Qi Xi was thrilled with Gu Xuehan’s unconventional approach — it would clearly secure Chen Xiang the best possible outcome.

This should have been wonderful news, and even Chen Xiang seemed a bit taken aback.

Gu Xuehan smiled. “So, shall we move forward with this? If you’re on board, we can start negotiations with Ai Xiang whenever you’re ready.”

Perhaps it was the weight of all those years together — now that it came down to it, Chen Xiang hesitated. “Let me think it over for a couple more days. Before negotiations, I need to consider the children too — their feelings and arrangements…”

**

After Qi Xi’s hint, Chen Xiang had moved decisively toward divorce and toward getting a clear accounting of assets. Though she’d shown some hesitation at the end, Qi Xi never expected that when Chen Xiang came back to the firm three days later, her whole attitude would have flipped completely—

“Lawyer Gu… you all did excellent, very professional work, but I…”

Gu Xuehan was patient. “Do you have any remaining concerns?”

Chen Xiang faltered for a moment, but finally worked up the courage to voice her decision. “I’ve decided not to go through with the divorce.”

Gu Xuehan’s expression stayed composed, but Qi Xi was completely stunned.

What kind of reversal was this? Wasn’t Chen Xiang the one who’d seemed utterly unable to accept Ai Xiang’s affair in the first place? How had her attitude done a complete about-face in just a few days?

Gu Yan paused too, clearly just as surprised as Qi Xi. He frowned and asked, “Is Ai Xiang planning to come back to the marriage?”

At this, Chen Xiang’s expression turned pained. “I couldn’t hold it in — I confronted him. He didn’t show a shred of guilt. If anything, he was completely brazen about it, told me flat out he has no feelings for me anymore. If I want a divorce, fine, go ahead — he’d give me a bit more of the money and the house, doesn’t want custody of either child, he’ll pay child support. He seems willing to give up nearly everything, even the current marital assets, as long as I sign an NDA and don’t expose the two of them — said he wants us to part amicably, for the kids’ sake, to keep things dignified.”

Since the other side was already willing to negotiate and even showing concessions — that should have been good news.

“He’s not offering a bit more of the house and money out of genuine guilt. It’s because Meeting the Immortal‘s popularity is still climbing, and his IP value is rising with it — there are already production companies willing to pay a premium to option novels he hasn’t even written yet. But to keep that future income from counting as marital property, he’s turned down every one of those deals for now. He’s just waiting to divorce me, split up the assets that are currently on the books, marry that vile mistress, and then openly sign all those high-value contracts afterward.”

Chen Xiang, normally so gentle, now wore an expression twisted with hatred. “He thinks it’s that easy — thinks he can just rush to cut me loose. Well, I won’t let him. I’m going to wear him down until it kills him. Everything he has, going from nothing to this level of fame, is the result of my quiet sacrifice and investment. And now I’m supposed to just turn and walk away, handing over everything I built with my own hands to that filthy mistress who’s swooping in to reap the rewards? Not a chance.”

Qi Xi finally couldn’t hold back. “But he clearly has no feelings for you anymore — this marriage is already over in every way that matters…”

“As long as I’m still around, that ungrateful little schoolmate of mine can forget about taking my place — she’ll never be his legitimate wife. No matter how little he feels for me, he’ll still have to call me his wife, still have to post about our ‘happy marriage’ on Weibo. I’m going to make sure that filthy mistress never gets a title, never gets to be with him openly for the rest of her life! And I will absolutely not let the two of them cut me loose and quietly turn all of Ai Xiang’s future high-value film rights income into their own marital property!”

…

Chen Xiang still paid the legal fees for the work Gu Xuehan’s team had already done, and eventually composed herself, thanking the group for their help — but her mind was clearly made up. She was resolutely not getting divorced.

**

Qi Xi was the one who saw Chen Xiang out of the firm. Watching this woman in front of her now, wound up and fighting-cock intense, she thought back to how gentle and composed Chen Xiang had seemed at first, and felt an indescribable ache.

Chen Xiang had already wasted nearly a decade of her youth on Ai Xiang, but if she cut her losses now, at least the next decade, and the one after that, could still be her own… compared to a whole lifetime, how young Chen Xiang still was…

Why put herself through this.

But Gu Xuehan seemed remarkably unbothered by the wasted effort. She glanced at Qi Xi and Gu Yan, who both looked somewhat deflated at the case fizzling out, and said, with real feeling: “You’ll get used to it. Plenty of clients in civil disputes withdraw their case after the lawyer’s already put in a ton of upfront work — marriage disputes especially. Sometimes they’ve come at each other with kitchen knives, and then the moment they’re in court, they end up crying in each other’s arms reminiscing about old times.”

“Being a lawyer means being prepared for clients to change their minds at any moment. Chen Xiang, at least, paid her upfront fees like a decent client — plenty of others change their minds about divorcing and just skip out on the legal fees entirely, not willing to pay a cent.”

Gu Xuehan quickly turned her attention to another case, but Qi Xi still felt a bit disappointed and let down. She turned to Gu Yan. “Gu Yan, why do you think Chen Xiang doesn’t want the divorce? It sounds like her plan is to wear Ai Xiang down, but isn’t she just as trapped in a marriage with no love, only betrayal and pain — wearing herself down just as much?”

Gu Yan put away his notebook, eyes lowered. “Wearing him down is just something she tells herself, and tells other people — the truth is, she still has some hope left for him, hasn’t fully given up on the marriage. That’s why she won’t let go — especially won’t accept that he’s genuinely stopped loving her, and definitely can’t accept that after the divorce, he’ll go build a new life with the mistress. So while she says out loud that it’s about wearing him down, really, it’s her own attachment she can’t shake. If she genuinely wanted revenge, she wouldn’t drag herself down along with him like this.”

Qi Xi didn’t get it. “But leaving a lousy man or woman should be easy, shouldn’t it? I mean, he wasn’t even good to her — never gave her financial control, dumped all the exhausting childcare on her, and after the affair came out, he didn’t even fight for custody of either kid, which shows how little he’d invested in being a parent — he probably barely spent time with them, no real bond there. And most importantly, right now, neither his heart nor his body belongs to Chen Xiang anymore…”

Gu Yan pressed his lips together. “It’s not as easy as you make it sound.”

Generally speaking, it’s women who find it easier to empathize with a betrayed wife in this kind of situation — but the way Gu Yan said this, it sounded like he genuinely related to it firsthand…

A sudden jolt of realization hit Qi Xi, and she finally understood why Gu Yan was being so sensitive and perceptive about this — of course he could relate!

Didn’t he like a girl who didn’t like him back, and yet he kept liking her anyway…

Wasn’t that basically the same mindset as Chen Xiang? Knowing full well he should give up, but refusing to let go, wearing himself down instead…

That sounded genuinely tragic, honestly kind of pitiful.

For a moment, Qi Xi couldn’t help but look at Gu Yan with something like tender pity. “You really like her that much, huh?”

Gu Yan froze for a second, then — realizing Qi Xi meant the girl he liked — lowered his lashes, avoiding her gaze, lips pressed tight.

“Don’t bring up irrelevant topics during work hours. I’m heading out — go clean up the conference room.”

With that, the man turned and walked off.

The more Gu Yan acted like this, the more Qi Xi’s anxiety spiraled.

She kept feeling like this was somehow her fault — even though the misunderstanding had been cleared up, Gu Yan’s reputation with that girl was still, in some sense, thanks to her; who knew if the girl’s first impression had been permanently colored by it.

And if Gu Yan was heartbroken, then Gu Yan wasn’t happy, and if Gu Yan wasn’t happy, he’d want to take it out on someone — and who better than the person constantly hovering in front of him who’d wrecked his reputation in the first place…

Thinking about Gu Yan, and then about Gu Xuehan, Qi Xi felt like she had wolves ahead and tigers behind — this life really wasn’t easy. Especially since tomorrow was Friday, when Gu Xuehan would meet separately with her and Gu Yan to review the week’s work and give one-on-one feedback and guidance.

Well, she’d better step up her game. Qi Xi thought it over and promptly ordered another durian online — today after work, she’d try her luck with Gu Yan again, sacrifice herself for the cause, and share another durian together! Bonds were built one durian at a time!

**

Qi Xi felt like she was practically getting used to the taste of durian by now. Waking up the next day and thinking back on yesterday’s durian session, she figured she and Gu Yan must have grown even closer — she was practically brimming with anticipation for what was ahead.

She just hadn’t expected that anticipation to be snuffed out so quickly.

After Gu Xuehan finished her one-on-one with Gu Yan, it was Qi Xi’s turn—

“Since you’re both new hires, everyone adapts to casework and handles it differently, so I’ll be adjusting how much work I assign each of you accordingly. Go ahead and walk me through your work since you started, and how you’ve handled the tasks I’ve given you.”

In truth, most of what Gu Xuehan had assigned since Qi Xi started had been scattered tasks — revising contracts, helping answer legal questions for Gu Xuehan’s long-term retainer clients, and helping organize case facts, evidence, and evidence lists. Qi Xi had completed all of these quickly and to a high standard. As for the Chen Xiang case, now that Chen Xiang had decided against divorce, it was essentially closed. The only thing still outstanding on Qi Xi’s plate…

was Gu Yan’s defamation case.

Sure enough, Gu Xuehan remembered it too. “Oh, and that graduation ceremony thing with Gu Yan — what’s your plan for that?”

Qi Xi’s heart was pounding, but she decided to try a different angle as a last-ditch effort. “Lawyer Gu, defamation is a private prosecution matter — only Gu Yan himself has standing as plaintiff. Even though you’re his sister, if Gu Yan himself doesn’t want to pursue it, there’s not much use in us trying to seek justice on his behalf…”

Compared to Gu Yan himself, his sister seemed even harder to deal with! After all, Gu Yan hadn’t taken any action on this, yet Gu Xuehan seemed determined to get to the bottom of it.

A flurry of contingency plans flashed through Qi Xi’s mind — what if Gu Xuehan found out and flew into a rage, tried to kick her off the team; she’d have to fall back on her durian bond with Gu Yan and beg him to put in a good word for her… and if Gu Yan refused, she’d offer to supply him with durian for the rest of his life…

While Qi Xi’s mind raced through this chaotic mess of scenarios, Gu Xuehan just laughed softly at her answer. “Congratulations — you just passed the first little test I set for you.”

Huh?

Under Qi Xi’s baffled gaze, Gu Xuehan raised an eyebrow at her. “Of course I know defamation is a private prosecution matter. No matter how much I might want to seek justice for Gu Yan, there’s nothing I can actually do about it.”

“But through this, I wanted to show you something — a lot of new hires tend to accept everything their boss says wholesale. Even when there’s a basic, fundamental error in what the boss says, because of the halo effect around authority, or out of deference to a superior, they’re reluctant to point out the mistake, and just blindly absorb the wrong information.”

Gu Xuehan took a sip of tea. “This was your first lesson from me. I’m your supervising attorney, but I’ll make mistakes too going forward — possibly even basic ones. In our work together from here on, whenever you spot something like that, you need to point it out right away. I’ll always welcome that kind of correction from either of you.”

Ah, so that was it! Qi Xi practically sagged with relief, deeply grateful.

Gu Xuehan pressed her lips together and smiled. “That said — who exactly is that girl?”

“But didn’t you just say you weren’t going to help Gu Yan pursue this…”

Gu Xuehan’s expression stayed elegant and composed. “Oh, aside from testing you, using ‘helping him with the case’ as the official reason just sounded better. What I actually want is to see who managed to insult him that badly. Having you track down the video wasn’t really about gathering evidence — I was just curious, wanted to see what expression he had on his face in the moment. It’s rare enough that Gu Yan ends up in a situation like this — figured I’d keep a little memento of it.”

“…”

“So, can that video still be found?”

“…” Qi Xi was a little stunned. Was Gu Xuehan really Gu Yan’s own sister…

Gu Xuehan seemed to guess what Qi Xi was thinking, but didn’t care in the slightest. “Gu Yan’s an adult, and he’s going into law himself — he’s his own person, capable of deciding what he wants to do. Since he doesn’t want to pursue it or clear his name, as long as he can live with the consequences and take responsibility for that choice himself, I’m not going to interfere.”

“…” Qi Xi ventured carefully, “So if you ever do find out who that girl is, would you seek justice for Gu Yan then?”

“No, I wouldn’t.” Gu Xuehan said it without a moment’s hesitation. “I just want to see what kind of formidable character managed to hand Gu Yan a defeat like that and walk away clean. I grew up with Gu Yan — I’ve got a few years on him and tried to lord it over him plenty of times growing up, and never once succeeded.”

Qi Xi thought, you’re probably better off not knowing — the formidable character in question is standing right in front of you, and she’s really nothing more than a scrappy little underdog.