You'd better not harbor any ill intentions towards me.
The atmosphere was eerily quiet, with sunlight streaming in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, its rays shimmering on the luxurious stone floor tiles.
The floor tiles might feel warm, but Wen Dai's skin felt cold, and goosebumps had already formed on her arms under her clothes—the culprit was embarrassment.
No one understands better than Wen Dai how it feels to be pointed at and told you you have mental problems the moment you sit down on the sofa. The formulaic smile she was maintaining was almost crumbling. She glanced at the person next to her, only to be met with his mocking gaze.
That damned, despicable Chen Sizhe.
Frustrated, Wen Dai gritted her teeth. She really wished she could be the sandwich wrapper inside the milk bottle she had just thrown in the trash can, at least then she would have a protective shield to hide herself.
Qi Ya, who was sitting a little closer to them, looked quite displeased. She frowned and said sternly, "Is this how you two behave when visiting other people's homes? Pointing at people and saying they have mental problems, didn't your elders teach you what manners are? If this is your level of civility, then I think you probably don't have the ability to raise a child properly."
The two, suddenly embarrassed, exchanged a glance. The couple apologized almost simultaneously, both standing up, bowing their heads, and saying, "We're really sorry, we were too blunt just now."
"It's alright. It's good to admit your mistakes and correct them." Sitting next to Qi Ya, Chen Wenkang leaned back on the sofa with his arms crossed. He looked at Zhang Yi, who was still sitting obediently on the sofa. "Zhang Yi, you should learn from your parents. When you make a mistake, just admit it and correct it. Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes. It has nothing to do with age or experience."
Zhang Yi, who had been given a lecture by Chen Wenkang, nodded obediently.
The couple, who had awkwardly sat back down on the sofa, smiled again. Li Qian's tone softened considerably: "Zhang Yi led the way here. He insisted that there were uncles, aunts, brothers, and sisters here who were very important to him. When he told us it was this neighborhood, I couldn't believe it... We never thought we could get in. It was such a coincidence that we were worried about not being able to get in when Mr. Chen arrived right after us. He had the driver get out and ask us what was going on. When we met him, we realized that Mr. Chen was the person we were looking for."
The events were recounted again, this time for Wen Dai and Chen Sizhe to hear.
“There is a connection between people. As long as you want to meet, you will meet again no matter what. Sometimes, even if you don’t want to meet, you will meet inexplicably.” Chen Wenkang smiled faintly and nodded. He then said, “I was on a business trip a while ago. I just got off the plane and went home. I ran into you at the door.”
Zhang Yi, who had been sitting on the sofa, suddenly straightened up, leaning towards Chen Wenkang. The young boy, not yet capable of hiding his excitement, opened his bright, clear eyes and said what he cared about most: "I have a special connection with Uncle."
Fang Yang glanced at the child who had leaned closer to him, raised his hand to stroke the child's head, and then looked up at Chen Wenkang's face.
“Zhang Yi is an exceptionally sensible child. We were standing at the door, unsure of what to do, when he said, ‘It’s okay, Dad. I just need to stay at the door and take a look. I’ll be content just to see.’ He thanked us, Mom and Dad. My wife and I don’t have any children yet; he is our only child. None of the children I’ve met from my relatives’ families have been as sensible as him. It’s truly heartbreaking.”
A sigh followed, and Li Qian placed her hand on Zhang Yi's thin shoulder, massaging it as she softly said, "When I heard that, I thought I'd just call the relatives living here and ask them to help me get an invitation code. I'm the kind of person who... because of some things that happened to me in the past, I've always been very resistant to using connections to do anything. I just don't like asking for favors. It's one thing to feel bad about owing favors, but I also don't like seeking special privileges. But at that time, I just wanted to ask my relatives for help; I've never asked anyone for help when I had problems at work before."
The conversation took an abrupt turn. Li Qian looked up and scanned the group of people. She tentatively began, "But... we're really curious about how you met. Would you mind telling us? This kid just won't tell us; he says it's a secret."
It's certainly intriguing that a child abandoned by his father after his mother's death and forced to live on the streets could have connections with people in the most affluent neighborhoods.
Qi Ya and Chen Wenkang tacitly turned their gazes toward Wen Dai, while Wen Dai instinctively met Chen Sizhe's eyes, her rolling eyes serving as a form of communication.
After reaching a consensus, Wen Dai glanced at Fang Yang and Li Qian and rambled on: "The specific process is complicated to explain, and it's not that important either. Don't worry about the process. In short, the result is that we have made contact with Zhang Yi. Just like Zhang Yi said, this is a secret between us. Once the secret is revealed, it won't count. As parents, we must not forget to protect our children's innocence and not violate their boundaries."
"Uh..." Li Qian smiled awkwardly, having received a lecture but not an answer. After all, the person who lectured her was someone she had previously categorized as mentally ill.
Zhang Yi, who rarely spoke and kept his head down, suddenly got off the sofa, put both hands into his coat pockets, and took out four origami cranes, holding two in each hand.
The four origami cranes were given to Qi Ya and Chen Wenkang, as well as Wen Dai and Chen Sizhe.
The small figure stopped in front of Wen Dai and Chen Sizhe, tilting his head up to look at Chen Sizhe before turning his gaze to Wen Dai's eyes. "My craft teacher said that origami cranes represent hope, and if you fold a thousand, you can have a wish granted. But I've been folding for a long time and still haven't folded enough to reach four thousand. I only have a little over a hundred at home now... I'm sorry, but these origami cranes are made from new origami paper that I bought. I put a lot of effort into them, and they are the origami cranes that I think are the most beautiful."
With his hands hanging limply at his sides, Zhang Yi gripped the edge of his cardigan and twisted it. He took a deep breath and said, "I don't know how much hope really means, but I want hope to fly into your hands like a thousand paper cranes."
Looking down at the pink origami crane in her palm, Wen Dai stared at the crane, which was almost half the size of her own hand, and after a moment of silence, she smiled.
She gazed gently at Zhang Yi in front of her and said with a smile, "Okay, thank you. With the paper crane Zhang Yi gave me, I hope it will fly over obediently."
They exchanged glances, and Qi Ya and Chen Wenkang couldn't help but smile with a mixture of helplessness and relief. The origami cranes in their hands were folded by their young, innocent hands—the purest blessings.
Qi Ya blinked and glanced at the time displayed on the clock. She stood up and waved her hand, saying, "Oh dear, it's almost lunchtime. Why don't you stay and have lunch before you leave?"
Wen Dai carefully put the origami cranes into her pocket, rubbed her stomach which had just been filled with milk and sandwiches, stood up and followed Qi Ya, stopping her in front of the kitchen with an apologetic expression.
"I'm sorry, I won't stay for lunch. I just had breakfast and I'm not hungry yet. Oh, and thank you so much, Aunt Qi, for being so thoughtful and having Chen Sizhe prepare breakfast for me."
However, Qi Ya in front of her subconsciously showed a blank expression, "What breakfast?"
There was a brief moment of tranquility. Qi Ya, belatedly realizing what was happening, blinked slightly. She raised her lips slightly and looked at Wen Dai, who was equally stunned, as if she wanted to explain: "I called him to let him know that Zhang Yi was coming over, and told him to come pick you up when he woke up. My memory isn't very good right now, so I probably told him to bring you breakfast when I notified him."
Chen Sizhe, who was sitting on the sofa, glanced at their location and had a bad feeling. He got up and rushed over in a few steps.
Stopping beside Wen Dai, Chen Sizhe lowered his fox-like eyes and glanced at Wen Dai first, then shifted his gaze to Qi Ya's face. "I'll be leaving now. There are things at the law firm that I need to work overtime to handle."
Without giving Qi Ya a chance to persuade him to stay, he turned his gaze to Wen Dai and asked succinctly, "Are you leaving or not?"
They tacitly avoided mentioning the word "breakfast." Wen Dai pursed her lips, her complicated gaze meeting Qi Ya's before turning to Chen Sizhe. She softly hummed in agreement, "Let's go."
After saying goodbye to Zhang Yi, Li Qian, and Fang Yang, Wen Dai reached into her other pocket and rummaged around, handing the talisman she pulled out to Zhang Yi.
She bent down and brushed a strand of hair from Zhang Yi's forehead, her eyes meeting his with a smile. "It's to protect you. Zhang Yi, you'll become luckier and luckier in the future; those who fold origami cranes will be the first to see hope. We'll meet again someday."
A hand half the size of hers gripped the talisman tightly in its palm. Zhang Yi looked up at her intently, her eyes reddening. "Thank you, sister. Goodbye, sister."
When they said goodbye, they exchanged smiles, and Wen Dai turned around and followed behind Chen Sizhe.
From the moment they entered the elevator until they exited, silence lingered between them. As they walked to the car with its headlights on, he opened the passenger door for them. Wen Dai, standing in front of the door, pursed her lips, her body involuntarily tensing for a moment. She glanced at the person who was still standing behind the car door.
Outside of work hours, he usually wears his hair down, without slicked-back styling. His soft, tousled hair softens his sharp features, and in the dimly lit underground parking garage, the dark pupils in his fox-like eyes seem even more somber, making one involuntarily startled.
No one spoke.
Wen Dai slipped into the car, and the door was closed by the person standing behind it. The enclosed interior was filled with a faint, cool fragrance, like a mixture of iris and cedar. Her hand, after fastening the seatbelt, remained on it. She watched through the windshield as he walked around to the other side and got into the driver's seat, her eyes lowered again, her expression becoming serious.
With another bang, Chen Sizhe slammed the car door shut, followed by the click of the seatbelt being fastened.
Stimulated by these cold voices, Wen Dai raised her eyes, her hand on the seatbelt tightening. She glanced at him sideways and asked, "Breakfast... did you make it yourself? I mean, a sandwich."
The person starting the engine turned their profile to her, their voice somewhat like the car's perfume, their tone cool and detached: "Is it interesting to ask a question you already know the answer to?"
"Your cooking skills are really good, haha..." The laugh she was trying to use to ease the awkwardness stopped abruptly when she met Chen Sizhe's gaze, who was turning to look at her. Wen Dai's hand came off the seatbelt, curled into a fist and placed on her thigh, and she pursed her lips between her teeth.
Her fist clenched suddenly, and she straightened her back, pouring out all the words that were stuck in her throat:
"We're just business partners, so don't get any funny ideas about me. Don't forget what you thought of me when we first met—I have a lot of flaws, I love money, and sometimes my morals do waver. I'm incompetent but I love meddling in other people's business. Plus, I'm going to be in danger if I'm trying to get my parents' case overturned. If you value your life, you'd better not think about developing any relationship with me beyond business. But we can be friends, okay? Just ordinary friends."
She counted her shortcomings on her fingers: "I smoke, drink, and occasionally go out to the beach in the middle of the night to contemplate life. Sometimes I can be quite rude, but I don't think I'm as bad as you in that respect. Oh, I think I also have violent tendencies. Sometimes when I get angry, I want to beat the person who makes me angry to death."
The self-criticism ceased, followed by another silence. Wen Dai racked her brains, pondering her own faults. Just as she was about to continue smearing herself and berate herself, the car drove out of the residential area. As it turned a corner, a ray of sunlight burst forth from the blazing sun, blinding her and causing her to instinctively close her eyes. Then she heard his voice—
"Few people don't love money; you'd be hard-pressed to find one out of ten. Not many people would remain steadfast when they see an opportunity in a difficult situation, even if that opportunity has problems. Compared to complete indifference, being incompetent yet fond of meddling in other people's business can be considered a virtue; at least it proves that a person's heart is warm. Smoking and drinking in moderation are fine, but it's best to quit smoking, although I haven't seen you smoke much, only a handful of times. In social life, being eloquent is an advantage, indicating that your thinking is working properly. No violent tendencies have been found so far."
The car slowly slowed down and stopped at the red light. Chen Sizhe held the steering wheel with one hand, turned his head to look at her, and his fox-like eyes showed little emotion.
"As for your question about overturning the verdict against your parents, whether as a business partner or as you say, a regular friend, I will not stand idly by. In a society governed by the rule of law, you have the right to request the reopening of an investigation into a hastily concluded case. If a person's life is threatened simply to bring the real culprit to justice, then this society is doomed to perish sooner or later. As a lawyer, I will not let darkness hide under the guise of light."
Each word struck her heart. Wen Dai leaned back in her chair, her face turned to the side, her peach blossom eyes reflecting his features.
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