DF Chapter 89

Chapter 89: Doing what you yearned to shout out on the beach when you were young.

Sheng Jia’s time in Jingjiang was running out.

After her graduation, Song Ningqiu delegated half of her authority to her, entrusting her with the financial, mechanical, innovative research, and digital base under the group’s umbrella. She had practically no time to rest, spending every day either working or on her way to work.

Being able to stay in Jingjiang for these few days was the result of her bringing all her recent work here to handle, but some things couldn’t be handled remotely forever.

In a while, she would also represent Song’s Heavy Industry at this year’s Entrepreneur Summit. Song Ningqiu was currently on a business trip in Africa. From last year to this year, African construction projects had been one of the group’s key projects, and Song Ningqiu’s number of trips to Africa had also increased significantly. She wouldn’t be able to return for a while, so this task fell on Sheng Jia’s shoulders.

However, this wasn’t Sheng Jia’s first time attending such a conference on behalf of Song Ningqiu. She had evolved from being completely inexperienced the first time to being quite adept now. Wei Pan had booked her itinerary; the flight was for this weekend.

On Friday, she finally stepped into the law firm she had been avoiding all along.

Xiaohua Law Firm, an extremely young firm, even located in a residential alley. The sign above was a colorful advertisement, and the door was a sliding door, making it look like a barber shop that had undergone a rushed makeover, radiating an unreliable vibe from every corner.

Wei Pan got out of the car with Sheng Jia, holding a parasol for her. When she looked up and saw the law firm, she couldn’t help but be puzzled: “What are you doing here?”

She had been following Sheng Jia since she was recognized and returned to the Song family. Apart from their own construction sites, Sheng Jia only ever set foot in elite places, fulfilling every fantasy of an ordinary person about a young CEO on the top floor of a CBD, capable and strict, looking like someone confined by a square frame, proper and upright, never making a mistake, completely out of place with this kind of unconventional place.

“Wait for me at the entrance for a while,” Sheng Jia didn’t explain, only said softly.

With that, she pushed open the door and walked inside.

It was complete chaos inside. Feathers were flying everywhere in the not-so-large law firm, accompanied by the sounds of arguing.

“It’s her! She said the eggs she sold me yesterday were free-range eggs, but when I looked, they were all battery eggs! Charging me two yuan apiece, isn’t that cheating?”

“I sold battery eggs? My family raises over twenty free-range hens. Do you see any that look like battery hens? What evidence do you have that these aren’t free-range eggs?”

“Hey! I’ve been cooking all my life. Do you think I can’t tell if an egg is free-range or not? Xu Lijing, you be the judge!”

Sheng Jia stood at the door without moving. A hen, randomly hopping around on the ground, stretched its neck and walked to her side, its fat tail sweeping across her pant legs, leaving a few feathers. Then, a third voice came from inside, lazy and helpless, “Grandmas, you won’t get any results from arguing here.”

Xu Lijing propped her cheek with her hand, the bubble gum in her mouth popping with a ‘pop’ sound. She pointed at the two women, then at the chicken on the ground, “You’re all neighbors, acquaintances. How could there be any cheating? How did you figure out the eggs were problematic? Aren’t both eggs the same color?”

Hearing this, the grandma put her hands on her hips and said, “Xu Lijing, you’re young, you don’t understand. Free-range eggs are now cold white with a bluish tint, they don’t lay this kind of fleshy-colored egg.”

“Just because your free-range chickens don’t lay this color of egg doesn’t mean mine can’t.”

The two grandmas started arguing again. Seeing this, Xu Lijing sized them up for a moment. Soon, her phone rang. She took it out and showed it to them, “Wang Grandma’s chickens are taken care of by her daughter, who even added a camera. Look, the eggs are taken fresh every day, and they’re this color when they take them. She really didn’t cheat you; they’re free-range eggs.”

Seeing this, Zhou Grandma shut up. Xu Lijing quickly said a lot of kind words to give her a way out, encouraging the two to shake hands and make peace. They had been neighbors for over ten years; who hadn’t helped whom before? There was no need to become enemies over something like this.

After the two women walked away arm in arm, Xu Lijing slumped back into her office chair and sighed. She pinched the space between her eyebrows and muttered, “They’re such a headache.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the sound of a wind chime came from the doorway. She quickly sat up straight again, put on a professional smile, and said enthusiastically, “Hello, welcome to Xiaohua Law Firm, how can I help you?”

Sheng Jia came out from the corner of the corridor and made eye contact with Xu Lijing.

Xu Lijing was slightly stunned, then blurted out subconsciously, “Sheng Jia?”

—

A glass of water was placed on Sheng Jia’s table. Xu Lijing was making tea in the inner room, clearly not wanting to talk to Sheng Jia.

After bringing out the tea, she sat stiffly on the edge of the sofa, holding a notepad in her hand, and asked, “Does President Sheng have any questions she needs to ask?”

Speaking as if the two were strangers, Sheng Jia wasn’t surprised.

After the college entrance examination results came out, Sheng Jia hadn’t contacted them again. Sheng Jia hadn’t opened the group chat that was once filled with laughter either.

Over the past few years, as Meng Yeran said, Sheng Jia had walked very far alone. Her phone had many people’s contact information, but she hadn’t made any more friends. Her days were filled with studying and working, like a spinning top constantly rotating. She changed her phone, changed her contact information, and she no longer contacted Meng Yeran and the others. Or perhaps, because Song Ji’an, who had been the link between them, had also left, Sheng Jia didn’t know how to contact them again, and she was even more afraid that after contacting them, she and Song Ji’an would never be able to fulfill what the other had said about not seeing each other again in the future.

Song Ji’an was someone who needed friends. Sheng Jia had already made Song Ji’an leave the Song family, so she couldn’t possibly deprive Song Ji’an of her friends again. She could only choose not to disturb them.

The dreams of sharing innermost thoughts in their youth never came true. Sheng Jia didn’t know how to face them, so she simply chose not to.

But unexpectedly, Song Ji’an had also disappeared from Xu Lijing and the others’ lives.

Like Sheng Jia, she had left Jingjiang and never appeared in front of Xu Lijing and the others again.

This was also the conclusion Sheng Jia had reached during this period after investigating Xu Lijing and the others when her investigation into Song Ji’an yielded no results.

She wasn’t surprised by Xu Lijing’s current attitude. In fact, in her heart, it was already a blessing that Xu Lijing hadn’t kicked her out after seeing her again.

“Xu Lijing, I’m here to invest in your law firm,” Sheng Jia sat on the other side of the sofa, took a sip of the tea she had handed her. It wasn’t very good tea, served in a disposable plastic cup, the tea leaves floating up and down, but Sheng Jia was in a good mood drinking it.

“What did you say?” Xu Lijing thought there was something wrong with her ears, “Invest in me?”

“That’s right,” Sheng Jia curled her lips, “After you graduated, you returned to Jingjiang to open this law firm, but because of your lack of experience, you haven’t received any decent cases this year. You can only handle some trivial matters in the neighborhood every day, making ends meet. Based on your current management methods, you’ll be able to hold on for at most another month, and you probably won’t be able to afford your daily living expenses.”

After just a few words, Xu Lijing’s disguise shattered. She slammed the things in her hand down heavily and said loudly, “Sheng Jia! Are you here to ruin my business? How do you know I won’t make it next month? I’m doing great. I had money to throw around in high school, let alone now.”

“Is that so? Well, if the law firm goes bankrupt, you can just change the facade of your house and turn it into a snack shop, which would make more money than you’re making now,” Sheng Jia commented.

Xu Lijing: …

In some ways, Sheng Jia hadn’t changed at all, still the kind of person who could leave people speechless with anger.

She took a deep breath and said in a deep voice, “What exactly are you here for?”

The expression on Sheng Jia’s face also began to become serious, “I’m serious, I’m here to invest in your law firm. I want my own legal team.”

“President Sheng, as the future successor of Song’s Heavy Industry, what kind of team can’t you put together?” Xu Lijing smiled. She was no longer the ambitious student of the past. At least, the year of hard work in society had made her aware of her own capabilities.

But the next moment, Sheng Jia took out a check from her pocket and handed it to her.

Seeing the number on it, Xu Lijing’s words took a turn, “However, if President Sheng can’t do without me, it’s not impossible to consider.”

Who would refuse money?

The money on Sheng Jia’s check could buy her ten law firms.

Sheng Jia couldn’t help but laugh, “Aren’t you afraid I’ll set some kind of trap for you?”

“What’s there to be afraid of,” Xu Lijing rolled her eyes at her, “I’m penniless, what kind of trap can you set for me?”

These few words actually reduced the unfamiliarity between the two a bit.

Sheng Jia asked, “Not angry anymore?”

“I’m still pretty angry,” Xu Lijing carefully put the check away, “Actually, I can understand why neither of you appear anymore. After something so big happened, it would be difficult for anyone to face old friends. But I’m just angry, you know? We said we’d be friends forever, what about the dreams we made together? Did they all just disappear like that? I used to tell Song Yi and Su Zhaolin that it’s fine if you two don’t appear in front of me again, but if you do reappear in front of me—”

As she spoke, she paused slightly, revealing a row of white teeth, “I will definitely beat you two up severely to relieve my hatred.”

But in the end, she still couldn’t bring herself to do it.

Although Sheng Jia’s familiar face was flashing the words ‘I deserve a beating’ everywhere, when she sat in front of her and chatted so easily, it would make her unable to help but think of the good times in the past.

Of course, the most important thing was that she couldn’t beat Sheng Jia in high school, and she probably couldn’t beat her even more now.

“Thank you for not actually attacking me when you saw me,” Sheng Jia joked, then said, “But I really want to ask you a question, after I left, did Song Ji’an ever contact you?”

Xu Lijing frowned slightly, “I don’t know about Song Yi and Su Zhaolin, but on my side, she, like you, never contacted me at all.”

Sheng Jia nodded, “Tomorrow, go with me to choose a location for an office building in Jingjiang. How about making Xiaohua Law Firm a bit bigger?”

“Are you serious?”

“Of course I’m serious,” Sheng Jia said, “Otherwise, I would have just given you a worthless check.”

“You passed the bar exam right after graduation, interned at the top four law firms in your junior year, and received offers from them directly before you even submitted your resume in your senior year, but in the end, you chose to return here,” Sheng Jia met her gaze, “Why?”

“You did a background check on me? That’s not exactly legal behavior,” Xu Lijing’s tone was a bit melancholy, and she said softly, “Maybe I suddenly realized that the place I had always dreamed of going was a bit different from what I had imagined.”

“Then go do what you imagine,” Sheng Jia said bluntly, “Do what you yearned to shout out on the beach when you were young.”

Xu Lijing was stunned, and for some reason, her eyes were a little red.

If Sheng Jia hadn’t appeared today, perhaps she would have really, as she said, closed down the law firm next month and turned it into a snack shop, her dreams shattered.

But she came back.

The Sheng Jia who seemed to not say much and treated people coldly in the past actually still remembered the dream she had made on the beach in high school.

“If Song Ji’an contacts you in the future, tell me. This is my new phone number. You can contact me anytime if you need anything,” This was the last thing Sheng Jia said to her that day. After saying that, she turned and walked out of the small law firm.

Outside, it was still sunny. Wei Pan quickly came up to open the car door for her.

Sheng Jia sat in the back seat, turning her head to look at the familiar street.

Wei Pan was already used to her reticence and started the car on her own, heading towards the hotel. Sheng Jia didn’t have any other schedule today.

“Clear my entire schedule for tomorrow. Move the video conference to the day after tomorrow,” Sheng Jia said after a long silence.

Wei Pan responded with a ‘okay’.

“Luo Ling’s old farmer’s pig farm, go and check who the ownership belongs to,” she then instructed.

Wei Pan responded with another ‘okay’, but this time she turned back to look at Sheng Jia’s face with some puzzlement, only seeing Sheng Jia staring blankly at the side of her face outside the window, clearly lost in thought.

Sheng Jia was indeed thinking.

One aspect of her investment in Xu Lijing was indeed to give her a hand, but another was to test her.

The old farmer’s pig farm was an industry that they had taken down with Song Ji’an during their senior year of high school. When Song Ji’an left the Song family, she had implicitly agreed that these should all belong to Song Ji’an.

In recent years, the pork from the old farmer’s pig farm had become very famous, and it was already a large factory – this was a discovery when Sheng Jia saw an advertisement on TV a few times.

According to Song Ji’an’s personality, since they had all gone together, and the pig farm had expanded to its current scale, as a major shareholder, she couldn’t have forgotten to give Xu Lijing and the others the shares that should have been given to them.

This was a secret belonging to Sheng Jia and Song Ji’an. After Song Ji’an pulled Xu Lijing and the others together, she secretly wrote down 1% of the equity and divided it equally among Su Zhaolin and the others. As for Sheng Jia, she gave her 1% separately. Judging from the scale of the pig farm now, this small amount of equity was already a great wealth, and earning one million yuan a year wouldn’t be a problem.

This money was regularly deposited into Sheng Jia’s bank card every month, but she hadn’t paid much attention to it, because compared to her current bank card balance, it was really a very inconspicuous amount of money. But this money should have been divided equally among Xu Lijing and the others, and if Xu Lijing and the others had received the money, she wouldn’t have had to be so destitute here that the law firm was on the verge of closing down.

This only showed one thing – that Xu Lijing had never received this money.

And this only showed one thing – Song Ji’an hadn’t sent them the money.

According to Song Ji’an’s personality, if the shares were still in her name, she would never forget such a thing, and she would never fail to extend a helping hand when Xu Lijing was about to collapse.

Then there was only one possibility: when Song Ji’an left the Song family, she didn’t take the equity of the pig farm at all, so the gifts she had carefully prepared for Xu Lijing and the others didn’t have time to be sent out. She also didn’t know about Xu Lijing’s recent situation at all, otherwise she would never have let Xu Lijing’s law firm go bankrupt.

But Sheng Jia could get this money every month.

It was too much like covering her eyes and ears, blurring her vision.

Apart from Song Ji’an, no one else could arrange such a secret matter, at least she must have participated in it, and the other person who helped her cover up these things was even more obvious.

But Song Ji’an didn’t take it, was it just the equity of this one factory?

Sheng Jia had checked most of the industries under her name, either she couldn’t find out anything, or it showed that they were indeed under her name.

But was all of this real?

Sheng Jia had come to Jingjiang this time because she had a guess. She suspected that Song Ningqiu and Song Ji’an had hidden something from her.

Now that she had a little clue, her desire to find Song Ji’an’s whereabouts was even stronger.

Because she suspected that Song Ji’an hadn’t taken anything away in the first place. Just like her personality, she came to the Song family with nothing, so she had to leave with nothing, cleanly and purely.

But Song Ji’an had specially asked her to go to the school, deliberately telling her that she had taken away enough industries for her to live unscrupulously for the rest of her life.