“Aaaah!!”

Qian Wei had just finished her work at the library and returned to the dorm when she heard Liu Shiyun let out a long wail of despair. The moment Liu Shiyun saw her, she looked even more mournful.

“This weekend’s ruined again!” Liu Shiyun said, aggrieved. “I finally managed to buy tickets to A Dog’s Happy Life from a scalper at a huge markup, and I wanted to go with Tang Lu — and now the department just announced that this weekend all the sophomores in the law school have to go out to the various neighborhoods for a legal-education outreach event! The freshmen barely know the law themselves and need it explained to them; the juniors are either prepping for the bar exam or the civil service exam; and don’t even get me started on the seniors, who are all busy with their theses. So we sophomores are the ones who get shipped off wherever they’re needed! It’s just miserable!”

Qian Wei looked blank. “Huh? What legal outreach thing?”

“What were you even doing just now? Didn’t you see the text? It was sent to the whole department! December 4th is National Legal Awareness Day! To mark it, all the law schools in City A are taking turns doing free legal-education outreach in the neighborhoods this year.” Liu Shiyun looked puzzled. “But that’s not like you, Qian Wei — you’re normally glued to your phone, replying to texts within seconds. What on earth were you doing that you didn’t even check your phone? Confess, what were you up to just now?”

Qian Wei answered honestly. “Utterly and hopelessly obsessed with a handsome man.”

For once, Qian Wei’s rare moment of total honesty was met with nothing but scorn from Liu Shiyun. “Oh please, you? Obsessed with a handsome man? You mean obsessed with those 2D pretty boys of yours.”

But the mention of handsome men seemed to remind Liu Shiyun of something, and she suddenly grew mysterious. “Oh, hey, want to hear some gossip? I just found out some seriously huge, earth-shattering gossip!”

Liu Shiyun was clearly bursting to share it, and before Qian Wei could even manage a curious expression, she blurted it out. “Did you know?! Lu Xun! Our department’s Lu Xun! He has a girlfriend!!!”

“Where did you hear that?”

Qian Wei’s tone was a bit complicated, but Liu Shiyun took that complexity straight for shock and disbelief. She took a sip of water and, like a storyteller about to spin a tale, began, “This is straight from the source, mind you — you know us gossip girls have spies planted all over campus. My neighbor’s daughter’s best friend’s cousin’s ex-girlfriend’s little sister heard it with her own ears, straight from Lu Xun’s own mouth! He has! A! Girl! Friend!”

“…”

Liu Shiyun glanced at Qian Wei, looking somewhat sympathetic, and patted her on the shoulder. “I know this must be a real blow for you, since you used to have a thing for Lu Xun. But you know how it goes, life’s unpredictable — I never would have guessed that Mr. Ambitious-and-Perpetually-Cold Lu Xun would just quietly go and get a girlfriend without a peep. Honestly, I’m dying to know who she is.” Liu Shiyun rubbed her chin. “Personally, I’ve always figured Lu Xun would go for the ethereal-forest-girl type — pretty average figure, like she hasn’t quite developed yet, an innocent baby face, that kind of soft little voice, big watery eyes, delicate and dainty in every gesture.”

Qian Wei mentally compared herself to that description. Chest… seemed pretty noticeable, actually. Face? Hers wasn’t the innocent type at all — quite the opposite, more on the striking, glamorous side. Voice? She always sounded full of energy. Big watery eyes? Hers only got watery right after waking up mid-yawn. Delicate and dainty… don’t even get started.

Liu Shiyun added, “Of course, that’s just my own bold speculation.”

Qian Wei really wanted to say, friend, that speculation of yours is a little too bold, a little too wild…

Qian Wei asked carefully, “Have you considered that maybe Lu Xun doesn’t like that type? Maybe he likes someone more like me?”

Liu Shiyun shot her a look and said flatly, “Not a chance.” Then she shot Qian Wei a flirtatious wink. “Lu Xun’s more likely to go for someone like me than someone like you.”

“…”

“But anyway!” Liu Shiyun sighed deeply. “I still don’t know exactly what type this girlfriend is, but one thing’s for sure! Even if she looks all sweet and delicate on the outside, on the inside, she’s a terrifying tyrant!”

Qian Wei: ???

“According to my reliable inside sources, this girl is insanely jealous. Lu Xun apparently has to report to her every time he even talks to another woman — even if some seventy- or eighty-year-old grandma so much as glances at him twice, she gets jealous. I heard she even planted a bug on him, so now he doesn’t dare say more than two words to any woman he passes on the street. Absolutely tragic!”

“…” Qian Wei finally understood why rumors were so impossible to stamp out, and finally understood why you shouldn’t believe anything you didn’t hear with your own two ears…

Liu Shiyun was still marveling. “I really can’t believe Lu Xun ended up with such a tigress…”

Qian Wei felt she ought to say something in his defense. “I think Lu Xun’s girlfriend can’t be that bad — he has standards, after all. That rumor doesn’t sound credible. If she really were like that, wouldn’t he have broken up with her long ago?” She cleared her throat. “Personally, I think Lu Xun’s girlfriend must be a woman of noble character, refined taste, and graceful, intelligent bearing in everything she does.”

At this speech, Liu Shiyun’s response was to burst into unrestrained laughter. “You’re clearly still an innocent little lamb. Tigresses like that usually have some serious skills — I’d bet Lu Xun can’t shake her off even if he tried.” She gave Qian Wei a sly, teasing grin. “If you ask me, this girl’s already slept with him! Lu Xun’s a man too, after all — how could he resist the temptation of the flesh? He’s probably drowning in bliss right now. Even if her personality drives him crazy most of the time, well, men are like that — one roll in the hay and all is forgiven.”

“…” Qian Wei completely gave up any thought of claiming Lu Xun’s mystery girlfriend as herself.

Liu Shiyun was still smugly expounding her theory of relationships. “Anyway, whatever’s going on between a man and a woman — if one night together doesn’t fix it, just do it twice!”

Liu Shiyun, your way of thinking is genuinely dangerous! Lu Xun and I have a purely soul-deep connection, thank you very much!

But before Qian Wei could find a chance to clear her own name, Liu Shiyun had already moved on to a new topic.

“Have you seen that Korean drama To the Beautiful You lately? Go watch it, it’s amazing, I highly recommend it! Jang Geun-suk is so gorgeous — too bad his name’s a little unfortunate. Geun-suk… it does sound a bit suggestive when you say it fast.”

Qian Wei gave Liu Shiyun a helpless look. She really wanted to say, my friend, there’s a saying about how a wise mind sees wisdom and a filthy mind sees filth — have you heard of it? Don’t go blaming the poor man’s name for being suggestive when it’s clearly your own mind that’s in the gutter.

Liu Shiyun’s weekend date plan had fallen through, but Qian Wei’s plans with Lu Xun could still proceed after a fashion — since they were both in the law school, the department’s requirements meant they’d be doing the legal-outreach community event together anyway. Rounding generously, that could count as an alternative kind of date.

Unfortunately, on the day of the outreach event itself, Lu Xun still seemed thoroughly displeased about it. “You call this a date? A date with eighty-some third wheels from the entire law school tagging along?”

“There aren’t that many third wheels,” Qian Wei said, doing the math. “Our whole grade has just over eighty people, split evenly across eight neighborhoods around campus. Today, doing outreach here in Lotus Community, there’s really only about a dozen of us.” She tried to soothe him. “And look at it this way — we got pretty lucky, at least we ended up in the same neighborhood.”

Lu Xun glanced at her. “That’s because I bribed Zhang Qi, who did the grouping.”

“…”

“Fate is in your own hands, not in the hands of luck,” Lu Xun said, glancing pointedly at something not far off as he spoke.

Qian Wei followed his gaze and spotted Li Chongwen standing a little way away…

It seemed that offhand comment Li Chongwen had made last time — “because meeting you made even my luck improve” — was destined to be held against him by Lu Xun for the rest of his life.

Ever since Lu Xun discovered that Li Chongwen had also been assigned to the Lotus Community outreach group, his expression hadn’t unclenched once. Though he’d thought to have Zhang Qi group him with Qian Wei, he’d apparently forgotten to also exclude his rival Li Chongwen — and now, too proud to make a scene about it, he could only stew in silence.

Qian Wei tried very hard to talk Lu Xun out of treating Li Chongwen as an imaginary enemy, without success.

After a while, Lu Xun glanced at Li Chongwen again and gave a small “hmph.” “Never mind. I should be gracious to a defeated rival.” A trace of poorly concealed smugness crept into his cool, aloof expression. “Thinking about it from his perspective, Li Chongwen probably didn’t want to be grouped with me either — it’s hard enough being single and having to watch other people show off their happy relationship.”

The grouping this time had actually turned out rather coincidentally — not only were Lu Xun, Qian Wei, and Li Chongwen all in the same group, but Liu Shiyun and Mo Zixin were too.

Before long, everyone had arrived. Lu Xun helped the other guys put up the pop-up banners, the horizontal banner, and the promotional posters for the outreach event, set up the legal-consultation table, and arranged the chairs and notebooks.

Saturday morning was exactly when people were out grocery shopping, walking their dogs, taking strolls, or heading out for breakfast. Lu Xun and the others set up their conspicuous little legal-outreach booth right at the entrance to the neighborhood, and with a dozen or so fresh-faced college students standing there, it was impossible for passing residents not to notice.

Soon a group of curious older aunties had gathered around.

“Can we ask about any kind of legal problem here?”

“Do you charge money?”

“I’ve got a question — my granddaughter got scared by the neighbor’s dog the other day, can we make them pay for that? I’ve heard about something called mental damages compensation.”

Once it was confirmed that this outreach event was being run for free by law students from University A, residents gradually started coming over to give it a try. Partly because University A’s law school had a well-established reputation — supplying something like seventy percent of the backbone of City A’s police, procuratorate, and court personnel — partly because it was free, and partly because after a few tentative aunties asked several questions in a row, they realized that even though these were still students, their analysis was sharp and professional, and their advice was sound. Word spread fast, and before long the little outreach booth was surrounded by a crowd.

“Everyone, one at a time please, form a line.”

Of the twelve students, two were keeping order, two were in charge of publicity and photos, and the remaining eight sat in a row, each answering different residents’ legal questions.

Given the number of people currently in line, splitting them evenly among the eight would normally have gone quickly — except Qian Wei noticed that even though her line and Mo Zixin’s had fewer people waiting, several of the aunties still preferred to line up for Lu Xun, even if it meant a longer wait…

“Young man, how old are you this year?”

“What’s your name, young man?”

“Young man, do you have a girlfriend? My auntie’s got a niece who’s also at University A — should I introduce you to her?”

Qian Wei was truly at a loss for words. How on earth had she ended up with a man who attracted admirers wherever he went!

One auntie, even after her consultation was over, lingered reluctantly by Lu Xun’s side, trying to strike up conversation with him in every spare moment.

“Ma’am, that so-called investment company you mentioned sounds exactly like what I’d call a Ponzi scheme — running a con with nothing behind it. I’d suggest you go get your investment money back immediately,” Lu Xun said, not answering her string of questions at all, just smiling faintly and remarking, almost offhandedly, “I read a case once where the victim only delayed by an hour, and in that one hour, the scam company had already vanished without a trace. And with these kinds of investment scams, it’s usually whoever asks for their money back first who actually gets it. Anyone who comes later finds the company’s already been run into the ground by a rush of people demanding refunds — even if you catch the person in charge, there’s no money left to pay you back.”

The moment the auntie realized her retirement savings might vanish entirely, the seriousness of the situation hit her, and she had no more interest in asking whether Lu Xun was single. Her face changed color instantly, and she immediately started dialing her phone, preparing to go demand her money.

“I worked at the company for five years, and suddenly they told me they didn’t need me anymore — wouldn’t even pay me for the last month, just told me to pack up and leave. What do I do? I never signed a contract with them — does that mean I can’t get that money back?”

“The company is legally required to sign a written labor contract with you within one month of your start date. If they didn’t, then starting from the second month onward, they should have been paying you double wages. So what you need to do now is gather your employee badge, your overtime records, your reimbursement paperwork, your monthly pay slips, and your meal vouchers from the cafeteria — collect all of that as evidence proving you worked there continuously for five years. With that evidence, you can not only claim your last month’s wages, but also claim double wages going back through your employment.”

Even though he was only a sophomore, Lu Xun handled the wildly varied legal questions with remarkable clarity and precision, hitting exactly the right points every time — not only explaining the relevant law to each person, but always telling them concretely how to actually solve their problem. What surprised Qian Wei most was that Lu Xun, normally so sparing with words, showed remarkable patience with these aunties who weren’t especially well-educated, breaking things down for them in the plainest possible language. When some of them didn’t understand on the first try, he’d patiently explain it again, in a different way, as many times as it took.

Her Lu Xun was really something else — he looked cold on the outside, but underneath he was unbelievably gentle.

The girls and boys had ended up using two separate long tables for this event, and with no one currently waiting at her table, Qian Wei propped her chin in her hands and gazed over at Lu Xun at the other table. His profile was almost unrealistically handsome; even though the other guys sitting near him were also good-looking, next to Lu Xun, everyone else somehow just seemed ordinary by comparison.

Watching him like this, Qian Wei suddenly felt a quiet, secret satisfaction well up — someone this perfect belonged to her. Just thinking that was enough to make her feel so happy she wanted to laugh out loud.

So this was what falling in love felt like.

Thinking of someone and wanting to smile for no reason at all; not minding at all propping your chin up to watch them for a whole day; wanting to smile when you wake up, wanting to smile while eating, wanting to smile before falling asleep — you’re still the same person you always were, but inside, your heart softens without meaning to, settles without meaning to, feels satisfied without meaning to.

His coldness, in her eyes, became distinctive; his sharp tongue, in her eyes, became incisive wit; his domineering streak, in her eyes, became protectiveness; even the way he said one thing and meant another was, in her eyes, endearing.

Because she loved him, Lu Xun had become, to Qian Wei, something utterly unique in all the world. He was no longer “the pride of the law school” Lu Xun, no longer the number-one name on everyone’s secret-crush list, no longer the eternally perfect Lu Xun — in this moment, he was simply the Lu Xun that Qian Wei loved.

Wrapped in this warm, brimming sweetness, Qian Wei continued fielding questions from the residents who came to her, on and off. Following Lu Xun’s example, she tried to explain each legal concept in the simplest possible terms, solving people’s real problems in the most down-to-earth, practical way she could.

Meeting Lu Xun made Qian Wei feel that she, too, had to keep becoming better and better, in order to be worthy of him.

In truth, for a long stretch of time, Qian Wei had always felt she wasn’t good enough for Lu Xun.

Before Lu Xun confessed his feelings, Qian Wei had never once dared imagine that he could actually like her. Lu Xun was simply too wonderful — so wonderful that even standing near him, Qian Wei felt a sort of reverent unworthiness, as if he stood somewhere up in the sky while she could only stand far below on the ground, looking up at him. She could see the light radiating from him, could feel the shadows and scattered gleams that light cast onto the ground around her — he was a source of light, and she was not. She’d never really examined these feelings before, but thinking it over carefully now, she realized this was simply her own insecurity. No matter how much she joked around or fawned over him on the surface, deep down, in some part of her mind she hadn’t fully acknowledged, she still felt she wasn’t good enough — she wanted to become someone as outstanding as he was.

With that thought, Qian Wei found herself glancing, almost without meaning to, at Mo Zixin, sitting quietly to her left. Mo Zixin’s long hair fell along her side, her lashes thick and long. Perhaps sensing Qian Wei’s gaze, she looked up and glanced back at Qian Wei, then smiled at her. It was such a simple gesture, and yet Qian Wei instantly felt a pang of inadequacy — why was it that Mo Zixin could convey so much gentle, lingering warmth in a single glance?

She’d never really thought about it before, but right now there was a faint sourness in Qian Wei’s heart. If she were to announce that she and Lu Xun were together now, she suspected not even Liu Shiyun would believe it — not even her own younger brother, Qian Chuan, would believe it.

In everyone’s eyes, Lu Xun seemed like the kind of person who was simply meant to end up with someone like Mo Zixin. With that thought, Qian Wei couldn’t help glancing at Mo Zixin again. At that moment, someone had come to consult with her — a young woman who’d suffered domestic abuse and wanted a divorce. Mo Zixin, just as patient and gentle as Lu Xun had been, was carefully explaining to her how to protect herself, assert her rights, and file for divorce.