Fortunately, Qi Xi managed to catch a taxi downstairs without any trouble, and as if to set the tone for how smoothly everything else would go, there was no traffic the whole way. Half an hour later, she arrived at the entrance to Gu Yan’s complex, where he’d already been waiting.

The light rain from earlier had turned into something closer to sleet, and a thin layer of snow had already settled on his hat and coat. His fair face had gone slightly red from the cold, droplets clinging to his eyelashes and trembling faintly each time he blinked. Qi Xi watched his breath turn visibly white as it rose into the cold air.

She felt a pang of concern. “I told you it would take at least half an hour—how early did you come down to wait? It’s not like I don’t know where you live. I could’ve called you once I got to your building’s entrance.”

Bundled up thickly against the cold, looking like a warm, oversized bear, Gu Yan brushed the snow off himself and lied with zero conviction. “I just came down. Haven’t been waiting long.”

He smiled at her. “Don’t believe me? Touch my hands, they’re still warm.”

As he said this, he pulled a hand from his pocket and took hers—it really was warm. But when Qi Xi touched his face, it was ice cold.

As Gu Yan led her by the hand into the complex, she couldn’t help scolding him a little. “Honestly, you remembered to wear gloves but not a scarf? Your neck must be freezing.”

“I was thinking I couldn’t hold your hand with cold hands later, so I made sure to wear gloves.” Gu Yan looked a little embarrassed. “Really didn’t think about my neck. Now that you mention it, yeah, it does feel pretty bare and cold.”

Fortunately, they soon reached the building entrance, and once inside the elevator, the outdoor chill gradually faded.

Despite seeming so clearly eager and clingy over text, once he actually saw Qi Xi in person after her late-night visit, Gu Yan still didn’t show any obvious enthusiasm—he even started, quite seriously, updating her on the latest developments with Lin Lin’s police report, right there in the elevator—

“Her ex’s extortion and the suspected rape charge—the evidence is basically airtight. The prosecutor’s office has already gotten involved, and the arrest’s been approved. The phone and other evidence involved in the case are all in police custody now, so that scumbag ex didn’t get the chance to spread any more of Lin Lin’s private photos or videos. She’s got her parents and boyfriend with her now, and she’s doing pretty well—her depression’s even starting to improve. I ran into her in the elevator over the weekend, and she seemed a lot more upbeat.”

“That’s wonderful!”

Knowing Lin Lin was safe and that her ex was about to get what he deserved genuinely made Qi Xi happy—but underneath that happiness, she couldn’t help feeling a little put out. Here she was, sneaking over in the middle of the night for a private rendezvous, and this hopelessly clueless man was giving her a case briefing? Seriously?

The more she thought about it, the more wronged she felt. She hugged her crossbody bag tighter, thinking about how she’d blushed her way through buying condoms at the convenience store before leaving, mortified beyond belief—and now felt almost pitiful for having bothered.

But…

But wasn’t a girlfriend showing up at your place in the middle of the night itself a pretty clear hint?

Besides, they were practically in the honeymoon phase of dating—did Gu Yan really have no further intentions beyond hugging and kissing?

He was clearly so attentive to her in every other way—so why had he never once hinted at anything more?

Qi Xi felt like an anxious fox circling a vineyard, unable to figure out why the vineyard’s owner still hadn’t invited her in, starting to worry whether the grapes had some secret flaw that made them not worth eating, which was why the owner kept so tight-lipped about it.

The elevator’s chime interrupted her train of thought—they’d reached Gu Yan’s floor.

Flustered and a little embarrassed, Qi Xi stepped out of the elevator first with forced composure, walking briskly ahead as if trying to outrun the source of her own chaotic feelings.

She reached his front door a step ahead of him and turned to call his name.

She’d barely gotten out the first syllable when Gu Yan, right behind her, pushed her gently against the wall and sealed the rest of his name against her lips with a kiss. Before she could say anything else, her voice had already dissolved between their joined mouths.

The motion-sensor light outside Gu Yan’s door flickered on, triggered by that brief syllable Qi Xi had managed to get out.

In that brief flash of light, Qi Xi caught sight of his face—restrained desire mixed with something almost uncontrollably aggressive. Even the way he’d pushed her against the wall carried a hint of roughness, as if he simply couldn’t wait any longer.

Qi Xi suddenly felt all her earlier frustration and resentment melt away completely. She let him wrap his arms around her waist, gently hugging his back in return, and began kissing him in earnest.

Her crossbody bag, not properly secured, began slipping off her shoulder. She had to push him back slightly, forcing some distance between them, and said, breathless, “Gu Yan, my bag… it’s about to fall.”

Unfortunately, Gu Yan gave her no chance to fix it. He simply cupped her face and pressed her right back against the wall, kissing her again.

He stared into her eyes, and in the brief moment they had to break apart for air, pressed his nose to hers and murmured, his voice damp and coaxing, “I don’t care about the bag. I just want to kiss you.”

Qi Xi had no strength left to resist, and no desire to anymore either.

Her hands were raised above her head, pinned against the wall by his grip, all resistance gone from her lips as she yielded entirely to him.

It was a silent, deep kiss. Gradually, Qi Xi noticed his breathing growing heavier. One of his hands still held hers pinned in place, while the other began to wander along her waist, unmistakably suggestive, announcing exactly what its owner had in mind.

The hallway filled only with the soft, wet sound of kissing—not enough to trigger the motion light again, so darkness settled back over them. In that darkness, Qi Xi and Gu Yan stopped holding back, letting loose the full intensity of what they felt for each other, kissing as if they couldn’t bear to stop.

Fortunately, Gu Yan’s door was set up with both a passcode and fingerprint access, so in the end, he unlocked it with his fingerprint while still kissing her.

The way he finally got the door open was decidedly graceless—he kicked it open, then pulled her inside, arms still around her. The two of them would naturally have ended up on the couch next, except…

The lights in the apartment were already on.

Gu Yan had no choice but to reluctantly break off the kiss.

Confused, Qi Xi blinked at him, her eyes looking dewy and inviting like rain-soaked roses, her lips parted and reddened from his kisses. Her coat had already come undone, and beneath it, the V-neck cardigan she wore had two buttons at the collar undone as well, revealing the full, rounded curve of her chest.

Gu Yan hadn’t meant to look, but somehow his eyes seemed to have a will of their own, drawn helplessly toward her chest. He forced himself to look away, but hopelessly, his gaze kept drifting back to whatever had caught its interest, the constant back-and-forth only making it more obvious and deliberate.

He began regretting having left the living room lights on so bright.

Under such bright lighting, it felt like there was nowhere to hide. Qi Xi’s face burned. Seeing her look so bashful, Gu Yan watched her straighten up slightly from her previously weak-kneed posture, glancing at him with an expression that looked almost like something out of his own dreams.

If it hadn’t been for the sudden sound of a phone alarm going off from his study, Gu Yan felt that a single look like that from Qi Xi alone might have been enough to snap whatever restraint he had left completely.

But how could there possibly be a phone alarm going off in the study? He’d never set one.

His startled expression immediately put Qi Xi on alert as well—

There was someone else in Gu Yan’s apartment.

And before Qi Xi even had time to guess who it might be, a voice rang out casually from within—

“Gu Yan? You’re back. I remember you had a book on IPO preparation and operations for the growth enterprise board—I can’t find it anywhere. Come help me look in the study, I need to reference it urgently.”

Not Gu Yan’s parents—it was Gu Xuehan’s voice.

Qi Xi felt a wave of relief at first, but quickly realized that Gu Xuehan being there wasn’t much better than his parents showing up.

Her heart was racing, practically leaping out of her throat. The dazzling moment on the couch just now and this current heart-attack-inducing moment felt like two completely separate, opposite worlds—as if she’d been thrust from the height of summer straight into a snowy winter within the space of a single second.

If she had to describe it, Qi Xi felt her current state of mind was probably comparable to sneaking around with someone’s husband while his wife was away, only to nearly get caught when the wife unexpectedly came home early.

She turned to glance at Gu Yan, only to find he looked no better off than she did. Though he was usually composed and steady, right now he looked like a student who’d nearly been caught cheating on an exam, his face carrying the same mix of embarrassment and mild panic.

As if trying to compensate by sounding more confident, Gu Yan forced his still-husky voice to sound normal, though out of sheer nervousness, he ended up speaking louder than usual. “Sis, why are you here?”

“Oh. Mom and Dad made some braised dishes, asked me to bring them over for you. I also came to grab a book. I knocked and you weren’t home, so I let myself in with the spare key…” As Gu Xuehan’s voice drew closer, her figure soon appeared at the study door. Stepping out, she casually glanced up—and that’s when she spotted Qi Xi, her expression turning openly surprised. “Qi Xi? You—”

Before Gu Xuehan could even finish the question, Gu Yan cut straight across her, his tone deliberately casual. “Oh, Qi Xi wanted to borrow a book from me too. I mentioned it to her once before—we were discussing a case involving a trust dispute—she happened to be passing by on her way home, so I told her to just swing by and grab it before heading off.”

Though he tried to make it sound offhand, Qi Xi could tell from how much faster than usual he was speaking that he was nervous.

Honestly, there were plenty of holes in his story—for one, where Gu Yan currently lived wasn’t remotely on the way to where Qi Xi rented, and there was no reason for her to specifically detour this late at night just to “swing by” and grab a book, since she and Gu Yan saw each other at work every single day anyway—he could easily have just brought the book to the firm the next morning, no need to bother a colleague late at night over something so trivial…

Qi Xi had seen Gu Xuehan cross-examine clients who tried to withhold case details from their lawyer, and she knew exactly how relentless Gu Xuehan could be when picking apart details, how sharp her logical reasoning was. Gu Yan’s story, full of holes as it was, was honestly painful to watch.

Qi Xi was certain her face must be a suspiciously bright shade of red right now, worried that even her wildly pounding heartbeat might somehow be audible to Gu Xuehan.

Just as Qi Xi was steeling herself, bracing to figure out how she’d patch over all these obvious inconsistencies if Gu Xuehan started questioning them, she was caught off guard—apparently, once off the clock, Gu Xuehan didn’t bring her professional instincts home with her, because she accepted Gu Yan’s explanation almost without a second thought.

Gu Xuehan glanced at Qi Xi, then smiled. “Both members of my team are so eager to keep learning—makes me, their mentoring attorney, feel a little threatened.”

Though Gu Xuehan’s expression wasn’t stern, she was still dressed in her work suit, which made Qi Xi involuntarily tense up and grow uneasy, as if she’d been transported straight back to the office. She couldn’t help her eyes darting away nervously, terrified Gu Xuehan might somehow see through the fact that she definitely hadn’t come here to “keep learning”—that in fact, moments ago, right there on that very couch, she and Gu Xuehan’s little brother had been about to learn some rather different kind of knowledge…

Fortunately, Gu Xuehan didn’t seem inclined to stay long. She waved the book she’d found at Gu Yan. “Found the book. Put the braised dishes in the fridge for you already. I’ve got somewhere to be, so I’ll head out.”

Though nothing about Gu Xuehan’s demeanor seemed off, Qi Xi, guilty conscience and all, felt increasingly rattled the longer this went on. Desperate to prove her innocence—and terrified Gu Xuehan might circle back and notice the holes in Gu Yan’s story—she blurted out, almost urgently, “Attorney Gu, could I trouble you to wait a moment? I—I’ll grab the book and head out too. If it’s on your way, could I catch a ride? If not, it’s fine, you could just drop me at the subway station…”

Gu Yan, playing along perfectly, immediately produced a yellowed 2001-published book on family trust case law from some obscure corner of the study.

But to their surprise, Gu Xuehan declined the ride request outright. “Sorry, Qi Xi, I’m not driving myself tonight—I actually caught a ride with a friend. And I’ve got a client just back from overseas who urgently wants to hand off some documents in person, so I still need to have that friend drop me at the meeting spot. We’re already running a bit tight on time, and I’d feel bad asking her to fit in another passenger.”

Gu Xuehan looked apologetic. “She’s actually rushing home herself to nurse her baby.” Then she looked at Gu Yan. “Make sure you see Qi Xi out properly later, get her a taxi, and see her off before you head back inside, okay? Mom and Dad made plenty of braised dishes—give some to Qi Xi too.”

Clearly genuinely pressed for time, Gu Xuehan didn’t wait for either of them to respond before hurriedly putting on her heels and heading for the door. Just before leaving, she pulled the spare key from her pocket and set it down on the dining table. “Gu Yan, here’s your spare key back. Next time I want to come by, I’ll just let you know in advance. No point keeping a spare key of yours with me—if I ever lost it, you’d have to change the whole lock as a precaution, way too much trouble. Better you just hang onto it yourself.”

With that, she set down the key and, seemingly in a genuine rush, slipped on her heels and left almost without a backward glance.

Only once she heard the elevator doors close did Qi Xi finally let herself relax.

She tugged at Gu Yan’s sleeve. “Thank goodness your sister didn’t notice anything.” Qi Xi couldn’t help muttering, “Your crisis response back there was something else—your excuse had holes everywhere. Lucky Attorney Gu wasn’t paying much attention.”

Unfortunately, in contrast to Qi Xi’s relief, Gu Yan’s expression had turned oddly complicated, unreadable. He looked a little embarrassed, seemingly unsure how to bring something up with her.

Having finally let go of her earlier tension, Qi Xi suddenly felt drained. That’s when she noticed her whole body still felt slightly warm from the earlier nerves, so she started fanning her face with her hand and naturally settled onto the couch.

But just as she opened her mouth to say something, she suddenly remembered what had nearly happened on this very couch, and practically launched herself back up off it as if stung, her face flushing with flustered embarrassment.

Then Gu Yan’s next words nearly knocked the breath clean out of her—

“My sister knows.”