“Congratulations on your promotion!”
“Congrats, Lawyer Bai!”
“Congratulations!”
…
Colorful confetti burst above his head. Streamers landed on his shoulders and hair. Applause echoed around the room, and waves of congratulations poured into Bai Xizhou’s ears.
Just returning from outside, Bai Xizhou was caught completely off guard by the surprise. He stood frozen for a moment, pulling the streamers off his head and looking toward his boss, who stood nearby watching the scene unfold, amusement and curiosity in his eyes.
“Congratulations, Lawyer Bai.” Zhu Yuyan walked over holding a bouquet of flowers and handed a large bunch of sunflowers to him. “Congrats on becoming a senior partner at Xinzé. You’re my boss now.”
More applause and cheers followed from the surrounding colleagues.
Only then did Bai Xizhou realize what was happening. He politely accepted everyone’s congratulations. At that moment, the boss stepped forward, waved his hand grandly, and announced that he’d reserved a spot at a restaurant for that evening. After work, they’d all go out for dinner—a celebration banquet in Bai Xizhou’s honor. The team buzzed with excitement.
The boss still asked for Bai Xizhou’s opinion—after all, in the past, Bai Xizhou rarely participated in social events like this. But today, he was the main character. Not showing up would be inappropriate. So this time, Bai Xizhou didn’t refuse. He chatted with everyone for a while until the crowd eventually dispersed, and he finally made it back to his office.
He adjusted the glass walls to opaque mode, cutting off visibility from the outside. Alone again, Bai Xizhou slumped into his chair with a faint look of exhaustion, the kind that came from being emotionally drained. The bouquet from Zhu Yuyan lay casually on his desk—he didn’t bother to arrange it.
The sky in Xincheng was always overcast. It was even gloomier in winter. Bai Xizhou let out a long breath. He should’ve been used to this kind of weather by now.
But somehow, his mind kept drifting back to Yunduan Town—that place that always had blue skies and white clouds. Especially after it rained, the sky there was even more beautiful.
It had been over eight months since he returned to Xincheng from Yunduan Town.
He picked up his phone and opened that familiar chat window. The last message was still from May of the previous year—back when he hadn’t yet left Yunduan Town. His fingers hovered over the input box for a long time. He wanted to say something, but didn’t know how to begin.
He wanted to ask how Wen Ruqing was doing—whether he was in Xincheng now or had stayed in Yunduan Town. He wanted to ask why Wen hadn’t sent a single message since then. But thinking about it more carefully, he realized… he hadn’t taken the initiative to message him either.
When it came to things like this, the two of them seemed to share a strange kind of mutual silence.
Truthfully, he really wanted someone to talk to—someone to tell, “Hey, I’m doing well these days.”
But when he opened his phone, he didn’t know who he could say it to. Teng Yuan had been away on a business trip recently, and Qu Qingchen was busy every day. The few friends he had were wrapped up in their own lives, and he didn’t want to bother anyone.
That’s when Bai Xizhou suddenly realized—after leaving Yunduan Town, he no longer had anyone to share his feelings with.
There was a knock at the door. He turned and replied, “Come in.” Zhu Yuyan pushed the door open, with a man and a woman—two unfamiliar faces—behind her.
“Brought two new recruits for you,” Zhu Yuyan said, nudging them forward. “Chen Jia and Li Xin. Just joined today. They’ll be under your supervision from now on.”
It was normal for new hires at a law firm to be assigned a mentor. Bai Xizhou had mentored before, so he wasn’t surprised.
“Why are we hiring new people right now?” Bai Xizhou casually asked as he glanced the two over.
“Need to inject some fresh blood,” Zhu Yuyan joked easily—she was close enough to him to speak without reserve, even teasing him a bit.
The two interns were clearly more nervous. Though they’d interned at firms before during university, they were still basically fresh grads. Standing in front of a seasoned lawyer like Bai Xizhou made them visibly tense.
“No need to be nervous. I don’t bite,” Bai said, noticing how the male intern was practically wringing his shirt to death. It made him want to laugh.
Was he really that scary? He wasn’t exactly bad-looking, after all.
“You with that poker face? It’s basically the same as biting people.” Zhu Yuyan muttered beside him.
“Alright, I just brought them here to meet you. Now that introductions are done, I’ll take them back.”
After she left with the interns, the office returned to its usual silence. Bai Xizhou collected himself, opened his computer, and dove back into work.
After work, everyone headed to the private room the boss had booked. Since they were all familiar with each other, there wasn’t much formality—just eating, drinking, chatting about recent cases or funny things happening around them. The room was lively and warm.
Bai Xizhou didn’t enjoy these kinds of social events. Midway through the gathering, he slipped out. The room was cozy, but the corridor outside was cold. He rubbed his hands together and lit a cigarette. Amid the curling smoke, he opened his social media feed.
The first post he saw was from his younger brother, Bai Xiting. It was a photo of himself standing in front of a university building—one Bai Xizhou recognized instantly.
It was the campus where he had once studied abroad.
After returning to Xincheng, he met with Bai Hésōng once. That dinner was the first time he met Bai Xiting. Just like he had said over the phone, Bai Xiting had applied to the same university as him and had successfully received an offer. Of course, Bai Hésōng’s networking had played no small part in that.
They had similar names, similar habits, and now even shared similar academic paths. But unlike Bai Xizhou, Bai Xiting’s journey was much smoother. Sometimes, Bai Xizhou felt disoriented—he couldn’t tell whether Bai Xiting truly wanted to follow in his footsteps, or if he genuinely wanted to become a lawyer.
But in the end, none of that really mattered.
What felt most ridiculous to Bai Xizhou was that Bai Hésōng lavished affection on this son—willing to swallow his pride to smooth his path—yet couldn’t even spare Bai Xizhou a single glance.
That so-called desire to mend their father-son relationship had never existed. Bai Hésōng only needed him now for his connections—to pave the way for Bai Xiting’s entrance into the legal circle.
Bai Xizhou let out a cold chuckle and gave Bai Xiting’s post a like.
Just as he was about to head back, Zhu Yuyan stopped him.
“Lawyer Bai, can you give me a ride to the hospital? Lele’s sick, I’m going to check on her.” Lele was Zhu Yuyan’s daughter, and usually her husband took care of her.
“Sure, let’s go,” Bai Xizhou replied. He didn’t really want to stay at the party anyway—Zhu Yuyan had just offered him a perfect excuse to leave.
They arrived at the hospital together. After finding out which ward Lele was in, they went their separate ways. Bai Xizhou had planned to leave, but his steps halted just at the hospital entrance.
In a corner by the entrance stood a large potted plant, and someone was crouched beside it, hands resting on the pot. The person’s exposed wrist was unnaturally pale, their entire body curled up tightly. Looking closer, he noticed the person’s shoulders trembling slightly.
He walked over and stopped in front of them.
“Wen Ruqing.”
The figure stiffened, then slowly looked up.
It was a face Bai Xizhou knew well—but now it looked even thinner, with sunken cheeks and a ghostly pallor. A light sheen of sweat clung to his forehead.
“Lawyer Bai,” Wen Ruqing forced a faint smile, strained and weak. “Long time no see.”
“Yes,” Bai Xizhou replied, his voice colder than the winter air outside. “It’s been a long time.”
Meeting Bai Xizhou again was something Wen Ruqing hadn’t expected. Xincheng was such a big city—the chances of running into each other were slim to none. Besides, he had been deliberately avoiding Bai Xizhou. But fate, as always, had a way of being inconveniently precise.
And in his current state, he was in no shape for a reunion.
Wen Ruqing had returned to Xincheng the day after Bai Xizhou left.
The apartment he had rented before had been reclaimed by the landlord due to being vacant too long. With the small amount of refunded rent, he found a new place to live. This new place was smaller and even more remote than before, but it was enough for just him.
He cleared out one room to use as a workspace, and moved his bed to the living room. He didn’t have many friends in Xincheng anyway, so he never had to worry about having guests over. Compared to his living conditions, he cared far more about his workspace being functional.
He picked up the specialized study he had once set aside, throwing himself into memorizing material and solving practice problems, as if he’d gone back to preparing for the gaokao. Since he lived alone, he paid little attention to daily details—eating only once a day became the norm. His gastritis flared up repeatedly, and he suppressed the pain with medication.
He knew his condition wasn’t normal, but he had no plans to change anything—at least not now. He’d made a promise to Wen Qing: if he failed again, he’d return to Yunduan Town.
From the beginning, he had no intention of reaching out to Bai Xizhou. Even though Bai Xizhou had told him to contact him when he came to Xincheng, Wen Ruqing felt it was time to end that connection. Right now, he wasn’t in a place to think about anything beyond the exam.
Besides, Bai Xizhou hadn’t messaged him either. So he took that as confirmation: neither of them intended to reconnect.
He focused entirely on the exam. After the written test came the interviews, round after round of elimination. When he finally made it to the last interview, he saw the same interviewers as before, asking the exact same questions. This time, he could finally answer.
The waiting period for the results felt endless. With too little sleep, he spent most of his time dozing off. Just before heading to the hospital, Wen Ruqing had checked his results: he’d been accepted, just as he’d hoped, into the Ancient Book Restoration department of the Xincheng Research Institute’s Library and Archives. A wave of immense joy flooded his heart. He let out a long breath and shared the news with Wen Qing.
But maybe because his nerves had been so tightly wound for so long, once they finally relaxed, his body began to collapse. A violent stomachache nearly brought him to his knees. He’d run out of painkillers—he had no choice but to go out.
Winter in Xincheng was bitterly cold. Wen Ruqing bundled up before heading out, caught a cab to the hospital, and all the while the pain in his gut never let up—it only grew worse. By the time he reached the hospital doors, he’d used up the last of his strength. Not wanting to inconvenience others, he slipped into a corner to curl up for a bit, planning to go find a doctor once the pain eased.
What he didn’t expect… was for Bai Xizhou to also be at the hospital—and to see him, crouched in that very corner.
He felt a little guilty. If they’d never met again, he wouldn’t have to answer any questions about the past few months. No one would ask why he never reached out. But now that they’d run into each other… there was no avoiding it.
How was he supposed to explain?
Wen Ruqing glanced up cautiously and saw Bai Xizhou standing there with a stern expression, typing on his phone. Soon after, he pocketed it and crouched down, bringing himself to eye level with Wen Ruqing. Their gazes met suddenly, and Wen Ruqing instinctively looked away.
“Stomach acting up again?” Bai Xizhou knew he had chronic gastritis, and judging from the way he looked now, he could more or less piece things together. “Come on, I’ll help you up. What’s the point of crouching here like that?”
Wen Ruqing was in too much pain to speak. His lips were pale, he had no strength at all, and his head felt dizzy. He let Bai Xizhou pull him up and help him over to a chair. He watched as Bai Xizhou went to the nurses’ station and spoke to someone—he didn’t catch the words—but when he returned, he had a cup of warm water in his hand.
“Thank you,” Wen Ruqing murmured, clutching the cup.
His freezing hands began to warm up a little from the heat, and the pain in his stomach eased slightly thanks to the warm water—but it still hurt a lot.
“Let’s go. I’ll take you to see a doctor.” Bai Xizhou still had that stern face—he looked a bit harsh—but his words were filled with concern.
“No need, I can go on my own.” Wen Ruqing took a sip of water, trying to pull off a smile to make it look like he was fine. “Lawyer Bai, you should go handle your business.”
Bai Xizhou didn’t say anything—but clearly had no intention of leaving. Wen Ruqing had no choice but to lower his head again and keep sipping his water. The atmosphere between them was a little… delicate.
“I’m not busy. I can spare the time to go with you to the doctor.”
Author note:
Frozen Starlight:
Just a quick note: Wen Ruqing’s storyline is loosely inspired by the civil service exam process, but it’s not the same as how it works in real life. In reality, getting a government position through the exam isn’t that easy, and we definitely don’t encourage neglecting one’s health like he did. Please view this rationally—it’s fiction, and fiction is just that fiction.
