Torrential rain poured down, causing dirty water to surge up from the drainage grates and overflow the moss-covered concrete pavement.
A single isolated streetlamp hung in the narrow alley, casting a dim, yellowish glow that dyed the fine threads of rain in gold. Zhong Yu threaded her way through the downpour, her slender figure bounding against the mottled walls plastered with colorful advertisements and posters.
After walking for a moment, she paused and looked back. The luxury car, completely out of place in the old alley, had already vanished like a pumpkin coach disappearing at midnight.
Song You had completely left.
Clutching the handle of her umbrella, Zhong Yu felt a sudden wave of mixed emotions, relief and a sharp ache, surging straight to the bridge of her nose.
Even though this might have been her last chance to see Song You, she had completely messed it up. The atmosphere had been rigid and awkward to the extreme, ending on a sour note.
Yet Song You’s questioning from earlier made her realize instantly that Song You still despised her. Giving her a ride home was merely out of politeness and a matter of convenience, holding no deeper meaning whatsoever.
Her childish fantasy of rekindling an old flame had been nothing more than an illusion. Perhaps the heavens saw how unlucky she was today and offered her a tiny drop of sweetness out of pity.
With a bitter smile, Zhong Yu shook her head and cast those messy thoughts out of her mind.
She lacked the emotional energy to pursue a relationship right now; filling her stomach was far more important.
Zhong Yu navigated the winding, multi-layered staircase, nimbly avoiding piles of debris and cardboard boxes. The surrounding walls were stained yellow, covered in paint advertising various loan services and graffiti left behind by children’s pranks.
She lived on the fourth floor. Her next-door neighbor was an elderly woman living alone whose mental state was somewhat unstable. The elderly woman had a strong fondness for collecting various kinds of garbage and stacking them inside her home, sometimes leftover takeout from others, other times expiring fruits and vegetables.
Whenever Zhong Yu stepped outside, she could often smell a diverse array of rotting stenches drifting from across the hall, frequently coming face-to-face with cockroaches upon lowering her head.
Neighbors upstairs and downstairs had made a fuss over this many times, and the property management had tried persuading her as well. However, the old woman remained stubbornly obsessed; whatever was cleared away today, she would just scavenge back tomorrow.
Zhong Yu had deliberately looked up this type of psychological behavior. It seemed to be a common hoarding compulsion among elderly people living alone. As a casual acquaintance whose relationship was neither close nor distant, she truly had no way to resolve it. She could only keep her front door tightly shut most of the time and spray copious amounts of mosquito repellent inside her home.
The hallway lights flickered on and off. Zhong Yu pulled the keys from her bag and unlocked the door, only to hear a leisurely voice call out from behind her, “Little Yu.”
Turning around, she saw the white-haired elderly woman trembling as she smiled at her, her gaze clouded and hazy.
Zhong Yu let out a soft sound and paused her movements. “What is it, Granny?”
The elderly woman took a breath, her lean, sunken cheeks wrinkling together like a withered, yellow orange, her voice as thin as gossamer, “My stomach hurts.”
Startled, Zhong Yu hurried over. “What is wrong? Should I help you call an ambulance?”
Clutching the wall with a pale face, the old woman groaned continuously. Given the urgency of the situation, Zhong Yu deliberated for a moment and decided to bring her inside her home first to check on her condition.
The old woman’s home was an utter mess, so staying there was out of the question. Zhong Yu opened her apartment door, carefully helped the woman sit on the sofa, and proceeded to ask about her symptoms. Yet the elderly woman could not articulate anything clearly and refused to let her call an ambulance, only murmuring that her stomach hurt.
After thinking for a moment, Zhong Yu asked, “Have you not eaten anything today?”
The old woman nodded hesitatingly, then gripped her sleeve tightly and swallowed, looking like a pleading child.
Sighing softly, Zhong Yu walked into the kitchen, quickly heated up a bento box, and split it in half.
She handed a portion to the elderly woman and spoke in a gentle, soft tone, “As it happens, I have not eaten either. Let us eat together.”
The elderly woman carefully received the bowl and chewed in tiny, slow bites. Perhaps because she had lost all her teeth, she ate very slowly. Her white hair was tangled like wild grass on top of her head, and her clothes were rather thin and stained with grime.
Zhong Yu said, “Eat slowly, there is no rush.”
The elderly woman fumbled inside her pocket and shoved a crumpled ball of paper currency into Zhong Yu’s hand, mumbling incoherently, “Money, giving you money.”
Zhong Yu froze in surprise.
Looking down, she counted the bills. These were mostly small bills the old woman had saved up from selling cardboard boxes and trash; scattered about, they actually added up to over fifty yuan.
“There is no need for this much.” Zhong Yu casually drew out a five-yuan bill, pushed the rest back, and smiled warmly with her eyes curved. “You should not casually give people this much money in the future.”
She was truly striking, her dark eyes as lively and spirited as a cat’s, round, clear, and bright, and her voice was crisp and pleasing to the ear, a sight that naturally brought joy to anyone watching.
The elderly woman obediently let out a soft acknowledgment, staring unblinkingly at her. “So nice, so nice.”
Zhong Yu picked up a piece of luncheon meat for her. “If it tastes good, eat a bit more.”
“Little Yu is so nice,” the old woman said cheerfully, eating until her mouth was gleaming with oil. “Why does Little Yu live all by herself?”
Having moved in a few months ago, this was actually the first time she was chatting with a neighbor. Zhong Yu deftly helped wipe the old woman’s face and spoke casually, “My mom is in the hospital, and my dad passed away. I came out on my own to work and earn money.”
“That sounds so hard,” the old woman clicked her tongue in lamentation, patting Zhong Yu’s shoulder with a warm, withered palm. “Good child, good child.”
Then, like an elder showing concern, she asked, “Do you have a partner?”
“Not yet, I do not have the energy for that.”
“That is fine, take your time looking. Men are all unreliable.”
Zhong Yu smiled, looking at her openly. “Granny, I do not like men.”
The old woman paused, her eyes widening. After a long moment, she muttered in a low voice, “That is a tough road to walk.”
“You sound just like my mom,” Zhong Yu blinked.
Shaking her head and sighing with a complex expression, the old woman remained silent for a long time. Assuming that elderly people could not accept such a lifestyle, Zhong Yu stopped speaking.
The two of them finished their meal in silence. After walking the old woman back to her apartment across the hall, Zhong Yu returned to the living room. A faint, strange odor belonging to the elderly woman still lingered in the thirty-square-meter apartment.
Zhong Yu opened the window for ventilation. The rain was gradually easing, and slanted threads of rain drifted into the room, prompting her to close the window slightly as she admired the dark night sky divided by utility wires for a while.
After taking a shower in her room, the strange smell had completely dissipated.
Pouring herself a glass of warm water, she collapsed onto the sofa, her slender fingers pinching the bridge of her nose as her mind drifted into a blank state.
The world was dead silent, save for the distant, muffled calls of birds and the loud sound of a drunkard vomiting in the distance. Closing her eyes, exhaustion and confusion followed one after another.
In truth, Zhong Yu hated letting herself stay idle; idleness made her prone to overthinking, and the more she thought, the more she felt that her future, just like this messy neighborhood, could be seen through completely from a single glance.
In the first half of her life, she had grown up surrounded by praise, flowers, and applause. Her friends often joked with a smile that perhaps God favored her, as her future shone so brightly it kept people awake, and she had everything she wanted while still so young.
Yet the heavens loved playing tricks on Zhong Yu, taking back everything she owned one by one.
She had long since learned not to hold expectations; any tiny shred of positive feedback came with immense difficulty.
Rolling over, Zhong Yu suddenly felt something brush against her leg. She sat up straight and looked down.
Huh?
Sitting up and lifting the thin sofa cushion, she saw a dirty, crumpled ten-yuan bill hidden beneath it.
Wreathed in hot white steam rising from the water glass, the mist drifted softly into Zhong Yu’s eyes.
Gripping the bill tightly, Zhong Yu stood speechless.
Suddenly, she missed her mom a little.
The housekeeper knocked on the study door. “Miss Song.”
Lifting her head from the desk, Song You wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses over her porcelain-white face, her pitch-black curly hair pinned behind her ears, carrying a somewhat languid posture.
Holding her phone in one hand with a calm expression, she said, “Come in.”
The housekeeper walked inside carrying a fruit platter and took a few steps forward before hearing a loud shriek echoing from Song You’s phone: “What? You ran into Zhong Yu!”
“Pure coincidence.”
Without changing her expression, Song You held the phone a bit further away from her ear.
“Really? How can it be such a coincidence?” Ning Youxia ground her teeth. “Tell me the truth, is that heartless bitch trying to win you back and deliberately flirting with you?”
“She is not.”
Ning Youxia’s voice grew even louder, flustered and exasperated, “Then could it be that you ran over there to flirt with her instead?”
Unfazed by the secret dramas of high society, the housekeeper stepped out quickly and closed the door with utmost care.
“Passing by on the way, just a chance encounter,” Song You said. “Polaris Entertainment needs me to show up in person to sign a contract.”
The Polaris Group had extensive business operations spanning both domestic and international markets, though its headquarters remained in the country. Polaris Entertainment was a newly established subsidiary under the group.
“Oh,” Ning Youxia’s tone softened gradually. “I thought so. How could you possibly make a special trip just to see her? A good horse never turns back to graze on old pasture.”
Song You did not answer, lowering her gaze to flip through the documents on her desk.
Ning Youxia continued, “I heard you are planning to sign Pei Sixue?”
Pei Sixue was a newly rising breakout idol actress, known for her sweet and lovely appearance. Having played the female lead in several hit historical romance dramas, she was currently at the height of her popularity. Industry rumors claimed that her decision not to renew her contract with her previous agency was because Polaris Entertainment was willing to pay a massive sum to sign her.
“Who said that?”
“Well, gossip floating around on Douban groups.”
“Pay less attention to those unfounded rumors,” Song You said lazily, her fingertips casually moving Pei Sixue’s document aside. “It is not her turn.”
“So it is fake? That woman really knows how to build hype for herself,” Ning Youxia sighed. “I have watched her shows. She looks quite endearing, but her acting is just average, a pure vase.”
Song You hummed softly in agreement, using a toothpick to pick up a translucent segment of a mandarin orange and gently biting down as the sweet-and-sour juices rolled across the tip of her tongue.
Adding fuel to the fire, Ning Youxia remarked, “Still, when it comes to the number one vase in the domestic entertainment industry, it has to be your heartless ex-girlfriend.”
Song You’s movements paused. She turned the second document to the next page and silently stared at the photograph printed on the paper.
It appeared to be a paparazzi spy shot taken from a news report.
The young girl was wearing a wrinkled bar uniform with a tall, slender physique. Looking back toward the camera with her dark hair draped over her shoulders, her pretty face was as pale as paper, her red lips trembled slightly, and her eyes held a look of terror.
Even captured through such a blurry lens, she remained overwhelmingly eye-catching.
Right at the bottom, a massive red headline stood out prominently.
[Shocking! Former top-tier national first love reduced to working street-side odd jobs; rumors say many have spotted her in bars, convenience stores, restaurants, and other places, leaving people sighing.]
Ning Youxia’s voice shattered her silence. “You, have you figured out who you are going to sign?”
Song You abruptly bit into the orange segment, juice splashing in all directions, leaving a strange, astringent taste behind.
Her slender fingertips gently brushed over the girl’s reddened eye corners, rubbing back and forth with moderate pressure, her voice muttered and indistinct, “I already have someone in mind.”