Around seven or eight in the evening was when Jiangcheng’s CBD was at its busiest.
Traffic flowed endlessly along the crisscrossing roads, while flashing taillights formed a glowing web, carrying the city’s endless hustle and bustle.
You Jue had originally planned to meet a client that evening, but the client suddenly had to reschedule. So he simply returned to the law firm.
A few people were scattered around the office, but there was barely any talking.
Only the constant sound of keyboards filled the air.
You Jue walked down the hallway without looking to either side. It was only after he entered his office that the fatigue finally showed on his face.
He wanted to lie down on the sofa and rest for a while, but there wasn’t enough space for him to stretch out.
Annoyed, You Jue glanced at the portrait that took up half the sofa.
It had been there for almost a week. Besides taking up a huge amount of space, it had also become the focus of attention. People came and went through the office. Although no one openly gossiped about it, they often gave him curious and teasing looks.
He had considered moving it away more than once, but with a painting this large, whether he moved it himself or asked someone for help, the moment it was carried out of his office, it would inevitably attract even more attention.
You Jue’s frown deepened. He took out his phone, found Fang Jialin on WeChat, and impatiently sent a voice message.
“When exactly are you going to come and take your painting away?”
The moment he sent it, someone knocked on the glass door behind him.
You Jue turned around. When he saw who it was, he put down his phone.
“Lawyer Xu, what’s up?”
The door wasn’t closed. Xu Shaoxin only took one step inside.
“How did things go with Ni Xia today?”
“I explained the situation to her. She’s thinking about whether she wants to continue.”
Xu Shaoxin naturally understood what You Jue meant. She nodded.
“Let her think about it. If she decides to continue with the lawsuit, you need to do your best to help her.”
“I will.”
“Good. I need to head to the airport soon.”
Xu Shaoxin turned to leave, but then remembered the plane ticket You Jue had bought and later refunded. She stopped.
Originally, You Jue was supposed to go to Britain with her to handle a case. If they won, it would add another impressive achievement to his record.
But then Ni Xia’s case came up, and it might not be easy to handle. Xu Shaoxin couldn’t get away from her own work, so after thinking it over, she felt most comfortable leaving it to You Jue.
She knew that no matter how big or small a case was, once You Jue accepted it, he would take responsibility for it until the very end.
As his direct supervisor, Xu Shaoxin naturally had the authority to assign him work.
And when she asked him about it last night, he had agreed readily without making things difficult for her.
But Xu Shaoxin knew very well that she wouldn’t be his supervisor forever. One day, he might no longer be working under her.
So after thinking for a moment, she said, “Consider this a favor you’re doing for me this time.”
“You’re being too formal.”
You Jue smiled. “It’s not a big deal.”
After Xu Shaoxin left, You Jue loosened his tie.
His phone kept vibrating. He sat down in his office chair, answered a client’s call, and opened WeChat at the same time.
Fang Jialin still hadn’t replied. His work messages had piled up like a mountain. He glanced through them, then opened Ni Xia’s chat first.
There were three consecutive messages, and every one of them seemed ambiguous.
He raised an eyebrow.
[J]: Have you made up your mind?
[Ni Xia]: Not yet. I just want to have dinner with you and chat.
[J]: Then I’m not free.
When she received that message, Ni Xia was waiting at a red light.
She stared at her phone in disbelief.
Not free???
His love, her money—perhaps everything depended on this one dinner, and he actually said he wasn’t free?
What was he trying to act so aloof for?!
“When are you free—”
Ni Xia had typed halfway through the sentence before relaxing her fingers.
When Grandpa had mentioned the fifty million yuan, she had completely lost the ability to think. She had almost wanted to pounce on You Jue like a hungry wolf.
But after he poured a bucket of cold water over her, she had calmed down considerably.
Did she really have to marry someone she didn’t like just for money?
The light turned green, and the cars around her started moving.
Ni Xia was only a few seconds late, but the cars behind her immediately started honking.
She let out a long breath, tossed her phone onto the center console, and stepped on the gas, driving home.
After passing through the bustling city, her home was as quiet as a vacuum.
Ni Xia didn’t even have time to change her clothes before collapsing onto the sofa.
The postponed project, the long lawsuit, and all the cast and crew members waiting for the final result…
All these problems were right in front of her, but there was only one thing on her mind.
Grandpa’s fifty million yuan.
The thought kept circling in her head until it almost became something she could actually see.
She seemed to see seven long zeros swimming around in front of her like a snake…
“What are you doing?”
Gu Yusheng’s sudden phone call pulled Ni Xia back from her fantasy.
She sat up and rubbed her face.
“I just got home. By the way, today I talked to You Jue about our—”
“Don’t talk about that yet.”
Gu Yusheng hurriedly interrupted her.
“Mi-jie just contacted me.”
The moment Ni Xia heard that name, she immediately became alert.
Mi-jie was in charge of renting filming locations. If she was contacting them at this time, Ni Xia could already guess what it was about.
“Wasn’t the location we rented supposed to expire around the Spring Festival?” Gu Yusheng said. “She’ll definitely need to rent it to another production team afterward, so she came to ask when we expect the movie to start filming. If we can’t start for now, do we want to renew the lease? Otherwise, the location will go to another crew, and there’s no way we’ll be able to keep the set we’ve already built.”
So it really was about this.
Ni Xia squeezed her eyes shut.
“Renew it. There’s no other choice.”
“I know, but judging from the situation, we’ll probably have to renew it for at least two months. That’s not a small amount of money.”
Exactly.
The filming location they had rented wasn’t particularly expensive—15,000 yuan a day. Two months would already cost 900,000 yuan.
But recently, Ni Xia had used up every bit of money she could get her hands on to pay the wages of the crew members who had already been working on the production.
Where was she supposed to find another 900,000 yuan now?
“Tell Mi-jie to give us a few days. I’ll figure something out.”
After saying that, Ni Xia hung up before Gu Yusheng could hesitate.
Once the call ended, the room fell silent again.
Ni Xia opened WeChat and went through her contacts one by one, not knowing who she could ask for help.
Grandpa’s attitude was crystal clear. There was no need for her to test him again.
Her friends could lend her money, but even she couldn’t say when she would be able to pay them back. How could she bring herself to ask?
In the end, she opened her chat with her mother, Feng Tianhui.
After thinking for a long time, she finally sent:
[Mommy]: What are you doing?
A few minutes later, Feng Tianhui replied.
[Mommy]: I’m having lunch with your aunt. What’s wrong?
Ni Xia typed out several different ways of asking for money, but she couldn’t bring herself to send any of them.
After all, Ni Jianguo was still the one in charge of the Ni family.
Although her mother wasn’t as strict as her grandfather, she was still firmly on his side.
Not long ago, her mother had said she was going to visit her cousin in London. She had been gone for more than half a month now. Wasn’t that also a way of avoiding her?
Since things had come to this, why make her mother uncomfortable?
[Ni Xia]: Nothing, I was just asking. Say hi to Auntie for me. Have fun together~
Ni Xia sat there for a long while before finally getting up.
She went to the dressing room, gathered the remaining bags and jewelry she could sell, and sat on the carpet taking photos of them one by one.
She sent the pictures to a luxury goods resale shop. After chatting with them for a while, she received an estimate that was lower than expected, but she still arranged for them to come collect everything the next morning.
Even a little money was still money. She had to gather whatever she could.
After finishing everything, Ni Xia was so exhausted that she had to support her lower back as she stood up.
Just then, her phone rang with a short, crisp sound like flowing water—
It was the special notification tone for a bank transfer.
It sounded so beautiful, like music from heaven.
Ni Xia’s legs almost gave out, and she immediately collapsed back onto the floor.
It really was a transfer from Feng Tianhui.
And it was a full 200,000 yuan.
Her hands trembled with excitement.
[Ni Xia]: Thank you, Mom!!!
[Mommy]: It’s getting colder lately. Find somewhere warm and go have some fun for a few days.
[Ni Xia]: Okay!
With the 200,000 yuan, plus whatever she could make from selling her jewelry and bags, she could basically cover the gap in the rental payment.
The tension that had been gripping Ni Xia’s entire body finally eased, and even her breathing became much smoother.
But before long, the happiness in her heart faded like a receding tide, leaving behind nothing but endless despair.
She really couldn’t keep going like this.
Now even 200,000 yuan was enough to make her this happy.
And she needed far more than that. The new investment money was still nowhere in sight.
How long could she keep things going by scraping money together like this?
Ni Xia opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling.
Suddenly, a face appeared in her mind.
Her heartbeat became fast and heavy again.
After a long while, she opened her chat with You Jue again.
She stared at it for a while before finally sending two messages.
[Ni Xia]: Are you free tomorrow?
[Ni Xia]: I still want to talk more about the lawsuit.
You Jue replied quickly.
[J]: Busy tomorrow.
Busy again.
Ni Xia pressed her lips together anxiously.
[Ni Xia]: Where will you be busy?
[J]: If there’s anything you don’t understand, tell me now. I’ll reply when I have time.
[Ni Xia]: No, it’s hard to explain over the phone.
[Ni Xia]: It’s really important. It’s a matter of life and death for me. Just spare me a little bit of your time, please. [Pleading]
[Ni Xia]: Old classmate, if you save me today, I’ll take care of your life tomorrow.
After a while—
[J]: Dongchi Motors.
Ni Xia froze for a moment before realizing what he meant.
So he would be at her family’s company tomorrow.
That made things easy.
The corners of her tightly pressed lips relaxed. Ni Xia sent him a voice message.
“Then I’ll come find you tomorrow. Just talk to me when you have some free time.”
The next afternoon, Ni Xia arrived at the Jiangcheng Industrial Zone with a full face of makeup.
Large trucks passed one after another along the road, and the air was filled with the smell of exhaust fumes.
What a waste of today’s makeup.
When she arrived at the main entrance, the security guard didn’t recognize her and insisted that she register before letting her through.
After getting out of the car, she didn’t know where to go either. She asked several people before finally finding the meeting room You Jue had told her about.
Her family’s factory had been around for many years, and the office building was just as simple and old-fashioned.
Sunlight streamed through the window at the end of the hallway. The lights didn’t need to be turned on, but the corridor still wasn’t very bright.
Behind the heavy wooden door, Ni Xia couldn’t hear anything from inside the meeting room.
As she raised her hand to knock, she hesitated for a moment.
How was she supposed to bring this up?
Would You Jue be overjoyed, or would he think she had completely lost her mind?
“Come in.”
You Jue’s voice came from inside.
Ni Xia couldn’t worry about it anymore. She pushed the door open.
Several people were sitting in the spacious meeting room. Some looked familiar, while others were strangers.
They were also surprised to see Ni Xia. Fortunately, the meeting had just ended, so no one asked too many questions. They gathered their things and left one after another.
“You’re finished?”
Ni Xia pulled out a chair and sat down as she asked.
“Mm.”
You Jue only nodded before getting straight to the point.
“What do you mainly want to know today?”
Ni Xia’s fingers curled nervously at her sides.
In a low voice, she said, “I want to know more about you.”
“…”
You Jue had been resting one hand on the table while organizing the documents from the meeting.
When he heard her words, he raised his head. There was a hint of wariness in his eyes, but he didn’t say anything.
“Uh, what I mean is…”
Ni Xia clenched her fists and asked directly,
“You’re single, right?”
“Why?”
You Jue gave her a calm glance.
“Doesn’t being single have anything to do with whether I can handle your lawsuit?”
“That’s not what I mean.”
For some reason, Ni Xia felt that something about his tone was strange, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
Maybe she was asking an unnecessary question.
He had put her portrait in his office. How could he not be single?
Thinking of this, Ni Xia felt more confident and looked straight at him.
“You’re so successful and you’re still single. Is it because you’re too busy with work, or… is there someone in your heart?”
You Jue turned his head and stared at Ni Xia, but he clearly had no intention of answering.
Ni Xia had no choice but to put it another way.
“I mean… have you ever thought about settling down and getting married?”
She felt like she was practically spelling it out now, and her heart was pounding.
But You Jue only glanced at his watch.
“Get to the point. I’m starting the clock.”
Ni Xia blinked.
“What are you timing?”
You Jue raised an eyebrow.
“You do know that talking to a lawyer costs money, right?”
“I—”
Caught completely off guard, Ni Xia choked on his words. She forced herself to stay calm.
“Fine. Actually, I have a big business deal I want to discuss with you.”
“Not interested.”
You Jue closed the laptop in front of him with a straight face.
“If it’s unrelated to the case, you can leave.”
“?”
His arrogant dismissal made Ni Xia suspicious.
“You do know this is my family’s company, right?”
“I know.”
You Jue lifted his chin toward the door.
“Then should I leave?”
“Hey, I didn’t tell you to leave!”
Seeing him actually start walking away, Ni Xia hurriedly stood up.
“I mean… you can see that my family is pretty well-off, so would you—”
You Jue walked away with his laptop.
“I’ll just tell you directly!”
Ni Xia shut her eyes and blurted out a long sentence before he could walk out the door.
“My grandfather likes you! If I marry you, he’ll give me fifty million yuan, and then I’ll be able to make my movie!”
The moment the words left her mouth, the meeting room fell completely silent.
Ni Xia took a deep breath before opening her eyes.
You Jue was looking at her as if she were crazy.
Just as she expected.
Ni Xia’s shoulders drooped in despair.
“I’ll marry you so you can get the money.”
You Jue laughed.
“Do you think I’m a Bodhisattva?”
“Why don’t you understand what I mean?”
Ni Xia’s palms were already sweating.
“I told you, it’s a business deal. Of course I won’t treat you unfairly. If you want to talk about money, or if you want to talk about… something else, we can negotiate!”
After hearing this, You Jue was still smiling, but there was clearly a hint of mockery in his expression.
“Miss Ni, how did you come up with the idea of asking a lawyer to help you commit fraud?”
“How is that fraud—”
Before Ni Xia could finish, a young man suddenly hurried into the room with a folder.
“Lawyer You, you haven’t left yet? That’s great. There’s another contract. Could you please help me—”
He stopped halfway when he noticed Ni Xia on the other side of the room.
His expression changed slightly before he turned to You Jue.
“Lawyer You, are you busy right now?”
“Not busy.”
You Jue composed himself and led him to the table.
“Give it to me.”
The two of them began discussing work right in front of Ni Xia.
In the quiet meeting room, only their calm, low voices could be heard.
Ni Xia knew that continuing to talk to You Jue would only make things more embarrassing.
What she couldn’t understand was how You Jue could remain so completely unmoved when facing the woman he supposedly had feelings for.
He was even so sharp-tongued, throwing around words like “fraud” so casually.
Did he think she was the defendant or something?
Ni Xia had even imagined that if You Jue wanted to talk about their relationship, she might actually consider it.
But now, there was nothing to talk about.
She couldn’t find herself liking You Jue at all.
It wasn’t as if he was the only man in the world.
With nothing left to say, Ni Xia picked up her bag and prepared to leave.
Just as she was about to take a step, her phone suddenly rang.
Ni Xia glanced at the caller. Instead of leaving, she turned around and answered the phone with her back to You Jue.
“Hello, Grandpa. What’s wrong?”
Ni Jianguo’s voice was calm on the other end.
“You came to the factory?”
Ni Xia’s heart skipped a beat.
He knew again.
“Mm…”
“You came to see Lawyer You?”
“Mm…”
Ni Jianguo was silent for a moment before asking,
“Has he finished his work?”
Ni Xia glanced over and answered honestly.
“I’m not sure. Probably soon.”
“Then I won’t disturb you two.”
“…Oh.”
After hanging up, Ni Xia felt even more troubled.
Grandpa probably thought she had specifically come to wait for You Jue to finish work, and that the two of them would soon go out for dinner, shopping, and a movie.
Given the situation, how was she supposed to explain this to him later?
You Jue’s attention was still focused elsewhere. Ni Xia didn’t bother saying goodbye and walked straight outside.
Just as she stepped through the door, her phone rang again with the familiar sound of a bank transfer notification.
Ni Xia’s entire body jolted.
She hurriedly took out her phone.
One, two, three, four, five, six…
Six zeros.
Grandpa had transferred one million yuan to her.
Fireworks seemed to explode inside her mind, and Ni Xia nearly lost her balance.
She grabbed the doorframe and slowly turned around.
Under the bright lights, You Jue was still focused on the contract.
His features were deep and handsome, his nose straight and prominent. He looked so good that he seemed to exist on an entirely different layer from this old meeting room.
Even the few strands of hair casually falling over his forehead looked as though they had been deliberately styled by a professional.
For the first time, Ni Xia understood what it meant to have her heart flutter and fall for someone.
She seemed to be starting to like You Jue.