The next day, Gu Lizhou was still lying in bed dreaming, when he heard a burst of laughter and chatter outside.

The soundproofing in old buildings like Lanshan Apartments was terrible, and the laughter penetrated the walls like a construction drill, echoing non-stop.

It felt like thousands of flies buzzing around, and Gu Lizhou was immediately furious. He wanted to see which idiots were causing the noise.

The moment he opened the door, the laughter in the hallway abruptly stopped.

Four heads looked at him in unison.

“What’s all this noise? It’s early in the morning—can’t you let people get some sleep!” Gu Lizhou frowned and growled, noticing there was even a little girl among them.

“fvck, it’s already past three in the afternoon, and you’re calling it early in the morning? You must’ve slept through time itself.” Zhong Weishi pointed at the sun overhead. “See that? Even Mr. Sun is about to clock out.”

Gu Lizhou raised his wrist to check the time. Sure enough, it was past three.

He had struggled to sleep last night, being particular about his bed, and ended up sleeping through the entire morning until the afternoon.

It was as if it was a lifetime ago.

This was the first time Zhong Weishi had seen Gu Lizhou without his usual groomed appearance.

His slightly curly hair was a mess from sleep, with a stray tuft sticking up like an antenna. His skin was fair, and he wore a black silk pajama set, giving off a relaxed and lazy vibe.

But the furrowed brow made him look impatient, as if the words “Don’t mess with me” were written on his face.

Yet, even in this state, his aura still threw off of the locals in Xicheng District by miles ahead.

Huangfu Qiang was surprised at first, as there had been no progress on the 300,000-yuan job. His years of professional instinct made him approach with a grin, “What a coincidence, ge. You live here too ah?”

Gu Lizhou brushed off the topic and looked at Zhong Weishi. “What the hell are you all up to? Laughing like a bunch of drills.”

A’Wei immediately pouted.

“Making art,” Zhong Weishi replied without hesitation, pointing back at Da Fei beside him. “My creation. What do you think? Looks like a woman, right?”

Da Fei felt a bit embarrassed in front of strangers. He awkwardly squeezed his slender legs together beneath the dress and shrank behind Zhong Weishi, his eyes timid, like a frightened rabbit.

Gu Lizhou rubbed his sleepy eyes, staring for quite a while, unsure if that was really a man.

Da Fei wasn’t very tall, about 1.7 meters, and he wore color-block stockings—white below the knee and nude above. A navy plaid skirt barely covered half of his thighs, and he paired it with a white blouse adorned with a huge bow at the collar.

He also had a light brown shoulder-length wig on.

The bangs were thick.

The breasts were stuffed with something unknown…

Large and eye-catching.

In all his years, Gu Lizhou had never seen a cosplayer up close before, and his worldview collapsed a little. “What’s this thing? Are you cosplaying Sailor Moon?”

Zhong Weishi rolled his eyes and shoved Da Fei closer to Gu Lizhou. “A high schooler! Doesn’t this look like a high schooler? It’s the ultimate uniform temptation ah.”

God fvcking damn uniform temptation .

Gu Lizhou thought to himself: You must’ve seen high schoolers in Japanese adult films.

Can a Chinese high school student look like this?

A real school uniform’s sleeves could be used as props in an opera.

A’Wei briefly explained the situation and their strategy: “Anyway, that’s how it is. Even if Er’Gou doesn’t approach Da Fei, we’ll have Da Fei ask for his contact info. Then, step by step, we’ll get the money he took back!”

“…” What a terrible idea.

Dressing as a woman was clearly just to satisfy their weird tastes!

Gu Lizhou had little hope for recovering the 300,000 yuan. As he headed back inside, he casually remarked, “Those chests look fake. Er’Gou won’t fall for them.”

“You know that again.” Huangfu Qiang pulled his voice. “So, what’s your plan then?”

Gu Lizhou’s action of closing the door paused, then indifferently walked toward 301, leaning against the window. “To deal with a repeat offender like Er’Gou, tricks won’t work. You can only confront him directly. Once you find where he actually lives, the only chance you have is to threaten him to pay back the money.”

“First, we need to gather more people…”

Qiangzi and Da Fei nodded dumbfoundedly as they listened to Gu Lizhou’s flurry of analysis. “Right, right, right, what you’re saying makes a lot of sense ah.”

Zhong Weishi countered sensibly, “You’re just all talk.”

As it turned out, provoking a man…

Was quite effective.

Gu Lizhou regretted agreeing to go stakeout Er’Gou near Fenglin Community with them later that night almost immediately.

It was true that it wasn’t advisable to sleep for a long time during the day, otherwise it clouds your mind.

However, a man’s words are like spilt milk, he has to follow through, no matter what.

Fenglin Community had two gates, one to the south and one to the north. The southern gate was near the commercial area, with a large square bustling with people. Qiangzi and A’Wei stationed themselves at the southern square.

Zhong Weishi and Gu Lizhou squatted by the flowerbed in the northern gate, while Da Fei, still dressed as a woman, moved between the two squares.

“Didn’t I say not to dress as a woman? Why is he back in costume?” Gu Lizhou complained as he ate the burger he’d grabbed from KFC, having missed dinner.

Zhong Weishi sniffed the aroma and said softly, “What man hasn’t thought about wearing a skirt?”

Gu Lizhou didn’t think twice, “Not me.”

Zhong Weishi shot him a glance. “Liar.”

“…” Gu Lizhou realized what he meant. “So you want to wear one, too?”

“I’ve worn it ah,” Zhong Weishi shrugged nonchalantly. “I once played a palace maid in a production and even fed gr4p3s to Emperor Shunzhi.”

A vivid image suddenly popped into Gu Lizhou’s mind.

With a “pfft”, he burst out laughing.

“Laughing your ass off. There’s nothing wrong with sacrificing for art,” Zhong Weishi said, eyeing him seriously. “I think you’d look pretty good in women’s clothes; your face shape is just perfect for it…”

Gu Lizhou blocked his mouth with a chicken wrap.

In the summer, the days are long and the nights short. By six o’clock, it was still bright outside, and the elderly residents who had finished dinner began to gather around the community.

Two aunties carrying speakers squatted down, fiddling with something.

In less than ten minutes, the leading auntie waved her hand, and the scattered crowd automatically lined up in neat rows.

Gu Lizhou watched in astonishment.

Back in his school days, their military training had never been like this; it was probably even worse… The instructors would yell until they lost their voices, yet the team would still be lazy.

Really admirable.

As the speakers turned on, a powerful DJ version of a square dance song echoed throughout the square.

“Flowers, dance up~ Willows, dance up~ We dance together with the sky~”

“Rumba, samba, jitterbug, go crazy and dance~ Under this starry sky~ Let’s dance together~”

As the singing began, more and more people joined the center of the group, including some young and beautiful girls who moved gracefully without a hint of shyness.

The crowd consisted of a variety of people, including children in split-crotch pants, wiggling their asses along the music, while parents nearby held up their phones to record.

The center of the square resembled a gigantic stage, with everyone moving in time to the music, waving their arms in unison.

The scene was shocking.

Gu Lizhou watched mesmerized, an involuntary smile creeping onto his lips.

He started to understand why his mother enjoyed square dancing so much.

It was lively.

A brief escape from worries.

Zhong Weishi leaned against an unknown small tree, pulling out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. He was about to casually ask the guy next to him if he wanted one but hesitated as he didn’t have the heart to do so.

The other guy would definitely look down on his 12-yuan-a-pack cigarettes.

Sure enough, the pretty boy also pulled out his own pack.

But he had no lighter.

Zhong Weishi pretended not to notice, only to feel a gentle elbow nudge him a moment later.

“Hey, lend me a light.”

Zhong Weishi turned to him. “First, I don’t go by hey; my name is Zhong Weishi. Second, I’m not the one pulling; I just don’t want to lend you one. You’ll have to beg me, ah ah ah ao—”

Before he could finish, the last “ah” unexpectedly turned into a high pitch.

Gu Lizhou had grabbed him by the neck and pushed him into the flower bed, swiftly snatching the lighter from his hand.

Zhong Weishi cursed as he brushed off the dry leaves stuck in his hair, rubbing the spot on his neck that had just been squeezed.

The guy looked refined but had surprisingly strong hands.

After Gu Lizhou lit his cigarette, he raised an eyebrow. “What did you just say your name was?”

“What a terrible memory you have ah.” Zhong Weishi picked up the cigarette that had fallen onto his leg and blew on it. “Zhong Weishi. The ‘Zhong’ with the gold radical, and ‘Weishi’ as in the time of ‘weishi’ in the twelve hours.”

“Are you born in the Weishi time ah?” Gu Lizhou turned to look at him.

“I don’t know,” Zhong Weishi replied. “I’ve never met my real parents.”

“Huh?” Gu Lizhou’s expression froze.

The singing in the square was loud, and Zhong Weishi thought Gu Lizhou hadn’t heard him clearly, so he repeated himself.

“No, what I mean is… You’re…” Gu Lizhou hesitated, not daring to voice his guess.

Zhong Weishi narrowed his eyes and took a deep drag from his cigarette.

As the smoke dissipated, Gu Lizhou heard him say, “I was thrown away.”