I Advise You To Like Me As Soon As Possible

"Xia Junyi, I told you not to come looking for me! If suing for divorce didn't work the first time, then I'll wait six months and try again a second time. We're separated now,  I don't have feelings for you anymore! I don't want to be with you!"

They were obviously divorcing because Tao Xing wanted out, because Xia Junyi's face was pleading. "Tao Xing, we were doing so well, and then all of a sudden you said that we had to divorce, that it wasn't working, that you were going to find someone else. I let  you go, but you didn't. I know that you've been struggling with your mental health recently, one moment you're depressed and the next you're picking a fight. What's burdening you? You and I are husband and wife, let's carry any burdens together. I can't rest assured having you live alone like this..."

"I don't live alone! I have Duoduo, and I don't want to have any kids! Duoduo is my child, and the two of us won't work. Don't you understand that?"

"Tao Xing, calm down," Xia Junyi continued pleading. "Is it the pressure of having a baby? But we're not in a hurry. You can decide when we have any kids. Whether we have one or two, that's completely up to you, I won't make any demands from you. They can even take your surname. If there's anything you're unsatisfied about on the matter of having children, just say it..."

Xia Junyi was being very humble. He obviously felt deeply for Tao Xing and was struggling to figure out why he had suddenly been divorced. But no matter how much he might long for it, Tao Xing had made up her mind not to tell him why. She drove him out. Duoduo barked loudly the whole time, and if it weren't for Tao Xing stopping him, he  might even have wanted to jump on Xia Junyi and bite him.

Seeing that Tao Xing was being hopelessly stubborn, Xia Junyi looked helpless and sad. He could only put down the things he was carrying and say, "Here are some free-range eggs that I just bought, and some fruits and vegetables. I also bought you some clothes. I don't know if you'll like them, but anyway, just wear them. I'll leave them here for you and see you next time..."

When he finished saying that, he turned and left, looking haggard and hollow.

As soon as he left, Tao Xing, who had been tense, fell silent, her face blank and seemingly drained of her vigor. When Ning Wan looked carefully, she found that although Tao Xing was trying to hold them back, her eyes were slightly red with tears.

She quickly noticed Ning Wan looking at her, forced her tears back, and composed herself. "Lawyer Ning, if it's about the dog again, don't look for me. I'm too busy with  my own matters to take care of anything else."

In the awkward atmosphere, Tao Xing reached out and patted Duoduo on the head,  complaining in a low voice, "Seriously, you. Thank goodness nothing happened." She gradually calmed as she looked at the dog, and in a low tone said, "They said animals understand human nature. You liked him so much before that you would jump on him as soon as he got home; then the moment I mentioned divorce, you turned hostile too, and now when you see him, you bark. I don't know if that makes you loyal or not..."

The "he" Tao Xing was referring to was naturally Xia Junyi. It was merely her saying something random to fill the silence, but what the speaker might not have meant, Ning Wan, the listener, was interested to hear.

"Ms. Tao, when did Duoduo start changing his attitude towards Xia Junyi? Can you try to remember? Did it really start when you separated and filed for divorce?"

Although this was a completely irrelevant question, Tao Xing hesitated to answer. "It seems not. We've been separated for some time, and when Xia Junyi first came over to persuade me, Duoduo was very friendly to him."

She seemed a little embarrassed. "Duoduo is very smart, and he must have sensed that something was wrong, just like a child having to take sides in his parents divorce..."

"Think carefully. Did the dog change his attitude toward Xia Junyi after the fall?"

When confronted with Ning Wan's question, Tao Xing's first reaction was denial. "What does it matter? Is there any link between Duoduo's attitude and the fall?"

Ning Wan's question actually hadn't implied that, but Tao Xing was a clever woman. When Ning Wan asked, she intuitively sensed the edges of what was going on, but instinctively fought back to protect Xia Junyi. "That's impossible. He loves children and animals very much, and has always been very kind to Duoduo. He's a good-natured and gentle man who would never, ever do anything to Duoduo. Why, in the beginning, when Wu Lie stole Duoduo, it was he who was the first to give chase..."

But the more Tao Xing talked, the uglier her face became, and in the end she clamped her mouth shut and looked at Ning Wan with eyes full of wariness and hostility. "In short, it has nothing to do with him! Don't come looking for me again in the future!"

Then she ignored etiquette and slammed the door shut, her face cold.

However, although she might not have said it out loud, her behavior only further reinforced Ning Wan's guess. Although it seemed like quite a far-fetched one even to her...

Just when Ning Wan was having some self-doubt, Fu Zheng voiced the same guess as she had, lending weight to it--

Although he hadn't said much earlier, Fu Zheng had obviously been quietly listening and observing. Frowning, he said, "I think something's up with Xia Junyi."

It was true that dogs were good judges of human nature, and that many people did regard dogs like their own children, but even a child might not be able to quickly and keenly judge that their parents were about to divorced and become indifferent to one side, let alone a dog.

"Tao Xing herself is actually aware of the issue, she just won't admit it. She must have realized that the true moment when the dog's attitude towards Xia Junyi changed was after the accident."

Ning Wan looked at Fu Zheng. "Then the timeline becomes very interesting. When something happened to the dog, Xia Junyi happened to be there and chased after it. Could it be that he actually managed to catch the dog, which recognized him as it's other owner and stopped struggling? And that was how Xia Junyi was able to bring the dog to the roof and throw it off?"

Tao Xing's dog wasn't small. Since it was able to break free from Wu Lie by biting him, it was unlikely that it might have somehow been subdued by a stranger and thrown off a building. But if the one who did it was someone it recognized as a friend...

Then it seemed that the twisted logic made sense.

Ning Wan and Fu Zheng glanced at each other and saw the tacit understanding in each other's eyes--

They were going to go and swindle Xia Junyi.

Ning Wan immediately called Xia Junyi and set the phone to record the call. "Mr. Xia, I'm sorry to bother you, but we've just gotten the latest monitoring videos. They clearly show that you threw a dog from a high floor, causing an accident that injured a passers-by. We hope you will cooperate to pay compensation to the victim. If you do not, we will sue you according to the law."

What Ning Wan heard in response was Xia Junyi's heavy breathing, but he said nothing in reply.

Ning Wan continued to push him in a solemn tone. "In addition, because you and Ms. Tao Xing are still legally married, if you are unwilling to pay compensation we shall provide this video to Ms. Tao Xing in an attempt to negotiate through her..."

When this was said, something changed on Xia Junyi's end. "Don't... don't tell her!" he interrupted anxiously. "I'm willing to talk. I-- I'm willing to pay."

……

Ning Wan hung up the phone, relieved. Thankfully, everything had gone very smoothly. Sure enough, Xia Junyi had admitted to throwing the dog. When he heard that they might tell Tao Xing, he almost immediately expressed his willingness to pay compensation and be actively involved in solving the matter, just so that they wouldn't say anything to her. Thanks to Tao Xing's involvement, he was even more anxious than Ning Wan was, and not half an hour later he arrived at the community office to negotiate--

"In fact, after this happened I've been blaming myself and feeling guilty about the person who got hurt, but... but I didn't dare say anything. If I say anything, it's over between Tao Xing and me. She treasures Duoduo a lot."

Xia Junyi looked like a benign and harmless man, dejected and despondent. He couldn't help but laugh at himself, saying, "But now whether I say anything or not, it's over between her and me. She's completely given up on our marriage, but I... you can call it being underhanded to keep a good name, or hypocrisy, but I want to leave a good impression in her heart... that way, I can take care of her if something ever happens to her in the future. But if she knew that I threw the dog, she'll never speak to me again until we die of old age."

Once he admitted to throwing the dog, Xia Junyi's attitude toward paying compensation was quite straightforward. "I will pay whatever the law demands, including your colleague's medical expenses and for his lost time. To sum it up, I'll pay whatever you ask for, and I'll also apologize to him. This wasn't something I planned. I threw the dog in a fit of madness."

Xia Junyi signed the agreement very cooperatively. Everything was over and finally, Chen Shuo had gotten justice, but Ning Wan still felt like there were some loose ends left to be tied.

Fu Zheng was obviously thinking the same thing. As Xia Junyi signed, he asked the question that Ning Wan had wanted to ask. "Tell us, why did you do this to the dog?" Tao Xing said that you're the sort of person who's very kind to children and small animals, and that you used to be very close to the dog before. So why did you attack it?"