“Do you think there’s still any chance of repairing the relationship between Gu Yan and me?”
On her first day at work, after a team lunch, Qi Xi had basically spent the rest of the day dealing with her personnel file and onboarding procedures. That evening, she returned to the small apartment she was renting with Zhao Yiran.
Ever since falling out with her family over studying abroad, Qi Xi had resolved to break away from her parents’ protection and make her own way in the world. As it happened, the court Zhao Yiran was joining and Jinghe Law Firm were both nearby, and the two-bedroom apartment Zhao Yiran had rented was still missing a roommate. Qi Xi immediately decided to move in with her.
“No chance.” Zhao Yiran looked at her sympathetically. “Haven’t you noticed? Gu Yan is the type who’s ruthless and doesn’t waste words. Now that he’s already said something harsh, that it’s impossible for him to be friends with you, I feel like you’re completely done for. Why don’t you try winning over your boss instead? It doesn’t matter if your relationship with your colleague is cold, as long as you flatter your boss properly.”
Qi Xi only wanted to look up at the sky and cry. Her boss was Gu Yan’s biological older sister, and she seemed even harder to deal with than Gu Yan. Her whole heart was set on helping Gu Yan carry out justice on behalf of heaven. If Qi Xi’s identity was exposed, who knew how ugly her death would be?
Especially after that team lunch that had been impossible to swallow, once they returned to Jinghe, Qi Xi finally learned from the other colleagues’ words what Gu Xuehan’s true character setting was.
They did not call her a goddess not because she was even more goddess-like than a goddess, but simply because beneath Gu Xuehan’s goddess-like appearance was the heart of a female demon king.
“She must have told you she chose newcomers because she wants to cultivate her own trusted team, right? Actually, that’s not it. It’s because none of the other trainee lawyers in the firm are willing to join her team long-term. Lawyer Gu generates revenue like crazy, but to her, overtime is as normal as eating and drinking water. Young people can’t survive that.”
“Before you, she actually recruited other newcomers into the team too. They worked for only a few days before applying to transfer to another lawyer’s team…”
“Her energy just isn’t something ordinary people can match. That previous newcomer was fair and tender when they first joined the firm, but after a week, they’d been worked until they turned yellow and dried out. Yet Lawyer Gu, on the other hand, became even more radiant. But maybe it’s a matter of constitution. Her younger brother has been tormented by her for so long since joining the firm, yet his face is still so good-looking. Do those siblings have some secret method of absorbing people’s essence?”
“But Qi Xi, don’t worry. You’re so pretty, so maybe you can last a bit longer before turning yellow and dried out.”
This comfort was worse than no comfort at all.
…
As Qi Xi repeated all this, she looked at Zhao Yiran as if she wanted to cry but had no tears.
“In short, that’s how it is. But even if I can’t survive in this team, I can’t transfer, because the other lawyers’ teams are already full.”
Because Qi Xi had previously been completely determined to go abroad, she had started applying for jobs and sending out résumés late. Most law firms had already filled their positions. It was only good luck that allowed her to pick up a vacancy at Jinghe and receive an offer.
After listening to Qi Xi, Zhao Yiran could only pat her shoulder.
“Sister, there’s nothing to say. My condolences. May you have a grand burial.”
“…”
“But since things are already like this, you might as well thicken your skin and try anything in desperation. I think you’d be better off starting with Gu Yan as your breakthrough point. After all, Gu Yan has only just entered society, so he’s not as cunning as his sister yet. No matter what, he was your classmate for four years. Surely he’ll care a little about old ties, right? As for you, cater to his interests. Buy him small gifts often, and if he has difficulties, help him and show concern. Over time, you should be able to repair the relationship somewhat.”
That sounded reasonable, but the problem was right there.
Despite being classmates for four years, apart from knowing that Gu Yan had beaten her to first place in every exam and every competition, Qi Xi actually did not understand him at all.
“I don’t even know what hobbies he has, or what things he likes…”
Zhao Yiran looked as if she hated iron for not becoming steel.
“Are you stupid? You must have some shared social connections. Ask his friends or roommates! If that doesn’t work, go on the school forum. Do you know how many people across the whole university are obsessed with him? There are even girls from other universities who specially camp outside our law school every day hoping to bump into him. Those girls who chase him have an organisation called the ‘Care for Gu Yan Association.’ Join it.”
“They’re incredibly capable. They have all kinds of information about Gu Yan, compiled into a book called The Complete Guide to Gu Yan, covering all his hobbies and daily details. Sometimes, people in the group can even magically know where Gu Yan will be on the weekend. Stay in that organisation for a week, and with your learning ability, you’ll be able to understand Gu Yan thoroughly!”
There was actually an organisation like that!
When Qi Xi held her phone and browsed the forum, it was as if the door to a whole new world had been opened.
Only…
Qi Xi stared at her phone in shock and complained, “You actually have to answer questions to join this organisation!”
Zhao Yiran looked completely calm.
“Yes, my friend. In four years of university, aside from studying, you really didn’t try to understand the current online world at all. Nowadays, some groups require verification before you can enter. The questions you have to answer are probably about Gu Yan’s basic information and so on, right?”
Zhao Yiran was completely right. But there were more than a hundred questions, densely packed, covering Gu Yan’s height, weight, and even the size of his earlobes and the location of the red mole on his neck!
“You’d better do some research first before answering. Otherwise, if your error rate is too high, you won’t be accepted into the group.”
Qi Xi was eager to repair her relationship with Gu Yan, so she did not pay much attention to Zhao Yiran’s words. Fortunately, although she knew almost nothing and answered mostly by instinct, probably because she had noted that she was Gu Yan’s university classmate, she immediately received an invitation to join the group after answering the questions.
As soon as Qi Xi was approved to enter the organisation, she went straight to the point.
“May I ask where I can download The Complete Guide to Gu Yan?”
The moment she spoke, the group owner quickly appeared and shared a cloud drive link with Qi Xi.
There was still true warmth in this world! Although Gu Yan himself was quite difficult to deal with, she had not expected his fan group to be such gentle little angels!
“We welcome fellow fans who truly understand Gu Yan and are attracted by his inner qualities. But we really hate people who know nothing about Gu Yan and only shallowly want to get to know him or date him because of his face. As for the latter, not only do we not welcome them, we will also strike hard and teach them what it means to respect Gu Yan.”
Yes, yes, yes!
Who would have thought Gu Yan’s fans had such proper values? Qi Xi deeply related to this point. She also hated shameless face-obsessed people the most!
At this moment, Qi Xi was practically overflowing with gratitude. Immersed in the joy of feeling as if she had been saved, she quickly downloaded The Complete Guide to Gu Yan from the cloud drive, then began studying it.
She had to admit, this guide was indeed very beautifully made. It contained a large number of photo albums of Gu Yan, most of them candid street shots rather than professional photos. Some were even a little blurry, but none of that diminished Gu Yan’s looks.
Although Qi Xi had been classmates with Gu Yan for so long, she had never really stared at his face and studied it carefully before. Now, looking closely at the photos, she realised that this man, Gu Yan, really did have a certain degree of beauty.
But the more she looked at Gu Yan’s basic information, the more ashamed Qi Xi felt. For the entry questions just now, she had answered at least eighty percent of them wrong. For example, Gu Yan’s height was 187 cm, not 185 as she had thought. His eye colour was not pure black either, but carried a faint hint of light brown…
Luckily, she had noted that she was Gu Yan’s university classmate. Otherwise, she might not necessarily have been allowed into the group!
But in any case, now that The Complete Guide to Gu Yan was in her hands, Qi Xi rolled up her sleeves and began digesting it. Like memorising key points before an exam, she started reciting Gu Yan’s preferences.
“Favourite foods: coriander, shiitake mushrooms, soy products. Favourite staple: rice. Dislikes pastries and noodles. Likes sweet foods; likes adding sugar to all dishes; does not eat spicy food. Favourite sweet: chocolate. Dislikes drinking milk. Favourite colour: pink. Least favourite colour: black. Favourite fruit: durian. Favourite music: heavy metal rock. In his free time, dislikes exercise; favourite activity is quietly reading books in the library. Likes metallic textures, dislikes the outdoors and nature, especially hates being in the sun. Believes the meaning of life lies not in the process, but in the result. Loves collecting medals. Believes that if you participate, you must win…”
The more Qi Xi read, the more shocked she became. So Gu Yan’s preferences were actually like this?! She really was not close to Gu Yan. It could be said that she truly did not understand him at all!
But no wonder Gu Yan was always fighting her for first place in all kinds of exams and competitions! Look, their views on winning and losing were actually quite compatible. Maybe they could even come to appreciate each other as kindred spirits!
As she continued reading, Qi Xi discovered an excellent opening.
“Gu Yan’s birthday is in three days! I can take advantage of his birthday to give him a gift. It’ll be natural and also show my attitude!”
Zhao Yiran nodded repeatedly.
“Actually, building a good relationship is very easy. Just cater to his interests. Give him whatever Gu Yan likes. Look, just follow what’s written in The Complete Guide to Gu Yan.”
Right now, Qi Xi was surrounded by internal and external troubles. If she could not flatter Gu Yan properly, and he exposed her, wouldn’t Gu Xuehan pull out Qi Xi’s tendons and skin her alive? If Gu Xuehan’s desire for revenge was a little stronger, perhaps Qi Xi would not even be able to survive in Rong City’s legal circle in the future…
Just thinking of those consequences made Qi Xi break out in a cold sweat.
Once she decided to act, she acted immediately. She began racking her brains over what birthday present to buy Gu Yan.
Something too expensive? First, she had no money. Second, it would look too obsequious and too obviously purposeful. No, no.
Something too cheap? It would seem a bit low-value and insincere…
“Combine it with his interests and buy something creative! Ideally something specially customised! Something he’ll never forget after receiving it!” Zhao Yiran enthusiastically suggested while reading social news. “And it’d be best if it could show the sincerity of your apology!”
Qi Xi thought for a long time but could not come up with anything. It was not until she tentatively typed “creative birthday gift” into Taobao’s search bar that the results that popped up suddenly made her eyes light up.
A metal product, creatively customised, unique and unforgettable, and able to show the sincerity of her apology! It was also in the shape of a medal, which Gu Yan liked!
This was it!
Qi Xi decided to passionately place the order and pay extra for express processing.
Only, she was afraid that this creative gift alone would seem too thin. After all, the price was truly conscience-friendly. Recently, Taobao happened to have a promotion of 30 yuan off for purchases over 200 yuan. The search engine also happened to recommend a men’s tie. With the intention of reaching the discount threshold, Qi Xi simply chose a tie as well and paid for both items together.
**
The creative gift and men’s tie arrived on time, just in time for Gu Yan’s birthday.
When Qi Xi placed the heavy gift on Gu Yan’s desk, it indeed caught Gu Yan’s attention.
He frowned, shifted his gaze away from the case file, and looked at Qi Xi with some wariness.
“What is this?”
“A gift for you! Gu Yan, happy birthday!”
As expected, everyone liked receiving gifts. When Gu Yan heard this, he paused. The murderous expression on his face clearly softened. He glanced at Qi Xi, then moved his gaze away and looked at the gift Qi Xi had wrapped on the table. Even his voice became gentler.
“You know my birthday?”
“Mm!” Qi Xi nodded desperately. “Don’t worry. From now on, every year on your birthday, I’ll definitely celebrate it for you! We graduated from the same university, so rounding up, we’re family! That means your sister is also my family!”
Qi Xi hinted frantically.
“Although I did something wrong before, I hope you know that I’m here to join this family, not break it apart. Between family members, there’s no grudge that lasts overnight. If someone really does something wrong, they should definitely be given a chance to correct it, right?”
Gu Yan looked thoughtfully at the gift on the table. His expression no longer seemed that cold either. It looked as if he really was considering the possibility of forgiving Qi Xi.
“Open it and have a look! I customised this gift according to your preferences. It also represents my sincere feelings toward you.”
But when asked to open the gift, Gu Yan instead became a little unnatural. He shifted his gaze away and said quite calmly, “There’s no need. I’ll open it when I get home.”
After saying this, Gu Yan moved to put Qi Xi’s gift under his desk. However, the moment he lifted it, he looked rather surprised.
“What did you buy that’s so heavy?”
“A heavy gift means heavy affection! This weighty heaviness also represents my weighty sincerity!”
“There was no need to buy something expensive.” Although Gu Yan’s tone was still a little cold, Qi Xi felt that his attitude had softened slightly. The possibility of reconciling with Gu Yan was right before her eyes.
Qi Xi answered honestly, “It wasn’t expensive!”
That was true. It really had not been expensive. Qi Xi had spent less than seventy yuan, and it even came with free delivery!
This creative gift was not even as expensive as the tie she had casually bought with it!
“Open it and have a look!”
In the end, Gu Yan was probably so annoyed by Qi Xi that he had no choice. The man pressed his lips together, glared at Qi Xi, then began unwrapping the gift.
When that glittering golden colour shone out, and when those eye-catching large characters appeared before Gu Yan’s eyes, Gu Yan’s gaze and expression indeed froze completely…
Gu Yan raised his head, his tone filled with unbelievable shock.
“What is this thing?”
“Don’t you like metal products? And creative, distinctive things that don’t follow the usual path? You also like medals, so isn’t this something you can hang up like a medal?”
Perhaps Gu Yan was too pleasantly surprised, because he stared at the line of words on the stainless steel, his entire body seeming to freeze.
Following his gaze, Qi Xi also saw the striking lines engraved on the stainless steel:
“Strong friendship will stay by your side like stainless steel!”
“Happy birthday, Gu Yan!”
“From Qi Xi, who sincerely apologises.”
…
Usually, stainless-steel engravings only had a few lines of text, but this time, Qi Xi really had been sincere. She had hand-drawn a cake and a little person begging for forgiveness and apologising, then paid extra to have the seller engrave them onto the stainless steel as well.
And inside the other small gift box lay a pure pink tie.
“I drew this picture myself!” Qi Xi said enthusiastically. “As for this tie, I also chose a style and colour I thought you’d like!”
“…”
Perhaps faced with this surprise, Gu Yan suddenly lost the ability to speak. He froze for quite a while before looking at Qi Xi.
“Why do you think this tie is a colour I’d like?”
Of course, it was because The Complete Guide to Gu Yan said that Gu Yan’s favourite colour was pink!
It was indeed a little rare for a man to like pink, but who did not have a little princess living in their heart? Gu Yan must be surprised that she actually knew the secret preference hidden deep inside him!
Qi Xi smiled as if hiding her achievements and fame.
“Because in my heart, you suit pink very well!”
Although he liked pink, to be honest, Gu Yan had never worn any pink clothing or anything with pink elements before. He was probably hindered by society’s gaze. Now that she supported him like this, he would surely feel touched, as though he had found an ally!
Understanding—was that not the best soil for friendship to grow?
However, Gu Yan did not seem to think of her support that way.
The man stared at the words on the stainless steel, his tone sounding somewhat gritted.
“You think there can be a strong friendship between you and me?”
Qi Xi said carefully, “Can’t there? A slightly fragile one is fine too…”
Qi Xi thought Gu Yan would at least give her some face and respond perfunctorily. In the end, the man decisively gave her two words.
“There can’t.”
After throwing down those words, Gu Yan shoved Qi Xi’s birthday gift under his desk and refused to pay any more attention to her.
Fine, fine, fine. If they could not be friends, then so be it. If there was no friendship, then at least they could manage some plastic colleague affection. Qi Xi still felt that she had to continue working hard to integrate into the “family.” Otherwise, with two people surnamed Gu surrounding her on both sides, wouldn’t she be attacked from both front and back in every possible sense?
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