In the end, Cheng Yao managed to check off nearly every attraction at the temporary beachside carnival, one by one. Qian Heng, for his part, carried the Pikachu plush the entire time with an expression of disdain, but in the end he still reluctantly went through every attraction together with Cheng Yao.

It was just that he seemed to care about that Pikachu a little too much. No matter how eagerly Cheng Yao offered to carry it for him, he never let go of it, not even for a moment. Heavy and enormous and fuzzy as it was, he carried it the whole way and refused to put it down. He was even so worried that checking it as luggage might crush or dirty it that he went and bought a brand-new, oversized Samsonite suitcase just for the Pikachu…

Looking at her own well-worn suitcase, Cheng Yao couldn’t help but feel a pang of self-pity — she lived such a rough-and-tumble life that she apparently ranked lower than this Pikachu. Better to be a stuffed toy than a person…

Still, whatever the case, when the plane bound for City A took off and Cheng Yao sat by the window watching City B shrink smaller and smaller below, she felt this trip had been thoroughly satisfying.

Even with a blot like Tang Bing thrown into the mix, she had seen the ocean for the first time; despite her fear of heights, she had ridden — probably for the first and last time in her life — a towering seaside Ferris wheel; she had whacked moles to her heart’s content; eaten all sorts of street snacks; and won her boss a limited-edition Pikachu.

Just as the plane was about to take off, Qian Heng brought her a piece of good news.

In the lawsuit brought over Bai Xingmeng, Junheng had won. The court had established the facts and issued its ruling: Bai Xingmeng was required to continue paying Junheng’s legal fees as stipulated in the contract, to eliminate the damage done to Junheng’s reputation, and to pay compensation. At the same time, the case Bao Rui had handled on Cheng Yao’s behalf, over the online defamation and harassment she’d suffered, had also concluded. The netizens who had led the doxxing and abuse were not only required to issue public apologies, but also to pay Cheng Yao compensation ranging from five thousand to thirty thousand yuan each, depending on the severity of their conduct.

“Justice may be late, but it never fails to arrive,” Qian Heng said with a faint smile. “I’ve always thought that line was a bit corny, but it does make sense.”

Cheng Yao’s heart swelled with excitement and gratitude. She thought it over. “Back when Bai Xingmeng smeared us like that, and now the court’s ruling has proven the truth beats out lies — once it takes effect, can’t we just use the firm’s official account to publicize it and really give her a slap in the face? Let everyone see who was lying all along.”

“Wait a little longer,” Qian Heng said, unhurried. “Wait another week before making it public. There’ll be a surprise.”

Cheng Yao didn’t quite understand, but she figured whatever Qian Heng said must have a reason behind it.

Whatever the case, she was already more than satisfied with how things had turned out.

Yes — justice might be late, but it would never fail to show up. Raise the weapon of the law, defend yourself through proper means, and eventually the truth of things would come to light.

Today was Friday, and the plane landed in City A in the evening.

Almost the moment Cheng Yao got off the plane and opened her phone, she was flooded with messages from Li Mengting.

“Yaoyao! Yaoyao! Are you free tonight? Let’s grab a meal!”

“I couldn’t get through on your phone, so I left you a message! You have to come eat with me if you’re free! Haha! I’ve got some explosive news to tell you!”

“Hey hey hey, why haven’t you replied yet? Never mind, I’ll just tell you — haha, I got married!”

“How did even the word ‘married’ not get you to respond?!”

“But I’m not lying to you, I really did marry Rat!”

Cheng Yao froze for a moment, a jumble of feelings washing over her — happy for Li Mengting, yet with a faint pang of loss at the thought of a friend being “stolen away” by a man. Still, in her heart she was genuinely happy for her. Carrying her luggage in one hand, she picked up her phone with the other and typed a reply.

“Just landed from a business trip, what a surprise!! Congratulations to you and Rat!! Of course we’re meeting tonight! We’re eating somewhere expensive — let’s make that thief who stole you away pay up!”

So absorbed was she in replying to the message that Cheng Yao wasn’t watching where she was walking, and she bumped straight into Qian Heng, who had suddenly stopped in front of her.

Qian Heng glanced at her. “Can you not walk properly?”

Cheng Yao apologized profusely.

“Give it here.”

“Huh?”

“Your luggage,” Qian Heng said irritably. “Hand it over, before you crash into me again, luggage and all, because you can’t be bothered to watch where you’re going.”

Before Cheng Yao could react, her hand went slack, and Qian Heng had already wrested her suitcase away without a word.

Now that Qian Heng had stuffed the Pikachu into his newly bought suitcase, he had returned once more to his usual aloof, untouchable elegance. Cheng Yao trailed along dutifully behind her boss, texting Li Mengting to sort out where and when to meet for dinner that evening.

They hadn’t walked far before Qian Heng stopped again.

His handsome brows furrowed slightly, and he said, with an air of studied nonchalance, “Given your contribution to winning that Pikachu, I suppose I wouldn’t be entirely opposed to treating you to dinner tonight. There’s a very good Japanese restaurant near Jiayan Center Plaza…”

“No need, no need.”

Qian Heng smiled magnanimously. “It’s fine. It’s nothing to me — you needn’t feel any pressure about it.”

“No, no, boss.” Cheng Yao pointed at her phone. “I already made plans with a friend tonight.”

“Oh.” Qian Heng looked toward a potted plant not far off and said, in a casual tone, “Gu Beiqing?”

Cheng Yao, her mind elsewhere, said, “It’s not him. A college roommate.”

“Oh.” For some reason, Qian Heng seemed to have fallen in love with that potted plant, continuing to stare at it unblinkingly while adding, as if in passing, “Given what just happened with Tang Bing, don’t let your guard down just because it’s a college friend — and especially don’t drink…”

“It’s fine, it’s my old roommate and her boyfriend.” Cheng Yao laughed. “She’s getting married!”

“Oh.”

Even though it was still just a single-syllable “oh,” Cheng Yao felt, without quite knowing why, that this particular “oh” carried a slightly better mood than the previous two…

But when she looked up at Qian Heng, his face was as composed and expressionless as ever, betraying no trace of emotion, leaving Cheng Yao to wonder if she’d imagined it.

What did catch her attention, though, was how intently he’d been staring at that potted plant. “Boss, that’s a money tree. If you like it that much, want me to buy you one?”

Unfortunately, her thoughtfulness earned no praise from Qian Heng, who merely raised an eyebrow and glanced at her. “Do I need a money tree to make money?”

“…”

Right, well, goodbye then, Cheng Yao thought — she’d been overthinking it after all!

After parting ways with Qian Heng, Cheng Yao headed straight to the restaurant Li Mengting had chosen. As it happened, the Japanese restaurant Qian Heng had so generously offered to take her to, and the one Li Mengting and Zhang Hao had picked, turned out to be one and the same.

The atmosphere was pleasant, with private rooms and good privacy.

Li Mengting was already waiting in the private room, and the moment she spotted Cheng Yao, she waved and smiled.

She hadn’t changed much — her complexion glowed with good health, though she’d clearly put on some weight, likely from living such a comfortable, happy life.

“Rat’s still at work, he’ll come a bit later. Let’s chat for now.” Once she’d finished ordering, Li Mengting looked up at Cheng Yao and said, seriously, “Yaoyao, you feel different somehow now.”

Cheng Yao sipped her Japanese green tea, puzzled. “What do you mean?”

“Just now, when you walked in wearing that suit and those thin high heels, I froze for a second — like we suddenly weren’t from the same world anymore.” Li Mengting thought it over. “You look like one of those elite professionals from American TV shows now. Like you’ve… transformed.”

Cheng Yao laughed. “It hasn’t even been that long since you last saw me, and I’ve already ‘transformed’? What do you think I am, a caterpillar? Complete metamorphosis or incomplete metamorphosis?”

Li Mengting scratched her head. “I don’t know how else to put it, it’s just a feeling — like you’re not fresh out of school and green anymore. The second you walked in, you just looked so composed, so confident.”

“All right, all right, quit teasing me.” Cheng Yao laughed too. “Though honestly, these past few months I’ve learned more than I did in the whole previous year. My boss actually puts real effort into training me, and his skills are excellent.”

“Isn’t your boss that notorious troublemaker in the field?”

“He’s actually not bad, really.”

The Li Mengting sitting across from her clearly didn’t believe a word of it. She had, after all, graduated from law school herself, and even though she’d never practiced, she’d heard plenty about Qian Heng’s reputation.

Cheng Yao smiled, deciding it would take too long to explain, and changed the subject. “Never mind me — tell me about you. How did you decide to get married? How did Rat propose? Did you at least make him work for it before saying yes?”

“Propose what?” Li Mengting laughed too. “We’ve been together for years already, why would there be a proposal? His job’s stable now, we just bought a wedding apartment together, the timing was right, so it just happened naturally — we registered the marriage.”

Cheng Yao was a little surprised. She’d always felt that for most people, marriage only happens once in a lifetime — something so precious and rare shouldn’t go without a proposal. Even if it was just a formality, it was something plenty of girls had been dreaming about since childhood.

But looking at the happiness written all over Li Mengting’s face, she decided not to say anything more.

Well, whatever — only the person in it truly knows how warm or cold a relationship feels. As long as she was happy in the relationship, whether there’d been a proposal or not really didn’t matter.

“Rat and I are already planning the wedding banquet. We’re aiming for next month. We’re holding it in City A — both our hometowns are too far away, too inconvenient.” Li Mengting smiled. “We’re planning to invite you and a few other close classmates, plus Rat’s coworkers. Get ready for my red envelope bomb.”

Wedding banquets typically took at least half a year, if not longer, to prepare. Cheng Yao chatted with Li Mengting fairly often, and yet Li Mengting had never once mentioned marriage before now — and here she was, already registered, with the banquet planned for next month. It all felt rushed, unlike Li Mengting’s usual style…

Cheng Yao looked again at Li Mengting, who was dressed in loose clothing and had clearly rounded out in the face, and a thought suddenly struck her. “Are you…?” she said, gesturing at her own belly.

Li Mengting glanced at her, a little bashful. “Your eyes are too sharp, aren’t they?” She pressed her lips together and laughed. “I was hoping to fool you a bit longer. Rat said sitting like this, with the belly hidden, you couldn’t really tell — just thought I’d put on a little weight.”

“Come on, stand up and let me see.”

Li Mengting braced herself on the table and stood, and only then, with the table no longer hiding her, could Cheng Yao make out the slight curve of her belly if she looked closely.

“How many months?”

“Three months.” Li Mengting rubbed her belly, smiling happily. “Twins.”

Cheng Yao put on an exaggerated look of misery. “You’re about to be a mother, and I don’t even have a boyfriend…”

Li Mengting laughed. “Go on, you get to stay a single beautiful maiden — I’m the married woman now.”

The two of them, not having seen each other in a while, chattered on happily, reminiscing about old classmates and catching up on gossip, and half an hour slipped by before Zhang Hao finally arrived, running a bit late.

He greeted Cheng Yao with a smile and sat down.

After sitting down, he didn’t join in much of the conversation between Cheng Yao and Li Mengting, aside from the occasional remark, but he paid close attention to Li Mengting — refilling her water the moment her cup ran low, always swapping in warm water the instant it cooled before letting her drink it. As for tea and coffee, which aren’t good for pregnant women, he firmly kept the willful Li Mengting from touching them. As the dishes came out one by one, Zhang Hao barely ate himself, instead constantly putting food in Li Mengting’s bowl and fussing over her. The very picture of a model husband.

This came as quite a surprise to Cheng Yao.

She’d known Zhang Hao for a long time. He’d studied IT, and back in college he’d been an almost hopelessly awkward guy — more comfortable around computers than people, dense as a brick. It was only Li Mengting who’d genuinely seen the good in him.

Even after they’d dated for years, his innately awkward personality had never seemed to be “trained out” of him. Back when Cheng Yao and Li Mengting had still shared an apartment, she’d heard Li Mengting complain about Zhang Hao almost daily.

“This guy Zhang Hao has no idea how to take care of anyone.”

“Zhang Hao doesn’t know how to dote on people at all.”

“I told him I hadn’t eaten lunch, and he was right nearby, and he didn’t even think to order me delivery.”

“I had a cold, could barely talk, and all he said was drink more hot water — didn’t even think to come see me or take me to the doctor!”

Cheng Yao recalled all those complaints and compared them to the “brand-new” Zhang Hao sitting before her now, and couldn’t help but find it a little amusing.

Apparently, getting married, becoming an expectant father, and getting some seasoning in the workplace had finally managed to knock some sense into this blockhead.

Li Mengting clearly noticed Cheng Yao’s gaze. She nudged Zhang Hao, then explained with a smile, “Rat’s whole personality changed this past month, he’s so attentive now, I basically don’t have to do anything at home anymore.” She thought about it, then added, “He’s doing great at work too, just got promoted again. Too bad the raise comes with more work — he often has to keep working after hours, and sometimes even brings work home, so we barely get to talk sometimes.”

Though the sudden shift to such a considerate Zhang Hao gave Cheng Yao a hard-to-shake sense of unease, seeing Li Mengting so wrapped up in happiness, she was sincerely glad for her. For a man to change his whole way of doing things for someone, he must truly love her.

…

For the rest of the meal, it was mostly Li Mengting and Cheng Yao talking, with Zhang Hao occasionally glancing at his phone, tending to Li Mengting now and then. All in all, the three of them got along smoothly.

When it was time to leave, Zhang Hao stood, took Li Mengting’s arm, shielded her belly, draped his own coat over her shoulders, and even kissed her forehead, murmuring something to her with a smile.

Watching the two of them walk away, supporting each other, Cheng Yao felt strangely healed.

Ever since joining Junheng, whether it was cases she’d handled herself or ones she’d overheard colleagues discussing, it was always people tearing each other apart over property or interests, some of it ugly enough to make you question human nature. None of these clients lacked for money — and yet Cheng Yao felt that even with several hundred million in the bank, none of it compared to the warmth of Li Mengting and Zhang Hao holding hands amid life’s simple, everyday moments.

A person doesn’t need to be rich, but having someone who loves you and whom you love in return — that’s a treasure more precious than anything else.