0038 I don't know
A miniature ornament, shaped like a potted plant, has recently appeared on Li Li's workstation.
The base is similar to an aromatherapy tin, and inside is a small green pine tree. A silver thread is wrapped around the seemingly hard and prickly pine needles, from which hang bells, red and green balls, and an empty gift box.
At the very top of the tree was a large red bow, the finishing touch, like an ornament borrowed from the back of a little girl's head.
This ornament is clearly a symbol of Christmas, which is in a couple of days, meaning the New Year isn't far off either.
The New Year signifies reunion, blessings, and a fresh start. These beautiful meanings are enough to make people look forward to this day on every ordinary day.
But every time Qu Zhong passed by and saw it, she felt nothing. Ever since she had a big fight with Qu Wanfeng about blind dates, she hadn't gone home for the Chinese New Year.
She is making her stance clear in this way: she will never compromise.
Around noon that day, at the Guanzheng Law Firm, it was lunchtime. Some people went down to the basement to meet up for lunch, some ordered takeout and ate at their workstations, and others brought their own food and lined up at the microwave to heat it up.
Li Li belongs to the last category; she brings her own lunch every day. And she's an excellent cook; every time she finishes cooking, the aroma from her lunchbox is enough to make everyone in the law firm drool.
She was the first to heat up her food today, and was eating in an empty little meeting room when the doorbell rang.
The visitor probably felt the door wasn't opened quickly enough, so they pressed the doorbell several times.
Li Li reluctantly put down her chopsticks, jumped up from her chair, and muttered as she walked towards the front desk, "They always come when people are eating."
She thought it was a deliveryman coming to pick up a package, but instead, a middle-aged man she had never met before came in.
He was about 175 cm tall, with thick, bushy eyebrows like an untrimmed lawn. Looking further up, his eyes were bloodshot and he looked exhausted, as if he had rushed here on a very urgent matter.
Seeing his expression, Li Li couldn't vent her anger anymore. She patiently asked, "Who are you looking for?"
He said, "It's my heart."
"Okay, please wait here for a moment, I'll go call them."
"Thank you for your help."
Qu Zhong isn't at his workstation right now; he's at the drilling machine at the very back, gritting his teeth and drilling with all his might.
She was using an old-fashioned machine that needed to be cranked manually. The sound it made was deafening, comparable to a construction site at night.
Her hands were trembling violently; she was extremely nervous.
Filing is a truly skilled task, requiring meticulousness and dexterity. The drilling step, in particular, demands precise timing. Drilling for too long will cause smoke, while drilling too little won't penetrate properly; it demands considerable skill.
Qu Zhong is adept at all other jobs, but this one is something she's been clumsy at ever since her internship as a lawyer. Even now, she's still not very skilled at tying knots using the three-hole, one-line binding method.
Su Rongqin had indeed grasped her weakness perfectly; of all the punishments he could have given her, he had to punish her with archiving.
Fortunately, the book she brought home in the morning wasn't too thick, and she managed to punch all three holes without any major problems. Just as she was about to sit down and thread the needle, Li Li ran over and called to her, "Attorney Qu, someone is looking for you outside."
"Huh?" Qu Zhong turned around in surprise. "I didn't have an appointment with any clients."
Li Li was just relaying the message: "I don't know, maybe they're looking for you to do a case. You should go quickly, he's waiting at the front desk."
"But..." But she hasn't had time to take on any new cases lately.
Before Qu Zhong could finish speaking, Li Li walked away, hurrying back to eat.
There was no other way. Qu Zhong tidied up the case files and materials at hand, put them on her workstation, and went to the front desk.
She went to meet this person with the attitude of meeting a client, but when she saw his face, she was stunned and stared blankly at him.
The person standing at the front desk is Qu Wanfeng, her father.
Qu Zhong had not seen her closest relatives for nearly three years.
He didn't even say hello, and of course, she had blocked him so she couldn't call him even if she wanted to. He just came to her from a small, third-tier county town.
He looked travel-worn and so reserved that he didn't know where to put his hands.
The moment their eyes met, before they could say a word, Qu Zhong's nose suddenly stung with tears. It turned out that a long-awaited reunion could bring tears to one's eyes.
She lowered her eyes, composed herself, and led Qu Wanfeng outside.
It was impossible to invite him to sit in the conference room. Besides, she hadn't eaten yet, and Qu Wanfeng didn't look like he had eaten. Qu Zhong took him to a hot pot restaurant across from the office building.
This hot pot restaurant's soup base emphasizes health and wellness, appealing to young people while also being acceptable to older folks.
On a weekday lunchtime, there weren't many customers dining in, and the restaurant was very quiet. Qu Zhong silently scanned the QR code to order a bunch of dishes, and several waiters kept running over to pour tea, bring free fruits, and serve the food.
The most agonizing time was waiting for the pot to boil, because you were hungry but couldn't eat, and you wanted to talk but couldn't speak.
He couldn't keep pretending not to know her, so Qu Zhong took a sip of tea and casually asked as an opening question: "Why did you suddenly come?"
Qu Wanfeng looked over quietly, his face as worried as a cloudy day: "I've seen the news online, and I've been so worried that I haven't been able to sleep for several nights."
Qu Zhong immediately understood that he was referring to her recent trending topic.
Perhaps it wasn't just this time; he probably saw it every time she was pushed into the eye of the storm by public opinion.
This time, she risked violating professional ethics to act on behalf of justice, but in the end, she still gained nothing in the eyes of netizens.
When she spoke up for Chen Xi, they called her heartless and devoid of conscience. Now that she has released this recording of Duan Ningqi, they are again calling her unethical and hypocritical.
It seems that no matter what she does or does, it's wrong.
She thought her legal career would end there. She returned home dejectedly, only to be berated by Qu Wanfeng for being useless. He seized the opportunity to force her to admit how foolish it was to disobey him and refuse to go on the blind date.
She was completely wrong.
Upon hearing the words "can't sleep," Qu Zhong looked up and saw that Qu Wanfeng's eyes were red, not black. Her chest trembled slightly. Then, forcing a calm smile, she reassured him, "It's alright, the matter has been resolved."
Qu Wanfeng finally breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good."
The conversation ended, and the pot began to boil and bubble. Qu Zhong first ladled two bowls of soup from it, and then picked up some dishes from the table and put them into the pot.
Qu Wanfeng's expression softened, becoming relaxed and open amidst the rising white mist.
He spoke slowly and deliberately, explaining his other purpose for coming: "I was cleaning the house these past few days and found a bunch of old things in the drawers, including all sorts of certificates you've received since kindergarten."
A hint of a smile flickered in his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by disappointment: "I flipped through them one by one, initially smiling as I looked at them. But as I smiled, I felt as if these things had nothing to do with me at all."
As he spoke, he straightened up from his slumped back on the sofa, perhaps to make his following words of remorse sound more sincere and believable: "For so many years I've been working away from home, never taking care of you, never asking what you liked or disliked. I haven't been a good father..."
Just as Qu Wanfeng said, Qu Zhong had never talked to him about these things face-to-face like this before all these years. She couldn't stand these sentimental words, sniffed heavily, and shook her head: "Don't say that."
There's no time like the present, so she decided to give him the same amount of honest advice she had kept hidden in her heart for so long: "My mother remarried a long time ago, and I've only seen her a handful of times over the years. How can you possibly take care of everything on your own?"
She felt a little ironic after saying it.
The old Marriage Law, and the current Marriage Law, stipulates every detail of divorce proceedings. Regarding parent-child relationships, it states that after a divorce, the parent who does not have direct custody of the children has visitation rights, and the child's guardianship status is not lost due to the dissolution of the marriage.
But her mother completely relinquished all rights to her, let alone obligations, and treated her as if she didn't exist all these years.
When his failed marriage was mentioned, Qu Wanfeng's eyes immediately reddened: "Qu Zhong, I was too hasty that day."
He had always called her by her full name since they were children. The day he was referring to was National Day, three years ago, when they had a huge fight that they still haven't reconciled about.
“You got into graduate school and became a lawyer in Shanghai. How could I not be happy? I want to tell everyone I meet.”
It turns out he was proud of her. Although a little vanity might have played a part, it didn't detract from his overall appeal.
"Later, I saw that your peers were getting married and having children one by one, and I got anxious. I was afraid that you would only know how to work and not think about these things at all."
"I'm still worried... I'm worried that what happened between your mother and me will have a bad impact on you..."
Because of his unstable emotions, he talked more and more, intermittently, and with sobs, which was nothing like Qu Wanfeng from Qu Zhong Memories.
Qu Zhong has always been someone who responds better to gentle persuasion than force, and she has never lost an argument, but she just can't stand these kinds of words.
“Dad,” she called out, her eyes red, using a title she hadn’t used in a long time, and opened up to him, “it has nothing to do with you. In the years I’ve been a lawyer, how many family disputes have I seen? Domestic violence, infidelity, each going their own way, even fighting tooth and nail in court over a few dozen dollars. It’s all trivial matters, a complete mess.”
I've seen far too many of these kinds of predicaments, and my expectations and confidence in marriage have long since dwindled.
She paused for a moment, then relented, "Even if we really need to find a partner, I don't want to resort to such a hasty and opportunistic approach as blind dates. Your daughter is perfectly qualified; is it really necessary to go to this point?"
She took out her phone, found a post she had previously shared on WeChat Moments, and handed it to Qu Wanfeng: "Look, your daughter is now one of the top ten criminal defense lawyers in Shanghai."
Her smug expression at that moment resembled that of a child holding a perfect report card and asking their parents for a reward.
The somber atmosphere gradually dissipated, and Qu Wanfeng finally smiled from the bottom of his heart: "I won't say anymore. After this incident, all I want is for you to be safe, healthy, and happy. As for the rest, you can decide for yourself."
Qu Zhong then pressed a small patch to her eye, chuckled, and said, "Oh, I know, I'm not stupid."
After she finished speaking, she ladled some soup for him.
Qu Wanfeng took the drink but didn't drink it right away. Instead, he nodded and stared at her, pondering the words she had just said. He asked, "Tell me honestly, do you already have someone you like?"
Qu Zhong paused, her hand holding the chopsticks still. A few seconds later, she twirled the ends of her hair with her other hand, looked at the food in her bowl, and muttered, "I don't know either."
The answer isn't a definite yes, nor a negative no, but rather, "I don't know."
The statement is vague and implies something deeper.
Qu Wanfeng wasn't stupid; he pressed on, asking, "What do you mean by 'don't know'?"
Qu Zhong picked up the bowl, blew on the soup noodles, and continued to play cryptic with him: "I don't know, it's a mix of yes and no."
She was driving Qu Wanfeng crazy with anxiety: "So, does it exist or not?"
"I don't know yet..."
We'll probably find out soon.
After all, when she said she didn't know, she already had a specific person in mind.
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