“Question one, Lu Xun wins!” Liu Shiyun clearly felt for Qian Wei. “Moving on to the next one—the scenario is, you’re a couple whose marriage looks fine on the surface but is hollow underneath. Both of you are having affairs, and both of you have been seen openly with your respective lovers. Now you’re getting divorced, but the other side is being difficult. To prove that the other party is the one at fault, what evidence-gathering strategies would you use?”

“Question three: you’re a brother and sister fighting over inheritance rights. How do you minimize the other party’s share of the inheritance as much as possible?”

“Question four: Qian Wei is an employee about to be fired, and Lu Xun is the company’s HR director. How do you each maneuver to secure the maximum benefit for yourself or the company—meaning, how does Qian Wei extract the largest possible severance package, and how does Lu Xun get rid of Qian Wei for the least amount of money?”

…

Qian Wei thought, Liu Shiyun’s questions were really taking an unconventional path—every single one was such a sleazy scenario, testing how to exploit legal loopholes and fight professionally dirty. Was this really okay? Hey! Was this even legal?!

And yet this entirely novel competition format was a huge hit with everyone—or perhaps it was simply that with Lu Xun participating, any format of competition would be well received.

Qian Wei had been confident that her past-life practicing experience would let her easily defeat Lu Xun. Instead, she got soundly humiliated. Out of ten questions in the whole match, she’d buzzed in first on nine of them, yet Lu Xun won every single time. No matter how devious an angle she approached a strategy from, Lu Xun always seemed to effortlessly counter with an even more devious practical scheme. Perhaps there exists a category of person so gifted that no amount of effort or accumulated experience can ever surpass them—across a nine-year gap, facing Lu Xun, Qian Wei still had no chance of winning. He truly was a born lawyer.

“For the final question, the scenario is: Qian Wei is a law school student pursuing Lu Xun. You need to list the advantages of dating a law school girlfriend to win him over, while Lu Xun, in order to reject Qian Wei, needs to list the disadvantages of dating a law school girlfriend.” Liu Shiyun’s voice carried a smile. “For this last one, let’s keep it light—no more headache-inducing professional knowledge. But as the grand finale question, this scenario requires full commitment from both of you—really act it out according to your roles. Qian Wei, you only win if you convince Lu Xun to accept your pursuit of him. Lu Xun, you only win if you thoroughly convince Qian Wei to give up.”

No professional knowledge required, sure, but this was anything but easy!! How was Qian Wei supposed to answer a question like this? It was mortifying—having to shamelessly flatter herself in front of Lu Xun in front of everyone was just… And why was it her chasing Lu Xun, instead of the other way around? Liu Shiyun, are you even really my friend? Friends like this, she suddenly didn’t want anymore!

Having lost nine out of ten questions, no matter how hard Qian Wei tried to salvage her dignity, the outcome was already sealed. So she decided to just lie down and accept defeat—she didn’t even try to buzz in first. Her plan was to let Lu Xun answer first, and once he did, she’d simply surrender and wave the white flag, sparing herself the humiliation of having to shamelessly sing her own praises while pursuing him.

But Lu Xun just smiled and glanced lightly at Qian Wei. “Ladies first.”

“…” Was he absolutely determined to make her humiliate herself???

Qian Wei said listlessly, “Lu Xun, because I study law, I take a lot of exams, so I’m definitely reasonable and not clingy, and I would absolutely never ask you the ‘if your girlfriend and your mom both fell in the water, who would you save first’ question, because I know you have a legal duty of rescue toward your mother—failing to save her would be illegal. So I’d definitely handle future mother-in-law relations well… please consider accepting my pursuit…”

Lu Xun raised an eyebrow. “I haven’t even accepted you yet, and you’re already thinking about mother-in-law issues?”

“…” Qian Wei thought, yep, this is the real Lu Xun alright—not a day goes by without that sharp tongue of his. She braced herself mentally, ready for Lu Xun to mock her “pursuit” with all manner of cutting remarks.

“Fine.”

The crowd started stirring, and Qian Wei looked at Lu Xun in surprise too, wondering if she’d misheard.

Lu Xun, still wearing that cold yet devastatingly handsome expression, glanced at Qian Wei again. “I accept.”

Qian Wei: ???

Lu Xun smiled. “I concede this question.”

For a split second, Qian Wei’s heart skipped a beat. Lu Xun’s obsidian-dark eyes were fixed on her as he spoke words that sounded impossible to refuse. Even knowing it was all role-play, she couldn’t help feeling a little flustered.

And just as Qian Wei’s mind was racing, she heard Lu Xun add, in that same breezy tone, “Law school girls are all wonderful. I can’t think of a reason to refuse.”

Thunderous applause immediately broke out—one could only imagine the frenzy and excitement among the law school girls in the audience after hearing that line.

Well, Qian Wei thought, this guy’s flirting skills were apparently top-tier too. In a single skills competition, beyond showing off his brilliance, he’d effortlessly won over every law school girl in attendance with that closing line—quite the slick move. But if he could turn on the charm so easily just now, why did he turn into a complete blockhead whenever it came to Mo Zixin? Was this the legendary phenomenon of being tongue-tied before the person you actually cared about—the more someone mattered, the harder it became to be your true self, leaving even the most composed person fumbling and awkward in front of their crush?

Amid the continuing applause, Qian Wei glanced over at Mo Zixin sitting in the audience. Her cheeks held a faint blush, and though she restrained herself from clapping along with everyone else, the shy, hopeful sparkle in her eyes gave away exactly what she was feeling. Lu Xun’s answer had clearly stirred something in her too. It made sense—coming from the reserved, secretly-romantic Lu Xun, a line like that was practically a public confession. What girl could stay unmoved by that? Even Qian Wei felt her own heart race for a moment.

If only, at this moment, the man in question would let his gaze drift through the crowd to lock eyes with his moonlight-pure crush, letting a silent spark pass between them, letting the unspoken say more than words ever could, with just a little coaxing—this whole thing would probably be settled.

Unfortunately, this particular fellow chose exactly this critical moment to turn shy. He stood ramrod straight, eyes fixed forward, not sparing the crowd a single glance. He only looked once—at Qian Wei.

Why are you looking at me?! Look at Mo Zixin!! If she hadn’t still been up on stage, Qian Wei would have loved to leap in front of Lu Xun and physically turn his head in the right direction.

And so, with Lu Xun shining brilliantly, the skills competition came to a close. The moment he stepped off stage, he was instantly swarmed by younger law school girls—this generation of kids was nothing if not bold and unabashed about expressing their feelings in public.

“Senior, you’re so handsome!”

“Senior Lu Xun, can I get your autograph?”

“Senior, senior! To celebrate you winning first place, I bought you milk tea!”

Having been somewhat nervous while answering questions on stage, Qian Wei hadn’t had a chance to scan the crowd. Now that she was off, she discovered she had her own cheering section too—her roommates were sitting together, and had even made some scrappy cardboard sign from who-knows-where, scrawled crookedly with “Blessings upon Qian Wei, eternal glory, ruler of all under heaven!”

“…”

“Qian Wei, over here, over here!”

Unsurprisingly, when Qian Wei looked up, she spotted the tall, long-legged Qian Chuan waving at her. Following his line of sight, she indeed found Mo Zixin standing beside him—and, to her surprise, Mo Tao was there too. He stood a bit shorter than Qian Chuan, but at 178 centimeters with striking looks, he still stood out in the crowd.

“Lu Xun.”

It wasn’t until Mo Zixin spoke that Qian Wei noticed Lu Xun—who moments ago had been swarmed by admirers—had already broken free and made his way over to them. Despite his overwhelming victory, Lu Xun’s expression wasn’t a happy one. Qian Wei wondered if those clingy underclassmen had irritated him.

Fortunately, Mo Zixin was in great spirits. She chatted cheerfully with Lu Xun about the case scenarios from the competition, asking him about a few points she was curious about. Qian Wei thought, so this must be what love between top students looks like… bonding over discussions of legal case studies, spiritually in sync…

“This is for you.”

Qian Wei was pulled from her thoughts by a bouquet of flowers suddenly in front of her. Looking up, she found Mo Tao smiling at her, holding a fresh bunch of orange-yellow roses, dewdrops still clinging to the delicate petals. Mo Tao had recently been putting Qian Wei’s strategies to good use, and things with his childhood-neighbor crush were going remarkably smoothly, clearly trending toward something sweeter—so he was practically glowing today.

Qian Wei accepted the flowers. “You came too? And you even went to the trouble of buying flowers.”

“What, I’m not allowed to come?” Mo Tao smiled, his peach-blossom eyes full of charm. “Isn’t it only right I buy you flowers? Without you, would I be this happy right now? Besides, buying flowers for the Law School’s flower is only natural—I regret not buying more, honestly. Watching this competition, I realized you’re the whole package, beauty and brains both. One bouquet doesn’t even do you justice.”

Ever since that day, Qian Wei and Mo Tao had been in frequent contact. As his self-appointed strategist, Qian Wei had given him plenty of advice on pursuing his childhood-neighbor crush, and in the back-and-forth, the two discovered they got along remarkably well. Before long, they’d become thick as thieves, fast friends who loved teasing each other and, especially, showering each other with over-the-top compliments.

Naturally, Qian Wei wasn’t about to be outdone. “You’re not bad yourself—having someone as handsome as you bring me flowers, I’m practically moved to tears.”

Lu Xun, who had been talking to Mo Zixin, apparently couldn’t take much more of this. “Is this person from the law school? I don’t remember seeing him before.”

Mo Zixin smiled. “This is my cousin, Mo Tao. He’s a year above us, English major in another department. As for him and Qian Wei right now, I suppose you could call them…” She paused there, then looked over at Qian Wei.

Suddenly, several pairs of eyes were fixed on Qian Wei.

“Qian Wei, come clean, surrender now and we’ll go easy on you!” Qian Chuan rubbed his hands together eagerly.

Mo Zixin, beside him, also looked at Qian Wei encouragingly. Perhaps swept up in the mood, even Lu Xun—who normally couldn’t care less about gossip—rarely lifted his head to look at Qian Wei too.

“Those two have been going on regular dates lately!” Before Qian Wei could even open her mouth, Liu Shiyun blurted out the “secret” as if delivering some shocking revelation. “So many times! Every time Qian Wei gets a call from Mo Tao, she sneaks off downstairs, all smiles and secrecy! Even someone with my sinuses can smell the sour scent of romance on her!”

My friend, your sinus condition must be really serious—where exactly is this “sour scent of romance” coming from??? Isn’t that just the fresh scent of revolutionary friendship?

“Qian Wei and I are, well, cultivating our feelings for each other! As for what we do when we go out, that’s a secret.”

Mo Tao smiled, his gaze flicking briefly toward some direction not far off. Following his line of sight, Qian Wei spotted a girl dressed in Japanese fashion standing there, staring intently at Mo Tao. The moment Mo Tao finished speaking, a flash of shock and defeat crossed the girl’s eyes. Qian Wei figured this must be the girl who’d been relentlessly pursuing him.

The moment Mo Tao finished, Qian Chuan let out a shout. “Damn, quiet dogs really do bite the hardest! Qian Wei, you actually got yourself a boyfriend behind my back before I did! And you two are still ‘cultivating feelings’? With all that sappy mutual flattery, this relationship’s clearly about to go from good to spoiled!” He turned and sincerely addressed Mo Tao, “Bro, I hope you stay blind and never go see an eye doctor, and keep on loving our Qian Wei just the way you are. Wishing you two happiness! Happiness to you both!”

“…” Qian Chuan, is that seriously supposed to be a blessing???

“Oh right, I’ve got a basketball game this afternoon—a practice match for our team, at the East District courts. Anyone free to come cheer me on?”

Liu Shiyun pursed her lips. “If you can win, I’ll come.”

“Obviously I’ll win! Once I do, I’m treating everyone to dinner!”

Qian Wei rubbed her chin. “Well, if there’s a free meal in it, I’m in.”

Mo Tao smiled too. “If Qian Wei’s little brother is playing, how could I not come?”

Mo Zixin stayed quiet.

Qian Chuan scratched his head, clearly slipping into award-worthy performance mode, and said with feigned dejection, “Everyone else has such huge cheer squads, and I’m worried a handful of half-hearted cheers from you guys will look pretty pathetic when I step onto the court. Man, if only the cheer squad were a little bigger.” As he said this, his pitiful gaze drifted, predictably, toward Mo Zixin.

Mo Zixin pressed her lips together and smiled. “I don’t have anything going on this afternoon either, so I might as well come watch you play.” She then glanced at Lu Xun, who had been standing silently off to the side this whole time. “Lu Xun, want to come too?”

Just as Qian Wei expected Lu Xun to agree without hesitation, she instead heard him say, in that same clean, curt voice, just two words.

“I’m busy.”

Such a blunt, unembellished rejection was really something else. Sure enough, the moment Lu Xun finished speaking, Mo Zixin’s expression soured slightly.

Come on, man, would it kill you to say a few more words and at least explain what you’re busy with this afternoon? It’s not like extra words cost money!

Qian Wei hurried to smooth things over. “Lu Xun, what are you busy with this afternoon? If it’s nothing too urgent, come watch Qian Chuan play basketball with us.”

Boss, this is as far as I can help you! You clearly don’t get the hint and won’t explain yourself, so I’ll gently nudge you into it—now please, for the love of god, give a reason good enough to justify turning down Mo Zixin’s invitation!

Lu Xun lifted his eyelids slightly. “I’m busy studying.”

“…”

Qian Wei stared at Lu Xun’s retreating, ramrod-straight back, utterly speechless. Friend, you could have said literally anything else—”busy studying”? For a guy famous throughout the law school for “never studying yet always beating second place by dozens of points,” claiming to be “busy studying” was about as believable as “we just happened to be lying in the same bed with no clothes on, but nothing happened between us”…