Chapter 07 Chapter 7
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No matter what harm you experience on the road
Let me decide whether to love or not
——Miriam Yeung, "A Girl's Prayer"
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Wen Ying stared at him for a long moment before she said, "Put me down first."
Shen Li didn't want to let her succeed easily: "You answer me first."
"Put me down first."
"I won't let you go until you answer."
"I won't answer you unless you let me go."
The two of them talked like a tongue twister for a long time, and finally Wen Yingxian couldn't help laughing.
Shen Li finally put her down: "In court, prosecutors often take the lead, but outside of court, I am willing to listen to Wen Lu."
"What are you doing?"
A childish voice suddenly sounded, startling Wen Ying.
Looking up, a girl of four or five years old was standing on the stairs, looking at them curiously.
It was the child of the tenant next door. Wen Ying felt a little embarrassed and subconsciously took a step aside.
However, Shen Li embraced her again and said to the girl, "Uncle has upset Auntie and is apologizing to her."
As soon as she finished speaking, the wife next door came down from upstairs, wearing slippers on her feet. She hurriedly reached out to pull the girl: "I opened the door to freshen up, how did you run out by yourself?" She turned around and saw the two people at the stairs. She smiled and said, "It's you. You just came back."
Wen Ying nodded and wanted to say hello, but the girl had already spoken to her mother first: "Uncle Shen made Aunt Wen angry, and he is hugging her and begging her for forgiveness."
Swish.
Wen Ying could clearly feel the burning sensation from her neck to her face.
The wife next door took her daughter's hand and said, "Little one, don't talk nonsense." She winked at Wen Ying and said, "You guys are busy. We'll go back first."
The mother and daughter went upstairs like the wind, and the door was closed tightly with a click.
Wen Ying accepted her fate: "Thanks to Shen Jian, my reputation has been completely ruined."
Shen Li shook the rain off his umbrella: "Wen Lu hasn't answered my question yet."
Wen Ying ignored him and walked up the stairs quickly with her head down like an ostrich.
After entering the house, Wen Ying changed her shoes and took off Chen Li's coat and hung it on the hanger at the door.
Chen Li changed his shoes and walked to the sideboard to pour two cups of hot water. He pushed one cup to Wen Ying and said with a stern look, "Wen Lu, please answer my question."
Wen Ying frowned while holding the glass: "I want to drink it cold."
"Wen Ying," Shen Li warned her, "If I catch you drinking cold water, you're doomed."
Wen Ying sneered: "Is drinking cold water illegal?"
"There are many things you can't do without breaking the law, and drinking cold water is one of them."
"Who made that rule?"
"I."
Wen Ying was too lazy to argue with him: "You are being a scoundrel."
Shen Li corrected her: "You know your stomach is not in good condition, but you still drink cold water. This is playing rogue."
Wen Ying drank the warm water in one gulp: "Is that all right, Inspector Shen?"
Shen Li approached her, his tall figure casting a shadow over her. "Wen Ying, don't run away. Answer my question."
Wen Ying was wearing slippers, her eyes only level with Shen Li's Adam's apple. He wore a navy blue sweater vest over a light blue shirt, and his chest was broad and upright.
She raised her head and looked at Chen Li: "You want to continue to be my husband and wife, is it because you 'want' to be my husband and wife, or because you 'need' to be my husband and wife?"
Shen Li said, "If I tell you that I 'want' to live with you, would you believe it?"
Wen Ying thought about it seriously and said frankly, "I'm skeptical." She asked Chen Li in surprise, "You won't tell me that you like me?"
Shen Li laughed: "I want to know why you think I won't like you?"
"There are many reasons," Wen Ying counted them off on her fingers. "When you first proposed marriage, you said 'need'—you needed a wife. I always thought it was because I was the most familiar and suitable for you. Furthermore, we haven't been in touch frequently in the past few years I've been in Jiangcheng. I don't think this is the state you would be in if you liked me. And..."
She paused and laughed mockingly, "When Prosecutor Hou learned of our relationship, you immediately told him not to spread the news. Of course, there are many other things. Shen Li, do you dare to say that you really like me?"
Wen Ying counted on her fingers, as seriously as a squirrel counting pine cones.
"First, I said 'need' when we got married because I truly needed it at the time, and I can't deny the reason you speculated, because I really thought so too. Secondly, I rarely contacted you when you were in Jiangcheng because I thought you took the initiative to apply for a transfer to Jiangcheng to be away from me. I know myself well and don't want to cause you any more trouble. Also, asking Hou Liping to keep our relationship a secret is for the same reason as the previous one," Chen Li smiled at her, his eyes softening. "Prosecutors don't lie, Wen Ying, maybe you need to start getting used to the fact that I like you from today."
Wen Ying folded her arms, a typical defensive posture: "One of the basic skills of a lawyer is to find the falsehood in the client's long narrative."
Shen Li raised his eyebrows: "You can ask me questions."
Wen Ying frowned, a cautious look in her eyes: "You said you liked me, when did it start? Why didn't you say it before?"
"I can't answer the first question, but I can answer the second," he said. "I used to think we had plenty of time, but when you actually asked for a divorce, I could see you were serious." Shen Li sighed. "I realized that maybe the time had really come to end it. I was reluctant, so I decided to be honest with you. But after thinking it over, I was afraid it would scare you. I had planned to take it slow, but today..."
He leaned closer to Wen Ying. "But today I had an inexplicable urge to tell you, so I told you. You really didn't believe me."
Wen Ying said, "I always thought you wouldn't like me, or even dislike me a little."
Shen Li looked down at her and said, "People's opinions are often very subjective and not entirely based on facts."
Neither of them spoke for a while.
After a long pause, Chen Li spoke first: "Wen Ying, I haven't asked you yet, do you 'want' to continue your marriage with me?"
She looked up at him, her eyes and expression complicated, and she didn't answer his question.
Shen Li was already very close to her, and his warm breath brushed against her forehead, causing a slight itch.
Wen Ying raised her palm and supported Chen Li's chest, blocking his approaching body. "We have known each other for twenty-two years. What you just said shocked me more than the past twenty-two years combined. Chen Li, I need time to think."
Shen Li took two steps back and nodded, his eyes dim and dark: "I won't rush you."
------
The next morning, Wen Ying went out earlier than usual and did not see Chen Li.
When she walked into the office, Yu Jiaran was sitting cross-legged on the sofa, browsing her phone while eating breakfast. Seeing Wen Ying come in, he hurriedly wiped the sauce from the corner of his mouth and stood up to greet her: "Wen Lu, you came so early today."
Only then did Wen Ying realize that she had arrived very early, and there were only the two of them in the entire law firm.
She casually responded, "I went to bed early last night."
Yu Jiaran looked at the two dark circles under her eyes that couldn't be covered by foundation, and shut up obediently, not daring to say anything.
Walking into her office, Wen Ying leaned back in her chair somewhat dejectedly - she couldn't tell where the escape deep in her heart came from.
Was this considered a case of Ye Gong loving dragons? Wen Ying wondered uncontrollably.
She had been thinking about Shen Li for many years, and now when she heard him say that he liked her, she found it a little hard to accept - she knew Shen Li too well, so well that she didn't believe he was telling the truth.
But Wen Ying thought about it over and over again, but couldn't figure out the reason and motive for Chen Li to lie to her.
He said he liked her.
Huh? That's weird!
Wen Ying felt a slight ache in her waist and abdomen, perhaps from catching a cold yesterday. She checked her phone app and saw that it predicted her period had already passed four days ago.
Wen Ying thought to herself that something was wrong, and then forced herself to cheer up and deal with the complicated work at hand.
------
Chen Li worked non-stop all day and took a break to check his phone. There was no response from Wen Ying's WeChat or phone calls.
He was not in a hurry. He took a deep breath and waited patiently.
It was almost midnight when he got home. He didn't turn on the lights, but tiptoed into his bedroom, took a quick shower, and lay down to sleep. He had a court hearing the next day, and Shen Li needed to be alert to deal with it.
Just as he was about to fall asleep in a trance, Shen Li suddenly heard rustling sounds outside.
He thought he was dreaming, so he turned over and continued to sleep, but the sound never stopped.
Shen Li finally struggled out of sleep, got out of bed and opened the door.
"Snap", the lights in the living room suddenly came on, accompanied by Wen Ying's exclamation.
Chen Li was wearing a vest and pajamas, still a little sleepy, and looked at Wen Ying with a frown.
She was standing behind the sideboard, shielding the light with her hands.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
Wen Ying let go of her hand, squinted her eyes slightly and looked at him, her voice a little weak: "I'm looking for painkillers."
Shen Li was awake and a little worried: "Do you have a stomachache?"
As he said this, he walked over to help her find medicine.
When Shen Li walked over, he found that Wen Ying was not wearing pants. Her loose white T-shirt could only cover her thighs.
Wen Ying tugged down her white T-shirt somewhat awkwardly. Chen Li also coughed lightly, looked away, and lowered his head to open the drawer.
Shen Li found some painkillers from the drawer and turned back to pour her some hot water: "It's getting cold, and the heating will be on in less than a month. You'll catch a cold easily if you keep your legs bare like this."
Wen Ying pursed her lips, her long and thick black hair covering half of her face.
"It hurt so much, I didn't think too much about it," she said.
Chen Li looked over with a cup in hand in the direction of the sound, only to find Wen Ying holding her lower abdomen with one hand and supporting the sideboard with the other, her lips pale and bloodless.
He handed her the medicine and hot water: "Period?"
Wen Ying took the medicine and nodded: "I'm sorry for disturbing your sleep."
She walked towards the bedroom, her steps a little unsteady.
Wen Ying closed the door, lay back on the bed weakly and covered herself with the quilt.
The autumn in Minshi is very short. The temperature drops in less than half a month before winter comes in an instant. The period before heating is the coldest time of the year at home.
The quilt was cold, and Wen Ying curled up into a ball, holding her stomach, trying to keep herself warmer.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Wen Ying pulled herself together to make her voice sound normal: "What's wrong?"
"I'm going in." Shen Li said as he turned the door handle.
In the darkness, a tall figure walked into her bedroom. Wen Ying half-raised herself in surprise: "You..."
Chen Li placed his pillow next to Wen Ying, lifted the quilt and lay down in it, reached out to hold Wen Ying in his arms, and tucked the corners of the quilt for her.
"Go to sleep," he said. "It's the coldest now, and this will keep you warm."
Shen Li's fiery warmth instantly spread throughout Wen Ying's body. Her waist pressed against his abdomen, her cold feet clamped between Shen Li's calves. He placed one arm under Wen Ying's neck, the other hand cupping her abdomen.
In the darkness, everything is quiet and you can clearly hear each other's every breath.
Chen Li suddenly moved back a little, Wen Ying blushed, and silently moved her butt forward.
He gently rubbed Wen Ying's lower abdomen: "Go to sleep, I have a court session tomorrow."
"Good night, Wen Ying." Shen Li said.
"good evening."
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