire a driver in Shanghai for 3,000 yuan a month? Answers varied, but one hit legal professionals hard, You can’t hire a full-time driver for 3,000, but you can get a law grad who passed the bar, can drive, speaks foreign languages, and is on call 24/7 as a law firm intern.
That said, medicine and law aren’t bad careers. They demand intellect and perseverance to succeed. Once you make it, social status and resources follow, but for the average person with average smarts, grinding in these fields likely won’t pay off.
Zheng advising Wen Ying to study law wasn’t to trap her, quite the opposite, he thought highly of her intelligence.
Wen Ying looked at the young Zheng Zhihe, her two lifetimes overlapping.
Zheng Zhihe, not yet bald, urging her to study law.
Her senior colleague, Zheng Zhihe.
