Two days later, the court hearing proceeded smoothly. Cen Sisi didn’t even submit a defense statement, let alone appear in court, so the entire trial was merely a formality.
With ample evidence and the defendant forfeiting her rights, the court ruled in Ruan Yu’s favor a week later.
She posted the result on Weibo, officially closing the chapter on this matter. That evening, she was invited by Liu Mao to dinner in the city center.
Liu Mao framed the meal as a "celebration," while her reason for accepting was to thank him for his tireless efforts over the past few weeks.
As for Xu Huaisong, she assumed he was still in the U.S., so before leaving, she sent him a message informing him of the verdict and expressing her gratitude.
Xu Huaisong replied with a voice message: "I’ll also be there later—"
The message cut off abruptly as a woman’s voice interrupted in the background: "Huaisong, look—"
The moment the word "look" was spoken, the recording ended.
Three seconds later, the message was recalled.
Ruan Yu was baffled. What was that about?
She stared at her phone for a few minutes, but when no reply came, she pretended she hadn’t heard the voice message and typed: Lawyer Xu, what did you recall?
Xu Huaisong: Nothing.
And that was the end of it.
Ruan Yu felt an inexplicable tightness in her chest, so much so that even after arriving at the restaurant, she was still distracted.
The woman’s voice had sounded young, so it couldn’t have been Tao Rong.
She had called him "Huaisong," so she was likely Chinese.
Her tone had been casual, suggesting they were close.
So, what was their relationship?
Now that the case was settled and all ties should have been severed, Ruan Yu suddenly realized that over the past month, she had never once considered whether Xu Huaisong was single.
Thinking back carefully, during one of their video calls, he had mentioned going to eat, only to return moments later with a plate of pasta. That meant he hadn’t cooked dinner himself—someone else must have been at home with him.
Then there was the orange cat. He had said he wasn’t the owner. At the time, she assumed it was a friend’s pet temporarily staying with him, but now she wondered—what if it belonged to a woman?
As Ruan Yu meticulously replayed every detail from the past few weeks, she grew increasingly aware of how much she had overlooked in her nervous, distracted state—until Liu Mao waved a hand in front of her face and asked, "What’s wrong?"
She snapped out of it, realizing she had been sitting across from him like a ghost for who knew how long.
The waiter stood nearby, smiling expectantly, waiting for her input on the order.
She let out a soft "Ah," glanced at the long list of checkmarks on the menu, and said, "That’s enough. Two people can’t possibly finish all this."
Liu Mao gave her a strange look. "Two people?"
Now it was Ruan Yu’s turn to be confused. "Isn’t it?"
"Didn’t I just say Huaisong would be joining us later?"
She hadn’t heard a word of it.
She forced a laugh. "I meant, my appetite is small—practically negligible. The two of you won’t finish all this."
The waiter took the menu and left.
To mask her awkwardness, she gulped down a large sip of water and then asked, "Didn’t he go back to San Francisco?"
"He finished his case there yesterday and came back."
Ruan Yu hummed in acknowledgment, clearing her throat. "That’s exhausting. Does he usually travel back and forth like this?"
Liu Mao chuckled. "No, he only comes back once a year."
"Oh, so in the U.S.—"
Before she could finish asking "Is he married?" , her phone rang. It was Shen Mingying.Not knowing the purpose of the call and afraid of revealing something, she walked to the restaurant entrance before answering, "Mingying."
As soon as she spoke, she noticed Xu Huaisong's car parked right outside.
But she didn’t have time to dwell on it because the woman’s voice on the other end sounded frantic: "Check Weibo now!"
"What’s wrong?"
"Cen Sisi is live-streaming her suicide! People are saying you drove her to it!"
Her knees buckled in shock, causing her to miss a step, but a pair of hands steadied her elbow in time.
Xu Huaisong stood before her: "What happened?"
She looked up dazedly and murmured, "Cen Sisi... she’s trying to kill herself..."
On the very day she had publicized the court verdict, Cen Sisi had attempted suicide.
Ruan Yu’s hands trembled as she opened Weibo, only to find the live stream had already been taken down. Calling Cen Sisi’s number yielded no response.
"Think carefully—who can contact her family?" Xu Huaisong’s voice remained calm.
Right. There was one person.
She dialed Li Shican’s number.
He answered instantly, his voice unsteady and breathless: "I already know. I’ve contacted her father. If all goes well, she should be on her way to City First Hospital."
Ruan Yu, unclear about the details, asked, "How did she—"
"Wrists slit, pills taken. Don’t panic—it might not be hopeless."
Li Shican sounded equally frantic before hanging up. Ruan Yu stood frozen, staring blankly at the steps beneath her, unable to snap out of it.
Her phone volume was loud enough for Xu Huaisong to hear Li Shican’s response. After a brief silence, he said, "Let’s go."
Ruan Yu looked up: "Where?"
"City First Hospital. Isn’t it better to know the outcome firsthand than to wait here helplessly?"
Ruan Yu got into the car with Xu Huaisong.
City First Hospital appeared eerily calm, as if no emergency suicide case had caused any uproar.
But the heavy scent of disinfectant weighed Ruan Yu’s steps down until she could barely move.
Xu Huaisong told her to wait while he approached the front desk. Before he could get an answer, a commotion erupted near the hospital entrance.
He and Ruan Yu turned simultaneously to see a crowd of reporters with cameras and microphones swarming around a masked man, firing questions at him.
Ruan Yu instantly recognized Li Shican at the center.
Li Shican also spotted her standing under the bright lights and quickly pulled out his phone.
Five seconds later, Ruan Yu’s phone buzzed with his message: Don’t stay here. Leave.
Xu Huaisong glimpsed the message and frowned. As the reporters surged into the lobby like a tidal wave, he grabbed Ruan Yu’s hand and pulled her toward the back exit.
Ruan Yu stumbled along, her mind racing.
In a flash of realization, she stopped near the parking lot: "Is Li Shican trying to steer the public opinion?""Whether Cen Sisi survived or not, given the public opinion climate, Ruan Yu—the original victim—would likely be vilified as the perpetrator."
So Li Shican intended to publicly disclose his own entanglement with Cen Sisi, diverting the blame onto himself. A celebrity’s appeal far outweighed that of a minor web novelist.
Xu Huaisong stayed silent, seemingly in agreement.
Ruan Yu blinked dryly twice, pulled her hand free, and turned to leave.
He caught up and pulled her back: "Where are you going?"
"I can’t let him ruin his career, can I?"For her, "Wen Xiang" was just a pen name. Even if this pen name was ruined, she would still be Ruan Yu.
But Li Shican was Li Shican.
Xu Huaisong took a deep breath, gripping her wrist as he said, "He's an adult. He should—and can—take responsibility for his own actions and decisions."
The two of them stood in silent stalemate for two minutes, faintly hearing Li Shican already answering reporters' questions.
Ruan Yu sighed.
Xu Huaisong released her wrist and lowered his gaze. "I'm sorry."
Ruan Yu didn’t fully grasp the meaning behind this apology. Glancing down at her reddened wrist, she said, "It's fine."
They returned to the car to wait for updates.
About half an hour later, a message from Li Shican came through: The person’s out of danger, and the reporters have all been chased out of the hospital. Where are you? I’ll come find you.
Ruan Yu looked at Xu Huaisong. "He wants to meet me."
He hummed in acknowledgment, starting the car. "Give him my license plate number. Tell his assistant to drive the van out first while he takes the emergency exit to the underground garage."
Ruan Yu understood the decoy tactic.
The car wound its way to the underground garage. Li Shican arrived alone, having changed his outfit, and climbed into the back seat of Xu Huaisong’s car.
The moment the door closed, the atmosphere inside turned unusually tense.
Ruan Yu turned around, momentarily at a loss for words.
It was Li Shican who broke the silence with a chuckle. "She’s been saved—why the long face? Did you really think someone who genuinely wanted to die would make such a public spectacle of it?"
Of course, Ruan Yu understood that logic, but—"Then what about you?"
"She planned this for a long time, aiming to drag both you and me down. There was no way I could stay out of it anyway. So I decided to play along—no cover-ups, no dodging. I took control of the narrative first."
She frowned, about to say more, but then Li Shican turned his attention to Xu Huaisong. "You must be Lawyer Xu?"
"Yes."
"So it wasn’t you who exposed Cen Sisi back then?"
Xu Huaisong shook his head. "No." Through the rearview mirror, their eyes met.
In that exchanged glance, both men understood the truth.
Back then, Li Shican had only handled the long Weibo post and some of the public opinion control—he hadn’t been the one to uncover that Cen Sisi was "Wen Xiang’s" junior.
When he saw Xu Huaisong in the video that day, he guessed this man had an unusual relationship with Ruan Yu. Hearing her call him "Lawyer Xu," he assumed the exposure had been his doing.
Later, when Ruan Yu questioned him, Li Shican—seeing she was unaware—hesitated to clarify, driven by an unspoken reluctance to "let someone else take the credit."
As for Xu Huaisong, after that video call, he found Li Shican oddly familiar. Remembering Xu Huaishi’s constant gushing about her "idol," he looked into his identity and naturally assumed the online maneuvers had been his doing.
For the same reason—unwilling to "let someone else take the credit"—he hadn’t discussed the matter in depth with Ruan Yu either.
In the end, it turned out Cen Sisi had exposed herself, all to craft an early "victim" image and lay the groundwork for this explosive scene on the day the verdict was announced.
Xu Huaisong and Li Shican exchanged a resigned glance before simultaneously rubbing their temples.
Ruan Yu, unaware of the backstory, was left confused.
But neither man seemed inclined to explain.Li Shican spoke first: "Don't worry, it's just a minor issue. My team will handle this matter. You should go home and rest early, and avoid checking Weibo for the next few days."
Ruan Yu nodded. After he left, she leaned back in her chair, utterly exhausted both physically and mentally.
Xu Huaisong remained silent as he drove out of the parking lot, heading toward her apartment. When they arrived at her building, however, they noticed a BMW parked downstairs.
Just as Ruan Yu opened the car door to step out, Xu Huaisong said, "Wait."
She paused and saw him unbuckle his seatbelt and get out of the car. At the same time, a man emerged from the driver's seat of the BMW.
The man approached her and said, "Are you Miss Ruan?" He then gestured toward the backseat of the BMW. "Mr. Cen, the father of Miss Cen, would like to speak with you."
Xu Huaisong stepped in front of her. "You can talk to me."
The man looked puzzled. "And you are...?"
"I'm her lawyer."
The driver glanced back. Cen Rong nodded from the backseat, then stepped out, leaning on his cane as he slowly made his way over to them. Under the dim streetlights, his hawk-like eyes were sharp and intimidating.
Ruan Yu instinctively took a small step back, hiding slightly behind Xu Huaisong.
But the expected confrontation didn’t happen. Instead, the man in his fifties bowed deeply to them—a full ninety degrees—before straightening up and saying, "Miss Ruan, I sincerely apologize for the trouble caused to you. I apologize on behalf of Sisi, and also as her father. It was my negligence in disciplining and caring for her that led to this situation today."
Ruan Yu hadn’t anticipated this turn of events and was momentarily speechless.
Xu Huaisong stepped aside, no longer shielding her.
Cen Rong gave him a slight nod, as if in gratitude, then continued, "I only received the diagnosis report today, confirming that Sisi suffers from a severe mental illness, which often leads to obsessive and extreme behavior—not just toward you. Of course, I’m not telling you this to seek your sympathy or understanding. Wrong is wrong, and you have every right to pursue accountability. The Cen family also has an obligation to compensate you. I simply believe you deserve this explanation."
Ruan Yu’s gaze flickered slightly. After a brief silence, she nodded. "Thank you."
Cen Rong smiled—though it seemed unnatural, as if he wasn’t used to smiling. "I’ve reviewed the compensation terms in the court’s verdict. In addition, I’d like to pay you for emotional damages. Or is there anything else you need?"
Ruan Yu shook her head. "I just hope the impact of this incident can be minimized, and that both my life and Li Shican’s can return to normal as soon as possible."
"That goes without saying—it’s only right." This time, Cen Rong’s smile appeared more natural. "That boy Shican is quite stubborn too... Rest assured, I’ll cooperate with him in clarifying the truth. If necessary, I’m also willing to disclose my daughter’s condition publicly."
At this point, Cen Rong glanced at Xu Huaisong, likely seeking his opinion as Ruan Yu’s lawyer.
Xu Huaisong smiled warmly and said, "I have no objections regarding the compensation. But if I may ask, Mr. Cen, how did you find this place tonight?"Cen Rong paused, then shook his head to indicate his own confusion: "Getting old, my memory's failing me. I forgot the most important thing. The reason I came here was to remind Miss Ruan—I found your address in Sisi's notebook. I'm not sure if she's engaged in any other extreme behaviors. I'll verify all her recent external communication records in the next couple of days to investigate. For safety reasons, I hope you can temporarily avoid staying here. I'm willing to cover all related expenses."
Ruan Yu glanced up at the pitch-black window of apartment 302, suppressing her trembling as she replied, "Alright."
Cen Rong nodded farewell to the two of them, then turned and left in his car.
Before Ruan Yu could fully process his final words, she heard Xu Huaisong say, "Let's go, get some clothes from upstairs."
"Huh?"
"Stay at my place tonight."
Author's note: Sigh, even the antagonist has turned into a wingman.
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