You're My Belated Happiness - Chapter 44 Part 2

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You’re My Belated Happiness

Chapter 44 Part 2

Ruan Yu turned into the kitchen to make breakfast. Xu Huaisong followed her again and said: “I’ll make a phone call.”

Ruan Yu wondered why he informed her about making a phone call. She replied as she took out cups and plates: “Go ahead.” She added right afterwards as if she remembered something: “Wait, who are you calling?”

“Lu Shenglan. I’m going to ask her to send me some information.”

No wonder he had to inform Ruan Yu in advance.

Ruan Yu waved her hand: “Call her.”

Xu Huaisong dialed the number in Ruan Yu’s presence: “Hello, I’m looking for Lu Lu.”

Ruan Yu suddenly turned to look at him: “What did you just say?”

Even someone as smart as Xu Huaisong was dumbfounded by this question: “What? What?”

Lu Shenglan had picked up the call on the other side. Ruan Yu gestured for Xu Huaisong to talk to her first. After he hung up the phone, Ruan Yu then asked him: “What did you just call her? Lu Lu?”

“......”

Xu Huaisong chuckled: “It’s Lu Lu.”[1]

Ruan Yu: “Hehe.” She handed him warm milk and a sandwich: “I just thought it was weird to address her like that and just wanted to point it out……”

Xu Huaisong: “En.” He turned to go back to the living room while trying to suppress the smile on his face.

After Xu Huaisong finally went to sleep, Ruan Yu stayed in the living room to work. She wrote down some editorial opinions on the movie script and sent them to Global Filming. Around the evening, she received a response from the film company. They were inviting her to attend the second script writing meeting tomorrow. The meeting would supposedly last the whole day.

Ruan Yu accepted the invitation. After Xu Huaisong had slept for 8 hours, Ruan Yu went to the bedroom to wake him up. She heard the ringing of his cell phone from the nightstand.

Xu Huaisong had woken up to the alarm and reached over to search for his cell phone on the nightstand.

Ruan Yu picked up the phone for him: “No name, but it’s a Su City number.”

Xu Huaisong wasn’t fully awake yet. He hesitated for a moment before saying: “Answer it for me.”

Ruan Yu answered the phone and immediately heard Xu Huaishi’s voice on the other side: “Ge!”

“Is this Huaishi? Your brother is sleeping. What’s up?”

Xu Huaishi cried out in surprise in a low voice: “Ah! Is this Ruan Jiejie?”

Ruan Yu started laughing: “Is there any other Jiejie who would answer your brother’s phone for him?”

“Oh, no, no! Jiejie, can you help me get my brother? I’m at the police station.”

“Police station?”

Xu Huaisong was now fully awake and sat up in bed. He took the phone from Ruan Yu: “You got into trouble?”

“Ge, it’s not me. It’s my classmate who had a fight with others and has been sent to the police station.”

“Why did you follow him there?”

“Aiya, he got into the fight because of me!”

Xu Huaisong became very sensitive: “What about you?”

“I don’t know either. Several boys in my class were talking about me behind my back, then this classmate of mine punched all of them. Ayo, he punched them so hard at the side of the road. I was scared to death. Policemen took me here as an eyewitness. But I shouldn’t be in any trouble.”

“That classmate of yours, are your teacher or his parents coming over to take care of this?”

“They’re all on the way here. I just want to let you know ahead of time that later on our teacher will want to contact my parents for sure. Can you help me cover this up?”

“If you aren’t going to be in any trouble, why should I cover it up for you?”

“Wa, Ge, you don’t understand. This classmate of mine is the same person who got caught with me at the piano room last time. The teacher will accuse me of having a relationship again! Last time, I tried so hard to explain to them, but mom was still suspicious. Now if it happens again……”

Xu Huaisong sighed: “Then you can give them my number.”

“Great, Ge! One more thing, our finals are over and there’s a parents’ meeting the day after tomorrow. If our mom comes to the meeting, won't this whole thing be exposed still?”

“Xu Huaishi.” Xu Huaisong was gritting his teeth: “Don’t push your luck. I have to drive for 4 hours back and forth just to go to your parents’ meeting?”

Xu Huaishi started to raise her voice towards the cell phone: “Jiejie, Jiejie, are you there? See how calculating my brother is? See what kind of person he is? It’s fine to fall in love with him, but never, ever marry him!”

Xu Huaisong: “......”

[1]: This is a play on words. Xu Huaisong is saying 吕律 (lǚ lǜ): 吕 is her family name and 律 which is short for lawyer (律师, lǜshī). So he’s asking for Lawyer Lu, but she thought he said LǚLǚ (吕吕) which is her family name spoken twice. This is a sort of shorthand or nickname people use for people that they’re close to.

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You're My Belated Happiness - Chapter 44 Part 1

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You’re My Belated Happiness

Chapter 44 Part 1

It was close to eleven o’clock at night when Xu Huaisong and Ruan Yu returned to her apartment. Ruan Yu took a shower and went to bed. Xu Huaisong, still going by his daily routine in the US, stayed up in the living room working on his laptop.

During the night, Ruan Yu got up once. She opened the bedroom door and saw Xu Huaisong typing on the keyboard with a particularly serious look on his face.

Xu Huaisong looked up and saw Ruan Yu. His tightened face instantly relaxed. He asked: “What’s wrong? Can’t sleep?”

Ruan Yu shook her head and turned on the ceiling light for him: “You still have a lot of unfinished cases over in the US?”

He replied “en,” but explained: “But I’m looking at Zhou Jun’s case now.”

“You aren’t specialized in criminal law.” Ruan Yu walked over to sit down next to him: “Just let Zhang Jie handle it.”

Xu Huaisong became quiet.

Ruan Yu rubbed her sleepy eyes and cupped her face with her hands. After a while, Xu Huaisong turned to look at her: “This case is somewhat similar to the case that my father handled ten years ago.”

Ruan Yu wasn’t sleepy anymore: “Why do you say that?”

Xu Huaisong pursed his lips and spoke while still looking at the laptop screen: “Both cases don’t have eyewitnesses, don’t have any conclusive evidence, all the clues at the scene point to the only suspect, both suspects refuse to plead guilty, and both suspects have excuses which sound too dramatic to be accepted by most people.”

“What happened to that suspect ten years ago?”

“He was acquitted because of insufficient evidence. He probably still lives in Su City.”

“What about the real killer?”

Xu Huaisong lowered his head with a smile: “Who knows? Maybe it’s that suspect or maybe there is someone else.”

“There’s been no resolution in ten years. Then the family of that victim……”

Ruan Yu didn’t continue.

Xu Huaisong was quiet for a moment, then said: “The victim’s family firmly believed that the suspect is the real killer and my father was an accomplice who helped the suspect get acquitted. They harassed our family for two whole years. If my father hadn't moved to the US, they’d probably still be at it now.” 

Ruan Yu, despite being a writer, couldn’t even find the proper words to comfort him. She reached over to stroke the back of his hand.

Xu Huaisong turned his head to her and smiled: “It’s alright. It’s only normal for the victim’s family to react this way. My father’s defense did indeed have a major influence on the direction of how the case was being handled. Besides, to the general public of China ten years ago, the principle of presumption of innocence was a very vague concept. You tell them that you can’t convict someone just because he’s the only suspect and they wouldn’t understand it.”

“Even nowadays, when people are having casual conversation, they’ll totally agree to no punishment in doubtful cases, the rights of the suspects, and due process. But when facing a gruesome tragedy, objective judgment is overcome by emotions even for most of the onlookers, not to mention the victim’s family.”

“What did your father think?”

“I was thinking the same question before. I tried to figure out whether he knew the suspect was guilty or not. But later on I found out that there’s no answer to this question.”

“Because a lawyer is not a god. So what they think is true may not be the whole truth. More often than not what they think they ‘know’ is wrong. Lawyers don’t have the ability of a god, yet they aren’t allowed to have any human feelings. That’s what many criminal lawyers face.”

Xu Huaisong turned his eyes back to the laptop screen: “I’m trying to walk the path that my father had gone through to find the answer for my mother, though…… it’s ten years late.”

Ruan Yu rubbed her eyes again with a smile and leaned over to put her arm around his: “Then, I’ll be here to keep you company.”

Xu Huaisong lowered his head and smiled: “Go to sleep first.”

Ruan Yu shook her head while yawning: “I don’t have anything I have to do tomorrow. Aren’t you going to get over jet lag? Once you’re over it, we’ll have the same schedule.”

Xu Huaisong was silent for a moment before saying: “In a few days.”

Ruan Yu stayed next to him, hugging a throw pillow with eyes half closed. When she opened her eyes again, the sun was already high in the sky and she was on her bed.

She figured that she probably didn’t stay awake for long last night and Xu Huaisong must have carried her to her bed.

She jumped out of bed and opened the door. Xu Huaisong was still in the same posture as last night, typing on the keyboard.

“Xu Huaisong, you’re killing yourself!” She walked over to cover his laptop: “Aren’t you going to sleep?”

He looked up: “I already slept a little last night.”

“Really?”

“Really. On your bed, you wouldn’t let go of me.”

Ruan Yu turned back to the bedroom, buried her head in the covers, and took in a deep breath.

Xu Huaisong followed her and said with a laugh: “Alright, I lied. I’ll go to sleep now.”

Ruan Yu turned to give him a harsh look but patiently said: “Then you might as well sleep after eating some breakfast.”

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You're My Belated Happiness - Chapter 43 Part 3

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You’re My Belated Happiness

Chapter 43 Part 3

Xu Huaisong caught the change of Ruan Yu’s expression and asked: “What’s wrong? Tell us what you think.”

Ruan Yu said in a low voice: “Hrm, it’s just that phrase: ‘driving away is relatively safer’ sounds reasonable, but it’s actually not. Under normal circumstances, the person driving the car would be in control of the vehicle, safe as long as they keep driving. But in this case, we have to remember that the driver was a woman who had just seen evidence of her boyfriend’s affair.”

Xu Huaisong nodded: “Continue.”

“Based on the description of the client, I feel that the victim was a hot-tempered person, very quick to act impulsively. How far would a person of this kind of personality drive the car in a rage? If I were her, after I found out that my boyfriend……” 

Xu Huaisong coughed and gave her a questioning look.

The serious discussion became a little awkward. Liu Mao chuckled.

Ruan Yu smoothed her bangs and cleared her throat: “I mean, in a situation like that, it’s very likely that the victim would step on the brake after driving away for a short distance. She would stop to calm herself down. It’s possible that the accident happened after she had parked the car?”

Zhang Ling nodded: “I second this theory.”

Xu Huaisong also agreed, except the part where Ruan Yu had used him as the example.

Zhang Ling continued: “This is all the information that we know so far. The follow-up investigation and collection of evidence will have to wait till a month later when the case enters the review stage.”

Xu Huaisong nodded and continued the discussion with her while flipping through all the documents until it was almost ten o’clock. He noticed Ruan Yu was covering a yawn with her hands. He put the documents away: “It’s getting late, let’s call it a day. Thanks everyone.”

Zhang Ling and Chen Hui left together.

Seeing them come down the stairs, all the people working in the open office felt as if they had been pardoned.

Someone exclaimed: “Not bad, it ended before 10. Judging from Lawyer Xu’s daily routine, I thought you guys would discuss till midnight.”

Chen Hui replied while gathering papers: “Tsk, see, that’s what you don’t understand. You know the ‘law of the minimum’?[1] Lawyer Xu’s sleep time may be at midnight but Ms. Ruan is tired now. Then, wouldn’t he have to go with her daily routine?”

Someone: “Wow, is that really Lawyer Xu’s girlfriend?”

“Hrm, why does her last name sound so familiar? Wasn’t it a short while ago that our firm had a client with the last name Ruan?”

“You don’t say, I seemed to have seen her before. No wonder she looked familiar.”

“What’s going on here? A lawyer and his client can become a couple? Why hasn’t it happened to me after I’ve taken so many cases all these years?”

“Hehe, look at the kind of cases you’re on, they are all divorce cases.”

“Can we ask Lawyer Xu to tell us how to chase a client?”

“Look how aloof Lawyer Xu is. Perhaps it was the girl who chased after him?”

When Xu Huaisong and Ruan Yu came down the stairs, they happened to hear the last part of the exchange among the people in the open office.

It didn’t seem to bother Ruan Yu, but Xu Huaisong paused and let go of her hand. He turned to go into the open office.

All the chatty people in the office became serious: “Good evening, Lawyer Xu!”

Xu Huaisong: “En.” He stood at the door silently for quite a while. He stood there for so long that all the people in the office thought that he was going to chastise them for gossiping. Instead, he smiled and said: “First, when trying to fulfill a lawyer’s duty and obligation in its entirety, we can accommodate, to some degree, the client’s request on some minor issues.”

Everyone was stunned to hear him and didn’t know where he was trying to go with the topic.

Xu Huaisong continued: “Second, we can use the excuse of discussing the case to invite the client to meet somewhere out of the office. I recommend meeting during meal times.”

Someone exclaimed in a low voice: “Wow.” They understood what Xu Huaisong was talking about.

“Third, we can occasionally lie. For example, while downstairs at the client’s home, we can ask the colleague to answer an emergency call from the office so you can get the colleague to leave in a hurry. So, we naturally have to go to the client’s home to talk about the case.”

Someone began applauding. The sound of applause filled the open office: “Lawyer Xu, brilliant!”

Xu Huaisong nodded to them and smiled: “Go home early.” He turned and saw Ruan Yu next to the staircase, looking like she was going to cry.

He went over to hold her hand and they walked downstairs together: “What’s wrong? You feel wronged finding out that I had sent Chen Hui away on purpose at that time?”

“That’s not important……” Ruan Yu pursed her lips and shook her head: “I don’t care about people I don’t know talking about me. But they all work for you and your reputation is more important, why did you……”

Why did he have to make an effort to explain exactly who was chasing who? Just to make her look good?

Xu Huaisong laughed and lightly touched her nose: “I wanted to.”

[1]: Specifically: Liebig's law of the minimum, the idea that growth/progress is dictated by the scarcest resource. In this case, the person that gets tired faster is what dictates the time the meeting ends. More on wikipedia if interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebig%27s_law_of_the_minimum

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You're My Belated Happiness - Chapter 43 Part 2

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You’re My Belated Happiness

Chapter 43 Part 2

Xu Huaisong and Ruan Yu arrived at the conference room. Liu Mao, Chen Hui and a female lawyer were waiting inside. After they greeted each other, an assistant came in to deliver coffee for everyone.

Ruan Yu saw the coffee and tried to say something, but stopped herself and gave Xu Huaisong a glance.

Xu Huaisong’s hand that was reaching out to take the coffee paused in mid-air when he noticed Ruan Yu’s glance. He waved his hand, refusing the coffee and said: “Bring me some water.”

Liu Mao took a look at Ruan Yu then turned to Xu Huaisong: “You finally know you should take care of your stomach.”

Xu Huaisong gave him a sharp look: “What are you, a civil lawyer, doing here?”

“What? Then what are you, someone who hasn’t even passed the Bar Exam, here……”

Xu Huaisong’s face grew dark. Liu Mao instantly stopped talking so as not to annoy him.

Ruan Yu pursed her lips and looked up at the ceiling to stop herself from laughing out loud.

After the assistant brought over a glass of water for Xu Huaisong, all the people inside the room started to discuss the case.

Zhang Ling, the lead criminal lawyer for the case, looked a little over 40 years old and seemed quite capable.

Ruan Yu heard Chen Hui address her as “Zhang Jie” and recalled that she must be the lawyer who had encountered trouble at a construction site the day when Xu Huaisong came back to China for the second time and Chen Hui had to leave in a hurry to help her instead of taking her and Xu Huaisong to the law firm.

Zhang Ling handed over a stack of documents and said: “These are the documents I’ve compiled after talking with the client. Take a look first.” She then turned to Chen Hui: “Xiao Chen, tell us the details.”

Chen Hui walked over to the whiteboard, picked up a marker, and spoke as he wrote down key information on the board: “According to the client, he wasn’t present when the victim was killed. About 20 minutes before the incident, he had a verbal argument with the victim while he was driving. He then parked the car at the roadside and got out of the car to get some fresh air.”

“What's the reason for the argument?” Xu Huaisong asked.

“The victim was looking over the client’s cell phone in the car and discovered several suspicious messages. She believed that it was proof that he was having an affair.”

“Was there really an affair?”

“There was.” Chen Hui nodded: “The client said that it happened about a month ago when he was drunk after he had a fierce fight with the victim. But he didn’t have any further contact with the person. It was just a one night stand. However, that person would still send him messages from time to time.”

Xu Huaisong nodded: “Continue.”

“The client said that after he had gotten out of the car, the victim followed him out of the car. The verbal fight escalated to a physical scuffle. The piece of flesh found under the victim’s fingernail was from his arm at that time.”

“After that, the victim harshly said ‘I’ll make sure you’ll regret this’ before she went back to the car and drove away.”

“50 minutes later, the client, who had been left at the roadside, received a call from the victim’s father. The father received a call from his daughter crying for help but couldn’t get in touch with her afterwards. The father had called the police and got the client’s phone number after contacting many of his daughter’s friends.”

“The victim’s father was very emotional and demanded to know what the client had done to his daughter. Through the conversation with her father, the client realized that about half an hour earlier the victim had called her father and said on the phone ‘Zhou Jun, let me go.’ The client’s first thought was what she had said before she took off: ‘I’ll make sure you’ll regret this’ and mistakenly thought this was how she was trying to get even with him.”

“The client then called the victim on her cell phone. A police officer who had already arrived at the scene answered the call. The client heard the sirens and figured that something must have happened to the victim. It was also through this phone call that he heard people on the other end talking about things like ‘the chip in the dashcam is missing; a claw hammer was found.’”

“The client hastily hung up the phone. Based on the information he had at the time, he suspected that the victim had killed herself as a way to get revenge on him and she had planned to use the flesh in her fingernail, the fingerprints on the claw hammer, and the phone call to her father to frame him. So he went into hiding and at midnight borrowed the cell phone from the owner of a stall at the night market to call Song Ge and Ms. Ruan.”

Xu Huaisong frowned: “Why would he believe so firmly that this was all a way for the victim to get revenge? He couldn’t possibly come to that conclusion from just a threatening sentence.”

“Correct. That’s the key to this case.” Chen Hui nodded: “According to the client, the reason why he thought this way was because the victim had done something similar before.”

“During their fight about a month ago, before they parted on bad terms, the victim made a similar threat to the client and indeed posted a picture of her cutting her wrist in her friend circle afterwards. Later, it turned out to be just a prank to scare him, but it nevertheless left a lasting impression in his mind.”

“That’s favorable evidence for the client. Is the post still there?” Xu Huaisong asked immediately.

“Deleted. But there may be other eyewitnesses or there’s a chance we can recover it.”

“What about the progress on the police side?”

“So far the police haven’t found a second suspect. The police are more inclined to suspect that the suspect hasn’t told the whole true story. They think the victim driving away would actually be a relatively safer option for her and it’s more than likely that she was killed during that physical confrontation described by the suspect.”

Ruan Yu frowned when she heard this.

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You're My Belated Happiness - Chapter 43 Part 1

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You’re My Belated Happiness

Chapter 43 Part 1

After dinner, Xu Huaisong called Liu Mao to confirm that the people working Zhou Jun’s case were still at the office. With an affirmative answer from Liu Mao, he drove over to the office.

Liu Mao, after speaking with Xu Huaisong, turned to announce the news to everyone in the open office. Those who were stretching and getting ready to get off work all paused in the middle of their movements, as if they were being choked by fate.

One of them took the lead by switching the table lamp back on again after he had just turned it off and said: “I just remembered that I haven’t sent out a document yet. You guys can go ahead.”

Right afterwards, another one who had just flipped his laptop closed also patted his head and said: “Hum, my bad, I still have a report to do.” and sat back down as he spoke.

In a twinkling of an eye, everyone in the open office sat down like grass bending over from a puff of wind.

One minute later, the open office was back to the same orderly manner it was in half an hour ago. There was only the sound of clicking keyboards and the flipping pages of books at a more enthusiastic rate than earlier.

Liu Mao, who was standing at the front door with his briefcase in hand, sighed and went back to his own office as well.

The young ladies at the front desk became busy at the same time.

“What do you think Lawyer Xu likes to drink?”

“Coffee?”

“Espresso? American? Latte? Mocha?”

“We’ll just get all of them ready. Why are you so excited?”

“Aya, you probably weren’t at the office last time when Lawyer Xu was here? If you had seen him in person, you wouldn't be as casual as you are now!” 

Half an hour later, Lawyer Xu came in person.

The two ladies were about to show their perfect smiles to welcome him, however, their smiles frozen half way.

Their Lawyer Xu was holding the hand of a woman as they briskly walked towards the front door of the building.

The woman who was next to him didn’t watch where she was going at all. She was looking at him, talking to him along the way. When they were about to go up the steps, he tightened his grip and tugged on her to say: “Watch out, the steps.”

The woman twitched her mouth and pulled her hand from his grip. She mumbled, rather unreasonably: “I have to watch out…… is my hand being held for nothing?”

The two front desk ladies then saw their Lawyer Xu grab the woman’s hand again and said with a laugh: “Then, I’ll watch out.”

Their half smiles also disappeared. They had to work to get their normal expression back on their faces. When Xu Huaisong and Ruan Yu passed by the front desk, they said in unison: “Good evening, Lawyer Xu!”

Xu Huaisong stopped and told them: “Get someone to get the night snacks from my car and give it out to everyone.”

The two ladies hurriedly replied: “Yes.” Their expression saddened after Xu Huaisong left the lobby: “The furthest distance in the world, is when you crush on someone from just one glance, and then fall out of love in the next glance……”

“I’m the one who’s preparing all the espresso, American, latte, and mocha for him, but he brought me heavyweight PDA……”

The two of them hugged together and groaned.

Ruan Yu who had just gone up the stairs to the second floor faintly heard a strange noise from the lobby. She looked back at the direction of the lobby and asked: “What happened to them?”

Xu Huaisong thought about it, then smiled mysteriously: “They’re probably very happy that there’s night snacks.”

They went up to the second floor and stood outside the open office to take a look. 

Immediately people began standing up to greet Xu Huaisong: “Lawyer Xu.”

Xu Huaisong nodded to them, then turned to explain to Ruan Yu: “This is the open office space. The conference room is upstairs.”

Ruan Yu also nodded to the people who turned to look at her. She then pulled on Xu Huaisong’s sleeve to signal to him to leave quickly.

Xu Huaisong looked down at her hand, smiled, and turned to go up the stairs. He asked her on the way: “Should I find you a room to rest or you want to go up with me to the conference room?”

“Conference room.”

Xu Huaisong nodded.

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You're My Belated Happiness - Chapter 42 Part 3

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You’re My Belated Happiness

Chapter 42 Part 3

Xu Huaisong drove back to Ruan Yu’s apartment. After eating some food, he was ready to go back to bed to get some sleep. But before he fell asleep, he checked the progress of Li Shican’s public relations team.

After the hotel surveillance video was released and the agency issued the warning “all related matters will be handled by lawyers,” the direction of public opinion changed. Most discussions about the matter had turned against the immoral paparazzi.

Li Shican had kept quiet until the sympathy towards him on social media had boiled over, then he posted a statement on Weibo, saying: [I only wish for the microphone that I hold in my hand to be used so that I can sing for you all, not in a fight for my family and friends.]

The agency was playing bad cop and Li Shican was responsible for arousing public sentiment. His public relations team worked hard to clarify the misleading timeline and angle of the photos. Furthermore, Li Shican’s declaration of “family and friends'' also successfully shifted the focus of the relationship between the two people in the pictures.

It was a perfect execution of public relations work.

Most people with a conscience wouldn't dig up Xu Huaishi’s identity anymore. Whoever did, would probably have to face the fury of Li Shican’s fans.

As long as nothing happened on the high school side, this episode could be considered over and done.

Xu Huaisong put down his cell phone and went to sleep.

Ruan Yu stayed on the couch in the living room to read the movie script that the screenwriters from Global Filming had sent on her tablet until it began to grow dark. She stretched and got up, put the tablet on the table, and was ready to go make dinner.

She noticed that Xu Huaisong’s laptop had been left on the table and he hadn’t logged off.

She picked up the mouse and began to navigate to the menu where she could log out. She figured that he might have unsaved documents and entered in his password to make sure.

What she saw afterwards was a screen full of psychological research papers.

Ruan Yu was caught off guard at first. She carefully read a few lines of the description of symptoms. She then realized what all the research papers were for.

The bedroom door opened and Xu Huaisong walked into the room, having woken up.

Their eyes met. Ruan Yu’s first reaction was to feel nervous. She was worried that Xu Huaisong would mistakenly think she was checking his computer. But when she saw the frustrated expression on Xu Huaisong’s face, she realized that he wasn’t even thinking in that direction.

He was upset that he had forgotten to close the windows and she had discovered them.

Touched, Ruan Yu approached him. She reached over, circling her arms around his waist, and buried her face in his chest for a while before saying: “Xu Huaisong, you’re so nice.”

Xu Huaisong laughed in a low voice: “I’m hungry.”

Ruan Yu released her hands: “I’ll go make dinner.”

“Don’t bother. Let’s go out to eat. Afterwards, I’ll take you home and then I’ll head to the office to discuss Zhou Jun’s case with them. I’ll probably go back to the hotel after that since it’s closer to the office. You’ll have to sleep by yourself tonight; if you can’t fall asleep, we can voice chat.”

Ruan Yu nodded and said: “En.”

Xu Huaisong lowered his head to check Ruan Yu’s expression and asked: “You want to go with me?”

“Not exactly.” Ruan Yu looked up at him with a smile: “I just wanted to ask whether your office still needs a worker who can serve tea or water? You know, the kind who’s always available, makes no noise, looks cute, and could possibly spark the inspiration they need to  solve the case.”

Xu Huaisong quietly said: “Gee, it’s the police’s job to solve the case, not the lawyers.”

“......”

Ruan Yu turned to walk away: “Never mind, then.”

Xu Huaisong dragged her arm: “However, some proper stimulation may improve brain function. For that, lawyers also need it.”

Ruan Yu turned her head back: “What stimulation?”

Xu Huaisong smiled: “Our law firm…… has many single men.”

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You're My Belated Happiness - Chapter 42 Part 2

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You’re My Belated Happiness

Chapter 42 Part 2

Li Shican immediately told the technician: “Make sure we blur all the parts which show the backpack.” He then turned to look at Xu Huaisong: “Is this what you were going to point out too?”

Xu Huaisong: “En. In addition, we have to monitor social media. Monitor for any keyword on all platforms that’s associated with my sister’s personal information. If your team can’t work with me, I’ll contact……”

“It’s not necessary.” Li Shican interrupted him while shaking his head: “I’ll take care of it to the end.”

Xu Huaisong nodded to him. After making sure that the video had been properly edited, he took the lead in leaving the noisy conference room.

Ruan Yu followed him to walk out of the room.

Xu Huaisong was making a phone call: “Mr. Ho, this is Huaisong. I have a favor to ask you……”

He then explained the whole incident in detail to Mr. Ho and continued: “Right, I’m letting you know about this just in case. It’s not just my sister’s personal problem, it also has to do with the school’s reputation. I believe you’re the most suitable person to make sure rumors won’t be floating on campus.”

Ruan Yu followed him all the way back to the reception room.

There was no one inside the room. Xu Huaisong finished the phone call and sat down on the armchair, pinching between his eyebrows.

Ruan Yu walked in front of him and bent over to say: “Are you very……”

Before she could utter the word “tired”, Xu Huaisong dragged her arm and pulled her onto his lap.

Ruan Yu squeaked, then lowered her voice to say: “What are you doing?” She asked as she tried to back away.

Xu Huaisong held down the back of her waist, preventing her from escaping. He took a glance at the glass of milk on the table and said: “Why does he know that you like milk tea?”

Somewhat surprised by the question, Ruan Yu explained: “We saw each other here and there back in college.”

“I’ve seen that picture.” Xu Huaisong said with a serious face: “The picture was taken when he was a freshman playing piano on stage in a competition. Were you sitting in the audience?”

“En……” Ruan Yu frowned: “But nothing happened between us just because he looks a little like you. Otherwise, how could you be……”

Xu Huaisong’s pupils shrunk a little.

Ruan Yu stopped talking immediately and made a smile trying to appease him.

Someone pushed the door open at the moment.

Ruan Yu jumped up out of reflex. At the same time, Xu Huaisong also released his hand on her.

Li Shican stood frozen at the door.

Ruan Yu blinked a few times and quietly went to sit down.

Xu Huaisong slowly poured the milk into his tea cup, stirred it with a spoon, then lowered his head to take a sip.

Li Shican smiled and explained: “I thought you two had left.” That’s why he didn’t knock first.

Xu Huaisong put down the tea cup and gave him a look: “Mr. Li, if it’s convenient, I would like to talk to you in private.” As he was speaking, he stood up and tidied his clothes.

Ruan Yu was surprised at Xu Huaisong’s sudden move. Before she could ask what it was for, Li Shican nodded in agreement.

The two men left the room one after the other. Before Xu Huaisong left the room, he gave Ruan Yu a look, indicating that she should wait in the reception room.

Ruan Yu waited for a long time and became thirsty. She took a look at the milk tea which Xu Huaisong had just mixed. She couldn’t resist the temptation and got up to drink from it.

Xu Huaisong didn’t return until she drank the whole cup of milk tea and said, “Let’s go.”

Ruan Yu didn’t see Li Shican anywhere. She followed Xu Huaisong into the elevator and asked in a small voice: “What were you two up to? You didn’t punch him or anything?”

Xu Huaisong glanced at her and cracked a smile: “You like that kind of person?”

“Hey, don’t change the subject. What exactly did you two talk about?” If it was about Xu Huaishi, Ruan Yu felt that there was no need to keep her in the dark.

Xu Huaisong didn’t reply but suddenly got closer to her and asked instead: “Was it good, the cup of milk tea that I had drank?”

The ability for a lawyer to observe was truly not to be underestimated. Ruan Yu blushed: “I drank it not because you had. I’m not a pervert……”

Xu Huaisong took a look at the surveillance camera inside the elevator and didn’t say anything. They walked out of the elevator to go to the parking lot. After they got into the car, he then leaned forward to the passenger side and lightly pinched Ruan Yu’s chin to kiss the corner of her lips which still smelled like milk tea.

Then he said: “But I am.”

Ruan Yu completely forgot to continue her investigation into what had happened between him and Li Shican.

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You're My Belated Happiness - Chapter 42 Part 1

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You’re My Belated Happiness

Chapter 42 Part 1

Li Shican had asked to meet Ruan Yu and Xu Huaisong at the Hang City branch office of his agency, Huarui Entertainment Management Agency.

When Xu Huaisong and Ruan Yu were led to the reception room, they could faintly hear a male voice inside: “How long has it been since you took it upon yourself to expose your relationship dispute? You should behave yourself after causing such negative media coverage. You could inherit your family business if you quit this business, but this company has to go on to make money!”

Right after those words, the door to the reception room opened. A chubby man with glasses angrily stormed out. He was somewhat startled when he saw two people outside the door.

Xu Huaisong nodded to him.

Both sides passed each other by without saying anything.

Inside the reception room, Li Shican stood up from the armchair and asked Xu Huaisong and Ruan Yu to sit down.

Since there were only armchairs inside the room, Xu Huaisong and Ruan Yu sat down on either side of Li Shican. Li asked his assistant to pour two cups of tea for them.

The one offered to Ruan Yu came with an extra glass of milk.

Xu Huaisong took a glance at the glass of milk and felt the whiteness of the milk almost stinged his eyes. He and Ruan Yu then thanked the assistant.

Li Shican opened his laptop and logged onto Weibo. He turned the screen towards Xu Huaisong: “Our agency adopted your suggestion when we composed the reply. Now public opinion has mostly turned to support me. The original poster is deliberately creating a false story with the implied timeline of the pictures, the visual illusions based on the angle and timing of the photos, and the suggestive wording.”

The first two pictures were taken in the brightly lit lobby implying that the two had entered the hotel during the daytime. However, the two pictures that followed were taken in the dimly lit underground parking lot, suggesting that it was now late at night.

The two sets of pictures created a false impression that the two had stayed in the hotel for a long time and misled the public.

Especially the third picture, because the way the picture had been taken, it looked like Li Shican was reaching over to hug Xu Huaishi’s waist.

“For these two issues, we can clarify by releasing the surveillance videos.” Li Shican, as he was talking, clicked to enlarge the four pictures: “Besides, we can’t clearly see the faces in the pictures even when you enlarge them to the max. It looks like it’s not going to cause too big a problem.”

Xu Huaisong responded with an en, then looked down at his wrist watch.

Li Shican understood what he was thinking and asked the assistant: “When can we get the surveillance tape?”

The assistant went out of the room to check and came back after 5 minutes: “Shican Ge, we’ve got it.”

Ruan Yu and Xu Huaisong followed Li Shican to the conference room. They could see quite a few people inside the room through the blinds from outside. When they opened the door, the ringing of phones mixed with voices of the people talking.

The people inside didn’t have time to look up at them at all.

Li Shican went over to pat a technician in front of a computer.

The young man who was busy typing on the keyboard turned around and heard Li Shican say: “Show the surveillance tape to her family to confirm it.”

“Oh, ok.” The young man clicked open the video and turned to explain to Xu Huaisong: “The surveillance video will be released only after we’ve blurred it. Please don’t worry about it.”

Xu Huaisong answered an en, then squinted his eyes to watch the video.

There were several segments with a clear timeline visible on the screen: Li Shican and Xu Huaishi entering the hotel elevator; upstairs, Li Shican waited afar in front of the elevator; Xu Huaishi came out the room with her luggage and followed Li Shican to go down to the underground parking lot to wait for Liu Mao to pick her up.

Xu Huaisong and Ruan Yu suddenly spoke at the same time when reviewing up to this segment.

“No.”

“Wait.”

Li Shican took a look at Xu Huaisong, but asked Ruan Yu first: “What’s wrong?”

Ruan Yu pointed at the screen to point out the backpack on Xu Huaishi’s back: “You can’t show this backpack. It will expose her identity.”

At a corner of the video, the distinctive blue backpack of Su City First High School was shown. Though the school logo was quite blurry and might not be recognized by the public, there was still a possibility that Xu Huaishi’s classmates might be able to make out enough to identify it.

A public figure could stand the pressure from public opinion better than any ordinary person. But, for a student like Xu Huaishi, the pressure from gossip on campus could be enough to crush her.

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You're My Belated Happiness - Chapter 41 Part 3

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You’re Beautiful When You Smile

Chapter 41 Part 3

“Where were you photographed in the hotel?” Ruan Yu panicked: “What's the situation now? Have the pictures been published by the media yet?”

“Not yet. But no doubt it’s me in the pictures. You should take a look at Weibo and notify Lawyer Xu as well.”

Ruan Yu glanced at Xu Huaisong whose eyebrows were tightly knit and said: “Ok.”

“Don’t worry too much. Nothing happened and they can’t make up stories. I’ve already arranged for someone to get the surveillance tape from the hotel and we’re preparing a statement too. We’ll clarify the situation the first moment we get. The thing is that I don’t know what exactly they got in the pictures and worry that someone would dig up who Xu Huaishi is and cause trouble for her at school. If it’s convenient, we should meet later and bring Lawyer Xu with you.”

Ruan Yu agreed and hung up the phone. Xu Huaisong commented with a dark face: “Look what the entertainment business is all about.” He went back to the bedroom to get his own cell phone.

Ruan Yu followed him and watched him make two phone calls. The first one was to his mother, Tao Rong, telling her to confiscate Xu Huaishi’s cell phone so she wouldn’t see any news. The other one was to Liu Mao, asking him to draft a statement in case they would need it later on.

After making the calls, he turned to look at Ruan Yu: “I’ll go wash up and you go change.”

Ruan Yu was quiet for a moment before lowering her head to say: “I’m sorry……”

Xu Huaisong raised his hand and used his thumb to rub her bangs: “Things have their priority. Under the circumstances, was there anything wrong with going with the police? Could you have brought Huaishi with you at the time?”

Ruan Yu answered in a low voice: “En.” She went to get dressed and went out of the door with him. On the way, she logged on Weibo to check.

As Xu Huaisong was driving and Ruan Yu informed him as she checked Weibo: “It’s a new paparazzi guy who imitates other professional paparazzi where they set a scheduled release date for breaking news. He posted at 9 o’clock last night that the breaking news will be released at 9 this morning. Then at 8:50 just now, he released a headline as a warm up.”

“What's the headline say?”

“That there’s a certain actor who's been really busy lately, who just got into a relationship dispute not too long ago and now again……”

Ruan Yu didn’t read through it because the wording was too suggestive. The headline actually said– – “again, shows up with a female student at a hotel.”

The announcement of the scheduled release last night was very vague. By the time Li Shican suspected that the news was about him this morning when the headline was posted, there was only ten minutes left for him to react.

It was 8:59 AM.

Ruan Yu still hoped that Li Shican’s team could intercept the news release in time. Nonetheless, one minute later, she saw a few pictures posted. It seemed that there wasn’t enough time for Li Shican’s team to do anything.

There were four pictures; two of them were of Li Shican and Xu Huaishi waiting for the elevator at the corner of the hotel lobby and the other two were of the two of them at the underground parking lot of the hotel.

Xu Huaisong glanced at the pictures and said: “Call Li Shican for me.”

Ruan Yu hurriedly made the call.

Xu Huaisong had his earphones on and asked the other side briefly: “This is Xu Huaisong. When can you get the surveillance tapes?”

“Within half an hour.”

“Then, have your team repost this guy’s Weibo post with the line: Refer to Criminal Law Article 246, Section 1; after being reposted over 500 times, we’ll gladly see you in court.”

Xu Huaisong took off his earphones after speaking and stepped down on the accelerator.

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.