Mo Zixin instinctively backed away step by step, but the man, worked up with emotion, kept advancing on her. It all happened in a flash—Qian Wei instinctively wanted to pull Mo Zixin away, but before she could move, a pair of hands had already yanked the man back.

It was Lu Xun.

Mo Zixin, frozen stiff with fear, was pulled aside by Lu Xun in one motion.

With Mo Zixin out of the way, it was now Lu Xun facing the enraged man head-on.

The man seemed determined to vent his fury, raising the broken beer bottle again and swinging it at Lu Xun. Facing a man built noticeably bigger than himself, Lu Xun didn’t retreat at all—he didn’t even blink. He wasn’t afraid of the broken bottle in the slightest; he simply reached out and clamped a hand firmly around the man’s throat. The grip was so strong that even Qian Wei could see the veins faintly standing out on the back of Lu Xun’s hand. His gaze was sharp, his presence overwhelming, as he pinned the man to the nearby wall with just one hand. The man, arrogant and domineering only moments ago, now had no way to fight back against Lu Xun’s clear physical dominance. His neck, choked by the grip, had turned faintly red, and he was breathing hard—clearly wanting to curse but unable to force any sound out through his crushed windpipe.

With Lu Xun holding him down, the other guys finally snapped into action, scrambling forward to wrestle the broken bottle from the man’s hand before several of them twisted his arms behind his back.

Mo Zixin, still shaken from having nearly been hurt a moment ago, trembled as she huddled behind Lu Xun, looking fragile and helpless—like a dew-laden rose. Her tear-brimmed eyes against her delicate oval face gave her a fragile sort of beauty.

A hero saving a damsel in distress—as if it were simply meant to be.

Watching the scene, Qian Wei felt something sour rise in her chest and behind her eyes. She couldn’t help doubting herself again. Did Lu Xun really like her? Was she really good enough for him? Was his sudden coldness today because of Mo Zixin?

Qian Wei looked at Mo Zixin and Lu Xun standing not far off, her mind in turmoil. She was usually bold enough, but in this moment she felt strangely timid. Should she go over there or not?

“Lu Xun—”

“Lu Xun!” Mo Zixin’s startled cry drowned out Qian Wei’s quiet call. Mo Zixin gripped Lu Xun’s arm. “You’re bleeding, you’re cut! Let me take you to the community clinic nearby to get it bandaged!” Her voice had already taken on a tearful edge. “It’s all my fault—if you hadn’t been protecting me, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt…”

It turned out that pinning down Zhang Gang’s throat with one hand while blocking the broken bottle with the other had already been no easy feat—but Zhang Gang, a solidly built man, had still managed to slash Lu Xun’s arm with the broken bottle as Lu Xun wrenched the weapon from his grip.

The moment Qian Wei heard Lu Xun was hurt, she stopped thinking about anything else and instinctively started to run toward him. But if ever there was a moment for the saying “disaster strikes out of nowhere,” it was now.

Just as she started forward, Zhang Gang—who had been restrained by several of the guys—suddenly thrashed violently. His brute strength was enough that he half broke free of their hold, shoving two of the guys backward. They stumbled back a few steps and knocked into Qian Wei, who hadn’t managed to get out of the way in time. Thrown off balance, she instinctively staggered sideways.

“Qian Wei! Watch out!”

Along with the shout from Li Chongwen, who had just hurried back after finishing a phone call, Qian Wei felt a sharp pain shoot through the sole of her left foot.

Qian Wei looked down and lifted her foot, only then noticing a shard of glass embedded in the sole of her shoe—a fragment from the shattered beer bottle. She hadn’t noticed it in the chaos and had stepped right on it during the collision.

She bent down, trying to pull the glass shard out of her foot, but a hand reached over and stopped her.

“Don’t pull it out. It’ll start bleeding the moment you do.” Li Chongwen had already run over to her, his voice still a little breathless from the sprint. “Here, lean on my shoulder and hop on one foot—careful now. I’ll take you to the hospital nearby. Better to have a doctor disinfect it properly before dealing with the wound.” As he spoke, he moved to put an arm around Qian Wei’s shoulders. “If you can’t put weight on it, just lean on me.”

But before Li Chongwen’s hand could settle on her, another pair of hands swept in first—forceful and commanding—wrapping around Qian Wei’s waist and scooping her up sideways, as if snatching her away from Li Chongwen entirely.

Qian Wei looked up and found herself, unexpectedly, caught in the depths of Lu Xun’s dark eyes. He quickly looked away, leaving her nothing to admire but the handsome line of his jaw.

His expression was a little cold, a little sullen, and his voice came out stiff. “Her foot’s hurt. Hopping on one leg would wear her out. I’ll just take her to the hospital myself.” He paused, then added, “Besides, my arm needs treatment too.”

Li Chongwen glanced at Qian Wei, then looked up to meet Lu Xun’s eyes directly. “I won’t feel at ease unless I go too.”

Lu Xun stared back, utterly unflinching, his tone cold and final. “No need to trouble yourself. You should stay here—the legal outreach event still has to continue this afternoon. If two people leave at once, it’ll put a lot of pressure on everyone else handling the crowd.” Though his words remained polite on the surface, there was already an unmistakable air of authority and refusal to yield in his tone.

Unfortunately, Li Chongwen—usually easygoing—wasn’t willing to back down this time either. He kept his eyes on Lu Xun. “You’re injured too. I’m worried there won’t be anyone to look after Qian Wei while you’re getting bandaged up.”

There was a faint threatening edge to Lu Xun’s voice now, his expression calm, though Qian Wei could tell he was holding back his temper. “Naturally I’ll wait until her wound is treated before dealing with my own.”

Perhaps influenced by Lu Xun’s attitude, Li Chongwen’s tone sharpened as well. “That’s not good for your wound either.”

“I know my own wound well enough.”

The tension between the two men was on the verge of boiling over. Mo Zixin, her face still faintly tear-streaked, stepped in, trying to smooth things over. “Why don’t I come along to the hospital too? I’m a girl, it’d be easier for me to help look after Qian Wei. And Lu Xun only got hurt because he was protecting me…”

But once Lu Xun’s temper flared, no one could talk him down. Without even pausing to think, he gave Mo Zixin two cold words: “No need.”

Lu Xun tightened his hold on Qian Wei and shot Li Chongwen a challenging look. “I’m not wasting any more time here arguing with you. Qian Wei’s wound needs treating as soon as possible—resources should be used efficiently. There’s no need for this many people to tag along to the hospital.”

As if to prove his point, the moment he finished speaking, Liu Shiyun—who had just finished giving a brief statement to the responding police officer—called out to Li Chongwen and Mo Zixin. “I need some hands over here! I have to go back to the station with this officer to give a formal statement, and the afternoon consultation line is already forming at the desk. The rest of you, go help people with their legal questions!”

“…”

Li Chongwen paused, gritted his teeth, shot Lu Xun one more faintly hostile glance, then turned and walked away. Once he left, Mo Zixin no longer had any excuse to linger either. She glanced at Lu Xun a few more times, seeming to want to say something, then followed after Li Chongwen’s retreating figure.

And so the chaos stirred up by the divorce dispute finally came to an end. The surroundings quieted down, leaving only Lu Xun and Qian Wei on the path.

With no one else around now, and Qian Wei held so tightly in his arms, Lu Xun still pressed his lips shut and said nothing. His brow furrowed slightly, twisting his handsome eyebrows into a subtle curve. His eyes stayed fixed ahead, his expression cold, as though he weren’t carrying Qian Wei at all, but some pig or lamb being carted off for slaughter before New Year’s…

Throughout the entire walk, Lu Xun never once looked at her again. Qian Wei carefully shifted into a more comfortable position in his arms, and only then did he glance down at her with a warning look before tightening his arms again.

She wasn’t especially heavy, but Qian Wei was still nearly a hundred jin. Even so, Lu Xun carried her onward with apparent ease. Lotus Community was an old neighborhood in the older part of the city, its streets winding and confusing. Lu Xun wasn’t familiar with the area, and even though he had a rough idea where the community clinic was, they inevitably took a longer route than necessary. Yet the arms holding Qian Wei never wavered the whole way, and even after all that walking, Lu Xun’s breathing remained perfectly even, his face not the least bit flushed.

Fortunately, after winding through the streets, they finally found the small community clinic.

“Treat her wound first.”

Lu Xun stayed silent, still stubbornly waiting for the nurse to finish treating Qian Wei before he would let anyone touch his own arm, even though the two of them could easily have been treated at the same time.

Luckily, neither of their wounds was deep, and simple disinfection and treatment were enough. It was just that Qian Wei’s injury, being on the sole of her foot, meant she could only hop around on one leg.

They should have headed back once they were bandaged up, but the weather refused to cooperate—outside, a light drizzle had begun to fall, forcing Qian Wei and Lu Xun to wait it out in the small community clinic.

Qian Wei wanted badly to say something to Lu Xun, but he had already gone to sit in a chair on the other side of the room.

“…”

She didn’t know why, but it was clear Lu Xun had something on his mind and had no interest in talking to her right now…

Qian Wei held it in for a while, then found herself staring blankly at the vending machine in front of her.

Then Lu Xun stood up. Still wearing that cold expression, he walked over to the vending machine, put in some coins, and the machine dispensed a canned milk tea.

He picked it up and handed it to her.

“How did you know I wanted milk tea?”

Lu Xun turned his head away, his voice still a bit stiff. “You’ve been staring at it for ten minutes.”

“I was staring at the milk tea. Does that mean you were staring at me?”

Lu Xun shot her a look that was trying hard to seem stern but came off a little unconvincing, and denied it. “No.”

Qian Wei walked over to him and held the can out. “Open it for me.”

Lu Xun gave her a questioning look.

“I can’t open it.”

His face was plainly written with disbelief, but his hands still took the can and opened it for her anyway.

The two of them finally sat down together, watching the rain outside the window.

It was the first rain of the winter. Qian Wei swung her legs gently, head lowered, and finally worked up the courage to speak.

“Compared to someone like me, don’t you prefer someone like Mo Zixin?”

Lu Xun looked up, frowning slightly. “What are you talking about?”

There was a sour ache in Qian Wei’s chest. “Today, in front of Mo Zixin, you didn’t even want to talk to me.” She lifted her head, trying to keep her voice steady. “I know she’s better than me in a lot of ways, but I have my own principles, my own limits. I don’t want to…”

Lu Xun’s voice cut her off, his beautiful dark eyes going wide, like some large cat caught in a moment of shock. “What does Mo Zixin have to do with anything? When did I ever like her?”

This time, Qian Wei decided to just lay everything out plainly. “When you confessed to me, I really was too flustered—I never asked some things clearly. I know that before me, you were pursuing Mo Zixin. There’s no point denying it.”

“I wasn’t.” Lu Xun pressed his lips together. “I didn’t like her when I confessed to you. I didn’t like her before that either.” He held her gaze steadily. “I have never liked her. Not once.”