By the time they got back to the apartment it was nearly eleven. Ruan Yu washed up and went straight to bed. Xu Huaisong kept to his usual American schedule, sitting in the living room working on his laptop.

In the middle of the night she got up once, opened the door, and found him still at the computer typing, his expression unusually grave.

Xu Huaisong looked up when she came out. The tension in his face eased in an instant. “What’s wrong — can’t sleep?”

She shook her head to say no, and reached up to switch on the main living room light. “Do you still have a lot of cases to finish up from America?”

He acknowledged this, then added: “Though right now I’m going over Zhou Jun’s case.”

“You don’t specialize in criminal law,” Ruan Yu said, coming to sit beside him. “You could leave this to Sister Zhang.”

Xu Huaisong went quiet.

Ruan Yu rubbed her tired eyes and rested her chin in her hand, puzzled. After a moment she saw him turn his head and look at her. “This case — it resembles one my father handled ten years ago.”

Her drowsiness vanished completely. “How so?”

Xu Huaisong pressed his lips together and looked at the screen. “No eyewitnesses in either case. Insufficient decisive evidence in both. In both cases, every lead at the scene pointed to a single suspect. In both cases, the suspect refused to confess and offered an account that most people would find extremely far-fetched.”

“And that suspect from ten years ago — what happened to him in the end?”

“Acquitted and released for lack of evidence. He should still be living in Su Shi.”

“And the real culprit?”

Xu Huaisong looked down with a quiet laugh. “Who knows. Maybe it was that suspect after all. Maybe it was someone else entirely.”

“Ten years and still no answer — then the victim’s family…”

Ruan Yu didn’t finish the thought.

Xu Huaisong was quiet for a moment. “The victim’s family decided the suspect was the real perpetrator, and that my father was the accomplice who helped him escape justice. They made our lives difficult for two solid years. If my father hadn’t eventually moved to America, it probably wouldn’t have stopped even now.”

Ruan Yu was a writer, and even she found herself momentarily at a loss for words — unable to think of anything adequate to say. She settled for reaching out and resting her hand over the back of his.

Xu Huaisong turned his head and smiled. “It’s fine. The victim’s family’s reaction was completely understandable. My father’s defense work had a very significant impact on the direction of the case. And for the average Chinese citizen ten years ago, the presumption of innocence was a fairly abstract concept. You try to explain to them that conviction isn’t a matter of process of elimination — that you can’t simply declare a suspect guilty because they’re the only suspect — and they may not follow.”

“Even now, when the discussion is purely theoretical, plenty of people will nod along to the presumption of innocence, to the human rights of criminal suspects, to procedural justice. But when a raw, bloody tragedy is actually laid out in front of them, most onlookers’ emotional responses will override their rational judgment — let alone the victim’s own family.”

“And your father himself — how did he feel about it?”

“That was something I kept turning over in my mind for a long time. I kept wondering whether he actually knew, deep down — whether the suspect was guilty or innocent. But eventually I realized that question may simply have no answer.”

“Because lawyers aren’t gods. Their understanding of the truth isn’t necessarily the truth itself. More often than not, their so-called ‘knowing’ is also a form of ‘not knowing.’ To lack the power of a god, and yet not be permitted the feelings of a human — that’s the position a lot of criminal lawyers find themselves in.”

He let his gaze drift back to the screen. “I want to try walking the same path my father walked — and then bring that answer to my mother. Even though… it’s ten years too late.”

Ruan Yu smiled, rubbed her tired eyes, and leaned over to hook her arm through his. “Then I’ll be here with you.”

Xu Huaisong looked down with a smile. “Sleep first.”

She shook her head with a yawn. “I’ve got nothing on tomorrow. Aren’t you going to sort out your sleep schedule? Once you fix it, we’ll be on the same hours.”

Xu Huaisong took a moment before answering: “In a few days.”

Ruan Yu gave a quiet sound of acknowledgment, hugged a pillow to her chest and drowsily leaned against his arm — and the next time she opened her eyes, the room was flooded with bright daylight and the sun was well overhead, and she was in bed.

It didn’t take much imagination to figure out what had happened: she hadn’t lasted long the previous night, and Xu Huaisong had carried her in.

She jumped out of bed and opened the door. There he was — same position as last night, typing away.

“Xu Huaisong, are you trying to kill yourself!” She walked over and put her arms around his laptop. “Still not sleeping?”

He looked up. “I slept for a bit last night.”

“Really?”

“Really. In your bed. You grabbed onto me and wouldn’t let go.”

Ruan Yu turned around, marched back to the bedroom, yanked up the blanket, and buried her face in it for a deep, thorough sniff.

Xu Huaisong followed her in, laughing. “Alright, I was lying. I’m going to sleep now.”

She turned back and gave him a look that was half glare, half resigned dignity. “Fine — eat breakfast first, then sleep.”

Ruan Yu headed to the kitchen to make breakfast. Xu Huaisong followed her in. “I need to make a call.”

Did this require an announcement? She pulled out pots and pans and said: “Go ahead.” Then, as if remembering something: “Wait — who are you calling?”

“Lu Shenglan. I need her to send me some documents.”

No wonder he felt it warranted mentioning.

Ruan Yu waved a hand magnanimously. “Call away.”

Xu Huaisong dialed right in front of her. “Hello, I’m looking for Attorney Lu.”

Ruan Yu spun around. “What did you just say?”

Even the perceptive Xu Huaisong was briefly caught off guard. “What? What?”

On the other end, Lu Shenglan had picked up. Ruan Yu gestured for him to carry on with the call. Once he hung up, she asked: “What did you call her just now? ‘Lü Lü’?”

“…”

Xu Huaisong choked on a laugh. “Attorney Lu.”

Ruan Yu let out a light laugh and handed him the warmed milk and sandwich. “I just thought it was a charming way to address someone — felt it deserved special mention…”

He gave a quiet acknowledgment, turned away with a smile still on his face, and carried his breakfast to the living room.

Once Xu Huaisong was asleep, Ruan Yu settled in at the living room table to work — writing up her feedback notes on the script pages she’d reviewed and sending them to Huan Vision. Toward evening a reply came in, inviting her to attend a second all-day script meeting the following day.

She replied to accept. By the time Xu Huaisong had slept a full eight hours, she went to the bedroom to wake him — only to hear his phone on the nightstand start ringing just as she walked in.

He stirred at the sound and started reaching for the nightstand.

Ruan Yu picked it up for him. “No name saved. It’s a Su Shi number.”

He wasn’t fully awake yet, and took a moment to register before saying: “Answer it for me.”

Ruan Yu answered the call, and heard a voice from the other end: “Brother!”

“Huaishi? Your brother is asleep. What’s going on?”

On the other end Xu Huaishi gave a surprised little sound. “Ruan jiejie?”

Ruan Yu laughed. “Well, which other jiejie would be answering your brother’s phone?”

“None, none! Jiejie, can you get my brother for me? I’m at the police station.”

“The police station?”

Xu Huaisong had come fully awake and sat up, reaching over to take the phone from Ruan Yu. “Did you get into a fight?”

“Brother, it wasn’t me fighting — it was my classmate who ended up at the police station.”

“Then what are you doing there?”

“He got into a fight because of me!”

Xu Huaisong’s mind went sharp immediately. “Because of you how?”

“I don’t really know either — apparently some boys in our class were saying something about me behind my back, and then my classmate went and beat all of them up. I was watching from the roadside and it was absolutely terrifying. The police officer brought me along as a witness, but I’m probably not in any trouble.”

“Is your classmate’s teacher on the way? Any parents coming?”

“They’re all on their way. I just wanted to give you a heads-up — the teacher is definitely going to call my parents soon. Can you cover for me this time?”

“If it’s got nothing to do with you, what do I need to cover?”

“Brother, you don’t understand — the classmate who got into this fight is the same one who got caught with me in the music room last time. The teacher is going to accuse me of being in a relationship again! Last time I spent ages explaining myself and Mum was still half-convinced, and if this happens again…”

Xu Huaisong let out a sigh. “Then give them my number when the time comes.”

“Perfect, brother! Oh, and — our end-of-term exams are over, and there’s a parent meeting the day after tomorrow. If Mum comes instead, won’t she find out everything anyway?”

“Xu Huaishi,” Xu Huaisong said through his teeth, “don’t push it. You want me to drive four hours round-trip to attend a parent meeting?”

Xu Huaishi immediately began yelling into the phone: “Jiejie, jiejie, are you there? Do you see his calculating, penny-pinching face? This type — sure, date him, but absolutely do not marry him!”

Xu Huaisong: “…”

His phone volume wasn’t low, and Ruan Yu had caught practically every word. She swallowed a laugh and said: “Just go.”

She then mouthed silently to him: Li Shican.

Clearly, Ruan Yu had also arrived at the same thought — that the reason Xu Huaishi’s classmate had erupted and started a fight might very well be connected to the Li Shican news.

If rumors had already started circulating at school, Xu Huaisong really should go to get a read on the situation.

Xu Huaisong gave a quiet nod and said to Xu Huaishi: “Let me know the exact time.” He hung up, then exhaled. “I’m in Su Shi all day the day after tomorrow. What do you want to do tomorrow?”

Ruan Yu blinked. The way he phrased that — it sounded like he was formally asking her out on a date.

She sniffled and said: “I’ve got the Huan Vision meeting tomorrow.”

Xu Huaisong went quiet for a moment, then said: “Then come to Su Shi with me the day after tomorrow.”

Ruan Yu wasn’t sure why he was suddenly the one being clingy — but she had nothing on that day, so she went with him to Su Shi No. 1 High School.

The parent meeting was in the afternoon. Since the classrooms were needed, most of the soon-to-be third-year students were resting in their dormitories.

Xu Huaisong went ahead to the assembly hall for the opening address, while Ruan Yu made her way to the student dormitories to find Xu Huaishi, who she found bitterly complaining about having her phone confiscated by her mother — with no sign whatsoever that she had heard any news. Ruan Yu relaxed slightly.

It was the height of summer, so Ruan Yu had brought a whole watermelon for the girls in the dormitory room. Xu Huaishi called over a few classmates to dig in, then pulled Ruan Yu aside and said in a hushed voice: “Jiejie, you’re a lifesaver — I’m counting on you to have my back from now on. Whatever you say goes with my brother.”

Ruan Yu smiled and steered the conversation sideways. “So what happened with your classmate in the end, that day?”

“They talked to him, gave him a lecture, and that was that.”

“Was he hurt?”

“Mm.” Xu Huaishi answered between bites of watermelon. “Just some surface scrapes, nothing serious. Though his mum’s expression when she looked at me — you know the kind in Korean dramas: ‘Here’s five million, now leave my son alone.’ Can you believe how unfair that is? I still have absolutely no idea what possessed him to go around fighting people over me — and the ones who got beaten keep saying it was because of me, but I can’t for the life of me figure out why.”

“Didn’t you ask him?”

Xu Huaishi shook her head. “I asked, but he wouldn’t say. I’m pretty sure I’ve been made into a scapegoat for something.”

Ruan Yu was quietly turning this over in her mind when she suddenly felt a light poke in the small of her back. She turned around — but the girls behind her were all clustered together eating watermelon perfectly innocuously.

She was still puzzling over it when one of the girls caught her eye and gave a small tilt of her chin toward the corridor outside.

Ruan Yu understood. She made an excuse to leave, walked to the far end of the dormitory corridor and waited. Sure enough, after a short while, the girl came walking toward her. “Hi jiejie, I’m Huaishi’s top-bunk neighbor. Does Huaishi’s family know about the news?”

Ruan Yu frowned slightly. “You know about it too?”

The girl nodded. “Huaishi’s phone was taken by her mum, so she hasn’t seen Weibo. But a few classmates in our class came across it — since she’d told us she went to Hang Shi over Dragon Boat Festival and met a famous celebrity, we put two and two together. There’s been some talk in our class, but it hadn’t really spread yet, because one of the boys in our class kind of…”

“Kind of what?”

“Stamped it out…”

Well then.

Ruan Yu smiled. “Has anyone in other classes been talking about it?”

“Probably not anymore. Anyone who was gossiping got a beating from that boy in our class and hasn’t dared open their mouth since.”

“Could you tell me his name?”

“Zhao Yi.”

The moment Ruan Yu heard the name, something tugged at her memory. She thought for a moment and remembered — it seemed like he was the boy she’d run into on the sports field the last time she visited the school.

When she was leaving, she had slipped a note into the pocket of his school uniform: At graduation trip, confess to her. You have to confess.

“The one whose name has the character for ‘lost’?”

“That’s right — that one.”

Ruan Yu blinked, and looked out through the window at the end of the corridor, past it to the distant stretch of green playing field — and all at once, everything fell into place.

Author’s note: No time for a proper note — let’s go!