【Task Completion Rate Continues to Rise!】
Accompanied by the notification in her mind, Tan Siye had already eaten his third river snail.
Sweat had broken out across his forehead from the heat.
【Spice him to death! That dog of a man deserves it for confiscating your wedding ring!】
But Song Shuangzhi hurried over.
“Stop eating…”
Spiciness was pain.
His lips were already swollen.
Besides, forcing someone who could not handle spicy food to eat something this hot could actually cause problems.
“Isn’t this how you’re venting your anger?” Although a fine sheen of sweat covered Tan Siye’s face, his voice remained calm and pleasant.
“About the ring…”
“I really don’t care anymore.” Song Shuangzhi had stopped being angry long ago. Why would she get upset over a former husband for whom she felt absolutely nothing?
For some inexplicable reason, Tan Siye’s expression darkened another degree.
“You don’t care?”
He grabbed her wrist.
Meeting his unusually deep gaze, Song Shuangzhi suddenly did not dare speak.
The wind stirred. A strand of hair brushed across his Adam’s apple.
Her heart skipped a beat.
…
“Chief Judge Tan?” someone suddenly exclaimed from a car parked by the roadside. “Chief Judge Tan?!”
The courthouse was not far away, and it was still working hours. A passing colleague rolled down the window and froze in shock.
“Chief Judge Tan is squatting by the roadside eating insanely spicy river snails?!”
“It has to be an undercover operation. Grandma’s illegal cooking oil scandal must have been exposed! It actually brought out the Chief Judge himself!”
“How many years is Grandma going to get sentenced to?”
“Hah. If she falls into his hands, at least ten years!”
“No! Grandma’s snails are my favorite late-night snack!”
“Wait! The person beside him is…”
Something even more terrifying than seeing him crouched by the roadside eating snails…
His girlfriend!
The colleague in the car reacted instantly.
Click!
“Ah!” Song Shuangzhi cried out and immediately buried her face in his chest.
In the private group chat without any senior leadership:
【Damn it, I didn’t get a clear picture! Chief Judge Tan took his girlfriend to a roadside stall!】
【Chief Judge Tan is a wealthy second-generation heir from one of Beicheng’s most prestigious scholarly families. He would never eat this stuff on his own, and he doesn’t even eat spicy food. His girlfriend must have dragged him here!】
【Ahhh! Accompanying his girlfriend to a roadside stall first thing in the morning is so romantic!】
【Who stole away our campus heartthrob?!】
【Weren’t all of you scared of him because he’s so strict?】
【Damn it, but the campus heartthrob belongs to everyone!】
【With a body like that, Chief Judge Tan definitely knows what he’s doing in bed. The quiet type who doesn’t talk much but goes all out. Who’s living this well?!】
…
【Wait a second!】
【Chief Judge Tan is wearing a wedding ring! That’s not a girlfriend, that’s Mrs. Tan!】
【Hold on, is it just me? That ring looks obviously fake.】
【How could Chief Judge Tan possibly wear a fake ring? The Tan family has been an elite scholarly family for generations. One of the oldest and most mysterious families around. They could bury you in money!】
【Then I must have seen it wrong…】
Song Shuangzhi’s phone nearly exploded from the flood of incoming messages.
Meanwhile, the official courthouse group chat remained silent as a graveyard.
“They’ve left.”
His voice sounded even deeper than before.
Song Shuangzhi climbed off his lap.
A faint grapefruit-red lipstick mark had been left on his trousers.
She wanted to smack herself twice.
The system comforted her.
【It’s fine. This totally fits your character setting. A clingy, shallow, arrogant ex-wife leaving lipstick marks on the male lead’s clothes to declare ownership…】
Song Shuangzhi looked up at his obviously displeased expression.
As expected, she had annoyed him again.
“Sorry…૮₍•́₃•̀₎ა”
Tan Siye wanted very badly to ask:
Was being married to me that embarrassing?
But seeing Little Snail’s overly cautious expression…
Forget it! There was no need to make things difficult for a child.
Tan Siye glanced at his phone.
The Hague was urging him to return again.
The former dean had apparently gotten into a divorce dispute after his wife ran away, and had asked him to bring a traditional Chinese kneeling washboard back to The Hague.
“Chief Judge Tan,” Song Shuangzhi began cautiously.
She was genuinely a little afraid of him.
And after the system’s upgrade, tasks now came with advance warnings.
The task 【Cover His Neck with Hickeys】 was slowly changing from gray to red.
Meaning…
It could be triggered at any moment. The thought sent a chill through Song Shuangzhi’s heart.
“Are you still going back to The Hague?”
Tan Siye looked directly into her eyes.
“No!”
“Ah…”
Her face instantly fell.
“Yes.”
“(＾－＾)V”
A dark ripple passed through Tan Siye’s eyes.
“But I’m not in a hurry to leave.”
“Oh…”
“When do you want me to go back?”
Song Shuangzhi picked up a river snail and took a bite.
The spice hit her immediately.
Gasping, she grabbed the glass of water on the table and gulped it down.
“Well… whenever work requires it.”
“Then I’ll try to stay a little longer and spend a few more months with you here.”
“Oh… ε=(´ο｀*)))”
“Though it’s hard to say. Maybe I’ll have to leave next month.”
“Mhm.” His expression turned colder.
“I just received notice. I have to leave tomorrow.”
“Really?!”
Seeing the excitement light up her eyes, Tan Siye suddenly felt as though breathing had become difficult.
“Fake.”
“Huh? Why are you lying to people?”
Her sweet, soft voice sounded almost like a pout.
The light in her eyes disappeared again.
Tan Siye took a sip from his cup.
“The day after tomorrow.”
“You’ve worked hard, Chief Judge Tan!”
A bright smile immediately returned to her face.
Tan Siye put the cup back into his briefcase and strode toward his office.
Childish! He silently despised himself.
He had just conducted an experiment titled Humiliating Yourself.
【You’ve exceeded the mission requirements again!!】
The system shouted excitedly.
【You used the male lead’s cup!】
【A germaphobe like the male lead actually let someone like you drink from his cup. You must have disgusted him terribly!】
Song Shuangzhi replied calmly, “Oh, such dedication. I’m truly a professional.”
Tan Siye had a mountain of work to deal with.
Fortunately, he was decisive and efficient, so he handled everything quickly.
Even so, his assistant could clearly sense that he seemed to be holding in a considerable amount of frustration.
“The Minister of Justice would like to meet you at the shooting range.”
Holding his cup, Tan Siye took tiny sips.
Or rather, it looked less like drinking and more like smelling it.
“Has that ugly doll been produced yet?”
The assistant thought for a long moment before remembering the custom Labubu project.
“Oh, right. It’s finished. We invested a substantial amount of money, and they finally agreed.”
Assuming Tan Siye had not heard him, the assistant repeated himself.
“The Minister invited you…”
“Have those rings been located yet?”
The assistant paused. The rings and the doll were more important than the Minister’s invitation?
He did not understand. He was shocked.
Still, he answered honestly.
“We heard they were purchased by a woman. I’m still investigating.”
“Hurry up. Don’t let the situation escalate.”
Song Shuangzhi clearly had no idea the rings had been switched.
Hei Ye, who was responsible for her protection, had never reported any theft or robbery.
Which meant there was a high chance someone in her family had taken them.
Perhaps it was better that she remained unaware.
They could quietly retrieve the rings and pretend nothing had ever happened.
For the third time, the assistant began, “The Min…”
“Let’s go to the shooting range.”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sound of gunfire drowned out the highly confidential conversation between Tan Siye and the Minister of Justice.
Dressed in black tactical clothing that emphasized his tall frame, the man wore a cap and carried ammunition at his waist. His sharp phoenix eyes narrowed slightly as he controlled the pistol with one hand.
Bang!
“Ten points.”
The Minister of Justice stood in the spectator area, smiling as he watched, nodding with satisfaction.
“Chief Judge Tan.”
An assistant approached.
“Song Ting’an wants to see you.”
“No time.”
“He’s already outside.” The assistant hesitated. “He says he’s here to deliver… a divorce agreement.”
The assistant knew nothing about the connection between Tan Siye and the Song family.
To him, the idea of delivering a divorce agreement in person seemed absurd enough already.
Bang!
Tan Siye’s shot missed the target.