Qian Heng’s arrival had instantly frozen the previously lively atmosphere.
Bao Rui, trembling slightly, tried to liven things up: “Qian-par, you never come to these gatherings of ours. What wind blew you here today?”
Qian Heng snorted coldly through his nose. “The pipe at home broke. I came out to find someone to fix it.”
“…”
Though Cheng Yao found this utterly speechless, Bao Rui had no idea what lay behind Qian Heng’s words, and gave an obsequious, sympathetic explanation on his boss’s behalf: “Ah, I see—the pipe broke and you needed to find someone to fix it, and since you were out anyway, you figured you’d check in on us subordinates and join the party. Qian-par is so busy, yet he still thought of us amid it all—come, let’s all toast to you!”
Unfortunately, Qian Heng didn’t give him any face at all. “I don’t drink. I’m driving.”
Li Chengxuan, recovered from his earlier humiliation, chimed in enthusiastically: “Get a designated driver, Qian Heng! Come on, it’s rare to get together like this—have a drink!”
“My car is very expensive.”
Li Chengxuan didn’t follow. “So?”
Qian Heng pressed his lips together. “I’m afraid a designated driver might see it and get ideas about murdering me for it.”
“…”
Qian Heng, utterly unbothered by having just killed the mood again, took a sip of tea and looked around. “Why has everyone gone quiet?”
“…” My friend, with you here, who would dare speak?
“You people—it’s one thing to be this quiet at work, but why so quiet at a party too?” Qian Heng thought for a moment. “Since we’re rarely all gathered like this, and you’ve all finished eating, shouldn’t there be a little game to liven things up?”
“I hear Truth or Dare is quite popular these days.”
At this, several of the younger colleagues’ eyes lit up, ready to respond to Qian Heng’s suggestion.
Unfortunately… the young were still too naive…
Qian Heng continued, “But I think Truth or Dare is a bit dated. Let’s do this—we’ll play Dare. Skip the Truth part.”
Tan Ying was thrilled. “No problem, Qian-par!”
Li Menglei was equally eager. “Dare is more fun anyway!”
“Since you’re all so excited, it’s settled.” Qian Heng smiled faintly. “We’ll play Dare: Recite the Legal Code.”
???
Ignoring the constipated, baffled expressions around him, Qian Heng picked up an empty beer bottle from the table and continued, “I’ll go first. Spin the bottle—the bottom and mouth will each point to someone. The person the bottom points to asks a question, say, Article 32, Paragraph 2 of the Marriage Law, and the person the mouth points to answers. Anyone who can’t answer within three minutes pays a fifty-yuan fine. The money goes into a shared fund for our next dinner.”
Qian Heng! Are you a devil?! What kind of death game was this?!
But Qian Heng paid no attention to the pained expressions around him, and with his elegant hands, spun the doom-bearing bottle.
Cheng Yao thought quickly. “Wait!”
Qian Heng raised an eyebrow. “Hm?”
“Boss, isn’t this a bit much? Isn’t this basically gambling with a crowd?”
Qian Heng snorted. “The crime of gambling refers to organizing group gambling for profit, or making a living from gambling. Subjectively, it must be done for profit—are we doing this for profit? Cheng Yao, did a P.E. teacher teach you criminal law?”
“…”
“All right, the bottle’s stopped. Let’s begin.”
First round: the bottom pointed to Tan Ying, the mouth to Bao Rui.
Tan Ying glanced at Bao Rui and picked an easy one. “Marriage Law, Article 5.”
Visibly relieved, Bao Rui recited fluently: “Marriage must be based on the complete willingness of both man and woman, and neither party may use compulsion, nor may any third party interfere.”
…
Round after round went on like this, everyone showing mutual sympathy as fellow sufferers, letting each other off easy where they could. But there were only so many simple, easy-to-remember provisions in the Marriage Law, and once those ran dry, the harder ones started coming up.
“Marriage Law, Article 29?”
“…” Zhang Yang, in visible agony, dug out his wallet.
Soon, they’d exhausted the Marriage Law and moved on to Inheritance Law, everyone forcing smiles while cursing inside, reluctantly and “generously” opening their wallets like martyrs.
Before long, a stack of cash had piled up on the table…
Junheng’s own people were too embarrassed to target each other and could only, under Qian Heng’s tyrannical pressure, turn their fire on the lawyers and partners from other firms. Li Chengxuan bore the brunt of it, having already contributed nearly a thousand yuan.
“Something suddenly came up—please carry on without me, I’ve got to go.”
Before long, he faked a phone call, made an excuse, and slipped away as fast as his feet could carry him.
The other lawyers from other firms soon followed suit.
“I just remembered I have a client email I haven’t dealt with—I have to go!”
“My wife’s furious at home, says if I’m not back soon she’s filing for divorce! Sorry, I have to run!”
“I’ve got something too, gotta go!”
Soon, all the partners and lawyers from outside had fled, leaving only Junheng’s own people to turn on each other…
Cheng Yao had just been quietly congratulating herself on having escaped the bottle so far, when—wouldn’t you know it—the mouth of the bottle pointed straight at her the moment she thought it.
Following the bottle down, she saw with a jolt that the bottom pointed straight at the Terminator himself, Qian Heng…
But it should be fine! Cheng Yao reassured herself—she’d basically memorized the Marriage Law and Inheritance Law by now, and for the few remaining provisions she hadn’t drawn yet, she’d secretly checked her phone during a bathroom break earlier. She should be able to hold her own!
Qian Heng looked at Cheng Yao and smiled dangerously. “Judicial Interpretation (I) of the Marriage Law, Article 7.”
Cheng Yao: ???
Wasn’t this supposed to be the Marriage Law? Since when did judicial interpretations count too? Was that even legal?!
But no matter how unwilling Cheng Yao was, she simply couldn’t come up with the answer. After a minute of futile struggle, she had no choice but to reluctantly pull out her wallet.
But now that she’d figured out Qian Heng’s tactics, Cheng Yao relaxed a bit. She pretended to go to the bathroom and secretly reviewed all the remaining judicial interpretations on her phone.
Before long, it was Qian Heng’s turn to question her again.
This time, Cheng Yao was brimming with confidence. Qian Heng, oh Qian Heng—this time, no matter which way the wind blows, I stand unmoved!
But unfortunately, the higher the path, the higher the ambush…
“On August 27 of this year, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee conducted its first review of the draft Civil Code’s various chapters, including the Inheritance Ni Ye You Jin Tian – Chapter draft, which made revisions based on the current Inheritance Law. What legal amendments were proposed regarding wills?”
Cheng Yao was genuinely stunned. “This counts too?”
Qian Heng looked utterly reasonable. “As a family lawyer, shouldn’t you always stay sensitive to the country’s latest developments in family law?”
“But that’s not a currently effective legal provision!” Cheng Yao protested. “The rules of the game said to recite current law!”
Qian Heng twirled his teacup and grinned. “Cheng Yao, I set the rules of this game. Don’t you know—whoever sets the rules generally holds final interpretive authority over them?”
“…”
“I said the current draft amendment counts, so it counts.”
Having said this, unhurried, Qian Heng even took a leisurely sip of his tea.
Looking at Qian Heng’s expression, Cheng Yao was overcome with outrage!
This was revenge! This was absolutely revenge! Just because she hadn’t rushed home in time to fix the pipe, she’d been subjected to this suffocating maneuver from her boss!
But there was nothing Cheng Yao could do in the face of Qian Heng’s tyranny. Swallowing her pain, she pulled out another fifty yuan.
“The current Inheritance Law recognizes several forms of wills, including notarized wills, self-written wills, wills written by others, recorded wills, and oral wills, and establishes the principle that notarized wills take precedence, stipulating that ‘self-written, transcribed, recorded, and oral wills may not revoke or alter a notarized will.’ The earlier draft, building on this foundation, added new forms such as printed and video-recorded wills, and revised the rules on the effectiveness of wills, removing the provision giving notarized wills priority.” Qian Heng looked around. “Everyone remember that?”
“Got it, got it.”
“Qian-par really is Qian-par—so sharp on the latest legal developments, haha!”
“I need to learn from Qian-par too!”
“Qian-par, mighty and glorious! My role model!”
Cheng Yao glanced at her various fawning colleagues—clearly, in the face of Qian Heng, everyone’s survival instinct was in full force.
What was supposed to be a fun game had turned into a minefield of doom, then a Qian Heng fan club meeting cum legal knowledge exchange session…
Two hundred and fifty. What an idiot.
In the end, worn down step by step by Qian Heng, Cheng Yao lost quite a bit of cash. But more than the loss itself, she couldn’t shake the feeling that Qian Heng had deliberately engineered her losses to land exactly on that number—two hundred and fifty.
That number now sat there mockingly, like a joke aimed straight at her.
Feeling gloomy, Cheng Yao picked up her cup, ready to drink some tea, only to find there was none left. Luckily, beside her, Bao Rui had ordered some kind of fruit wine, and, on a whim, Cheng Yao poured herself a glass.
To her surprise, it tasted quite good—sweet, with a rich fruity aroma, more like a fruit juice drink than alcohol. Cheng Yao found it delicious and poured herself another glass.
By the time Bao Rui noticed the two rosy “plateau blushes” on Cheng Yao’s cheeks, she’d already quietly polished off most of the bottle by herself.
“Good lord, Cheng Yao, how did you drink that much! I ordered that wine just for a little taste! It’s twenty-four percent alcohol! Way stronger than regular beer or wine!” Bao Rui was utterly astonished. He looked her over. “Are you all right?”
Cheng Yao could clearly hear Bao Rui’s voice and sense the movements of everyone around her, yet everything from the outside world felt like it was reaching her brain a beat late. She felt woozy, her face burning, her whole body hot. Despite having just lost a good chunk of money thanks to Qian Heng, she felt strangely light and floaty.
Tan Ying ventured cautiously, “Boss, look at Cheng Yao—she’s drunk. Maybe we should wrap up for tonight?”
Li Menglei, quick to read the room, chimed in immediately. “Yeah, yeah, Qian-par, look at Cheng Yao’s face—she doesn’t look well at all. Maybe we should call it a night and let her go home and rest?”
Qian Heng looked around at everyone and finally nodded, with something of the air of an emperor granting his ministers leave from court.
Regardless, everyone breathed a sigh of relief—the Terminator, Qian Heng, was finally letting them go…
Bao Rui, hurrying to slip away himself, still tried to be a good friend and arrange things for Cheng Yao on his way out: “My legs aren’t great for walking—Tan Ying, why don’t you take Cheng Yao home?”
But just as Tan Ying was about to help Cheng Yao out, Qian Heng’s voice cut in.
“No need.” His voice was as cold as ever. “It’s not safe for the two of you—two women alone. I’ve got my car. I’ll drop Cheng Yao off on my way, it’s not out of the way.”