Chapter 11: Wager
Hearing this, Richard, who had been so furious his lungs were practically smoking, suddenly didn’t look so urgent.
He turned his head to look at Wolf, saw Wolf nod lightly, and suddenly laughed: “I was wondering why you had time to come find me today? Turns out it’s to extort me. What’s wrong, is the lawyer business hard to do lately?”
Wolf laughed heartily: “My old friend, you’ve run into trouble, and I’m proactively coming to your door to help solve it and charge a fee. That should be reasonable, right?”
“Reasonable. How much are you planning to charge?” Richard knew that with this lawyer here, plus what had happened, he had already mentally prepared after thinking it over. Whether to pay or not depended only on whether Wolf could convince him to fork over the money.
“Three thousand pounds sterling or equivalent US dollars. US dollars at the exchange rate is about twelve thousand.” Wolf had the price ready long ago. Friendship or not, knowing friends was for making money.
“My friend, this is a friendship price. You know, this matter involves many newspaper companies behind the scenes. The investigation will cost a lot in manpower and resources. If we take this case, of course we want to solve your problem quickly. We’ll dispatch dozens of people in a short time, and the cost is high.”
Wolf spoke sincerely, and the reasons were sufficient.
Richard didn’t object and had no mood to haggle: “That amount. It has to be fast.”
“Of course.” Wolf had a face full of righteousness.
The two of them closed a business deal worth over ten thousand US dollars faster than calling a rickshaw on the roadside.
Gu Yansheng, hearing three thousand pounds sterling, thought the big law firms’ fees were still reasonable, quite amiable, not ripping people off.
Inherent notions: pounds sterling and US dollars were about equally valuable. It turned out he was hasty; the exchange rate calculation actually doubled it.
Twelve thousand US dollars, damn that’s black.
Thinking back to the three gold bars given by the organization, converted to US dollars they were only worth about a hundred bucks.
Foreigners in this era really had money.
Yan’an was indeed pitifully poor.
“Wolf, I have demands. All newspaper companies must publish apologies in their own newspapers, eliminating all negative impact. It must be formal! Not private!”
“It must be so! Thank you for your trust, my friend.” Wolf agreed immediately and pointed at Gu Yansheng: “You can discuss the specifics with him. He is the lead lawyer on this case.”
“What?” Richard’s face changed abruptly upon hearing this.
“Wolf, I trust you and believe in your abilities, that’s why I came to your firm to handle this case. You’re going to hand my matter over to such a young man?”
Wolf raised his hand to calm his anger. “Relax a bit, Richard. You may not trust him, but can you not trust me? I dare to bring him here—that’s my attitude, and Danwen’s attitude. He is the one standing in front, with me behind him, and our entire law firm.”
“No! I don’t want to hear this!”
Richard was almost laughing from anger. To him, this matter was crucial now! It decided his future! It decided his reputation! Wolf’s irresponsible attitude made him doubt if British people could get things done.
“Wolf, you must handle this personally!
If you don’t want to, let Gu Bai do it. If neither of you wants to, I can find another firm!
France isn’t without our own people! No need to use a Chinese!
It’s not that I look down on him, but I can’t put my fate in the hands of someone who just arrived in Shanghai.
Has he handled a famous lawsuit in Shanghai?
I spent three thousand pounds sterling, three thousand! And you send me a newcomer? Hmm??”
The angrier Richard got, the uglier his face became. Earlier he had minded the occasion, but now he wouldn’t even give Gu Yansheng a proper glance.
Wolf had anticipated Richard’s reaction.
Not to mention him—anyone who hadn’t contacted Gu would have a normal reaction like this.
Whether a lawyer is capable is proven in action. Back then Gu Bai didn’t submit either, but now he does, right?
However, he was powerless in this matter.
This was why it was hard for small lawyers to rise—winning countless small lawsuits didn’t matter. You had to win a big lawsuit that shocked everyone’s eyes! Only then could you truly go from zero to one, from small lawyer to big shot.
Giving titles like partner or not didn’t help. To make clients trust you, that was up to Gu Yansheng himself.
“Gu, give him a reason he can’t refuse.”
“Okay.”
Gu Yansheng didn’t plan to use big principles to convince him; he just held up three fingers.
“Three days. If you don’t see clear progress, cancel the contract, no charge.
From now on, you can assign a lawyer of your own choosing to follow along the whole time. Of course, your consulate staff works too. Three days later, even if you cancel the contract, you can still get all the ideas and methods our law firm has for handling this matter.
Mr. Richard, even if you refuse us right now, and after we leave this door you go straight to another lawyer, with our law firm’s ideas to assist, it will definitely be twice the result with half the effort. Since you trust Wolf, you should believe Danwen has some ability. With me doing this, you won’t lose out, right?”
“You’d even do it for free? Can he make that call?”
With things said to this point, no weighing was needed. Richard looked at Wolf.
Wolf nodded matter-of-factly. “I told you, he is partner level.”
“To be your partner, he does have guts.” Richard looked straight at Gu Yansheng for the first time, raised his wine glass: “Mr. Gu, your confidence gives me extra assurance. I’m willing to give you a chance. I hope you won’t disappoint me.”
“Of course.” Gu Yansheng raised his wine glass and clinked it with Richard’s.
“Hahahaha.” With the matter finally settled, Wolf laughed heartily, raised his wine glass and joined in: “Rest assured, if he says it’s fine, it definitely is. Your matter is on us. The result will absolutely satisfy you.”
“I hope so.”
Half an hour later, the two had already appeared outside the consulate.
“Here, your bet.” Wolf pulled out 10 US dollars.
This was for the bet on whether they needed to wait to see Richard’s bill.
“Thanks.” Gu Yansheng put it in his pocket.
The French person wasn’t polite either, stating he wanted his consulate staff to follow along the whole time.
No big deal; have his people and assistants go to the law firm first to sign the contract and pay.
As for them, they still had another sucker to squeeze.
“Let’s go, next one.”
Passing the police station, Gu Yansheng glanced over. After confirming with the consul, the person was locked up inside, but now wasn’t the time for him to intervene.
Find the Japanese first.
The vehicle drove over the Garden Bridge, the two ends connecting Hongkou and the International Settlement, one side British Army, the other Japanese Army.
If not for Wolf’s British face, plus the luxurious appearance of the Mercedes-Benz 540K underneath, a Chinese like Gu Yansheng, in assassination-plagued Shanghai now, would definitely be searched and inspected to enter Hongkou.
Now they didn’t even get out of the car, passing straight through.
Gu Yansheng hadn’t been to the Bund little in his previous life. Before, he thought the bridge ends and Bund area were brightly colored, but as soon as they reached Hongkou, the buildings felt gray.
He used to think maybe maintenance funding differed—mixed with some patriotic feelings, leading to less funding for Hongkou’s maintenance than other places, which was understandable. But now it seemed it was purely bad aesthetics.
What garbage color tones for building houses?
Complaining inwardly, his eyes didn’t forget to record the scenery along the streets.
Hongkou now lived up to being the Japanese enclave: streets full of Japanese, Japanese ronin in military boots, Japanese girls in kimonos holding umbrellas. The nickname Little Tokyo wasn’t undeserved.
“What are you thinking? Are you unsure about convincing the Japanese?”
Wolf beside him looked at Gu Yansheng staring out the window, seemingly lost in thought, probably pondering how to convince the Japanese.
In fact, in this matter, the Japanese situation was completely different from the French.
Something happened in the French Concession; the newspaper reports would definitely make the French lose face. But for Japan, it was just two photographs proving Japanese identity: a pair of military boots.
Say it is and it is, say it’s not and it’s not. Just deny it and be done.
Further, even if admitted, so what?
Infringing concession rights, violating concession law…
It was just Japanese going in to arrest; the French went willingly. What’s wrong with that?
Japan itself had no loss in this matter. As for the newspapers saying France submitted to Japan, though untrue, it sounded pretty good. Untrue words weren’t said by them, so what business was it of theirs?
Why should they pay for a lawyer?
There was nothing to clarify at all.
So getting the Japanese to pay would be very difficult this trip.
“No worries, Gu. You don’t need to worry. In fact, as long as we secure the French order, if the Japanese don’t bite, so be it. Just think of us as trying our luck. If it succeeds, we make extra money, right?”
Gu Yansheng unhurriedly withdrew his gaze, patted the seat cushion and smiled at him: “I’m thinking when I can have such a luxurious vehicle. Wolf, I very much approve of your taste—elegant.”
“Hahahaha.” One flattery made Wolf pleased. “Of course, this is my beloved car, very expensive. I felt the pinch buying it, but Gu, as long as you can take this case and make the French pay up obediently, I think you can soon have your own beloved car.”
“How much?”
“Forgot, about 14,000 US dollars?”
“How much?!”
“Something like that, maybe 15,000?”
“.”
Gu Yansheng’s smile slightly faded. Damn German capital—clearly made a killing in this world.
