Chapter 28 Chapter 28
*
The world has some kind of cause and effect
I have to learn this lesson in my lifetime
Make amends
——Chen Leji & killersoap's killer song "The Taste of Wind Chimes"
*
Winter nights always arrive quickly. Open-air lectures couldn't last too long. Wen Ying stood in the dim evening light, delivering his final remarks in a few sentences. His hands and feet were already numb from the cold.
There was thunderous applause on the playground. Even after the performance, many people were reluctant to leave. When they saw Wen Ying coming down from the stands, they swarmed around him and started asking questions.
The majority of the people here are young women in their twenties and thirties. They are all emotionally unstable and talk about the grievances and resentment in their marriages.
Even though some of the questions sounded very shallow and naive to Wen Ying, she still stood there patiently and answered them one by one.
It was already completely dark, and everyone had finally dispersed. Wen Ying sighed wearily and stamped his stiff feet. It was truly freezing; it felt like the chill had seeped through every bone in his body.
"Thanks for your hard work," Bree said, leaning over to hand her the thermos and shrugging. "Even if we offer them a solution, the vast majority of them still won't divorce and will choose to continue living together. This is the case every time we come, and the questions they ask are always the same."
Wen Ying tilted her head back to drink water, feeling a tickling pain in her throat. "It's good to be able to help even one of them. Even if I can't, it's not bad to listen to them complain."
Bree laughed, "It's really rare to find someone as kind-hearted as you among lawyers."
Wen Ying tightened the screw on the cup and laughed along. "You've said the same thing as our teacher: people with soft hearts can't work in the law, and if they do, they'll suffer more than others. I understand that."
"Inviting you here has caused you pain. It seems I was inconsiderate."
A male voice sounded teasingly from the side. Wen Ying turned her head to look over and was very surprised to find that it was Zhou Boyu.
It was dark, and he was standing aside, wearing a dark coat. If he hadn't made a sound, you wouldn't have noticed that there was someone standing there.
Bree stuck out her tongue, called out "Hello, Boss," and then disappeared. Zhou Boyu strode over and saw the stunned look on Wen Ying's face: "Are you surprised to see me?"
Wen Ying nodded, then shook her head. Suddenly, a dizzy feeling washed over her forehead.
"What does this mean?"
She calmed herself down and explained, "It was quite unexpected, but when I think about it, it's not surprising at all."
Zhou Boyu took off his cashmere gloves. "After all, you're a lawyer, so you have to be very precise with your words." He handed the gloves to Wen Ying. "Put them on. They're new. I've only worn them once."
Wen Ying put her hands and the small thermos into her down jacket pocket. "Thank you, but I'm not used to wearing gloves. This is more convenient."
Zhou Boyu didn't insist. He just watched her pause for a second, then put her gloves into her pockets with a calm expression.
Adaptable and adaptable. This is how Wen Ying described him.
"Why are you here?" Wen Ying asked. The pain in her throat became more pronounced the moment she opened her mouth. She was worried she might have a fever.
Zhou Boyu said, "I was originally going to come with you, but I had a multinational meeting this afternoon, so I was delayed."
"Oh," Wen Ying nodded. "Your case hasn't been decided yet. I just contacted the judge yesterday and he said it will be soon. Please be patient and wait for a while."
Zhou Boyu frowned: "Do you think I came here just to urge you? Wen Lu, do I look like Zhou Paopi?"
Wen Ying sniffed and muttered nasally, "Don't they say people with the same surname were from the same family eight hundred years ago?"
Zhou Boyu folded his arms and looked at her: "If Yao Lu heard you talking to me like this, guess what he would do."
Wen Ying didn't care: "He's used to it, and I thought you could get used to it too."
She was really tired of putting on a mask of gentleness in front of Zhou Boyu.
Wen Ying often reflected on whether she had pretended too well in front of him over the past period of time, causing him to have some unrealistic fantasies about herself.
It’s better for her to be herself. I hope Zhou Boyu can see her true face of being boring, dull and difficult to get along with as soon as possible.
Although it is necessary to eat some street dishes to change the taste after a feast, Zhou Boyu's final destination is obviously still a feast.
Of course - in a situation like his, there would probably be no home in the traditional sense.
Zhou Boyu lowered his head and smiled gloomily, not taking her sarcasm seriously. He took the lead and said, "Let's go and have dinner together."
Wen Ying didn't move: "With you? Just the two of us?"
Zhou Boyu looked back at her and gestured around. "Even if you want to have dinner with me alone, I'm afraid I don't have the conditions." He strode forward, "It's a working dinner."
Zhou Boyu entered a classroom on the first floor, where Bree was distributing instant noodles.
She gave Zhou Boyu and Wen Ying a bucket each, brought a kettle, and ran to the other side to eat with the driver and Zhou Boyu's assistant.
The village chief came over and politely declined several times. Zhou Boyu calmly declined the village chief's invitation to have dinner at his home, and poured water and made instant noodles with great ease.
Wen Ying was a little surprised: "You actually eat instant noodles."
Zhou Boyu also poured her some hot water and said, "This is normal. I started from scratch and have eaten all kinds of food."
Wen Ying lowered her head to touch her phone and sent a WeChat message to Chen Li. She briefly described the legal education situation and then added, after a moment's thought, "Zhou Boyu also came over temporarily."
Across the hot air from the desk, Zhou Boyu asked her, "Do you have any work to do?"
Wen Ying shook her head casually, her eyes still fixed on the screen. "Send a WeChat message to my husband," she said, looking up and smiling at Zhou Boyu. "He's always worried about me. If he hadn't been busy today, he would have come with me."
Zhou Boyu's expression remained calm, and he hummed, "It would be even better if your husband could come. With the prosecutor's blessing, today's legal education event should be the best ever."
Given Zhou Boyu's status, Wen Ying wasn't surprised that he knew who Shen Li was. She retorted, "Mr. Zhou is so busy, yet he still has time to care about my personal life. I'm very grateful."
He chuckled softly, not too loudly, and said calmly in the most gentle tone: "I want to dig into Shen Jian's corner, so naturally I know myself and my enemy."
Wen Ying was shocked by these words. She had never expected Zhou Boyu to be so blunt. She was stunned for a long time, and finally murmured, "You have no shame, do you?"
Wen Ying's expression darkened. She lifted the lid of her instant noodles and poked at the still-hard noodles. "I've devoted all my energy to your lawsuit. I have a clear conscience on this matter. Public matters are public, and private matters are private. You can contact me anytime regarding your lawsuit, but please, we won't meet until your case is over."
Zhou Boyu raised his eyebrows: "I didn't make any demands on you, but I think I have the freedom and right to pursue anyone."
"You have freedom and rights, but what you're doing is immoral," Wen Ying's eyes were sharp, filled with vigilance and disgust. "Violation of social order and good customs is also an important criterion for judging whether a person's behavior is appropriate. Obviously, your trick won't work on me. If you want to poach someone, you have to ask the person themselves if they agree."
"Even if the deal doesn't go through, we're still friends." He shrugged.
Wen Ying shook her head: "I know myself well. I am not worthy of your 'righteousness'."
Zhou Boyu shook his head: "Who said you are soft-hearted?"
Wen Ying lowered his head to eat noodles, pretending not to hear.
Bree and other people from the Legal Department had to stay in Daoxuan Mountain for another day, so Wen Ying had to take Zhou Boyu's car back to the city at night.
Fortunately, besides the two of them, there was also a driver and an assistant in the car. Zhou Boyu had no intention of enduring her cold face. As soon as he got in the car, he lowered his head to look at his tablet to handle work and occasionally answered a few calls.
Wen Ying leaned against the car door, the breath coming out of her nose growing hotter and hotter. She felt dizzy and looked up at the cold night sky.
Snowflakes were falling, the sky was dark and there was no light at all.
The mountain road was muddy and icy, and the rear wheels vibrated from time to time. The driver gradually slowed down, and the car swayed intermittently from side to side.
Her phone vibrated twice. She unlocked it and saw a message from Shen Li: "When will you be back? Do you want me to pick you up?"
"I'm on my way back. Can you pick me up at the office?"
"Okay, I'll go over and wait for you now."
The phone screen went off, and before Wen Ying could look outside again, the car tilted and the world spun around. Everything in front of her seemed to be turning upside down, and then everything went dark in an instant.
------
The injuries weren't serious, just some scrapes. Zhou Boyu's car was incredibly safe, and everyone was wearing seatbelts, so even if it tipped over, the injuries were minor.
What was terrible was Wen Ying's high fever. It was hard to tell whether she caught a cold or was infected by a virus. In any case, the disease came on violently. She ached all over and her fever reached 39 degrees.
In the early morning, before daybreak, Zhou Boyu came in carrying a thermos bucket. "Have some porridge. The village chief made it himself and sent it to you."
Wen Ying did not sleep all night. The pain from the flesh wounds was a small matter, but the alternation of cold and heat made her extremely tormented.
She sat up and said in a hoarse voice, "How are you?"
Zhou Boyu said it was okay: "It's just a wound on your leg, it's nothing serious." He then apologized, "It snowed heavily in the middle of the night, and our car broke down, so we couldn't transfer you to the city hospital. You'll have to stay at the nearby town health center for a day. A car will pick us up at noon. I've already contacted my doctor for you, and he'll take you to the hospital this afternoon."
From the window of the single room, you can see the courtyard of the township health center. A thick layer of white snow has fallen, casting a dim light into the room.
Zhou Boyu unscrewed the thermos, and Wen Ying subconsciously declined: "No thanks, Mr. Zhou."
Zhou Boyu turned on the light in the house and scooped up half a bowl of porridge. "The village chief heard that we were injured, so he made porridge in the middle of the night and brought it to us in the snow. Are you sure you don't want to drink some?"
Wen Ying was speechless and had to take the porridge, but she really didn't want to drink it, so she lowered her head to look for her phone.
Shen Li didn't wait for her at the office, and the messages on WeChat continued intermittently until midnight. Wen Ying slept until the early morning, and when she woke up, she struggled to send him a WeChat message to explain the situation, but Shen Li never replied.
The sensor light in the corridor outside came on again, and light shone in through a glass window above the wooden door frame.
Wen Ying picked up the bowl of porridge and was about to put it to her lips when the wooden door of the ward was pushed open from the outside. The tall figure of Shen Li walked in with a gust of cool wind and snow.
Zhou Boyu frowned: "You are..."
"Her husband."
Shen Li's gaze first fell on Wen Ying's face, then on Zhou Boyu. He pursed his lips and walked over to Wen Ying: "How is it?"
She blinked, a little overwhelmed, then turned surprised: "Why are you here? It's snowing so heavily outside."
"How could I not come when you're in trouble?" He raised his hand and touched Wen Ying's forehead. "It's still so hot. How are the wounds on your body?"
Wen Ying shook her head and said it was nothing serious: "It's just a superficial wound."
Shen Li turned around and said to Zhou Boyu: "Mr. Zhou, thank you for coming to bring the porridge. You are also injured. You should rest more. I'm here."
There was a subtle and strange atmosphere between the two men. Wen Ying gathered the corners of the quilt with her fingers and wanted to speak.
Zhou Boyu suddenly smiled softly and nodded to Chen Li: "Then I'll trouble you."
Shen Li refused to give in: "Take care of your own wife, don't bother."
Zhou Boyu looked at Wen Ying again, but before he could open his mouth, Shen Li said, "Thank you, doctor, too. I'll take her to the hospital when the snow stops."
Zhou Boyu nodded without saying anything else, only pointing to the thermos: "Have some porridge, it was just sent over from Daoxuan Mountain. It's a good intention."
Chen Li blocked Wen Ying's figure at an angle.
"Thank you," he said, "thank you for your kindness."
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