CH 27.2

Ning Wan was completely oblivious to the changes in Chen Shuo's mood. Before long, Fu Zheng returned to the table, and she handed him the menu. "Would you like to eat something extra? Order whatever you want. "

It wasn't that she was being oversensitive or paranoid, but Fu Zheng had looked strange ever since leaving that high-end restaurant just now. It wasn't just an ordinary 'looking a bit down'. It seemed more like he had been given a huge blow, like his outlook on life had just been crushed, so much so that it actually looked a little bit like he had given up on himself...

For no reason at all, the way he looked made her feel somewhat uncomfortable. Upon reflection, was Fu Zheng like this because of her? Had she disciplined him too much in the restaurant just now? She hated iron for not being steel, but maybe she had come on too strong? After all, Fu Zheng was 30 years old, and it probably hit his male ego hard being criticized by a woman his junior...

The more she thought about it, the more she felt like she had been in the wrong. Fu Zheng wasn't herself, a woman with a heart of steel. She had been trying to measure him to her standards when he was really just a delicate little flower. Although his family was in decline, he had never worked before or been beaten up by society, so it wasn't strange for him to be frail and tender at heart. Perhaps he had been scared by how fierce she had been...

She fidgeted and kept glancing at Fu Zheng. Sure enough, when the food arrived, Fu Zheng seemed uninterested even though he obviously hadn't eaten his fill earlier. His eyes were vacant and his face dismal, as if his heart had turned to ash. Over dinner, while she chatted with Chen Shuo, he seemed to be in a state of fugue...

"Fu Zheng, try this chicken wing. It's delicious."

"Have this Japanese tofu while it's hot!"

"Would you like some more steamed egg custard?"

But no matter how caring Ning Wan was, Fu Zheng looked bleak and miserable. He pouted and sat in silence.

She had originally hoped for Fu Zheng and Chen Shuo to get to know each other. After all, Chen Shuo was in a good team at the firm, and was a reliable person on top of that. He could help Fu Zheng out in the future, but who knew what was up with Fu Zheng, this guy, every other word out of his mouth sounded like he no longer had the will to live on. Throughout the meal he didn't once didn't take the initiative to talk to Chen Shuo. Feeling a little helpless, Ning Wan decided to leave him alone. She got up and went to the toilet.

As soon as she left, Chen Shuo looked at Fu Zheng. "It's Fu Zheng, right? I heard Ning Wan say you have no previous work experience?"

He smiled and cleared his throat. "How did you get into law at the age of 30? You'll definitely be lagging behind if you start now. Better late than never, of course, but it won't be easy to be top-notch in the industry."

Fu Zheng had suffered so many critical hits today that he actually was in a muddle. Ning Wan's "Once the clothes have been taken off, they can never be put back on!" curse kept echoing in his head. In a trance, he was even currently feeling empathy for porn actors and actresses forced into the industry...

He was not at all interested in Ning Wan's junior brother, but he hadn't expected the other to be quite interested in himself.

It was just that this question wasn't particularly polite.

It sounded like Chen Shuo was just being worried about himself, but Fu Zheng could smell the aggression and hostility he was trying to suppress from his look and tone of voice. This pulled Fu Zheng out of his absent-mindedness.

"Being a lawyer is all about experience. Even if one is 70 or 80 years old, you can still work so long as your health and mind are clear. In fact, you would likely be even more popular than a young lawyer. It is meaningless to define work achievements by age."

Meeting Chen Shuo's eyes, he said, "Many people seem to have a misconception that youth is paramount. When they're young, they work at a certain job and feel good about having worked a few years longer than other people. They can throw around their own opinion and claim to be a senior. But honestly, if they have no talent, even if they have been working in the field for a decade, they may not have grown as much as another person might in a year."

"Take you, for instance," Fu Zheng smiled. "You look like you're in your thirties, but I think that if a talent like you enters the legal field, even at this age, you'll definitely be able to make a difference." Then he pretended to look puzzled. "But I heard you call our family's Ning Wan 'senior'. Did you go to school late or maybe repeat a few grades in high school?"

Chen Shuo felt like he was about to explode! Yes, it was true that he looked mature and could be mistaken for being older than Ning Wan if they walked together on the street, but to be lampooned as in his thirties and having repeated grades was intolerable!

His intuition had been right. There was nothing good about this Fu Zheng! And also, 'our family's Ning Wan'?! Chen Shuo felt a wave of ferocity surge through his chest. Ning Wan, a part of his family? He dared to believe he deserved her? For a 30-year-old intern lawyer who just started, he sure thought a lot of himself!

Forcing a mirthless smile, Chen Shuo replied, "Once you've been a lawyer for a couple of years, you'll learn that it's hard work. It really ages people. Look at me, I'm only in my twenties and you think that I'm thirty. Since you're already thirty, you'll have to look after yourself, or in a couple of years you might be mistaken for 40 or 50."

……

When Ning Wan returned to her seat, she found that in her absence, Chen Shuo and Fu Zheng seemed to have rapidly become fast friends. They were talking non-stop about health care products and skin care. On the one hand, Fu Zheng was gently recommending a men's wrinkle-removing essence to Chen Shuo, and on the other Chen Shuo was telling Fu Zheng about Amway Anti-aging Capsules in a friendly manner. One said something and the other immediately offered something back, tit for tat. The reciprocal affections between the two were perfectly in line with Chinese traditional virtues.

Ning Wan was elated to see Fu Zheng perk up instead of wallowing in the disappointment of not having been able to go to that high-end restaurant and being lectured for it. She was right to have introduced him to Chen Shuo--

"I just knew you two would like each other and become good friends!"

Perhaps they felt a little embarrassed for having been so enthusiastic, because when she said this, the two of them suddenly looked a little uncomfortable. Ning Wan hadn't expected that they would be so shy about having hit it off. Thankfully, at her insistence, they added each other as friends on WeChat.

"So it's men's skin care products that you bonded over!" she sighed emotionally. "I can't believe you both know so much about it, you must really have the exact same hobbies! You guys should totally hang out more in the future!"

Sadly, the response she got was an eerie silence. Weren't they just chatting away enthusiastically? How did they suddenly become so shy?

Men's friendship is strange, and men's hobbies are even stranger.