Chapter 127 From this point on, not a single lamp in the myriad of homes belonged to Wen Jiu.

Wen Jiu eventually returned to Qingyang that year.

On New Year's Eve, Chen Yu and his group suggested going to Qi You's house for hot pot.

Wen Jiu was the third to arrive. Before her, Shen Si Nian and Xia Shi had just entered the room. Wen Jiu put the vegetables and beef she was carrying on a low cabinet and her gaze fell on the dining table in the center of the room.

The white hot pot on top was bubbling away, and the table was surrounded by all sorts of dishes and meats.

When Xia Shi saw her coming over, he quickly got up from the sofa to hug her.

Wen Jiu raised her hand and rubbed her back, saying softly, "Why did you prepare so many dishes?"

"I thought we hadn't gotten together in a long time, so we ate to our hearts' content. If we really couldn't finish it, we'd just boil it in water for Yeye."

As if it understood its owner's words, it wagged its tail along with the dog beside it.

Wen Jiu smiled, bent down, and patted its head.

While she was washing her hands in the restroom, Xia Shi received a phone call.

Wen Jiu didn't hear exactly what was said, she only heard her say, "You're here."

The topic of the phone call seemed to be related to himself.

Seeing that the call had ended, she asked, "What happened?"

Not only her, but Xia Shi also looked confused. "Qi You is just asking if you're here?"

"That's all you asked?"

"Um."

"Isn't that a little strange? I knew you were coming."

Wen Jiu nodded.

Chen Yu arrived last, and Chen Si Nian scolded him for being slow.

The two started arguing as soon as they met, exchanging insults.

Wen Jiu looked at them and a faint smile appeared on her lips.

But as I laughed, my heart started to ache.

Every time I see them, I can't help but think of that person.

She lowered her eyes and began to eat the food on her plate.

"Class monitor, why do you always eat vegetables and not meat?" Chen Yu had been watching for a while and noticed that the girl was only picking at vegetables and not eating much meat.

Wen Jiu was taken aback when the person suddenly spoke to her. She paused for a moment before softly saying, "Isn't eating vegetables good for your health?"

“That’s true,” Chen Yu agreed, “but you should eat more meat; you’ve lost a lot of weight in the last two years.”

As he spoke, he got up and used serving chopsticks to put a lot of meat on her plate.

The plates in front of Wen Jiu piled up into a small mountain in an instant. She looked at them quietly, a warm feeling flowing through her heart.

The room was softly lit, and two hours passed by in the blink of an eye.

The group had originally planned to spend New Year's Eve together tonight.

Unexpectedly, Wen Jiu was about to leave after the meal.

"Little Yellow came back from Beijing with me, I need to go back and feed it."

"But."

Before Xia Shi could say anything more, Wen Jiu spoke first: "I'm already very happy today."

Meeting those gentle eyes, Xia Shi knew there was no point in trying to persuade him to stay, and said softly, "Then I'll take you."

"No."

“No way,” Xia Shi refused decisively, her tone tinged with lingering fear, “What happened to you after get off work last time almost scared me to death.”

Wen Jiu has been interning at a law firm for the past six months. The family of the victim in the previous case was quite extreme.

Dissatisfied with the verdict, they retaliated against the lawyers afterwards, feeling that they were making money unscrupulously.

Wen Jiu, who was from the same law firm, was also inexplicably implicated and almost got injured.

Xia Shi was about to grab her car keys when the girl stopped her, saying, "It's okay, there are lots of people outside on New Year's Eve, and," she paused, "I want to walk around by myself."

Having said that, the group didn't say anything more. However, Chen Yu stared at the figure disappearing from sight, wondering why the girl had always been unwilling to spend New Year's Eve with them all these years.

After leaving the villa, Wen Jiu didn't take a taxi, but walked alone on the road.

A cold wind howled as she walked quietly.

Winters in Qingyang are not as dry and cold as those in northern Beijing; the air is damp and humid.

On New Year's Eve, many shops on both sides of the street had already closed, with only a few barbershops still having their lights on.

Wen Jiu crossed the road and stopped in front of a shop that was already closed.

She looked up at the somewhat old doorplate, stood there for a while, then turned and left.

In the wind and snow, the sign that read "Beef Noodles" swayed slightly.

The girl's figure disappeared at the end of the street.

—From then on, not a single lamp in the myriad of homes belonged to Wen Jiu, and she and Zhou Yanchuan had not seen each other for many years.

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North Beijing, late winter.

Wen Jiu always felt that they were destined to be with rain and snow, as countless important moments were either rainy or snowy.

Their reunion after many years was also on a snowy day.

Inside the private room, Wen Jiu stared blankly at the figure who had gotten up to pick someone up. After a moment of distraction, a relieved smile appeared on her face.

Five years have passed; only a fool would stay in the same place.

She suppressed the bitterness in her heart and looked away.

Just then, the phone lying to the side vibrated. Wen Jiu looked down and saw that it was a message from a colleague.

"I'm going to the restroom."

She spoke softly to the person next to her, then stood up from the sofa.

Wen Jiu walked along, opening the documents to look at them, and thus did not notice the person who had said he was leaving but had stopped in the corridor.

As she flipped the page back, her delicate eyebrows slowly furrowed.

Wen Jiu and his team are handling a domestic violence case this time, and the existing evidence is insufficient to support the woman's claim of legitimate self-defense.

Before opening the document, she thought it meant the case had made good progress, but she never expected that this document would change the possibility of her case being judged as legitimate self-defense into one of intentional homicide.

Wen Jiu glanced through the document, then stopped in a quiet corner and called a colleague: "Weren't there no eyewitnesses?"

"A food delivery guy suddenly appeared out of nowhere and saw it."

Wen Jiu frowned even more deeply: "Where are you now?"

“We’re on our way to the police station. You’re at a class reunion, and you finally got a day off, so don’t go. I’ll go with Xiaolin.”

"It's almost finished here, I'll go over there in a bit."

After hanging up the phone, Wen Jiu walked to the end of the corridor and went into the restroom.

She stood in front of the mirror, took a wet wipe out of her bag, and began to wipe the lipstick off her lips.

After quickly wiping myself down, I bent down to wash my hands and saw a familiar face in the mirror.

Her expression froze.

Before she could react, Zhou Yanchuan walked straight over to her. Just like in the private room, he didn't linger on her for a second. He put down his phone, which he was on, and went to wash his hands.

Wen Jiu's expression was calm, yet she inexplicably stood still.

Just then, a gentle female voice came from the phone: "Where are you? I've already gotten off the plane."

Zhou Yanchuan seemed oblivious to her presence, replying casually.

"We haven't set off yet."

"Haven't we set off yet? Zhou Yanchuan, do you believe I'll get angry?" The woman's coquettish voice rang out, though she said she was angry, her words were full of affectionate playfulness.

Wen Jiu's eyelashes twitched slightly.

He remained as lazy as ever, wiping his wet hands with a tissue: "Let Lu Nian go."

After saying that, he said calmly, "I'm coming over now."

"That's more like it. I'll wait for you."

"Um."

The phone call ended, and the surroundings were unexpectedly quiet.

It was as if they had finally noticed her.

He slowly lifted his eyelids and glanced at her lightly.