Zhong Weishi had only eaten a serving of dumplings for breakfast, so he was starving by now. He devoured the food like a ravenous wolf, shoving four or five pieces of meat into his mouth at once. Gu Lizhou didn’t even have time to flip the meat, let alone eat any himself. Even the minced meat was gone before he could touch it.
“Slow down, it’s not a race,” Gu Lizhou said as he added several more chicken wings onto the grill.
Zhong Weishi replied, “It’s fine, my throat’s wide, nothing can get stuck.”
“…” Why did that sound like a drainage pipe?
Halfway through the meal, Zhong Weishi’s phone suddenly rang.
Unknown number.
He answered on speaker.
“Hello, this is Sunshine Real Estate. We’ll soon be launching a new housing development in the west district of Yucheng. Would you be interested in learning more?”
“How big are the units ah?”
“We have 90, 120, and 140 available.”
Zhong Weishi spat out a chicken bone. “Too small la.”
Gu Lizhou let out a snort of laughter.
“Then what size are you looking for?”
“At least around 800 to 900 square meters.”
“We also have standalone villas. Will you be paying by mortgage or in full?”
“Of course in full. I’m not short on cash.”
The young woman, excited by his boldness, asked cheerfully, “Then when would you be available to come take a look?”
“Well, that depends on when I can secure a loan. Do you have any loan services that don’t require collateral?”
Gu Lizhou collapsed onto the table, shoulders shaking with laughter. “Why are you messing with the poor girl?”
Zhong Weishi hung up the phone. “I was just killing time anyway.”
Gu Lizhou thought for a moment and asked, “Do you want a big house?”
“No shit. Who doesn’t?”
Gu Lizhou pressed his lips together, then smugly pointed at his own chest. “I’ve got money. And a big house…” He was about to say, If you want to live there, you can move in anytime, but he didn’t expect Zhong Weishi quickly cut in.
“So what if you have a house? Why are you acting all excited ya? If you really want to show off, be like Qiangzi and go shout under a shopping mall.”
“…” Great. Hot face slapped against a cold ass.
Zhong Weishi poured him another glass of juice. “You gotta stay low-key, got it? Don’t flaunt your wealth. Stop going on about how rich you are, it makes you sound like a nouveau riche. What if one day you run out of money? How embarrassing would that be, right?”
Gu Lizhou rolled his eyes at him. “You were yelling about getting rich at the airport.”
“That was with you, you’re not an outsider. But when you’re out and about, flaunting your wealth like that, what if you get targeted by some criminal gang? Huh? Snatchers on motorbikes grabbing bags, necklaces, and watches. How scary…”
Zhong Weishi went on and on with his chatter, but all Gu Lizhou really heard was that one line: You’re not an outsider.
As he grilled the pork belly, he mumbled under his breath, “It’s not like I show off to anyone else either ah…”
Too bad his voice was too soft and drowned out by the background chatter.
They ended up eating lunch for over an hour. By the time they got back to the apartment, it was already past three. Zhong Weishi bustled around, helping Gu Lizhou unpack and make the bed.
Gu Lizhou’s suitcase was a 30 inches, so massive it looked like he was shipping a washing machine.
At first, unpacking was kind of exciting, especially since it was full of Gu Lizhou’s personal belongings.
Laptop, headphones, tablet, Kindle… Aside from a ton of electronics, there were also all kinds of strange and curious gadgets Zhong Weishi couldn’t even name.
And of course, Gu Lizhou’s underwear…
Apparently, the size was bigger than his own.
That made no sense!
After happily tidying up for 20 minutes, he couldn’t help but start spitting. “Why didn’t you just move your whole house over? What’s with all these clothes? Doing a runway show? Planning to fan your feathers like a peac0ck?”
“I’m planning to live here for a long time and help split the rent,” Gu Lizhou replied casually.
The complaints from inside immediately stopped once these words came out.
Gu Lizhou found it a bit odd and took the cigarette from his mouth. “Why aren’t you saying anything? If you’re tired, take a break. I can finish up myself, it’s not like one more day matters.”
Still no response from inside. When he finished smoking and walked in, Zhong Weishi clapped his hands clean, put his hands on his hips, and said, “I’ve finished organizing everything. But there’s only one wardrobe, so for now your clothes are in my bedroom. Just come get them when you need to change.”
“Oh.” Gu Lizhou stretched out lazily on his bed. “Thanks, you’re so virtuous.”
“Move it, you useless bum.” Zhong Weishi kicked him. “You’re in the way.” With that, he quickly ran off to clean the next room.
Gu Lizhou rolled around on the bed, catching a faint scent of shampoo from the pillow.
He snuggled up to the little dog-shaped cushion on Zhong Weishi’s bed, rubbing against it. The scent, the texture, it was all familiar.
He really wanted to take a nap.
As he yawned again and opened his eyes, he saw someone standing in the doorway.
The person tossed a rag at him and roared, “If you’re going to live together, then act like it! Get over here and help clean!”
“Oh…” Gu Lizhou looked around blankly. “What do you want me to do ah?”
“Do you not have any sense? Sweep the floor! Wipe the tables ah!”
“If you’re staying at my place, then you’ll have to follow the rules. That lazy, upside-down lifestyle of yours has got to change. Housework will be shared, we each wash our own clothes and bedding. There’s a washing machine, after all. If you just eat and slack off all day, you’ll turn into a pig. Also ah, you’re getting up at eight every morning for breakfast…”
Even after getting completely scolded, Young Master Gu didn’t dare show a hint of complaint. He surrendered on the spot. “Okay, no problem.”
He folded the rag into a neat little square and slowly started wiping the table, movements so gentle it was like he was caressing a girl’s skin.
“Oh, come on ya,” Zhong Weishi really couldn’t stand it anymore. “At your pace, how long is this going to take? Watch me.” He snatched the rag away and began wiping down every corner with the speed and precision of a restaurant waiter, getting everything spotless.
“How did you even survive this long, huh? Like this—easy, right? Got it now?”
Gu Lizhou sat on a short stool, his long legs awkwardly folded up like an overgrown kid in kindergarten. He nodded pitifully. “Got it.”
They said they’d clean together, but in the end, almost everything was done by Zhong Weishi.
By the time the room was spotless, the sun was already about to set.
Gu Lizhou ordered two takeout meals, planning to curl up with the little guy on the sofa, eat, and watch a horror movie together.
Just thinking about it felt like heaven on earth.
When the creepy atmosphere of the film built up, Zhong Weishi would get scared and burrow into his arms. That would be his cue to show some masculine charm—cover his ears, tell him not to be afraid, shield him from all the darkness with his body.
“Gege is here!”
His tone had to be gentle but firm, with a kind of self-sacrificing devotion like, I’d give everything for you. He figured yelling at the ghost girl on screen would be a great way to show it.
At that point, Zhong Weishi’s attention would definitely shift from the movie to him, eyes sparkling like stars.
And in that moment of passion, a kiss wouldn’t be out of the question.
Gu Lizhou snapped his fingers, pulled out a pack of gum from his bag, and popped a piece into his mouth.
To ensure the plan would unfold flawlessly, he even messaged Cao Zhiheng on WeChat, specifically telling him not to knock on the door of 301 tonight. Then he switched his phone to silent mode.
With all the preparations in place, Zhong Weishi also received the takeout and walked towards the sofa.
He sat cross-legged, cracked open a bottle of beer, and said boldly, “Let’s eat. Weren’t you hungry? You want beer or liquor?”
Gu Lizhou, chewing gum, said, “I’m not hungry, you eat first. Let’s watch something while we eat, makes it taste better.”
“Sure, I want to watch ‘Unofficial Martial Arts.’” Zhong Weishi mumbled through a mouthful of food.
Gu Lizhou coaxed him patiently, “What’s so good about “Unofficial Martial Arts”? You’ve seen it a million times. Let’s watch a movie.”
“Movies are too long. Let’s watch a variety show. “Brave Rush Rush” it’s perfect with food. I love it when they fall into the water.”
“……” Gu Lizhou scratched his head. Of all things, he hadn’t expected the plan to get stuck at this step. Well, beginnings are always the hardest, no big deal. He just had to try harder. He’d already known that falling in love wasn’t going to be easy.
“Let’s watch a horror movie. One of those with five-star reviews online.” Gu Lizhou glanced at his expression.
Zhong Weishi was too busy devouring a chicken leg to respond. The movie began just like that.
With the curtains drawn, the spooky atmosphere he had envisioned finally took shape.
Since it was urgent, Gu Lizhou randomly picked a Thai horror movie he hadn’t seen before.
The eerie background music sent chills down their spines.
The female lead was about to open the door to a basement.
Suddenly, a terrifying, grotesque face flashed in the mirror behind her. Zhong Weishi dropped his chopsticks and hugged a small throw pillow.
Gu Lizhou silently cheered in his heart “Yes” Everything was progressing in perfect order…
The camera flickered again, and that face was now even closer to the female lead!
This time, Gu Lizhou got a good look at her features. That wasn’t even a face anymore, it looked like a waterlogged corpse ah, that had been soaking for three days, grotesquely bloated, the eyes bloodshot and barely clinging to the skin, mouth and eyes twisted, blood seeping from all seven orifices.
Sometimes the background music was even scarier than the movie itself.
Because with the music, your brain would start conjuring all sorts of terrifying images.
The screen went black, and when it lit up again, that corpse’s face filled two-thirds of the TV screen!
“”Ah ah ah ah ah!” Zhong Weishi screamed in unison with the female lead on screen.
Gu Lizhou was so startled by him that his liver and gall bladder shivered. He went from sitting upright to curling up on the sofa in a flash.
—When watching horror movies, the scariest thing is the person next to you screaming.
It took him a few seconds to recover. He reached out to wrap an arm around Zhong Weishi’s shoulders but just then, a phone rang on the coffee table.
Zhong Weishi paused the movie and picked up. “Wei-ge, what’s up?”
“Weishi, come out for a second and help me with something.”
Gu Lizhou already had a bad feeling the moment he heard that. Sure enough, as soon as Zhong Weishi hung up, he immediately turned off the TV and sprang up from the sofa. “Come on, come on, let’s go make some big money!”
Gu Lizhou clung stubbornly to the throw pillow, curled up on the sofa. “I’m not going! We haven’t even finished the movie! We still don’t know who killed the ghost lady!”
“I did! I killed her, okay?” Zhong Weishi frantically changed his shoes. “I’m heading out to make money now. You can either come with me or keep watching the movie yourself.”
“Where are you going ah?!” Gu Lizhou craned his neck.
“Sell flowers!”
Wei-ge’s family owned a flower shop. They had previously taken on a big order—supplying roses for a wedding. The groom was a nouveau riche in the real estate business, afraid no one would know how rich he was, so he went all out and ordered tens of thousands of roses to decorate the venue for the wedding scheduled for tomorrow.
Who would’ve thought that the day before the wedding, the bride-to-be would suddenly come to her senses and run off with her poor ex-boyfriend, abandoning the wealth and status.
The rich guy was furious but there was nothing he could do about it.
Naturally, the wedding was called off.
But what about those innocent, tender roses?
Wei-ge’s mom said, “They already paid for them. If we throw them out, it’s still a waste. In a couple of days, they’ll wilt. There’s no way we can sell that many in time. Might as well hustle a little and make whatever we can.”
“Sell flowers?” Gu Lizhou was utterly shocked. He pointed at himself and said, “You want me to sell flowers ah? Are you insane!”
“Think about it! Those roses, so beautiful, blooming so perfectly! They were born to be flowers, to blossom for this one moment! And now they’re just going to be tossed into the trash? What meaning does their existence have, huh?”
“…No way, no way, I’m not going.” Gu Lizhou was completely against it.
Yet 30 minutes later, he still ended up at the bustling town square.
—Watching a horror movie alone was just too lonely.
With the Spring Festival approaching, the streets were lively and crowded. To his left was a commercial pedestrian street, to his right a group of elderly women doing square dancing.
And in front of him stood a run-down tricycle that looked wildly out of place in this setting—it was borrowed from A’Wei’s grandmother, and had already been through over a decade of service. He had nearly exhausted himself hauling the roses from the flower shop to this spot with high foot traffic.
The tricycle was filled to the brim with delicate roses in various shades.
There were four men squatting on the side of the tricycle.
They were planning how to sell flowers.
If you switched the setting, this scene could’ve easily been mistaken for the moment last year when they got hauled into the police station after being mistaken for a gang.
When Gu Lizhou showed up, he had no idea things would turn out like this. The image he had of “selling flowers” was something along the lines of standing at the door of a flower shop, maybe helping greet customers, trimming a few thorns off roses or something like that—that was already the limit of what he could accept.
This wasn’t what he had in mind for Valentine’s Day.
The gap between expectation and reality was too wide.
His heart couldn’t quite take it.
Just as Zhong Weishi had guessed, the night before Gu Lizhou returned, he had dressed up deliberately—bought a new outfit, got a fresh hairstyle. At the moment, he was still wearing a pricey, well-fitted cashmere coat, hands in pockets, looking every bit like he was about to walk a runway.
He stood at a distance, staring at the tricycle loaded with flowers, completely unable to bring himself to approach it. It felt just like the time Qiangzi hadn’t had the courage to shout that sentence in the middle of the mall.
But his little friend didn’t care whether he had the courage or not.
“Hey! What are you doing just standing there like a post!? Do you have any sense of teamwork? Hurry up and come over to help yell ah!” Zhong Weishi shouted at him from across the plaza.
“………………”
Translator’s Note: They’re so chaotic, I can’t help but comment