“Judge Zhou, when will you have time before the New Year to go enforce that Hongfa small loan dispute case? I know your enforcement division has been busy lately, not enough cars to go around, but our client is watching anxiously. Whenever you have time, our firm is happy to provide a car…”

“The jurisdictional objection was rejected last time. We’ll be appealing the ruling, which means the hearing date can be pushed to after the New Year, giving us plenty of time to prepare the court materials.”

With the New Year approaching, many office workers had already taken leave to go home early, and the elevators in the office towers carried fewer and fewer people as most companies slipped into holiday mode. Yet the offices of Jingcheng Law Firm remained as busy as ever.

Qian Wei chewed on her pen amid the sound of her colleagues’ phone calls, waiting and waiting, until the office gradually quieted down—some colleagues off to court, others out meeting clients—until the sprawling open-plan office held only a few interns. Only then did she steel herself, and slipped furtively into partner Lu Xun’s office.

Unfortunately, Lu Xun was on a call with an American client. Sensing the moment, Qian Wei sat quietly to the side, still as a mouse, waiting for him to finish.

Lu Xun’s office faced south, and the winter sunlight poured in unstintingly, filtering through the potted greenery by the floor-to-ceiling windows to land on his fair face, casting a lovely shadow beneath the tip of his straight nose. From his thin, perfectly shaped lips came pure, fluent American English.

This man was mature, handsome, formidable—seemingly flawless, right down to the few strands of hair sticking up at the back of his head, which somehow also proclaimed him extraordinary. Qian Wei recalled overhearing a few female interns gossiping in the restroom stalls a few days earlier: “Even the back of Lu Par’s head is handsome enough that you could pick him out of a crowd.” She hadn’t personally researched the handsomeness of the back of Lu Xun’s head, but she had to admit that even after years of seeing this face of his, one might expect to have grown numb to it by now—yet every so often, catching an unexpected glimpse still hit with real impact. At that moment Lu Xun was wearing a pair of gold-rimmed plain glasses, and took a sip of water during a pause in the call, his Adam’s apple sliding slightly along his fair, slender neck, the jutting curve seemingly full of hormonal suggestion, giving off an air of an ascetic elite gentleman hiding a wolf beneath sheep’s clothing.

Lu Xun never wasted a word on the phone, and soon ended the call. He took off his gold-rimmed glasses, tossed them casually onto the desk, and looked at Qian Wei without a word.

Under that gaze, Qian Wei’s scalp prickled. Not daring to meet his eyes, she instead stared at his well-defined hands resting on the desk, and forced herself to speak in a fawning tone. “Boss…”

“No.”

“…” Qian Wei couldn’t help but look up. “I haven’t even said anything yet!”

Lu Xun gave a cold laugh. “Whenever someone opens with that address, nothing good ever follows.”

Qian Wei laughed awkwardly. “Why would you say that…”

“So what good news do you have for me this time? Treating me to dinner? Giving me a gift?”

“Well…” Qian Wei organized her words. “I heard you recently took on a case—Gaoke Electromechanical’s proposed 1.4 billion dollar acquisition of a 65% stake in the boiler company under its parent company. I was worried your team might be short-staffed, so I’d like to volunteer to join the acquisition case.”

“Dream on.”

Despite having a face as picturesque as a painting, Lu Xun’s beautiful lips delivered those four merciless words without hesitation.

“Lu Xun!” Qian Wei could no longer hold back. “We were classmates after all—why let outsiders profit from an insider’s connection! Such a big case, and I heard you’ve even handpicked several intern lawyers to join and learn. I started working the same year as you—I count as a semi-senior lawyer at least! Don’t I get a chance?”

Lu Xun pressed his lips together and said nothing.

Qian Wei decided to play the sympathy card. “Truly, the well-fed never understand the hunger of the starving. Just imagine—when you have so many cases coming to you that you have to turn some away for lack of time, your old classmate here will be out in the freezing snow gnawing on cornbread, worrying about next year’s caseload and income…”

“Cornbread is whole grain. Quite healthy.”

“…” Qian Wei made one last desperate attempt. “Lu Xun, I wronged you before. I was too young and impulsive back then…”

“My hourly billing rate is five thousand RMB.” Lu Xun pressed the timer on his desk. “Is there anything else you’d like to say to me?”

“Nope. Thanks, boss!”

Watching the numbers tick upward on the timer, Qian Wei said nothing more and hurried out of her chair toward the door. She’d given up hope.

“Wait.”

Could it be that Lu Xun’s conscience had stirred? Qian Wei thought with delight, breaking into a smile and turning back eagerly.

“Next time, remember to knock before entering.” Lu Xun had already put his glasses back on and was bent over reading a case file, not even looking up. “Close the door on your way out.”

“…”

Drop dead, Lu Xun!

Qian Wei and Lu Xun had both graduated from A University’s law school, in the same class. Unfortunately…

Whenever Qian Wei thought back to the past, she regretted it so much her intestines turned green.

“How was I supposed to know back then that Lu Xun would one day become my boss? We graduated the same year—I’m still just a small-time lawyer, and he’s risen straight to partner! Partner! A Par! He’s Lu Par, and I’m still just Lawyer Qian! What could I do? I’m desperate too! I want to be Qian Par too!”

That evening after work, Qian Wei met up with Liu Shiyun at a lounge bar with soft music playing, and poured out her troubles.

Liu Shiyun was Qian Wei’s college roommate. Though she was among the minority who hadn’t gone into law after graduation, she was still Qian Wei’s best friend.

“Truly, behind the vermilion gates wine and meat go to waste, while on the road lie the bones of the frozen dead!” Qian Wei downed the cocktail in front of her. “Tell me, why is Lu Xun so petty? Did I really offend him just that badly?”

“You call that ‘just that badly’?” Liu Shiyun rolled her eyes. “You helped Qian Chuan steal his girl right out from under him—snatched Mo Zixin away, no less. Round it up and that’s basically the crime of stealing a man’s wife. What man could stand for that? And honestly, Lu Xun seems like the loyal type—single all these years—probably still can’t forget Mo Zixin, still pining like a man who’s seen the vast sea and finds all other waters shallow. And being cuckolded like that isn’t just an emotional wound, it’s a blow to a man’s pride he can’t just let go. And here you are, swaggering around under his nose every day, constantly reminding him of his past humiliation. The only reason he hasn’t stabbed you is probably because he’s worried a criminal conviction would cost him his law license!”

“…” Qian Wei muttered, “Is it really that serious?”

“Of course!”

“But strictly speaking, Mo Zixin wasn’t really Lu Xun’s girlfriend.”

“Right, because he never even got the chance to make it official before you swooped in and took her out from under him in three moves. Qian Wei, you ever heard the saying—what you can’t have is what you crave most? Lu Xun never even got to have her, so imagine how strong that regret and unresolved longing must be. Mo Zixin is his unrequited moonlight.”

Qian Wei still tried to defend herself. “But Qian Chuan is my twin brother. No matter what, blood is thicker than reason. If Lu Xun were in my shoes, he’d do the same.”

“Save that speech for Lu Xun. Either way, that grudge between you two is set in stone—don’t expect any grand reconciliation.”

“Ugh!” Qian Wei sighed dejectedly. “Speaking of which, Lu Xun’s been getting more and more sarcastic lately. Last time, my aunt finally introduced me to a guy who wasn’t scared off by me being a female lawyer. I managed to carve out one evening from my client schedule to go on the blind date, and then Lu Xun found out and dumped a case on me that very night. I ended up working overtime on it for a whole month. By the time I was free, the guy already had a girlfriend. Lu Xun must be unbalanced inside—since he’s still single because of me, he can’t stand to see me get out of singlehood either. Misery loves company!”

“So tell me, what was the amount at stake in that case Lu Xun dumped on you? What kind of case was it?”

“Six million…” Qian Wei mumbled. “A bank’s bad debt. Representing the bank…”

“Bank bad debt cases are basically just a formality to go through litigation so they can write it off afterward. No matter how the case goes, the bank won’t pressure you over it. Six million at stake is basically free money handed to you.” Liu Shiyun looked at Qian Wei with disdain. “I have to say, that’s a well-aimed move by Lu Xun—he knows you’re greedy, so he gave you exactly that kind of case. You could have some backbone, you know—you could’ve just not taken the case and gone on your date instead. Serves you right for still being single!”

“If I were as rich as you, of course I could afford to have backbone.” Qian Wei said irritably. “If my family weren’t struggling, who’d be out here practicing law these days!”

Liu Shiyun was a second-generation entrepreneur; her family ran a chain of hotels, and after graduating from A University’s law school, she’d gone straight into hotel management.

“But seriously, since you were never going to work in law anyway, why did you study so hard back in law school? What were you even thinking, studying that diligently? Choosing law school was a mistake for you from the start!”

Liu Shiyun took a sip of her drink and enunciated crisply, “I’ve dreamed of being a crafty businesswoman since I was little. How else am I supposed to exploit the loopholes in the law without studying it properly first?”

“…”

After a rare bit of time spent with Liu Shiyun, Qian Wei had to throw herself back into work—there was still plenty to wrap up before the New Year, leaving no room to slack off.

As for the interns, aside from photocopying and organizing case files, they had little else to do, so during lunch break they gathered to chat.

“Hey, have you guys heard—there’s a little temple next to Anlan Villas, supposedly built over a hundred years ago, now a protected cultural site. It’s said to be incredibly effective—whatever you wish for there comes true.”

“I know! It’s so effective! Whatever you wish for happens!”

Qian Wei sorted through an evidence index while half-listening to their chatter, feeling a bit envious of their youth and energy. But just as she was getting into it, the group of interns fell silent all at once, as if by some prior agreement.

Qian Wei looked up and saw that Lu Xun had opened his office door and was walking toward the main office area.

With a slap, a stack of documents landed on Qian Wei’s desk.

“What’s this?”

Qian Wei jumped, startled. The culprit, Lu Xun, was standing in front of her desk, his tall frame blocking out all the sunlight.

“A case.” Lu Xun was a man of few words. He tapped the stack of documents lightly with a finger. “You’re taking this one.”

“Oh, sure, okay.” Qian Wei nodded reflexively.

In the past, Lu Xun would have left the moment he got that response, but today he lingered a moment longer at her desk.

“Are you going tomorrow night?”

Qian Wei blinked, then realized he meant the college reunion tomorrow night. Liu Shiyun had mentioned it—it was going to be held near the firm.

“I’m going. Do you have something you want me to pass along to a classmate?” Because he was always so busy, Lu Xun rarely attended these kinds of gatherings. But among their college classmates, most now worked in the courts, prosecutor’s offices, or public security—a decent network, and sometimes people used these gatherings to pass along materials or discuss cases. Qian Wei herself usually just wanted to go home and sleep, and never attended such events either—she’d only agreed this time because Liu Shiyun had insisted.

“No need. I’m going myself.” After saying this, Lu Xun didn’t leave, just looked at Qian Wei for a moment, then looked down at the stack of materials he’d just placed on her desk. His lashes trembled lightly in the sunlight, casting a fan-shaped shadow beneath his eyes. “Read this case file carefully. Right now.”

Without waiting for her response, he turned and walked away.

“Wait, wait! Lu Xun!” Qian Wei called after him, fumbling with the case materials in front of her. “Why are you suddenly being so… so nice, giving me a case?”

“Are you asking this many questions because you haven’t had enough cornbread yet?”

“…”

Regardless, Qian Wei’s heart was still filled with gratitude. Watching his retreating figure, she thought guiltily that she’d never speak ill of Lu Xun behind his back again—she’d truly misjudged a gentleman with a petty heart. Lu Xun, after all, was rightly called the pride of A University’s law school back in the day; clearly his character matched the height of his looks.

She wondered what kind of case Lu Xun had given her. In any case, even a small case that happened to slip through Lu Xun’s hands would surely still pay well. Qian Wei happily opened the folder, and the four large characters “Legal Aid” immediately jumped out at her.

Damn it. This was a legal aid case. No money. Not a single cent.