DFLB – Chapter 93

There was a chorus of shouts, a loud *bang*, and then someone hit the light switch and the whole darkened office lit up like day. 

“Partner Lu, Happy Birth… day…”

Qian Wei had been very startled, so she had jumped closer to Lu Xun and he, in turn, had protectively wrapped his arms around her. Thus, like this, the two people looked into the office and saw all of their colleagues while, at the same time, their colleagues looked right back at them. Their posture was completely exposed under the harsh office fluorescents.

It seemed that maybe all of Qian Wei’s worries about how to break their relationship to their coworkers was for naught… after all, “explaining” it to them had suddenly become completely unnecessary…

Of all Qian Wei’s colleagues, Xiao Yan seemed by far the most surprised. Her mouth had dropped down into a perfect ‘O’ that looked wide enough for an ostrich egg. After a moment, she recovered enough to stammer: “Partner Lu? Qian Wei? You two…?”

Feeling the gazes of 40 or 50 pairs of shocked eyes, Qian Wei really wanted to drill a hole in the ground and hide inside it. This was the worst! Especially since they had to see her now, when she had been nuzzling in Lu Xun’s arms and acting coquettish! Jesus Christ, what had she just done in front of her colleagues?! It was so embarrassing!

Suddenly she had a realization: so this was what her coworkers had been talking about what they invited her to that ‘party’! Why hadn’t anyone bothered to tell her that their damn party was to celebrate Lu Xun’s birthday?!

As the other involved party, Lu Xun seemed much calmer than Qian Wei. He just maintained his usual aura, neither humble nor arrogant. He slowly scanned their gathered coworkers for a moment with no shyness or embarrassment in his expression before saying in an even tone: “Qian Wei and I will be getting married three months from now. You all are invited to the wedding. That is all.”

Hearing those words, Qian Wei snapped out of her daze and rounded on Lu Xun: “Wait a moment, you haven’t proposed to me yet!”

Lu Xun looked down at her and said calmly, “However, didn’t you already propose to me back at the airport? It’s late, but my answer is yes.”

Qian Wei: ???

Colleagues: ???

“But… three months? Since when are we getting married in three months? Why so quickly?”

“It’s because, after making some calls to confirm, I found that the earliest time to book the best wedding venue in City A is three months from now.”

“…” Qian Wei’s eyes blazed. This Lu Xun! He really silently prepared such a big hand with that usual expressionless face of his! Was it just to shock her? 

Lawyer Chen was the first to break out of the stupor that seemed to have gripped the room and react. She said, “Wow, congratulations Partner Lu, Qian Wei! You two are finally tying the knot! Hahaha! You know, ever since the first time I saw you two, I always felt that you were a perfect match! I mean, you two have always been at least in the top three of my list of ‘Highest Quality Single People’ in the firm so I’ve always been thinking, with you guyses high specs, you were both sure to find partners any day… but who know you would end up with each other hahaha!”

Suddenly Qian Wei really wanted to question Lawyer Chen. What about her ‘List of People Least Likely To Ever Escape From Singledom’, huh? Did a dog eat it? 

After finally snapping out of her daze, the straightforward Xiao Yan suddenly blurted out: “But… wait… wasn’t Partner Lu with a beautiful woman in red last time? There was even that video… hasn’t everyone seen it?”

“That was Qian Wei.” Lu Xun’s explanation was concise and to the point, “Qian Wei has always been the only one in my heart.” Suddenly, he glanced around at the whole group and said in a musing tone. “I always felt that tonight was a little strange. Thinking about it, the lawyers on our client’s side are all fairly reliable and don’t generally do this sort of last minute crunch to get things done. It’s out of character for them to suddenly send something urgent with only a single day to respond, so I suppose it was all just a ruse?”

The gathered people all began to tremble. One brave person finally spoke up, “Well… it was just that we wanted you to come to the office so we could surprise you. “

Another spoke: “That’s right! Actually, I’ve always been receiving a lot of guidance from you during my time at the firm Partner Lu. Although you are my boss, I feel that you’ve taught me a lot and I’ve always felt very grateful. Especially since you gave me this job opportunity in the first place despite the less than amazing university I graduated from.”

“That’s right! Partner Lu, you are like a shining beacon in my life, always illuminating my way forward.”

Suddenly the gathered crowd of legal professionals turned into a pack of fawning lackeys, all eager to sing Lu Xun’s praises. 

Qian Wei snorted in dissatisfaction: “Aren’t you all a bit too unscrupulous? Is Lu Xun really so amazing?”

“If he’s not amazing, then why were you clinging to him just now?”

“…” Qian Wei was speechless.

“Alright, alright.” Lu Xun finally opened his mouth to respond, “Anyway, Qian Wei and I are now together. Does anyone have a problem? If not, we can continue on with the celebration.”

“No problems! Hahaha!”

“How could there be a problem?”

“…”

Qian Wei just watched on as everyone enthusiastically took out a cake and set it in front of Lu Xun before lighting the candle on top.

She was still lost in a faint feeling of unreality. It was so strange. She and Lu Xun had openly announced their relationship, but their colleagues just let it go and acted completely normal. Gathering around to chat at random, complaining about their annoying clients, and laughing as they watched Lu Xun struggle to blow out the candle and cut the cake.

Although the little world for only the two of them had disappeared, when Qian Wei took a bite of her cake she somehow felt that this kind of development was also sweet in its own way.

The fact that she could openly stand by Lu Xun’s side and receive everyone’s blessings was wonderful. She was suddenly filled with happiness. She had a boyfriend and she also had good friends and coworkers who worked with her side by side, it was a luxurious and beautiful thing.

——————-

After celebrating at the office for a while, everyone was still in high spirits so they all headed to a KTV together, where they sang karaoke until the early hours of the morning. And, although Lu Xun wasn’t used to the noisy atmosphere of a KTV, he still smiled when he watched Qian Wei happily singing along with her colleagues. 

For her part, Qian Wei noticed that now their relationship had been made public, Lu Xun didn’t try to hide the way he looked at her at all anymore. He seemed to have spent the whole night looking at her with gentle, but somehow burning, eyes. Feeling his gaze, her face flushed red like a lobster. She suddenly felt that she had been foolish to ever think about concealing their relationship. Not to mention their coworkers, probably she could just grab any random person off the street and they would be able to tell how Lu Xun felt about her. 

However, although it might be a bit immodest… Qian Wei could only think that this sensation really felt unexpectedly good.

After they finished at the KTV, the couple planned to finally head back together, but before they could they were interrupted by a phone call from Liu Shiyun.

“Qian Wei, where are you?” Listening to Liu Shiyun’s voice, it sounded like she had been crying. Although she tried to hide it, Qian Wei could see through her best friend right away.

“Shiyun, what’s the matter?”

“I just don’t want to be alone tonight. Since you didn’t answer your phone just now, I called one of your colleagues and she told me that you were all at the Xinghui KTV… anyway, I’m waiting for you downstairs now.”

Qian Wei was a bit worried. Something must have happened for Liu Shiyun to suddenly track her down and wait for her outside a KTV in the middle of the night like this. Although she wanted to spend time with Lu Xun, she also wasn’t someone who would throw her friends away after finding a man, so she grabbed Lu Xun’s hand and quickly pulled him downstairs.

Liu Shiyun was sitting alone on the curb outside the KTV with a can of beer in her hand. Her eyes were a little red, and when she saw Qian Wei walking over hand-in-hand with Lu Xun, her eyes became a little redder.

“Am I interrupting you two?” Her voice sounded a little lost. 

Qian Wei immediately saw what her friend was worried about, so she leaned down and patted her on the shoulder while saying: “We’ve already been friends for so many years, how could you be interrupting? Anyway, what happened?”

Liu Shiyun’s voice was a bit nasally, but she still said forcefully: “Well, it isn’t much. Isn’t it just breaking up?”

Qian Wei was shocked: “Since when were you with someone?”

Liu Shiyun averted her eyes uneasily before replying in a loud voice, “It’s only been a few days… I was going to tell you about it but, unexpectedly, it already fell apart.”

“But why did you break up?”

“He cheated on me!” When Liu Shiyun mentioned this, she gritted her teeth and continued, “When we got together, he told me that he would always be true to me, he told me that he only liked a spicy chili like me, and he even told me that so long as I said one, he would never say two but… the result?! I believed him, only to find that he was secretly hitting on some starlet! And he even set up a dinner date with her!”

“Bastard!” Qian Wei was filled with righteous indignation after hearing all this. “What a scumbag! Quickly tell me who it is, and we’ll get someone to expose them! Especially that starlet! Cheating and snatching away someone else’s boyfriend? We can make sure she never works in the entertainment industry again!”

However, when it came to the person’s name, Liu Shiyun became evasive, and she said in an awkward tone: ‘Well, let’s just forget it. Maybe there was just no fate between us.”

Qian Wei wanted to ask more questions, but Lu Xun stopped her with a look. He motioned toward Liu Shiyun with his eyes and murmured: “She doesn’t want to say, so don’t ask anymore. Just give her some space to calm down.”

Originally Qian Wei had been planning to go back with Lu Xun, but now that she saw Liu Shiyun’s dismal state she wasn’t sure what to do. As a friend, she wouldn’t be able to forgive herself if she left Liu Shiyun alone right now but, at the same time, it obviously wasn’t as if she could invite her to come back with them to Lu Xun’s place. 

After some deliberation, she said: “How about all three of us find a hotel and get a room together? Give me a moment, I’ll check online for somewhere with rooms.”

“With me here, do you think you need to check online?” Liu Shiyun nimbly pulled out her wallet, rifled through it for a moment, and then tossed a card to Qian Wei. “Here, it’s the VVIP gold card for my family’s hotel chain, take it.”

Qian Wei was a little embarrassed: “This is a bit much…”

Liu Shiyun blinked, then went over Qian Wei’s head and directly addressed Lu Xun, “Actually, my family has recently opened a ‘fun’ new line of hotels. Specifically, we hired a famous Japanese designer to make a chain of high-end love hotels in several major cities here in China. You should know about how ‘fun’ the hotel industry in Japan is, right? From what I remember, we already have various themes set up, like the hospital, the classroom, the office, the train station… you could probably enjoy one of our themed rooms every night for a year without ever having to try the same thing twice. And by the way, this VVIP card applies to all the hotels under our brand. ” She slipped the VVIP into Lu Xun’s hand. “I know that you must have had something planned for tonight and that I’m disturbing you two, so let me make it up to you by giving you this VVIP card.”

“…” Qian Wei suddenly felt that her friend’s mind was really too wild!

Lu Xun cleared his throat before calmly accepting the VVIP card and saying in a solemn tone: “In fact, I often travel for work and I see your family’s hotels all the time. This card will definitely be very useful to me, thank you.”

“…”

At any rate, after some twists and turns, the three people ended up heading to a nearby hotel that was owned by Liu Shiyun’s family. Liu Shiyun immediately booked a presidential suite in high spirits, but shortly after the room was booked Qian Wei suddenly received a call from Qian Chuan.

Qian Chuan sounded very anxious: “Qian Wei, you’ve got to help me! Can you get in touch with Liu Shiyun? I’ve dialed her number over a dozen times tonight, but she hasn’t been picking up her phone! I’m worried that something might have happened to her, so I called you. I don’t know what else to do!”

“Huh? What do you want with her?”

“She and I were supposed to have dinner together tonight, but she never showed up and she hasn’t been picking up her phone!”

Qian Wei wanted to ask more questions, but Lu Xun suddenly snatched the phone from her hand. He rapidly reported the name and location of the hotel they had just checked into before saying: “Liu Shiyun is here with us, in room 809. Come quickly and take her away with you.”

“Huh?” Qian Wei couldn’t follow this situation at all.

However, even as Qian Wei was still muddle-headedly trying to figure it out, Liu Shiyun, who had disappeared to go to the front desk and borrow a cell phone charger, suddenly came back and asked: “What’s the matter, Qian Wei?”

Qian Wei answered truthfully, “Qian Chuan called just now, it seems he’s looking for y-“

But then, before Qian Wei could finish speaking, Liu Shiyun, who had seemed to have calmed down, suddenly exploded: “He still has the nerve to look for me? Why didn’t he just stay with his star friend? Wasn’t he going to have dinner with her and have a great time catching up? How could I, the lowly Liu Shiyun, possibly compare to a perfect and beautiful star? It’s normal for him to like her instead…”

Qian Wei looked at Liu Shiyun with a dumbfounded expression. After a moment, she finally managed to draw the scattered pieces together: “Wait, Liu Shiyun, was Qian Chuan the one you were with?”

Liu Shiyun choked on the words she was about to say, but she quickly recovered. She pretended to be calm and said: “So what if he was? Is it against the law or something?”

“But weren’t you two like fire and water? With the kind of relationship where you start bickering as soon as you see each other?”

“Well, because whenever we fought we were never able to decide who won and who lost, we eventually decided to just get together and settle things slowly.” Liu Shiyun turned a bit morose. “But maybe we just weren’t suitable in the end. It’s fine though, I’m already used to it. Most men can’t put up with my temper. If he likes someone else, that’s just how it is. But, at the same time, even if he likes someone else he still needs to show me some respect! If he likes her and wants to be with her, he should break up with me first! This kind of man who won’t even break up before chasing some new, I really can’t tolerate!”

Qian Chuan… a star… slowly these two key words jogged Qian Wei’s memories and a picture of what may have happened finally cobbled together in her mind.

“I think you might have misunderstood Qian Chuan.” Qian Wei didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, but she dutifully recited the story regarding Li Linlin. “…so you see, Li Mengyan and Qian Chuan are actually acquaintances from their school days, and Li Mengyan only wanted to find Qian Chuan and treat him to a meal as an apology for what happened back then. Also, I know Qian Chuan, he is a very single-minded person with muscles for brains. Of course, none of the people from my Qian family would do something like cheating, but if you think Qian Chuan could even do something like cheating in the first place with his brain, you’re really overestimating him. I can’t even imagine him trying to keep an affair secret, what a joke…”

Then, before Liu Shiyun could respond, Qian Chuan finally arrived. He knocked at the door very anxiously, so Qian Wei walked over and opened the door, dragging the somewhat shy looking Liu Shiyun with her and then pushing her out in front.

Qian Chuan, this guy, seemed to have had some sort of epiphany because, although it was clear he had rushed over in a great hurry, he had somehow found the time to pick up a big bouquet of roses on the way. When he finally saw Liu Shiyun, he couldn’t hide his relief at all: “You really scared me to death. When you suddenly stopped answering your phone I thought something might have happened to you.”

The look on Qian Chuan’s face right now couldn’t be faked, and his anxious and worried expression all but spoke for itself but, despite that, Liu Shiyun’s words were harsh, “How could something happen to me? I’m fine! But what are you doing here? You shouldn’t waste your time with me, rather, quickly go back and see your old lover Li Linlin.”

Qian Chuan was stupefied for a moment, but then he finally realized why Liu Shiyun suddenly stopped answering her phone and hurriedly tried to explain: “No, no, it’s not like that. Back when we were in school she chased me for a while, but nowadays she already has a boyfriend, and I also told her that I already have a girlfriend. In fact, I made an appointment to go out and have dinner with all four of us so we could all get to know each other!”

Liu Shiyun turned a little shy: “I don’t want to have dinner with her. She’s so beautiful, where will I put my face if I have to sit next to her?”

“Don’t say that, you are the most beautiful girl in my eyes!” Qian Chuan stared at Liu Shiyun and said solemnly, “You are my favorite little spicy chili, and only when I’m with you do I feel the happiest, and the most comfortable. Only after I met you did a realize that love was something like this, something between two equals being honest and open with each other, and not about trying to change or hide yourself for your partner.”

Liu Shiyun blushed: “You’re not lying to me, right?”

“No way! I swear to God! If I lied to you, I will let the heavens strike Qian Wei until her hairline recedes to the top of her head!”

Qian Wei on the side: ??? Wait, wait, wait… wasn’t there something wrong with that vow?

Qian Chuan quickly cleared his throat and continued solemnly, “Qian Wei is my precious twin sister, so I swore on the thing she cares about most: her hairline. From this, I hope you can feel my sincerity!”

After crying all night, Liu Shiyun finally showed a smile.

With that, the two people finally reconciled. Afterward, Liu Shiyun was a little hungry, so Qian Chuan graciously took her out to find a midnight snack.

Leaving Qian Wei and Lu Xun alone in the spacious presidential suite…

“Well, since it turned out like this, I suppose we can check out and go back now.” Qian Wei muttered.

However, as she began to walk toward the door, Lu Xun caught her by the wrist and said with a wicked smile: “No, we should stay here. Liu Shiyun already went to the trouble of booking us a presidential suite, so we shouldn’t waste her goodwill.” He pulled Qian Wei close and then leaned down to nibble on her earlobe and whisper. “I’m a bit curious about what we can do in a room like this…”

Previous TOC Next