Under the driver’s hesitant gaze, Qi Xi forced out a smile. “It’s my dad’s car. I wanted to surprise him.”

The driver didn’t press further, instead launching into a story about his own daughter. “You young people, always up to this kind of thing. My daughter came back from boarding school a few days ago without any warning, said she wanted to surprise me for my birthday…”

He was clearly in good spirits, but Qi Xi had lost all interest in conversation. Her eyes were fixed entirely on Qi Ruiming’s car ahead, her mind a chaotic tangle of nerves. Hands trembling, she texted Zhao Yiran to say something had come up and she’d be back a little late, telling her to go wait at the coffee shop.

She sent the message distractedly, not even bothering to check the reply.

She felt completely fractured, unmoored. Her father’s suspicious movements—could he really be having an affair?

If it were true, what then? What about her mother?

Caught in this cycle of dread and anguish, Qi Xi watched as the taxi driver tailed her father’s car, craning her neck to look. At least there was some small comfort—Qi Ruiming’s car appeared to have no one else in it.

Her father clearly wasn’t heading home. He drove straight toward Rong City’s most upscale shopping district, then found street parking along the luxury-brand strip.

Qi Xi quickly paid and got out of the taxi as well.

She confirmed again that there was indeed no one else in her father’s car. Luckily, because of the rain, he pulled an umbrella from the trunk and opened it, which blocked his view—he never noticed Qi Xi trailing furtively behind him.

She watched as her father walked straight into the Hermès store.

There were no other customers inside, and if Qi Xi barged in, she’d be far too conspicuous, bound to give herself away. Fortunately, the storefront windows were bright and transparent enough, and it was clear her father wasn’t there to browse—he seemed to be picking up something he’d already reserved.

Qi Xi watched a sales associate greet him with obvious familiarity, then retrieve a bag from a display case. To verify it on the spot, the associate unwrapped the dust bag right there, showing him every angle and detail of the piece. Qi Ruiming glanced it over briefly, nodded, and Qi Xi watched him pay without any hesitation.

Qi Xi wasn’t particularly extravagant herself—she’d never bought a luxury-brand bag in her life—but that didn’t mean she knew nothing about Hermès. Their bags were notoriously hard to get, especially rare or limited editions; buying one seemed to require some kind of purchase quota system, and because the waitlists were so long, many in-stock bags got resold for two to three times retail or more.

Qi Xi had no idea which model her father had just walked out with, so she could only wait and watch as he left with his bag.

Qi Ruiming looked to be in an excellent mood. He placed the Hermès shopping bag in the trunk, but instead of heading straight home, he strolled further down the street. Qi Xi followed at a careful distance in the rain, until she saw him enter a flower shop and buy a bouquet, then afterward stop at a nearby dessert shop for something sweet.

Once he’d finished his purchases, he got back in the car and drove off.

Qi Xi’s heart was in turmoil. The rain had grown heavy, and without an umbrella, she was soaked through, looking thoroughly bedraggled. The wind picked up and she shivered with cold, but she barely registered any of it. Finding a covered doorway to shelter in, she stubbornly began scrolling through Hermès listings online.

Fortunately, the internet didn’t disappoint. Within about fifteen minutes, she’d identified the exact bag her father had bought.

It was the second-generation crocodile-leather Mini Kelly.

Apparently, when this bag was released, Hermès enthusiasts went wild for it. Even the standard leather version was already highly sought-after, but the crocodile version was nearly impossible to obtain, with resale prices running many times the retail cost.

For her father to have gotten one today meant he must have placed the order at least six months in advance, and the price alone would have started at around two hundred thousand yuan.

Qi Xi suddenly felt lightheaded.

Two hundred thousand yuan. She was still a salaried associate lawyer—her entire annual take-home pay didn’t even reach that amount.

Her thoughts were a mess. She didn’t even know what she was thinking anymore, just made her way back to her rented apartment in a daze and opened the door.

The state she was in startled Zhao Yiran. “Oh my god, did you not bring an umbrella? Why are you so soaked? Go take a shower right now!”

But showering was the last thing on Qi Xi’s mind. She just wrapped herself in a blanket and wiped herself down haphazardly, still caught up in a swirl of disbelief, anxiety, and pain. But no matter what, if her father really was having an affair, her mother deserved to know everything.

She thought of the pain and devastation Old Dong’s wife had gone through, which she’d learned about through the Yuanchen investigation, and for the first time felt herself hesitate. With Old Dong’s affair, even amid intense inner conflict, Qi Xi’s scale had ultimately tipped toward her professional duty—professional ethics required her to report his conduct, and his wife finding out had simply been a consequence that followed. But now…

Now, what she’d witnessed had nothing to do with her profession. There was no strong professional obligation pulling her toward either side of the scale.

Her mother certainly deserved to know everything—but could she handle a blow and upheaval like this? Should Qi Xi confront her father herself first and sort this out? Or something else?

Her thoughts were a tangled mess, and just as she was about to call her mother, as if by some telepathic coincidence, Xi Wen called first.

Qi Xi picked up, and Xi Wen’s voice came through. “Xixi, did you make it to where you’re staying? Why hasn’t your mom’s WeChat gotten any reply—I was starting to worry something happened to you!”

Hearing that familiar voice, Qi Xi’s nose stung with sudden emotion. “Mom!”

Xi Wen sounded puzzled. “What’s wrong? Did something happen? Don’t be scared, you can tell us anything. Your dad just got home too.”

Qi Xi had originally meant to tell her mother about the afternoon’s events, but hearing that her father was already home, she paused. “Dad’s home?”

“Yes, he’s back. Even brought me a bouquet and some dessert. Honestly, I keep telling him this kind of thing is for young people—we’re an old married couple, why bother with all this, isn’t it a waste of money? And now he’s saying he’s got some mystery gift planned for my birthday coming up, being all secretive about it.”

Xi Wen was complaining, but her tone was sweet.

This brought Qi Xi up short.

She frowned, suddenly grasping a different possibility—the flowers and dessert had been for her mother, so maybe that outrageously expensive Hermès bag was simply something he’d pre-ordered, meant to be a birthday surprise for her mother down the road? Keeping it secret now just so he could reveal it later as a birthday surprise?

That would explain everything.

Her father claimed to be at work but was actually somewhere else—maybe that was just so he could sneak off to pick up the Hermès order without anyone knowing, possibly even planning some other surprise on top of it?

The moment this thought occurred to her, Qi Xi felt a wave of shame wash over her.

Maybe she’d just handled too many divorce and affair cases as a lawyer, to the point where the slightest hint of suspicious behavior sent her spiraling into full detective mode.

Sure, her father had often been absent from family life because of work, and their relationship had grown strained in recent years partly because of his preference for sons over daughters—but jumping straight to “affair” without any cross-examined evidence, now that she thought about it, seemed like a serious overreaction on her part.

She reflected inwardly that maybe her hostility and bias toward her father ran a little stronger than was fair.

On the other end, her mother was still asking after her. “Xixi, so did anything actually happen? You made it to the apartment safely, right?”

“Yeah, I’m here.”

Feeling a little sheepish, and given how close she and her mother had always been, Qi Xi—setting aside the part about the Hermès gift—told her about following her father’s car and seeing him buy flowers and dessert, mistakenly assuming he was having an affair.

Xi Wen, hearing this, burst out laughing, and lowered her voice. “Xixi, you cannot let your dad hear this, or he’ll be furious—working himself to the bone out there, only to get accused of cheating by his own daughter. I don’t know what goes on in that head of yours all day.”

Qi Xi mumbled, “Who knows, maybe men are just naturally inclined to cheat, that’s why I stay on guard all the time. And you have to keep a tight leash on them, or they won’t dare stray! I think you’re way too lax with Dad—you never check up on him, never make sure he’s actually where he says he is.”

Her mother seemed to step away from the living room, probably into a room by herself, her voice returning to normal volume. “Why do you spend so much time thinking about this stuff?”

“Even if every man in the world cheated, your father absolutely wouldn’t.” Xi Wen’s voice was full of confidence. “Think about it—does your dad ever dress up or take care of himself? For the past decade-plus he’s been obsessed with saving money for work, won’t even listen when I tell him to take better care of himself, won’t spend a cent on his own appearance. You really think he’d spend money on another woman? What woman would even want him? Surely not for his looks.”

That was actually true. Qi Ruiming had looked decent enough in his younger years, but as his work pressure mounted, working around the clock, he’d aged rapidly these past few years—developed a beer belly, his hair had thinned from constant late nights, and he permanently had listless dark circles under his eyes. He genuinely had no extravagant hobbies either, still driving the same Japanese compact car he’d had for seven or eight years—nothing like someone who spent freely once he had money.

Xi Wen, by contrast, having always been a comfortably provided-for full-time homemaker with healthy routines and good self-care, looked, standing next to Qi Ruiming, like she could pass for ten years younger despite being the same age.

And even though their financial situation had steadily improved, Qi Xi couldn’t deny that her father was, at heart, quite tight with money. Whenever she wanted to buy anything even slightly pricey, he’d nag about it endlessly. For him to spend two hundred thousand yuan on an Hermès bag for her mother—that was true love, honestly.

Qi Xi let out a breath of relief, realizing she really had been overthinking things.

She said a cheerful goodbye to her mother, and finally, with a clear mind and no more lingering worries, ran off to take a hot shower.

**

By the time Qi Xi realized it had all been a false alarm and finally had the mood to finish showering and drying her hair before flopping onto her bed, she discovered her phone was already flooded with unread messages and missed calls from Gu Yan.

At first, they were his usual casual check-ins—

“Are you up? I’m reading case files, so boring.”

“Made lunch myself, tried a new recipe I found online, turned out pretty good, I’ll make it for you next time.”

“What are you up to? Chatting with your parents? I’m back to reading case files, still boring.”

…

Apparently, since Qi Xi hadn’t replied, Gu Yan’s messages had gradually turned into something closer to talking to himself. He’d sent a few photos of the case files he was reading, complete with his own commentary, and then started sharing his latest playlist and a few books he found interesting.

Reading through them, Qi Xi found herself thinking Gu Yan was really quite funny—clearly wanting to chat with her, but never saying so outright, instead dropping constant hints through lines like “reading case files, so boring” and “not sure what to do with myself.”

Unfortunately, though Qi Xi caught his hints perfectly well, she’d spent the morning busy talking with her mother, and the afternoon dealing with the whole false-alarm affair scare, so she hadn’t had a chance to check her phone at all.

By the afternoon, having received no response from Qi Xi whatsoever, Gu Yan’s messages began taking on a distinctly wounded tone, no longer bothering to hide his feelings—

“Why haven’t you replied yet?”

“Qi Xi.”

“Qi Xi, I miss you a little.”

“Qi Xi, I want to call you.”

…

Accompanying this last message was a missed call from him.

None of what Gu Yan had actually written was particularly over-the-top, but reading through it, Qi Xi still felt her face warm up.

This time, she didn’t leave him waiting any longer. She called him directly.

The phone had barely rung once before he picked up.

Gu Yan’s low, pleasant voice came through, stretching out his words like a child throwing a mildly unreasonable tantrum—

“Qi Xi, so you finally remembered you have a boyfriend.”

Qi Xi didn’t respond to that, just asked, “Where are you right now?”

Gu Yan paused for a second, then answered, “At home, of course.”

Then, sounding a little sulky, he added, “My weekends aren’t exactly thrilling. Just at home reading case files, waiting for you to call.”

Even without a response from Qi Xi, Gu Yan wasn’t done confessing his feelings. “Qi Xi, I miss you a lot.” He sounded almost resigned about it. “Even if you don’t miss me, I still miss you.”

What an idiot.

Qi Xi didn’t hesitate any longer. She started gathering her things. “Give me half an hour.”

“What?”

She laughed. “In half an hour, come meet me at the entrance to your complex.”

Gu Yan paused, then his voice came back sounding genuinely startled. “You’re coming over? But it’s late now, and it’s raining—won’t it be unsafe?”

“Gu Yan.”

“Yeah?”

“Never mind all that. Just answer me one thing—do you want me to come, or not?”

There was a moment of silence on the other end. Finally, Gu Yan spoke, and said: yes, he did.

Qi Xi’s face grew even warmer, her heart beating a little faster. She muttered, “Then I’ll just come, won’t I?”

Gu Yan, who moments ago had been warning her about how unsafe it was to go out in the rain at night, immediately said, “Then wait for me where you’re staying, I’ll drive over and pick you up.”

“No.”

Qi Xi rejected the idea almost instantly.

Gu Yan sounded genuinely surprised. “Why not?”

She bit her lip, lowering her voice. “Because it’s raining—if you drive over, traffic will be terrible.”

Gu Yan said, quite earnestly, “I don’t mind.”

“But I do.” Qi Xi’s face was flushed, her voice growing softer and softer. “You’d spend half an hour stuck in traffic getting here, then another half hour driving us back—that’s a whole hour. And I don’t want to wait a whole hour just to get to your place. I want it to be as fast as possible.”

“Because I miss you too.”