Chapter 29#

On my first day back at work, I felt oddly relieved. The cases I had fallen behind on were being handled with help from a few fellow intern lawyers. But just as I was about to breathe a sigh of relief, Catherine suddenly called me into her office.

Stephanie, who had come to get some documents from me, kept winking, and several of my fellow interns cast ambiguous glances my way.

Clearly, it wasn’t anything like what they were imagining.

When I entered, Catherine, contrary to her usual enthusiastic demeanor, looked somewhat serious and asked me to sit down. She placed a red-covered folder on the table in front of me. I looked at her with slight confusion—the color of the folders in the firm represented different practice areas, and red ones were mainly for criminal cases.

Catherine pointed with her pen, and I followed her lead and opened it to take a look.

It was a defense mandate for a drug trafficking case.

I looked up at her. She pursed her lips and, as usual, clasped her hands together, saying, “Actually, this isn’t a very tricky case, Ren, but…” Catherine flipped to the last page and pointed, saying, “The client is said to be a bit of a troublesome figure.”

I looked down and was momentarily stunned.

“Generally speaking, you might not be familiar with this person. In the judicial world, he’s a pretty headache-inducing figure. On the legal side, he’s a heavyweight client. What I mean is—”

Catherine suddenly lowered her voice and said, “There are millions of lawyers in the U.S. This is a highly competitive field. Do you know how I made a name for myself back then?”

“It was because I defended a politician suspected of corruption, got his sentence reduced, and even secured his parole a year later. Ren, people like them usually have their own powerful legal teams. They don’t need to hire a firm of our scale.”

“Of course, I… was also quite surprised. After all, this is a good opportunity. And as for the assignment, they just want us to minimize the sentence as much as possible. But our client transported over a kilogram of heroin, so that’s something we need some time to think over.”

I slowly nodded. Catherine smiled. “Ren, I want you to work on this case with me. It’s a chance for you to shine. And of course, if you could become Mr. Du’s personal attorney someday, that would naturally be…”

“I know what you’re hesitating about. But as a lawyer, justice isn’t our primary principle—though we can’t afford to lose it either.”

I rubbed my forehead. When I walked out of the office, I couldn’t even straighten my back properly. In the more than a year I had been interning, I had only handled minor cases—mostly organizing documents or giving advice to clients.

Before leaving work, I received a call that took me by surprise.

I had always thought Du Yijie’s voice was distinctive. To be honest, it was indeed a very charismatic voice—at least I recognized it immediately.

When I hurried downstairs, I caught a glimpse of Du Yijie leaning against the car door, a cigarette dangling from his lips. He spotted me right away, smiled faintly, and stubbed out the cigarette. Du Yijie was quite tall; standing next to him, I was probably a head shorter.

Du Yijie got into the car, the corners of his mouth lifting. “Fancy French cuisine? Or is there somewhere you’d like to go?”

Du Yijie took me to a top-tier French restaurant in the city. It had been years since I’d been to a place like this. Living on my own all these years, I hadn’t had the energy or spare cash to go to places that were all about the atmosphere. The waiter greeted us respectfully, and Du Yijie, with practiced ease, pulled out something like a membership card. The waiter immediately became even more deferential and led us to seats inside.

The restaurant manager personally brought over red wine. Du Yijie’s movements were natural and elegant, as if he were used to this kind of treatment. When he looked at me, a smile tugged at his lips. “The service here is great, and the food is pretty good too. You should try more—it might be to your liking.”

During the meal, Du Yijie was quite casual. I was a little taken aback as I watched him stab at his steak with a fork. He said, “I come here often with some friends.”

Du Yijie smiled, seemingly nonchalant. “Actually, anywhere is the same.” As he cut his meat, the knife scraped against the plate, making a slightly harsh sound.

“I didn’t understand before, but later I realized—as long as you have money, it’s like a universal pass.”

He looked at me, wiped his mouth casually with a napkin, and said, “That’s the rule of survival in this world.”

“Sorry, I did some research on you beforehand.” Du Yijie raised his glass. The red liquid reflected his smile, which seemed a little dazzling. “You’re Ms. Li’s assistant, so I’ll leave that matter in your hands.”

I thought, I can’t eat another bite.

Afterward, Du Yijie hailed a taxi for me. At night, he was dressed in a black trench coat, as if he had merged into the darkness, even the color of his pupils a murky black.

“Thanks for having dinner with me.” Just before I got into the car, Du Yijie said with a hint of apology, “I still have some things to take care of tonight, so I’ll have to trouble you to go back on your own.”

I looked at him.

Finally, I took a deep breath and called out to him, “Boss!” Du Yijie paused. I said, “Wait here for me for twenty—no, fifteen minutes, okay? Don’t go! Yes! Just stand here and wait for me to come back.”

I got into the taxi and said to the driver, “Please take me to W Street, the one close by here—” I even stuck my head out the window and yelled at Du Yijie, “You have to wait here! Fifteen minutes! Just fifteen minutes!”

Du Yijie stared at me, dumbfounded.

It was the busiest time of night. The road was jammed with cars. I kept looking around, checking my watch—

Forget it, forget it.

I clenched my teeth, shoved a bill at the driver, scrambled out of the car, took off my jacket, loosened my tie, and sprinted forward with all my might.

By the time I came rushing back to the same street, ludicrously clutching two baked sweet potatoes, I was drenched in sweat and gasping for breath.

When Du Yijie looked at me in astonishment, one thought flashed through my mind—physical labor really isn’t for me.

I took several deep breaths. After a while, I finally caught my breath a little. Du Yijie had already furrowed his brows and walked up to me.

I shoved one of the baked sweet potatoes into his hand and gritted out, “I mean… you, kid—no, boss, how can you be like this?”

Du Yijie looked at me in confusion.

“You said you’d treat me to dinner, but you take me to a place like this where you can’t get full. Can drinking wine fill your stomach? It’s not as practical as this.” I sat down on a nearby bench, peeled off the aluminum foil. The sweet potato was squashed a bit from me gripping it too tightly.

The silence up ahead was heavy. My scalp tingling, I glanced up. Du Yijie had already sat down next to me, peeling the foil off his sweet potato, a slow smile spreading across his face. “It smells good.”

I nodded, a little smugly. “The guy selling baked sweet potatoes used to travel in Malaysia, Singapore, and mainland China. He learned a lot of skills. His shop has everything. I found it after a lot of effort during my part-time job days.”

“Part-time job…?”

I let out a dry laugh and awkwardly took a bite of my sweet potato. In the end, Du Yijie was the one who personally drove me home, saying it was in return for the baked sweet potato. He added, “I waited for you there for half an hour, so I just postponed the stuff I had to tell my people.”

He smiled, looking in a very good mood.

Just before I got out of the car, Du Yijie suddenly called out to me, “Xiaoqi.” Besides the first time we met, this was the first time in days he had called me that.

I unconsciously rubbed my ear. Du Yijie took out a small dark box, opened it, and asked, “Did you drop this?”

I looked down and saw a platinum pendant resting inside the box. I nodded, dazed.

“I figured it must be yours. You left it in the room that day. When the staff tidied up, they gave it to me. I noticed some scratches, so I took the liberty of having a jewelry shop repair it. You don’t mind, do you?” Du Yijie took out the chain, gently pulled my hand over, and placed it in my palm.

I unconsciously tightened my grip.

“I’ve never seen you wear it before.”

“Uh, ah…?” I snapped back to reality and looked up at him. After a pause, I forced a stiff smile. “Do you want to come up and sit for a while?”

Du Yijie shook his head. He called out, “Xiaoqi.” Then he said softly, “Don’t call me boss anymore from now on. Call me by my name, like before.”

His hand gently hooked mine, gripping it firmly. He sighed, “You’re different.”

My face flushed slightly. I gave him an awkward smile and nodded. “You… get some rest early.”

After watching Du Yijie drive away, a wave of exhaustion hit me. I put the pendant in my pocket and walked into the apartment building, my legs aching.

I lived on the top floor. The lighting on this floor wasn’t great—maybe because fewer residents lived this high up, so the maintenance fees were lower than for the other floors. As I walked, the lights flickered on and off. The floor felt lifeless, and at first glance, it had a somewhat eerie, gloomy vibe.

I walked along in a daze, then suddenly stopped.

Up ahead, there seemed to be a figure vaguely visible. The lights flickered, and the surroundings felt as if they were permeated with a chilling cold.

Heavens, what month is it anyway?

I tightened my grip on my briefcase, mustered my courage, and took a few steps forward.

“Uh… excuse me—”

The shadow moved. A white trench coat was wrapped tightly around it. At the sound of my voice, it turned its head abruptly.

Both of us froze.

It was night now, and the wind had picked up a little. He stood there, staring at me fixedly. Then, after a moment, he lowered his head slightly. His face was pale, his frame thinner than I remembered, wrapped up tightly—it gave the illusion of a bleak, desolate presence.

For a moment, I didn’t know what to say.

It had been years since we last met, after all. Though his face hadn’t changed much from what I remembered, the feeling was completely different. The exposed elbow looked bony and pallid.

It seemed like he had been waiting outside the door for a long time. His lips were cracked. In the dim, flickering hallway, his eyes seemed to slowly regain their spark.

I stood there blankly for a while, then forced a smile, walked to the door, and took out my keys.

Maybe because I was too tired, my eyes started to sting. It took me a moment to get the key into the lock. He stood silently by my side, and I could almost feel his cold gaze.

When I finally opened the door and was about to step inside, I realized the corner of my coat was being held.

His hand was trembling, shaking so violently it seemed like it might fall apart.

As if he were using all his strength to clutch the edge of my coat.

I took a slow breath, turned around, and smiled at him, trying to sound natural. “Come in and sit for a while. You’ve been out in the wind all night—aren’t you cold?”

He raised his head slightly, looking a little surprised.

I patted the hand holding my coat, slowly pulled it away, led him inside, and then closed the door.

“Uh, my place is a bit small.”

He stood in the entryway, looking around, his eyes glimmering.

When I walked into the kitchen, he followed closely, not saying a word—not even making a sound. All I could hear was the faint, irregular footsteps and barely audible breathing.

“Have a seat. I’ll make you some hot tea. Oh, right—have you eaten? Or…” I rolled up my sleeves and turned to ask him.

He didn’t answer. He just stood there, until his gaze made me feel a chill inside. Then, slowly, he walked out of the kitchen.

I had no idea what he had been through over the years. His whole demeanor was much more subdued—not the proud, arrogant person I remembered, but unexpectedly deep and silent.

I boiled water, made two cups of black tea, and before carrying them out, I patted my face, took a deep breath to compose myself, and walked out with a smile.

“Wang Zheng, how did you know where I live? You really should have called first…”

…Where is he?

I looked at the empty living room. Wang Zheng was nowhere to be seen.

If the front door weren’t still open, I might have thought I had just imagined it all.

I walked to the door and instinctively searched for that figure.

The long hallway was empty. The lights flickered on and off.

I let out a soft sigh and slowly closed the door.