no longer ordinary friends

In the evening, it was Zhou Zhicheng's 27th "birthday banquet". It was said to be a banquet, but in fact, two or three tables were set up in the yard of the Zhou family's self-built house, just the Zhou family, several lawyers and the staff of the program team.

When Grandpa Zhou was young, he was the chef of the flowing water table in the village. There were two open-air stoves in the yard that had been built for many years, and a large iron pot. He will cook a pot of Lao Zhou's exclusive fried sea oyster later, while Aunt Cai is staring at the steamed sea bass, stewed pot of abalone ribs and lobster vermicelli on the other stove.

Jiang Xianghuai and the others were already sitting at the table.

The table is the Eight Immortals table commonly seen in the countryside, covered with a layer of translucent red plastic film for easy cleaning, and the chairs are crude red-painted long benches.

Zhao Yanjia sat with his butt in a panic, and looked at the dark iron pot. The dirty water from washing vegetables and cooking spread from the concrete floor over there to his feet, and the disposable tableware on the table was all littered. The rough edges are easy to cut the mouth. He has never participated in such a rough and simple "banquet". It smells good, but it doesn't feel very hygienic.

Zhao Yanjia moved his buttocks and couldn't help but said, "Brother, today is Lawyer Zhou's birthday? Isn't that with you..." He caught a glimpse of Jiang Xianghuai's eyes and changed his words again, "No wonder I saw you packed several bags in the suitcase. Gifts, she only has one birthday, so you don’t need to prepare five.”

five copies?

Lawyer Zhou and his brother have been separated for exactly five years, so it is a gift.

Zhao Yanjia sighed: "It turns out that Xia Par said that you regretted it and that you can't love it. It's true. However, it's been five years. Why didn't Lawyer Zhou marry someone else and have a baby..."

Jiang Xianghuai stared at Zhao Yanjia for two seconds with cold eyes.

Zhao Yanjia fell silent knowingly.

The prince of Kailun Law Firm, the son of lawyer He Kailun, He Yanming went straight to Zhou's house as soon as the court session was over. He heard from Ye Bai that the lawyers from Beicheng Law Firm dared to look down on their Kailun Law Firm, and he was so angry I almost copied the guy and came to Zhou's house for dinner.

He was concerned about Chengcheng's birthday, so he didn't bring the guy with him, but he couldn't be less imposing, and sat down next to Jiang Xianghuai.

Slowly took off the suit jacket, unbuttoned the collar of the shirt, rolled up the sleeves, seemingly inadvertently, but every movement was carefully planned, perfectly revealing his macho muscles: "Hello, Nanri County No. First Law Firm, Kailun Law Firm's first lawyer, He Yanming."

Jiang Xianghuai was silent: "Hello, Mingdi Law Firm, Jiang Xianghuai."

He Yanming felt that he had won a round, took out the cigarette case, handed it to Jiang Xianghuai, and raised his chin: "One?"

Jiang Xianghuai glanced at him. Although he had quit smoking, he still took the cigarette politely.

He Yanming bit a cigarette in his mouth, lowered his head to light it with a lighter, and breathed heavily, exuding an unfriendly aura. He didn't look like a lawyer, but rather a big gangster who was doing collection work. He was thinking about this After smoking, he asked Jiang Xianghuai if he dared to look down on their Kailun law firm!

A female voice suddenly sounded: "He Yanming."

The cigarette in his hand was snatched away before it was lit.

Zhou Zhicheng changed into a skirt, and as soon as she came down from the second floor, she saw that He Yanming was going to smoke at her house again, so as to avoid future troubles, she took away his lighter and said, "I told you not to smoke at my grandpa's place. He's not well."

He Yanming's underworld momentum weakened immediately: "Chengcheng, what are you doing, they are all watching."

Zhou Zhicheng ignored him, confiscated his cigarettes and lighter, and only asked, "How about the court session today?"

"Very well." He Yanming swelled up again, "Who am I, the number one lawyer of the largest law firm, once I make a move, I am invincible and invincible!"

Ye Bai immediately retorted: "Lawyer He, as we all know, the number one lawyer is our lawyer Zhou."

He Yanming was slapped in the face for the second time today.

He Kailun arrived at some time, just in time to hear this sentence, and said: "He Yanming, hurry up and weigh yourself."

He brought Italian coffee beans and a bottle of red wine given to him, and said enthusiastically: "I heard from Chengcheng that lawyers in big law firms love to drink that caffe, so I specially bought a coffee machine. When you work in the future, you can Soak, and this bottle of redwine, let’s drink together today, if you don’t get drunk, you won’t go home!”

In just one sentence, it can be mixed with dialect and English and Italian with weird pronunciation.

He Yanming was convinced: "Hey, Dad, you can speak multiple languages, then you have to call their lawyer."

Zhou Zhicheng patted his shoulder with a smile, and squeezed his muscles: "Have you lifted weights these days? Your muscles are getting bigger again."

"Yes, do you want to see my abs? I'm in really good shape these days, Chengcheng, this is my birthday present to you."

"Wait a while." Zhou Zhicheng did not refuse.

Jiang Xianghuai raised his eyelids, and his gaze stayed on He Yanming for a moment longer. Their relationship was very close, and Zhou Zhicheng's hand was still on He Yanming's shoulder.

He pursed his lips, looking a little cold.

"Let's serve." Zhou Guohua prepares local specialties. The cold appetizers are soil bamboo shoot jelly, stewed meat and salted red cream crab. The staple food is special stewed noodles. Salt and pepper prawns, stewed abalone pork ribs and lobster, etc., are delicious in color, fragrance, and taste like the chef who once dominated the rural water banquet in Nanri County. They even prepared glutinous rice balls wrapped in soybean flour for dessert.

The people at their table hadn't eaten yet, but the two tables next to them had already started. They were the staff of the program group and relatives and friends of the Zhou family.

Zhao Yanjia glanced over there, very silent.

They didn't even use serving chopsticks when they ate. Everyone stuck their saliva-stained chopsticks into the dishes, ate until their mouths were full of greasy food, and sipped and drank wine at the dinner table.

He couldn't stand it, and his brother, who had a slight cleanliness, definitely couldn't stand it even more.

Fortunately, they have serving spoons and chopsticks on this table.

He Kailun and his son both love to drink, He Kailun brought elegant red wine today, no matter what he said, he had to drink more elegantly, he said: "Chengcheng, go and get some goblets."

He Yanming held two bottles of beer in both hands, and when he heard this, it would be better to be more civilized if there were outsiders here today, so he also pretended to say: "Chengcheng, then help me get a bottle opener."

Zhou Zhicheng pretended not to hear, just took the goblet, blinked at He Yanming, and asked, "Don't you have a bottle opener?"

"Where do I have it?"

Ye Bai understood in seconds, and moved over: "Lawyer He, didn't you always use your teeth to make bottle openers?" She said, and imitated his classic trick of gnawing open bottle caps with her teeth, couldn't help but haha Laughed out loud.

He Kailun complained: "You are like a sheep (like) with horns on the head of a dog, pretend to be you."

He Yanming couldn't hold it any longer, so he rolled up his sleeves angrily, turned his head, and snapped open a bottle of beer with his teeth. He spit out the bottle cap, and he didn't use a glass to hold the wine. "Gudong" and poured it down, and also let out an "ah" in enjoyment.

Zhou Zhicheng told him to drink slowly.

Looking at Jiang Xianghuai, he felt a slight tightness in his chest and an inexplicable bitterness.

Halfway through the banquet, the Zhou family's relatives and friends came to drink with Jiang Xianghuai. There were so many noises and spittle splashed everywhere.

There was no way for Jiang Xianghuai to avoid it.

"The two of us are friends who have had a drink. If you have anything to do in Nanri County in the future, report me Zhou Fanglin's name!"

"Lawyer Jiang, you are a barrister. Are you the kind of lawyer who never loses?"

"Chengcheng said that he is wrong... what a lawyer, he won't go to court."

"If you don't go to court, you're a fake lawyer. Chengcheng goes to court every day. How can there be a lawyer who doesn't go to court?"

Jiang Xianghuai didn't mind these people's misunderstanding of his profession. He always had a slight smile on his brows and eyes, and clinked glasses with Zhou's relatives very cooperatively. He seemed to be able to cope with it, but when he looked carefully, he found that his back was already stiff and his jawline was tense. Tightly, he tried his best to endure the intimacy of Zhou's relatives hugging him.

He has never been as uncomfortable as he is today when facing a case worth billions of dollars.

But these are Chengcheng's relatives, so don't mess around.

"You're a good man." This is Zhou Zhicheng's little uncle, "Do you have a girlfriend yet?"

Jiang Xianghuai replied with a smile, "No."

Zhou Zhicheng's eyes stopped on him for a moment, and then moved away quickly.

After Lu He came to the county, he had been running around for a day, and was sending a message to his friends with his head down: "People here are quite ignorant, saying that lawyers are all litigants, and those who don't litigate or go to court are not lawyers, and they look down on non-litigation in their words. , but generally speaking, the threshold and income of non-litigation are higher than those of litigation.”

A friend replied to him: "Ordinary people generally do not have access to non-litigation lawyers. It is quite normal to think so. The litigation field is more mixed, but there are also many big money-making talents. After all, let you be a non-litigation lawyer in the financial field. Trivial lawsuits in county towns are overkill, and they will definitely not be able to adapt."

Lu He pursed his lips and was about to reply when he suddenly found Ye Bai standing next to him at some point, pouring red wine while looking at his phone screen.

He looked cold.

Ye Bai immediately declared: "I didn't peek, I was pouring the wine, and your phone was right in front of me, so I saw it openly."

Lu He sneered: "Didn't your law professor teach you to respect other people's right to privacy?"

"Then your parents didn't teach you not to talk about people behind their backs?"

After this day of getting along, Ye Bai didn't have a good impression of him anymore. She said: "You have a lot of contempt chains. Do you think you are standing at the top of the pyramid? You are amazing. You discriminate against our little lawyer." Forget it as a lawyer, but you still discriminate against litigation lawyers! Lawyer Zhou said, these are all prejudices. If you don’t sue in finance, you think your business is high-end? They are all workers, and you are still a spiritual capitalist? I still say you They are screw workers in the capital market and migrant workers in law firms.”

Lu He frowned: "What qualifications do you have..."

Ye Bai interrupted him: "Yes, yes, I am not qualified. You have to sue large firms with high thresholds, and only super elites can enter. I can't even clean toilets with my degree. Your commercial lawyers make a lot of money, and first-year lawyers earn a good monthly salary." Tens of thousands, we have to pay for internships, yes, yes, yes, you are in the high-rise buildings, raising your hand is to shock the international mergers and acquisitions, we are trivial, low-end business, save you greatness, okay?"

She spit out what Lu He was going to say like pouring beans.

Lu He was stunned, not knowing what to reply for a moment.

Ye Bai also breathed out through his nostrils, and squinted at him: "But, what does this have to do with me? You are so powerful, so why do you come to our place? Because of Lawyer Zhou, I have always had a filter from a prestigious school. You, I know that character cannot be brought by prestigious schools."

Lu He sneered angrily.

What's the use of her being stubborn?The workplace itself is full of all kinds of discrimination, education discrimination, income discrimination, otherwise why should everyone work hard to climb up?What's more, is he rude?Obviously it was this group of ignorant people who looked down on non-litigation lawyers first.

Litigation lawyers have a relatively low threshold. For example, people like her become lawyers after passing the law examination. Laymen, destroying the image of lawyers everywhere.

On the other side, Zhao Yanjia didn't care about their litigation and non-litigation disputes. He secretly took out his mobile phone, and secretly photographed Zhang Jiang Xianghuai's embarrassing appearance surrounded by Zhou's enthusiastic relatives and friends drinking, and sent a message. Went to his family group and manually reminded everyone.

His sister Zhao Yanting replied quickly.

Zhao Yanting: "Cousin went to see the parents? The new son-in-law came to the door and was drunk by the woman's relatives and friends?"

Mom: "Is this going to a legal show, or a dating show?"

Zhao Yanjia: "No, this is a battle to defend love. The older urban rich second generation is chasing after the beautiful village girl's ex-girlfriend."