Qi Xi felt her emotions turn strange in a way she found hard to put into words. Trying to shake off this reaction she couldn’t quite get a handle on, she lowered her head and decided to change the subject, offering a heartfelt thank-you along the way: “Gu Yan, thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.” Gu Yan actually seemed a bit uncomfortable, answering briefly. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

“I really owe you.” Qi Xi thanked him again. “I’m fine now—you should probably hurry back and finish getting your hair cut.”

Gu Yan gave a small “mm” and turned to leave.

Zhao Yiran came over and hugged Qi Xi again. “God, that scared me to death. I’m so glad you’re okay. But I think we’re going to need to find a new place to live—now that thug knows this address, if he ever gets out and decides to retaliate, it’s still pretty dangerous. I’ll start looking for a new place, but it’ll probably take some time—rentals have been hard to find lately, so it won’t happen fast. In the meantime we’ll need somewhere else to stay for the next few days. I’ve got an aunt who lives nearby—I can ask if we can crash at her place for a bit. What about you? You’re a local—do you want to just go stay with your family?”

The moment Zhao Yiran mentioned going home, Qi Xi frowned, her tone firm. “I’m not going home. The whole reason I moved out was to prove to my dad that I could support myself, that I didn’t need his money, that I could manage on my own income. If I went back now, he’d just see it as me crawling back in defeat, begging for help. He’d definitely think it meant he could control my life again, start arranging blind dates for me all over again.”

Zhao Yiran looked worried. “So where are you going to stay?”

Still a bit dazed from the ordeal she’d just been through, Qi Xi wasn’t really in the headspace to think it through, answering somewhat absently. “I’ll ask around with some of my other female classmates in a bit, see if anyone can take me in.”

As she said this, Qi Xi pulled out her phone, intending to message a few college friends she was still close with. But before she could even start typing, Gu Yan, who’d been about to leave and was standing by the door, stopped her.

“Don’t bother asking.”

Qi Xi looked up at him, curious. “Why not?”

“My sister has a spare room. You can stay there.” Gu Yan cleared his throat, sounding deliberately casual. “She lives alone and travels a lot, so she’s barely there. She’s actually been wanting someone to help keep an eye on the place, collect packages, tidy up a bit. If you don’t mind, you can stay there temporarily until you and Zhao Yiran find a new place. It’s just a short-term stay, so there’s no rent either.”

Gu Yan pressed his lips together. “My sister’s not exactly hurting for money anyway.”

After Qi Xi double- and triple-confirmed that Gu Xuehan really wouldn’t mind, and that she genuinely did want someone to look after and clean the empty apartment, she was more than happy to accept. “Then let me call Attorney Gu to confirm and thank her…”

Before she could finish, Gu Yan cut her off. “No need. I’ll call her.”

With that, the man pulled out his phone and dialed the number himself.

Gu Yan walked a little ways off while making the call, so Qi Xi couldn’t hear what Gu Xuehan was saying on the other end—she could only hear Gu Yan’s side of the conversation.

He launched in almost the instant the call connected: “Hey, sis, don’t you often travel for work and not stay at the Chenping Road place, and weren’t you looking for someone to stay there and keep an eye on it? Well, Qi Xi’s run into a situation and needs somewhere to stay temporarily, so I’m having her stay at your place tonight. You don’t need to rush back for the packages—just book a hotel somewhere. Okay, that’s it, bye.”

This was the first time Qi Xi had realized Gu Yan could talk that fast in one continuous stream. At that speed, he hadn’t even given Gu Xuehan a chance to get a word in—and from the sound of it, she really hadn’t gotten one.

After hanging up, Gu Yan looked at Qi Xi. “My sister says that’s great—turns out she wasn’t planning to go home tonight anyway, and she needs someone to collect her packages. She’s happy to have you stay tonight, and she won’t be staying there herself for a while.”

In such a short window, had Gu Xuehan really managed to respond that fast?

The confusion must have been obvious on Qi Xi’s face, because Gu Yan cleared his throat and added, “Oh, she talks fast, you know how it is—lawyers are always racing against the clock out of habit. For a call like this that’s not billable work, my sister always wants to wrap it up in about a second.”

Ah, that made sense. Still…

“But if I remember right, didn’t Attorney Gu not have any travel planned recently? And doesn’t she live with you? Isn’t that why you couldn’t bring dessert home last time, because she said she was dieting and would lose control and eat it, then yell at you?”

The question caught Gu Yan off guard for a moment, but only a moment—quickly, he explained with calm certainty: “She added a last-minute business trip. The information might not have reached you yet, so you wouldn’t know. As for living together—to be precise, we live close by, but not together. She just comes by often to check on me.”

Ah, I see.

With Gu Xuehan’s approval secured, Qi Xi’s mood improved. “Thanks so much, Gu Yan. And thank Attorney Gu too.”

Genuinely grateful, Qi Xi resolved to thank Gu Xuehan in person the next time they met.

**

There was no time to waste. Qi Xi quickly packed a few essentials and some clothes, then went with Gu Yan by taxi to Gu Xuehan’s empty apartment.

Gu Yan entered the passcode for Qi Xi, told her the code, and gave her a brief rundown of the apartment’s amenities. “Get some rest. Go to bed early.”

With that, he turned to head for the door, about to leave. But just as he opened it, he stopped and called back to her, his gaze dropping slightly to the floor. “Oh, forgot to mention—this floor only has two units, and I live right next door.”

Qi Xi had already heard that Gu Yan lived close to his sister, but she hadn’t expected it to be quite this close. Siblings living right next to each other, close enough to look out for one another without getting in each other’s way—how convenient. Qi Xi couldn’t help but think, being rich really does make life easier.

Just then, Gu Yan spoke again—

“You can change the passcode yourself if you’d like, to something easier for you to remember. You can change it back before you move out once you find a new place.”

Qi Xi blinked, a bit surprised and confused by this sudden, unrelated topic. Why bring up changing the passcode now?

A little distracted, she said, “No need. I have a good memory, I’ll remember this code fine, no need to change it.”

But the moment she said that, Gu Yan gave her a look that seemed to say he couldn’t decide whether to call her clever or dense.

The man sighed. “I genuinely can’t tell if you’re smart or slow sometimes.”

“?”

Gu Yan didn’t say anything more, but looking somewhat uneasy about it, he pulled Qi Xi over to the door. “Go ahead and change the passcode yourself now. I won’t look while you do it.”

Because of Gu Yan’s insistence, Qi Xi found herself, bewildered, changing the electronic passcode.

Once she’d finished, Gu Yan finally seemed to relax, giving her a glance. “I’m off to get my hair cut. Call me if you need anything.”

Poor Gu Yan—campus heartthrob that he was, walking around half the day with that lopsided haircut.

Once she’d seen Gu Yan off, Qi Xi finally took a moment to really look around Gu Xuehan’s apartment—it wasn’t dirty exactly, just a bit cluttered, especially the bookshelf.

Still, Gu Yan had been right—Gu Xuehan clearly barely lived here at all. A quick look around revealed pitifully few everyday items, and almost no trace that a woman actually lived there. If anything, the apartment looked less like Gu Xuehan’s home and more like Gu Yan’s overflow storage room—it was packed with plenty of his own belongings, including his old bar exam study materials.

It seemed that, taking advantage of his sister rarely staying here, Gu Yan had expanded his own territory into her place, mooching plenty of space to store his books and off-season clothing and bedding.

Since she was staying here anyway, Qi Xi wanted to help out somehow. After the fright she’d had that afternoon, there was no way she’d be falling asleep right away regardless, so she figured she might as well help tidy up the bookshelf for Gu Xuehan.

It was only partway through tidying up that Qi Xi suddenly grasped the real reason behind Gu Yan’s insistence on changing the passcode.

Was he…

Feeling a rush of indignation, Qi Xi couldn’t help herself—she picked up the phone and called Gu Yan.

Gu Yan picked up quickly. “Hello? What’s up?”

He had the nerve to ask what was up!

Qi Xi said, annoyed, “Gu Yan, what kind of ungrateful person do you think I am?”

On the other end, Gu Yan was clearly caught off guard.

“You just had me change the passcode because you thought—since you live right across from me and know the code to this place—I’d be worried you might sneak in here in the middle of the night with bad intentions, is that it?” Qi Xi said, a little hurt. “Is that really the kind of person you think I am? You think I’d assume that about you? That I’d distrust your character and stay on guard against you? If that were the case, I wouldn’t even have agreed to stay at Attorney Gu’s place in the first place.”

Gu Yan clearly hadn’t expected this to be the reason for the call, his tone turning a bit exasperated. “Someone handed you a love letter and you tore into me about it in your graduation speech—how could I not take precautions on my own initiative?”

He sounded a little put out. “Aren’t your grades supposed to be good? You were sharp and quick-witted when you were cursing me out that day—how does your brain suddenly go dull when it comes to other things? Can’t you have a little more guard up around men?”

Qi Xi had thought her whole speech was an indirect way of praising Gu Yan’s character, expressing her trust in him—she hadn’t expected her compliment to backfire so badly. Instead of being pleased, Gu Yan turned around and started lecturing her—

“Is a person’s perception of someone else always accurate? Just because you think I’m a good person, does that automatically make me one? Does that mean I really couldn’t ever use the passcode to let myself into your place in the middle of the night?”

“You wouldn’t!” Qi Xi said firmly. “You definitely wouldn’t, because you already have a girl you like! You like her so much—how could you possibly have any inappropriate thoughts about anyone else? You’ve got so much going for you, if your resolve weren’t strong, with so many people interested in you, you’d have moved on ages ago.”

Gu Yan paused, clearly not expecting this answer. He pressed his lips together, falling silent for a moment, before looking away and saying, “Of course I wouldn’t do something like that with a clear head. But what if I got drunk? Have you thought about what might happen then?”

Qi Xi blinked. “If it were the girl you actually liked staying in this apartment, then maybe, if you got drunk, you might do something reckless.”

“Mm.”

Rather unusually, Gu Yan actually agreed with what she’d said, his tone complicated. After that “mm,” he fell silent. Qi Xi waited a moment, but heard nothing further from him—instead, she heard the call get disconnected…

What was with this man?

Just as Qi Xi was puzzling over it, she heard a knock at the door, along with Gu Yan’s voice—

“Open up. I’m right outside.”

Qi Xi opened the door, and sure enough, there was Gu Yan, looking thoroughly put out. “Not calling anymore.” He held something in one hand, the other tucked in his pocket. “We’re right next to each other. No point wasting my phone bill.”

Gu Yan had finished getting his hair cut by now. Dressed casually, likely right outside his own front door, he looked completely relaxed, carrying a bit of languid ease along with his natural air of privilege—less like a lawyer, more like some wealthy young heir, leaning against the doorframe as he looked at Qi Xi.

Qi Xi wasn’t sure why, but lately she often felt oddly guilty under Gu Yan’s gaze. Almost instinctively, she looked away, and not knowing how to respond, she laughed awkwardly and rambled on with the earlier topic instead. “Why are you making yourself sound so bad? I still trust your character, and besides, we’ve got a rock-solid friendship here—as if you’d actually sneak in here in the middle of the night. So it really doesn’t matter whether I change the passcode or not. Gu Yan, have a little more confidence in yourself.”

Gu Yan walked into the apartment, his voice sounding a bit distracted. “You have more confidence in me than I have in myself.”

With that, he set down the thing he’d been carrying on the table.

It was only then that Qi Xi noticed he’d been holding a bag of takeout.

Gu Yan said casually, “I was grabbing dinner anyway, so I got you a portion too.”

Qi Xi felt a bit embarrassed. “Thanks for the trouble, though honestly I could’ve just found something in the fridge to throw together.”

Gu Yan opened the fridge, expressionless. “Don’t bother. It’s empty.”

“…”

Qi Xi stared at the truly empty fridge, at a loss for words. There really was no trace of Attorney Gu’s daily life here at all—it really was more like Gu Yan’s personal storage unit.

Still, now that she’d caught the smell of the takeout, Qi Xi realized she was actually hungry. She didn’t bother standing on ceremony with Gu Yan any longer and immediately unwrapped the food to eat.

Except when she opened the container and saw what was inside, Qi Xi couldn’t help frowning. “Gu Yan, do you think I’m a pig? Why is there so much? What a waste of money!”

Gu Yan stayed perfectly composed. “I had no idea how much you could actually eat, so I estimated based on what I figured your appetite would be. Better to buy too much food than too little—otherwise you’d wake up hungry in the middle of the night and come pounding on my door demanding food, and then where would my sleep be? Consider it money well spent for peace of mind.”

Qi Xi could only roll her eyes internally, though the food itself was innocent in all this. Gu Yan clearly had good taste—the place he’d ordered from didn’t even have a shop name or brand on the packaging, looking rather unofficial, but the food itself was genuinely excellent.

Except…

“Why is there a box of chocolate and milk candy along with the food?”

“Oh, that was free with the order.”

What kind of takeout place gives out something like that as a freebie???

Qi Xi found it a bit strange, glancing at Gu Yan. “So you’re not going to eat any yourself? Don’t you like sweets?”

“You eat it.” Gu Yan glanced at her. “I should get going if there’s nothing else.”

But then Qi Xi suddenly remembered something. “Wait! Didn’t you say before that you live with your parents, so you couldn’t bring durian home because they hate the smell? But you don’t live with just your parents—your sister lives right next door too…”

Gu Yan paused for a moment, then said with sudden composure, “Oh, my parents just moved out. I really was living with them before—what a coincidence, they just moved out recently.”

Qi Xi brightened. “So now you can finally enjoy durian all you want by yourself—”

Before she could finish the question, Gu Yan cut her off almost desperately. “No, I still can’t.” Without giving her a chance to finish, he pressed on, “I still can’t eat durian alone, because my parents might drop by unannounced sometimes. So please, whatever you do, don’t buy me durian. My mom’s allergic to durian. My dad’s allergic to durian. My sister’s allergic to durian too. It’s the kind of allergy that gets triggered just by seeing it.”

As if afraid Qi Xi wouldn’t remember, he repeated himself once more. “Don’t buy durian.”

Fine, then…

Qi Xi almost felt sorry for him at this point—who would’ve thought he loved durian so much, yet his whole family was allergic. Rough luck.

“Alright, I won’t buy any then. Next time I’ll take you out somewhere just the two of us—I saw a durian hot pot place recently!”

Gu Yan’s face showed genuine shock. “Durian hot pot?!” His expression turned complicated. “There’s such a bizarre… such a novel kind of hot pot?”

“Yeah!” Qi Xi said, already reaching for her phone. “No time like the present—want to grab that for a late-night snack?”

“No need!” Gu Yan stopped her almost instantly, apparently realizing how urgent he sounded, quickly clearing his throat to compose himself. “You really shouldn’t spend so much. You’re bound to owe your old landlord some penalty for breaking the lease, and you’ll need a deposit for the new place too. You’ve got a lot of expenses coming up—don’t waste money.”

Good point!

“By the way, when’s Attorney Gu’s package supposed to arrive? Didn’t you say I needed to collect one for her tonight?”

Gu Yan paused, then said with composure, “Oh, that package—the delivery guy fell.”

Qi Xi nodded. “Delivery workers have it rough these days. So it’ll arrive in a few days then?”

Gu Yan said calmly, “Probably not. He fell into a river, the package got ruined, so my sister returned it.”

“…” Was there really such a thing as an ill-fated package! Qi Xi felt a little sorry for Gu Xuehan, figuring she must be having some bad luck lately.

“Remember to eat the sweets.” Gu Yan glanced at her, changing the subject, looking away as he did. “Sweets help calm your nerves and help you sleep. Go ahead and eat them. I’m really leaving this time.”

Calm her nerves? What nerves?

With that, Gu Yan opened the door and left without another word.

It was only after she heard the door close that Qi Xi belatedly registered what he’d said.

Calm her nerves. Right.

She’d been through quite the rollercoaster of a day, and had genuinely been shaken by it. But somehow, having a place to stay at Gu Xuehan’s apartment, a full meal in her stomach, and Gu Yan right next door now, Qi Xi found she wasn’t actually all that scared anymore.

Unable to sleep, she pulled a legal analysis book about the Cave Case off the shelf. Before she could even open it, a piece of paper suddenly fell out.

Qi Xi hadn’t meant to snoop—she didn’t even know what was on the paper, assuming it was just a bookmark someone had tucked in absentmindedly.

But once she bent down to pick it up, she realized it wasn’t.

This was…

This was an unsent love letter of Gu Yan’s.

Qi Xi hadn’t wanted to look, but the paper wasn’t folded at all, and the moment she picked it up, Gu Yan’s bold, forceful handwriting caught her eye.

It was clearly an unfinished letter, with no signature and no salutation.

But Qi Xi knew it was Gu Yan’s.

Because ever since the mix-up at graduation, she’d gone and compared his actual handwriting to be sure. His handwriting was distinctive and attractive—she wouldn’t have mistaken it.

Her heart began racing. Almost without thinking, she quickly tucked the paper back into the book.

Even though Gu Yan wasn’t there, Qi Xi still felt a nervous, guilty tension, as if she’d been caught doing something wrong.

Beyond that, there was also a flustered, uneasy feeling, along with something more subtle and complicated.

If he’d been reading in the library, that meant the girl Gu Yan liked went to their school—meaning Gu Yan had quietly followed her to the library, quietly pining for her from where she couldn’t see him…

Somehow, that didn’t seem like him at all.

But the contrast, while surprising to Qi Xi, also left her a little unhappy.

Which meant that the rare times she’d heard Gu Yan had gone to the library, he hadn’t actually been there to study? He’d been there to watch his crush?

Qi Xi felt she had every right to be annoyed—it turned out Gu Yan had beaten her without even trying. She’d been busting her back studying in the library, while Gu Yan had been busy trying to woo someone else there.

Did that even make sense?

She wasn’t sure what had come over her, but her mood soured like biting into an unripe plum, and almost without meaning to, she found herself dialing Gu Yan’s number again.

But by the time she heard the ringing on the other end, Qi Xi had already come back to her senses.

What was she even calling him for right now? It was so late.

Picking a fight?

The moment reason returned, Qi Xi scrambled to hang up.

But Gu Yan, it seemed, was always one step ahead of her—before she could hang up, he’d already picked up.

“I—I just wanted to ask if Attorney Gu has any of that… that…”

Flustered, Qi Xi found herself stumbling over her words, unable to finish the sentence no matter how long she stalled.

Sure enough, Gu Yan’s voice rose slightly. “Any of what?”

Panicking, Qi Xi blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “Incense! Aromatherapy incense!”

Gu Yan sounded faintly exasperated. “You’re still not asleep? Planning to light incense in the middle of the night?”

“I’m already lying in bed, but I can’t quite fall asleep,” Qi Xi said, steadying herself, making it up as she went. “So I was thinking maybe I’d light some incense before bed to help me sleep…”

“It’s not safe to burn incense all night. Don’t light it,” Gu Yan said, then paused before continuing. “Is it because of the new environment that you can’t sleep? Or is it because of what happened today, and you’re still a little scared?”

Showing vulnerability wasn’t something Qi Xi was good at or fond of doing. And yet—maybe it was the softness of the moonlight—Gu Yan’s voice gave her an oddly gentle, comforting illusion.

Qi Xi sniffed, her voice coming out a little stuffy. She wasn’t really that scared, and yet she heard herself let out a soft “mm” in response.

Then, almost without meaning to, Qi Xi heard herself make an even more presumptuous request—

“Gu Yan, can you stay and talk to me? Until I fall asleep.”

The moment the words left her mouth, Qi Xi realized how unreasonable the request sounded. Never mind that everyone’s personal time was precious—even if Gu Yan agreed, there was no telling how long it would take her to actually fall asleep. Asking someone to stay on the line until then felt awfully demanding.

Realizing how inappropriate it was, she immediately started to take it back.

But before she could say anything, she heard Gu Yan’s voice on the other end.

He said okay.