Sister Li’s entire body seemed to have its bones pulled out. Her legs went weak, and she collapsed to the floor with a thud, her hands propped against the cold tiles, fingertips trembling uncontrollably.
The woman who had just been standing with her hands on her hips, arrogant and overbearing, now had all the color drained from her face. Her lips were deathly pale, and her eyes were filled with disbelief.
The top-ranked law firm in the country.
A standing member of the National Lawyers Association…
She had originally thought Lin Nianxi was powerless and could be manipulated at will, but she never expected to run into such a tough opponent this time!
Her son’s job was gone, and no law firm would ever hire him again. It was as if he had been blacklisted from the entire industry, as if his future had been completely destroyed!
Sister Li’s mind buzzed for several seconds, as a wave of immense fear and regret washed over her from head to toe like ice-cold water.
She scrambled up from the floor, stumbling over to Zhou Hengshan. Her face twisted into a smile uglier than crying, and she bent over, rubbing her hands together frantically.
“Z-Zhou… Lawyer Zhou! It was all a misunderstanding! A misunderstanding!”
Sister Li’s voice trembled, her previously sharp and mean face now filled with flattery. “I was just talking nonsense earlier, I didn’t know how to speak properly. Please, you’re a magnanimous person, don’t hold it against me!”
She waved her hands repeatedly, her eyes reddening with urgency. “As for the rent, I’ll refund it all! Every single penny to Miss Lin! The five thousand for the renovation—forget it, forget it! It was never her responsibility in the first place. I was just confused!”
“I’m just an uneducated old woman, I don’t understand the law. Please, please don’t take it to heart—”
Zhou Hengshan took a step back, avoiding her outstretched hands, his expression indifferent.
“You’re begging the wrong person.”
He tilted his head, his gaze shifting behind him.
Sister Li followed his line of sight and saw Lin Nianxi standing beside Huo Jingmo.
The young girl she had withheld the deposit from, berated for half an hour, and nearly trapped inside the apartment.
Sister Li froze for less than a second before scrambling over to Lin Nianxi, her face contorted into an excessively obsequious smile.
“Miss Lin! Miss Lin, right? It was all my fault!”
Her voice was hurried and frantic. “All the unpleasantness between us was just a misunderstanding! It was all my fault! Please, you’re a magnanimous person, don’t hold it against someone like me. Forgive me this once!”
Lin Nianxi looked down at her.
She knew the woman before her wasn’t truly remorseful.
The landlord wasn’t genuinely sorry. She was just afraid because she had provoked someone she couldn’t afford to offend.
“Miss Lin, please take out your phone and open the QR code!” Sister Li was already sweating profusely in her panic, fumbling to pull out her own phone. “I’ll transfer the money to you right now! The deposit, the rent—I’ll refund it all! I won’t keep a single penny!”
Lin Nianxi hesitated for a moment but still opened her payment QR code.
The transfer notification chimed.
A total of seventeen thousand yuan.
An extra five thousand yuan on top of that.
“The extra five thousand is my compensation to you! Consider it my sincerity!” Sister Li grabbed Lin Nianxi’s arm, tears suddenly streaming down her face. “Miss Lin, I beg you, please put in a good word with Lawyer Zhou. Don’t fire my son, okay?”
She wept with tears and mucus streaming down her face, her voice cracking: “My son has been a good student since childhood, studying diligently. The year he took the college entrance exam, he ranked first in the entire district! It was like thousands of troops crossing a single-log bridge! He finally got into a law university, passed the bar exam, worked tirelessly day and night, burning the midnight oil until his eyes turned red, developing such deep dark circles and eye bags, sleeping only five hours a day. It took him five years at Dingsheng just to gain a firm foothold—”
“He worked so hard that patches of his hair turned white!”
Sister Li knelt on the floor, one hand wiping her tears while the other clutched Lin Nianxi’s clothes: “It’s all my fault! It’s all because of my loose tongue! If there’s any blame, it’s all on me—it has nothing to do with my son! I beg you, please show mercy—”
He was her only son. If his future was ruined, what would she do?
Her son would surely hate her to death!
Her words were filled with tears and sorrow, pitiful to the extreme.
Lin Nianxi’s eyelashes trembled slightly.
She looked down at Sister Li’s tear-streaked face, her lips parting slightly, a flicker of reluctance flashing in her eyes.
She wanted to say something.
A long, powerful hand reached over, firmly grasping her wrist and pulling her half a step away from Sister Li.
Huo Jingmo’s deep, dark eyes were icy and indifferent. “Adults should bear the consequences of their words and actions.”
Lin Nianxi looked up, meeting his profound, shadowy gaze.
“She dared treat you this way today because she thought you had no one to back you up,” the man said calmly. “Her tears aren’t from guilt—they’re because the price exceeded her expectations.”
“If you show mercy, she’ll find someone else to trouble next time.”
“Because she knows that crying and begging can make things go away.”
Lin Nianxi stood frozen in place, the wavering in her eyes slowly fading away.
She quietly withdrew her gaze and nodded, looking at Sister Li, who was weeping with swollen eyes. “You should pay the price for your actions.”
“Your son is unlucky to have a mother like you.”
“From now on, don’t bully tenants anymore.”
Huo Jingmo’s hand slid down from her wrist, his fingers intertwining with hers, holding her slightly cold hand.
He led her out.
Behind them, Sister Li slumped on the cold floor, her red and swollen eyes watching helplessly as they left.
The phone in her hand vibrated again.
It was a message from her son.
[Mom, how did it go? Did they forgive you?]
Sister Li stared at the screen, her lips trembling uncontrollably, tears falling in large drops onto the phone.
She opened her mouth, but couldn’t type a single word.
The phone vibrated again.
[Mom, say something! Director Wang told me to hand over my work tomorrow. My employee ID has already been deactivated.]
[Mom!!]
Sister Li curled into a ball, her hands tightly covering her face, letting out a suppressed, agonized wail from between her fingers.
She thought of her son’s silhouette under the lamplight, studying until two or three in the morning before the college entrance exam; of the day their whole family set off firecrackers to celebrate his admission to law school; of how she used to hold her head high, boasting to everyone, “My son is a certified lawyer.”
It was all over.
All ruined by her loose tongue.
…
Outside in the hallway, the last rays of the setting sun streamed through the window, casting two intertwined shadows.
Lin Nianxi was led a few steps by Huo Jingmo before stopping, looking up at him, and softly saying, “About today… thank you.”
If Huo Jingmo hadn’t backed her up, she would have gotten into trouble today.
The man tilted his head slightly, amber light falling on his sharply defined profile.
He didn’t speak, only tightening his grip on her hand.
The warmth of his palm firmly enveloped her fingertips.
“You are my wife,” the man said, his gaze gentle as he looked at her. “No need to be so polite.”
“Today was also my fault,” Lin Nianxi murmured, lowering her eyes to her toes. “It’s my fault for being too naive and letting the landlord take advantage. I caused you trouble today.”
“Mrs. Huo,” the man’s slender fingers gently lifted the girl’s delicate chin, his eyes soft as he gazed at her. “You’re young, still a student, and very innocent, without much life experience. It’s normal for someone like that old fox to give you a hard time.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself.”
The man’s deep, magnetic voice was gentle. “As for trouble, that’s not even worth mentioning.”
“Helping a young wife solve her problems is what a good husband should do.”
Meeting the girl’s clear, soft almond-shaped eyes, he said, “Good girl, your husband is more than happy to help you out.”