At two in the morning, the light in the bedroom was still on.
Xuan Congnan painted the final stroke, stretched his stiff limbs, and looked at his work with satisfactionand was even more pleased with the price it had fetched.
Having happily finalized the price, he told Gu Shi, “You go ahead and sleep. I’ll finish this sunset glow for you tonight.”
Gu Shi wasn’t in a hurry. “You can finish it tomorrow.”
“I’m full of inspiration right now, I can finish it in no time,” Xuan Congnan insisted firmly.
With that, he carefully carried the easel back into his bedroom, then came back out to bring in his brushes, paints, and everything else. After going back and forth a few times, he said before closing the door, “Good night, Gu Shi.”
Two seconds later, he pulled the door open again, politely lingering in the living room to find something to do with himself. “I forgot only my room has a bathroom. You go wash up first. Hurry.”
When he came out after washing, Gu Shi was wearing his pajamas and returned the courtesy: “Good night, Congnan.”
With 52,000 yuan added to his WeChat balance, Xuan Congnan felt like he was dreaming.
Glancing through the locked bedroom door toward the living room where the lights had been turned off long ago, Gu Shi was sleeping on the one-meter-two-wide bed out there. Xuan Congnan whispered happily, “Talk about a rich, foolish 250.”
His new phone was fantastic. Xuan Congnan snapped photo after photo of his painting and, in a rare move, posted to his WeChat Moments.
Hidden from everyone, visible only to himself.
Nannan doesn’t find it hard: Sunset glow, money tree. [Picture]
The wave of excitement was hard to shake off tonight, so Xuan Congnan fiddled with his phone, downloading apps like Weibo and Douyin. He registered accounts where he didn’t have them, and for the ones he did, he followed Gu Shi.
He followed only him.
“It’s painted. Once it’s completely dry, you can take it home and hang it up.” In the morning, Xuan Congnan returned from his morning run carrying two portions of breakfast.
“Mm, no rush,” Gu Shi said.
“Come eat,” Xuan Congnan said.
“Alright,” Gu Shi replied.
Xuan Congnan suddenly asked out of curiosity, “Why did you set the price of this painting at 52,000?”
“To give to my lover in the future. That number is special.”
The aroma of pork buns was mouthwatering, and since Xuan Congnan loved meat, he picked one up. “You’re going to give a lover a painting worth 800?”
“It’s worth 52,000 now.”
“Fair enough.”
“Do you have work today?” Xuan Congnan asked.
“No.” Gu Shi gently poked a straw into the lid of his cup. Holding a cup of congee, he paused in thought for a moment before answering, “It’s not that I lack career ambition, it’s just that I happen to have nothing today.”
“Mm,” Xuan Congnan said, biting into a pork bun and sipping his pumpkin and millet congee. “After eating, I’ll take the easel back to the art studio and stay there for the noon hours. You shouldn’t go out if you don’t have work. I’ll lock the door from the outside so that if anyone comes by, they’ll know I’m not here.”
“Afraid your ex-boyfriend will come looking for you again?” Gu Shi asked.
Xuan Congnan didn’t deny it. “Mm.”
“Okay.” After a brief pause, Gu Shi asked, “Are you going to stay at the studio the whole afternoon?”
“Mm, all my stuff is there, paints, drawing paper, and all that,” Xuan Congnan said.
“Can’t you paint at home?” Gu Shi asked.
Xuan Congnan shook his head, pointing at some of the paints he had brought back yesterday. “They’re not complete.”
“Why don’t you bring everything back? Or keep another set here to use,” Gu Shi asked.
Xuan Congnan gave him a strange look, his finger shifting from the paints to encompass the entire apartment. “There’s too little space here. When we paint, we use a lot of tools. We leave things out of place, even messy, there’s just no room for it.”
“Mm,” Gu Shi acknowledged, pressing his lips together.
He ate slowly, with very good table manners. Xuan Congnan waited for him, completely unhurried and calm.
“Congnan,” Gu Shi said.
“Hm?” Xuan Congnan picked up another bun; watching Gu Shi eat made him feel like he hadn’t eaten enough.
Gu Shi asked, “Are you only living here right now?”
“No,” Xuan Congnan said. “I occasionally go back to stay at my uncle’s place.”
“When your cousin came over last time, I got the feeling your relationship wasn’t very good.” Gu Shi hesitated, unsure whether he should bring it up.
Xuan Congnan nodded indifferently. “It’s pretty terrible.”
Gu Shi naturally continued, “You moved out to rent your own place, so why do you still go back?”
Having finished his third bun, Xuan Congnan was full. He used a tissue to wipe his hands and mouth, saying, “The rent here is cheaper, but the security is average, and I’m afraid things will get stolen. My pendant was left at my uncle’s place and I didn’t bring it with me, so naturally I have to go back for it.”
Gu Shi glanced at his neck. It was completely bare.
Yet on the first day they met, there had been a black cord around his neck.
“Is the pendant expensive?” Gu Shi asked.
“It’s not worth much, but it’s very important to me,” Xuan Congnan said.
Important enough that he didn’t dare wear it around his neck every day for fear of losing it.
“You.”
Bang, bang, bang!
Xuan Congnan paused, turning sharply toward the front door.
Gu Shi frowned. “Your ex-boyfriend?”
Xuan Congnan pressed his lips together. “Probably not.”
“Xuan Congnan! Open the door!”
The overlapping of two voices verified Xuan Congnan’s guess down to the second.
He stood up, grabbed Gu Shi’s arm, and pushed him toward the bedroom. “Go in. Lock the door. She might force her way in, don’t let her see you.”
Gu Shi grabbed him back. “Should we call the police?”
“No need,” Xuan Congnan said, shutting Gu Shi inside the bedroom. “I can handle it.”
The moment the door opened, a pale, vicious slap came swinging fiercely through the air. Xuan Congnan hurriedly stepped back and pulled the door shut just in time. That hand unluckily got caught in the crack of the door, and a miserable scream instantly pierced the air.
“Auntie, are you alright?” Xuan Congnan asked from behind a door that was opened just wide enough to show a sliver of space.
Zhuoyajun looked down at her stinging palms and the back of her hand, where a red mark had broken the skin. “You dare jam my hand?! Get out here and talk!”
“Your words aren’t imperial decrees,” Xuan Congnan said.
“Then I’m coming in!” With that, Zhuoyajun hunched her shoulder and lunged forward to ram the door.
Xuan Congnan glanced out into the hallway. “You came by yourself. You don’t have enough strength for that, you’ll just tire yourself out.”
Having offended President Zhang at home last time, Xuan Ye didn’t dare vent his frustration on the big shot, so he took it out on Zhuoyajun instead.
Xuan Congnan had been waiting for this day. It had taken half a month for her to show up, and coming at this late hour, Xuan Congnan couldn’t think of any other reason.
He looked at Zhuoyajun’s face. Her makeup was exquisite, hiding the fact that she was a middle-aged woman past forty. With a blank expression, she guessed, “Xuan Ye hit you in the face, didn’t he? The swelling just went down? Otherwise you would’ve come sooner.”
Zhuoyajun’s expression changed. “How dare you!”
Xuan Congnan frowned. “You’re so noisy.”
“I didn’t come here today to settle scores with you. The family is out of money. Hand it over,” Zhuoyajun demanded, holding out her hand imperiously.
Xuan Congnan slowly looked over Zhuoyajun’s outfit. “You’re wearing hundreds of thousands worth of clothes, and you’re asking me for money? Have you no shame?”
“Oh,” he added as a statement of fact, “could it be they’re rented?”
Glaring at him, Zhuoyajun said viciously, “If you don’t give it to me, I’ll go make a scene at your school gates. Your uncle and I raised you for ten years, and this is how unfilial you’re going to be?”
Making a public scene would inevitably draw bad publicity regardless of right and wrong; onlookers only cared for the spectacle, not the truth.
“Go ahead,” Xuan Congnan made a motion as if to grab his phone. “Then I’ll call the police right now. When my parents passed away, they left me twenty million in assets. You two have been my legal guardians for the past ten years, and I can legally inherit my property now that I’m an adult.”
He held out his hand, looking prettier and more resilient than Zhuoyajun’s. “Pay up.”
“You.” Zhuoyajun said anxiously.
“Afraid the police will make you return my money?” Xuan Congnan asked.
Zhuoyajun said maliciously, “The moment I get home, I’ll burn your mother’s paintings so you won’t even have a last glance left of them.”
Voices easily echoed in the hallway. Even though Zhuoyajun had lowered her volume after calming down, two families in the long corridor still opened their doors and complained, “You were arguing half the night yesterday, and you’re still fighting now.”
One person asked, “Xiao Xuan, is someone harassing you again? Do you need help?”
“No need, uncle, thank you,” Xuan Congnan nodded to the person directly across from him and watched as he closed his door.
From an unknown doorway, a faint mutter drifted out: “No power, no influence, and good-looking to boot, such a combination is a sin. Something’s bound to go wrong sooner or later.”
Xuan Congnan looked at Zhuoyajun and asked calmly, “How much?”
“I know you don’t have much money. Give me fifty thousand,” Zhuoyajun’s tone improved quite a bit as she lowered her head to admire her freshly done manicure.
“You know I don’t have much money,” Xuan Congnan said. “Five hundred.”
Zhuoyajun raged, “Are you trying to brush off a beggar?! Forty thousand!”
“A thousand,” Xuan Congnan said expressionlessly. “Since we can’t agree, you can go home and burn my mother’s paintings, and I’ll call the police to make you pay back the money.”
When transferring the money, Zhuoyajun stared死死 at his phone. “You even changed your phone, and you’re telling me you have no money?”
“I stole this. You can call the police and have me arrested.”
Zhuoyajun choked, falling silent.
Before leaving, she said, “President Zhang has his heart set on having you. You’d better prepare yourself well for marriage.”
Xuan Congnan closed the door to shut out the stray dog. “I wish you and Xuan Ye a happy divorce. I wish you and President Zhang a happy wedding.”
Zhuoyajun shrieked in rage down in the stairwell.
There were a few classmates in the art studio. After nodding in greeting, Xuan Congnan silently carried his easel back to his old spot by the window.
Buzz.
Scavenger: Congnan.
Scavenger: Did you go to the studio? Why did you rush out so suddenly?
Scavenger: I’m sorry, I should have helped.
Scavenger: Can you talk to me?
Zhuoyajun’s appearance had been within Xuan Congnan’s expectations, but today’s clash still left him feeling rather upset.
He wanted his mother’s final painting before she passed, but he could never find it.
Xuan Ye and Zhuoyajun had hidden it away.
Xuan Congnan wasn’t good at dealing with people when he was in a bad mood, fearing he might take it out on Gu Shi or be subjected to Gu Shi’s questions. Hearing a sound from the bedroom door earlier, Xuan Congnan hadn’t even looked back—he had just picked up his easel and bolted.
Gu Shi had sent several messages; by the time he reached the studio, the latest one was “Can you talk to me?”
To have a flatmate turn out like Gu Shi was truly top-tier qualification.
Xuan Congnan: With a face like yours, actually coming out would only have caused me more trouble.
Scavenger: Sorry.
Xuan Congnan: It has nothing to do with you.
Xuan Congnan: I’m painting.
Scavenger: Okay.
After that, he seemed to vanish, giving Xuan Congnan more than enough peace and quiet.
Time drifted by. When he bought food and brought it home at noon, Gu Shi didn’t ask a single question, which made Xuan Congnan feel much more at ease.
Shen Qian would still come to school, but whenever Xuan Congnan caught sight of him from afar, he would take a wide detour to avoid him.
In the middle of the month, Xuan Congnan found this unstable life thoroughly exhausting and, for the first time, seriously considered moving to a different place.
In stark contrast to the dilapidated style of the rundown neighborhood where he lived, a high-rise directly across the street was an apartment complex that had undergone redevelopment years ago. Now it was clean, orderly, beautiful, and cozy.
Most importantly, the security was good; outsiders weren’t allowed in without being residents. You needed a keycard.
When he first moved out as a freshman, Xuan Congnan had looked up the prices: buying a home cost 12,000 yuan per square meter.
Renting an apartment cost 1,800 yuan a month.
450 versus 1,800.
Xuan Congnan sighed.
“Congnan,” Gu Shi called out the moment he stepped inside.
Having shared an apartment for nearly a month, Xuan Congnan was long accustomed to seeing Gu Shi as soon as he opened the door. “You have no work again?”
Gu Shi said in a low voice, “I finished what I had on my hands these past few days. My manager is negotiating new projects.”
He was holding a document in his hand. “Come look at this.”
Xuan Congnan walked over and asked, “What is it?”
Today was June 19th. The day after tomorrow would mark a full month since Gu Shi had moved in here.
They wouldn’t be flatmates anymore.
“Can I renew the lease?” Gu Shi asked.
“Hm?”
Xuan Congnan furrowed his brows slightly.
Gu Shi was wonderful; having lived here for so long, he had never once brought him any trouble and had even helped him earn a lot of money. But Gu Shi was an actor—a top-tier traffic star in the entertainment industry and Xuan Congnan didn’t want to stay perpetually entangled with someone like that.
“This is a new place I found. We can move there,” Gu Shi said, placing the document in his hand onto the table.
It was a residential lease agreement.
“It’s not far, right across the street.” He looked at Xuan Congnan with slight nervousness. “It’s a three-bedroom, two-living-room layout. The bedroom space is limited, but the living room is larger. So one of the living rooms has been converted into an art studio. All your things can fit in there. Whenever you want to paint, you can just go in there; you won’t need to go to the school’s studio anymore. It’s not very safe for you here, so moving to a better place is safer.”
Xuan Congnan stared blankly at the contract.
The rent was 3,500 a month.
“I’ll only charge you 450 for the rent,” Gu Shi said immediately, “and I’ll still pay you 20,000 a month for sharing the apartment.”
Xuan Congnan was almost at a loss for words. “You know how much my rent is? And you’re still paying me twenty thousand?”
“It’s worth twenty thousand,” Gu Shi pushed the contract a bit closer to Xuan Congnan. “Sharing a place with someone in my profession takes a certain kind of courage to begin with. It’s me who’s causing you trouble.”
Xuan Congnan said, “You can go live there by yourself.”
“I want to live with you,” Gu Shi said.
Xuan Congnan raised his eyes to look at Gu Shi, his gaze carrying questions and faint surprise.
Gu Shi lowered his gaze. “The place is ready, and the art studio has already been remodeled. It’s too late to back out now. If we don’t go live there, it’ll go to waste.”
The curtains in the living room were undrawn, allowing them to see the brightly lit apartment building directly across the street. Xuan Congnan gazed longingly at it for a moment before pulling his gaze back to ask, “How long do you want to renew the lease for?”
“Half a year.” Gu Shi looked at Xuan Congnan’s expression and corrected himself, “If you think that’s too long, two months to start with is fine.”
Sixty days should be enough to shake off Shen Qian.
“Then two months,” Xuan Congnan said. “Rent paid monthly.”
“Alright,” Gu Shi said instantly.
As he transferred the money on his phone, he said, “I’ll send you next month’s rent first.”
Buzz. [‘Scavenger’ transferred 20,070 yuan to you]
“You transferred too much,” Xuan Congnan said.
“Sorry, I typed the wrong number,” Gu Shi said. “Just transfer the rent and the extra money back to me.”
“Okay,” Xuan Congnan said.
450 + 70 =
Xuan Congnan froze, lifted his eyes to look at Gu Shi, and transferred the money back to him.