Chapter 64: “Boss, let her have a baby for you.”

Because of Qian Heng’s outrageous move, everyone was holding back laughter while looking at Cheng Yao with sympathy. Her face had turned a spectacular shade of red. Fortunately, after long exposure to Qian Heng’s toxic behavior, she had already developed a certain immunity and could fight poison with poison.

She rubbed her face and quickly regained her composure.

What followed was the traditional birthday party routine. The administration department had ordered a cake on behalf of the entire firm, plus the one Cheng Yao had made herself. Everyone turned off the lights in the house. One cake had a “2” candle stuck in it, the other an “8.” Together they lit the “28” for Qian Heng and sang him “Happy Birthday.”

The atmosphere was warm and cozy. Only the birthday boy himself still wore a cold, severe expression, looking completely out of place.

“Qian Par! Make a wish!”

“First wish of your twenty-eighth year! Come on!”

Qian Heng pressed his lips together and looked around at the people from the firm. In the crowd he spotted Cheng Yao craning her neck to stare at the cakes, looking a little distracted.

“Make a wish! Then blow out the candles!”

Under everyone’s urging, Qian Heng didn’t have time to overthink. Subconsciously, the wish that surfaced for this year was—handle his relationship with Cheng Yao properly.

Then he blew out the candles.

That entire night, Qian Heng felt chaotic, as if he were riding a roller coaster. On one hand he was troubled over how to deal with Cheng Yao; on the other, he had to stay constantly on guard in case she did something outrageous to him in public.

Fortunately, in the end Cheng Yao chose to be steady and didn’t cause any scenes. Only after he saw her off did Qian Heng finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Yet perhaps what one thinks about during the day becomes what one dreams at night. Cheng Yao’s gift-box confession still weighed heavily on Qian Heng’s mind. That night he had a nightmare. In the dream, Cheng Yao wore a little black lace dress, red lips and white teeth, looking rather like the beautiful snake from an old storybook. Her presence coiled around him as she softly coaxed—

“Boss, let me have a baby for you, okay?”

Early the next morning, Qian Heng looked at the dark circles under his eyes in the mirror, irritated and troubled.

I should have fired her earlier, he thought resentfully. Great. The femme fatale has finally started working her magic.

Compared to Qian Heng’s string of nightmares, Cheng Yao was living quite comfortably.

After the boss left, her living space and territory expanded further. Although Qian Heng’s room was still reserved, the entire living room now belonged to her. She could finally wander around the living room in her pajamas at night without restraint. The underfloor heating had also been fixed, so she no longer had to freeze herself awake at night.

The next day she arrived at Junheng almost refreshed and started working on Li Mengting’s case.

Now that Li Mengting held the loyalty agreement, Cheng Yao’s job was to find evidence of Zhang Hao’s affair. But Li Mengting’s earlier actions had apparently startled the snake. Cheng Yao tried many methods without success.

Asking Zhang Hao’s colleagues and neighbors, hoping to collect third-party evidence to corroborate, naturally failed. In modern society, who had nothing better to do than get involved in other people’s family disputes? Everyone followed the principle of less trouble is better. When Cheng Yao tried to gather evidence, they either stalled with “I don’t know” or outright coldly refused.

Li Mengting had completely pulled herself together and even offered her own suggestions: “How about we hire someone to check hotel records? I refuse to believe we can’t find anything!”

“That invades privacy rights. Even if you get the hotel records, they’re illegal. Plus they might not even register with both ID cards when they check in.”

“Then hire someone to follow them, but don’t take photos. Just track them until they go to a hotel, confirm the room number, then I’ll charge in and catch them in the act for evidence? Other people can’t catch adultery, but as the legal wife I can, right?”

Cheng Yao had to reject Li Mengting’s proposal again: “No. Unless Zhang Hao takes her back to the apartment you two rent and does it there, in a hotel, even if you’re Zhang Hao’s legal wife, charging in to catch them is still illegal evidence and invades privacy.”

“Then let’s just call 110 and report prostitution in that room, let the police enforce the law and indirectly confirm the evidence for us. That should be legal, right?”

Cheng Yao felt a bit helpless. “Not legal. And you’d be administratively detained for making a false police report and fabricating a case.”

“Then what do we do?”

Cheng Yao thought for a moment. “Don’t rush. Let me think some more.”

Li Mengting was comforted by this and smiled. “It’s fine. I trust you, Yaoyao. You’ve really become amazing now. Even though we both graduated from law school, having practical experience or not makes a huge difference. If you hadn’t told me, I would still think those methods of catching adultery were pretty smart and good.”

Cheng Yao paused, suddenly realizing it herself. Many of the popular methods for catching adultery circulating among the public were not legal. She had gradually learned this from how her other colleagues handled cases.

Sometimes when colleagues ate lunch together they would chat about cases. As long as you listened carefully, you could filter out a lot of useful operations and knowledge points from the gossip. Without realizing it, Cheng Yao had accumulated quite a bit of knowledge that others considered professional.

Still, for Li Mengting’s case, Cheng Yao remained a bit lost about where the breakthrough in gathering evidence would be.

The day went on like that until it was time to get off work. Cheng Yao packed up her things and sent Qian Heng a text.

“Boss, see you at the restaurant later!”

The farewell dinner that had been repeatedly postponed finally found a time slot tonight.

The restaurant was chosen by Qian Heng—a Western place this time, elegant environment, and prices even more elegant than the environment.

But since Qian Heng was paying, Cheng Yao had no objections whatsoever.

Qian Heng had a last-minute meeting, so he arrived later than Cheng Yao. She used the time to look over a foreign case.

When Qian Heng arrived, she was still studying hard, so it took him calling her name for her to react.

Qian Heng cleared his throat and asked, as if casually and without much interest, “What case are you looking at?”

Cheng Yao didn’t think much of it either. “Just a weird American family law case.”

Qian Heng glanced at Cheng Yao’s phone screen. He really wished he hadn’t seen it, but his 2.0 vision refused to let him off easily.

“Woman performs oral sex on her non-marriage, DINK boyfriend, spits out his semen and uses it to get pregnant. Boyfriend sues her for stealing semen. Court rules that in consensual sexual activity, semen is considered a gift and does not constitute theft…”

…

“Cheng Yao, don’t look at these messy, crooked things that affect your work.”

Cheng Yao was about to put her phone away when she suddenly heard Qian Heng’s stern voice. She looked up and saw him glaring at her with a dark expression.

???

Cheng Yao paused before reacting. Was Qian Heng talking about Li Mengting’s case? Did he know she was having trouble gathering evidence of the affair and think she was going to collect it illegally?

She immediately shook her head. “Don’t worry, Boss. I’ll conduct myself and handle things properly.”

But for some reason, even after she gave her assurance, Qian Heng still seemed unable to let down his guard. Throughout the entire meal he appeared very awkward and unnatural, as if his whole body was extremely tense.

Probably work pressure is too high, Cheng Yao thoughtfully guessed. Then let’s talk about some personal topics and not mention work.

“Speaking of which, after I reported our ‘breakup’ to my parents last time, they were actually afraid I couldn’t get over the ‘heartbreak’ and wanted to introduce me to a new boyfriend. Hilarious.” Cheng Yao decided to use her own experience as a conversation starter to divert Qian Heng’s deep, resentful attention.

This move proved very effective. Indeed, the moment he heard this kind of gossip, the gaze that had seemed to look down on all of humanity finally lifted and landed on Cheng Yao. His voice rose slightly. “You’re going on a blind date?”

He frowned and said very seriously, “Cheng Yao, feelings can’t be forced. Forcing yourself to go on blind dates will be painful. You don’t have to do this.”

Cheng Yao grumbled internally. Are blind dates that bad? It’s not that extreme, is it? You yourself don’t go on them yet still seem to get along just fine? It’s not like you can’t meet true love on a blind date!

Unfortunately, before Cheng Yao could refute him, Qian Heng opened his mouth again to demand accountability. “And have you forgotten what you promised me?”

“Ah?”

Qian Heng stared at Cheng Yao, pressing his lips together. “I said, for these two years, don’t think about dating, don’t think about getting married.”

“No no no! I haven’t forgotten!” Cheng Yao was terrified Qian Heng would think she lacked career ambition and refuse to mentor her anymore. She clarified almost immediately, throwing in some flattery while she was at it. “I remember. Until I meet someone better than you, Boss, I won’t have those kinds of thoughts! You can rest assured! Calling it a blind date is just going through the motions, because his mom is my mom’s close friend. Directly refusing would make them lose face. He and I know each other somewhat anyway. I’m just planning to have a meal with him, like hanging out with a friend.”

“Besides, he’s actually not bad as a person. Since he’s still working in City B and only came to City A on a business trip this time, of course I insisted on treating. He was afraid I’d spend too much and refused to go to any expensive restaurants, so I just invited him over to my place to eat. Conveniently, I’d bought a lot of seafood on discount earlier.”

After hearing the explanation, Qian Heng finally seemed to believe Cheng Yao. He didn’t say anything more. The main course happened to arrive, and the two of them quietly began eating.

“When?”

Just as Cheng Yao was carefully cutting her steak with knife and fork, Qian Heng’s voice suddenly rang out.

Cheng Yao paused. “When what?”

Qian Heng pressed his lips tightly together. He looked away, gazing at the decorations not far off. “Your blind date… no, dinner with that person. When is it?”

Before Cheng Yao could react, Qian Heng added another sentence: “I’m thinking about the recent work schedule. Just tell me which evening you’re having dinner together first, and I won’t assign you any overtime.”

Ohhh! Cheng Yao said happily, “Thank you, Boss! We scheduled it for tomorrow night!”

“Oh.”

Cheng Yao hadn’t brought up work, but Qian Heng took the initiative instead. He cleared his throat again. “Li Mengting’s case—any difficulties?”

Once the topic turned to work, Cheng Yao became serious too. She did have doubts about the evidence collection for this case, so she told Qian Heng everything in detail.

Qian Heng didn’t even blink. “Very simple. Do a phone notarization.”

“Eh?”

“Go to the notary office, make an appointment, use the notary office’s phone under the notary’s witness to call the other party, and guide them into saying information about the affair. That’s it. Afterward just have the notary issue the notarized document. Legal, valid, convenient and fast.”

Eh? You can do it that way?!

If they weren’t at the table, Cheng Yao would have pulled out a little notebook to write it down.

“Besides going directly to the notary office, there is now mobile notarization. Some tech companies have developed their own software apps. You download their client, make the call through it, and the call recording can be uploaded directly to the software’s backend and cloud backup. The backend and cloud are connected to the notary office’s technical center through certain technical means. After the user clicks to apply for notarization, the notary office can directly access the audio stored in the software’s cloud and issue the notarized document.”

Cheng Yao put down her knife and fork, completely entering learning mode, and asked earnestly, “Comparing the two, this kind of mobile notarization software seems more efficient and convenient? You can operate it yourself without going to the notary office?”

“Phone notarization requires coordinating with the notary’s schedule. Notaries these days generally have heavy workloads. If you don’t have connections, it’s indeed not very convenient, especially if the case is urgent and you need the notarization done immediately.” Qian Heng took a sip of his non-alcoholic cocktail. “But mobile notarization is also something that only appeared in recent years. At first the effect was pretty good, but as demand for notarization grew, these software backends piled up huge numbers of notarization applications. Notary offices will naturally prioritize the business they accept themselves. The business coming from these apps can’t be processed in time. Several apps were even complained about by users and taken offline because of this.”

Cheng Yao felt a bit troubled now. “I don’t know how long the queue is these days to get a notarization done. Li Mengting’s case can’t wait that long.”

Qian Heng glanced lightly at Cheng Yao. “I happen to have a connection at the notary office.”

“Boss! Please help!!!”

Although Qian Heng’s face remained as expressionless as usual, the corners of his mouth carried a slight curve. “Since you’re asking so pitifully, I suppose I can help you.”

“I’ll treat you to a meal!” Cheng Yao went with the flow. “Whatever restaurant you want, you pick!”

Qian Heng coughed lightly. “I’ve been a bit heaty lately. I don’t really want to eat out anymore.”

“Then how about I cook you a table of home-style dishes?”

Qian Heng thought for a moment, looking somewhat reluctant. “I guess that works.”

“Then the day after tomorrow? After I finish dinner with my mom’s close friend’s son tomorrow, I’ll treat you!”

Qian Heng’s boss complex made him somewhat unhappy about being ranked behind someone else. He put on a sour face. “I want seafood too.”

“Eh?”

“What I eat must be of a higher standard than his.”

“Hm?”

Qian Heng snorted coldly without changing expression. “I’m the boss with a five-digit hourly rate helping you for free. Shouldn’t the standard of the food you cook for me be raised?”

Cheng Yao immediately nodded in agreement. “Boss is right! The standard must be raised!”

The meal somehow ended quite harmoniously. In the second half there were no more cases to discuss, so Qian Heng didn’t speak again. Cheng Yao couldn’t quite figure out his attitude and didn’t dare make a sound either. She simply watched quietly as Qian Heng finished his steak in a very aristocratic, elegant manner.

And with that, the two of them’s farewell dinner came to a close.

Only when they parted did Qian Heng look at Cheng Yao, seeming to want to say something but stopping himself. In the end he said something completely out of nowhere—

“You’ve worked hard restraining yourself like this.”

After saying this, Qian Heng gave Cheng Yao a complicated look with a subtle edge to it.

Even after Cheng Yao got home, she was still a bit confused. What had she restrained herself from? Her appetite? Cheng Yao thought, I only ate little tonight because I was thinking about the case, not to save Qian Heng money! Look where his mind went.

But soon Cheng Yao had no time to dwell on these things, because Qin Qin’s call came. She had been on a lot of business trips recently, and the two of them hadn’t gotten together in a long while.

Even though Qin Qin was still away on a trip tonight, once the two of them started talking on the phone there was no sense of distance at all. They went from each other’s recent situations all the way to Mi Kadeng’s new girlfriend.

Between friends, even if they hadn’t seen each other for a long time, there always seemed to be endless things to talk about.

In the end Cheng Yao and Qin Qin chatted casually for over an hour.

“Holy crap, it’s so late. We should sleep early.” Qin Qin glanced at her watch and decided to rein herself in. But before hanging up she remembered something. “Oh right, about that gift box you ordered from my client last time—was it shipped wrong?”

Cheng Yao paused. “What do you mean?”

“My client told me the warehouse people seem to have consecutively shipped several packages wrong. The buyers are complaining. One of the buyers ordered a custom confession gift box. Apparently it’s a rich woman trying to win over a young guy. She spent a fortune ordering a bottle of 1982 Lafite, plus a whole box of condoms, along with some confession stuff, all put into the gift box. That whole box of random things is worth around a hundred thousand. And now this gift box has been shipped who-knows-where by the warehouse people. There are already more than a dozen people complaining about receiving the wrong goods, and the number is still increasing. After-sales is going crazy trying to check them one by one, hoping to find that hundred-thousand-yuan gift box as soon as possible.”

“Rich women these days really go all out with confessions, straight-up sending condoms…”

After the shock, Cheng Yao didn’t take it too seriously. “But mine definitely wasn’t shipped wrong. My boss should have opened the gift already. He’s been pretty good to me lately. Originally for a recent case he said the subject amount was too small and he wouldn’t waste time on it, but tonight he specifically guided me. Maybe he finally felt my loyal dog attitude.” Cheng Yao thought for a moment. “Anyway, even if it was wrong, it couldn’t have been mixed up with that confession gift box. If my boss saw that gift box, wouldn’t he just smash my dog head on the spot and teach me not to have improper thoughts about him?”

“True. If that toxic boss of yours received a gift that wasn’t right, he would have already dealt with you.” Qin Qin said reassuringly. “As long as yours wasn’t wrong, it’s fine.”

The two of them chatted a bit more randomly before hanging up.