Chapter 28

Chapter 28

◎"So, you're here to poach my client."◎

"She was pregnant."

The Academic Affairs Officer said softly, "Yes."

But that was far from the worst of it.

"While she was processing her leave of absence, the school received an anonymous letter. The writer, a wife, accused Chi Xiaoyi of seducing her husband and carrying his child."

Shen Ruzhen's eyelashes fluttered. A scene from the day before flashed before her eyes—Chi Xiaoyi lowering her head, clearly trying to hide her emotions, to appear impeccable in front of others. But the moment she spoke, her suppressed tone laid bare her vulnerability and humiliation: "I... I don’t want to talk about this."

"Did the school make the anonymous letter public?"

Academic Affairs Officer: "How could we?"

She shook her head, but a bitter smile crept onto her lips. "The school wanted to keep this matter hidden for her sake. She was at the height of her fame, with a bright future ahead. We didn’t want to ruin her."

"But no matter how the school handled it, it was already beyond help."

"Why?"

"On the same day the school received the anonymous letter, copies were posted on every bulletin board on campus, sent to every student’s email, and pushed to the top of all campus forums."

Shen Ruzhen drew a sharp breath.

Now she understood why Chi Xiaoyi had become unrecognizable. After enduring countless accusations and criticisms, no one could return to the spotlight and face the public’s gaze with ease.

The probing messages—some genuinely concerned, others feigning sympathy or secretly mocking—flooding her social media accounts the moment she logged in; the trending discussion threads on major forums; the comments dissecting her every word, action, and piece of personal information with line-by-line analysis; the pointing fingers and hushed whispers behind her back... Even after four years, they remained indelible scars and nightmares that haunted her in her midnight hours.

Shen Ruzhen closed her eyes briefly, steadied herself, and asked, "Did they ever find out who sent the anonymous letter?"

Academic Affairs Officer: "The school reported it to the police, but even they couldn’t trace the source. What’s even stranger is that we thought the letter was just the beginning—that the wife would come to the school afterward. But no one ever showed up."

Shen Ruzhen’s brow twitched. From the officer’s words, she sensed a whiff of conspiracy. "You’re saying the wife’s only action was sending the anonymous letter?"

"Yes."

Shen Ruzhen pondered. "In that case, the affair might not have been real at all. The goal was likely just to destroy Chi Xiaoyi’s reputation completely."

"Is that really possible?" The Academic Affairs Officer’s eyes welled up. "But why would someone want to harm her like this?"

After a pause, she added, "I did ask her whether any of it was true."

"Oh?" Shen Ruzhen asked. "What did she say?"

"That day, when I asked her, her reaction was strange. She shook her head and only said one thing."

"What was it?"

"'It doesn’t matter now.'"

Even after four years, the Academic Affairs Officer still didn’t understand. "Why would she say it doesn’t matter? Did she mean all the accusations against her were true?"

Shen Ruzhen replied, "There’s another possibility."

"What?"

"The truth might be even harder to accept than the false accusations."

"Hello, just one Combo A, please. Replace the Coke with black tea. Thank you."

After placing her order, Shen Ruzhen watched the server leave before absentmindedly doodling on the table with her fingers.

She sketched a timeline for Chi Xiaoyi, marking key points: age 23, unmarried pregnancy, leave of absence. Below that, she noted age 27, being pursued by her boss, and so on.

At first glance, it seemed Chi Xiaoyi had spent the intervening years at school.

Wait—no.

At 23, Chi Xiaoyi was in her second year of graduate school. With a standard three-year academic graduate program, she should have graduated at 25. Even with a full year’s leave, she would have graduated at 26.

So after graduation, did she immediately join the domineering CEO Ji Xiang’s company?

No, that didn’t fit either.

From the way Chi Xiaoyi had spoken, it sounded like she had only recently joined Ji Xiang’s company.

Meaning, after graduation, she might have spent up to a year unemployed—or perhaps she had job-hopped through external recruitment to join Ji Xiang’s firm.

If it was the latter...

What had happened at her first company? Why had she left?

Lost in thought, Shen Ruzhen suddenly noticed a shadow fall over her table. She looked up to see the server from earlier, his expression hesitant.

"What’s wrong?"

"Ma’am, it’s just—we’re at peak dining hours, and the next guests are in a bit of a hurry. Would you mind sharing your table?"

Shen Ruzhen glanced at the three empty seats around her and said good-naturedly, "Of course."

"Great! Thank you!" The server beamed and promptly brought her a complimentary side dish.

A moment later, two men took their seats beside her.

One sat directly next to her—tall, impeccably dressed in a sharply tailored navy suit, strikingly handsome, the kind of looks that could easily land him the role of a CEO in a romantic drama, outshining many pretty-boy actors. Even more charming was the gentle smile perpetually gracing his lips.

Now, he turned that smile and a pair of warm eyes toward Shen Ruzhen, his voice warm and mellifluous. "My apologies. I have a meeting soon, and my secretary forgot to make a reservation. I hope you don’t mind sharing the table."

Shen Ruzhen shook her head. "Not at all."

She took a sip of her iced tea. But the moment her gaze landed on the man sitting diagonally across from her, she nearly choked.

It was someone she knew—Lawyer Luo Qing.

Luo Qing’s eyes went wide, but he quickly rubbed first one eye, then the other, feigning nonchalance.

The man beside Shen Ruzhen frowned. "Lawyer Luo, are you alright?"

Luo Qing: "Ah, just an eye twitch. Too much overtime today, haha!"

"Don’t worry about it, CEO Ji. Please continue discussing the case."

*Internally, Luo Qing groaned. He couldn’t let on that he knew Shen Ruzhen. If he did, he’d have to explain how he’d lost the Fu Feng case—his one crushing defeat in years of legal practice. A single Waterloo was bad enough; he couldn’t afford to lose a new client.*

Meanwhile, Shen Ruzhen’s eyes gleamed with quiet realization.

CEO Ji?

That's an uncommon surname—could she really have run into Ji Xiang by coincidence?

She hadn't meant to listen in on their conversation, but now she perked up her ears.

The man suspected to be Ji Xiang said, "It's nothing too serious. Our platform staff screwed up when reviewing the news. It was supposed to be about Company A, but they accidentally wrote Company B as the subject, which ended up damaging Company B's commercial reputation and stock price. Now Company B is suing us."

Luo Qing stroked his chin. "This sounds like an employee negligence case. If you can prove the employee acted intentionally or with gross negligence, legally speaking, your company may seek compensation from them after paying damages to Company B."

The man suspected to be Ji Xiang asked, "Is compensation mandatory? Company B only suffered stock losses."

Luo Qing replied, "That would depend on the circumstances of the case."

At this point, Luo Qing's gaze glanced briefly toward Shen Ruzhen before he asked the man, "CEO Ji, I just want to confirm—this case doesn’t involve any women, does it?"

"Women?" The man looked baffled. "What women? This is just a dispute between two companies."

"Good, good, CEO Ji."

The man’s eyebrow twitched, and a mocking smile appeared at the corner of his lips. "You're not still traumatized from your last failure, are you? Still once bitten, twice shy?"

Luo Qing’s face instantly turned beet red. Of all the things to bring up—and worse, the other party involved in that humiliating incident was sitting right there! This had to be the most awkward moment of his life, possibly even a contender for the year’s most embarrassing encounter.

After Ji Xiang left, Luo Qing turned to Shen Ruzhen and whispered, "What are you doing here?"

Shen Ruzhen countered calmly, "Why can't I be here?"

A knowing smirk played on her lips. "Don't forget, you're the one who sat down with me."

Luo Qing: "..."

"Ah—Ms. Shen, Madam Shen, that's not what I meant! I just wanted to extend friendly greetings since we're acquainted. Though, admittedly, our first meeting was as opposing counsel..." He nearly choked on his words and quickly changed tack. "But let bygones be bygones, right? Now that Fu Feng is in prison, your anger must have cooled. Let's just consider the past water under the bridge, shall we? You know, as a lawyer, I always hope to convert connections into clients."

With practiced ease, he pulled a business card from his pocket and handed it to her. "Here, take a look. If you ever need legal help, feel free to reach out!"

Shen Ruzhen accepted the card. "Well, I do have one question right now."

Luo Qing: "Go ahead, go ahead."

"What's the name of the man you were just talking to?"

Luo Qing: "Oh, his name is—" He paused mid-sentence, suddenly suspicious. "Wait... you're not planning to oppose me again, are you?"

Shen Ruzhen smiled faintly, playing innocent. "How would I oppose you? I don't even know him—not even his name. I'm just curious."

Had Luo Qing studied Shen Ruzhen more closely, he would have recognized her award-worthy acting and not been taken in by her act so easily. Unfortunately, in the previous storyline, her acting had been fully unleashed only on Fu Feng, and clearly, Luo Qing hadn't discussed this with him.

After some hesitation, Luo Qing finally said, "If it's just curiosity, then fine. That client's name is Ji Xiang. He's the CEO of 'X-Bo Technology.'"

Shen Ruzhen murmured to herself, "Hmm, he doesn't look like his photos online." Maybe it was the difference between candid shots and retouched images.

Luo Qing nodded. "Yeah, he really does. At first, I also—" He stopped mid-nod, suddenly alarmed. "Wait, why are you investigating him?"

Instead of answering, Shen Ruzhen turned the thin business card between her fingers, examining it with interest. "I have one just like this. Since you gave me yours, it's only polite to return the favor."

"What?" Before Luo Qing could process her words, she slid a card toward him.

Printed boldly on it was: "Red Circle Law Firm, Attorney at Law—Shen Ruzhen."

Luo Qing’s jaw dropped. When the realization hit, his face fell as if in mourning. "So... you're here to poach my client again?"