The next moment, Liu Jun immediately contacted his father, who was away on business. When Liu Shitang heard about this matter, he flew into a rage. “No wonder, no wonder! I was negotiating well, then they suddenly turned hostile, saying others quoted much lower prices than mine, and even cursed that my pricing was too aggressive. Damn it, that Yang bastard is taking advantage of me.”
“But according to Mr. Wang, their finished product was only trial-produced today. Isn’t their sales follow-up too quick? Or does this indicate they were confident of successful plagiarism? What gives them such confidence?”
“An inside traitor? Ah… A Jun, Aunt Fu? Do you remember that day when you asked her for the notebook and she couldn’t produce it?”
“But her words and behavior are so refined and well-mannered, always reminding me of Mother. Could she do such a despicable thing?”
“A Jun, poverty! Her son has been drifting around since graduating from a third-rate university, her husband’s collective enterprise went bankrupt, and he can only receive a hundred yuan pension monthly, plus he has a whole host of other diseases, seems to be diabetes. Money is more important than life to their family. But you seemed to say at the time that nothing suspicious could be seen from the notebook.”
“I’ll flip through the notebook later to verify. Thinking it over, other parts basically wouldn’t leak secrets. I just remembered something – to save costs initially, I used a method of calculating while eliminating, so the further the experiments progressed, the more targeted and dense the sampling data became. This essentially outlined a range for Shi Yiji to plagiarize the final data. Dad, I’m sorry, you should come home.”
“Hmm, don’t say sorry. I want to think clearly about another point – since they can decrypt so easily, won’t they be able to plagiarize our next component just as easily using similar methods next time?”
“Yes. And with things developing to this point, we’ll have problems finding anywhere to process our next component. Dad, let’s go home and discuss this. We need to modify our plan.”
“Hmm.” Liu Shitang suddenly thought of a problem and hurriedly said, “A Jun, you absolutely must not go looking for that Yang fellow. Their gang of fellow townsmen is extremely united – they have official connections when they need officials, and underworld connections when they need the underworld. You’ll suffer if you confront him. Listen to me, promise me we’ll discuss this after I come home.”
“I understand.” Although Liu Jun agreed this way, how could he obediently listen? He immediately called Yang Xun, but Yang Xun wouldn’t answer. Liu Jun’s anger flared – if he wouldn’t answer, he’d keep calling repeatedly until finally someone picked up, but said Mr. Yang wasn’t there and would pass along the message. Liu Jun suspected that Yang Xun simply wouldn’t take his calls anymore, so he directly told the person who answered, “According to the contract, Shi Yiji cannot produce the same components as my factory. Please tell Mr. Yang that for every one he produces, I’ll immediately file a lawsuit.”
The person on the other end asked strangely, “We can’t even produce what we researched ourselves?”
“Please ask Mr. Yang yourself, and please brush up on your legal knowledge. Thank you. Goodbye.”
Liu Jun pressed on, making his next call to Yang Li. Only when dialing did he realize that recently he indeed hadn’t seen Yang Li coming and going from home, and hadn’t seen her white Santana in the parking lot either. It seemed Yang Li had preemptively avoided him with foreknowledge.
Sure enough, the phone rang for a long time with no answer – the siblings had the same character. Liu Jun persisted, continuing to call until the third attempt when Yang Li finally answered. But as soon as Yang Li picked up, she said, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, very very sorry…”
“I didn’t misunderstand you initially. But our previous cooperation was so good, and I became friends with many employees at Shi Yiji. Why did it have to be this way?”
“Very sorry, my big brother just has that kind of personality – when he sees money to be made, he charges forward with all his might…”
“But this money isn’t his to earn. Not to mention the contract stipulations, patent law can also protect me.”
“I brought up this issue with Big Brother, but… I have no face to see you.”
“Then what should we do? I call, and your big brother won’t answer; he won’t even negotiate. Are you forcing me to file a lawsuit?”
Yang Li hesitated for a long time before saying, “Big brother isn’t afraid of you filing a lawsuit at all.”
“Why?”
“Stop forcing me to answer. I’m caught in the middle and very conflicted, very difficult, but please believe me – I had no hand in this matter. I’m sorry. If your sister-in-law were in the country, perhaps you could persuade big brother through her, but now no one can dissuade him. Facing such rich profits, he won’t back down.”
“But the problem is, facing the rich profits that should rightfully belong to me being stripped away, can I just let it go?”
“Mr. Liu, please stay calm. I’m not threatening you, but you must think of a more secure way to resolve this problem. Big brother isn’t… just think of big brother as a local tyrant, and his partner, Mr. Shen, even more so. You absolutely mustn’t be reckless.”
Liu Jun was stunned. “I can’t think of a better method – only using the law to resolve this in a civilized manner.”
“Mr. Liu, everything I’ve seen and experienced since graduation shows that power and money are everything, and law is nothing.”
Liu Jun was stunned again. “I don’t believe in such evil. Please tell me how I can find your big brother tomorrow, if it’s convenient for you.”
“I’m sorry.”
Liu Jun had no choice but to end the call. He hadn’t expected that after this round of phone calls – from Mr. Wang to his father to Yang Li – everyone was advising him not to file a lawsuit. Including when he had previously discussed this with Qian Hongming, who also told him that lawsuits brought more loss than gain. So what other method could stop Yang Xun? Or could he only let Yang Xun brazenly steal his achievements? No, everyone else in the world could give up suing Yang Xun, but he alone could not. Others only saw that he had developed the product in less than half a year, but who could see his years of accumulated knowledge from his studies? His intellectual property rights absolutely could not be stripped away. Moreover, he could not tolerate Yang Xun’s shameless and rogue treatment.
But he had to calm down – he needed to first examine that notebook that had disappeared for one night. He tried changing perspective, looking at this data through a voyeur’s eyes… He finally saw the connections within. That data already pointed toward the root of the problem. So by arranging and combining the possible data, anyone with a brain could reach conclusions. Liu Jun hadn’t expected that it was Aunt Fu, whom he respected, who had sold out his secrets. At this moment, Liu Jun even felt that being betrayed was more infuriating than being robbed.
Early the next morning, Liu Jun went to a law firm he frequently passed. Liu Jun received a warm reception, but as soon as he mentioned the defendant was Shi Yiji, the lawyer who received him immediately declined representation with embarrassment, giving the reason that they had cooperated with Shi Yiji and it wouldn’t be convenient to serve both the upper and lower parties. Liu Jun initially believed this and asked that lawyer to recommend another firm. When the second firm also declined, he finally understood. The lawyers were afraid of something and refused to take cases against Shi Yiji.
Liu Jun walked out of the law office with amazement covering his face, but the anger in his heart grew stronger and stronger. It turned out that Yang Xun dared to do this because he was certain that Liu Jun had grievances with nowhere to appeal. Liu Jun became even more defiant. He had always been confident in his intelligence, so he simply rushed into a bookstore and bought legal regulation compilations. Yes, he was determined now. He swore in his heart that he didn’t believe he could win the lawsuit.
But no matter how angry he was, an upright person doesn’t do underhanded things – he had to meet Yang Xun face to face for confrontation, explain the pros and cons, give Yang Xun a chance to explain in person, and also allow Yang Xun to withdraw the infringement and reform, or he had to notify Yang Xun of his decision to sue in person. Liu Jun couldn’t accomplish anything all morning and went straight to Shi Yiji to see Yang Xun.
Liu Jun was already familiar with the routes at Shi Yiji. Previously, when his car arrived at the gate, the security guards would raise the barrier without even asking. But this time the guards didn’t raise it, and one guard even walked over to tell Liu Jun, “You should go back. The higher-ups have already instructed that starting today, you’re not allowed to enter. We’re following orders and have no choice. Sorry, sorry.”
“Your Mr. Yang’s instruction? I’m here precisely to find your Mr. Yang.” Liu Jun jumped out of his car. By now, he was no longer surprised – no matter what outrageous things Yang Xun did, he decided he wouldn’t be surprised anymore. From the guards’ obstruction, he could see that Yang Xun had already put hostile intentions into action before him.
“Brother, help us out – the order is specifically not to let you see Mr. Yang. Please go back, don’t make things difficult for us common folk, we have no choice.”
Liu Jun was determined to confront Yang Xun face to face. Seeing this, he became anxious and spread his arms wide: “Look, I’m not carrying anything, I pose no threat. Or you can go in with me and monitor me. I just want to talk with Mr. Yang. We’re all civilized people.”
As Liu Jun spoke, he excitedly walked forward several steps. The two guards saw this and hurriedly moved – one blocked him while the other grabbed his arm to stop him. “Mr. Liu, please help us, absolutely please help us. We common folk have a hard time making a living. Even if you gave us the courage, we wouldn’t dare disobey Mr. Yang. Please, don’t make things difficult for us. If we can’t stop you, we’ll lose our jobs.”
Facing the pleas of these two fine men before him, with two more guards running over from elsewhere, Liu Jun felt like he was stuck in a quagmire, unable to move, and could only step back step by step, getting farther and farther from Shi Yiji’s main gate. Should he make things difficult for the guards? He wasn’t such a barbaric person.
Walking back to his car, he called Yang Xun again, but it was immediately hung up after connecting. Liu Jun was so angry he wanted to act like a rogue too, constantly calling to let Yang Xun hang up, even if it meant harassment. But he was unwilling – he couldn’t deal with rogues by being a rogue himself. He had his principles and upbringing and couldn’t degrade himself to Yang Xun’s level.
Liu Shitang quickly returned home and found his son studying legal books, currently reading the Civil Procedure Law. He repeatedly tried to dissuade his son from doing thankless work. Liu Shitang told his son that Yang Xun had plenty of ways to prevent execution – Yang Xun could delay for a thousand years without paying and ten thousand years without acknowledging debt, and no one could do anything about this kind of person. Liu Jun then proposed that he could apply for property preservation, pointing out the relevant clauses in the Civil Procedure Law to his father. But Liu Shitang didn’t believe such good things existed – he remembered that applying for preservation wasn’t easy. He asked his son what requirements there were for property preservation. Liu Jun said the preservation application materials were no problem, but when he flipped to the implementation opinions, his head grew big: applying for pre-litigation property preservation required the applicant to provide a guarantee, and the guarantee amount should be equivalent to the full amount requested for preservation.
According to the contract agreement, the amount Yang Xun needed to compensate for breach of contract was Liu Jun’s litigation target. But if he paid the equivalent guarantee money to the court as security, how would their own Qianjin Factory continue to operate? He thought there must be other methods, he just didn’t know them yet – otherwise, wouldn’t it become “the yamen gates open wide, but don’t enter without money even if you’re right”? Liu Shitang was worried and advised his son not to act out of spite, since spite doesn’t earn money.
Liu Jun refused. He spent two days carefully reading relevant laws and regulations, another two days drafting the complaint and listing evidence, and only on the fifth day was the great work completed – printing out three small copies for his father to seal and sign. Liu Shitang refused to sign, but Liu Jun asked his father, “If you don’t try, how do you know we definitely won’t win? Yang Xun is betting precisely on this kind of retreating mentality of ours.”
“Experience – experience is everywhere. You don’t necessarily have to crash into it yourself for it to count as experience.”
“Dad, what about our fighting spirit? Can we two grown men swallow our anger like this? Dad, if you can tolerate this, I cannot. If you won’t stamp it, I’ll withdraw one breach of contract lawsuit and only file a patent lawsuit in my name.”
Liu Shitang clenched his fists tightly, not daring to look at his son. “Don’t force me, let me think, think it through properly.”
“Dad, don’t be indecisive.” Liu Jun knew where his father kept the official seal, snatched the keys from his father’s drawer, went to the finance room himself to open the safe, and stamped the official seal. Returning, he saw his father’s mournful face.
“A Jun, you’re going to cause trouble.”
“No, I’m justified and confident.” Ignoring his father’s dissuasion, Liu Jun headed straight to the district court to submit the complaint. The court told him they would file the case within seven days and to wait for notification.
However, before the court’s notification came, a phone call from the local tax bureau very efficiently reached Liu Shitang’s desk, asking Liu Shitang to bring this year’s vouchers and account books to the tax bureau for audit.