At first, Fu Zheng didn't respond. But soon, shock began showing on his face. He gazed at the inscription on the ring as if in a trance, gritted his teeth and repeated, "G-a-r-t-i-e-r?"

"You didn't buy me a Cartier?!"

Ning Wan didn't dare look directly into Fu Zheng's eyes. Looking away, she pretended to gaze at the clouds outside the window. "Uh, well... it's the thought that counts, not the price, right... Listen, when I saw a stall selling rings, the first thing I thought of was of buying you one to keep you from being harassed. That's some sort of true friendship, isn't it? Right? As lawyers, it's important to think about all points of view, isn't it?"

Sadly, her guidance didn't succeed in enlightening Fu Zheng. His gaze was fixed rigidly on Ning Wan. "So that was why you bought me a Gartier ring? How..." Fu Zheng looked as if he was about to ascend to heaven, "How much was this Gartier?"

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"Tell me," Fu Zheng said in a cold and lifeless manner, pinching the bridge of his nose.

The man was a little scary when he was serious. Ning Wan confessed honestly. "The stall owner asked for 200 yuan, but I bargained it down and finally got it for 50 yuan¹$7.85 in USD LMAO... but honestly though, the design was really lovely, I just didn't expect the quality to be such a problem... I'm sorry."

Fifty yuan...

Fu Zheng almost died from anger. What a defeat from the most unexpected direction! But honestly, hadn't he just received a ring in Cartier's style? Had he been so happy that he hadn't looked too close? Now, when he really examined the ring, he realized that he had been blind. How was this anything like Cartier? Yes, the style was quite similar, but the workmanship was rough, and the material was obviously all wrong. And he had even thanked Ning Wan by saying that he hadn't expected himself to be so valuable to her! And not only that, but he had been so moved as to send an email back to Ning Wan under his identity as senior partner?!

Oh yes, he was valuable to her.

He was worth a whole fifty yuan!!! What a lot!!!

"I didn't mean to lie to you. I just thought that you'd just use it once in awhile to ward off a few suitors, so I didn't pay much attention to whether or not it was branded. I just liked the style. I usually wear this sort of thing as costume jewelry. I didn't expect you to be so allergic to it!" Upon reflection, Ning Wan felt like it really was her fault. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know that your skin would be so delicate... I used to buy and wear this sort of stuff from the stalls all the time, and nothing happened... maybe my skin is just thicker..."

She grabbed Fu Zheng by his healthy right hand. "Come on, let's get you to the hospital."

……

Ning Wan hadn't at all expected Fu Zheng to think that she had bought him a Cartier ring. After learning that it wasn't, and that he was too sensitive to wear it on top of that, his face looked terribly ugly. Thankfully, he was soon in line to see a doctor. The diagnosis was that it was just a simple allergy. All he had to do was to take a little medicine.

But though the doctor had said that it wasn't serious, Ning Wan was still concerned. After all, Fu Zheng's finger was so swollen. While he was picking up the medicine, she couldn't help but ask, "Doctor, you said that his hand was red due to swelling from the allergy, but what about the green? Why was my friend's skin both red and green? Did some sort of toxin leach into his skin?"

The doctor explained patiently, "It's just discoloration. The ring contains copper, and it likely got wet. He will have no issues if he just takes his medicine as prescribed."

Discolouration? For the colour to change so much must have taken a long time... Ning Wan wasn't stupid. There was only one explanation - Fu Zheng had taken a shower with the ring on.

He hadn't even wanted to take off the ring in the shower! He hadn't wanted to be separated from it even for a minute!

Ning Wan was even more horrified and distressed... How much did this man want a Cartier ring?! And I went and gave him a Gartier!

This was truly a case of 'those who hear it are sad, and those who see it shed tears'...

I'm so sorry…

When I get rich, I'll definitely present him with a real Cartier...

When Fu Zheng returned to the office after taking his medicine, he still looked dark and unhappy. Thinking that she would give him some time to compose himself, Ning Wan sat beside him quietly and turned on her computer to see if there were any business emails to return. But upon refreshing her inbox, she couldn't believe her eyes.

That mysterious senior partner! Actually wrote her an email!! Just last night!!!

Ning Wan almost forgot to breathe. Adrenaline surged through her veins. She felt so excited that she was about to explode. Her fingers trembling slightly, she opened the email.

Although it wasn't an offer to join the team, the other had actually sent her an encouraging email--

"Due to you having almost no experience in commercial cases in your professional background and resume, it is impossible for me to make an exception to bring you into my team. However, I am willing to give you a chance to prove yourself. The following case analysis is a simplified version of a case I have worked on in the past. What would you do? Give me your ideas and solutions within three days."

At the end of this concise paragraph was attached a Word document and some scanned evidence PDFs. Ning Wan clicked on them with excitement to find that the Word document described the case meticulously, while the PDF had mosaics blurring out the details of the contracts and documents for the sake of privacy.

The more Ning Wan looked at it, the more the emotions in her heart surged. "There is true love in the world, and I love this senior partner!!"

Her excitement caught Fu Zheng's attention, and he looked up at her.

Ning Wan couldn't help but brag. She pulled Fu Zheng over. "Do you know whose email I just got?"

Fu Zheng didn't seem to understand her sudden happiness. Thanks to his hand allergy, he didn't even put on a fake business smile. Fortunately, Ning Wan was so thrilled that she didn't even care if he was unsupportive.

"Did you know about the senior partner joining us here at Zhengyuan Law? Well, that senior partner just voluntarily wrote to me!!! And encouraged me!! He even gave me an exercise!! Does this mean he's going to take special care of me?" Ning Wan was so elated her voice trembled in happiness. "It must have been my sincerity that moved the heavens and the earth!!! All my effort must have finally paid off!!! It must have been all my fawning and flattering and ass-kissing!!”

Only Ning Wan was excited. Fu Zheng, watching the whole thing, just wanted to roll his eyes and sneer.

Ha.

It wasn't your sincerity that moved the heavens and the earth, but that I, Fu Zheng, was blind enough to mistake 'Gartier' for 'Cartier'…

frostcrystal

On the whole JJWXC thing

If you're unaware, JJWXC, a Chinese publishing site from which a lot of josei/BL/GL translations originate, is adding crowd-sourced English translations to their currently Chinese-only website. Anyone can submit a translation and have it uploaded, and receive a small cut of the profits. It's currently limited to only BL and GL novels, but this novel that you all are reading is hosted there, so if they expand it to other genres in the future, that may have implications for this translation.

Spoiler

Because of this move, there are quite a number of fan translators currently locking down or taking their work offline. Simply put, although it sounds nice to have a legal and official way to get your fix, there is good reason for the backlash.

1. Only people with a China/HK/Taiwan ID can submit translations (probably as a censorship measure), while the vast majority of fan translators are foreigners. So I couldn't submit my own work and go legal even if I wanted to. However, I would be simply astonished if someone didn't copy/paste my translations into the system to earn a quick buck, and the contract specifies that their (my?) translation henceforth belongs to JJ, to do with as JJ wills.
2. The scummy side effect is that then JJ is incentivized to come after me for 'copying an official translation' (in the case of my translations being reposted), or just in general for 'doing illegal translation for the public' (and taking away business). Even if the first is provably false, no one wants to deal with that.
3. Translation is typically best done from your second language into your native language, then proofread and edited by a second native speaker. This takes time. I froth indignantly at the thought of how the system encourages uploading fast, mediocre translations and snitched fan translations from foreigners.

What are you going to do, Crystal?

Nothing, haha! This is not a legal translation to begin with so I've always been at risk of being asked to take it down. At the moment this new site doesn't affect me, and even if it did I'm confident that no one will put out a better translation. However, I hope that you'll keep reading fan translations on their original translation sites, via NovelUpdates or Discord. The JJ contract terms for authors and translators are not as bad as Qidian/Webnovel, which I actively boycott, but they're also not good, and it's a legitimate worry they'll go down that path. If you would like to support an author, continue buying raws - the author will get more money that way anyhow. In other words, keep doing what you're doing.

I've historically steered clear of making money on my translations beyond a Kofi, and my translations will remain free and unlocked. This is  mostly because I'm one of those hippie open-source buy-nothing pirates. Anyway, my stuff is all over aggregators, so am I kinda pissed that some rando will probably make a quick buck off of claiming my work as their own? Of course I am, but that's what aggregator sites have been doing forever. C'est la vie.

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