Chapter 27: CH 27

Chapter 27 – Depressed

After coming out of the haunted house, Wen Ruan seemed to be dispirited with a depressed look like a huge dark cloud was hovering over her head.

Even when eating, she looked like she had lost her soul and only turned the white rice around in her bowl with the chopsticks and did not even pick up any food from the dishes.

Wen Ruan was simply grief-stricken.

Originally, this should be a very sweet and romantic day but now it had become a humiliating history that can be recorded in the annals of her life.

The more she thought about it, the angrier she felt……..and the more she thought, the more depressed she felt.

If it is said that she had failed to defeat Fu Zhihuan, then no matter how one thinks, that ghost who ate garlic before going to work should be blamed!

After Fu Zhihuan finished his meal, he glanced at the time and stood up.

“I’m going to pay the bill first.”

With one hand resting on her arm and her other hand dully turning the rice grains in the bowl, Wen Ruan nodded blankly with listless eyes.  She seemed to be in a bad mood and even her voice sounded sullen.

“Mm……..okay.”

Upon seeing this situation, Jiang Zishen immediately put down his beverage glass and followed Fu Zhihuan.

“Brother Fu, I’ll go with you!”

The sulking Sister Wen Ruan is really very scary!

Although she did not say a word the whole time, that lifeless expression and the low pressure all over her body made others feel like they were sitting on pins and needles.

No way!

Sister Wen Ruan can’t keep on feeling depressed!

So while Fu Zhihuan was paying the bill, Jiang Zishen reached out his hand to pull Fu Zhihuan’s trousers and whispered with his small face raised.

“Brother Fu, Sister Wen seems very unhappy.”

Fu Zhihuan turned his head around and looked in the direction of Wen Ruan……

She was still playing with the rice grains with her eyes lowered.  Her whole body seemed as if all the fire had fizzled out and the huge character ‘mourning’ was written on it.

“Mm……”

Fu Zhihuan grunted a response and withdrew his gaze but there seemed to be some abnormal emotional fluctuations in his eyes.

“Our teacher said that when a girl is unhappy, just present her with a gift!”

Jiang Zishen thought for a while and an idea came to mind.

“Why don’t we sneak off to buy a gift for Sister Wen Ruan?”

Fu Zhihuan did not speak and only lowered his eyes calmly as though he was thinking about something.

He rarely sees Wen Ruan with this look.  However, what surprised him more than this was that he was even unaware when his mood had started to be affected by her emotions.

For example, when he saw her looking so dispirited, he felt unhappy as well.

When Jiang Zishen mentioned pacifying her……he, Fu Zhihuan, even harbored the idea of…….buying something to coax her?

It was only when the cashier handed over the bill that he came back to his senses.  He turned around, picked up the pen, and signed the bill with his head lowered.

“Mr. Fu?……..”

Just as Fu Zhihuan was done signing, before he could speak to Jiang Zishen, he suddenly heard a familiar female voice a short distance away.

He turned his head around and looked in the direction of the voice.

He Ziqin was standing on the front left of the dining table and was looking in Fu Zhihuan’s direction.

Surprise showed in her eyes.  When she noticed that the person in front of her responded by looking at herself, she immediately recollected her thoughts, and the corners of her lips curved into a smile.

“I thought I was mistaken just now and didn’t expect it is really you.”

He Ziqin had just returned to the country not long ago and as she was free this weekend, she came to the amusement park today with some old friends at their invitation.   However, all along the way, she showed a lack of interest.  Perhaps, after being away for so many years, she could not muster any interest in some of the novelties, so she was not having an enjoyable time with her friends.

As such, she broke away from the group and came to this restaurant to hide in peace.

But she never thought that she would incidentally meet Fu Zhihuan.

When Jiang Zishen saw He Ziqin walking over, he quickly moved backward and hid behind Fu Zhihuan.  He pulled the corners of Fu Zhihuan’s clothes with both hands and showed an alert expression.

Level One Warning!  An aggressor that wants to grab Brother Fu from Sister Wen had appeared!

But He Ziqin had already noticed Jiang Zishen at a glance.  Perhaps it was to show her gentleness, she even purposely bent down, supported herself with a hand on her knee, and spoke to him with a smile.

“Ai?  Is this Mr. Fu’s brother?  So adorable!”

Jiang Zishen’s grip on Fu Zihuan’s clothes tightened.

He doesn’t like this auntie!

Her perfume is so strong and she looks a little fierce!

She is like the mathematics teacher who always makes him stand at the back of the class to reflect!

Perhaps, Fu Zhihuan could sense Jiang Zishen’s resistance, so he calmly reached out his hand to push the child behind him.  Then he raised his eyes to look at He Ziqin and said calmly without wavering.

“My friend’s child.”

“Oh, so that’s it…….Mr. Fu indeed has the patience.”

She straightened up with a smile then stretched out her hand to brush her hair back and her eyes started to curve.

“Did the two of you come together?  Just now I discovered a lot of interesting places when I was strolling around, do you need me to take you there?”

“That’s not necessary.”  Fu Zhihuan said lightly.  “We have a friend with us.”

“Friend?”  He Ziqin was stunned.

At this moment, Jiang Zishen stuck his head out and called out cheerfully with a grin.

“Sister Wen Ruan!  We’re over here!”

Wen Ruan?

When He Ziqin heard the name, her back stiffened subconsciously and her pupils shrank.

No, it shouldn’t be such a coincidence.

Maybe it’s just the same name, or……..

“You’ve used up a full eleven minutes and forty-two seconds to pay the bill.”

Wen Ruan was walking toward them while glancing at the time.  Her voice still held a little of the gloominess that had yet to dissipate.

“I thought the two of you wanted to extort a meal from me and ran off!”

Upon hearing this familiar voice, the expression on He Ziqin’s face changed and her right hand subconsciously clenched.

In fact, she had already heard that Wen Ruan was back in Jiang City to work as a lawyer again.

But at that time, He Ziqin did not place much importance on it because Wen Ruan had left the legal field for a very long time.  Even if she is to come back, she would not be able to shake her, He Ziqin’s position as the situation is different now.

However, unexpectedly, Wen Ruan knows Fu Zhihuan.

When she thought about the phone call she overheard in the restaurant a few days ago, He Ziqin suddenly realized that it was very likely that the person on the other end of the line was Wen Ruan.

She gritted her teeth.

For so many years, her life has always been smooth-sailing and the only two stumbling blocks that had appeared were actually the same person.

By this time, Wen Ruan had also noticed He Ziqin.  The Vice President had mentioned this person to her a few days ago, so naturally, she could very quickly recognize He Ziqin.

So she smiled then stretched out her hand to He Ziqin and said in a tone that held politeness.

“Miss He, it has been quite a while since we last met.”

He Ziqin looked at the pale slender hand that was held up in front of her but did not make any effort to shake it immediately and remained silent for a long time.

It was only half a minute later that she suddenly let out a light laugh.  She lifted her hand and gave Wen Ruan’s hand a perfunctory light shake.

“Sorry, I was wondering who you are just now, so I didn’t respond immediately.”

“You should know that working in the legal field, we get to meet too many people every day, therefore, we tend to forget those who don’t leave a deep impression.”

Wen Ruan calmly withdrew her hand with a smile still lingering in her beautiful eyes.  However, she lowered her eyelids gently as if she was contemplating something.

As a thousand-year-old fox*, it is needless to put on an act in front of her!

(A thousand-year-old fox means an experienced crafty person who plays tricks, deceives, and schemes against others.)

Just now He Ziqin had deliberately refused to shake her hand and also said those words that sounded appropriate but contained hidden meanings which were clearly meant to embarrass her.

And the phrase ‘forget those who don’t leave a deep impression’…….although it sounded like a statement, Wen Ruan could naturally detect the sarcasm.

“However, I still remember Miss Wen.  After all, that case three years ago was one of the few failures in my life.”

When He Ziqin said this, she sighed softly while shaking her head and her tone sounded a little regretful.

“After all, that case was too cruel.  My client even committed suicide by jumping off the building and I can still remember it until now.”

Fu Zhihuan frowned slightly, his eyes instantly turned cold and his adam’s apple moved.  Just as he stepped slightly forward and was about to speak, he suddenly heard Wen Ruan laugh softly beside him……..

“It’s understandable because I’ve also worked as a lawyer for many years.  There are indeed countless people to see every day so I often meet people who greet me but I can’t remember them either.  However, my memory of Miss He is still fresh.  After all, we have been opponents twice.”

Wen Ruan’s eyes and brows were curved and it seemed she was not affected by He Ziqin’s words at all.  Even her tone sounded like she was smiling.

“Speaking of this, I am very grateful to you because I was originally a criminal defense lawyer.  In the beginning, when my teacher wanted me to learn commercial law, I was always worried that it would be problematic.  So when I had to fight that case with you in court, I was nervous for a long time.”

“Thanks to you, after that court case, I only realized that commercial cases were not that difficult to handle and it gave me a lot of confidence.  As a result, because of that incident, I received more and more cases.”

Such an annoying speech!

Wen Ruan was smiling as she spoke and her tone sounded neither impatient nor impetuous as though she was having a harmonious chat but every word of hers accurately poked He Ziqin’s sore spot.

In actual fact, she had no intention of embarrassing He Ziqin initially but she could not stand the other person wanting a mile after getting an inch.  He Ziqin even brought up Lu Kechen’s manslaughter case that happened three years ago and put the blame on her.

Wen Ruan was never a person who would submit to humiliation.  Since the other party had stepped on her head to perform ballet, then no matter how she must let that person experience a fall and feel the pain.

Sure enough, the expression on He Ziqin’s face became stiffer and stiffer and she almost could not hold on to her smile any longer.  She gritted her teeth so hard that even her cheeks hurt from the excessive force.

“Anyway, we still have other plans, so I won’t talk to Miss He any longer.  Have a nice day!”

After Wen Ruan finished speaking, she simply gave up spouting nonsense with He Ziqin and bent down to hold Jiang Zishen’s hand.  Then she turned around and left with the child.

Laughing silently, Fu Zhihuan straightened up and was about to leave when…….

“Mr. Fu, wait……..”

He Ziqin felt angry but suddenly, she remembered her purpose in greeting Fu Zhihuan and she called out in a gentle tone.

“I didn’t expect that you and Miss Wen Ruan know each other.  Please help me to apologize to her later.  I was too rash just now and my words were a bit inappropriate.  It looks like she is angry.”

Fu Zhihuan stopped and turned slightly sideways to rest his eyes on He Ziqin.

He Ziqin sighed and showed a bitter smile.

“Maybe it’s because Miss Wen is too sensitive or it’s because I didn’t think over it carefully.  But I didn’t expect that after so many years, her temper is still so straightforward.”

“Miss He…….”

Suddenly, Fu Zhihuan laughed.  He drooped his eyelids and said casually.  “You and I are only acquaintances.”

“Ah?”  He Ziqin was stunned.

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“But she and I are friends.”

He narrowed his eyes and said slowly but every word he spoke contained an inexplicable sense of pressure.

“So, it’s not necessary to beat around the bush in front of me.”