At four o'clock in the afternoon, Takadanobaba 1-chome, in an office on the second floor of Katsumiso.

Matsumoto looked at the electronic clock on his desk, and when he saw that the hour hand was almost four o'clock, he quickly drank the remaining whiskey from the bottom of the glass in his hand, and then put the bottles and glasses on the table, as well as the paper plate with dried squid, into the small cabinet under the desk.

He straightened his tie, stood up and tucked the hem of his shirt back into the waistband of his trousers, then walked to the hanger in the corner, put on the suit jacket hanging on it, and after moving his body a little, he felt that there was no problem, and then sat down again behind the desk.

After sitting for less than half a minute, he seemed to remember something again, hurriedly took out a plate of chewing gum from the drawer, pulled out two and threw them into his mouth. Then he got up and took out a bottle of air freshener from the cabinet next to the wall and sprayed it around the room a few times.

The smell of whiskey and dried squid doesn't easily dissipate in this cramped office, and customers will come to the door soon. As a lawyer, even if you are an extremely down-and-out lawyer, it is not a good thing to make your clients aware that you are drinking during office hours.

Since receiving a personal debt consolidation case two weeks ago, until now, the firm has not made any income for half a month. Today, the customer who called the door, must be caught well.

Mr. Matsumoto, a 46-year-old former lawyer registered with the Tokyo Bar Association, was a mid-level partner at Nishimura Law Firm, Tokyo's third-largest law firm three years ago, with his own separate office in a high-end office building in Minato-ku.

However. In a corporate bankruptcy case three years ago, he was disqualified as a lawyer after the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office was caught with evidence for helping a corporate legal person conceal his private assets.

Having been a lawyer for nearly 20 years, he is proficient in commercial law and has dealt with many large companies, so he originally thought that he should be able to easily find a legal position in a large company. Unexpectedly, the deterioration of the entire Japanese economic situation made his wishful thinking come to naught.

After spending almost a year looking for a job to no avail, he had no choice but to secretly open this personal law firm in the old residential area of Takadanobaba. Since he is no longer qualified as a lawyer, he can only rely on helping other firms to attract clients and taking on some consulting work that does not require him to appear in court.

These three years. It can be said that it was the most tragic three years of Matsumoto Somasa's life. His beautiful wife, who was ten years younger than him, divorced him when he couldn't find a job. He took the house he had just paid off the loan, but left his daughter, who was still in middle school, to him.

In desperation, he had no choice but to take his daughter to his aunt in Tokyo. His aunt had an old-fashioned, three-story wooden building in Takadanobaba, a rented guesthouse called Katsumiso.

He relied on helping his aunt to be the caretaker of this rental homestay. Switched to a free home on the ground floor. Later, I rented a small suite on the second floor. This office was opened.

The business of a black firm like his is naturally very cold. In addition to paying the rent, the monthly income is barely enough to support the life of the father and daughter. So, he was right to the customer who took the initiative to call the door today. Very important.

After fidgeting behind his desk for a few minutes, Matsumoto stood up again. This time, he opened the office door and walked out.

Outside was a small reception room, except for an old three-seater sofa in the corner, the only thing left was a reception table by the door of his office.

At this time, a young woman with short hair sat behind the reception table, holding a fashion magazine and reading it with relish, not even noticing the movement of him opening the door and coming out.

"Hey, Miyoko." Matsumoto Somasa frowned, resisting the urge to accuse the young woman of desertion, but told in a harmonious voice: "When the guests come, remember to knock on the door first, and then let the guests enter my office when I call in." Also, be sure to make tea and bring it in! ”

The short-haired woman turned her head, her face with heavy makeup showed an impatient look, blew a bubble at Matsumoto Somasa, rolled her eyes and said, "Ou Sang, you have already said it three times, I have already remembered it, okay?" What a long-winded Ojisan! ”

This young woman named Miyoko is the daughter of the owner of an izakaya across the street, a bad girl who is still in her third year of high school, but often skips school, and usually dresses like an adult prostitute.

Matsumoto Munemasa's office must not be able to afford a special receptionist. So, every time a guest with a reservation comes to the door, he asks this Miyoko to change into professional clothes and come to him for two hours as a female clerk for 1,000 yen per hour.

Looking at this arrogant and stupid face, Matsumoto Somasa suppressed his desire to go up and slap him hard, exhaled sullenly, and then turned around and walked back to the office.

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When Li Guangzhi was led into Matsumoto Somasa's office by Miyoko, he was full of curiosity and inquiry.

When he saw the dilapidated old-fashioned building and the simple wooden board that read "Matsumoto General Law Firm 2F" hanging next to the door, he already felt that the firm he had picked out in the yellow pages this morning would be a wrong choice.

However, since they were all here, he still planned to go up and have a look. And, as far as he knows, being a lawyer in Japan should be a very tall profession. Therefore, he is now also very curious about what kind of character this Matsumoto lawyer is, and how he can be so miserable in the lawyer industry.

When Li Guangzhi walked into the office, Matsumoto Somasa was talking to someone on the phone. After seeing him come in, Matsumoto Munemasa quickly stood up and made a courteous gesture to him to sit down while talking on the phone.

Li Guangzhi did not rush to sit down, but walked to the side of the wall and looked at the few frames hanging on the wall.

He was slightly taken aback by the contents of the first frame, which contained a university degree certificate embedded in the head. The name of the recipient is Matsumoto Somasa, and the signature of the person at the bottom of the award is actually "President of the University of Tokyo: Ichiro Kato", dated March 24, Showa 47.

This Matsumoto lawyer, who is in such a down-to-earth situation, actually graduated from Todai Law School?

"This degree can't be fake, right?" Li Guangzhi muttered to himself in his heart.

However, the photograph in the second frame immediately dispelled his suspicions. It was a photo of a graduation ceremony, and Matsumoto Munemasa, dressed in a bachelor's uniform, stood on the rostrum with his graduation certificate in his hand, smiling solemnly at the camera.

Li Guangzhi looked back at Matsumoto Munemasa who was still on the phone, the same jujube core face, the same black-framed glasses, such a comparison. The photo should be correct.

At this time, there was no PS technology. To make a fake photo with this effect, it is not ordinary. There is no doubt about the authenticity of this photo.

So, how could a serious graduate of Tokyo University be so bleak in society? Li Guangzhi was a little puzzled. Continue to look down at the back frames.

In the third frame is a certificate of completion from the Higher Institute of Judicial Studies. This is a requirement for every lawyer in Japan to participate before obtaining a professional qualification. Nothing out of the ordinary. However, embedded in the fourth frame is a certificate of completion in English. Li Guangzhi carefully identified it, and it was actually a certificate of completion of the senior seminar in international law at the New York University School of Law in the United States.

An elite lawyer who graduated from the Law School of Tokyo University and has an overseas study background. Now I can only live in such a poor office. In Li Guangzhi's view, it is estimated that there are two possibilities that are the greatest. One is that this person may have made some mistakes and was kicked out of the lawyer's profession, and the other is that he may have offended a big man and been banned.

Whatever the reason, it is good news for Li Guangzhi.

At this time, he no longer felt that his choice this morning was a mistake. On the contrary, this Matsumoto lawyer may well be the target he is looking for right now.

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Li Guangzhi wanted to find a lawyer, and he really wanted to consult about the patent application. However, he deliberately went to a small firm where he could talk to him for free, not really to save a little money, but because he planned to find a private lawyer for himself in these small law firms.

He wanted to find himself a private lawyer for two main reasons. First of all, he needs to know more about the mainstream Japanese society.

In Li Guangzhi's view, his current state, if you want to find an example to compare, is like a technology nerd with funds and patented technology, who is preparing to start a company, and a technology nerd who has not been out for many years.

For such a tech nerd, he basically doesn't have much understanding of how the real business society works, and what are the explicit rules of the surface world and the unspoken rules of the inner world in the real world. And the same is true of Li Guangzhi, who is now in Japan.

In a capitalist country like Japan, there are generally two types of people who know the most about the workings of society as a whole and the various rules: bankers and lawyers.

Bankers and the like are certainly out of reach at Li Guangzhi's current level. Then, finding a trustworthy lawyer for himself has become the only way for him to quickly grasp the rules of mainstream society.

On the other hand, finding a private lawyer for yourself is not just a practical need for legal matters. At the same time, it is also the cautious factor in his personality that is at work.

The project "Tuoma Geko", which he is now preparing to do, plans to sell the patent to Bandai at a high price after making the finished product and applying for a patent. In this process, in addition to business negotiations, there will definitely be a lot of legal issues involved.

Especially when signing a contract, if there is no lawyer who can trust him, many trap clauses in the commercial contract are not something that he can see and avoid now.

And in the future, when the Yahoo he envisioned became famous and began to negotiate cooperation with venture capitalists, there would be more legal matters involved. Of course, in that kind of large-scale business cooperation, regular big-name law firms will definitely be used.

However, in the view of Li Guangzhi, who has a cautious personality, in a business that involves tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars in capital flows, no matter how formal and well-known a law firm is, there is no guarantee that they will not play any tricks to deceive themselves.

Therefore, he will inevitably need to have a trustworthy insider on his side, who can play the role of supervision and auditing.

The reason why he is now looking for candidates in these small law firms is because in his opinion, only these small lawyers with no background can be cultivated by him to become a private lawyer who is loyal to him and can be controlled by himself.

Take, for example, the lawyer Matsumoto Somasa that he has his eye on now. Judging from Matsumoto's current environment, he shouldn't have a strong background, otherwise he wouldn't be so bleak. And it's clear that his thirst for money must be very strong now.

Then, if Li Guangzhi asks him to be his personal lawyer, on the one hand, he can meet his financial needs in terms of financial resources, so as to gain a certain degree of loyalty.

On the other hand, Li Guangzhi, who has a small gangster force behind him, is enough to deter a small person like Matsumoto who has no background, and he doesn't dare to play any tricks.

Japan is a society that is accustomed to the sequence of seniority and pays special attention to the superiority and inferiority. Therefore, as long as Matsumoto can be controlled in the early stage, with the development of Li Guangzhi's strength in the future, Matsumoto will get more resources in his system, and the control will be stronger. Then, the likelihood of his betrayal will naturally be smaller.

In the eyes of ordinary people, Li Guangzhi's thoughts may feel that he is thinking too much, and it can even be said that he is a little worried. But for Li Guangzhi, who has always been cautious in personality and likes to consider problems comprehensively, such an approach is his inevitable choice. (To be continued......)