The following day at noon.

Gu Lizhou woke up from a nap in the hotel’s big bed and lazily glanced at his phone with two unread messages.

[Cao Zhiheng]: When are you coming over today? I’ve already tidied up the room for you. It’s the one by the balcony.

[Cao Zhiheng]: I need to head to the film set first, so I might be home late. The key is under the green flower pot outside the balcony, stuck with transparent tape. Clean yourself up and wait for me on the bed. [Sassy whoosh.jpg]

Gu Lizhou replied “stupid”.

With no one around and nothing to do, Gu Lizhou bonelessly lay on the bed, ordered takeout, and watched a documentary while he ate.

It wasn’t until three o’clock in the afternoon, when the hotel called to ask if he wanted to extend his stay or check out, that he remembered he had to check out.

He hadn’t planned to stay long anyway, so he didn’t have much luggage. He finished packing in about ten minutes and dragged his luggage to the hotel entrance to hail a taxi.

The trip from the hotel to the Lanshan Apartments in Xicheng District took over an hour.

It wasn’t far, but the traffic was terrible; he had to wait through three or four red lights before he could get through.

As he sat in the car, the sun shining down made him drowsy. He watched the army of electric bikes and bicycles whizzing past and felt utterly helpless.

He finally realized why Cao Zhiheng said he didn’t want to drive.

When he got out of the car, he caught a whiff of takoyaki.

A granny pushed a stall cart by a flower bed, with two young girls waiting nearby.

The cart looked pretty simple, and on it, there was a crooked A4 paper sign that read: 10 yuan a serving.

Gu Lizhou suddenly recalled the image of the black tank top wolfing down takoyaki last night. He crossed the road and ordered a serving for himself.

The two girls, who had been busy taking pictures of the old woman’s takoyaki, instinctively turned to look when they heard his voice. Once they did, they found it hard to look away and shared a sly smile.

Granny was quite old and slow in her movements. In just a few minutes, the crowd around her grew larger, and it took a while for her to prepare two servings.

“What sauce do you want?” The granny looked up at him.

“Any cheese?” Gu Li Zhou asked.

“What?” The granny looked at him.

“Cheese.” Gu Lizhou gestured with his hand, “The yellow kind that can stretch.”

The granny nodded calmly and smoothly squeezed out a stringy salad dressing. “Is it like this?”

Gu Lizhou was taken aback. “Ah, yes…”

Maybe it was because he was hungry, but he found the takoyaki quite tasty and finished it in one go while sitting by the flower bed.

As he approached the entrance of the apartment building, he heard a girl’s voice calling “handsome brother” from behind.

He didn’t feel like turning around.

How embarrassing it would’ve been if he wasn’t being called.

“Handsome brother! Hey! The one in the white shirt! Wait!” The girl’s voice grew closer.

Gu Lizhou looked down at his t-shirt.

White.

So he turned around and recognized that it was the two girls who had been in line with him for the takoyaki.

“I’ve been calling you for half a day la, why didn’t you answer?” One of the girls was pushing his suitcase.

Only then did Gu Lizhou realize he had left his luggage at the granny’s stall.

Spending all day lazing around really brought him a step closer to dementia.

After thanking them, Gu Lizhou sighed and turned to the apartment.

The Lanshan Apartments had a concave design, with two stairway entrances located at the ends of the concave shape. Each floor housed twelve households, though only a few were currently occupied.

To reach Cao Zhiheng’s place, Gu Lizhou had to pass by three households.

301 was at the end of the corridor.

As he went upstairs, he instinctively glanced at the door; it was closed.

On the balcony, a T-shirt and a light gray pair of underwear were hanging. The underwear had a yellow cartoon chick printed on it, with an eggshell perched on top of the chick’s head.

What a damn taste.

Before long, Cao Zhiheng returned home carrying a bunch of fresh fruits and vegetables.

While changing his shoes, he shouted, “Yo, look at you, so well-behaved. Waiting at home for me, huh? I’ll make you braised pork for dinner tonight. Do you like that?”

“Whatever, I’ll eat whatever you make.”

“Would you eat poop?” Cao Zhiheng carried the vegetables into the kitchen.

“Old Cao.” Gu Lizhou peeled a banana. “You’re a grown man now; can you stop bringing up shit and urine? Do you have the nerve to say such things in front of your girlfriend?”

“Of course not.” Cao Zhiheng laughed. “But our relationship is special, isn’t it?”

“Scram.” Gu Lizhou took a bite of the banana.

“I won’t. I want to annoy you to death,” Cao Zhiheng shouted from the kitchen. “What are you standing there for? Don’t you have eyesight? Come over and wash the vegetables.”

Gu Lizhou had never done much housework in his life, but being a guest in someone else’s home meant he had to contribute in some way; otherwise, it would be unreasonable.

He couldn’t wash vegetables; he was afraid of bugs.

He couldn’t peel potatoes, he’s never done it before.

When he tried to rinse rice, he accidentally spilled it, prompting Cao Zhiheng to say “roll” at him several times. He rolled away as if relieved.

When it was time to eat, Gu Lizhou was idly wandering in the hallway when he saw the granny who had sold him takoyaki earlier locking her cart at the bottom of the stairs. She was slowly making her way toward the hallway.

“It’s you,” The granny recognized him. “You live here too?”

“Mn,” Gu Lizhou nodded, ”I just moved here today.”

As the granny climbed the stairs, her bag tore, and apples scattered all over the floor. Gu Lizhou hurriedly turned on his phone’s flashlight and went down to help.

“Ai, I don’t know what’s wrong with this light, it’s always broken. I can hardly see anything,” The granny said, using her clothing to gather the apples. After counting them, she added, “Thanks for your help ah. Here, take a couple to try. They’re crunchy and sweet.”

“Thank you.” Gu Lizhou smiled.

When Zhong Weishi returned home, he was surprised to find that the hallway light, which had been broken for a long time, was now working.

He wondered which god did this.

While collecting clothes, he heard laughter coming from the direction of apartment 303.

“Is it that funny?” Gu Lizhou squinted at Cao Zhiheng, whose face was shaking from laughter. “Can’t you think from another perspective?”

“Seriously, your mom is something else. She got scammed out of over 300,000 just like that?” Cao Zhiheng continued to laugh.

“Ghost knows. She’s never been the sharpest tool in the shed, and she insisted on learning to do business,” Gu Lizhou said.

“Then you persuade her ah.” Cao Zhiheng said.

“Persuading is useless,” Gu Lizhou replied, picking up a piece of braised pork. “She’s just idle. Whatever, when she loses all her money, she’ll stop playing.”

“Since you’re so free, why don’t you start a little café business?” Cao Zhiheng suggested.

“I’m just not cut out for business…”

As he spoke, Gu Lizhou faintly heard a “thump-thump-thump” noise coming from the hallway outside.

It had been going on for a while and was quite disturbing.

“What’s that noise? Are there children living on this floor?” Gu Lizhou asked.

“Oh, that kid from 301 is practicing martial arts,” Cao Zhiheng said casually. “Just some exercise before dinner.”

“Practicing?” Gu Lizhou paused, recalling that he had been told that person never trained.

Little liar.

Besides playing eunuchs and corpses, Zhong Weishi also occasionally took on stunt double roles.

Stunt double paid better than actors.

In order to increase his physical strength, he often worked out at home.

Just then, he had been tumbling over ten times in the empty hallway, doing flips from 301 to the door of 306.

He had started walking on his hands, attempting to get back to 301. However, halfway through, he suddenly spotted a familiar face in his line of sight.

That person had a lit cigarette hanging from his mouth and was looking down at him with a smile.

In that brief moment when their eyes met, Zhong Weishi’s elbow gave way, and he almost fell face-first onto the floor.

“fvck.” Zhong Weishi stood up and looked up at him. He wasn’t sure if it was because he was embarrassed after being caught or because he had been tumbling around for a long time, his cheeks and the roots of his ears were flushed red. “What are you looking at?”

“Why did you stop?” Gu Lizhou replied, his words slightly muffled by the cigarette still in his mouth, leaning casually against the doorframe. His relaxed posture made him look like an audience member watching a show.

Zhong Weishi wasn’t particularly familiar with the people in this building, but he had exchanged greetings with them.

At first, everyone would look at him twice, but after seeing him perform a few times, they got used to it. No one paid him any mind, so suddenly having someone stare at him made him feel inexplicably shy.

The main reason was that this person possessed a certain aura that felt out of place in Xicheng District, making Zhong Weishi feel like his gaze was mocking him.

Zhong Weishi didn’t reply and walked straight toward 301.

Gu Lizhou pinched the cigarette between his fingers, softening his tone but maintaining his lazy demeanor. “I’m asking you, why aren’t you saying anything?”

“None of your business.” Zhong Weishi glanced back at him. “You’re not paying for a ticket, so why should I let you watch for free ah?”

Even though this man shamelessly claimed to be his employer yesterday, he didn’t acknowledge it.

Aside from the matter of finding Er’Gou, they had no relationship, and it was even worse than being strangers.

The grudge from the tattoo was too deep to reconcile!

“Such a big temper?” Gu Lizhou stepped closer to the balcony and shook off some ash. “How much for that performance? How much would it take to see it again?”

Zhong Weishi: “…”

Though it had been his idea to bring it up, he felt that the line wasn’t quite appropriate.

Noticing he stood still and was silent, Gu Lizhou took out a small change from his pocket. “50. Is that enough?”

Was a man’s pride only worth 50 yuan!

Zhong Weishi hesitated for half a second, then did two cartwheels on the spot and snatched the money from him.