Chapter 21: Efficiency
“Buy? Real buy or fake buy?”
Wen Yan was startled. “Mr. Gu, the Green Gang aren’t easy to fool. If we say we’re buying but end up tricking them, we’ll face the consequences in the end. Those guys don’t care about the law.”
“Real buy.” Gu Yansheng nodded firmly, giving him a reassurance. “Ask with confidence. If the price is right, I’ll buy.”
Once confirmed that it was No. 67’s people who stole the car, Gu Yansheng changed his mind. Simply getting the car back without harm might not be the best option right now.
You can’t twist an arm stronger than a thigh. If Liao Shan couldn’t get it back, he might be able to force No. 67’s people to return it by leaning on the Japanese Consulate.
Money would be saved, but afterward, whether he’d get ambushed with a black gun was hard to say.
A cooked duck flying away, losing face in front of the Japanese Consulate. Once the news dies down, getting bagged and dumped in the Huangpu River was possible too.
But if done another way, like buying, it would not only solve Wolf’s problem but perhaps also connect with No. 67’s people. In Shanghai, running into them was inevitable. Better to have a connection than none.
A very natural contact opportunity, provided by them, no intent, so no suspicion. Wasting it would be a shame.
“That would cost a fortune.”
Wen Yan felt the pain. Buying it back at second-hand price would still be high. The car wasn’t cheap originally anyway.
Gu Yansheng could laugh. “They’re begging at your door. If we can’t solve what Liao Shan couldn’t, what else can we do but pay? If you make contact, tell them I want to meet the buyer to negotiate price.”
What more could Wen Yan say? He nodded naturally. “Okay, I’ll send the message out as soon as possible.”
“Boss, your packed food is ready.”
“Alright, thanks, rickshaw!”
A good night’s sleep. The next day, as soon as Gu Yansheng got to work, he went to apologize humbly.
Wolf didn’t blame him at all. After all, it wasn’t Gu Yansheng’s fault. He just expressed some pain over his beloved car’s disappearance, then joked that if the car couldn’t be found, he’d have to take on more cases, even $100 ones, making Gu Yansheng work day and night to pay off the debt, lest he run away.
“Hahahaha, Wolf, don’t even think about exploiting me. My progress is fast. What about yours? Don’t tell me there’s no progress at all?”
“How could there be none? Come with me. I’ve checked all the basic newspaper company materials.”
As a founding partner, Wolf had a complete lawyer team under him, making the speed of investigating materials incredibly fast.
Wolf pointed to a puzzle of materials on a blackboard.
“These are materials from nine newspaper companies. These are all major newspaper companies, basically backed by their own official forces. These four are smaller. Look, and these fourteen just reported today. From the news collection speed, you can tell they’re completely tabloids. They won’t withstand one round of our attack.”
“So the focus is these nine.”
Gu Yansheng nodded in agreement with Wolf’s view. Those reporting yesterday’s news today could all be classified as parroting tabloids. Once the major newspapers cried uncle and surrendered, these tabloids would definitely follow suit.
If the major papers had no shame, what did these unknown tabloids losing a bit of face matter? The reason was that simple and unadorned.
“What about their backgrounds?”
“United Kingdom’s, France’s, United States’, Germany’s, Italy’s. Gu, I have to congratulate you. Your defendants’ bench has collected all the world’s powerful nations.”
“That’s not accurate. It’s not me, it’s us. You have a share in the lawyer’s fee too. And, among the powerful nations, does Italy count?”
“Of course. It’s the world’s seventh largest industrial nation.”
What?
“Alright, my mistake. I’m not too familiar with Italy. But with Italy on the other side, I think our winning odds are even higher. Do you have any ideas?”
Wolf didn’t understand why Gu seemed to have some special thought about Italy. Probably some Chinese folk proverb related. Anyway, one more Italy on the defendants’ bench didn’t matter. Unimportant.
“Does this case need any ideas?”
The major newspaper companies accuse the French Concession of the French ceding law enforcement power to the Japanese. What the French care most about is exactly this point.
So as long as we disprove this part, the game is over.
The only possible point of contention is that pair of standard Japanese military boots, but it shouldn’t be a big problem. I’ve carefully checked the incident time. The restaurant time was at noon, and only plainclothes were there.
Whereas the boots photographed by the reporter appeared in the evening, and near the Police Station. The two events got linked.
But he could have been a Japanese soldier out alone for fun, who got into a dispute leading to a brawl, completely unrelated to law enforcement power. No one says an off-duty Japanese soldier can’t enter the French Concession.
In court, I’ll bring up this point. The opposing lawyer should be caught off guard. Not a big issue.
Once your strategy is complete, we can file the lawsuit directly now. When will you get yours done?”
“Already done. Everyone was quite cooperative.”
Wolf’s eyes lit up. “Your efficiency is fast. Then the rest is simple. Just need the French to confirm the contract and we collect the fee. Antoine, are you here?”
Wolf went out and shouted into the hall, then explained to Gu Yansheng: “French Consulate staff, your overseer.”
Gu Yansheng smiled. When Antoine arrived, Wolf told him directly, “Mr. Antoine, this is your target, the person in charge of this case, Mr. Gu Yansheng.”
Antoine recognized him. “Mr. Gu, good. So you’re starting the investigation?”
“No, the investigation is already done. We’re preparing to file the lawsuit.”
“Per the contract, if our agency contract with Mr. Richard isn’t canceled by tomorrow afternoon before the law firm closes, it takes formal effect. So, you should confirm with Mr. Richard whether we continue as agents, because the materials submitted to the court need the lawyer list.” Wolf said.
Antoine let out a shocked “ah.” He’d just met Gu Yansheng for the first time. “But I haven’t seen anything. What do I report?”
Wolf pointed to the hall. “You saw all these people busy.”
Wolf knocked on the blackboard. “You saw all this investigation material on the newspaper companies.”
His hand slipped toward Gu Yansheng. “You saw Lawyer Gu so busy yesterday he didn’t even return to the company.”
“What you can’t see is” Wolf clapped, straightened his suit: “For the investigation, we lost a car worth fifteen thousand US Dollars. That’s my ride. We had no time to look for it, because the client is God. We’re racing against time for Consul Richard. He wants it as fast as possible.”
“Do you see our efforts now?”
Antoine was left stunned by the speech. He finally decided to report this content to the consul first. At least on speed, it was indeed very fast.
Watching his retreating back, Wolf laughed. “I bet Mr. Richard will call back for sure.”
“Perfect then. Help me schedule him with the Japanese Consul. Everyone meet together.”
“Sure. What time?”
“I have some things to verify during the day. Six in the evening. The contract takes effect tomorrow afternoon. Pick a place, have drinks in the evening, let them think it over tomorrow. No problem, before closing, send someone with them to file at the court. Timing perfect. Lawyer’s fee first, right?”
“Absolutely correct.”
Setting aside law firm matters for now, Gu Yansheng needed to check on Lu Bowen and He Yun’s living situation.
The meet was at noon, in a coffee shop near the Concession Futures Exchange, around twelve o’clock. Time for a coffee.
Back at the office, Wen Yan was already there.
“Mr. Gu, good morning.”
“Morning. How was it? Food to your taste?”
“They all loved it, especially that little rascal at home. He’d already had dinner, but still ate two big bowls of rice. I was afraid he’d burst.”
“Hahahaha. At fourteen, they eat a ton and get hungry fast.”
Gu Yansheng set down his bag. “There’s a wine party tonight. French will be there. Come with me. Prepare the court materials. We’re representing the French side. Note what’s missing, ask them for it. Expected to submit to the court tomorrow afternoon.”
“This fast? Okay.” Wen Yan closed the door and came closer. “Mr. Gu, there’s news on that matter.”
