The living room converted into an art studio had two doors.
One door led to the other living room, while the other led directly into Xuan Congnan’s bedroom.
Near the door opening to the living room was a large, square window facing south. The curtains were the color of the deep sea, adorned with two cute dolphins leaping out of the water to bathe in the moonlight.
Xuan Congnan could easily imagine how wonderful the natural lighting must be here during the day.
The entire west wall featured a floor-to-ceiling cabinet made of fine timber. However, it wasn’t meant for books here; it was clearly designed solely to hold Xuan Congnan’s various painting supplies and tools.
A lazy sofa, a coffee table, a rosewood desk. Xuan Congnan couldn’t identify the names of every single piece of furniture, but he knew everything was fully provided.
The east and north walls displayed three oil paintings, predominantly in shades of blue.
Xuan Congnan liked this place immensely.
“Renovating all this must have taken quite a bit of time,” he remarked.
“Half a month,” Gu Shi said.
Xuan Congnan looked surprised. “So all those days you went out to work, you were actually busy with this?”
“Mm,” Gu Shi replied.
“Didn’t it delay your important business?”
Gu Shi shook his head. “It didn’t.”
The bedroom curtains were left undrawn, allowing the colorful lights of the cityscape to filter inside.
Stepping directly in from the art studio, Xuan Congnan walked over to the window, stood still, and gazed abstractedly at the brightly lit city center. “The view here is exceptionally nice.”
“Mm,” Gu Shi agreed.
“A large room with a window,” Xuan Congnan murmured, as if talking to himself.
Each of the bedrooms had an en-suite bathroom, and there was an independent kitchen right beside the large living room.
Everything was convenient.
“Where are you off to?” Zhuoyajun asked with disbelief as she watched Xuan Congnan haul all his belongings out of that room, which could only be called a storage closet and load them onto a vehicle parked by the entrance. “Can that rental of yours even fit all of that?”
The sun was shining brightly. Xuan Congnan placed a box of gouache paper he had previously bought in a group purchase onto the back seat. Being in a good mood, he replied, “It fits.”
Zhuoyajun was wearing a short-sleeved top and shorts in a designer outfit today. She wanted to stop Xuan Congnan from moving things, but her body instinctively backed far away, afraid of getting dirty. “Stay away from me. If you smudge this, selling you wouldn’t cover the cost.”
“You have legs, walk further away,” Xuan Congnan said. “Thanks for cooperating.”
Xuan Ye wasn’t around; he was probably off drinking and gambling somewhere again.
With the summer break not yet here, Xuan Zhuoyao didn’t come home often either.
Last time Xuan Zhuoyao had barged into Xuan Congnan’s rental place, he hadn’t known what had happened at home and was still able to speak “peacefully” with Xuan Congnan. But he must have called and kept in contact with Zhuoyajun since then to learn the truth, because he hadn’t sought Xuan Congnan out ever since.
“With this kind of setup, anyone passing by would think you’re never coming back,” Zhuoyajun said. “Do you still want your mother’s paintings?”
Xuan Congnan packed his last few new paintbrushes into his backpack and said, “You keep them safe, since I can’t find where they are anyway. If my mother’s paintings go missing, I’ll burn your house down.”
“You!” Zhuoyajun’s expression shifted slightly, and she let out a cold snort. “Ha! Talking about having emotional detachment disorder when you were a kid, if anyone else were as cold-hearted as you, cold-hearted enough to want to set fire to their aunt and uncle’s house, the world would have ended and humanity would have gone extinct ages ago! Your father really went out of his mind, dragging you to so many hospitals. Did he ever think that you’re just like your mother?”
“What right do you have to talk about my parents?” Xuan Congnan retorted.
“I have no right, but you’re the only one who does,” Zhuoyajun said with a smile. “Would they have died if it weren’t for you? It’s good that you’re leaving now, saves you from jinxing your aunt and uncle after finishing off your dad and mom. I still want to live a couple more years.”
Before leaving, Xuan Congnan brushed his arm against Zhuoyajun’s and said amiably, “I’ve already cursed you. No need to thank me.”
Furious, Zhuoyajun hurriedly slapped the arm that had been touched, as if she really had been cursed.
Gu Shi had gone out to work, leaving the apartment empty.
With the help of the movers, Xuan Congnan brought his things up to the art studio, thanked them, paid the fee, and then tidied up on his own.
The space was quickly filled. Xuan Congnan stood in the middle, looking around, and gave a very faint smile.
Even though he would only live here for two months, he would cherish every single day to the utmost.
Buzz.
Scavenger: [Picture]
Scavenger: Today’s lunch on the job isn’t very good.
Scavenger: Remember to eat.
His flatmate was so considerate that Xuan Congnan felt a little embarrassed.
Living in the apartment Gu Shi rented and staying in the art studio Gu Shi had hired people to remodel, Xuan Congnan unconsciously began accommodating every aspect of Gu Shi’s life without realizing it.
Xuan Congnan: I know.
Scavenger: Don’t just eat plain noodles. I’m ordering takeout for you.
Xuan Congnan replied: I’ll order it myself.
A minute later, Scavenger: Ordered.
Xuan Congnan: “…”
Xuan Congnan earnestly typed out: Thank you, Gu Shi.
Scavenger: Mm.
His backpack contained a sketchbook. While waiting for lunch to be delivered, Xuan Congnan pulled out the sketchbook and flipped through it page by page. Many of them were quick sketches of scenery, along with a few stray cats and dogs, and only a single sketch blending a human figure with a night view.
Their first meeting on May 20th.
Gu Shi was sitting by the flower bed, looking up at the moon. He had said at the time that he was waiting for the moon.
What a strange person.
After thinking for a moment, Xuan Congnan opened a shopping app and grudgingly bought two high-end brand T-shirts in pure white.
They cost him 980 yuan.
That wiped out two months of his previous rent right there.
After placing the order, Xuan Congnan quietly justified it to himself: “I’m not stingy. I’ve got plenty of money.”
Having moved to a new address, he never heard anyone knocking on his door in the middle of the night again, and Gu Shi no longer had to grievance himself by sleeping on that narrow, one-meter-two bed in the living room.
That bed had only been bought a month ago and was practically brand new, so Xuan Congnan hadn’t had the heart to throw it away and had hauled it over from his old rental.
With enough rooms and beds in the new home, the one-meter-two bed ended up being placed in the art studio to serve as Xuan Congnan’s temporary resting spot. If he got tired from painting, he could lie down on it for a quick nap, even though he could just walk right back into his bedroom by pushing open a door.
Summer vacation was about three weeks away, and Xuan Congnan had already accepted a job as an art tutor for two junior high school students, ready to start teaching once the break began. Gu Shi wasn’t all that busy; Xuan Congnan noticed he often worked three days and rested two, spending two days saying he had no work and then resting three days at home. Yet online, Xuan Congnan saw people fiercely debating whether he was working or not.
Many people claimed Gu Shi’s manager wouldn’t let him work and even wanted to freeze his career.
Clearly, Gu Shi used to be a workaholic who found it as agonizing as death not to appear on screen for a single day, but now no one could find him anywhere. Something fishy was going on.
Xuan Congnan felt something was fishy too.
Stealing a glance up from his phone screen, he looked at Gu Shi cooking dinner in the kitchen. He exuded such strong husband-material vibes.
Xuan Congnan froze, finding his own thoughts inexplicably odd.
Still, he really wanted to ask Gu Shi what was actually going on. Could something have truly gone wrong with his work, and was his manager trying to freeze him? Xuan Congnan had looked up the term online and knew what it meant.
Then again, someone who had worked for years, gained wealth and fame, and suddenly decided to take a break out of nowhere was plausible enough. For now, Xuan Congnan was eating Gu Shi’s food, living in Gu Shi’s space, and sleeping on Gu Shi’s beds… Closing his phone, Xuan Congnan stopped worrying about it; whether Gu Shi wanted to work or not was up to him. As long as he was happy.
“Congnan,” Gu Shi called out.
Xuan Congnan had just plucked a grape from the fruit bowl and replied upon hearing him, “Hm?”
“We’re out of salt,” Gu Shi glanced back at him. “There’s a new pack in the storage cabinet above the refrigerator. Can you grab it for me?”
Xuan Congnan plucked another grape into his mouth and said, “Oh, sure.”
“What are you making?” He opened the cabinet, handed the salt over, and peered forward from behind him.
Gu Shi shifted his body slightly to give him a clearer view. “Crucian carp and tofu soup.”
“Smells amazing,” Xuan Congnan said. “Do you often cook at home?”
“Not really,” Gu Shi said. “There’s a housekeeper at home.”
“As long as you didn’t have to live through hard times,” Xuan Congnan remarked.
Gu Shi covered the pot to simmer and said, “I used to pick through trash when I was a kid.”
His facial features were sharp, and his expressions weren’t exactly rich, a fact Xuan Congnan had confirmed after sharing an apartment with him for over a month. So delivering such a deadpan joke caught Xuan Congnan off guard.
“Not funny?” Gu Shi asked.
Xuan Congnan kept a straight face. “Haha.”
Gu Shi laughed first.
This time, Xuan Congnan couldn’t hold back and let out a chuckle. “You…”
“What?”
“You’re a good guy,” Xuan Congnan said.
Gu Shi reverted to his expressionless look and replied, “Oh.”
“I won’t be back tomorrow noon,” Xuan Congnan said. “Just letting you know.”
“Tomorrow is the weekend,” Gu Shi noted.
“Mm,” Xuan Congnan said. “Vacation is coming up soon, so I found a job. Tomorrow I’m going to go meet the students and get acquainted.”
The fragrant aroma of the crucian carp and tofu soup filled the kitchen and living room as Gu Shi lifted the lid. “Alright.”
Summer brought frequent rains, and rainy days often came with thunderstorms.
There wasn’t a single star in the night sky, and the wind carried moisture as it swept across the city. It had been overcast all night, but the rain hadn’t fallen yet.
The city looked gray and overcast by day, though quite cool. Xuan Congnan went out wearing a wine-red long-sleeved shirt and dark jeans. Fearing puddles if it rained, he had worn a pair of high-top canvas shoes.
“Take an umbrella.” Gu Shi was fully dressed in formal wear since he had work today, and he reminded Xuan Congnan as he fastened his cuff links.
After changing his shoes, Xuan Congnan grabbed a transparent umbrella from the umbrella stand behind the door and said, “I brought one. You take one too.”
“Okay,” Gu Shi said.
His first student was a boy, thirteen years old, just starting his first year of junior high. His parents noticed he liked drawing things on paper and decided to hire a tutor.
The boy was very smart; Xuan Congnan only needed to explain things once for many concepts, and he had plenty of ideas of his own.
Whenever the boy expressed his own train of thought, Xuan Congnan never interrupted, letting him naturally discover his unique personal style.
When leaving, he learned that the boy wanted to take the art-student college entrance examinations in the future, so Xuan Congnan advised him, “Having your own style is good, but you can’t be too quirky during exams. Exams require rules and exquisite technique; the examiners look at solid drawing foundations.”
The boy was modest and immediately said, “I’ll study properly with Teacher from now on.”
His morning session with the first student went smoothly, and feeling very good about it, Xuan Congnan went to meet his second student in the afternoon.
This was a girl, something he had already known before chatting with her parents. She was eleven years old, a highly intelligent girl who had skipped grades from the fifth and first years to become an eighth-grader this year.
Her parents had gently warned him in advance that their daughter had an eccentric personality and was always quiet, doing little besides studying and drawing. Moreover, many of the things she drew didn’t look like the work of a ten-year-old child; she was like a flower that had bloomed prematurely.
Even before meeting the girl, Xuan Congnan had a suspicion that she might have autism, collectively known as children of the stars.
“You’re not very old yourself. If you feel you can’t manage teaching her, it’s fine, just tell us directly,” the girl’s parents said.
“It’s fine, I can teach her. My mother was like this when she was young,” Xuan Congnan replied.
The girl’s drawing style was unique and didn’t follow conventional steps, making her currently unsuited for the standard art-student exam track.
However, her parents mentioned they hadn’t intended for her to take that route anyway. The girl excelled academically, consistently ranking first in her entire school, and taking the art track would be a waste.
Drawing was simply her outlet to vent the completely different worlds she saw with her eyes and sketched in her heart.
Both students were wonderful and exceptional. Xuan Congnan agreed with both sets of parents to start lessons as soon as vacation began.
A drizzle began to fall from the sky, and Xuan Congnan opened his umbrella and stepped into the curtain of rain.
He rather liked rainy days. The street wasn’t far from home, so he didn’t call a cab and walked back instead.
As he passed the university gates, someone called out, “Xuan Congnan!”
Looking over, he saw Xuan Zhuoyao sheltering from the rain under the eaves of a store. “I went to your rental place to look for you! You moved?!”
Xuan Congnan couldn’t walk away because Xuan Zhuoyao was already running toward him.
“Painted any new artwork?” Xuan Congnan asked. “Let me see if it’s ugly.”
“Stop talking trash!” Xuan Zhuoyao said, gritting his teeth. “I haven’t settled accounts with you yet for making my mom and dad fight.”
“They’ve been fighting for twenty years, and I only lived at your house for ten. You’re blaming that on me too?” Xuan Congnan said.
“I can’t argue with you! I’ve got serious business with you today,” Xuan Zhuoyao said.
“I don’t want to hear about your business.”
With that, Xuan Congnan bypassed him to leave, but Xuan Zhuoyao chased after him. “Xuan Congnan, you should have told me your boyfriend is so rich earlier. If I knew, my mom and dad wouldn’t have tried to make you marry President Zhang—though I think that guy surnamed Zhang is pretty ugly too.”
Sensing something was off, Xuan Congnan shot him a strange look.
At that moment, a figure appeared before him, standing in the rain holding a black umbrella.
Shen Qian.
Frowning deeply, Xuan Congnan glared at Xuan Zhuoyao with hostile eyes.
Xuan Zhuoyao lifted his chin. “Your boyfriend gave me one hundred thousand yuan, and I brought him to find you.”
“You two have a nice long chat now, I’m heading out.” Showing a rare stroke of consideration, he vanished quickly. “See you next time, Mr. Shen!”
Xuan Congnan didn’t move, but Shen Qian, as if afraid he would run off and hide again, strode forward and grabbed him.
“Nannan,” he said softly. “Let’s talk.”
Xuan Congnan shook off his hand, still standing still, and said in an icy tone, “We certainly do need to talk.”
At nine o’clock that evening, Gu Shi returned home. The living room lights were off, the art studio lights were off, and even the light in Xuan Congnan’s bedroom was unlit.
The place was completely empty.
He sent a message to Xuan Congnan asking when he would be home, but received no reply.
At 9:06 PM, Gu Shi put on his cap and face mask and went out to look for Xuan Congnan.