You must be the reincarnation of Heshen!
At Wen Dai's command, Wei Ling drew all the curtains open. Sitting on the sofa, Wei Ling had a dazed feeling of returning to her childhood. On the other side, her silent father sat on a single sofa, while her nagging mother paced back and forth in front of the coffee table.
“When we video chatted before, I hadn’t fully explained things to you. When you went to the lake, you were probably thinking about whether your life was ending or not, right? Otherwise, I really can’t understand how your body, which doesn’t attract much negative energy, could bring so many spirits home. There’s even a whole bunch living in your bathtub. It’s just a breakup, right? That guy cheated on you and you caught him. Aren’t you glad you were thinking of jumping in? God let you discover his infidelity so that you could turn back in time, not so that you could find a lake and decide whether or not to jump in.”
Wen Dai, not yet twenty-one, reprimanded Wei Ling, who was nearly thirty. She walked from the coffee table to the French windows, raised her hand and tugged at the curtains. Beneath her furrowed brows were displeased peach blossom eyes, which glanced at Wei Ling, who had her head down. "Also, you haven't been keeping these curtains closed for a whole month, have you? They're already covered in filth, and you haven't seen any sunlight. Who wouldn't be miserable if not you? Although sunbathing isn't very helpful... it's still better than you hiding in the dark."
Wei Ling scratched her head, a sigh escaped her throat, and her gaze, which landed on the coffee table, swept over many memories, memories of love.
“Master Wen, this isn’t something you can just let go of so easily. We’ve been together since high school, and now I’m almost thirty, turning thirty next spring. He told me he would marry me, but he still needs to establish himself in his career. I’ve been with him for over ten years; I’ve given him all my youth and passion. If I leave him, who else can I be with?” Tears welled in her listless eyes. Wei Ling raised her hand to wipe her eyes, and the light streaming in from the French windows behind her shone on the coffee table, then reflected back into her eyes; she felt as if she wasn’t looking at the coffee table, but at something from a long time ago.
Unable to confide her grievances to friends and family, Wei Ling poured them out to the silent Chen Sizhe and Wen Dai. Every word she spoke was laced with tears: "Those within the industry can hardly imagine the world outside; a love marathon of over a decade, I couldn't bear to watch the audience anymore, I covered my ears to avoid hearing news of other people's weddings, and I couldn't bear to hear people ask me, 'Why aren't you and him married yet?' I couldn't answer. My expectation was that he would marry me, that he wouldn't need to coax me, that I would create a dream for myself, a dream I could never have. I never imagined he would openly bring another woman home, and I never imagined he would coldly say to me, 'Let's break up.'"
“He was so self-righteous. He said we’d been together too long, and he’d lost all his initial passion for me. I made him lose all desire, and to him I was more like family—family.” A mocking laugh, torn apart by tears, escaped Wei Ling’s lips as she covered her face with her hands. A muffled sound escaped through her fingers, like a distant trumpet, the kind that sounds like someone about to die.
With her messy hair scattered on her head, Wei Ling slowly moved her hands down, revealing a pair of tear-filled eyes. She looked at Chen Sizhe, who was fiddling with peach wood beads with his mouth shut and tongue hidden, and suddenly asked, "Master Chen, are all men like this? After a while, when the novelty wears off, they don't care anymore, and all feelings are secondary."
Unexpectedly being called out, Chen Sizhe's dark eyelashes fluttered, a slight frown appearing between his brows. A strange look lingered in his fox-like eyes, and a click of his tongue seemed almost unconscious. He took a deep breath, carefully choosing his words halfway through: "You can't say all eggs in the world are rotten just because you ate one rotten egg, can you? Generalizing from a single incident is unacceptable. If you say you can't walk anymore just because you tripped and fell, isn't that the same as throwing the baby out with the bathwater? There's no need to completely deny your future relationships because of one setback. What if your fate dictates that you'll encounter someone who makes you miserable before you can find happiness?"
Unexpectedly, this guy could comfort people—Wen Dai slowly turned her gaze away from him.
The sound of her shoes clicking on the floor tiles marked Wen Dai's approach. She squeezed through the gap between the sofas and plopped down next to Wei Ling, patting her arm with her raised hand. "Life is long. Even though you're in your thirties now, you're still young. You're in the first half of your life. A woman doesn't have to get married, nor does she have to be married before she turns thirty. Your ex-boyfriend used 'establishing a career' as an excuse to get rid of you. Why can't you also establish a career? Do what you want to do. Your value isn't just about being 'worthy of being married'."
Wei Ling's mind was emptied. Her hand rose instinctively, her fingertips tracing her face. Her sunken nasal base, flattened, could hold a small hollow of inferiority. Her eyes were empty. She murmured, "I..."
The next instant, Wen Dai grabbed her wrist. Wei Ling turned her head in a daze, meeting Wen Dai's firm gaze. She heard her say, "You are excellent, I believe you are excellent. You didn't mention your work at all in what you just said, you only talked about your relationship and put yourself down. But look, you can live in such a high-end community. I don't believe you are not capable. Didn't you create this house?"
Wei Ling's words extinguished Wen Dai's consolation: "My family paid the down payment for this house."
But the next sentence made Wen Dai pick up her pumping sleeve again: "But I paid for the final payment and the renovation myself. I'm currently working as an analyst at an investment bank."
“That’s right, your abilities are outstanding; if you become despondent just because you suffered a loss in love, I would really want to scold you.” Wen Dai slapped her thigh, and the pace of her encouragement suddenly increased.
Wei Ling bent her neck, a mixture of dejection and certainty flashing in her eyes, a corner of her lip digging into her teeth, "That's true... but being dumped by a boyfriend of over ten years..."
Wen Dai turned her face around with both hands and stared intently into her eyes. “Don’t say ‘that’s true.’ There are too many ‘that’s true’ in this world. Why bother with them? There’s a broad road in front of you. Why care about the scorpion grass by the roadside? If you don’t get close to them, they can’t prick you. At most, they’ll just be an eyesore. But as long as you go far enough, they’ll even lose their ability to be an eyesore.”
Tears dripped into Wen Dai's fingers. She abruptly pulled her hand back, grabbed two wet wipes from the coffee table, one to wipe her hands and the other to wipe Wei Ling's face.
"Today, besides exorcising evil spirits for you, I've also acted as your psychological counselor, but you can skip the payment. Your cousin... she's been kind to me, so I won't charge her this time; if you have any relatives, friends, colleagues, or superiors who need help, please introduce me." Unable to determine whether her trip was due to self-abandonment, and knowing that no amount of money would help... Wen Dai stood up from the sofa, her lowered gaze meeting Wei Ling's tearful eyes, and she saw the surprise in her expression.
If all the effort you put into saving money has gone to waste, then you might as well do things according to your heart. The lamps that have been lit will remember her.
She turned her gaze to Wei Ling, and the man behind her turned his gaze to her.
The girl, though in her early twenties, was slender; her back view resembled a neatly cut piece of paper. The pale gold light from the window bathed her side, creating a white line of light that stretched from her shoulder to her forearm. The other side, however, remained dark, mostly hidden in shadow.
Chen Sizhe couldn't help but raise his hand to touch his chest, where it was being squeezed and kneaded again.
After Wei Ling calmed down, it was lunchtime. She wanted to ask Wen Dai and Chen Sizhe to stay for lunch, but when she opened the refrigerator and saw that it was empty, she realized that she had been eating either nothing or instant noodles for the past few days.
Wen Dai and Chen Sizhe had no intention of staying to eat instant noodles with her.
The door clicked shut. Wei Ling was about to follow them out when Chen Sizhe retorted, "Are you sure you want to see us out with that unique hairstyle and that bizarre outfit?"
As expected of a lawyer, he speaks so fluently that he doesn't even need to take a breath.
Wei Ling glanced down at her slightly disheveled pajamas, with specks of instant noodle oil splattered on the collar—leftovers from eating instant noodles earlier. She smoothed her partially tangled hair, chuckled awkwardly, and said, "Then I won't see you off. Be careful on your way. I heard things haven't been peaceful in Feng'an District lately. Wasn't there a news report about a girl eating barbecue in broad daylight when three burly men approached her asking for her WeChat? She refused and was beaten up; and there are other people being followed. I'm worried about running into people like that on the street."
Has this world ever been peaceful?
Her upturned lips curved into a mocking smile, an involuntary laugh; Wen Dai's eyelashes fluttered slightly. The words she uttered were low in tone, more like an instinct.
A moment of silence fell. Chen Sizhe's eyes flickered as his gaze swept over her dark pupils. He actually wanted to go deeper, but she wouldn't let anyone in.
With her innermost thoughts slipping out, Wen Dai abruptly discarded her previous expression, revealing a sweet smile on her face. Her peach blossom eyes, bright and sparkling, gazed at the stunned Wei Ling. "Live well, and hopefully, emotions won't become a stumbling block for you anymore."
She turned around decisively and went straight to the elevator, pressing the down button.
Her low ponytail, tied with a hair tie, fell straight down the center of her back. The V-neck tank top was backless, and her shoulder blades were sharply defined. She looked like a steel butterfly, as if she wanted to make knives out of her own bones.
Chen Sizhe peeled the gaze that was clinging to her back, his shoes tapping on the floor tiles. The door that had just closed behind her went through the process of opening and closing again, and then the space fell into tranquility.
The footsteps stopped beside Wen Dai, but she didn't even glance at them out of the corner of her eye.
The elevator doors opened, and she and he walked in side by side, then simultaneously turned around.
"I'm sorry." The second apology. Chen Sizhe faced the elevator door, the mirror-like door reflecting his and her; he looked at her from inside, his Adam's apple bobbing before he spoke again: "I was too rash before. Just now downstairs… I'm sorry, I spoke without thinking. It was my fault for involving my parents, and it was also my fault for inexplicably reporting you online. You really don't want that seven thousand yuan?"
The tone was awkward. Apologizing was made to sound like a life-or-death situation.
Wen Dai turned her head away from him, her eyes raised as she glared at him. She mimicked the puppet's standard smile, "Do you think everyone is as calculating about money as you are? Lawyer—no, perhaps I should call you a sorcerer now."
The elevator doors slid along the tracks with a clatter. Wen Dai stepped out, pulled a pack of cigarettes from her pocket, took one out, and said sarcastically, "It's really strange that a staunch materialist atheist lawyer is secretly taking on legal services for people."
Chen Sizhe strode to catch up with her, watching her series of actions—stuffing the cigarette pack, smoking a cigarette, taking out the lighter, lighting it, and putting the lighter back in her pocket.
The light shone on her arm, making the bones covered by skin stand out, and her slender fingers held the cigarette between her fingertips.
Wen Dai took a deep drag, then idly played with the smoke as it dissipated in the sunlight.
"If you really feel sorry, why don't you cooperate with me?" Her upright face tilted up at him, her peach blossom eyes also curled into a fox tail, her crimson lips parted to reveal her tiger teeth, and the cigarette she held in her hand was placed aside, the embers not even as bright as her smiling eyes.
Strangely, he didn't refuse. Chen Sizhe raised an eyebrow and asked, "What?"
"You've seen my capabilities just now. Although I can handle those things by myself, two people are always easier than one. As for the money, I can... split it 30/70, you get 30% and I get 70%. After all, professionals like me definitely take on more orders. I'm already being generous by sharing some of your orders without charging a commission. Besides, you only occasionally contribute when we work together, so giving you 30% is just me being kind." Wen Dai's current ruthless foreman demeanor is completely different from before. Her self-righteous expression makes it seem like she'd be losing out even if she only got 30%.
Chen Sizhe clenched his teeth, then laughed angrily, a snort escaping his throat. "30/70 split? How dare you even say that? What do you mean by 'occasionally helping out'? I dealt with all that junk in the bathroom just now, and you think it's only worth 30%? You must be the reincarnation of Heshen. The Civil Code mentions the principle of fairness..."
"Oh, oh, stop talking. I don't understand any of these legal codes or articles. If you have a problem with splitting it 30/70, then we'll split it 40/60." Wen Dai covered her ear with one hand, while waving her other hand, which was holding a cigarette, haphazardly in the air.
Seeing the person beside him clearly intending to act shamelessly, Chen Sizhe was surprised by his own patience. He went straight for Wen Dai's weak point: "Are you so sure that all the orders were found by you? What if the orders were in my hands? Would it be four for you and six for me?"
Unexpectedly, Wen Dai remained silent. She held the cigarette between her teeth, her dark eyes glancing in his direction. After catching a glimpse of his expressionless face, she quickly looked away and reluctantly changed her mind: "Fine, then it'll be fifty-fifty."
Unconsciously, she walked out of the residential area. Just as Wen Dai was about to turn around and walk towards the subway station, someone tugged at her braid.
A slight stinging sensation came from her scalp, and Wen Dai staggered back several steps. She raised her hand to cover the back of her head, staring wide-eyed at the culprit. "Are you sick?! You said I was childish, but is this how an adult behaves? You're almost thirty and you're still pulling girls' hair!"
Feeling guilty, Chen Sizhe withdrew his hand to his side. He unconsciously rubbed his fingers that had touched her hair, his gaze lingering on her angry eyes for a few seconds before looking away. He pursed his lips and said, "...Sorry, my car is parked over there; you might live on the way. Besides, if we're going to establish a cooperative relationship, we can't not even have a way to contact each other."
Wen Dai stubbed out her cigarette and casually flicked it into a nearby trash can. She adjusted her ponytail, then took out her phone and scanned a QR code to add him on WeChat, muttering, "Why didn't you just call out? Why did you have to touch me... It's impossible for us to be going the same way. My home is in Feng'an District, which is quite remote. A pampered young master like you would never live there."
“It’s on my way. One of our lawyers lives there, and he’s been on sick leave for the past couple of days, so I haven’t visited him yet. Let’s go, I’ll give you a ride.” Chen Sizhe didn’t even blink, speaking with absolute certainty.
However, Wen Dai still looked at him strangely, shrinking her neck and saying, "Huh, are you being so kind? Could it be that you have some kind of conspiracy?"
Chen Sizhe played his trump card: "Taking the subway home costs you both time and energy. Although the material cost is low, you can't deny its existence. I'll give you a ride, saving you time, effort, and money. Also, don't wrong an innocent person. I'm just worried about the personal safety of my future collaborators. If you insist on taking the subway home, then never mind what I said."
He pretended to turn around and leave, and sure enough, Wen Dai, who had been moved by his words, followed behind.
"Hey, hey, what's the rush? I didn't say I liked taking the subway... Thanks anyway, I'll definitely remember you if I get any orders in the future!"
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