Qian Xiaoke said he would sleep, but he was woken up after a short sleep.
The tenants in the partitioned room across from him started quarrelling for some unknown reason, and it seemed like they even got into a fight.
Qian Xiaoke, being timid, didn’t dare go watch the commotion. He curled up on his bed, trembling, with his ears perked up, listening to the noise.
The argument outside was pretty intense, and it really sounded like it had turned physical. After a long while, Qian Xiaoke heard the people outside finally leave, and the world became quiet again. He let out a sigh of relief. Only then did he remember that he hadn’t eaten dinner yet.
He moved to the window and realised he didn’t feel very hungry. Thinking to himself: Forget it, I won’t eat. Skipping dinner will save me money.
In the end, he felt so hungry.
This must be fate, he thought—fate destined him to go hungry, and he couldn’t escape it.
Qian Xiaoke stretched his body, took his mobile phone, keys and coin purse and went downstairs.
The coin purse was shaped like a fluffy little dog’s head, and it was super cute. He had bought it from a street vendor outside the apartment complex for ten yuan and liked it very much.
It was almost completely dark outside. He jogged downstairs, planning to buy a bag of sliced bread—eight slices per bag. If he rationed it, eating two slices each evening, it would last him four days.
Qian Xiaoke felt that he was really good at budgeting!
He walked downstairs and walked out of the community.
Recently, every time it got dark, there would be stalls downstairs. On one side were food vendors selling skewers and other snacks, while on the other were stalls selling small goods. Business seemed pretty good for all of them.
Qian Xiaoke even considered setting up a stall himself. After all, he had plenty of free time after work. Using that time to make extra money seemed like a great idea.
But he was the kind of person who thought a lot but acted little. When it came to actually doing it, he worried about everything—fearing that if he stocked up on goods and couldn’t sell them, all his money would be tied up.
Because of this, he had not been able to successfully ‘start a business’ until now.
Qian Xiaoke walked along the path to the convenience store, looked around at the things people were selling, asked about the prices, and did a simple market research.
After finishing his ‘research’, Qian Xiaoke went to buy bread. When paying, he took out a few one-yuan and fifty-cent coins from his small coin purse, counted them carefully, and handed them to the cashier.
When he came out, he smelled the aroma of barbecue all the way, and his mouth was drooling.
Not wanting to embarrass himself, Qian Xiaoke trotted home.
But then he got a fright.
As they all knew, group renting was illegal. Qian Xiaoke always thought that theirs should be considered a group renting. Even if it wasn’t exactly ‘group’ housing, it was at least an unauthorised structure.
In short, it was illegal.
He lived in constant fear, worried that something would happen and his rent money would go to waste. Just the other day, during the Zhou Mo incident, he had been at home when he heard someone knocking on the door, saying they were from the police station. He was so scared he stayed inside and didn’t dare go out.
At this moment, he came back with bread. He just went out of the stairwell and saw two uniformed policemen standing at his door knocking.
Qian Xiaoke was startled and forgot to breathe while standing at the stairs.
Seeing him coming, one of the police asked, “Do you live here?”
“No!” Qian Xiaoke panicked and answered while backing away, “I live next door. I forgot to bring my keys. I’m going to ask my partner for the keys. Goodbye, police uncle!”
With that, he turned and ran, first heading upstairs, then realising that wasn’t right, so he turned and ran downstairs instead.
Qian Xiaoke ran out of the community with his head down and ran directly into someone’s arms.
Jiang Tongyan said, “What the hell?”
Qian Xiaoke’s body trembled, and he looked up and said, “Why are you here?”
Of course, he deliberately strolled here.
Jiang Tongyan felt uncomfortable lying in the hotel, took a shower, and was so anxious that he simply went out for a walk.
This walk brought him here.
He had heard Qian Xiaoke mention the neighbourhood’s name before, so he knew that this guy lived there but didn’t expect to meet him.
When he just came over, he saw Qian Xiaoke running around like a headless fly from a distance. It was better to bump into him than others, so he walked over quickly and blocked him. Just like that, Qian Xiaoke ‘threw himself into his arms’.
“Why can’t I be here?” Jiang Tongyan said confidently, “Is this road yours? Do I need your permission to come here?”
Qian Xiaoke said ‘Uh’ and then looked back guiltily.
“Is there really a ghost chasing you?” Jiang Tongyan stood there and smiled at him jokingly.
Qian Xiaoke raised his hand and made a ‘hush’ gesture, trying to slip away like a thief.
In the end, before he could slip away, he watched the two policemen come out.
Qian Xiaoke panicked and suddenly had an idea. He took Jiang Tongyan’s arm and said delicately, “Honey! I forgot to bring my keys!”
His words were crisp and sweet, and Jiang Tongyan was stunned.
“Ah?” Jiang Tongyan looked at him with a question mark on his head.
Qian Xiaoke had an innocent look on his face, “Husband, you came back too late today. I’ve been waiting for you for a long time.”
He dragged Jiang Tongyan into the neighbourhood, and when the two policemen passed by them, he whispered, “Husband, what are we going to eat tonight?”
The two policemen looked at him, looked at each other, and left expressionlessly.
Qian Xiaoke dragged Jiang Tongyan into the neighbourhood quickly, pulled him to a corner, and made sure that the two policemen could not see them, then let go of his hand and breathed a long sigh of relief.
Jiang Tongyan saw a little bit of the doorway, squinted his eyes, and folded his hands in front of his chest, “Qian Xiaoke, did you do anything illegal?”
“No!” Qian Xiaoke was still panicking.
He was a coward since he was a child. Not to mention breaking the law, he didn’t dare to wear two red scarves when the teacher asked him to wear one at school. This time, he had truly strayed into trouble and gotten scammed!
Qian Xiaoke said, “Keep your voice down, don’t let anyone hear you.”
“If you’re not guilty, what are you afraid of?” Jiang Tongyan said, “Hurry up and confess, or I’ll take you to the police station now!”
“… Can you be quiet for a while?” Qian Xiaoke was scared to death. This guy was still making trouble here.
“Then tell me what’s going on.” Jiang Tongyan teased him deliberately, “I’m your husband. What dare you hide from your husband?”
“Why are you so shameless?” Qian Xiaoke muttered, “Whose husband are you?”
“Who just now? You called me husband so sweetly that I choked,” Jiang Tongyan poked him on the forehead, “Qian Xiaoke, you’re really something.”
“Of course, I’m amazing!”
“I mean, you’re really good at scamming people.”
Qian Xiaoke snorted and turned to go home.
How could Jiang Tongyan let him go like this? He raised his hand and hugged him back by the neck.
“What? Where are you going? Without your husband?”
“I don’t have a husband like you,” Qian Xiaoke said, “I’ll find a husband who’s ready to go hard at a moment’s notice.”
Jiang Tongyan was hurt again.
The result of his injury was that he relentlessly tormented Qian Xiaoke.
His method of torment? Forcing Qian Xiaoke to accompany him on walks.
Jiang Tongyan didn’t need to say much. One simple line was enough, “Walk with me or I’ll go complain to Cheng Sen and tell him that you assaulted me this afternoon just to avoid going back to work at the office.”
Qian Xiaoke thought Jiang Tongyan had absolutely no sense of shame—he could come up with the most indecent things imaginable.
Helplessly, he had to accompany him.
But then again, he really didn’t want to go home now, and he was a little afraid, for fear that the two policemen would come back and catch him.
It was too scary.
So, he simply accompanied Jiang Tongyan for a walk around the neighbourhood, and on the way, he inspected the street vendors’ business.
Jiang Tongyan said, “Seriously, tell me, what did you do wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why did you run when you saw the police?”
Qian Xiaoke was so aggrieved that he looked up to the sky and howled and then told Jiang Tongyan about his miserable experience of renting a house.
When he told the story, he spoke as if his heart was breaking—full of tears and wails, almost like a lament in song. He wanted Jiang Tongyan to understand how difficult life was for poor, struggling people like him, so that he would stop making things difficult in the future.
As a result, Jiang Tongyan frowned after listening and said after a long time, “Qian Xiaoke, you really are a bit of an idiot.”
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