Perhaps she was still adjusting to an unfamiliar bed, or simply unused to sleeping beside someone — either way, Ruan Yu woke unusually early the next morning.

The sky had barely begun to lighten. Her first instinct was to reach for her phone on the nightstand.

No new WeChat messages, but there was a text from an unknown number: I need to reach Huaisong urgently. If you’re with him, please pass this along. — Zhou Jun.

It was the former class monitor she’d met at the birthday banquet. The message had been sent at two in the morning. At that hour, Xu Huaisong would have been on the plane.

But by now they should have been in contact.

She messaged Xu Huaisong to check: Have you landed?

Xu Huaisong: Just got out of the airport. Didn’t reply earlier in case you were still sleeping.

Then: Dad has stabilized for now. They’ve moved him to the ICU for observation. I’m heading there now.

Ruan Yu let out a breath of relief, and thought superstitiously — rainbows really do bring good news.

She replied: That’s good. By the way, Zhou Jun is looking for you.

Xu Huaisong: I saw. His phone is off — if something’s urgent, he’ll find me again.

Their conversation ended.

The weight in Ruan Yu’s chest lifted. She crept out of bed as quietly as she could, and had just relaxed with a long exhale when she heard rustling from the bed behind her.

Xu Huaishi was awake, rubbing her eyes: “You’re up so early, Senior!”

“Sorry, did I wake you?”

“Is it my brother? Has he landed?”

Ruan Yu nodded: “Yes. Go back to sleep for a bit.”

But Xu Huaishi had read something in the ease of her expression: “Problem solved?”

“For now — but it’s not time to relax yet.”

That combination of words, plus the memory of Tao Rong whispering to Ruan Yu the day before, was enough for Xu Huaishi to lose any remaining desire for sleep. She sat up, frowning: “Did something happen to my dad?”

Ruan Yu was caught off guard.

Was her acting really that transparent?

“Oh, come on,” Xu Huaishi sighed, “I’m old enough now — why keep this kind of thing from me? Has Dad stabilized for the moment?”

Ruan Yu had no choice but to tell the truth: “Yes. Don’t worry — your brother’s there.”

Xu Huaishi lowered her head. After a while, she bit her lip and said quietly: “Senior, someone once told me that my dad brought his illness on himself through all the wrong he’d done.”

Ruan Yu didn’t know who this “someone” was, but she could see clearly that Xu Huaishi had been carrying this and wanted to let it out.

She came back and sat on the edge of the bed: “Who said that?”

“A family member of one of the plaintiffs.” Xu Huaishi drew a breath. “Ah — Senior, I shouldn’t be telling you any of this. My dad might not be a good person, but my brother is different. Please don’t think all lawyers are bad.”

Ruan Yu was thoroughly lost: “What actually happened? You can tell me — it won’t change how I see your brother.”

Xu Huaishi hesitated into silence, and after a long while hugged her knees and said: “My dad… he used to be a criminal defense attorney. He defended people convicted of murder. The reason my parents separated wasn’t a third party — they just had fundamentally different values. My mom couldn’t understand my dad’s profession, and couldn’t accept living off money earned defending murderers… I was frightened of my dad too. I never liked him…”

Ruan Yu swallowed: “And your brother?”

“He went with my dad at the time — I think it was for my sake. But after that, what he really thought of my dad… neither Mom nor I ever knew. He studied law too, became a lawyer — and my mom, deep down…”

Xu Huaishi didn’t finish the sentence, but Ruan Yu understood well enough. That was probably the root of the distance between mother and son.

Xu Huaishi smiled when she finished: “But my brother isn’t a criminal defense attorney. You don’t need to worry.”

Ruan Yu reached over and patted her head: “Even if he were, I wouldn’t worry.”

Xu Huaishi blinked: “You’re not afraid?”

Ruan Yu thought for a moment, then turned the question back: “Would you be afraid of, or think to blame, a doctor who saves lives — if they treated a gravely injured criminal suspect? Would you ask them ‘why did you fulfill your duty as a doctor?'”

Xu Huaishi furrowed her brow, looking as though she half-followed, half-didn’t.

After a moment, she said: “Anyway — enough of this gloomy stuff! What are we having for lunch?”

“I’ll make you lunch before I head out — meeting a friend for a meal.”

“Male friend or female friend?”

“Just a regular male friend.”

“A regular male friend?” Xu Huaishi looked like she’d been jolted upright from her deathbed. “How can a male friend be regular? My brother is going to cry!”

“……”

“He’s genuinely just a friend.”

“Then show me a photo. Regular or not — I can tell at a glance.”

What kind of logic was that?

Ruan Yu hesitated, then decided there was no reason to hide this from Xu Huaisong’s sister when she’d be telling him anyway: “Take a look at your own phone wallpaper.”

Xu Huaishi went still. She slowly unlocked her screen and stared at Li Shican’s photo.

She lifted her phone, completely dazed: “You’re not about to tell me the person asking you to lunch is my boyfriend?”

It did sound slightly bizarre when put that way.

Ruan Yu nodded: “We were university classmates. Your brother knows — don’t worry.”

“Oh my—!” Xu Huaishi was too stunned to form words. Then her attention pivoted rapidly: “My brother knew and didn’t tell me? Didn’t get me a signed photo or a limited edition album? I’m furious! After everything I went through—”

She cut herself off abruptly.

Ruan Yu asked: “Should I help you get those later?”

Xu Huaishi scrambled over and grabbed her by the legs, tilting her face up: “Senior — please, for the sake of the night we’ve shared under the same roof, take me along just to see him from a distance! Just one look!”

Ruan Yu hadn’t anticipated this turn of events.

In the end, she had no choice but to send Li Shican a message: I have a junior who’s a fan of yours and wants to catch a glimpse of you. I was wondering if that would be all right today…

Li Shican: Of course. Tell her to come along for lunch. I’ll take the necessary precautions — no photos will be taken.

Xu Huaishi had been peering at the screen and practically leaped off the floor.

Li Shican: Though if she comes, this becomes a fan meet-up lunch, not the meal you owe me. Think it over.

Ruan Yu’s expression faltered. She held the message thread up for Xu Huaishi to see: “You realize this means I’ll still owe him another meal afterward.”

Xu Huaishi had completely forgotten she even had a brother. She waved her hand with grand generosity: “Then just take him out again! What does it matter? My brother would never be that petty!”

Ruan Yu privately thought Xu Huaisong might actually be exactly that petty — but she didn’t have the heart to block Xu Huaishi’s fan dreams. She agreed, mapped out a plan in her head, and said: “Alright — we’ll go have lunch with Li Shican first, and then I need to head out to the suburbs to see my parents. You’ll come with me?”

“No problem!”

At noon, the two of them went to the restaurant Li Shican had booked, heading up to a private room on the top floor.

Xu Huaishi had been taking deep breaths the whole way up. When she actually saw Li Shican in person, she went dizzy anyway and pressed a hand to her chest: “I must be dreaming…”

Seeing the two of them come in, Li Shican stood and smiled, greeted Ruan Yu, then looked at Xu Huaishi: “Since when does my senior have such an adorable little sister?”

Xu Huaishi stared at him, unable to produce a single syllable. Clinging to Ruan Yu’s arm, she said weakly: “Senior, I think I’m going to faint…”

Li Shican laughed out loud. Once she was seated, he asked: “What’s your name?”

“I — my name,” she stammered, “Xu Huaishi.”

Li Shican paused visibly, looked her over again, and turned to Ruan Yu: “This is Attorney Xu’s sister, isn’t it?”

Ruan Yu forced a smile: “Yes, that’s right.”

He propped his elbow on the table with considerable interest, fixing his gaze on Xu Huaishi: “So — who do you think is better looking, your brother or me?”

With the object of years of admiration sitting right in front of her, Xu Huaishi didn’t even hesitate: “Definitely you!”

Ruan Yu: “……” She felt a moment of genuine sympathy for Xu Huaisong.

Li Shican laughed: “Good taste. I’ll treat you to something delicious.” He pushed the menu over. “Order whatever you like.”

Xu Huaishi’s eyes scanning the menu practically glowed green.

Seeing her absorbed in the menu, Li Shican turned back and produced a stack of documents for Ruan Yu: “The results of the psychological treatment. It was supposed to be confidential, but Uncle Cen wanted to put your mind at ease, so he had these given to you.”

Xu Huaishi looked up with a puzzled expression, and was about to ask something when Li Shican cut her off: “I have some things to discuss with your senior. Take your time deciding what to eat.”

Ruan Yu thanked him and opened the documents to read, listening as he explained: “It’s been confirmed — she never hired anyone to hack your computer. She stumbled upon the similarity between the two works by accident and used it as a pretext to stir things up.”

“That’s strange then…”

If Cen Sisi had nothing to do with it, who could have stolen her outline? Or perhaps — the outline had never been stolen at all.

But what would that mean?

Ruan Yu sat rigid in her chair, brow deeply furrowed.

An answer seemed to be pressing at the edges of her mind, not quite breaking through.

Xu Huaishi, who had followed enough of the conversation to understand, went back and forth between wanting to speak and holding herself back. When she looked down at the menu again, her mood was decidedly less bright.

She quickly ordered a few dishes, then picked up her phone and opened Weibo.

She was weighing whether to simply close her eyes, steel herself, and hold the account up in front of Ruan Yu — and confess.

Only, if she did that, this future sister-in-law of hers would probably want nothing to do with her.

As Xu Huaishi wavered, the phone in her palm buzzed with a push notification.

A follow-up report on last night’s wanted notice — it stated that investigators had confirmed the suspect and the victim had been in a relationship, and that both appeared to have traveled by car from Su Shi to Hang Shi to visit relatives or friends.

Xu Huaishi caught the phrase “from Su Shi to Hang Shi” and went still.

She’d just been saying last night how dangerous Hang Shi was — and now it turned out the suspect had come from Su Shi?

She pulled up the original wanted notice with the photo attached, and noticed it did indeed list the suspect’s place of origin — she’d just been too focused on the photo at the time to read the text carefully.

She read it now — Male, 26 years old, native of Su Province, approximately 176 cm in height…

A 26-year-old from Su Shi, the same age as her brother — it was quite possible she’d actually crossed paths with him before.

She tapped the photo, zoomed in, and looked at it again.

Ruan Yu noticed her staring at something with a deeply troubled expression and tilted her head: “What’s wrong?”

Xu Huaishi pointed at her phone screen: “I feel like I’ve seen this person somewhere, but I can’t place it…”

Ruan Yu leaned over to look: “Hmm? That’s my class monitor from high school. How do you have his photo?”

Xu Huaishi’s mouth fell open: “Oh — it might be because I was looking through the alumni honor wall at the school history museum once, searching for your photo, and I saw his headshot there!”

Ruan Yu didn’t even have time to question why she’d been looking for her photo at the school history museum. She went blank for a moment and asked: “So — what about this photo?”

Xu Huaishi’s hands were trembling as she exited full-screen and held the phone out for her to see the news report.

Ruan Yu scanned the contents. She sat completely frozen for a long while before saying: “How can this be… we just saw each other not long ago… no, wait — he contacted me tonight, at two in the morning!”

No wonder he’d used a different number. His own communications had to be under police surveillance.

Ruan Yu’s mind reeled. Li Shican had caught enough of the exchange by now to piece it together: “Think back — what did he say to you.”

She had just taken out her phone to find the text message when a call came in from a number she vaguely recognized.

Li Shican seemed to recognize it too: “That looks like the police station we went to once. Answer it.”

Ruan Yu picked up and heard: “Hello, is this Ms. Ruan?”

“Officer Fang? Yes, it’s me.”

“Is now a convenient time to talk? We need to ask you about a case.”

Fang Zhen’s voice carried a trace of uncertainty — Ruan Yu guessed he was calling about Zhou Jun but was worried she might be with him.

She said: “Yes, now is fine. Is this about Zhou Jun?”

“That’s correct. The police are currently pursuing this suspect. We’ve just determined that at two-oh-seven this morning, he used someone else’s phone to contact you. Do you have any information on his whereabouts?”

Ruan Yu gripped her phone: “No. I only just now learned he’s being pursued.”

“We strongly hope Ms. Ruan will not withhold any information.”

“I’m not withholding anything,” she said, then hesitated. “There may be someone I know who has further information. I’ll need to contact him.”

“Would that be Mr. Xu?”

“Yes. Zhou Jun reached out to me in the early hours precisely to get to him.”

“We have also been trying to reach him, but his phone is temporarily unreachable.”

“He’s in San Francisco. You can try his American number.” Ruan Yu didn’t have it memorized, and glanced at Xu Huaishi.

Xu Huaishi immediately understood and wrote down the number for her.

After she hung up, the atmosphere in the private room was so heavy the very hum of the air conditioning seemed to freeze in place.

Not wanting to tie up Xu Huaisong’s line and slow down the police investigation, Ruan Yu didn’t call — instead she sent him a WeChat message: Did Zhou Jun reach you afterward?

No reply came. She picked up her phone and scrolled through the news, growing more incredulous with every line she read.

Two and a half years as classmates — Zhou Jun as class monitor had always struck her as warm, outgoing, and eager to help. When they’d run into each other at the birthday banquet not long ago, she hadn’t noticed anything dramatically different about him.

He’d been cheerfully teasing her and Xu Huaisong.

How could someone like that have killed someone and fled? And the victim — his own girlfriend.

Xu Huaishi was frightened too, her face tense: “Senior, why would he go looking for my brother?”

That question hit the mark. Ruan Yu’s brow furrowed: “Because your brother is a lawyer, and the incident took place in Hang Shi. He must have thought of your brother and wanted to ask for his help.”

When they’d last seen each other, Xu Huaisong had mentioned his impressive credentials in front of Ruan Chengrui — Zhou Jun would certainly have heard all of it.

And according to Xu Huaishi, their father had once been a criminal defense attorney. If Zhou Jun happened to know that, he’d have had even more reason to turn to Xu Huaisong.

Ruan Yu was still waiting for a reply from Xu Huaisong when her phone rang again — not him, not the police, but her mother.

The call connected, and Qu Lan’s voice was light: “Yuyu, have you eaten yet?”

“I’m eating now.”

“Oh, good. Mom just wanted to let you know — don’t make a special trip out this afternoon.”

Qu Lan’s voice sounded cheerful, but in that instant, a nameless dread flooded through Ruan Yu completely. She went quiet for a moment before asking: “What is it? Are you and Dad not home?”

“We’re home — it’s the holiday, you know how it is, another former student came to visit. We’ve asked him to stay the night. And you said you were bringing a little sister along — if he stays, there won’t be a room for you two.”

Ruan Yu did not speak for a full five counts. Then her hands began to tremble. She said: “Oh, I see — then we won’t come over…”

“Alright then, Mom’s going to hang up.”

“Wait—”

“Mm?”

Ruan Yu gripped the tablecloth tightly, fighting with everything she had to keep her voice steady: “I saw it looks like rain today — you and Dad remember to close the windows, all right?”

“Don’t worry, we know.”

The call ended.

Ruan Yu pressed a hand over her mouth.

Li Shican tensed immediately: “What’s wrong?”

“We have three guest rooms at home — there’s no way there’d be no room for me and Huaishi. My mom was trying to signal me…”

Xu Huaishi drew a sharp breath.

Li Shican picked up his phone: “Tell the police first.”

He was already dialing the station. At the same moment, Ruan Yu’s phone rang again.

Xu Huaisong calling.

Ruan Yu picked up. She’d been holding herself together until that moment — then the instant she heard his voice, she broke: “Huaisong, did the police reach you? Zhou Jun — he’s gone to my parents’ place…”

A brief silence from the other end. Then a voice, completely steady: “Don’t be afraid. Clear your head. Listen to me carefully.”

Author’s Note: You can all breathe easy — though if you want to humor me, you’re welcome to pretend to be nervous.