Qian Xiaoke really was a good person.
Not just a good person but also a good man.
He sat up in bed and turned to look at Jiang Tongyan, who was lying there, staring blankly at the ceiling with lifeless eyes.
What joy is there in life, and what sorrow is there in death?
This phrase was written all over Jiang Tongyan’s face.
“Chairman Jiang,” Qian Xiaoke patted him gently through the quilt, “Take your time; some things can’t be rushed.”
Jiang Tongyan really didn’t want to listen to him, so he pulled the quilt over his head.
What a pitiful sight.
As a man, he couldn’t get hard, which was really one of the most pitiful things in the world.
Qian Xiaoke was not a heartless person, and he also shared some responsibility for this. Seeing Jiang Tongyan abandoning himself like this, he couldn’t bear it.
“Chairman Jiang, don’t be like this.” Qian Xiaoke turned over and lay on top of Jiang Tongyan through the quilt. “Really, trust me. Your illness is probably just caused by too much stress. Relax, and you’ll be fine.”
Qian Xiaoke suddenly had an idea and slapped Jiang Tongyan.
He slapped Jiang Tongyan so hard that he almost killed him.
“I had an idea!” Qian Xiaoke said excitedly, “I had an idea of how to make you relax!”
Jiang Tongyan peeked out from under the quilt and asked in a muffled voice, “What?”
“Next time I touch you, I’ll tell you a joke.” Qian Xiaoke said, “You will naturally relax when you smile.”
Jiang Tongyan knew that he should not have any expectations of this kid.
“Are you just going to tell jokes like the one about swatting flies?” Jiang Tongyan’s right eyelid twitched. “Why don’t you just drop dead? I’d feel more relaxed if you were gone.”
“…That won’t work.” Qian Xiaoke said, “I haven’t lived enough.”
Jiang Tongyan sneered, looked at him, and then suddenly realised that this kid was actually lying on top of him comfortably at this moment.
How to say it… If it weren’t for the rather awkward predicament they were both in right now, this might have been a heartwarming moment.
But the problem was, there was no if.
Qian Xiaoke said thoughtfully, “If you don’t like that joke, I’ll watch some more and find other ones for you. Don’t be so grumpy all the time. I think your inability to get hard might have something to do with your bad temper.”
“Cut it out,” Jiang Tongyan said, “It’s all your fault.”
“Part of it,” Qian Xiaoke lay on him and sighed, “But it’s also because you’re just not trying hard enough.”
After saying that, he realised that he had said the wrong thing again.
Qian Xiaoke glanced at Jiang Tongyan from the corner of his eye, and Jiang Tongyan said, “You will piss me off sooner or later.”
Seeing that he had no intention of getting angry, Qian Xiaoke chuckled, “JUst kidding.”
Qian Xiaoke straightened up and got off the bed.
Jiang Tongyan watched as he bent over nakedly to pick up the clothes that were thrown on the floor and felt something stirred in him.
However, for him now, this impulse was very painful.
Qian Xiaoke picked up the clothes and put them on, and suddenly remembered that he had not done his business yet. After all, he returned to find Jiang Tongyan, not to save the dying and the wounded, but to get a receipt.
“Chairman Jiang,” Qian Xiaoke said, “Can I reach into your pants pocket for a second?”
Jiang Tongyan froze, clutching the quilt tightly as he looked at Qian Xiaoke with wary eyes.
He didn’t hear it clearly just now and heard ‘trouser pocket’ as ‘crotch’.
It stung a little.
Even if he couldn’t get it up right now, that didn’t mean this punk could assault him!
“What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Nothing’s wrong! I just want to grab something from your pocket.” Qian Xiaoke was a little frustrated because he found that it was already too late.
By the time he got back to the office, the finance department would likely have gone home, so he would not be able to get his money tonight.
If he couldn’t get his money, he would feel uneasy, and if he felt uneasy, he would be in a bad mood.
This matter was all Jiang Tongyan’s fault. He might have gotten the money if Jiang Tongyan hadn’t dragged him.
“Take it.” Jiang Tongyan said, “Find it yourself.”
After he finished speaking, he added, “Go wash your hands first, don’t dirty my pants.”
Qian Xiaoke pouted, “My hands are full of your smell. Do you even dislike yourself?”
He muttered in a low voice, and Jiang Tongyan didn’t hear it clearly.
Qian Xiaoke got the receipt as he wished. He then put the trousers away like a treasure. He figured it was almost quitting time anyway, and since his home was closer, he might as well skip the office and head straight home.
He dressed neatly and prepared to leave.
Jiang Tongyan was still lying in bed, looking depressed. After Qian Xiaoke left, he slowly stood up like an old man who was about to die.
Very depressing.
Jiang Tongyan took his phone and looked at the calendar. He decided to make an appointment with a psychologist after returning to New York.
=========
Qian Xiaoke went home.
It was not yet six o’clock when he got home, a little earlier than his usual time to get off work.
The hallway was pitch black when he entered his rented apartment.
The place he rented made people very depressed. In hindsight, he might have been swindled to some extent.
Back then, Qian Xiaoke was in a hurry to find a new place because the landlord of his previous apartment suddenly wanted it back. At the time, Qian Xiaoke didn’t know any better—he had no idea he could use legal means to protect his rights. Naively, when the landlord told him to move out within three days, he panicked and immediately started searching for a new place.
Because he was in a hurry, he was careless. Later, Qian Xiaoke also suffered from his carelessness.
At the time, to save on agency fees, he chose a small, unknown rental agency.
Normally, agency fees were equivalent to one month’s rent, but this agency only charged half a month’s rent.
Half a month!
So, Qian Xiaoke signed the contract immediately after seeing the house.
It was a three-bedroom unit, and the monthly rent for the second bedroom he chose was 1,500 yuan. The room was fairly spacious, though the window was a bit small. But that didn’t matter—what was important was that it was both spacious and cheap.
The apartment was vacant at the time, with no tenants. The agent had assured him, “It’s a three-bedroom unit meant for three people, all young men. The other two tenants are from neighbouring cities and rarely come to stay. Don’t worry, this apartment is great.”
Qian Xiaoke nodded repeatedly, thinking that he had picked up a treasure, so after signing the contract, he happily prepared to move.
The day after Qian Xiaoke moved in, the residents of the other two rooms also moved in, but it was a little different from what the agent said. The two rooms were all occupied by couples, so originally, there were three people living in them, but in the end, there were five people living in them.
Couples were couples, and five people were five people—Qian Xiaoke tolerated it.
But he never could have imagined that this was just the beginning.
One unremarkable Wednesday, everything seemed normal when he left in the morning. But when he returned in the evening, he thought he had walked into the wrong apartment.
The original living room had disappeared, and as soon as he opened the door, there was a small dark corridor where the living room should have been made into two small partitioned bedrooms.
Qian Xiaoke was shocked.
Before he could reach out to the agency for clarification, the two cubicles were already occupied. The three-bedroom, one-living room, one-bathroom apartment had been transformed into a five-bedroom, no-living-room, one-bathroom unit. The number of residents had also increased from the original three to seven or eight people.
Why ‘seven or eight’? Because one of the guys living in a partitioned cubicle often brought people over—different genders, all unfamiliar faces, and never the same person twice. It left Qian Xiaoke completely dumbfounded.
When he finally reacted and wanted to contact the agent, he couldn’t get in touch. The unscrupulous agent had evaporated, and none of them who lived here had the landlord’s contact information.
At the time, he had paid three months’ rent upfront as a deposit, so even if he had to grit his teeth and endure it, he was determined to stay for at least that quarter.
Moreover, even if he moved out later, he knew he wouldn’t get his deposit back, which made him feel even more upset.
Qian Xiaoke had to pay for his carelessness and could only live there.
He walked along the dark corridor to his bedroom. When he unlocked the bedroom, he heard the sound of ‘umm, ah, ahng, hnn’ coming from the partition again, which made his ears burn.
He quickly opened the door, entered the house, and closed the door.
Qian Xiaoke sighed deeply, put down his things, and lay on the bed thinking about what part-time job he should do to make back the lost deposit. There was still more than a month left for the three months to be over. He estimated that he would have to move anyway. With the current housing prices, renting a house is so expensive!
He turned over and glanced at the receipt.
When Qian Xiaoke saw the receipt, he subconsciously thought of Jiang Tongyan.
It’s good to be rich.
Rich people could stay in a VIP suite in a five-star hotel for more than a thousand yuan a night, and the price of one night was almost as much as his monthly rent.
Qian Xiaoke pulled the quilt over his face and decided to sleep first.
Dreams could have anything in them.
Muscular men.
And money.
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