06
By the time she finished speaking, Ruan Yu didn’t dare to look at Xu Huaisong at all. Instead, she fixed her gaze firmly on Liu Mao, as if clutching a lifeline—if he gave her even a hint of approval with his eyes, she could bolt straight out of there.
Across from her, Xu Huaisong appeared utterly indifferent. After hearing her out, he lowered his head and began typing something on his phone.
To Ruan Yu, it seemed like he was signaling, "You two talk, I’ll just be here."
The oppressive atmosphere in the room only deepened Liu Mao’s confusion. Before he could make sense of it, the decision was suddenly thrust upon him. At a loss, he resorted to a meaningless question: "Ms. Ruan, have you thought this through?"
Before Ruan Yu could answer, a sudden ringtone cut in: "Ah, love so deep, rain so dense, the world exists only in your eyes..."
"..."
Liu Mao cleared his throat awkwardly. "Excuse me, you two. I need to take this." With that, he turned and hurried out the door.
Not only did he leave, but he also closed the door behind him, leaving Ruan Yu even more flustered. Standing stiffly by the sofa, she forced an awkward chuckle. "Lawyer Liu has... quite the taste in ringtones."
Xu Huaisong paused, then glanced up at her. "Mm."
Time suddenly slowed to a crawl, each second as agonizing as standing on an acupressure mat. Desperate to fill the silence, she blurted, "Last time I saw him, that wasn’t his ringtone."
He looked up again, this time lightly adjusting his glasses. "Last time?"
Ruan Yu hesitated but nodded. However, he seemed to quickly lose interest and gestured for her to sit before turning his attention to a stack of promotional materials from the law firm.
The unspoken "please sit" was more effective than words—her traitorous legs obeyed before she could resist.
Xu Huaisong pointed to the coffee table, indicating she could place the documents in her arms there, then resumed browsing the materials without another glance at her.
Only then did she dare to set down the "hot potato" that had felt like a thousand-pound weight in her hands.
With Liu Mao taking his sweet time to return and no one to lighten the mood, the meeting room became anything but conducive to discussion.
Ruan Yu’s gaze wandered aimlessly before inevitably landing back on the man across from her. Now that things had quieted down, it finally sank in—she had really run into Xu Huaisong, eight years after graduating high school.
Yet the person before her seemed both familiar and unrecognizable.
Apart from his largely unchanged features, everything else about him had transformed. He’d grown taller, his frame more solid, no longer the lanky boy he once was. An air of maturity, refined and settled by time, now surrounded him.
To her, he was both a known and an unknown.
But time had been generous to Xu Huaisong.
After all, most people ended up with receding hairlines and beer bellies.
Lost in thought, she inhaled deeply, about to sigh—only to freeze when he suddenly spoke. "Ms. Ruan, do you have a problem with me?"
Ruan Yu choked.
Back when they did calisthenics in school, she’d sneak glances at him during every turn, and he’d remained oblivious like a "deaf and blind little statue." Yet a few years as a lawyer had sharpened his senses.
But… did he seem to be in a bad mood?
She hastily waved her hands. "No, no, not at all… I was just lamenting my own misfortunes." She pointed to the documents on the table, implying her worries were case-related.
Xu Huaisong followed her gesture.
Realizing her mistake, she quickly shielded the semi-transparent folder, subtly pulling it closer to her side.Xu Huaisong glanced back and continued flipping through the documents, only to notice from the corner of his eye that the slender, pale hand had shifted the file outward by another centimeter. Seeing his lack of reaction, after a few seconds, it cautiously moved another two or three centimeters.
Could the idiom "give an inch and take a mile" be used like this?
He pondered for a moment, timed it just as she was about to make her third move, and suddenly looked up.
Ruan Yu was clearly startled, stiffening like a boiled shrimp, forcing a dry smile at him. "What’s wrong, Lawyer Xu?"
That "Lawyer Xu" sounded awkward coming from her and even more awkward to his ears.
The atmosphere instantly froze.
Liu Mao happened to return at this icy moment, apologizing to both of them, saying there had been a minor hiccup downstairs.
Ruan Yu seized the lifeline, clutching the cursed stack of files as she stood up. "Lawyer Liu, I’ve made up my mind."
Liu Mao looked regretful. "I respect your decision, Miss Ruan, but I’ve met many clients who hesitated at the last moment like you. However, most of them still ended up choosing litigation after reconsidering. You might want to think it over again."
"The ones you’re talking about are probably divorce case clients," Xu Huaisong interjected abruptly without looking up.
Liu Mao’s expression froze.
Ruan Yu blinked in confusion. Did these two not get along? Why was Xu Huaisong undermining him so ruthlessly? In her memory, he hadn’t been this sarcastic before.
After all, in her perception, he was the type so aloof that he wouldn’t bother speaking unless absolutely necessary.
She cleared her throat to break the awkward silence and said to Liu Mao, "Thank you, I’ll consider it again."
Liu Mao replied, "No problem," then glanced at the blazing sun outside. "It’s scorching out. Let me drive you back."
Ruan Yu quickly shook her head. "You have your own work. Making a round trip now would mean missing lunch."
"It’s fine," he said with a warm smile. "There are restaurants near your apartment, aren’t there?"
She caught on and politely added, "Then let me treat you to lunch. You helped me notarize all those documents yesterday—I owe you one."
The moment she finished speaking, Xu Huaisong stood up. "Western food?"
Liu Mao was taken aback. "There is a Western restaurant there."
"Good." He grabbed his suit jacket from the sofa and walked out the door ahead of them.
Liu Mao was baffled, his memory seemingly blanking out. Had he and Ruan Yu just invited Xu Huaisong to join them?
Ruan Yu was equally puzzled. "Did you two already plan to have lunch together?" Was that why Xu Huaisong had automatically tagged along?
Liu Mao almost shook his head, but for some inexplicable reason, he nodded instead. "Right. Maybe we can meet another time."
Ruan Yu pointed outside. "But he’s already gone downstairs."
Liu Mao said, "It’s fine." Once downstairs, he explained to Xu Huaisong that he wouldn’t be having lunch with Ruan Yu and asked him to wait at the office until he returned.
Xu Huaisong glanced at Ruan Yu behind him, his gaze fleeting. "Is there a bed here?"
Liu Mao was stunned. Calculating the time difference, he found it odd. "You need to sleep now?"
"Mm. Need a hotel." He added, "I don’t have a driver’s license."
The implication was clear—he wanted Liu Mao to chauffeur him.
"Then should we drop Miss Ruan off first?"
"Mm."
The three of them walked to the parking lot in a single file, with Liu Mao’s freshly waxed Land Rover gleaming under the sun.
He opened the passenger door for Ruan Yu, but she hesitated.In her eyes, the passenger seat held a special significance. Generally speaking, when she wrote novels, she would attribute whether the female lead was willing to sit in the male lead's passenger seat to whether she had feelings for him.
The passenger seat symbolized possession and belonging.
She wasn’t sure if Liu Mao had done it intentionally or not, but to avoid giving him unnecessary expectations, she took a step back and gestured to Xu Huaisong behind her. "Lawyer Xu, would you like to go first?"
Xu Huaisong glanced at her, then at the slightly stiff Liu Mao, the corner of his lips quirking as he mouthed: Thanks, Lawyer Liu. Then, he quickly resumed his cold expression and took the passenger seat.
Ruan Yu had already turned to head for the back seat and didn’t notice his little gesture.
From his omniscient perspective, Liu Mao’s cheek twitched.
As the car slowly left the parking lot, Ruan Yu hesitated before saying, "Lawyer Liu, I’m not going back to my apartment. Could we stop by a friend’s place instead?"
At her words, the two in the front seat seemed to freeze simultaneously. Thinking her request might be too much, she quickly explained, "It won’t take much time—it’s actually closer."
Liu Mao immediately smiled. "No problem, just send me the address on WeChat."
Ruan Yu forwarded the location to him.
The rest of the ride passed in silence, with only the gentle voice of the navigation system occasionally chiming in: "In six hundred meters, turn left onto..."
At a red light, Liu Mao loosened his grip on the steering wheel and glanced at Xu Huaisong beside him.
Xu Huaisong noticed and met his gaze, tilting his chin slightly.
Liu Mao frowned, then watched as Xu Huaisong, in a movement too subtle for the backseat passenger to see, extended a fist.
He took a deep breath, checked the rearview mirror to confirm Ruan Yu was looking out the window and not at them, then mouthed: Rock, paper, scissors.
On scissors , he threw scissors—Xu Huaisong kept his fist.
Defeated, Liu Mao cleared his throat and glanced at the rearview mirror. "If I may ask, Miss Ruan, which friend are you visiting?"
Xu Huaisong shot him a look. —Pretty direct, huh?
Liu Mao returned the glance. —Well, how else should I ask?
Ruan Yu, unaware of their earlier "battle," only turned her head at the question.
Xu Huaisong immediately straightened his posture, his profile turning icy.
Liu Mao was baffled. What’s up with this guy today? Why’s he pretending to be all cold and serious?
Before he could figure it out, Ruan Yu’s voice came from the back. "Do you know Mingying? She’s the one who connected me with Zhi Kun."
"Oh," he nodded, snapping back to attention. "Right, Miss Shen."
After answering, Liu Mao glanced at Xu Huaisong, who now seemed completely detached— Alright, got it. Female friend.
But Xu Huaisong didn’t engage in any more silent exchanges. Instead, he turned to look out the window, his expression unreadable.
Shen Mingying. He actually still remembered that name.
She had been Ruan Yu’s closest friend in high school. All these years, he thought he had moved on—yet in the end, he hadn’t even forgotten the name of one of her friends.
No one spoke again until Ruan Yu got out of the car.
She opened the door and thanked them both before heading up to Shen Mingying’s apartment, urgently ringing the doorbell.
Shen Mingying, thinking something had gone wrong, asked in surprise, "What’s wrong? Did the case fall through?"
Ruan Yu’s carefully maintained composure from the ride crumbled instantly. With a miserable expression, she said, "Mingying, guess who I ran into?"
"Liu Mao? Did he confess to you or something?"Ruan Yu stepped forward and grabbed her sleeve, on the verge of tears: "It's Xu Huaisong... I met the real-life Xu Huaisong!"
Downstairs at the apartment, Liu Mao restarted the car and drove slowly for a short distance before slamming on the brakes.
The moment he stopped, Xu Huaisong knew he couldn't hold back any longer.
Sure enough, the next second, Liu Mao turned his head and asked: "That phone call earlier—you had someone call me to deliberately send me away, didn't you?"
Xu Huaisong chuckled: "With reflexes that slow, how did you ever become a lawyer?"
Liu Mao choked, his chest tightening with pain. After a long moment of shock and suspicion, he asked: "An ex-girlfriend?"
Hearing this term, Xu Huaisong seemed momentarily stunned. He turned the words "ex-girlfriend" over in his mind twice before looking out the window at the tree-lined avenue, his gaze lingering on a red phone booth in the distance.
After a pause, he smiled—utterly shameless and teasingly slow to answer—and drawled: "How should I put it..."
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