Song Tianyao is now preparing to wait outside the gate of the Administrative Division under the Colonial Secretary to scout for talent.
It's no exaggeration to say that for every contract employee vacancy, at least fifty people are eyeing it. Of the forty-nine unsuccessful applicants, Song Tianyao would be content if he could snag three or five. However, he doesn't know if he can actually get one, because many large businesses often do this, and those unsuccessful applicants often find new jobs in other companies or businesses on the same day.
Chapter Sixty-Six: The Appearance of Angie Perlis
According to the dates on the job posting, today and tomorrow are just the initial screening days to check if applicants meet the basic requirements. The written test will be held three days later, followed by the preliminary interview, the final interview, a medical examination, and a security check.
With the date of the written exam memorized, Song Tianyao ate breakfast, took out Hong Kong dollars 20,000 from his wallet, and asked the hotel to exchange it for HK$500 and HK$1,000 notes, making the wallet appear much thicker. Instead of going to work at Likang Trading Company, he went out of the hotel and hailed a rickshaw. "Pedder Street, Gloucester Building, Central."
Gloucester Building is a commercial building. Formerly known as the Hong Kong Hotel, it was once the tallest landmark building in Hong Kong. Today, it houses the Hong Kong branches of many international companies. Of course, in addition to various trading companies, there are also many law firms in this building. Song Tianyao came here to see a lawyer, and a foreign lawyer at that.
In Hong Kong, business is inseparable from lawyers. However, Likang did not contact a law firm himself, but instead shared a Chiu Chow people law firm with Chu Xiaozhong's Li Heng Company, which provided professional legal services.
Song Tianyao had no objection to using a lawyer from Chiu Chow, but clearly, it wasn't the time for Likang to rush to find a reliable and loyal lawyer to help oversee the company's various commercial contracts. At this time, what Likang needed was the connections of Foreign Devil lawyer, even if the lawyer couldn't remember a single Hong Kong law, as long as he had connections. Or, to take it a step further, as long as he was a white Britain person, there would be no problem.
Standing in the building's lobby, after reviewing the map showing the distribution of various companies and firms, Song Tianyao began his search for his target. He didn't need to go into each law firm individually; a quick glance at their nameplates was enough. Any firm with a distinctly Chinese name, such as Du XX Law Firm, Zhou XX Law Firm, or Danxin Law Firm, Chaosheng, or Guanfeng, wouldn't stop for Song Tianyao, because the name alone indicated that the lawyers were China person.
What made him stop wasn't one of those large, busy foreign law firms. If he went in and tried to get a lawyer there to help him get a referral, he'd probably be on the waiting list until next year. And the Foreign Devil lawyers might even look down on Likang and either give him a cold shoulder or ask for an exorbitant price to scare him away.
After visiting more than forty of the sixty law firms, Song Tianyao finally stopped in his tracks at a firm with only one office. The firm had the word "Lawyer" engraved in English but the Chinese name "Anzu Pei Ruisi Lawyer" on its nameplate.
Seeing the rent reminder notice in English from a Britain Hong Kong Property Company posted on the door, Song Tianyao nodded in satisfaction and raised his hand to knock on the door.
"Please come in," a female voice inside replied in English.
Song Tianyao's previously satisfied expression immediately turned into a frown. Anzu Peiruisi, such a masculine name, was actually a woman?
However, since there was a response from inside, Song Tianyao couldn't just turn around and leave immediately, so he pushed open the door and walked in. Behind the desk, a white woman who looked no more than twenty-five years old, wearing black-rimmed glasses and a black uniform skirt, looked up from behind the desk and smiled at Song Tianyao as he entered.
This office might be considered luxurious by many ordinary people, but in Song Tianyao's eyes, it was incredibly shabby, completely unlike the office space a lawyer practicing in Hong Kong should have. A bookshelf, clearly for show, was neatly arranged with various English books, but it was covered in a thin layer of dust, indicating it hadn't been touched in a long time. Most importantly, while the books were in English, many were unrelated to law. However, one book, * Lady Chatterley's Lover *, surprised Song Tianyao; he hadn't expected this lawyer, Anzu, to be so interested.
A desk piled high with documents looked like a tedious affair, but Song Tianyao had seen this kind of pretense many times. Stacking English newspapers with documents to increase the thickness meant either the person had nothing better to do, or they were just stacking them up to make it seem like they were busy. For example, right now, the female lawyer was writing and drawing in her notebook while smiling and looking him over.
Song Tianyao sat down in the chair opposite the desk. The female lawyer paused writing at just the right moment, looked up, and spoke in somewhat broken Cantonese, "Sir, how can I help you?"
"I understand English, so we can communicate in English without any problem," Song Tianyao smiled and said to the female lawyer, "I would like to ask if your law firm has any other Britain male lawyers?"
"I believe that providing legal advice is unrelated to the lawyer's gender. What do you think, sir? I am Andrew Perez, a practicing lawyer at this firm." Hearing the apparent discrimination against women in Song Tianyao's tone, the female lawyer leaned back slightly and stared into Song Tianyao eyes as she spoke.
"Angelina Perry, Angelina Perry." Song Tianyao repeated the English pronunciation of the name in his mind before realizing that the woman should actually be called Angie Perry. The name Angelina Perry was created by Hong Kong using Cantonese transliteration, just like how Michael Jordan was translated as Michael Jordan in Hong Kong in his previous life.
"Ms. Pei Ruisi, let me put it this way, I don't think a woman can help me solve my current little troubles. I don't discriminate against women, it's just that the nature of my work is a bit special. Actually, everything about you meets my criteria, such as your Lawyer status, your need for money to pay rent, and your situation of making sandwiches for meals. It fits the bill perfectly. The only drawback is that you are a woman, and I guess you don't have any male assistants or anything like that. So, goodbye, have a nice day." Song Tianyao smiled and said goodbye to the fake female lawyer, then stood up and prepared to leave with some disappointment.