Feng Yi looked down, contrite. "Your birthday."

Qiao Li, no longer surprised by anything, entered her birthday to unlock his phone. She opened his QQ app and began communicating with Li Zai's family.

Her work involved public relations, so she carried herself with poise and confidence, her logic clear and her stance firm. She quickly gained the upper hand.

The room quieted down. Qiao Li returned to sit beside Feng Yi, waiting for the lawyer.

Neither spoke. Finally, Feng Yi broke the silence. "I'm sorry. I've caused you so much trouble."

Qiao Li's temper flared. "You think you’re wrong because you caused me trouble?"

Feng Yi looked up at her, his expression innocent. Recalling the advisor’s words, Qiao Li’s worry turned to anger. "Feng Yi, why didn't you think before you acted? You're a top student, you have a scholarship, a bright future! How could you risk your record for someone like him?"

He fell silent, looking down again.

"Do you understand what you did wrong?" Qiao Li asked sternly.

Feng Yi remained silent.

"Feng Yi!" Qiao Li felt the exasperation of a parent facing a stubborn child.

He still didn't speak, his head down, jaw clenched.

"Look at me!" Exasperated, Qiao Li gave him a hard shove.

He stumbled back, then steadied himself and looked up.

His collar was crumpled from Li Zai's family's grip, and a fresh, red scratch marked the corner of his eye. He looked utterly disheveled. His eyes, black and white, held a simmering anger.

Qiao Li had never seen him like this. She'd never imagined this side of him. His gaze was dark, his lips pressed together. He looked like a wolf baring its fangs.

"If it happened again, I'd do it again."

Qiao Li was taken aback, all composure gone. "Did you hear a single word I said? Where's your brain?"

Feng Yi stared at her, and somehow, Qiao Li detected a hint of grievance in his voice. "Do you know what he said?"

Qiao Li had learned from the advisor that Feng Yi had reacted to offensive and insulting remarks.

"I know, but that doesn't matter. Does that justify losing control? " Her voice, sharper than she intended, sounded like a harsh reprimand.

His tone hardened, his stubbornness surfacing. "How could I not react? What kind of man would just stand there and take it?"

Qiao Li almost laughed at his refusal to admit his mistake. "A man? A real man wouldn't act like that. That was impulsive, not mature!"

Feng Yi suddenly interrupted her. "What would Zhou Zhe do?"

Qiao Li frowned, confused. "What does he have to do with this?"

"What would he do? Tell me." Feng Yi's voice was low.

Qiao Li guessed he was resorting to his childish comparisons again. "He wouldn't be like you. He definitely wouldn't resort to violence. He'd think about the consequences, figure out how to get even without hurting himself. He'd stay rational. He wouldn't let his emotions get the better of him!"

Feng Yi fell silent, watching her intently. His eyes seemed veiled, his gaze focused. Under his scrutiny, Qiao Li felt a strange pressure, as if an invisible weight had settled upon her.

The anger and defiance that had radiated from him moments before dissipated. He withdrew his sharp edges, defeated and vulnerable, bleeding from self-inflicted wounds.

"Qiao Li, that's the biggest difference between me and him." He glanced down at the red scratch on his cheek. "When it comes to you, I can never be rational."

Qiao Li stared at him, speechless.

She felt a strange emotion blossoming within her, a tightening in her chest, a bittersweet ache, unfamiliar and unsettling.

Silence stretched between them.

Logic told Qiao Li she should say something like, "But you should be rational," or "Then you need to change." But in the end, she just turned away, silent.