Ruan Yu woke up in shock.
She vaguely remembered having a dream—a dream where she stood amidst a sea of flames, a fissure beneath her feet. On the other side of the crack was an endless expanse of ice and snow, and there stood Xu Huaisong, reaching out to caress her face as he asked, "Can you like me one more time?"
Her mind exploded with the thought, and she bolted upright from under the covers.
What kind of dream was this, even more bizarre than Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio ? She—she—she must have lost her mind!
Ruan Yu sat frozen on the bed for a long time until her fragmented memories pieced themselves together. She realized that she, who was supposed to be on the sofa, had ended up here—and now, it was already daylight.
So, the question arose.
She glanced around, sensing no signs of human presence. After changing her clothes, she tiptoed out of bed, searching high and low for her slippers but failing to find them. Left with no choice, she stepped barefoot onto the carpet and quietly cracked the door open to peek outside.
Suddenly, she heard a soft "meow."
Looking down, she saw Xu Huaisong’s orange tabby curled up by the door, tilting its head up at her with pleading eyes.
It seemed hungry.
Forgetting her original purpose for stepping out, Ruan Yu instinctively crouched down to pet the cat but paused mid-reach. "I just got over a fever—better not touch you," she murmured. Then another thought struck her. "Oh, maybe you don’t understand Chinese? I mean that I’m… where your…"
It had been years since she last used English, and after stammering over "your," she couldn’t recall how to say "owner." Suspiciously, she finished, "...your daddy?"
"Here." A pair of shoes abruptly entered her line of sight.
Ruan Yu stiffened, slowly straightening up to see Xu Huaisong standing before her, holding a glass of water in one hand and a plate of food in the other, looking faintly exasperated.
She had the distinct impression he was restraining himself from asking, Have you lost your mind from the fever?
Noticing her bare feet, Xu Huaisong set the water and breakfast on the coffee table before retrieving her slippers from beside the sofa.
Ruan Yu’s breath hitched.
No need to ask. No need to ask how she had ended up back in bed.
If her slippers were by the sofa, what other possibility could there be?
Xu Huaisong bent down to place the slippers in front of her, then walked away to fetch an ear thermometer. "Come eat," he said.
She slipped her feet into the slippers and said, "Lawyer Xu, I caused you trouble last night. Thank you for hauling me inside."
Writers truly had a way with words—her precise choice of "hauling" neatly eliminated any hint of romantic ambiguity.
Of course, Xu Huaisong wasn’t about to correct her with "carrying." He pressed the ear thermometer to her ear, noted the reading of "37.0°C," and turned to jot it down on a sticky note.
Ruan Yu blinked, then leaned in for a closer look. The note was densely packed with rows of numbers:
3:00—38.2
3:30—37.8
4:00—37.5
4:30—37.3
...
Her voice faltered. "Wh-what is this?"
It wasn’t that she was feigning ignorance—she was just too stunned to think straight.
"A research report on the efficacy of fever-reducing medication," Xu Huaisong said, watching her stunned expression before adding with a pause, "Do you believe that?"
Of course not.
Ruan Yu swallowed dryly, avoiding his gaze as she smoothed her bangs and sat down on the sofa. Lowering her head, she picked up a custard bun from the plate and stuffed it into her mouth to steady her nerves.She found the atmosphere inexplicably eerie, somewhat reminiscent of that absurd dream she'd had.
In the silence, the orange tabby came meowing over, trying to snatch the breakfast from her hand.
Just as she was about to break off a piece for it, Xu Huaisong crouched down and scooped the cat up. "Your breakfast isn't here," he said, leading it to the kitchen counter.
After finishing a custard bun, she asked just to make conversation, "What's its name?"
Xu Huaisong, leaning against the counter to feed the cat, glanced back. "Tiffany."
Was he raising the cat like a girlfriend?
Seeing Ruan Yu choke, he added, "I didn’t name it."
Oh, right. She remembered the unresolved question again.
After a moment’s thought, she asked, "Since you brought the cat to China, doesn’t its owner get lonely?"
Xu Huaisong’s gaze shifted toward her, the indifference in his eyes giving way to faint amusement. "He still has Judy and Ani."
"So many..." Ruan Yu forced a dry laugh and buried herself in the custard bun again. A while later, she heard Xu Huaisong’s phone ring.
He answered the call in English.
Her English listening skills had severely deteriorated, and despite straining her ears, she could only catch a few fragmented words.
Noticing her confusion, Xu Huaisong explained after hanging up, "There’s a water leak at home."
"What will you do?"
"It’s fine. Someone’s there."
Ruan Yu silently took a sip of water.
Her suspicion was confirmed—Xu Huaisong probably wasn’t single. And yet, she’d had that kind of morally questionable dream...
She sped up her breakfast, wolfing it down before standing abruptly. "Lawyer Xu, thank you for breakfast. I’ve already disturbed you all night—I’ll head out now."
Xu Huaisong set the cat down. "Give me five minutes. I’ll take care of this and drive you."
"No need," she waved her hand. "My fever’s gone. I’ll just take a cab." With that, she turned to grab her bag from the bedroom, looking a bit like she was fleeing in panic.
Xu Huaisong didn’t stop her. Instead, he opened his laptop in the living room and made a video call.
When Ruan Yu came out, she caught a glimpse of a gleaming dark-skinned head on his screen, along with an enthusiastic, "Hey! Hanson!"
A Black guy with very white teeth.
Xu Huaisong glanced back at her, then calmly spoke into the camera, enunciating each word: "Where’s the water leaking from?"
This time, Ruan Yu heard it clearly. He was asking where the leak was coming from.
So, when he said "someone’s there," he meant...?
Xu Huaisong turned to her again. "My roommate."
Ruan Yu chuckled awkwardly. "Oh..."
After just a few words, Xu Huaisong ended the call and picked up a stack of documents from the table. "Let’s go."
"Aren’t you going to sleep?" Ruan Yu asked, following behind. "Driving while fatigued is dangerous."
Truly a model citizen with strong traffic safety awareness.
"I’ve rested." He handed her the stack of documents. "Take a look. If you’re interested, we can check it out now."
Baffled, she took them. "Check what out?"
"An apartment."
With that, he pulled open the door—only for Ruan Yu to look up and see a tall woman standing outside, her hand raised mid-knock.
She froze.
The woman seemed momentarily startled too but quickly composed herself, lowering her hand with a smile. "What a coincidence. I was just about to knock."Almost instantly, Ruan Yu recognized the voice.
Standing outside the door in a crisp professional outfit was the woman from the withdrawn voice message who had been speaking with Xu Huaisong.
After speaking, the woman's gaze briefly settled on Ruan Yu.
Xu Huaisong naturally stepped aside and gestured in introduction. "Ruan Yu," he said, then turned to Ruan Yu. "My colleague from the U.S., Lü Shenglan, Miss Lü."
"Hello."
"Hello."
The two exchanged polite nods, but Ruan Yu felt a faint, inexplicable strangeness.
From a business etiquette perspective, Xu Huaisong's order of introduction seemed to reverse the usual hierarchy of familiarity, didn't it?
But Xu Huaisong appeared oblivious, his expression unreadable as he asked Lü Shenglan, "What is it?"
She held up a medical paper bag. "The front desk mentioned you requested fever medicine late last night."
Xu Huaisong neither accepted nor refused. Instead, he turned to Ruan Yu. "Would you like to take some medicine back with you?"
"No need, thank you," Ruan Yu waved her hand.
He nodded at Lü Shenglan.
Lü Shenglan smiled, her eyes curving. "Then I'll leave you to it. I'll head back to my room to work."
Xu Huaisong nodded again, closing the door as they walked toward the elevator. He explained the documents in his hand to Ruan Yu: "Moving is necessary. Last night, I contacted Liu Mao and had him recommend a few places. These two are the best options for now."
Ruan Yu was surprised but quickly thanked him. He added, "They're not far from here. If you're not too tired, we can go take a look."
She really did need to move as soon as possible. Feeling well enough and not wanting to disregard the lawyers' late-night efforts, she agreed.
Xu Huaisong's standards were exacting. The properties he had shortlisted were essentially ready for final confirmation.
The first was an 11th-floor apartment in a mid-rise building. The facilities and environment were excellent, and the price was surprisingly reasonable for its location in Hangzhou. The only oddity was the male landlord, who acted coldly toward them, as if someone had stolen his black card.
Ruan Yu didn’t mind, but Xu Huaisong only made a perfunctory tour before signaling her to leave.
Downstairs, she asked curiously, "I actually thought the place was nice. Isn’t an indifferent landlord more reassuring?"
Xu Huaisong raised an eyebrow. "You didn’t notice—it’s because I was there." He unlocked his phone and showed her. "The landlord wasn’t like this last night."
Ruan Yu leaned in to check the text history. Xu Huaisong had communicated entirely from her perspective—as a "single woman." Back then, the landlord had even sent enthusiastic emojis.
She nodded vigorously, her expression saying, "You're right." The next second, a new message from the landlord popped up: Miss, this apartment is for single women only. I don’t want couples who might get carried away. Didn’t you say last night you met the criteria?
It was obvious the landlord’s excuse about "rowdy couples" was just a cover.
Xu Huaisong smirked coldly and typed: Sorry, I just got into a relationship early this morning.
Landlord: Then come back when you’re single again. I’ll hold it for you.
Xu Huaisong: Thanks. Maybe in the next life.
Ruan Yu: "..."
From last night until now, why had Xu Huaisong been acting so strangely?The words came pouring out, and suddenly, he was being unusually nice to her.
She fell silent for a moment, then solemnly raised her head and stared at him. "Lawyer Xu, may I ask you something presumptuous?"
"What is it?"
"Are you... are you possibly..." She hesitated, as if struggling to find the right words. "What I mean is, is there any chance that you..."
Xu Huaisong's gaze flickered for a moment, his heart pounding violently.
He had only just resolved last night to start learning to be more straightforward—was his secret about to be exposed today?
Just as his heart was about to explode from the tension, Ruan Yu closed her eyes, steeled herself, and blurted out, "...possessed by another soul?"
Xu Huaisong: "..."
Author's note: We writers are just so imaginative.
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