Bai Xizhou jogged a few steps to catch up and got into the same car as Wen Ruqing for the ride back. In his mind, Wen Ruqing’s words popped up again—completely out of place at this moment.
Second.
Bai Xizhou didn’t like being second.
“You just said I’m the second person who helped you chase away a dog. So who was the first?”
The two sat in the back seat. Bai Xizhou tilted his head and asked in a voice low enough for only the two of them to hear.
“My ex.” Wen Ruqing didn’t shy away. He was always straightforward when people asked.
Bai Xizhou had arrived just in time earlier, right as the sun was about to set. At that moment, what Wen Ruqing heard in his ears was the roar of cars rushing past. But now, it was the rumble of water colliding with rocks beneath the riverbed.
It was different.
For a brief moment, he recalled the early days of being with that person. The beginning of a relationship is always sweet—your mind romanticizes everything. Years later, he still remembered it, but he could no longer recall the details they’d been through, or even what that person looked like.
Maybe his ex was right—Wen Ruqing really was a heartless person. That’s probably why he could speak about it so calmly today.
“Your ex? Then your scar…” Bai Xizhou didn’t pry too much, but asked about Wen Ruqing’s scar.
Wen Ruqing couldn’t help but laugh. “Lawyer Bai, your imagination is really something. By then, I’d already broken up with him for three years.”
“That’s good.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Bai Xizhou felt something was off. Why did he feel relieved upon learning Wen Ruqing’s self-harm had nothing to do with a past relationship?
He turned his head to look at Wen Ruqing. Wen Ruqing was leaning against the car window, admiring the sunset. The wind had tousled his hair, and the golden sunlight was spilling across his face.
“Lawyer Bai, were you two friends from before?” The voice from the front seat belonged to one of the law students participating in this trip—a local girl named Zhou Qing. “I’ve never seen you at the center before, but I know Wen Ruqing. You two seem like you’ve known each other for a long time.”
Zhou Qing’s voice snapped Bai Xizhou out of his thoughts. Before Wen Ruqing turned and noticed him staring, Bai Xizhou quickly looked away and pretended to be casually checking his phone.
There were no new messages on the phone.
“He’s my boss,” Wen Ruqing pointed at Bai Xizhou beside him, whose effort to appear indifferent was a bit too obvious. His voice carried a smile, and he seemed to be in a good mood.
He wasn’t affected at all by bringing up his ex.
“Yes, I’m his boss,” Bai Xizhou echoed in agreement.
There was nothing wrong with that answer—Wen Ruqing was currently working as Bai Xizhou’s assistant, so of course, Bai Xizhou was his boss.
“Zhou Qing, I remember you’re about to graduate from university soon, right? Have you thought about where you want to work or whether you’ll continue studying?”
“I’m planning to apply for graduate school at Xincheng University and then stay in Xincheng to work. Lawyer Bai, I want to work at Xinze, the same law firm as you.” As she spoke, Zhou Qing got a little excited and even turned half her body around.
Her eyes shone with the kind of light only young people had—full of hope for the future and vibrant with life.
Both Bai Xizhou and Wen Ruqing were slightly stunned, and for a moment, the car fell silent.
Zhou Qing grew a little embarrassed. She scratched her head anxiously, realizing how strange her words must’ve sounded, but she genuinely hadn’t meant anything else by them.
“No, Lawyer Bai, I really had planned to go to grad school in Xincheng. I’ve known about your law firm for a while now, but I didn’t know you at the time, so it’s not like I wanted to go because of you… Wait, that’s not entirely right—part of the reason is you, but not all of it…”
“I understand what you mean,” Bai Xizhou tried to calm her down. “Actually, even if you said it *was* because of me that you wanted to join Xinze, I’d still be pretty happy. Who knew—I could actually be someone others aspire to become.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Wen Ruqing turning to look at him—probably watching his reaction.
“A lawyer as outstanding as you, Lawyer Bai—it’s only natural that people admire you,” Zhou Qing said with sincere admiration in her voice.
“Well then, on behalf of Xinze, let me be the first to welcome you in advance.” Bai Xizhou jokes, and Zhou Qing laughed along.
The road back to town was long. The group chatted for a while, but eventually, as they grew tired, Zhou Qing stopped trying to keep the conversation going, and the car gradually quieted down.
Bai Xizhou started to doze off, leaning against the car window, the breeze lifting the edge of his jacket. Wen Ruqing turned toward him, inching a bit closer.
“Lawyer Bai, are you asleep?” he leaned in, trying to get a better look at Bai Xizhou’s face.
“Not asleep. If you want to say something, just say it.” Bai Xizhou rested his head on one hand and used the other to push Wen Ruqing’s approaching head away.
“I just wanted to say one thing to you,” Wen Ruqing said, brushing Bai Xizhou’s hand away. “You’re someone I really look up to.”
Bai Xizhou didn’t move, nor did he respond in any way. Wen Ruqing, sensing the lack of reaction, felt a bit awkward and quietly resumed his previous position, not bothering to check if Bai Xizhou had heard him.
He had wanted to say those words for a long time but never knew how to express them.
He admired everything about Bai Xizhou—his personality, his abilities, his attitude toward work. Everything about Bai Xizhou was incredibly attractive to Wen Ruqing.
Meanwhile, Bai Xizhou was having an internal battle in his head. He *should* be used to Wen Ruqing’s startling remarks by now—it had always been like this since they met.
“Someone I look up to.”
If Wen Ruqing weren’t a man, Bai Xizhou might have genuinely thought he was being confessed to. But Wen Ruqing probably didn’t mean it that way.
He really should buy Wen Ruqing a book titled “The Art of Speaking”, so he’d stop saying such ambiguous things in the future. It wouldn’t fly with another man—and even less with a woman.
The wind blew along the way, and the two of them returned to the inn just as night fully fell. Coincidentally, they ran into Wen Qing, who had just come out of the shop.
Bai Xizhou patted Wen Ruqing on the shoulder, gesturing that he was going up first. Wen Ruqing nodded and waved him off.
“This is how it should be—young people should make more friends,” Wen Qing said with a smile, noticing the small interaction between them. “Go out more, see more of the world, don’t stay unhappy all the time.”
“Yes, yes, yes, Auntie, weren’t you going back? Hurry up and go,” Wen Ruqing replied, clearly tired of hearing the same thing over and over.
“Oh right, you’ve got a package at the front desk. It’s wrapped up tightly—no idea what’s inside.” Even as she was being pushed out the door, Wen Qing didn’t forget to remind him.
Wen Ruqing had a pretty good idea what was in the package—it was a book he had asked his old teacher for.
The book Bai Xizhou had asked him to restore had a partially burnt cover, but the remaining name on it looked familiar to him. He remembered seeing it at his teacher’s house before, so he called and requested another copy.
Bai Xizhou had entrusted this task to him, and he wanted to do it well—not just to meet expectations, but also to express his thanks.
He unwrapped the package and took it back to his room. The room was tiny. Calling it a room was generous—it was more like a small space with only a bed and a desk, cluttered with tools and stacks of paper and materials. The desk was completely covered in his equipment.
It looked particularly cramped, with barely any room to walk. The inn had prepared another room for him, but Wen Ruqing didn’t stay there. He wasn’t used to it. As long as he had a bed, he could sleep. When he couldn’t, it was usually for other reasons.
Besides, sometimes he felt that such a confined space gave him a greater sense of security.
Wen Ruqing made himself a cup of coffee, sat down at the desk, picked up Bai Xizhou’s book, and began cutting open all the binding threads along the spine, laying each page flat across the desk.
The book didn’t have many pages. Once everything was separated, he used tweezers to carefully peel off the scorched edges from the paper.
Suddenly, his phone buzzed violently, startling him so much he nearly tore the page.
[To the boss, just a suggestion—I’ve been meaning to say this for a while]
[Can I get a different pillow? This one’s too high. It’s uncomfortable to sleep on.]
For a moment, Wen Ruqing was speechless. He didn’t like being interrupted while he was working—not even by Bai Xizhou.
[There aren’t any other pillows. Want to trade with mine?]
His reply carried a hint of annoyance. He knew full well that Bai Xizhou, with his slight germophobia, would never agree. He was just trying to get a rise out of him.
[…]
[Forget it. Pretend I didn’t say anything.]
[I’m a bit hungry. Want to go out to eat? Haven’t had dinner yet.]
Watching the messages pop up one after another, Wen Ruqing’s irritation slowly faded. Now that Bai Xizhou mentioned it, he realized he was starting to feel hungry.
The two of them went out for a meal together. This time, Bai Xizhou chose the place—it fit perfectly with his reputation for being a clean freak.
In the following days, Wen Ruqing followed Bai Xizhou to visit every village around Yunduan Town. Sometimes it was Zhou Qing and the others giving talks, sometimes Bai Xizhou went alone, and most of the time Wen Ruqing was handing out brochures.
When there was no work, he would wander around the villages, attracting cats, teasing chickens, herding ducks, dodging geese. Of course, there were dogs in the villages—many were off-leash. If villagers were nearby, it was fine, but Wen Ruqing’s biggest fear was being alone with a snarling dog right in front of him.
He seemed to have a bad luck with dogs. More often than not, a dog would suddenly dash out of an alley and startle him, leading to a standoff where neither moved, and he had to wait for Bai Xizhou to come save him.
“Forgive my bluntness,” Bai Xizhou once again rescued Wen Ruqing from danger, pushing him forward without caring about the two little dogs following behind. “Can you just stay put?”
“But it’s so boring. You and the others have things to do, but I’m just handing out brochures, doing nothing useful.”
“You can listen to what I say too; it won’t hurt.” Why was he like Teng Yuan as a kid—restless despite being grown up now? “You know you’re afraid of dogs, but you still run around everywhere.”
“Sorry for causing you trouble.”
He did seem a bit carried away.
“That’s not what I meant.” Bai Xizhou stood on Wen Ruqing’s left side. “What I mean is, what if next time it’s a dog even I can’t chase away? What if I’m not there in time? Do you want to go get a rabies shot?”
Wen Ruqing hadn’t thought about that. It was natural to be curious in a new place. Since Bai Xizhou chased the dog away last time, Wen Ruqing kept thinking Bai Xizhou would always come to his rescue next time.
That feeling was too subtle, too slight for Wen Ruqing to notice.
“I promise I’ll behave next time.” He raised his hand as if taking an oath.
Bai Xizhou chuckled, a bit helpless.
He just helped chase away the dog once—why did it become like he was on call all the time?
“After the visits are done, I basically have no more work,” Bai Xizhou suddenly said on the way back.
“So are you planning to leave then?”
The book still wasn’t fixed.
“That was the original plan.”
He had intended to stay about half a month here before going back. There were a few cases at the law firm that, though he followed up while here, were easier to manage from the office.
But now he changed his mind. The court dates for those cases were all next month, materials and procedures were mostly complete, and no major changes were needed. His schedule was quite free.
Plus, he hadn’t taken his annual leave yet this year.
“I plan to stay here a while longer. I quite like it here.”
“Do you have any plans? Like where you want to go?”
“No.” Bai Xizhou looked at Wen Ruqing confidently and tilted his head. “I plan to have you show me around.”
“Sure, I’ll take you around.” Wen Ruqing didn’t hesitate and agreed right away. “Just follow me, Lawyer Bai.”
