Just for a moment, the noise from the office got louder and louder.
Dacheng Law Firm has many young female clerks, and like this receptionist, they all like to cry listening to other people's love songs. When someone who can read music hums a few notes, people immediately gather around.
Then, the female clerks, who naturally like to gossip, ignore the work discipline and gather around more and more. After they understand what is going on, they all shout at the centre, 'Let me see,' and the bespectacled lawyer who is receiving Feng Yiping has long been pushed to the outside of the circle.
The commotion outside alerted Du Jumei, the only female lawyer among the law firm partners. She opened the office door and called out, 'What's all the noise?'
Although Lawyer Du's surname was Du, the staff members all said in private that she should be surnamed Leng, which better suited her personality and complemented her name.
At her shout, the female staff members outside immediately dispersed, and the last one, before leaving, did not forget to return the sheet music to the bespectacled lawyer.
'Zhao, what's going on?'
Lawyer Zhao told him about how he had received Feng Yiping, and Lawyer Du took the song sheet and glanced at it. She didn't like this stuff like those young female staff members did. Teenage kids? What nonsense.
'Where is he? Take me to see him.'
When they entered the reception room, the receptionist was being amused by Feng Yiping, laughing out loud. There was no way around it. When a beautiful woman is in front of you, men will try to make her happy. Feng Yiping, a veteran of the 21st century, is back in the present doing this, which is too childish and unchallenging. He easily amused the receptionist and made her laugh repeatedly.
Lawyer Du cleared his throat and sat down opposite Feng Yiping. The receptionist immediately stood up in some alarm, greeted him with a 'Director Du,' and darted out of the reception room like a startled deer. But when she looked back, she carefully gave Feng Yiping a smile in return.
Damn, Feng Yiping's teenage heart uncontrollably fluttered a few times. I said, beautiful girl, don't you know that this is very damaging?
Lawyer Zhao introduced, 'This is our deputy director, Lawyer Du.' He was afraid that Feng Yiping didn't know what a partner was.
'Hello, Director Du!' Feng Yiping stood up and was about to shake hands.
Who knew that Lawyer Du ignored him and instead looked down at the song sheet. He waited until Feng Yiping sat down before asking, "What's your name, age, and place of origin?'
Seeing how arrogant she was, Feng Yiping didn't bother to answer and took out his household registration booklet from his bag and placed it on the table.
Lawyer Du looked at it and said, "Just turned thirteen,'
She looked around, 'Are you here alone?'
'Yes,' Feng Yiping said, 'Don't worry, although I am now a person with restricted capacity, and the validity of the contract I sign is still pending, my parents will definitely not pursue this, so there is no problem with me signing the contract. You don't need to worry about that.'
Wow, she knows quite a bit, Lawyer Du thought as she looked Feng Yiping over carefully.
Feng Yiping had been looking at her the whole time. She was in her thirties at most, a young mature woman, not bad looking, with exquisite makeup and a good figure. Her legs were long, and her medium-length hair was tied back casually. She was wearing a silk blue blouse and a white blazer, but unfortunately she was wearing trousers underneath. If she had worn a skirt that hugged her hips, she would have been absolutely five-star hot!
'Where did you go to school?'
'Liangjiahe Middle School.'
'Middle school?' Lawyer Du asked.
'Yes, a nine-year compulsory education full-time junior high school.' Feng Yiping knew what she suspected.
'Who did you learn music from?'
'Our school music teacher.'
A small music teacher in a rural junior high school is probably not very talented. Lawyer Du is a woman, and women are naturally more suspicious than Cao Cao. Her profession has reinforced this nature.
'We are a very influential law firm in the industry. In the spirit of being responsible to you and to our firm, I would like to ask, at your age, how can you write such a love song?'
'We have an old saying: I've seen a pig run even if I've never eaten pork. Of course I've never even been in a relationship, but I've seen a lot of these things in reality, on TV, and in books, and I can fully understand the emotions involved. Coupled with some personal talents, there's nothing strange about writing such a song.'
The other party was not polite, and Feng Yiping, in his capacity as a child, naturally did not need to be polite either.
Being confronted in this way by a child, Lawyer Du was of course not very happy. Hmph, completely avoiding the real issue!
'In view of your age and some of the problems you have, I'm sorry, but we cannot accept this commission from you,' Lawyer Du pushed the song sheet towards him.
Before Feng Yiping could make a decision, Lawyer Zhao, who was next to him, became a little anxious.
He had just seen how much his female colleagues liked the song, and Feng Yiping's initial 'wild claims' had convinced him somewhat. If this commission became a success, he would at least be able to share some of the credit.
The law firm currently did not have an intellectual property department, so maybe one would be set up for this? He would then be able to legitimately take a position in it! For him, who had just joined the law firm not long ago, this was a rare and good opportunity.
Moreover, he is in the civil affairs department, not under the charge of the commercial affairs department's Du, and his direct supervisor is another partner, Zhang. So without waiting for Feng Yiping's response, he said, 'Director Du, I'll go ask our director Zhang for his opinion.'
In a moment, a middle-aged man in his forties was invited in by Lawyer Zhao. Du nodded at him, not knowing what was going on, but not leaving.
After Xiaozhao had introduced them, the middle-aged man smiled and said to Feng Yiping, 'My young friend, why didn't your parents come with you?'
Now he's getting to the point!
Feng Yiping handed Director Zhang his household registration booklet and said, 'I know the value of my songs. Sometimes, too much money, money that comes easily, is actually a burden for my parents in the countryside. I don't want to worry them, and I don't want them to decide my future from now on, because I have a clear plan for my future.'
Director Zhang was surprised to hear these words from the young Feng Yiping.
As a lawyer at the forefront of reform and opening up, he had seen many stories of poor people suddenly becoming rich, or ordinary people becoming rich overnight. Feng Yiping's concerns were very reasonable.
'My young friend is right,' Director Zhang praised him at first, 'apart from music, do you have any other special skills?'
'Not really a specialty. Since last year, I've been publishing novels in domestic magazines one after the other.' Feng Yiping was prepared, and took out copies of the remittance slips and two sample books sent to him by the magazine.
Director Zhang looked at each one, and at this point, he was already eight or nine tenths convinced. In fact, the remittance slips could be forged, and nothing beats face-to-face communication to get to know someone.
Feng Yiping, a child who had just turned thirteen, was surrounded by the three adults. In response to their questioning, he was always calm, unflustered, and neither humble nor arrogant. The veteran lawyer, who had been to court many times, naturally judged the truth of what he said.
In a country as big as ours, there is nothing strange about some geniuses. It is not strange that there is no talent, but just that ordinary people have not encountered it.
'Very well, classmate Yiping, on behalf of the law firm, I accept your commission.' He turned to Lawyer Du and asked, 'What does Director Du think?'
You've already accepted it, so what do I have to say? But for some reason, she just couldn't stand this somewhat unruly child. This also had to do with the nature of women, whose eyes were always on other people, never on their own problems. She didn't think about the fact that she had been aggressive towards Feng Yiping from the moment she arrived, and Feng Yiping had been very polite.
'I just have one more question. What if your parents refuse to recognise the validity of this power of attorney?'
As soon as the words left his mouth, Lawyer Du regretted them. What was the matter with him, asking such a stupid question? Why hadn't Director Zhang asked this question? Because there was no need to ask it at all.
Sure enough, Feng Yiping laughed. 'Haha, that's my question. My parents won't know about this until I come of age. Even if they do, they'll be overjoyed and won't have any objections. Besides, even if they don't agree, are you lawyers afraid?'
Director Zhang and Lawyer Zhao both laughed. No law firm is afraid of lawsuits; they just want more of them!
Just like the copyright issue that Lawyer Du has been worrying about, what's there to be afraid of? If there is a real problem, that's just great, they'll have another case.
Besides, this is really a simple matter that doesn't cost much. It's just a matter of making a few phone calls and sending a few faxes. Just send the score over, and those professional musicians will naturally come to the door to talk.