CH 16.3

Chapter 16 (part 3)

Now, now, calm down and think calmly, Gao Yuan told himself. That loud scream just now sounded vaguely familiar.

He turned about hastily, zipped himself up, then frowned and examined his surroundings. The suspect was quickly discovered--

Wasn't that Ning Wan standing behind a pillar in the corridor, furtively sneaking glances in the direction of the men's room? In hindsight, Gao Yuan realized that that roar must have been her doing.

"Ning Wan, what do you mean by yelling 'earthquake' like that?!" he exclaimed, displeased. "Are you confused or what?!"

Although he had always had an excellent impression of Ning Wan, he just could not understand her actions recently, and her answer only served to deepen his confusion.

She looked around and avoided the subject, instead rubbing her temples and giving him an obviously insincere explanation. "Oh, Partner Gao, I think I've been overworked recently. I've had these awful migraines, and I'm just always exhausted... I felt so dizzy just now that the ground just shook, and I thought it was an earthquake..."

A migraine? Can someone with fatigue and a migraine shout as loud as you just did?!

Gao Yuan had always thought of himself as a dignified and imposing sort of man. But just now, forget the fact that he had run out with his zipper open, he hadn't even gotten to pee! And when he zipped up in a hurry, he almost got his bits caught in the zipper! He was furious, but he tried to calm himself down and think about the matter rationally. There must be some reason for this. Ning Wan was acting so strangely today, perhaps...

He squinted at Ning Wan to find her secretly watching him. At that point he recalled that today, Ning Wan had been watching him the whole time. This amount of attention just wasn't normal. It couldn't be...

It was like a light bulb went off over Gao Yuan's head.

Ning Wan didn't actually care about Gao Yuan at all. All she wanted was to protect Fu Zheng from being harassed by a pervert. Because of this, she had spent the meal feeling tense, but fortunately, Gao Yuan received a call from a customer mid-way. He settled the bill and hurried back to his office, leaving Ning Wan and Fu Zheng to enjoy the expensive food in peace.

Once he left, Ning Wan relaxed. She glanced at Fu Zheng and upon seeing the quiet, serene look on his face, couldn't help but hate iron for not being steel. "I say Fu Zheng, you can't keep on being this silly and naïve! You've got to watch out for yourself a little bit! Gao Yuan has been chasing you for ages, yet you still went off to the men's room by yourself, and sure enough, he went after you immediately!"

She lowered her voice. "Say, in the toilet just now... did he take advantage of you...?"

Fu Zheng had been chewing gracefully on a piece of steak. When he heard her question he must have recalled the fright he had had in the men's room, because he got so worked up that he nearly choked.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked..." Ning Wan poured him a glass of lemonade remorsefully. "Come, come, drink some of this slowly. You're lucky I was smart enough to be watching out for you! I followed after Gao Yuan and figured out how to get him out of the bathroom. I was watching the time, and he only got to go in for a short while, so there wasn't enough time for him to do anything."

Fu Zheng took a sip of lemonade. His face was still a little flushed, but he had finally stopped coughing. She could tell from his expression that her guess had been right on the money - thanks to her timely appearance, Fu Zheng had not been assaulted.

Realizing this allowed Ning Wan to breathe a sigh of relief. "Don't think you'll be so lucky as to meet someone as brave and fearless as I am every time," she cautioned Fu Zheng. "Men, and especially men like you, have to learn to protect themselves."

"You're a lawyer yourself, so you should know best that men are weaker than women in this arena!"

Fu Zheng finally calmed down enough to hear what she was saying. When he heard this, he frowned, puzzled. "What?"

"Under the current laws of China, the crime of rape can only be committed against women!"

“……”

Ning Wan fixed him with a glare. "Are you a woman? No, you're not! If Gao Yuan really forces himself on you, it's just your own bad luck that the only charge you can bring against him is 'forcible indecency'! That's why you must pay close attention. The only one who can protect you is yourself!" She shook her head and glared at him again. "Do you understand?"

Fu Zheng pursed his lips and didn't reply.

She scowled at him, arms folded, waiting for an answer.

In the end, Fu Zheng gave in the her glowering, and with a complex look in his eyes, muttered "I get it", as if reluctant to say the words.

Looking at him, Ning Wan couldn't help but feel a little tired. Like an old mother watching out for her children, she had worked tirelessly for the sake of his chastity, yet he obviously didn't care much. She would have to seek out some cases for him involving sex crimes...

Thanks to having work to do, Gao Yuan didn't manage to eat anything for lunch, and neither did he manage to find out anything worth gossiping about. He had originally intended to find out what had caused the divide between Ning Wan and Fu Zheng to disappear, but in the end he never did figure it out. He was, however, now keenly aware of a new and incredible development.

But though he was eager to share his feelings with Fu Zheng, he couldn't get through to his friend's cell phone. Fu Zheng didn't pick up until Gao Yuan tried calling him from his office instead.

Gao Yuan didn't sweat these small details for the moment. As far as emotions go, he wasn't a man who could bottle it in, so the moment Fu Zheng picked up, he loudly lamented--

"Fu Zheng, I'm done for!"

On the other end of the phone, Fu Zheng showed great unconcern toward his plea, "Oh."

Gao Yuan felt a little depressed. "You're not even going to ask me what happened?"

"What happened?"

"..." Gao Yuan choked, then sighed, "I'm telling you, I just discovered a crazy secret! The only thing I can do is to pretend that I never figured out anything, but even if I play the fool, if Ning Wan confesses to me, how can I keep pretending like nothing ever happened? What should I do then... I would never cheat on my wife, but should I fire Ning Wan? But all she's done is to fall in love with the wrong person! It just doesn't seem fair to give her such a devastating blow when she's just a young woman taking a wrong step..."

……

Fu Zheng had just been lectured by Ning Wan for an hour. He had been given a class on the various criminal penalties for sexual assault, and then sat through a sermon on respecting and valuing oneself. When he picked up Gao Yuan's call, he was a little dizzy, so he hadn't paid much attention to the illogical words tumbling out of Gao Yuan's mouth. His mind still unclear, when faced with Gao Yuan's confessions all he could grasp was the key point 'cheating on the wife'--

"What's up with you? Are you in love with someone else? Emotional cheating?"

Gao Yuan immediately and stridently denied this--

"How could you?! I am a man who loves his wife far more than gold or jewels! In this world, I'm a rare breed, which only serves to make others covet me! It's my loyal personality that conquers colleagues I've only ever worked with in passing!"

"..." Fu Zheng rubbed his temples. "So?"

"So it's only natural that people have a crush on me!" As if he was afraid of being discovered, Gao Yuan lowered his voice. "Fu Zheng, Ning Wan seems to be infatuated with me. What should I do? She hasn't confessed, so I can't bring the subject up to her, but it's very embarrassing! "

Fu Zheng froze. "What?"

"I think Ning Wan likes me! I'm afraid she might confess!"

"Are you kidding me?" Fu Zheng asked incredulously.

Gao Yuan's tone was completely serious. "It's true. I found out today that she treats me very specially. She stares at me all the time; whenever I look her way, she's watching me. And did you notice that she was a little jealous today? She wouldn't let me talk to you at all, always interrupting, and even when I went to the bathroom she couldn't help but follow along behind and call out an earthquake warning. Think about it! She must have wanted me to leave the bathroom early so she could spend a little more time with me!"

"..." Fu Zheng tried to calm him down. "Gao Yuan, I think you're overthinking it."

Unfortunately, Gao Yuan barreled on, seemingly not hearing. The more he analyzed it, the more certain he felt of his conclusion. "I'm most certainly not overthinking it. Looking back on it, all these little details are falling into place! On the way back from the bathroom, I was walking next to you, and she kept squeezing herself between us. This happened over and over again. She was even standing on her tiptoes, as if she wanted to cover you up. Doesn't it make sense that she didn't want me to look at you, that she wanted me to only see her?"

How did that make sense?! Fu Zheng was having some very mixed feelings. Just an hour ago, Ning Wan had still been disparaging Gao Yuan as a degenerate rogue... her staring at him was undoubtedly just to make sure he didn't put a toe out of line...

As Gao Yuan was still venting his anxious and distressed feelings from the other end of the line, Fu Zheng had to interrupt ruthlessly. "You can rest assured, even if you were the last man in the world, she wouldn't like you."

"Huh?"

Fu Zheng licked his lips. "She has strong moral standards and a sense of propriety. She likely no longer has any interest in you."

In her eyes, you're a dirty old man, there's no way she would have a crush on you.

Gao Yuan puffed up indignantly. "What? What's wrong with me? Did you just say that I'm immoral? "

"..." Fu Zheng thought quickly, then calmly remedied his explanation, "No, but she would never allow herself to be a mistress. Long story short, you can rest assured that she will never confess to you. Even if you were unmarried, she wouldn't do so because she wouldn't want to mix work and personal life."

"Oh..." Gao Yuan paused for a moment. Then he suddenly remembered something else. "By the way, did you block me? Why aren't you picking up the calls from my mobile phone?"

Without turning a hair, Fu Zheng lied calmly: "We've been friends for so long! How could I possibly have blocked you? You're just overthinking it. You know, as your old friend, I think you've been overanalyzing things a bit too much lately. Maybe you could work a bit more and fill up your leisure time so you won't worry so much about things. It isn't good for the spirit to go on wild goose chases. No, don't say more. I'm heading out."