After his self-reflection, Gu Qiu’s dao heart was very steady.
Faced with Qin Zhiyi’s rather flirtatious words, he put on an expression of complete indifference.
However, Qin Zhiyi had only done it to test his attitude toward her, and since she had already expected the result, she didn’t mind much.
Just as the conversation was about to fall flat, she tightened her grip on her phone, ready to continue the topic.
But at that moment, Cui Jianguo pushed the door open and came in.
He swept his gaze around the room, and it finally landed on Qin Zhiyi.
“Teacher Qin, I just saw you running through the rain. I wanted to give you an umbrella, but no matter how much I called, you wouldn’t stop!”
“From now on, if you get caught in the rain without an umbrella, don’t panic. The security booth and the parking lot both have disposable raincoats.”
“You’ve just arrived and aren’t familiar with anything yet. If something comes up, you can ask in the group chat first.”
Qin Zhiyi gave a slight nod in response.
Then, as if she had thought of something, she asked:
“Teacher Cui, the place I’m renting is too far from the school, so commuting isn’t very convenient. Are there any vacancies in the teacher’s apartment?”
Cui Jianguo answered at once:
“Yes, there are plenty of empty rooms in Apartment Building No. 2!”
“Later, go to the third floor of the comprehensive building and find Teacher Zheng, who manages the apartments. He’ll arrange it for you.”
“Okay, thank you, Teacher Cui.”
Qin Zhiyi thanked him politely.
At the same time, when Gu Qiu heard “Apartment Building No. 2,” he froze.
When he looked up again, he suddenly met Qin Zhiyi’s starlit eyes, which were hiding a hint of amusement, and a bad feeling rose in his heart.
…
Evening.
The rain had already stopped, but there were still quite a few puddles on the campus paths.
Gu Qiu tried to avoid them under the glow of the streetlights, but he still stepped into one by accident.
After teaching four evening classes in a row, he was already exhausted and just wanted to go home and lie down, so he couldn’t be bothered anymore and kept walking with long strides.
But when he reached the apartment building, Gu Qiu remembered that he still had to climb five floors, and he let out a helpless sigh.
“I heard a teacher suggested last week that they install an elevator in the cafeteria. If they’ve got that much spare cash, why not think about the teacher’s apartment and the student dormitories first?”
“No wonder the students all say the school likes to spend money on the wrong end of the knife!”
He grumbled inwardly, and as if to vent his frustration, his footsteps on the stairs grew heavier.
He kept climbing until the third floor, and only then, either because he was tired or because he realized it would disturb other people resting, did he finally return to normal.
But just as he lightened his steps, he heard faint sounds coming from upstairs.
In an instant, Gu Qiu’s exhaustion vanished, replaced by suspicion and alertness.
At present, only two households lived on the fourth floor and above.
One was his own; the other belonged to a middle-aged physics teacher.
But that teacher had been sent to another school for an exchange just two days ago, for a period of two weeks, so there was no way he could be back at this time!
Still, the school had surveillance cameras everywhere, and its security work was excellent, so it generally shouldn’t be on a thief’s radar.
Gu Qiu paused in place. After hesitating for a long time, he finally gathered his courage and planned to go up and see what was going on.
But mindful of his own safety, he didn’t forget to take out his phone, dial 110 in advance, and pick up a broken broom from the corner of the stairwell.
Soon, Gu Qiu tiptoed up to the fourth floor.
It was worth mentioning that the school’s plan to install sound-activated lights in the stairwells had not yet been implemented. Otherwise, if something were accidentally triggered, it might very well alert the intruder!
But because of that, the faint sound from earlier now echoed even more clearly through the stairwell, adding a touch of horror to the atmosphere.
However, the source of the sound was obviously still upstairs.
Gu Qiu let out a soft breath of stale air and muttered to himself.
“Is it coming for me?”
Then, gritting his teeth, he gathered his courage and went up to the fifth floor in one burst.
Standing at the top of the stairs, he could see light spilling from the corridor on the left.
Gu Qiu had thought the little thief was bold enough to turn on the lights while stealing, but after secretly peeking around the corner, he discovered that the lit room wasn’t his own, but the one across the hall.
Unlike other floors, which could house four households, the fifth floor had only two because it was connected to the balcony.
Previously, because there was no elevator, many people had prioritized lower floors, and with so many vacant rooms available, the unit across from him had always been empty. So what was going on today?
Realizing there was no thief in the building, he tossed the broom aside, turned off his phone screen and put it in his pocket, and walked over with curiosity.
Many boxes were piled up in the hallway, but they were all stacked against the side of 502, while 501, where Gu Qiu lived, was completely unaffected.
He stopped at the doorway and was just about to look up when he happened to run into Qin Zhiyi coming out.
He shuddered all over and quickly stepped back two paces.
“Qin Zhiyi!”
Qin Zhiyi had long known that Gu Qiu lived across from her, but now she deliberately played dumb and showed a look of pleasant surprise.
“A-Qiu?”
“What are you doing here?”
Gu Qiu looked at her suspiciously.
“Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that?”
“Why are you here?”
Qin Zhiyi raised a hand and pointed inside.
“This is the residence the school assigned to me!”
“You’ve got a full schedule of classes tonight, so you must be very tired. You don’t need to help me, just go back and rest!”
Gu Qiu stared into Qin Zhiyi’s eyes, trying to catch traces of lies, but whether it was because her acting was too good or the lighting was poor, he couldn’t see anything at all, so he could only keep pressing:
“You really don’t know who lives across from you?”
Qin Zhiyi shook her head calmly.
“I don’t.”
“I heard that the fifth floor only had two units, and it was connected to a large terrace. It wasn’t just quiet; you could also sun yourself when you had nothing to do, so I chose it right away. It was only when I came over this afternoon that I found out someone lived across from me!”
“By the way, A-Qiu, why are you asking that? Could it be…”
She paused, then revealed a pleasantly surprised look.
“Could it be that you live here?”
Gu Qiu didn’t make a sound, which was his tacit agreement.
Then Qin Zhiyi became excited and said with a smile:
“See? I told you we were meant to be!”
Gu Qiu, however, remained calm and unconcerned.
He still suspected that Qin Zhiyi had deliberately chosen the unit across from his. After all, the look this woman had given him this morning when she was talking with Director Cui about housing had been a little off.
But without proof, he couldn’t say anything more. Otherwise, if she really hadn’t meant anything by it, wouldn’t he seem incredibly self-absorbed?
While he was thinking, Qin Zhiyi had already continued moving her things.
The cardboard boxes contained quite a lot of stuff and looked heavy, so she was having a hard time carrying them.
Seeing that, Gu Qiu was about to ask whether she needed help, but he suddenly remembered that in his previous life, whenever they bought new things for the house or replaced old items, they often moved boxes much larger than these, and yet it was almost always him handling them alone. Qin Zhiyi rarely even asked.
Thinking of that, the words on the tip of his tongue changed into:
“With so much stuff, why didn’t you just have the movers carry it in for you?”
“I didn’t hire movers!”
“It only looks like a lot; there really isn’t much. I made two trips in my car and brought it all over!”
Hearing that, Gu Qiu’s expression tightened.
“You moved all these bags yourself?”
“Mm-hmm!”
Qin Zhiyi gave a slight nod and sent him a gentle smile.
She made it sound easy, but only she knew that her feet, which didn’t exercise much, had already developed blisters from going up and down the stairs.
However, she didn’t want Gu Qiu to worry, and she also wanted to see just how exhausting these little things that she had ignored in her previous life really were when done for real.
Gu Qiu stood frozen in place, staring blankly at Qin Zhiyi as she went in and out.
She really did seem different now!