24 hours before trial...Dressed in the usual corporate black at around nine in the morning, the President of Zhang Corporation stepped into the luxurious car that had been used earlier to convey his daughter to school, before the aide parked it at the entrance closest to the door of the Zhang manor.
Gao Yifeng opened the back seat door for Zhang Tianyu to get in, shutting the door firmly after him. Hurriedly getting into the driver seat, the young man keyed the car, driving out of the imposing building whose gate automatically closed after them.
Almost five minutes into the trip, the soft mainstream music playing in the car, suddenly changed to the voice of a female presenter of the talk show.
"h.e.l.lo everyone, this is Fu Teegan talking to you live from iRenSu studio, returning back from a short commercial break, to discuss the replacement of the presiding judge on the high profile case involving the former heiress to the Zhang dynasty. There has been a lot of controversies regarding the case. Why now?! That is what many citizens and netizens are asking regarding a new judge and the hearing that was moved for tomorrow. Let me know what you think of this."
The talk host gave out a number for the listeners of the radio program to call or text what they thought about the new situation that the former heiress would be facing, on tomorrow"s hearing at the court. She also spoke of the judge who would be heading the trial of Zhang Mi.
When the news eventually sank into his mind, a smile of utmost bliss radiated all over the face of Zhang Tianyu. Throwing his head back, he half cried and half laughed as tears streamed down his face, clapping his hands together in delight. From the moment he received the news regarding his niece, he barely ate the food that was brought to his table, having no appet.i.te at all. Most of the meals had to be disposed off, at Zhang manor none dare question his sudden lack of appet.i.te, even Zhang Jie silently watched her father play at his food for the most part of dinner.
For some unknown reason, Zhang Tianyu suddenly developed a strong appet.i.te. The last thing on his mind was to go to Zhang Corporation to resume his mundane activities at the office, when the heavens had blessed him with the opportunity to crush his niece once and for all. The sinking feeling at the pit of his stomach vanished along with the news that came from the radio.
Everything became brighter, he even thought that the sky looked dazzling and there was nothing that could stand in his way. Call it instinct or predator knowing who their kind is, the President of Zhang Corporation was glad that he could finally put his mind at rest with the newly appointed judge that was a.s.signed to the case.
Not thinking twice about his action, Zhang Tianyu ordered his driver to change course and head for Yu"fei, where he will be having a pre-victory celebration.
Gao Yifeng"s gaze s.h.i.+fted to the rear view mirror, a fleeting look of annoyance crossed his face, such that if one wasn"t paying a close look, there was a high likelihood of missing it.
Sure enough, Zhang Tianyu was caught in his own world, thinking of how he would spend the whole day at his favorite relaxation spot. Having on a dreamily look in his eyes, while looking at things they drove by.
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Running through the airport with only one small blue carry-on office type bag and a brown duffel bag, Lu Yi walked up to the counter to have his duffel bag checked-in, holding on to the carry-on by his shoulder. Earlier calling for a cab to drop him off at the airport. Surprisingly, only a few people stood in line to have their luggage checked in with tickets visibly inspected and handed back to them.
Four women stood at the counter dressed in uniform red skirt suit with a multicolored scarf looped around their neck. Each of them had their hair in a bun and wore black heel. Three looked to be in their twenties, while the other one was more towards thirties.
When Lu Yi saw the ticketing agent return his boarding pa.s.s and the duffel bag cleared by the airline official, he ran towards the security check line, standing once again in line, waiting to be cleared by custom officers who had on a black security uniform with pagers and hand gun strapped to their side.
After waiting for close to fifteen minutes, it was finally his turn, as he was told to empty his pockets and place his belongings in a white plastic bin. The body search began, followed by a full body scan as he was asked to walk with no shoes into a transparent enclosure resembling an elevator. Lu Yi waited to receive the okay signal from one of the male custom officer in military style haircut, before stepping out of the enclosure.
He patiently waited for them to run his belongings through the computer. Eventually, he was cleared to pick his things and head for the boarding gate.
It was only after confirming his details from the airline customer care kiosk, that was when he strode towards the area of the airport that sold his preferred coffee. The young man could only drink the coffee that he bought from the food marts at the airport lounge, this was to keep him alert so as to avoid missing his flight. Not in the mood to eat anything, Lu Yi continued to sip from the light purple paper coffee cup, as he sat on one of the front row seat of Air Santai waiting area.
An hour later, it was time to board as each seat number was called, in accordance to the type of boarding pa.s.s that the pa.s.senger purchased through the airline.
As Business cla.s.s he was one of the people that was called in first, his ticket was checked again for verification, before he was granted permission to board the flight heading to Chaoyang.
At noon, Air Santai took off from Syracuse heading to Chaoyang.
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At the discretion of her lawyer, the Hongsheng heiress could not tell the Zhang heiress of the changes that had been put in place regarding her trial. Hong Ruolan tried her best to act her usual self when around Zhang Mi. No good will come from knowing that there was the possibility that her uncle had an hand in switching out the presiding judge. Not only will it kill whatever morale the Zhang heiress had, but it will make things difficult for the lawyer while representing his client.
One thing was certain, Ding Bohai wanted to win at all cost, even if it meant a little deception. The thought that brought rea.s.surance to the seasoned lawyer was the cliche term which was, "The client will thank you in the end", that was enough to put the mind of the lawyer at ease during his consultation with her at the visitation room.