However you looked at it, Mo Zixin’s profile was like a pleasing oil painting.

Qian Wei thought to herself that it was no wonder Lu Xun had once liked Mo Zixin — if she herself were a man, she probably would have liked her too.

Once that thought took hold, it wouldn’t stop. Qian Wei couldn’t help remembering the scene of Lu Xun confessing his feelings to Mo Zixin — back then, Lu Xun must really have liked her.

Ever since she and Lu Xun had gotten together, Qian Wei had worked hard to let that memory fade. Who didn’t have a few things in their past? What had already happened couldn’t be changed or relived — better to hold on to the feelings of the present moment. She knew perfectly well that this was the mature way to think about relationships, and she also understood that it was precisely because of everything in his past that Lu Xun had become the person he was today — that it was even partly because of Mo Zixin that she and Lu Xun had ended up crossing paths so often in the first place.

“Marrying him was a mistake — I only just realized it, I don’t even like him at all!” The young woman consulting with Mo Zixin about her divorce seemed to reach an emotional peak, her voice rising, thick with tears, as she wiped at her eyes again. She looked truly pitiful — one eye still bruised from being hit, her face marked here and there with older scars, and red, swollen marks on her wrist from being forcefully grabbed. Qian Wei found her attention drawn to the woman despite herself.

“We were classmates at vocational school. At first, honestly, he wasn’t really my type — I liked his best friend. But that guy didn’t like me back. I chased after him at the time, and getting rejected felt so humiliating. Right after he turned me down, he got together with someone else almost immediately, and it hit me really hard — I felt like my confidence and self-respect were completely shattered, and I was a wreck for a while. That was when he showed up, staying by my side every day, comforting me, helping me get through the hardest stretch…” As was typical with people seeking divorce consultations, though they’d come for professional legal advice, they often couldn’t help pouring out their whole story too. The young woman wiped her eyes again. “So I ended up with him. He was really good to me back then, and I just sort of drifted into marrying him right after graduation without really thinking it through. At the time I thought I loved him — now I realize that wasn’t it at all. I was so foolish, mistaking gratitude for love back then, mistaking starting a new relationship with him for a way to escape the pain of heartbreak. Now I finally see — I don’t love him.”

Mo Zixin, even as she comforted her, couldn’t help gently pointing out, “You mentioned that after you got married, he suspected you were cheating with his best friend and kept abusing you because of it — did you actually do anything you feel you owe him for?”

As though that had struck a nerve, the young woman paused, then evasively changed the subject. “He’s just way too suspicious by nature. I only went out for coffee with him a few times and took one trip together, that’s all…”

Mo Zixin didn’t even need to press further — even Qian Wei could tell that this young woman had probably crossed some line, if not physically then at least emotionally. Domestic abuse was, of course, absolutely unacceptable no matter what — but when a marriage reaches its end, it’s never entirely one person’s fault.

Mo Zixin could only give her some rough guidance on the divorce process, including property division and child custody, before the woman, still crying and complaining, finally left.

“Relationships really are something to sigh over, when you think about it,” Mo Zixin said with a sigh, glancing over at Qian Wei. “Some people, they’re the one you can never quite forget, even if you never managed to win them over — irreplaceable no matter what. Even if you settle for someone else afterward, in your heart, you’ll always be thinking of the one you never got.”

After saying this, Mo Zixin glanced at Qian Wei once more before getting up and heading to the restroom.

Qian Wei couldn’t tell whether that had been an offhand remark or whether Mo Zixin somehow already sensed something. She sat there, suddenly uneasy and unsettled, and glanced over at Lu Xun not far away. Was she just Lu Xun settling for less? Was she just a stepping stone to help him get over heartbreak? Was she just Lu Xun’s second choice? Was she a mistake in Lu Xun’s life?

Qian Wei hesitated. In her past life, she and Lu Xun had gone from classmates to coworkers over so many years, and Lu Xun had never once shown any interest in her — clearly her personality and looks just weren’t his type. In this second chance at life, what made her so sure she could really change his taste? Had she only managed to slip in because he was vulnerable, freshly heartbroken?

“Qian Wei, I bought you some milk tea.”

Just as Qian Wei was tangled up in these anxious thoughts, Li Chongwen’s warm voice cut through her spiraling mind. He held out a cup of milk tea to her. “My line’s done for now — I just went and bought this across the street.”

By now it was around lunchtime, and most of the people who’d come for morning consultations had gotten satisfactory answers and left. Only Lu Xun’s line was still busy, with a few aunties still gathered around him talking. Liu Shiyun, who’d been on crowd-control duty, had nothing to do now, and happened to be strolling back over to the two of them just as Li Chongwen handed the milk tea to Qian Wei.

Seeing this scene, Liu Shiyun naturally let out a scandalized shriek. “Hey, hey, hey! Li Chongwen, that’s not fair!” she teased. “How come you only bought milk tea for Qian Wei? Where’s mine!”

Teased like that, Li Chongwen’s face immediately turned red. “Hold on, I’ll go buy you one too. What flavor do you want?”

“Oolong milk tea, please!”

The moment Li Chongwen left, Liu Shiyun turned to teasing Qian Wei instead. “Looks like you’re about to be off the market soon. But you’d better be ready — Li Chongwen’s super popular with the freshman girls. If you end up with him, brace yourself to become public enemy number one among the ladies.”

But Qian Wei was secretly watching Lu Xun’s profile, too distracted to focus on anything else, her mind entirely occupied with him.

Growing jealous, growing suspicious, growing indecisive, growing timid, growing less carefree, growing fragile — so this, too, was apparently part of what it meant to be in love.

Like a glass of honey lemonade — sweet, but with a note of sourness too.

And it seemed that because of Lu Xun, Qian Wei found she couldn’t focus on anything anymore; her whole mind felt scattered and unsettled.

That scattered, unsettled feeling lasted until the morning’s outreach activities wrapped up and the group went off to lunch together, and Qian Wei’s attention was finally pulled elsewhere for a bit — but it wasn’t long before she noticed something was off with Lu Xun.

“I didn’t expect so many people to show up for the community legal consultations,” one of the guys said, stretching. Then he glanced at Lu Xun. “But our Lu Xun definitely had it the worst — he alone must have pulled in like fifty percent of all the traffic.”

“People asked Lu Xun about everything from property disputes to private loans — seriously, all kinds of stuff. Lu Xun, I’m honestly curious how you keep all these legal statutes memorized?”

But in response to everyone’s praise and admiration, Lu Xun didn’t seem particularly energized today. He just gave a polite smile now and then, occasionally offering a noncommittal “mm.”

The others were animatedly discussing all the bizarre questions they’d fielded that morning, but Lu Xun didn’t join in at all — he just walked along quietly off to the side, head down, not looking ahead, and not looking at Qian Wei either.

Qian Wei was walking alongside Liu Shiyun, who was enthusiastically recapping the plot of the Korean drama she’d watched the night before, but Qian Wei wasn’t hearing any of it. Everything had seemed fine that morning — why was Lu Xun upset now?

Perhaps sensing Qian Wei’s gaze, Lu Xun finally looked up — but his eyes only brushed past her briefly before he turned his head away again.

“Lu Xun…”

Qian Wei called out to him softly, but Lu Xun simply turned his head away completely.

“Qian Wei, could you take this scarf and give it to Qian Chuan later?” Just as Qian Wei’s mind was wandering, Mo Zixin’s voice pulled her back to reality. Qian Wei looked up, and Mo Zixin smiled at her again. “I knitted it for him last time.”

Qian Wei nodded automatically and took it, then glanced back at Lu Xun — he still wore that same “we’re basically strangers” expression, clearly wanting nothing to do with her.

Qian Wei looked at Mo Zixin in front of her, then glanced at Lu Xun again, and suddenly thought back to the young woman consulting about her divorce earlier — and felt a pang of hurt, along with a dawning understanding. Lu Xun… deep down, he probably still hadn’t gotten over Mo Zixin. That was why, in front of her, he was putting on such a coldly distant face, so different from how he normally acted with Qian Wei — because any guy who still had feelings for a girl wouldn’t openly show that he already had someone, and wouldn’t act affectionate with another girl in front of her.

Sure enough, at lunch, as if trying to avoid any suspicion, even though there was an empty seat right next to Qian Wei, Lu Xun only paused briefly as he passed by before ultimately choosing to sit at a different table.

Qian Wei could barely eat through the whole meal, forcing the food down in a daze, before following the group back to Lotus Community to continue the afternoon’s outreach activities.

Throughout the whole time, Lu Xun still didn’t say a word, though Li Chongwen came by a few times.

There weren’t many people seeking consultations in the afternoon. After a while, Lu Xun went off to buy water for everyone, and Li Chongwen stepped outside to take a phone call. Qian Wei sat there in a daze, and after about half an hour, she finally saw someone walking toward her.

But as he got closer, Qian Wei realized the man approaching looked hostile — he didn’t look like someone coming for a consultation, but more like someone looking for a fight.

The moment he opened his mouth, it confirmed her suspicion.

“Who the hell gave my wife some bullshit legal advice just now? That bitch went home and transferred all the money out of the account, and now she’s off finding a lawyer to sue for divorce.”

“You lunatic! Don’t you dare go bother anyone else — I’m getting this divorce no matter what!”

Just as everyone exchanged bewildered glances, a familiar woman’s voice came crying and wailing from a distance. Qian Wei turned toward the sound and realized it was the same woman from that morning — the one who’d said she was suffering domestic abuse and wanted a divorce.

The man and woman, tangled together, shoving and shouting accusations at each other, made their way toward Qian Wei and the others.

Only once they got closer did Qian Wei realize the man had been drinking — even at some distance, she could smell the overwhelming reek of alcohol on him. His face and neck were flushed dark red, his build stocky and heavyset. Whether from the alcohol or sheer rage, one hand was jabbing accusingly at the woman while the other still gripped a bottle of beer.

“That bitch cheated on me — isn’t it only natural I’d hit her for it?” the man snarled, eyes bulging, veins standing out on his neck. “She was asking for it, so how is that my fault? And a man disciplining his wife, that’s a family matter — what business is it of you nosy little punks to butt in?! College students, huh? You’ve got that much free time? Even the cops wouldn’t touch this — and you think you’re gonna manage it?!”

One of the guys couldn’t stand it. “What you’re doing is illegal. In serious cases it can even constitute a criminal offense under the Criminal Law — abuse of a family member, if the circumstances are serious enough, can carry a sentence of up to two years’ imprisonment, criminal detention, or public surveillance upon private prosecution!”

If only he hadn’t said anything — the words seemed to set the man off even further. He took another swig from the bottle, then smashed it down on the consultation table, shattering it, and stood there gripping the jagged, glass-edged neck of the bottle, waving it at everyone threateningly. “I haven’t even settled up with you little punks yet. Whoever just fed this bitch her bright ideas — get out here. Today I, Zhang Gang, am not just gonna teach my wife a lesson, I’m gonna show you clueless college kids a thing or two as well.”

The man’s emotions seemed to have completely spiraled out of control, carrying an air of reckless desperation, and everyone present could sense just how dangerous and unpredictable he’d become.

Someone muttered, “Forget it, we already called the police — let’s just wait for them to handle it.”

For a moment, even the guys who’d been ready to step in and try to subdue him hesitated.

The man’s eyes were terrifying, his voice venomous, radiating a sense that he wouldn’t stop until he got what he wanted — and his manner grew even more aggressive. Right in front of everyone, he grabbed a fistful of the woman’s hair, hauling her toward the wall as if to slam her into it, cursing and swearing the whole time.

The woman, eyes red, struggled against him, clawing back at him with her nails, refusing to give in. The scene descended into chaos — with people watching, the man seemed to grow even more worked up, and the woman’s resistance only seemed to further inflame his violent urges. He began choking her by the throat with both hands, and only then did the woman realize how dire things had gotten — she finally stopped struggling entirely, frozen still as the man pressed the broken bottle against her throat, not daring to move.

“This bitch said it was some girl who gave her the idea just now,” the man went on, undeterred, brandishing the broken bottle, his eyes sweeping over the girls one by one. “I wanna see who it was — teaching her to move all the money out to go support some pretty boy on the side. If it’s a woman who came up with something like that, she’s bound to go on ruining men’s lives — well, today I, Zhang Gang, am going to serve justice and carve up this little bitch’s face myself!”

With that, he yanked the woman’s hair again, hard, twice. “They won’t say it, so you will — who put you up to it just now?!”

The woman wailed the whole way, looking utterly wretched.

Mo Zixin, after all, was still just a nineteen-year-old girl, and this was likely the first time she’d witnessed anything so terrifying and violent. As the one who’d given the woman her consultation earlier, she grew frightened too, and instinctively took a step back.

But it was that very small movement that caught the man’s attention — his gaze locked onto her like a snake coiling toward its prey.

The battered woman, seeming to finally break down completely, pointed at Mo Zixin through her sobs in a desperate bid to save herself. “It was her! She’s the one who told me to do it! I didn’t even want to at first! She’s the one who kept pushing me, telling me I had to get a divorce!”

“So it was you.”

The man, his attention successfully redirected, released his wife, and — still gripping the broken bottle — started walking toward Mo Zixin.