Chapter 15 A coin-sized moon shines here…

The moon, the size of a coin, shone on this patch of sky, like a drop of wax falling from a scorching candle, exceptionally bright, yet desolate.

Moonlight shone into the bedroom of the little villa, where two people, each lost in their own thoughts, were huddled together on the bed, which was draped with a domed lace mosquito net.

The two lay on the bed, each holding a bottle of beer, chatting as they drank. The air was filled with the humidifier and a faint aroma of beer, creating a slightly tipsy atmosphere that was most inviting to open up.

"Where's Shen Nanfeng?" Huang Shiyu held the beer bottle to his lips but didn't actually drink it, just held it up and asked Lu Xiao.

Lu Xiao lowered her head, staring at the beer in her hand. "It's just like that, I'm busy every day."

Huang Shiyu explained, “I don’t care about him. I’m asking you what you think, or do you want a divorce? Or has it evolved to the question of who gets custody of the children? But the most important thing is that the property after the divorce must be divided properly. You’d better go to a top-tier law firm and hire a top lawyer. No, that’s not right either. Aren’t they all in cahoots with Shen Nanfeng? Xiao, this is a bit difficult for you.”

Under her persistent questioning, Lu Xiao finally confessed to her, giving a brief explanation of her and Shen Nanfeng's situation over the past few days.

After a while, Huang Shiyu had finished his beer, but Lu Xiao still didn't reply.

She added, "Why aren't you saying anything? It's embarrassing for me to talk to myself. If you don't want to talk, then forget it."

Lu Xiao stared at the beer for a long time before slowly taking a sip and said, "I often think of someone. I think of the first time I saw her when I first entered college. Her hands were more striking than her face. I'm not the type to judge people by their appearance, but back then, I just thought, how could someone's hands be so ugly? Even my mom's hands, which she does all the housework for every day, aren't like that."

She would never forget when she truly noticed Huang Shiyu's hands. It was during the fingerprinting process for the IELTS exam, even though they were several seats apart. From her perspective, she could see Huang Shiyu stretch out his arm, his hand emerging from his pocket. What came into view was a pair of thin, veiny hands moving up and down on the fingerprinting machine.

Perhaps noticing the overly obvious and direct gaze behind him, Huang Shiyu felt a little uncomfortable. He pulled his hand back into his sleeve a little, then pulled his sleeve down further, leaving only his fingerprint on the machine.

Lu Xiao seemed to ponder for a moment before continuing, "Those hands were extremely thin, as flat as dried longans, with a fragile shell covering them, which left a deep impression on me. Later, I found out that I shared a dormitory with her and became very curious about her, from the story of those hands to the person herself, wondering how she lived and got through it. When I saw that she was doing well, I was genuinely happy for her. So whenever I don't know what to do, I think of her, and I feel that it's not a matter of life or death, and half of the burden on my body is lifted."

"But I'm not as strong as her."

The "she" that Lu Xiao mentioned was clearly referring to Huang Shiyu.

She never imagined that one day she could become a source of strength for others.

For her, who had been seen as a burden in the first half of her life, this was like seeing a beautiful tomb at her wedding, and even more of a surprise.

With the windows wide open, the strong wind mingled with the sycamore trees along the roadside, casting shadows on the bedroom floor. When the wind blew, the shadows of the trees on the ground resembled menacing black mountain demons.

"Tell me, what happened? Why did you suddenly want to stay here?" Lu Xiao turned to look at her.

"Nothing happened, nothing's wrong." Huang Shiyu's heart skipped a beat because of Lu Xiao's words, and her breathing slowed down a little, just to make herself look like nothing had happened.

A thick, dark blue lace mosquito net blocked the overhead light, and Lu Xiao's expression was rather colorless in the sparse light filtering through the gaps.

So she couldn't tell if Lu Xiao was bluffing her, since she had done this many times before. During college, when she played Werewolf with a group, Lu Xiao would always spot her accurately whenever she drew the werewolf card, using all sorts of tricks and deceptions against her.

"A loan shark called me and said your dad owes money."

Lu Xiao's calm and gentle voice completely tore off her mask of pretense; the thing she least wanted to happen had finally come to pass.

"What? My dad even wrote down your phone number? Why are you only telling me now?"

Her father had Lu Xiao's phone number because that year she had just been admitted to a famous financial university in Shanghai. People who hadn't been in touch for years suddenly decided to send her to school. At that time, she still longed for family affection. With her father accompanying her all the way, it seemed that all the missing years were made up for at this moment. When she arrived at school, her face was full of happy expression. Lu Xiao was the first roommate she met. At that time, she was not as cheerful as she is now. She was introverted and repressed. Yes, the prosperity of Shanghai made her feel very repressed. When she stood in Wujiaochang, she felt as if she were a corpse in a gutter. Her father kept Lu Xiao's contact information so that the two of them could look after each other.

"You called in the evening. I was just about to tell you when you sent me a message. I guessed that the loan sharks had come to you."

The wind outside picked up even more, and the sycamore trees rustled loudly as they swayed.

"Xiao, I'm so sorry, you should cancel the phone card right away." Huang Shiyu paused here, thinking that those loan sharks could find her address, what was the point of canceling the phone card? It was only a matter of time before they found her here. She frowned, "This is not a solution either. We're doomed, they will definitely find you here."

Lu Xiao took in Huang Shiyu's guilty expression, her voice remaining as calm as ever: "The security here is very good, you don't need to worry, the main concern is you."

"I should have known better than to pay off my dad's gambling debts. Now I've dragged you into this too." Huang Shiyu was extremely remorseful, her face almost scrunched up like a dough ball that she couldn't knead properly.

"How much did you pay back to your father?"

Two hundred thousand.

"What! Two hundred thousand! Why should you pay for the high-interest loans your father owes from gambling? He has two other children, what does that have to do with you? Does the law stipulate that abandoned children have an obligation to help their biological parents pay off their debts?!"

Lu Xiao's entire face was contorted with emotion, from her eyebrows and eyes to her forehead, lips, and chin, all of which were stretched into a single line.

After finishing the case outside, Shen Nanfeng felt a little hungry and planned to go downstairs to get something to eat. As he passed by the guest room, he heard Lu Xiaosi's undulating voice and froze on the spot.

Is this still the gentle and quiet Lu Xiao he knows? He has never seen her emotions fluctuate so much.

From the time we met until now, even during our arguments these days, there has never been a moment when our emotions were at their peak.

He suddenly felt like he couldn't understand her anymore. Was this what she really looked like when she was angry? Did he ever truly understand Lu Xiao?

"Are you an idiot? That's two hundred thousand, not twenty yuan! That's enough to buy a private toilet stall in Shanghai!"

Huang Shiyu silently endured Lu Xiao's outburst. Normally, in the business world, he would argue with others and fight tooth and nail to earn even a little more money. But now, he was like a glass bottle with the cap on, not uttering a sound.

"Does your dad think this money fell from the sky? It's outrageous! He's treating you like an ATM. If these were my parents, I wouldn't give them a single penny. They don't support me and they expect me to pay off their debts? Dream on!"

Lu Xiao was so angry that her stomach hurt. She felt that Huang Shiyu was as clear-headed as a highly operational machine when it came to her career, without any emotion. How could she be so clueless and stupid when it came to her father?

Seeing Lu Xiao's indescribable expression, Huang Shiyu silently picked up her beer. Actually, her real intention was not the beer. She only remembered that she had already finished the beer when she raised it halfway. Under Lu Xiao's gaze, she slowly put down the beer bottle.

Alcohol would be the perfect drink at this time, but she didn't have any.

Lu Xiao seemed to read her mind and handed her the Budweiser beer in her hand.

A light wine is best suited for soothing a troubled mind.

Huang Shiyu finished the beer Lu Xiao handed her in one gulp. A few drops of the brownish-yellow, glistening liquid clung to the corners of her lips. She didn't rush to speak, but waited until the smell of alcohol in her mouth wasn't so strong before saying, "Don't you think I'm really stupid? He's the one who caused me suffering, so why would I do this? Actually, I wanted to break free from the constraints of my family of origin. I just felt that I was an adult and could make my own choices. I just never expected that I, who was originally only standing on the edge of the whirlpool, could be swept into the whirlpool because of a choice."

In fact, her choice to help her father pay off that debt was to buy back the debt of gratitude she owed him for giving her life. That money was the first pot of gold she earned by following the stock trading advice of an anonymous user.

The wind outside the window was strong, blowing relentlessly, like a furious roar, yet the chilly moonlight shone on this corner, like a net that had come specifically to trap it.

In the dim light on the bed, she heard Lu Xiao say clearly, "There are many paths in life. It's okay to take the wrong path occasionally, as long as you can find the right one. If you have anything you want to vent, come to me. I hope I can give you some strength."

"This is a promise I'm making to you as a friend."

The next day was the weekend, early in the morning.

After a night of brewing, the cold autumn wind lingered on the fallen sycamore leaves. People rushing to work walked briskly. The silvery streetlights went out, and the city began to function again.

On Wukang Road, which is covered with sycamore leaves, Chen Nanfeng yawned as he walked his dog.

"Slow down, Brother Fortune, you're really full of energy this morning."

Every weekend when he has time off, after dropping DouDou off at her extracurricular class, he comes back and helps his neighbor walk her dog. His neighbor is an elderly woman in her eighties. Her children are busy with work and can't take care of her. Afraid that she would be too lonely at home, she chose to keep a dog by her side. It's a huge Alaskan Malamute with an amazing amount of exercise. How can an eighty-year-old woman walk such a dog every day?

Lu Xiao happens to be a kind-hearted person who gets up early every day to walk the dog. Originally, it was usually the two of them who would walk the dog together on weekends. The two of them and the dog would stroll along Wukang Road, which was such a pleasant thing.

Ever since he and Lu Xiao had their argument, every weekend has turned into him and his dog staring at each other, neither willing to concede to the other.

The problem is that this dog is very selective about who it is walking. When he walks Lu Xiao, it's incredibly well-behaved, but when he walks it alone, it acts like it's about to start a fight.

"Wait a minute, sir, you didn't put your dog on a leash." Just as Shen Nanfeng had controlled Fa Cai Ge's walking speed, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that there was a man walking his dog without a leash on his left.

"I forgot to bring it today." The man only glanced at him, his tone very perfunctory.

Shen Nanfeng looked at the man, her tone still calm: "I don't think you've forgotten. I often walk my dog ​​in this area and I've seen you several times without a leash. This isn't a matter of forgetting or not; it's about the civility of a city, the safety of its residents, and you've also violated dog ownership regulations."

What he really wanted to say was, "Then why don't you forget to eat?"

"It's nothing serious, why are you making such a fuss? I just rushed out today and forgot to bring it." The man's tone became even more impatient.

"You think this is no big deal? What if next time we buy you something and you're shortchanged, and then we tell you we forgot? That's no big deal either, right? Maybe next time we'll give you inferior goods, and that's no big deal either, right? That's what everyone thinks anyway."

Shen Nanfeng's words were indeed hard to refute; that's why Lu Xiao couldn't argue with him.

The most basic requirement for a judge is to have clear logic, be able to adapt to any situation, and remain calm and composed.

"Alright, do you have any extra leash?" The man seemed to be giving in.

"No, but you can choose to hold it."

"What? What's going on?" The man wanted to continue resisting, but he felt that the person in front of him looked familiar. After studying him for a while, his eyes suddenly narrowed as if stimulated. He said to Shen Nanfeng, "I know you. I've seen you in the newspaper."

The phone in his pocket vibrated incessantly. Shen Nanfeng said to the man, "Thank you for fulfilling your duty as a dog lover." He then took out his phone; the caller ID showed it was his assistant, Chen Baipeng. He swiped to answer and walked away with the dog.

"Judge Shen, I am truly sorry, but the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Group 'poisoning' incident occurred too long ago, and it had already been closed at the time, so we simply cannot find any additional files."

"Okay, I understand." After hanging up the phone, Shen Nanfeng looked up and saw the words "Shenzhen-Hong Kong Group" on the LED display screen on the other side of the river, shining with red lights, as if a demon was standing in front of him.

A note from the author:

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