Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
She raised her hand carefully, her fingertip pressed against the edge of the curtain. Pulling the curtains apart slightly, she peeked out just in time to see Yan Huaian looking her way, a glass of red wine in his hand.
Yu Zi jumped back in shock, hastily putting the curtain back down out of guilt.
Yan Huaian had already seen her, however, his mesmerizing black eyes almost melding into the dark night. He had seen a crack appear in the curtains opposite him, and he saw a tiny portion of Yu Zi’s face and eyes through it. She blinked, looking especially mischievous, as though she was a child playing hide and seek with him.
Yan Huaian was ecstatic and thankful that he had not gone home. It was because he had been looking at Yu Zi’s house from the balcony all this time that he did not miss such an interesting sight.
He was glad, but on the other hand, Yu Zi was utterly mortified. She had been caught red-handed in the act of peeking, so she could only pray that Yan Huaian did not misunderstand and think she felt something for him.
Just now, there was a smile playing on Yan Huaian’s lips as he straightened up slowly, leaving the railing.
Holding the glass in one hand, he lightly put his other hand on the small door. With a casual shove of his well-defined fingers, he pushed the door open.
When he sent Liu Jiamu to watch over the construction today, he had made sure to tell the latter not to install a lock on this door. He wanted it to swing open naturally.
Liu Jiamu had asked teasingly, “Shall I make the door soundless? In that case, it’s best if the door doesn’t touch the railing.”
To his surprise, Yan Huaian actually shamelessly agreed. “Yeah, good idea. Remember to do it just like that.”
His words made Liu Jiamu choke hard on his own saliva.
After Yan Huaian let go of the door’s cool metal bars of the door, it swung behind him soundlessly.
Yan Huaian stood in front of the glass door to Yu Zi’s home. Perhaps it was the alcohol at work, spurring him on, but he curved his long finger slightly and knocked on the glass door quietly with the crook of his finger.
Yu Zi was still standing at the glass door. Through the curtain, he could see the shadow of her slender figure cast by the lamplight.
Since she was caught in the act of peeking, Yu Zi had no choice but to brace herself and draw the curtain.
Before she opened the door, she could already see Yan Huaian standing tall outside the door, a small smile on the corners of his lips, as though he was teasing her for peeking earlier.
Yu Zi’s face reddened and she took her time opening the door. “What… What is it?”
“Were you peeking at me earlier?” Yan Huaian did not go out, standing outside the door.
Of the two of them, one of them was standing inside the warm house, while the other stood on the balcony. Even so, the scene was unspeakably warm and beautiful.
“No!” Yu Zi shook her head and denied it without thinking.
Yan Huaian smiled and raised his hand, lightly plucking at the curtain next to him with his fingertip. “I saw you just now.”
“That… That wasn’t peeking!” Yu Zi insisted stubbornly. She gave Yan Huaian a quick glance and then lowered her gaze.
She was simply feeling too guilty to even look at him.
The smile in Yan Huaian’s eyes deepened, and he did not say anything.
Yu Zi felt even guiltier now. The hoodie she wore fell over her body loosely, because she always liked to buy clothes that were several sizes larger for her homewear.
Her hands were lost in the sleeves as she lowered her head and played with the hem. “I just wanted to see if you were still there.”
Her voice was small and low, like a child who was caught doing something naughty.
Yan Huaian saw her shrink into her oversized clothes. She looked as though she was wearing her boyfriend’s clothes, but she also looked like a child.
Yan Huaian could not help but think that the outfit Yu Zi was wearing now could probably fit him too.
Out of nowhere, he raised his hand and rubbed Yu Zi’s head twice.
As a result, his actions left both Yu Zi and Yan Huaian himself stunned.
Thankfully, Yan Huaian had always been an old hand at matters of seduction, so he could pull his hand back with a straight face even under these circumstances. The only difference was that the back of his neck was slightly red, and he could still feel the silky smoothness of her hair in his palm.
He was partly frustrated and partly ecstatic. On one hand, he was frustrated at himself for always losing his composure and letting his hand wander whenever he was not paying attention. On the other hand, he was still glad that he managed to touch her.
Another look showed him that Yu Zi’s face was even redder than his. She looked awkward and at a complete loss.
With that, Yan Huaian grew even more composed. His hand naturally fell to his thigh and he did not do anything else, lowering his head and asking with a smile, “So is there something you want to tell me?”
Yu Zi blinked and finally raised her head in shock, saying a confused “ah”.
She could debate anything in the courtroom, but now it was like she was struck mute, as though her brain was not plugged in.
Yan Huaian would love to spend more time with Yu Zi, so he waited with plenty of patience.
Yu Zi’s wits had gone out for a walk, so she just stood there blankly. Yan Huaian took that opportunity to look at her face carefully, but no matter how he looked, it just was not enough. The more he watched her, the deeper in love he fell.
The deep love in his eyes was like a bottomless lake, with no end in sight. When his gaze fell on Yu Zi’s face, she could not help but wonder if she was mistaken. Why did it feel like Yan Huaian was looking at her with eyes full of love?
It must be because it was late at night, and the lamplight was making her see things.
That was what she told herself, desperately trying to break the romantic spell of the night and the lamplight.
However, she then heard Yan Huaian say, “You said you were just checking to see if I was still there, but I bet you have something to say to me, right? Why else would you look for me?”
Yu Zi shook her head instinctively, but her brain was a mess right now, and she could not think straight. To make things worse, it sounded like there was something else in Yan Huaian’s voice that made it ridiculously pleasant to listen to. In the deep night, Yu Zi somehow lost herself in that voice and could not recover for a good while.
Yan Huaian resisted a laugh, his gaze growing gentler as he said, “So you just wanted to see me?”
Yu Zi felt as though there was something not quite right about that, but he was not wrong.
It was true, she did intend to just sneak a peek earlier and check if he was still there. She did not have anything to talk to him about.
She just wanted to see him, and listen to… Why did it sound so off? As though she… had feelings for him?
On the contrary, she really did not!
Yu Zi was caught on the back foot and rendered speechless. No matter how she tried, she could not come up with a reasonable answer.
Eventually, she heard Yan Huaian say, “Then look all you want.”
Yu Zi, “…”
Yan Huaian actually stood in front of her, unmoving, the red wine glass in his hand. His body was tall and upright, his expression gentle, a smile on his face and a natural aura of pride around him.
Seriously… Would anyone really stand here so proudly and invite others to stare at them like he was doing?
Would he not feel awkward?
Yu Zi grimaced and said helplessly, “I’m done looking.”
“Is there really nothing you want to tell me?” Yan Huaian asked with a laugh.
Yu Zi shook her head woodenly.
Yan Huaian wanted to say that he had a lot of things he wanted to tell her though.
However, all of the words tumbling out of mind became just one sentence when they passed through his lips. “I’ll go back after I’m done drinking outside. You can just ignore me.”
Yu Zi nodded but did not move. She clearly meant that she wanted to see him go back to his balcony.
Otherwise, he might just stay standing on the balcony outside her living room. How weird would that be?
Yan Huaian laughed and told her good night before he pushed open the small door beside him, walking over to his side.
Yu Zi found this very convenient too. It was as though the two of them were really living together now.
Yu Zi closed the door, feeling a complicated array of emotions. She drew the curtains to a close again and patted her face.
“Calm down, Yu Zi, come back to earth. What nonsense are you thinking? You should work now!” she said as she patted her face.
In order to recover and calm herself down, she removed her make-up, washed her face, took a shower, washed her hair, and wrapped her hair with a hair drying towel, putting on the large white T she liked to wear.
She figured that Yan Huaian would not come in again, so she did not put on a bra.
When she was working at home, she preferred to keep herself as comfy as possible.
She made herself some coffee, and while the coffee was boiling, she took off the hair drying towel. Most of the water in her hair had been absorbed by the towel, so after a short stint with the hairdryer, her hair was soon seventy to eighty percent dry.
She gave the next step some thought. It was not very comfortable for her to work with her hair down, and she did not have bangs. She had tried them before, but she soon realized that she was not very suited for bangs. They did not look especially good on her.
That was why, while her hair was still a little damp, she tied it into a braid. She intended to sleep with her hair tied like this, and tomorrow morning it would fall into natural waves.
She had tried this method several times now, and it worked very well every time. With this, she did not have to waste some time on straightening her hair, damaging it in the process.
Once she was all cleaned up, she went and retrieved the information she had run around collecting that afternoon. For some reason, when she remembered the red wine Yan Huaian was drinking, she suddenly felt a little thirsty.
She licked her lips and then got up, going to the cabinet and taking out a bottle of red wine.
She never especially craved alcohol, and her tolerance was not that high either. Besides, she was a lawyer, so she did not have to drink with her clients like others did. Even when she went out for meals with her mentor, her mentor always cared for her and no one really tried to get her drunk.
All of them preferred to drink casually for leisure, so they can relax in mind and body.
Besides, there was Song Dashen, an advocate, to watch over things. Everyone there had class, so they never shouted at others to drink.
Still, sometimes when Yu Zi had to stay up late doing work, she would also pour herself a glass of red wine to help her relax. Her mentor had also taught her how to discern a good red wine, and it helped her make conversation with her clients. At the very least, it was a topic she could bring up.
That was why Yu Zi kept some red wine in her house at all times too.
She used a corkscrew to open a bottle of newly-bought, unopened red wine, taking out a glass and pouring herself some. After that, she returned to the living room and sat herself on the floor, putting her documents and notebook on the coffee table. She then put her glasses on and began to sort through the information.
About half an hour later, she received a call from the investigator.
That afternoon, she and the investigator had split up. She went to ask around, but she only asked the questions the other party would answer. As for the more secretive matters, she had to rely on the investigator.
The investigator her firm usually worked with had his own way of doing things, and the firm never cared how he got it done, as long as he managed to give them the results.
That afternoon, the investigator had found a hacker who then went through all of the records in Cheng Ke’s computers. Now, he sent all the information to Yu Zi.
However, this data was not procured through legal means, so they could not be presented as evidence in court.
That afternoon, Song Dashen had already asked Cheng Ke for all of their emails and call records. This was the legal way that the courts took, and with the judiciary watching over the process, Cheng Ke could not resist even if they wanted to.
Still, they would try to pull a trick or two. They did not dare to delete or hide anything, but they could add a bunch of red herrings, wearing the team out so that they might miss the crucial pieces of evidence.
However, things became much easier with the records the investigator provided. Yu Zi compared that info to the readily available ones, and it saved her plenty of time and effort.
Even so, she still had no choice but to burn the midnight oil.
The wine she had just made things harder. Yu Zi could not help but regret caving in to temptation and drinking the red wine. After that drink, she just felt sleepier, so she went to the kitchen again and made herself another cup of coffee.
It was not easy, but by four in the morning, she finally had everything sorted out. While there was still time, she planned to sleep for three hours and wake up at seven in the morning.
She rubbed her eyes and was too lazy to return to the room, so she forced herself to put all the documents into her laptop bag. Turning off her laptop, she went to the couch and fell asleep there, too lazy to even grab a blanket.
At seven in the morning, the alarm she set on her phone rang.
Yu Zi was so sleepy she could not even open her eyes, and she blearily stretched out her hand to fumble her phone from the back of the couch. She checked the time through the slits of her eyes.
A quick estimate told her she could sleep for another half an hour and wake up at half-past seven. At most, she would not do her make-up. If she just put on some clothes and left, she would still make it in time. She really could not get up right now, so she turned off the alarm and went back to sleep.
Yan Huaian had woken up a long while ago and had finished making his coffee. Now he was just waiting for Yu Zi to appear.
After he looked at the time, however, he saw that there was still no sign of her, so he went to the balcony and pushed open the small door.
The curtains were drawn in the house, blocking out most of the sunlight.
Yan Huaian quietly peeled apart the curtains and saw Yu Zi sleeping on the couch. Perhaps because she was cold, her body was curled up, looking especially small on the couch.
