Chapter 6: A Huge Debt Pushing Her Down
“As long as the compensation you seek is affordable,” Zhang Pei finally came to her senses, as she thought of what Lawyer Sun had taught her, and said, “If it’s reasonable, our side can cooperate. I have a hundred thousand RMB with me right now, so you can have it for now. After all, your three children have to go to school and eat.” She put the money on the table.
The Wang family calmed down after seeing the money. Mrs. Wang quickly grabbed the money. She looked at her youngest son, signaling something. They probably talked about it beforehand. Mrs. Wang said, “How much can this little amount of money do? Is my son’s life only worth a hundred thousand? I heard that your husband works for the government, if he goes to jail… He’s going to lose his job. Your daughter goes to Capital City Music Conservation and studies in piano major, right? The tuition must be very expensive. You have a house and a car in the capital city, so you must be very rich.” Mrs. Wang had a look of greed as she said this. She raised her left hand and put up three fingers. “Three million is the base line.”
TL Note: Capital City Music Conversation is Liu Man’s school
“How could we possibly have so much money?” Zhang Pei stared.
Lawyer Sun frowned.
The Wang family had already learned the details of her family. They knew all about Liu Chenyu’s job, where they lived, and where Liu Man went to school.
TL Note: Remember that Liu Chenyu is Liu Man’s father?
The Wang family had just arrived at the capital a few days earlier. How did they gather so much information in such a short time?
Lawyer Sun thought about it and looked towards the other lawyer named Zhao Feng. The opposing lawyer even smiled at him.
After the incident, Zhang Pei inspected all of their properties. She and her husband only had about thirty thousand RMB. If she sold her car, she’d be able to gain another twenty thousand. But that’d be nothing compared to a million RMB! Liu Man spent money without control and bought everything she wanted. The couple couldn’t save any money with a daughter like that. Now, Zhang Pei regretted spoiling Liu Man. She didn’t even know what Liu had spent the money on.
“Your house is on the center of the capital, right?” Wang Zhihua also went to college in the capital city, so he knew a lot about the prices of the houses there, “Sell your house, and you’ll definitely have enough money.”
Zhang Pei, of course, didn’t agree, “If we sell our house, then where will we live?”
“Well, that’d be your problem. My brother was so young. He could’ve had a longer life, not to mention he had three children waiting to be fed. How do you think that this can be solved? A million RMB per child wouldn’t be that much.” Wang Zhihua retorted back.
The Wang family’s greedy looks completely angered Zhang Pei, “Don’t even think about it, we’ll never agree.”
Zhang Pei grabbed Liu Man’s hand and said to Lawyer Sun, “We’re not negotiating anymore, let’s go.”
After she spoke, she walked out without even turning her head. Liu Man walked with her. Apon walking out of the room, she turned and glanced at the opposing lawyer named Zhao Feng. He had a confident smile on his face.
The first negotiation was a failure.
After leaving the Wang family’s sight, Zhang Pei yelled out, “They’re like a lion opening its mouth! Three million! Is their son even worth three million?!”
Zhang Pei was too furious, so out of spite, she screamed those rather unpleasant words.
Lawyer Sun said, “Even if Wang Chunhua isn’t worth that much, Chenyu is.”
His words felt like an ice bucket pouring down.
Because Liu Chenyu’s boss was protecting him to the best of his abilities, although Liu Chenyu was under arrest, he still wasn’t fired from his job. The dinner party that happened on the night of the accident, happened to be hosted by his boss. Liu Chenyu even took his boss’s place and drank wine for him.
Now, his boss was using his connections and was pressing down this incident. But if the Wang family went to his workplace to make trouble, or spread it around on the internet, then Liu Chenyu wouldn’t be able to be saved.
What worried Lawyer SUn the most was that, as he said to Zhang Pei, “The opposing lawyer is hard to deal with. Young adults these days are more thoughtful, so if he can convince the Wang family to ask for three million right away, then he must have some sort of confidence. I’m afraid that he has a trick up his sleeves.”
After hearing Lawyer Sun’s diagnosis, Zhang Pei felt helpless and scared, “What kind of trick would he have?”
“A government official drove and killed a delivery man after drinking wine, but that official was too powerful, and the family of the dead victim has nowhere to get help.” Lawyer Sun said, “If they get bots to write some news with that kind of title, then Chenyu will be destroyed.”
Liu Man wrinkled her eyebrows after hearing this.
That way of spreading around these kinds of negative news to make the public feel sorry for them, has been useful ever since the ancient times. People always thought that Liu Man’s neighbors in the cold palace were cruel and hated women. But, if they really were that sly, then why would they have been stuck in the cold palace as losers for their entire lives?
“Then what am I supposed to do?” Zhang Pei looked at Lawyer Sun helplessly, “The most I can do is to give five hundred thousand. We can’t sell the house.”
“I’ll go to the courthouse and the procuratorate to see what we can do.” Lawyer Sun realized that this was much more complicated and tougher than he thought it would be. Liu Chenyu’s identity was way too sensitive. Government employee, driving after drinking, victim dead, poor family; with these keywords together, it’d be impossible to explain.
Liu Man’s family had only moved into this compound around five to six years ago, and this compound was mostly for businessmen. Liu Man’s house was only a hundred and forty meters, and at the time, they had bought it at a very low price. Otherwise, how could Liu Chenyu have bought such a large house with his salary?
Zhang Pei would definitely not agree to selling her house.
The next day, Liu Man and Zhang Pei went to the pawnshop. Zhang Pei brought every single piece of jewelry that she owned along with her, including the ring that Liu Chenyu had given her when they got married. The staff at the pawnshop evaluated the price for every single piece of jewelry. The few diamond rings, gold necklaces, gold bracelets, emerald decorations, and a few sets of earrings, were put carefully in order in front of Liu Man, who was able to hear the price that the staff estimated.
“if we buy these, then the gold would be seventy percent of the market price, and the jade would be half price. So, if you agree to our fee, then we can just sign the contract right now.”
TL Note: basically, let’s say, if the jade costed 100$, then it’d only be 50$ in the pawnshop. If the gold costed 1000$, then it’d be 700$ when the pawnshop buys it.
“The jade can only be half price? This is emerald, and that’s real He Tian jade. They were very expensive when I bought them.”
“Sorry, ma’am. The value in the market is very unstable, and our company cannot afford the loss if the value suddenly drops. So to be safe, we always buy it at half price,” The employee was very aloof.
“Sorry, ma’am. The value in the market is currently very unstable, and our company cannot afford the loss if the value suddenly drops. So, to be safe, we always buy it at half price.” The employee was very aloof.
Liu Man saw Zhang Pei look at her jewelries with a painful expression. Every single one of those pieces of jewelries were given to her by Liu Chenyu on her marriage anniversaries and birthdays.
Liu Man felt very sad and distressed. She remembered that when Madam Xu fell sick, during the last months of her life, she kept on selling her few pieces of jewelries, just begging the servants to treat Liu Man better. She remembered Madam Xu’s loving and painful expressions, and also remembered when Madam Xu carefully patted her head: “When I go to the other side, what will you do? I just hope that those servants will be a bit grateful after taking my belongings.” But reality proved that those servants didn’t have any empathy left in their hearts.
At this moment, Zhang Pei and Madam Xu seemed to layer together. Liu Man’s eyes became wet. She didn’t know what she was feeling; the love of the old Liu Man for her mother, or her feelings for Madam Xu.
In the end, all of the jewelries were sold at only the price of a hundred fourteen thousand. It still seemed incredibly far away from their goal of three million.