New Era Department Store is located on the most prosperous commercial street in Beiguan, not far from Jiniao Building.
This is a five-story gray strip building. At night, the neon signs flicker, and there are a wide variety of goods on display. It is crowded with customers and does extremely good business.
On the top floor, there is an extremely luxurious and spacious office, which is more than 100 square meters, with leather armchairs and an extremely large mahogany desk, which is modern and elegant.
In the lounge area that is slightly lower than the wooden floor desk, next to the marble coffee table, Liu Laocai is carefully describing his possible arrangements after going to prison. Lu Ming is taking notes as his lawyer, and there are two other witnesses.
The first is Zhou Qian, the chief operating officer of New Era Department Store.
The second largest shareholder of the company is Wang Xingwu, an old friend of Liu Laocai. He is an extremely elegant old man, from a family of scholars and a very famous calligrapher. He is not interested in business and his shares were passed down from his ancestors.
After Liu Laocai was ready to go to jail, he entrusted his voting rights in the company to Wang Xingwu. At the same time, his second son Liu Kexing joined the board of directors and was appointed as the vice president of operations.
"Zhou Qian! From now on, you have to teach my good-for-nothing son more..." Liu Laocai sighed.
Zhou Qian nodded slightly.
Zhou Qian is in his forties and, like Liu Laocai, wears a traditional robe. But in fact, he graduated from the Royal College of Finance and Economics in Donghai and is definitely a very capable business talent with trendy thinking.
"Mr. Liu, you will be fine!" Lu Ming rubbed his nose.
"Lawyer Lu, I don't blame you. Who could have thought that my unfilial son would work together with the lawyer I hired at a high price to plot against me behind my back? Of course, it's still my own fault. I couldn't control my belt and caused such a mess..." Liu Laocai smiled bitterly, with a trace of dejection on his face.
It is already very clear that Liu Keyue and Wen Gontien are secretly colluding, and Wen Gontien gave Liu Keyue the idea.
He contacted the victim, Deng Hongmei, but in reality, he had no real intention of giving her money. Sure enough, Deng Hongmei refused to take the money and even reported Liu Keyue.
Thus, in front of his father, Liu Keyue was a good son who worked hard for his father. However, in court, the prosecutors were not pushovers and quickly turned Liu Keyue's behavior into an extremely unfavorable situation for Liu Laocai.
"I am already very grateful to you for letting me die with peace of mind!" Liu Laocai patted Lu Ming's hand and took out his checkbook to pay Lu Ming.
Pamela, who was sitting next to Lu Ming, seemed to have been holding back something. At this moment, she finally couldn't help but said, "Mr. Liu, I think it's wrong for you to train Liu Kexing as your successor."
Liu Laocai looked at her in astonishment: "Mrs. Pamela, what do you mean by that?"
Before coming here, as it was non-working hours, Pamela had changed out of her work clothes. She was now wearing a black gauze dress and a small hat embellished with flowers. She looked very graceful and noble. On her snow-white neck, she wore an extremely dazzling jewel necklace, restoring her true nature as a beautiful and sexy Western lady.
She glanced at Lu Ming and saw that Lu Ming had no reaction, neither objecting nor agreeing, so she continued, "I think your son, Mr. Liu Kexing, has been following his eldest brother and knows everything about his eldest brother's behavior. However, he did not expose his eldest brother, but cleverly used Lawyer Lu to achieve his goal."
"When we went to Deng Hongmei's home for the first time, he didn't even use the guide to find the place where Deng Hongmei and Mr. Liu Keyue were drinking tea. At that time, I was very confused."
"Moreover, he was also very aware of the changes in Deng Hongmei's family and accidentally let it slip. Lawyer Lu must have discovered it at the time."
"Also, Lawyer Lu received an anonymous letter exposing Mr. Liu Keyue's payment of lawyer fees to Wen Gaotian. I believe that it was Mr. Liu Kexing who did it. However, he did it unnecessarily. My boss doesn't need his reminder at all."
"All this proves that he is a scheming son who is not loyal to you. He has been secretly investigating his brother but has not told you any information. Instead, he has taken measures to benefit from it behind your back."
Liu Laocai looked at Pamela in astonishment, then turned to look at Lu Ming, "Lawyer Lu, is this true?"
Lu Ming rubbed his nose. In fact, he had suspected it a long time ago, but unlike Pamela, she would point it out when she encountered something she didn't like.
I am a defense lawyer and all I need to do is fulfill my duties. The client’s family disputes are not within the scope of my responsibilities.
Looking at Pamela, this girl is actually a very smart woman. It’s just that she lived in a different environment when she was a child. Now that she has come to the slums, she seems out of place and even makes a lot of jokes.
Lu Ming nodded to Liu Laocai.
The expression on Liu Laocai's face froze, and he slowly leaned back on the sofa. At that moment, he seemed to have aged ten years.
At this time, there was a gentle knock on the office door, and Yang Yanran gently pushed the door open, "Chairman, Deng Hongmei is here, and she wants to see Lawyer Lu alone."
Since she served as a guide to lead Lu Ming, Pamela, Liu Kexing and others to Deng Hongmei's community, Yang Yanran was promoted to one of the secretaries in the chairman's secretariat.
"Please arrange a separate room for me." Lu Ming stood up.
Liu Laocai looked dejected and nodded to Yang Yanran.
…
In the tea room, Yang Yanran quietly closed the door from the outside. Although she was curious about what Deng Hongmei was doing here, she didn't dare to eavesdrop.
"Lawyer Lu, you said that tolbutamide cannot cure diabetes. Is that true?" Deng Hongmei asked nervously.
Seeing Lu Ming nod, Deng Hongmei immediately showed despair on her face.
Lu Ming sighed inwardly. In fact, in his previous life, when tolbutamide, the first synthetic sulfonylurea hypoglycemic drug, first appeared, the world was also jubilant, thinking that diabetes would soon become history. However, it was proved that this disease would plague mankind for quite a long time.
"Oh, I have a prescription you can use..." Lu Ming suddenly remembered that in his previous life, his aunt had diabetes and he often helped her get medicine. The folk prescriptions were still vivid in his mind. Although they could not cure the disease, they at least had a conditioning effect. Moreover, in this world, those medicinal materials were definitely much cheaper than tolbutamide.
The new medicine that has just come out is simply beyond the affordability of people like Deng Hongmei.
This is also the reason why Deng Hongmei took the unconventional approach and actively seduced Liu Laocai, and then wanted to get huge civil compensation.
The reason why I didn’t have sex with Liu Laocai was because I couldn’t get over the psychological barrier.
But despite this, one can imagine the humiliation Deng Hongmei felt at the time as she seduced a fat old man in uniform.
The poor, sometimes, have to be so humble just to survive.
"Ah, thank you, Lawyer Lu!" Deng Hongmei was stunned as she watched Lu Ming take out paper and pen to quickly write the prescription, tears gradually welled up in her eyes.
"Lawyer Lu, you are a good person. I know you don't want me to make a fool of myself in court, so you didn't ask me any sharp questions..." Deng Hongmei wiped her tears and sobbed softly.
Lu Ming placed the prescription in front of her and nodded, "It's not just what you think. If I make things too difficult for a weak woman, the jury will be disgusted with me and it will also affect the persuasiveness of my closing statement."
"On the contrary, my relentless pursuit of Liu Keyue opened up a new possibility for the jury. I completely let you, a weak woman, go. I think that in the jury's mind, I have established a relatively positive image of myself."
“Sometimes, litigation is a game of trying to get the majority of jurors to be on your side.”
"However, I will explain everything to the jury during the closing arguments. Although I don't want your reputation to be damaged in any way, the law is the law. In this matter, Liu Gaoyu did not break the law and should not be subjected to an unfair trial."
Deng Hongmei looked up in surprise.
Obviously, she originally thought that Lu Ming was a kind-hearted person who felt particularly sympathetic towards her and was unwilling to tell her the truth.
But she was still a little unsure, and was more concerned about the new diabetes drug. Lawyer Lu was knowledgeable, but she couldn't ask him in detail in court.
She just came to see Lu Ming, but unexpectedly, Lu Ming had no intention of protecting her.
Lu Ming looked at Deng Hongmei. "I know your family is in a difficult situation. Your husband has diabetes and is in poor health. He can no longer pull a rickshaw and can only work as a low-level clerk. Your income is even less, and you can't afford to buy that new medicine."
"But this does not give you the right to blackmail my client." After a pause, "I hope that we can resolve this case privately. If we go to court tomorrow, the final result will definitely not be what you want."
"In court, sometimes, I am afraid of myself..."
Lu Ming said this and sighed softly.
Under Lu Ming's clear gaze, Deng Hongmei lowered her head in shame, "I know, I heard that the famous Mr. Liang lost the lawsuit against you..."
After a moment of silence, she hesitated and said, "Can I withdraw the lawsuit now?"
Lu Ming shook his head, thought for a moment and said, "How about this, we sign a settlement agreement. You can give it to the prosecutor now or tomorrow morning. Of course, he will definitely disagree and even think that you were bewitched by me. You can insist and say that you took the initiative to meet with me and signed the settlement agreement."
It is completely different for a prosecution witness to take the initiative to meet with oneself and for oneself to meet with the prosecution witness. Many people here are not afraid of the prosecution's investigation when they see Deng Hongmei coming.
"Then, you said that if the fight must continue, you will withdraw your confession. If he threatens to sue you for perjury, don't worry, I will help you get rid of the crime. Generally speaking, the prosecutor will not go to this extent."
Then he said, "Wait a minute, I'll go get Liu Gaoyu!"
He stood up, thought for a moment, and sat down again. Lu Ming took out his checkbook, wrote a check for 2,000 yuan, handed it to Deng Hongmei, and said, "In order not to harm the interests of my client, the settlement agreement will not compensate you in any way. This money is from me privately as a token of my consolation to you."
Deng Hongmei stared at the check in a daze. This was a huge sum of money equivalent to her four years' salary. It could even buy her a small house in Beiguan.
Lu Ming had already stood up and walked out.