Hidden Marriage

Chapter 177: An Unexpected Reversal

“You want to terminate your contract?” Chang Li’s expression finally showed some change, but she quickly returned to a calm state, “Ning Xi, don’t use the contract to threaten me. Do you know how much the penalty for breaking a contract is? There are still four years left in the contract you have with the company. The penalty is 2 million yuan for every year, coming to a total of 8 million yuan!”

Ning Xi shot a look at the lawyer waiting to one side.

The expressionless lawyer pulled out a black briefcase and flipped it open… whoosh! It was filled with money; cold hard cash!

Ning Xi pushed the briefcase to Chang Li, “Here’s 8 million yuan. Do you want to count it all?”

“You…” Chang Li stared, flabbergasted, at the pile of cash before her, “Where did you get so much money from?”

Ning Xi spoke with impatience, “That has nothing to do with you, does it?”

“Heh, didn’t you just get it from sleeping around? What are you acting all arrogant for? Did you think just 8 million was enough?!” Chang Li tossed a thick document at her: an agreement for terminating her contract. It seemed like she had already been prepared.

Ning Xi took the agreement and skimmed through the pages. As she continued reading, she became more and more amused, “Chang-jie, why didn’t I ever realise I was worth so much?”

The penalty they were asking for was 60 million dollars!

She knew that it wouldn’t be easy to terminate her contract, they would definitely come up with some way to make things difficult for her.

Chang Li recovered her unperturbed expression, “This is the estimate that our specialised lawyer came up with. It’s stated clearly in the agreement that you have to pay for damages to the company in addition to the 8 million yuan penalty for terminating the contract!”

“The damages include the postponement of our activities, the discontinuation of our investment, and the grievous injuries suffered by our most valuable actress… After calculating everything, this is already the bare minimum you have to cough up! If you can’t pay up, then we’ll meet in the courts!”

Ning Xi’s brows knitted together after hearing this. She didn’t know how good Lawyer Chen was, and whether he would be able to settle everything…

Lawyer Chen simply glanced at the agreement. After that, his expression remained cold and respectful as before, without any visible changes in emotion.

Seeing that Ning Xi was hesitating, Chang Li immediately softened her tone,” Ning Xi, think carefully. Do you really want to terminate your contract? Actually, it’s not like we can’t discuss about this. If you’re not willing to take on 《Blooming Like It’s Spring》, we can make other arrangements. I have a few screenplays on hand and they’re all big projects. I’ll let you pick from them.”

Ning Xi sneered inwardly. What big projects? They were likely the same kind of setup for her, just under different names!

Ning Xueluo was clearly desperate to make her stay at Starlight so that she could keep her under her thumb and keep her in shackles for the rest of her life. However, she was also afraid that Ning Xi would give up and return to the Ning family if she was pressured too much…

At this moment, the sound of knocking came from the door. Starlight’s lawyers had arrived, and there were even three of them all at once.

Ning Xi even recognised one of them: one of the top lawyers at Ning Corporation, Cai Yingyong.

Damn! Ning Xueluo was really putting her all into making things difficult for her!

Ning Xi looked at the lonely Lawyer Chen on her side and uncertainty rose in her heart.

Now that Chang Li had gotten her backup, she crossed her arms over her chest and looked haughty, “Ning Xi, it’s not too late for you to change your mind.”

There were specialised ways to counteract these legal measures, but Ning Xi really had no idea about legal matters at all. She could only look towards Lawyer Chen with hope.

Lawyer Chen… remained silent.

Ning Xi was about to go crazy from desperation. Weren’t all lawyers supposed to be really eloquent? On top of being so stiff, why did this guy have to act like he was mute? Was it going to be okay or not?!

However…

The events that followed made Ning Xi feel like she was watching a drama.

Lawyer Chen slowly stood up and took out a stack of documents from his briefcase. He finally spoke up: “Firstly, as far as I know, your company discontinued your investment in order to threaten the production team, it has nothing to do with my client.”

“Secondly, Ning Corporation has no relation with my client, so their losses shouldn’t be borne by my client.”

“Thirdly, your company’s employee suffered injury on set, so this should be borne by your company, the production team and the insurance company. Since my client hasn’t been deemed guilty by any court, my client has no responsibility to bear those costs.”

“Furthermore, from the medical report of your company’s actress, Miss Ning Xueluo, she only suffered mild superficial wounds. At most, we will compensate her with 252.40 yuan. As for the other expenses such as the stay in the high-class ward and maintenance fees, those shouldn’t be borne by my client…”

While facing three other lawyers by himself, Lawyer Chen fired off his rebuttals in quick-fire succession. He spoke for half an hour without getting short of breath, leaving the three lawyers on the other side speechless as they sweated profusely. He successfully helped her to terminated her contract, and except for that 8 million yuan, they didn’t spend a single cent more…

Oh, wait, they spent an extra 252.40 yuan…

TL Note:

You know how much 8 million yuan is in USD by now!! ????

252.40 yuan is USD 36.56 exactly~ Whew~

On a side note, please read this announcement about the future of HM: http://volarenovels.com/announcement-eewc-hm/