Zhou Dang felt a bit helpless. He wanted to say something but felt he lacked a sufficient reason.
In the end, he just said, "Then get busy first. Call me if anything comes up."
After hanging up, Xuan Yang fastened her seatbelt and prepared to set off.
Her phone, lying beside her, vibrated again with two WeChat messages.
It was Zhou Dang.
[Transfer]
[Take this money for now. When you're done with this busy period, we'll talk about the property transfer.]
Xuan Yang was stunned. She couldn't help counting how many zeros were behind the transfer amount.
Zhou Dang: [There's a daily transfer limit on WeChat. If it's not enough, I'll have Shen Li transfer it to your bank card.]
Xuan Yang snapped back to reality and quickly replied: [No need, that's enough!]
She wanted to say more, but was afraid of sounding too sentimental, so she only replied with two words: [Thank you.]
Zhou Dang: [We share marital property. Why be polite?]
Xuan Yang: [...]
She did recall that Zhou Dang had never signed any prenuptial or postnuptial agreement with her.
They hadn't specifically divided up property matters.
Xuan Yang felt a bit embarrassed, as if she had taken great advantage of Zhou Dang.
...
That evening, while eating with Xie Xinglan, Xuan Yang brought up the matter.
Xie Xinglan looked at her with a "you're hopeless" expression: "If he gives it to you, just accept it with peace of mind. You two are husband and wife now. It's only natural for you to spend his money."
"Don't feel burdened."
"Besides, how much money did he give you? If you ask me, this third cousin of mine still isn't savvy enough. He should hand over all his assets to you."
Xuan Yang: [...]
Xie Xinglan dared to say things that Xuan Yang dared not even hear.
According to her original plan, she and Zhou Dang were just cohabiting; mutual respect would be enough.
She wasn't after his money, just a "married" status to nullify her engagement with the Chen family and settle down in Jingbei.
After all, from a mutually beneficial perspective, Xuan Yang didn't have much to offer, so naturally, she couldn't make excessive demands.
The next morning, Xuan Yang reported to Junda Law Firm, signed an employment contract and a confidentiality agreement.
After the onboarding procedures, she was assigned to a fixed team of one of the firm's senior partners.
Xuan Yang spent the entire morning familiarizing herself with the domestic legal database and case management system, and participated in the team meeting.
Junda was indeed a red-circle law firm; the work atmosphere was serious, efficiency was high, and newcomers were given little buffer time to adjust.
Xuan Yang was quickly pulled into the fast-paced work rhythm.
On her first day, Xuan Yang worked overtime until after ten at night.
Xie Xinglan called to ask her to dinner, but Xuan Yang didn't even have the energy to go.
When she got back to her rental, she ordered takeout and went into the bathroom to shower, finally managing to relieve some of her exhaustion.
At around eleven at night, Xuan Yang received a video call from Zhou Dang.
By then, she was already eating her takeout—a fast-food combo meal with stir-fried pork with peppers, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, a seaweed egg drop soup, and rice.
When the video connected, Zhou Dang took one look at Xuan Yang's surroundings.
He guessed it was her rental; the background was the living room sofa wall, pure white and bare, without any decoration.
As plain as the meal in front of her.
Zhou Dang frowned in the video, looking at Xuan Yang sitting cross-legged in front of the coffee table, his tone unreadable: "Is this a late-night snack?"
Xuan Yang ran a hand through her loose long hair, tidied herself up a bit in front of the camera, and said, "...You could say that."
She didn't want to tell Zhou Dang that she had been so busy on her first day that she didn't even have time for dinner.
Even if she did, Zhou Dang probably wouldn't understand.
"Did you need something?" Xuan Yang changed the subject.
It was late; Zhou Dang calling via video must mean there was something serious.
Sure enough, the man got to the point: "In a couple of days, my mom is coming to Jingbei for an event. She said she wants to meet you."
"Also, I need to report my schedule to you."
Xuan Yang: "?"
She could understand his first sentence—meeting the parents, unavoidable.
And she had heard that Zhou Dang's parents were divorced.