In her dream, a familiar muffled groan sounded, followed by a calm, level-toned “It’s okay” and “Don’t be afraid” laced with labored breathing…
At 5:15 in the morning, Xi Shi woke from the tangled chaos of her dream, her breath coming in short, rapid gasps. It took her a few minutes before she could drag herself out of bed. She ran a hand through her tousled, French-style waves, slipped on her slippers, and padded toward the coffee station.
The rumbling whir of the capsule coffee machine failed to shake off the lingering tremor of her fright.
Sweat clung to her neck, her hairline damp and sticky. Leaning against the sideboard, she gazed out at the floor-to-ceiling window amid the rich aroma of coffee.
The living room curtains were undrawn, and beyond the glass stretched a hazy blue pre-dawn gloom.
The view was somewhat unfamiliar.
Xi Shi had rented this apartment in Jinyue Jingyuan No. 1 Courtyard three weeks earlier.
On the day she signed the contract, she’d worn a long dress beneath a roomy blazer, a bag strap looped over her wrist, red-soled heels clicking with smooth, purposeful strides as she walked alongside the leasing agent dispatched by the real estate services company.
The agent had over a decade of experience and knew the surrounding residential area inside out. On the way to view the property, she’d been extolling the neighborhood’s advantages: convenient transportation, complete amenities, residential utility rates, and several tenants who’d reported good soundproofing, among other selling points.
A slab of gray stone stood in the central landscaped area, carved with the name of the residential complex—Jinyue Jingyuan No. 1 Courtyard.
Xi Shi stared at the calligraphic script, her tone carrying a subtle edge: “I recall this place didn’t used to be called that?”
The agent hurriedly replied, “Miss Xi is a local too?”
Xi Shi hummed in acknowledgment.
The agent smiled and explained that the complex had changed hands after the original developer’s cash flow collapsed, and the new developer had renamed it upon taking over.
There had been some friction between the original homeowners and the developer back then, but that was years ago and long since resolved—no impact whatsoever on current sales or rentals.
Besides, when Jinyue Jingyuan No. 1 Courtyard first launched as off-plan pre-sales, it had positioned itself as a touch of luxury, attracting buyers who couldn’t afford villas but wanted to upgrade their quality of life. The overall environment was still quite good.
The agent continued, “It’s a two-unit-per-floor layout, but the corridor and elevator lobby are quite spacious, and the elevator shaft is a comfortable distance from the security door, so it won’t be noisy.”
Whether out of impatience or something else, Xi Shi merely strode briskly along the flagstone path, lost in thought, showing none of the expectation, scrutiny, wariness, or curiosity one might expect from a prospective tenant.
At the fork in the path, the agent quickly gestured toward Building 6. “It’s this way,” she said, quickening her steps to walk alongside Xi Shi.
The agent stole a glance at Xi Shi, her gaze briefly lingering on that voluminous berry-brown hair. She rubbed her hands together and tactfully steered the conversation toward the unit Xi Shi had specifically requested to see: “Did you look into this apartment before coming, Miss Xi?”
Xi Shi said, “No.”
The agent asked, “Then why did you insist on seeing this one in particular?”
Xi Shi thought for a moment. “It’s close to an acquaintance.”
The agent dreaded showing this unit more than anything, and for good reason:
The owner’s taste was bizarre, and the man was a slob!
The perfectly decent apartment was lived in like a pigsty, and on top of that, he stubbornly refused to lower the rent.
The agent had brought over a dozen interested tenants to view it, and every single one had ultimately walked away.
To be fair, the location was prime—any cleaner listing would’ve been snapped up in no time. The agent had even shelled out of her own pocket to hire cleaners for a thorough scrub just to earn the commission, but still, no one was interested.
And why would they be? Who rents a place without wanting to move in with just a suitcase? Easy, hassle-free, and cost-effective.
But the beauty beside her was dressed with understated taste, a faint fragrance wafting from her as she walked. Her makeup was immaculate, her gait elegant, model-like—hardly the type to have no standards for her living environment.
The agent’s head ached. She had a feeling that the moment this Miss Xi saw the actual state of the place, she’d turn on her heel and march out with her little handbag swinging.
Nervously, the agent punched in the code, pushed open the door, and squeezed her eyes shut at the sight of the appalling pink shag carpet and the purple curtains embroidered with peonies.
She recited mechanically, on autopilot: “As you can see, the views and natural light are excellent. The owner only lived here for less than six months after renovating before going abroad…”
Xi Shi seemed somewhat distracted, tilting her head to look at the security door across the hall.
The agent, terrified that Xi Shi was about to leave, ventured tentatively, “It’s quite spacious inside. Perhaps you’d like to come in and take a look?”
Xi Shi walked in wearing disposable shoe covers, her high heels pressing through the non-woven fabric onto the tangled, knotted shag carpet. She passed the blue faux-fur sofa with its own matted clumps, glanced up at the garish chandelier festooned with cheap plastic ornaments, then retreated to the doorway, braced herself against the doorframe, and peeled the shoe covers off her heels.
The leasing agent thought, expressionless:
Done. For. It.
A new plan began forming in the leasing agent’s mind. Even though Xi Shi had said she was only interested in this particular unit, he still prepared to show the potential client other listings in the same complex.
However, to the leasing agent’s surprise, Xi Shi cast another glance at the security door of the neighbor across the hall, then asked him how soon they could sign the lease and move in.
“The contract can be signed today!”
Standing on the filthy pink shag carpet in his disposable shoe covers, the leasing agent looked like he’d just won eight million. His face lit up immediately as he drove Xi Shi back to the office.
This property was the company’s white elephant. Several colleagues hovered around Xi Shi, terrified she might change her mind.
While contacting the landlord, the leasing agent rubbed his hands together and asked Xi Shi if she had any other requirements—best to communicate with the landlord before signing.
The leasing agent said, “Though the rent might be a…”
Xi Shi carried an air of a queen who brooked no argument: “The rent is no problem. I’d like to replace all the soft furnishings. I wonder if the landlord would agree?”
Of course they should be replaced!
But the landlord might be displeased—after all, he considered himself a person of refined taste and impeccable aesthetics.
“I’ll ask for you.”
The leasing agent had no confidence in his heart. Who knew that when the call went through, the landlord would only ask for the tenant’s surname and, completely out of character, have no objection whatsoever to replacing the soft furnishings.
Maybe having the place sit vacant for months had finally made the landlord see reality?
The landlord was being this easygoing?
And so it was settled.
The agents in the office cheerfully helped prepare the lease contract and photocopies of relevant documents, not forgetting to cozy up to the composed Miss Xi with flattery and sycophancy.
The girl printing the contract said, “The hard finishes of this place are actually clean and simple. Once you toss out those garish soft furnishings, it’ll be like new—just a bit of a hassle.”
It was precisely because of the hassle that no one had rented it!
The girl paused, glanced at her supervisor’s expression, and quietly revised herself, “Actually, it’s really worth the hassle.”
“Yes, yes.”
The leasing agent chimed in while glancing at Xi Shi’s ID card, smiling. “Miss Xi has such a well-chosen name—’The Jing is muddied by the Wei, yet its islets remain clear and bright.'”
Xi Shi showed no reaction to this kind of praise. She tucked a strand of curly hair behind her ear, took the contract and a gel pen, and signed her name.
Replacing the soft furnishings and then moving in was indeed a hassle.
As for the reason she absolutely had to rent this particular unit…
On the afternoon she received the contract, Xi Shi went and knocked on the security door of the neighbor across the hall.
She tried to get close by preemptively informing them that her move would generate noise, but no one answered.
After that, Xi Shi tried knocking at different times of day several more times, but the space behind the security door remained utterly silent.
Xi Shi stared at the security door that didn’t even have a Spring Festival couplet pasted on it, lost in thought.
Later, she stuck a pale orange note on their door, again informing them that she was moving in and might cause disturbance, signing her name and phone number at the bottom.
It took Xi Shi eighteen days to transform the aesthetically disastrous apartment into something she liked, and she’d been living there for three days now—yet the neighbor across the hall had never appeared, and the note she’d stuck on their door remained untouched.
A business trip?
It couldn’t be that they’d coincidentally moved away, could it?
Perhaps because she’d been spending more time lately recalling the past, Xi Shi had been dreaming for the past half month.
Those oppressive, grief-stricken, heart-wrenching, panic-inducing yet utterly real fragments rose and fell alternately in her dreams, restless and turbulent.
But she would always, in the end, dream of the muffled groans and gasping reassurances of a damp, rainy night, gradually calming under the steady tone, and then she would wake.
That was the only rope Xi Shi had to pull herself free from nightmares.
Xi Shi unconsciously raised her right hand and looked at her own pale, clean palm. It took her a few seconds to react before she lowered her hand and let her gaze drift aimlessly over the interior. The scene before her was now completely different from when she’d first stepped into this apartment three weeks ago—
After the matted shag decorations and the aesthetically questionable furniture and lighting were removed, the space had become bright and airy, forming the first strand of Xi Shi’s spiderweb.
The morning air was crisp and cold. Xi Shi took a sip of her coffee, which had already gone lukewarm, and abruptly turned her head at the same moment the sound of the elevator arrived from beyond the security door.
Xi Shi set down her coffee cup and hurried to the entryway. Through the door, she couldn’t hear clearly, but she could still distinguish unhurried footsteps approaching from afar, drawing near at a leisurely pace.
Xi Shi pressed the button on her smart peephole and, in the chill air, clearly saw a back view standing still before the security door just a few meters away.
Completely unlike the figure she had imagined countless times, it was a very tall man. He carried a backpack by a single strap over one shoulder, with broad shoulders and long legs, his back ramrod straight. As he hung his head to punch in the code on the security door lock, a stretch of clean-lined, pale-skinned nape was exposed.
The man took down the note Xi Shi had stuck to the door and glanced at it, seeming to cast a brief look in her direction before pushing open the security door and stepping inside.
After the dull thud of the door closing, the hallway fell silent again.
Xi Shi’s brows gradually knitted together.
Cold wind blew in through the open window, finally dispelling the warmth that the lukewarm coffee had passed to her.
Passing by the sofa, she casually picked up the shawl she had draped over its back the night before and wrapped it around herself, hugging her chilled arms as she recalled the back view and profile she had briefly glimpsed, thinking:
That wasn’t the person she was looking for at all.
Who was he?