Chapter 17 Haven't you had enough?

Chapter 17

The bar at the foot of the city wall was dimly lit. The bartender brought out two special cocktails. Fearing that drinking alone would be too boring, Fang Xinle also ordered a few side dishes and ice cream.

"Wow, this vanilla ice cream donut is so cute! No wonder it's their signature dish!"

The cranberry sauce melted slightly in the ice cream, like lava gushing from a snow-capped mountaintop, cooling little by little until it finally solidified halfway up the mountain.

Fang Xinle took out his phone and snapped a bunch of photos. After editing them, he immediately posted them on his WeChat Moments. The photos were beautifully edited, and Xia Zhiyu was the first to like them.

At the next table was a young couple. They looked quite young. The girl had a small silk ribbon bow hair clip tied in her ponytail, and her face, full of collagen, radiated a happy and sweet smile.

In a daze, Xia Zhiyu almost thought she was seeing herself five years ago.

Fang Xinle followed her gaze and naturally understood what Xia Zhiyu was thinking.

Breaking up is easy to say, but how can you forget a relationship that you've painstakingly built up over five years? People are made of flesh and blood, not machines that can be formatted.

Xia Zhiyu stirred the bubbles with a long-handled, thin spoon, then propped her chin on her arm on the table, her eyes suddenly sparkling with a crystalline light.

"Lele, do you remember? Before our junior year was over, one of our classes was suddenly canceled. The teacher's surname was Song. He always wore red-rimmed glasses and had a very noticeable mole on his chin."

Fang Xinle was slightly taken aback, tilted his head and thought for a moment, his tone somewhat uncertain, "Song Qing? That off-campus tutor who teaches self-media?"

“Yes,” Xia Zhiyu tucked her loose hair behind her ear, her hands unconsciously gripping the cold wine glass, her gaze drifting aimlessly across the intricate patterns on the table, her eyes unfocused.

“She liked me a lot and even filmed several interview videos with me. At the time, I felt that Teacher Song was the embodiment of all my aspirations for the future—young, promising, righteous, and positive. She single-handedly exposed the dark side of countless industries, helped migrant workers get back their back wages from unscrupulous bosses, helped establish a union for grassroots workers in Haicheng, and called for respect for labor and human rights. Even though she was warned by countless people many times, she still worked firmly toward the world she longed for.”

"She is an exceptionally hardworking and strong woman."

Xia Zhiyu's voice was very soft, and it dissipated into the air with a gust of wind.

"I went with Teacher Song to deal with the migrant worker incident. I can still clearly remember how she stood at the entrance of the labor arbitration center and argued with the burly, heartless boss who was as strong as an ox. The boss was wearing a big gold chain, and when he spoke, his spittle flew everywhere, like a fountain."

Xia Zhiyu had never mentioned this to her before. Fang Xinle unconsciously put down her wine glass and her expression became serious.

"I was terrified. Teacher Song pulled me behind her. She's very thin, you know, with delicate arms. Even though she was protecting me, I could still see the man's fierce expression. It's funny to think about, but I almost cried from fright."

“The man glared at me, and my legs went weak. I could barely stand up. Later, when the police came to ask us to come inside to talk, Ms. Song told me to stay at the door. She must have realized I was scared.”

The water droplets condensing on the glass were icy cold on my palms, leaving them damp and indistinguishable between cold sweat and water stains.

Xia Zhiyu's voice was filled with pain and confusion, almost as she was muttering to herself, "Why didn't I go in with her back then? I still don't know what they said in the room."

"All I know is that after returning home, Ms. Song committed suicide in her study, which was filled with industry news."

"I found the body when I went to ask her about something that night."

"Blood was everywhere, and the smell was pungent."

"She also left a suicide note, which her family confirmed was her own handwriting. The note said that she found that the beliefs she had pursued all her life had collapsed, and that she could not actually help anyone, so she decided to die."

"The suicide note was accompanied by a thick survey on the actual problem of employers owing wages to migrant workers. The electronic version of the survey had been uploaded to the internet a long time ago."

"But not a single splash was made."

"When I visited later, the migrant workers had received their wages, the migrant worker boss had recovered the debts owed, and they had paid off their children's huge medical expenses. When I asked those people if they were willing to see Teacher Song off on his final journey, they all refused."

"Isn't that ridiculous?"

Xia Zhiyu's eyes grew even redder. "After that incident, my beliefs collapsed."

Before Fang Xinle could finish speaking, Xia Zhiyu forced a smile and looked at her.

"But I don't look like I've experienced such a big blow at all, and I even quickly got involved in the legal profession, right?"

She was smiling, but she looked as fragile as if she had lost her soul.

Fang Xinle unconsciously grasped Xia Zhiyu's hand and patted it reassuringly.

"Jiang Zhiyan handled Teacher Song's funeral arrangements. He changed his communication style to negotiate with the migrant workers and the boss, got the money, and settled the accounts."

“He pulled me out of the mire, and he showed me that there are third, fourth, and fifth ways to solve problems.”

Xia Zhiyu's smile held a hint of nostalgia.

“He helped me set a new anchor in my life. He took me to do legal aid, to make home visits, and to help women who were victims of domestic violence to solve their problems. I gradually emerged from the shadow of Teacher Song’s suicide. I started to want to get closer to him, and even closer. The day he accepted my confession, I felt that I had found a new direction, and my world became better again.”

"That's the problem."

Fang Xinle looked at Xia Zhiyu with deep heartache, "Yuyu, how can you repeatedly set your life's goals on another person?"

"Whether it's Teacher Song or Jiang Zhiyan, they can only be your goals, not your spiritual pillars. You shouldn't let the life or death of one person stop you from pursuing your ideals."

"Life is a one-way street that you have to walk alone."

Xia Zhiyu slowly exhaled, "Yes, I noticed that too."

"Whether it's Teacher Song or Jiang Zhiyan, I was actually like a dodder clinging to them. So when the big tree was destroyed, I was buried in the soil along with it, until I found another big tree to cling to."

Fang Xinle looked at her with concern, "Are you sure you're aware of your own agency now?"

Xia Zhiyu patted her hand reassuringly, "In the five years I've been by Zhiyan's side, I haven't been a useless person. Zhiyan has taught me a lot, how to handle things, how to communicate, and..."

She paused for a moment, her eyes gleaming with tender nostalgia, "and how to respect one's own subjectivity while upholding firm idealism."

Xia Zhiyu smiled and winked at Fang Xinle, the gloom in her eyes fading slightly.

"It's good that you've recovered."

Fang Xinle breathed a sigh of relief, her tone tinged with reproach and heartache, "You didn't even tell me about such a big thing back then, it's so pitiful to bear it all by yourself."

Xia Zhiyu: "I didn't tell you at the time mainly because the school had contacted me, and I hoped that as few people as possible knew about this matter, and ultimately I had to get through this myself."

The atmosphere grew slightly heavy.

Fang Xinle suddenly cleared his throat and said in a serious tone, "Then, considering that Jiang Zhiyan did some things for you, I'll let him off the hook for now."

"I'll curse that idiot again tomorrow."

Xia Zhiyu couldn't help but laugh again, teasingly saying, "Then Jiang Zhiyan should thank President Fang for letting him off the hook today."

"Of course."

As darkness fell completely, the pale yellow streetlights cast their glow on the ancient gray city walls, while the shadows of the trees swayed gently in the wind.

A faint taste of alcohol rose in her heart, and Xia Zhiyu suddenly remembered that she and Jiang Zhiyan had been here before.

"Actually, when I was ten years old, I had a younger brother."

Xia Zhiyu released her wine glass, slowly closed her eyes, and lay back on the stool. The cool night breeze blurred her consciousness.

"My aunt came to pick me up after school that day. It was the first time my dad hadn't come to pick me up. My aunt was very excited and picked me up and put me on her bicycle. I sat on the back seat without a backrest and hugged my aunt tightly, afraid that she would shake me off."

“The ground in front of the school was full of potholes. I was worried, but then I heard my aunt say to me, ‘Yuyu, now that you have a little brother, you’ll have someone to play with.’”

“My parents said the same thing. After that day, my dad never picked me up from school again. He had to rush back to my grandparents’ house to pick up my younger brother. I started going to and from school alone, walking alone across the large wheat field next to the school.”

"Summer is okay, it gets dark late, and there are always people cooling off on the road. But winter is terrible. The fields are pitch black, the streetlights are always broken, and I always walk home in fear."

"Not only is there no one to play with me, but no one comes to pick me up from school anymore. I feel like my parents don't love me anymore."

"No, that's not right. They just don't love me enough anymore. My little brother is very young, he's very cute, and he needs their attention more, so they naturally neglect me."

“I started going to school by myself, cooking for myself, and I can take care of myself.”

"But my brother died unexpectedly."

"Their love has returned to me."

“From then on, I realized clearly that my parents didn’t love me as much as I thought, at least not as much as I loved them. They loved their child, whoever that child was.”

The wind seemed to freeze, the air was still, and the shopkeeper's Siamese cat rubbed its head against Xia Zhiyu's leg, causing a tingling, itchy sensation. Xia Zhiyu chuckled and scratched its chin, leaving only the white ring around its ears. The little Filipino cat purred like a motorcycle.

“I even thought that no one would ever truly love me again, but then Jiang Zhiyan appeared. He chose me firmly when I was at my lowest point. He loves Xia Zhiyu, Xia Zhiyu without any qualifiers. I feel like I’ve been reborn.”

Fang Xinle: "No, Yu Yu, you've forgotten yourself."

"The person who loves you most sincerely in the world is yourself. You feel sorry for yourself and sympathize with yourself because you love yourself. And it's not just Jiang Zhiyan who loves you, but also me and Teacher Song. We all love you. We all love you because you are Xia Zhiyu."

"You should be nicer to Xia Zhiyu, whom we love."

Gentle kindness is like warm spring water slowly warming the heart.

Xia Zhiyu's eyes were red-rimmed.

Fang Xinle continued, "I think your feelings for Jiang Zhiyan are largely a kind of dependence, but as I said before, the uncertainty of depending on others is too strong. You must be independent. Two trees can grow side by side, and if one dies, the other can still live, but the tree and the vines on it will only have a relationship of sharing life and death."

"Fortunately," Fang Xinle sneered, "you awakened before Jiang Zhiyan died."

She waved her hand and said boldly, "We don't need Jiang Zhiyan, that crooked, weak tree anymore. Sister, I'll give you a better diamond."

As she spoke, she turned her head, a smile...

"Look, here comes the little seedling."

Bian Lin stood under the yellow and blue sign and waved to the two of them. He was dressed casually in a hoodie and jeans, and had a bright smile.

-

The office building on the 52nd floor was brightly lit. Jiang Zhiyan hung up the phone with the client and irritably lit a cigarette.

The bluish-white smoke silently dissipated in the office, only to be quickly purified by the buzzing air filter.

The air filter was bought by Xia Zhiyu. Jiang Zhiyan wasn't a heavy smoker, but he often had clients who liked to smoke. After all, being a lawyer is in the service industry, it's normal for him to smoke a few cigarettes when offered them. The office was always filled with smoke, like paradise.

Xia Zhiyu used all of her first internship salary to buy an air purifier, along with most of her scholarship money.

“Just tell me if you want to buy a filter. Why do you have to buy it yourself? Your internship salary isn’t much,” Jiang Zhiyan said, still somewhat unhappy three years ago.

“I’ll buy it even if there aren’t many,” Xia Zhiyu said with a grin, hugging his arm and her eyes sparkling. “I want you to think of me every time you see this filter, and then put out your cigarette!”

The remaining half of the cigarette was extinguished in the ashtray. Jiang Zhiyan propped his forehead up with his hand, and when he looked down, he saw Xia Zhiyu's name again, neatly signed on the resignation letter on the screen.

The bottom horizontal stroke of the character for "fish" is very long, with the end curving down, like a small fish raising its tail and rushing straight towards another sea area, leaving him behind.

A sense of depression and bitterness spread through my heart.

He had barely recovered for a few minutes when the phone started ringing incessantly again, like a death knell. It was the same customer with the same problem. He had explained it countless times, but this guy seemed to be mentally ill and couldn't understand human language.

Today, his client company in Northern Europe suddenly ran into some problems, and the Nordic people, who never work overtime even when the sky is falling, started calling him one after another.

Jiang Zhiyan had only received Xia Zhiyu's message about packing his luggage for less than two minutes when his client called. He rushed to the law firm, where a video conference lasted from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

He offered seven or eight solutions, but the client was like a brain-dead person nitpicking. On one hand, he was anxiously running around, afraid of being caught by the regulatory agency and having to pay compensation, while on the other hand, he was delusional, hoping to maintain the current production efficiency. This was pure wishful thinking.

Jiang Zhiyan really couldn't understand this person's thought process. He would rather outwit the supervisory department and gamble on the mere 20% chance of not being arrested than risk making dirty money.

He strongly suspected that the client's mother had thrown away the baby and kept the placenta after giving birth; otherwise, there was no way to explain why this person seemed to be brainless.

What's even more baffling is that Xia Zhiyu completely ignored his message for those two hours, as if she were dead.

Jiang Zhiyan hung up the phone, leaned back in his office chair, tilted his head back and rubbed his aching temples, then closed his eyes to rest. He hadn't had a good night's sleep for several days in a row.

Xia Zhiyu was always causing trouble for him, one minute she wanted to quit her job, the next she wanted to become a self-media creator, and then she wanted to break up. It never stopped.

He has so many things to deal with every day, and when he gets home he's bombarded with her emotional outbursts.

The image of Xia Zhiyu looking at him with tears in her eyes and a pitiful expression from a few days ago flashed before his eyes again.

Immediately following, Xia Zhiyu from her university days appears. A pretty young girl suddenly slips into her arms from a corner, her fluffy curly hair exuding a fragrance after being dried by the sun.

He instinctively supported her buttocks and hugged her tightly.

Xia Zhiyu smiled, her eyes filled with joy and adoration as she looked down at him.

I miss you so, so, so much!

"Zhiyan, have you missed me?"

Before he could react, Xia Zhiyu suddenly pouted, her eyes reddening as she looked at him and stubbornly said she wanted to break up.

Jiang Zhiyan suddenly opened his eyes, his nerves twitching and aching from being jolted awake from a light sleep, while his phone on his desk kept buzzing.

He opened WeChat and found that his client had sent him more than a dozen messages.

But Jiang Zhiyan's first glance fell on Xia Zhiyu's new WeChat profile picture, which showed Xia Xiaojiang stretching her neck and raising her right hind leg, ready to lick a certain private part. The silly cat had her eyes half-closed and looked like a little smug enjoying herself.

You have time to change your profile picture but no time to reply to his messages?

Haven't you caused enough trouble yet?

The fatherly vibe is overflowing from the screen.

Jiang Zhiyan slammed her phone face down on the table with a "thud," her expression indifferent.

"Jiang the Lawyer," the newcomer who had taken over Xia Zhiyu's work, nervously knocked on the door and entered the room, placing the neatly organized documents on Jiang Zhiyan's desk, almost with trepidation.

"This is a report based on Xia Lv's previous work report. Please take a look first. If there are no problems, I will send the electronic version to the client."

This was already the fifth version of the plan he had revised, and the new assistant finally understood why no one was willing to take over Xia Zhiyu's work.

Who would want to work under a push maniac! He couldn't understand how Xia Lu had managed to stay in this position for two years.

The new assistant was kicking himself. What good was it if his salary was higher than others? He was only getting compensation for emotional distress.

Jiang Zhiyan skimmed through the document, his expression growing increasingly grim.

“This isn’t a dumping ground for garbage. If you can’t even do this much right, you should go back to university and retake your major in international trade.”

His tone was so cold it was as if he had been frozen in a refrigerator for three days and three nights.

The wheels of the executive chair scraped against the floor with a hiss, and the freshly printed document traced a perfect parabola through the air before landing in the shredder.

The shredder whirred and clattered, and the new assistant broke out in a cold sweat, on the verge of tears, with no choice but to redo it.

The door closed very quietly.

Jiang Zhiyan squeezed his eyes shut, his expression growing increasingly cold and stern.

He simply couldn't understand how this new assistant, who had several years of work experience in other firms, could be less capable than Xia Zhiyu.

It's obvious from that report that he didn't bother to understand the client's products at all.

It's utterly baffling that someone engaged in international trade wouldn't bother to understand their clients' products.

In the years that Xia Zhiyu has been by his side, apart from her internship, she has never made him worry about such basic professional issues. Her due diligence recently has been exceptionally good, and she could be used as a teaching model for undergraduate students.

How come this high-paid assistant is still not as good as Xia Zhiyu?

The phone rang again, the client pressing for the proposal like it was an emergency. Jiang Zhiyan's neck veins bulged. He closed his eyes tightly and personally opened Xia Zhiyu's work records to start doing the work that should have been done by his assistant.

The documentation was clear and concise, from data analysis to solution planning, making it far superior to what his new assistant had done.

A complex mix of emotions welled up inside me, a blend of pride and anxiety.

Jiang Zhiyan couldn't understand why Xia Zhiyu would give up her legal career, in which she had already achieved some success.

Just like Xia Zhiyu couldn't understand why he wouldn't approve her resignation.

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Author's note: There will be another chapter in one hour!