Xu Huaisong’s face darkened in an instant.

Ruan Yu quickly waved her hands. “Sorry, sorry… I was being presumptuous.” She said this and turned away in embarrassment.

Xu Huaisong drew a silent breath behind her.

He hadn’t originally known what “soul transmigration” meant — he’d learned the term from her other novels. But precisely because he’d learned it, the word now felt even more suffocating.

He steadied his breathing and said, “Get in the car. Let’s go to the next place.”

Ruan Yu turned back around, stole a cautious glance at him, and let out a small “oh.”

Xu Huaisong drove toward the next listing.

This one was a high-rise building of about twenty floors, separated from Ruan Yu’s old apartment by just one wide road. Its location alone won her favor, and the building’s security was significantly better than her old residential complex.

While viewing the apartment, she made a point of quietly observing the landlord couple. They lived in the unit right next door, and had a daughter in primary school. The wife was warm and friendly; the husband was cold and taciturn — neither seemed to raise any red flags.

After Xu Huaisong had looked the place over inside and out, he asked the landlord to produce the property deed.

The female landlord didn’t mind his caution at all, and cooperated by producing the documents.

Xu Huaisong thanked her and said they’d think it over, then once again called Ruan Yu away.

While waiting for the elevator, she asked quietly, “This one seems alright?”

He nodded. “We can keep it as a candidate. Let’s check around a bit more.”

Ruan Yu gave a soft “mm” and followed him into the elevator.

Inside was a young woman who had come down from one of the upper floors, her makeup heavy and dramatic. The moment the elevator doors closed, a wave of overpowering perfume hit them full in the face.

The scent was too aggressive. Ruan Yu held back as long as she could, but couldn’t help it — she sneezed.

Xu Huaisong shifted his body slightly to one side, casually positioning himself to block the source of the fragrance from her direction. Not that it did much good.

Ruan Yu shot him a grateful glance, and because the perfume was unbearable, kept her eyes fixed on the blinking yellow floor numbers inside the elevator.

“Huh?” She had just voiced her confusion when Xu Huaisong also sensed something was wrong. On instinct, he reached up and steadied her by placing his hand on her shoulder.

The next moment, the elevator lurched and shuddered. The overhead lights went out. The small enclosed space plunged into total silence.

On the other side of the elevator, the young woman let out a shriek: “Wh— what the heck!”

Ruan Yu should have screamed too, under normal circumstances. But now she found she couldn’t make a sound.

The hand resting on her shoulder overwhelmed her far more than the elevator malfunction did. Her mind went blank, her breathing seized up, and her hands and feet began to tremble.

Xu Huaisong, thinking she was frightened, only pulled her in closer to shelter her. Then, with his other hand and complete composure, he used the glow of the emergency indicator light to locate and press the alarm button.

At that moment, the elevator suddenly dropped a fraction.

This time, both Ruan Yu and the young woman cried out simultaneously.

Xu Huaisong was just about to say “It’s fine” when he heard the other girl burst into tears, gripping the handrail as she wailed: “Waaaah, oh my god, I’ve never been in a relationship, never held a man’s hand, never even kissed anyone, and now I’m going to die — I’ll be a third wheel until my dying breath, waaaah!”

Ruan Yu: “……”

She wondered if it would make the girl feel any better to clarify that she wasn’t actually a third wheel here.

Xu Huaisong felt like his eardrums were about to burst. After a moment, he raised his hand to press the alarm button again, but the girl across from them stopped him: “Don’t! We’ll plummet to our deaths!” She immediately rushed toward the door. “Let’s pry it open instead!”

“Miss,” he said with strained patience, “theoretically speaking, the probability of this elevator actually free-falling to the bottom is only marginally higher than winning five million in the lottery. Prying the doors open, on the other hand, is far more likely to result in someone being split in half.”

Ruan Yu flinched, then cleared her throat. “Stop scaring her…”

The girl across from them burst into another round of wailing.

Worried that Xu Huaisong’s ears would suffer permanent damage from her shrieking, Ruan Yu rushed to comfort her: “Hey, don’t cry — honestly, I don’t have a boyfriend either. I’m already twenty-six…”

“Really?” The girl glanced at Xu Huaisong’s hand sheltering Ruan Yu’s shoulder, and then launched into another round of sobbing. “At least someone’s chasing you! Waaaah…”

Chasing her?

Ruan Yu choked on that word, and before she could turn it over in her mind, the elevator doors slowly parted. Daylight flooded in from outside. The building management staff let out a sigh of relief and stepped forward. “Sir, ladies — are you all right?”

Xu Huaisong glanced back at the young woman, whose legs were trembling like a sieve. “We’re fine. That young lady might not be.” He said this and walked out with Ruan Yu.

In truth, Ruan Yu’s own legs had gone soft too — but thankfully, there was someone even more frightened to provide contrast, so she was spared the humiliation of falling apart in front of Xu Huaisong.

Out in the light, she stepped away from the support of his arm, bowed her head, and offered him the crown of her head as she murmured: “Th… thank you.”

Xu Huaisong didn’t respond. He had already turned to address the building staff’s questions and explain the situation to the repairman who arrived shortly after.

Ruan Yu was just about to go comfort the young woman from the elevator when she saw the girl suddenly clap her hands as though remembering something. “Oh no! I have an audition at Huanshi!” She wiped her face — smearing a streak of mascara across the back of her hand — and bolted.

“Hey—!” Ruan Yu took a few steps after her, intending to warn her that her makeup was ruined, but the girl was already gone. She gave up.

The incident passed quickly. Back in the car, neither of them mentioned what had happened in the elevator.

Xu Huaisong dropped Ruan Yu off downstairs at Shen Mingying’s building.

Before parting, Ruan Yu asked him, “Do you have an Alipay account?”

“What for?”

“To pay you rent.”

Xu Huaisong paused. “Save my phone number for now. I’ll go set one up.”

“Oh, you got a domestic phone number?”

“Yeah.”

Ruan Yu saved his number with the contact label “Attorney Xu,” then pulled the car door open to get out — when she suddenly heard him ask: “Do you want one?”

“Huh?” She stopped, thoroughly confused. “Want what?”

Hadn’t she already gotten his phone number?

Xu Huaisong was quiet for a moment, then shook his head to indicate it was nothing. “Send me a message once you’re inside.”

Ruan Yu gave a quiet “oh,” then drifted upstairs in a fog, turning that phrase — do you want one — over and over in her mind, trying to figure out what on earth he could have meant. By the time she reached Shen Mingying’s door and it opened, she grabbed her by the arm and asked without preamble: “Mingying, do you want one?”

Shen Mingying was completely baffled. “I’m not planning to have kids anytime soon… what’s going on?”

“Oh!” Ruan Yu let out a short, startled cry and muttered to herself, “Is that what he meant? But why would he ask me if I want kids?”

Shen Mingying’s eyes nearly rolled out of her head. “He asked you that in bed last night?”

Ruan Yu shook her head gravely. “No, just now. In the car.”

“My goodness, things have escalated that fast?” Shen Mingying took Ruan Yu by the shoulders and looked her up and down from head to toe. “He didn’t use protection?”

“……”

Ruan Yu was completely stumped, and before she could explain herself, her phone rang.

Incoming call: Attorney Xu.

How had she forgotten about him again?!

She answered immediately and rattled off without pause: “I’m here, I’m here! I forgot to send you the ‘I’m safe’ message…”

“Then I’ll head off.”

He hadn’t left yet?

Ruan Yu blinked, then rushed through Shen Mingying’s apartment, pushed open the balcony window, and leaned out to look down — and found herself looking directly into Xu Huaisong’s upturned gaze.

He had already stepped out of the car and was looking up at the building from below. It seemed that since she hadn’t sent the message, he had been about to come up.

His voice came through the phone: “Don’t lean out so far.”

Ruan Yu pulled her head back inside.

Shen Mingying, however, being intensely curious, immediately pushed forward and craned over the edge herself — and locked eyes with Xu Huaisong in a moment of dramatic, earth-shaking, ghost-startling eye contact.

Terrified that Shen Mingying might cry out Xu Huaisong’s name, Ruan Yu didn’t get a single word out before she cut the call.

A moment later, Shen Mingying did indeed let out an “ah,” and stood there in a daze staring down at the street below — all the way until the Cayenne disappeared from sight. Then she turned around and said, “Can I swear?”

Ruan Yu knew she was probably past the point of holding it in, so she sighed and said, “Go ahead…”

“Holy sh*t! The person you’ve been sharing a room with is Xu Huaisong?!”

There on Shen Mingying’s couch, Ruan Yu spent a full half hour making a thorough confession.

After hearing her lay out every last detail, Shen Mingying sank into thought, then slowly said: “So why exactly would a cold, aloof idol fall from his pedestal in one night?”

Ruan Yu hugged a throw pillow and leaned in eagerly. “If I indulge in a little wishful thinking — could it be that he…?”

Shen Mingying crossed both hands into an X, shooting the idea down completely. “You said you two spent three years in the same high school, plus over a month before all this — not even a spark. And now, out of nowhere, with no buildup, no transition, he just fell for you? Is that realistic?”

Ruan Yu frowned deeply. “Right, it’s not realistic at all. If this were in a novel, readers would definitely complain that the romance arc has no natural progression.”

“Stop right there — you’ve written so many novels you’ve started fantasizing yourself into a daze.”

“But still, what’s the reason?” Ruan Yu absentmindedly touched her own shoulder, lost in thought. “He even put his arm around me…”

“Simple. Let me break it down for you.” Shen Mingying cleared her throat. “Think about it — in every situation over the past twelve hours where his behavior was out of character, weren’t you in a vulnerable position each time?”

Ruan Yu nodded. “You’re right.” Whether it was the incident with Cen Sisi’s livestreamed breakdown, or the fever, or the elevator malfunction — all of them.

“There’s your answer. A capable man, when he sees a woman — especially an attractive woman — in distress, at her most vulnerable, can he really help but feel a protective instinct? And on top of that, the man in question is a lawyer whose entire career is built around helping people out of crisis.”

Ruan Yu gave a long, drawn-out “oh,” and then listened as Shen Mingying continued: “To test that theory, you just have to see how he behaves once you’re no longer in a vulnerable position.”

She found this entirely convincing, and quickly reined in those flights of wishful thinking. She turned her focus back to finding an apartment — but over the following two days, she couldn’t find anything more suitable than that high-rise unit.

She reasoned that the elevator malfunction wasn’t really a problem. One malfunction, if anything, meant the building management would now pay it more attention — which would actually make it safer going forward.

So that afternoon, Ruan Yu sent Xu Huaisong a message:

Attorney Xu, I’ve decided to move. But I still haven’t heard back from Mr. Cen. Do you think it’s safe for me to go back to my apartment now to pack?

Xu Huaisong: I have some free time tomorrow morning.

Ruan Yu showed Shen Mingying — who was doing laundry — the exchange. “What does this mean?”

“It means he’ll help you move, obviously. Don’t make such a fuss about it. You’re still dealing with the person who filed the complaint against you, which means you haven’t fully stepped out of the ‘client’ role yet — he’s just doing his job.”

Ruan Yu, having come to rely on Xu Huaisong’s steady, reliable way of handling things — and worried something might go wrong and she might not live to see another day — decided to take advantage of the client arrangement one last time:

Sorry to trouble you again. What time works for you?

Xu Huaisong: Eight-thirty should work.

The next morning at eight-thirty sharp, Ruan Yu headed downstairs.

Shen Mingying had originally planned to come along and help, but Ruan Yu stopped her.

She was afraid Shen Mingying wouldn’t be able to keep her expression under control and give something away — or that Xu Huaisong might recognize her as a former classmate.

While waiting for Ruan Yu to come down, Xu Huaisong found his mind replaying what Liu Mao had told him a couple of days ago:

“Think back — how did she gently push me away? It was because she figured out my feelings too early. She started dressing plainly on purpose. She stopped sitting in the front passenger seat. And when she needed help, she lied to me and said the problem was already sorted… If you don’t want to become the next me, take it slow. Don’t spook her back into her shell.”

At the time, Xu Huaisong had just smiled and let it go. But now, on the verge of seeing Ruan Yu again, he found himself turning those words over carefully in his mind.

Then he spotted her from a distance.

Today she was wearing a T-shirt and jeans — dressed very plainly.

He immediately locked the rear car door, and when she got close, pointed to the front passenger seat.

Fortunately, she only seemed mildly puzzled — and didn’t refuse.

After a quick greeting, the two of them headed to her old apartment. For safety, Xu Huaisong accompanied her upstairs and sat in the living room waiting while she packed.

Ruan Yu poured him a glass of water, then went into the bedroom to get started — planning to begin with her clothes.

Because she spent most of her time at home, she didn’t have many clothes. But her winter coats were bulky, so compression bags would be best.

She pulled her heavy coats off the rack in the wardrobe one by one and spread them out on the bed. She was about to go out to the other room to find the compression bags when her knee caught the edge of the bed, and knocked a wool overcoat to the floor.

A crisp clatter rang out. Something had fallen from the coat pocket.

She looked down — and went still.

It was a white USB drive.

That white USB drive — the one containing the outline and all the detailed plot notes for her novel. The one that was supposed to have been lost at the café.

She stood there for a moment, then bent down and picked it up. She held it in her open palm, staring at it without blinking.

She remembered now.

The last day of the Tomb-Sweeping Festival holiday, it had rained. Hang Shi had been in the grip of an unseasonably late cold snap, the weather absurdly chilly for the season, so she’d pulled on that wool overcoat when she went out.

Then her mother had shown up unexpectedly. She’d left the café in a rush — and must have slipped the USB drive into the coat pocket without thinking.

Later, as Hang Shi warmed up, she’d tucked the coat away in the wardrobe and never worn it again.

By the time the plagiarism incident broke, it was already May. It had never even crossed her mind to go through her winter clothes, and she’d simply assumed the drive was lost.

Which meant — her outline had never been stolen. Not at any point.

Ruan Yu stood frozen in place, her face a picture of stunned disbelief.

Then she heard a knock at the bedroom door.

Xu Huaisong’s voice came from outside: “What’s wrong?”

Author’s note: What’s wrong? Heh heh heh… (Tomorrow’s update will likely be around the same time — during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, I’ll go back to posting at 8 PM!)