DFLB – Chapter 92

During the two days when Lu Xun was not around Qian Wei was a little lonely, but despite that, she enjoyed herself as she poured all of her energy into the pro bono case that she had been putting off for so long. She carefully went over all of the documentation, made appointments with the various involved parties so that she could personally confirm some of the more critical points of the case with them, sorted out all the evidence, wrote the indictment, and then finally took her suit to court.

On the day she went to the courthouse she coincidentally ran into Li Chongwen in the hallway. This was only the second time she had seen him ever since she had gone to visit him in the hospital with Liu Shiyun.

“Qian Wei.” Li Chongwen was looking better nowadays. His gaunt face seemed to have plumped up a bit and, in addition to his usual handsome-guy-aura, he now seemed to have a touch of warmth surrounding him. He smiled at Qian Wei and said, “Thank you for coming to visit me with Liu Shiyun last time, let me apologize again for not being able to do more than greet you since I was busy with court that day. I really fail as a host.” His expression turned a little helpless. “It seems that every time we meet I’m always right about to hold court, it’s really a pity. But there actually was something I really wanted to tell you.”

Then, before Qian Wei could react, Li Chongwen quickly stuffed a red invitation envelope into her hands.

“You definitely have to come to my wedding this spring.” His expression was bright. “Although it turned out I was misdiagnosed and the situation was all just a false alarm, it wasn’t all bad. Because of that misdiagnosis, I finally realized that there was always someone by my side who was watching over me with heartfelt concern, no matter how ill I got. And, discovering that there was something wrong with my health was really the best wake up call to let me know that I needed to relax the pace of my work. In the end, because of the misdiagnosis, I suddenly came to know that there are many beautiful things in life besides work.” He smiled and continued, “Also, remember to bring Lu Xun along with you.”

Qian Wei was briefly stunned that he knew, but she quickly smiled widely and nodded back. 

Then, as she was walking out of the courthouse, Qian Wei received a text message from Lu Xun.

“I’ll be back tomorrow night.”

Just five simple words, followed by a flight number.

Although Lu Xun’s birthday was tomorrow, Qian Wei had always known there was a chance he wouldn’t be able to make it back in time to spend it with her. After all, she was a lawyer herself and knew all about the pressures of the job. However, now that he had sent her this message and confirmed he would be back to spend his birthday with her, Qian Wei was overjoyed.

Looking around, she suddenly felt that the sun was especially bright and the sky was especially clear, as if the heavens themselves were moving to match her happy mood. At this moment, she felt light and at peace. Although things had taken many years to work themselves out, and time inevitably left its traces on everyone, she never felt that she was particularly mistreated. Rather, wasn’t she blessed?

When a person finally found their happiness in life, perhaps the world began to look like this, always sunny and bright.

Qian Wei deliberately waited up until midnight the night before Lu Xun’s birthday so that she could call him and be the first one to wish him a happy birthday. After that, the couple exchanged a lot of sweet words before finally reluctantly hanging up and going to sleep. Thus, the next day, Qian Wei was sprawled out across her desk tiredly, yawning with a pair of bleary eyes. 

“Qian Wei, our office is throwing a party tonight. Are you going to come?”

As Qian Wei was dozing off on her desk, Xiao Yan leaned over and whispered mysteriously: “Tonight we’re all going to…”

However, Qian Wei didn’t even think for a second before responding, “No, I have something very important to do tonight so I won’t be able to make it. Maybe next time.”

What a joke. She was going to celebrate Lu Xun’s birthday tonight, so of course, everything else would just have to be pushed to the side.

But Xiao Yan didn’t give up: “You really can’t make it? It’s hard for us to organize a day that works for everyone like this, we’re just missing you.”

“No, no, no.” Lawyer Chen, who was walking by, suddenly cut in to stop Xiao Yan. She said righteously, “The idea behind the party was for everyone to come on their own initiative and build bonds, so we can’t demand for people to show up or make things difficult for them if they can’t. It sounds like Qian Wei has something really important happening tonight, right?”

Qian Wei nodded gratefully. In fact, she knew that Xiao Yan wasn’t lying or anything. The lawyers in the firm were all very busy people and, except maybe for the Lunar New Year, there were rarely any parties or anything that they would all be able to attend, so it was indeed a pity that she wouldn’t be able to participate: “Don’t worry, I will definitely show up the next time something like this gets put together. It will even be my treat.”

Xiao Yan quickly pulled out her phone and held it up as if to record her words: “Hey, wait, say that again. I need to have evidence.”

Lawyer Chen patted Xiao Yan on the shoulder and said: “You don’t need to record it, Qian Wei is somehow who will keep her word. She’s usually very diligent, so there really must be something important happening tonight, maybe a date or something.”

Xiao Yan was a little skeptical: “But why do I feel that Qian Wei is like the embodiment of a virgin iron flower, from the top of her head to the tips of her toes? She always stays in the firm late every night working overtime, what kind of boyfriend could tolerate being ignored like that?”

Lawyer Chen quickly stood up for Qian Wei: “Well, maybe it’s a blind date then? Doesn’t that make it even more important? As one of the people on our firm’s ‘List Of People Least Likely To Ever Escape From Singledom’, Qian Wei’s important life event is naturally more important than our party! Don’t you agree?”

“Wait… ‘List of People Least Likely To Ever Escape From Singledom’? What’s that? Where do I rank?”

“You used to be in second place.”

“Used to be? What am I now then?”

“Now you are in first.” Lawyer Chen kindly explained, “It’s all because the previous first place, Partner Lu, was suddenly spotted kissing a mysterious beauty, so we can assume that he has finally escaped from singledom!”

Qian Wei kept asking: “Wait, who’s the one who made this list?”

Lawyer Chen blinked and said, “Me!”

“…”

After Xiao Yan left, Lawyer Chen continued to stick around for some reason, standing near Qian Wei’s desk and smiling affectionately.

Qian Wei cautiously asked, “Um, is something the matter?”

“Actually, I bought a lot of Li Mengyan’s posters. If you happen to see her again, could you ask her to sign them for me?”

“…” Qian Wei sighed. At first she had thought that Lawyer Chen had come to lend her a hand because of the deep bond they had built as colleagues but, sure enough, this kind of ‘deep bond’ didn’t actually exist.

Later that evening, Lu Xun’s flight ended up being delayed, and Qian Wei sat alone in the terminal waiting to pick him up, feeling anxious.

She had never been so restless before. It really seemed that all of her patience had flown away ever since she had gotten together with Lu Xun.

Lu Xun’s flight was delayed for an hour but in the end, he finally landed safely. Qian Wei, who was waiting at his flight’s arrival gate, excitedly watched and waited for Lu Xun to come out. After a moment, she spotted him. The airport was crowded, and as he stepped into the terminal there were many people all around him, but Qian Wei somehow felt that Lu Xun was the only one that her eyes could see. 

Thus, completely uncaring about the eyes of the surrounding people, she rushed forward and jumped at Lu Xun for a hug. Lu Xun quickly set down his suitcase and caught Qian Wei in mid-air before pulling her close in a tight embrace.

In this way, the two people ended up tightly hugging each other in the middle of the crowded airport. Qian Wei took a deep breath and smelled Lu Xun’s familiar scent, and only then did her anxious heart calm down, all the anxiety swept away and replaced with something extremely warm and gentle.

Lu Xun kissed Qian Wei’s hair and murmured in a low voice: “So, where’s my birthday present?”

Qian Wei awkwardly checked her watch and her expression became a little frustrated: “I originally made an appointment with a 3-star Michelin western restaurant, which was actually very difficult to secure, but the rule at the restaurant is that they don’t wait for anyone and the customers must arrive on time. Because your flight was delayed for an hour we’re too late for the appointment now. Although I contacted the restaurant to explain the situation, they just told me that there was nothing they could do so, in the end, we won’t be able to go tonight.”

Lu Xun grabbed Qian Wei’s hand and kissed her gently before saying: “It doesn’t matter, you’re with me and that’s already the best birthday present.”

Qian Wei mumbled, “But what are we going to eat? We won’t be able to go to the 3-star Michelin restaurant anymore, and I just don’t feel that other restaurants are special enough…”

“If I’m with you, even if I eat at a roadside stall, it will seem like a 3-star Michelin restaurant.” Lu Xun looked down at Qian Wei, and his deep dark eyes seemed to glitter, “Haven’t you heard the saying ‘What matters isn’t what you eat, but who you eat with’?” He smiled, “Anything I eat is fine, so long as you’re with me.”

In the end, Lu Xun drove Qian Wei back to the city center and, after some discussion, the two decided to just go with the flow.

Lu Xun casually picked out a small family restaurant: “How about this one, it looks pretty good.”

It was a small and warm family restaurant that served home-cooked food. It wasn’t very expensive, but the ingredients seemed fresh, and the food looked and smelled to be pretty good. Inside, most of the other patrons seemed to be residents from the nearby residential community, parents taking their children out to celebrate their improvements in the class ranking, old friends gathering to drink beer and catch up, and a few young couples out on dates. Although the restaurant was a bit small and filled with people chatting and laughing, Qian Wei didn’t dislike it. Rather, she felt that it all seemed very warm. When she was still a little girl she used to imagine a wild romance that would barrel into her life and sweep her off her feet, but as she grew older she had begun to feel that finding a partner with whom she could share the ups and downs of her mundane everyday life was her own path to happiness.

“By the way, I’ve been a bit worried, how do you think we should reveal our relationship to the other people at the office?” Qian Wei took a sip of her orange juice and looked a little distressed, “How can we do it in a way that isn’t too abrupt so that everyone will accept it? I think maybe we should try to slowly and steadily reveal it bit by bit, otherwise, our co-workers may be too shocked and unable to accept it.”

“Our firm doesn’t have a policy on office romance, so there’s no reason to delay and do things bit by bit.”

“Well, that’s what’s in the handbook, but…”

-Ring-

Before Qian Wei could finish her words, she was interrupted by Lu Xun’s phone ringing.

Lu Xun picked up the phone, listened for a while, frowned, and then said: “Alright, I’ll come back and get it right away.”

Lu Xun hung up the phone and pursed his lips. “It looks like I have to go back to the office. That was an attorney for one of our clients and he told me that there’s a matter that requires my attention urgently. Apparently, the materials were already sent to our office yesterday, so I have to go back to the office and pick them up.”

Qian Wei pouted: “Didn’t you say you wouldn’t work overtime tonight?”

Lu Xun said gently: “I’ll wait until you’re asleep to handle this matter.” Then he leaned down and whispered in Qian Wei’s ear, “Why don’t you come and see our honeymoon suite tonight?”

Qian Wei blushed: “What honeymoon suite?”

Lu Xun said solemnly, “I have always been planning to marry you, so I prepared the honeymoon suite in advance. However, I never expected that I would have to wait until I was 28 years old before I could finally bring the woman I built the room for back to see it.”

Like that, the two people affectionately flirted back and forth as they headed back to the law firm. By the time they reached the office building, it was already 9 p.m. and all of the building’s white-collar workers had basically gone home, so the place seemed very deserted. When they got into the elevator, they were the only people inside. Once they were inside, it seemed that Lu Xun wanted to restrain himself but, in the end, he couldn’t manage it, and he leaned down to push Qian Wei against one wall of the elevator before kissing her fiercely.

Their lips stayed entangled together all the way until the ‘Ding’ announcing that the elevator had arrived sounded out. However, once some things were started, they became difficult to stop. Lu Xun stared down at Qian Wei with deep eyes, and Qian Wei met his gaze with amorous eyes of her own, and what she wanted was not ambiguous in the least. She directly stood on her tiptoes and took the initiative to kiss Lu Xun again.

Thus, the two people stayed locked in a tight embrace, hugging and kissing with abandon. As they stumbled out of the elevator and toward their offices, Lu Xun wrapped one arm around Qian Wei’s waist and used his other arm to blindly swipe his access card in the general direction of the office door.

But then, to the surprise of both Qian Wei and Lu Xun, the moment that the access card found home and the door swished open with a ‘click’– 

“““Surprise!!!”””

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