The landlord was an elderly man who went for a nap after hanging up Xia Xia’s call. After waking up, he spent half the day playing Chinese chess with other elderly men in the community’s game room, then took his toy poodle for a walk in the park in the evening. Only at dinner time did he remember Xia Xia’s request to call the plumber.

By seven in the evening, the workers had already finished for the day and could only come tomorrow. The landlord watched some evening news, followed by a prime-time war drama about fighting Japanese invaders, and then went to bed.

At ten o’clock at night, Xie Huai returned home.

He had drunk a lot at dinner and headed straight to the bathroom upon entering. The toilet lid was down, but he didn’t think anything of it and lifted it directly.

Ten seconds later, Xie Huai went to knock on the secondary bedroom door with a dark expression. No one answered.

He called the landlord but got no response.

Xie Huai’s alcohol-addled mind instantly cleared, all traces of sleepiness gone.

He sat in the living room playing with his phone while waiting. Finding the sofa uncomfortable, he returned to his bedroom. At any sound from the security door outside, he would immediately jump up from his bed to wait by the door, planning to catch that guy passing by and make him clean the toilet. If he dared refuse, Xie Huai would shove his head into the toilet.

This thought ran through Xie Huai’s mind many times, and perhaps due to the intensity of his imagination, a hint of it showed on his face.

Having such an embarrassing situation witnessed by Xie Huai, Xia Xia felt awkward and mortified, wishing she could sink into the floor cracks.

But when she saw the expression on Xie Huai’s face, she no longer wanted to hide.

The person who couldn’t use the toilet said nothing, while the person who clogged it stood her ground righteously.

Xia Xia asked: “What’s that expression for?”

“How do you plan to ‘mess me up’?” she asked calmly. “Don’t tell me you’re thinking of shoving my head into the toilet?”

Xie Huai: “…”

Xia Xia sat cross-legged on the living room sofa watching TV, with the floor-to-ceiling window on one side of the balcony open for ventilation.

The summer night was noisy, but the evening breeze from twenty floors up was refreshing. Xia Xia had milk tea in her left hand and barbecue in her right, feeling comfortable and content.

Xie Huai wore a tank top while cleaning the toilet in the bathroom, using both a plunger and a toilet brush. Whatever he was doing made the ceramic toilet bang and clatter.

He opened the door a crack.

Xia Xia pinched her nose: “It stinks, close it quickly!”

Xie Huai just wanted some fresh air, but hearing Xia Xia’s words, he resignedly closed the door.

He didn’t understand what had happened. Ever since Xia Xia beat him up on the street that time, their roles had completely reversed overnight.

Not only did Xia Xia dare to be fierce with him, and hit him, but she even dared to order him to clean the toilet.

And he obediently went to clean it, completely forgetting his earlier angry internal monologue from before Xia Xia entered.

Xie Huai spent half an hour cleaning the toilet. When he came out after washing his hands, Xia Xia was eating her last strip of pork belly. He quickly ran over, using his momentum to roll onto the sofa, trying to snatch the meat skewer from her hand. Xia Xia hurriedly took the last bite and turned to smile at him mischievously.

The oily paper bag on the coffee table was empty, and the milk tea cup was also finished.

Xie Huai: “I cleaned your toilet for half an hour, and you couldn’t even save me one piece of meat!”

Xia Xia argued slyly: “I’m doing this for your good! You just came out of there, surely you don’t have an appetite to eat anything.”

Xie Huai messed up her hair roughly, and Xia Xia grimaced: “Let go! You stink!”

Xie Huai: “…”

“Do you have any conscience at all?” Xie Huai pinched her face. “I was cleaning your shit.”

Xia Xia: “Is my shit not shit? Go to the balcony and air out your stink.”

Just as Xie Huai was about to go out for fresh air, he realized something: “Xia Xia, are you ordering me around now? You’re getting quite bold.”

Xia Xia threw the sofa cushion at him: “Go quickly.”

Xie Huai dejectedly hugged the cushion and stood on the balcony. The family next door had just finished having a barbecue on their balcony and was cleaning up the grill, giving their leftover meat to their small dog.

Xie Huai looked away.

Even the dog ate well, but Xia Xia wouldn’t give him a single bite of meat and made him stand here in the cold wind.

He had drunk a lot that evening and barely eaten any dinner, his stomach was burning.

He looked back at Xia Xia, who was hugging her knees and watching variety shows intently. His jacket, which he had taken off earlier, was now under her bottom on the sofa. After sitting for a while, she felt something underneath and pulled out the jacket.

Xia Xia sniffed it: “You’ve been drinking today?”

Xie Huai leaned against the balcony railing looking at the stars and made an affirming sound.

“How much did you drink?”

“Not much.” He thought for a moment. “Half a bottle of red wine, two bottles of beer.”

Xie Huai returned to sit on the sofa, casually picking up the remote to switch to the sports channel.

Xia Xia immediately turned her head: “Why are you changing my TV?”

“Your TV?” Xie Huai said lazily. “The appliances are shared, utilities are split. You’ve watched for so long, now it’s my turn.”

Xia Xia fell silent.

“Did Xin Pu tell you I lived here?”

“No.”

“Then how did you know?”

“Narcissist,” Xia Xia said. “You think I moved in because of you? This place has the lowest rent of all the nearby complexes. I’m so poor, you should know just by thinking that I’d choose the cheapest option, right?”

She got up and left. Xie Huai thought she was going to bed, but she went to the kitchen instead.

The range hood came on, and fifteen minutes later, she brought out a bowl of noodles with sauce and placed it on the dining table in the living room.

Xia Xia: “You drank so much, avoid greasy food. If you’re hungry, have some noodles.”

Xie Huai pretended to look casually: “Oh, I’m not hungry now.”

As soon as Xia Xia went to her room, he immediately dropped the remote and ran to the dining table.

The noodle sauce was made with tomatoes and eggs, mixed with chopped wood ear mushrooms, looking beautiful with vibrant colors and smelling mouth-watering.

In her room.

Xia Xia pressed her ear against the door to listen to the sounds outside.

She heard Xie Huai’s footsteps, the chair being pulled out, the clinking of bowls and chopsticks, and Xie Huai wolfing down the food.

She threw herself onto the bed, smiling craftily.

Xie Huai was sleeping just one door away across from her, but that night Xia Xia didn’t have trouble sleeping in the new environment.

She slept soundly, dreaming she was in an endless sea of flowers, surrounded by fragrant white doves.

She turned around to find Xie Huai standing behind her, smiling gently.

The next day.

Xia Xia had forgotten to charge her phone last night, and it died in the morning.

Without the alarm, she woke up half an hour later than usual.

Zhao Shijie’s class was in the morning today, so Xia Xia rushed to get dressed and pack her things.

The bathroom door wasn’t locked, and she burst in to wash up, pouring water and squeezing toothpaste in one fluid motion. Only after putting the toothbrush in her mouth did she realize something was wrong.

She turned around to find Xie Huai sitting on the toilet, quietly watching her while holding a newspaper.

Xia Xia nearly choked on the toothpaste foam. She spat out the toothbrush head and stammered: “What… what what what are you doing?”

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” Xie Huai covered his lap completely with the newspaper. “Can’t you see what I’m doing?”

“You pervert!” Xia Xia shouted. “Why didn’t you lock the door when using the toilet?”

Xie Huai: “Show me how to lock this door.”

Xia Xia fiddled with the door lock and found there was no lock core inside.

“You did this on purpose, right?” Xie Huai asked. “You knew I was in here but pretended not to know so you could try to peek at me.”

“Sorry,” he said provocatively. “Brother Huai likes to read the newspaper while using the toilet. You must be disappointed your plan didn’t work?”

Xia Xia’s face turned red, and she took her toothbrush cup to wash up in the kitchen.

“Garbage Xie Huai,” she mumbled through the toothpaste foam, looking at her reflection in the window glass. “Just loves to make fun of me.”

The toilet flushed in the bathroom, and Xia Xia quickly shut up.

But Xie Huai didn’t come out. After about ten seconds, a second flush sounded, and after another ten seconds, a third flush.

A light bulb of wisdom flickered above Xia Xia’s head as she recalled the landlord’s words from yesterday.

“The toilet has always been problematic…”

Xia Xia touched her hair and turned off the mental light bulb. She quickly rinsed her mouth and ran to knock on the bathroom door.

“Brother Huai, I forgot my facial cleanser.”

There was silence from the bathroom.

After a while, the door opened a crack, and Xie Huai’s hand emerged to pass her the facial cleanser.

Xia Xia said: “I also need to use the bathroom.”

Xie Huai slammed the door shut: “Go use the public restroom outside.”

His tone was unnatural: “I’m not finished yet.”

Xia Xia deliberately opened and closed the security door, then quietly returned to crouch deviously by the bathroom door.

Thinking she had left, Xie Huai tried flushing several more times but still couldn’t get it to work.

He came out to find his phone to call the landlord, but the moment he opened the door, Xia Xia shot in like an arrow.

Xie Huai reacted quickly, wrapping an arm around her waist to lift and drag her out.

Xia Xia gripped the doorframe tightly with both hands. Though light and lifted easily by Xie Huai, she struggled to twist in mid-air, and when her feet touched down, she stepped directly on Xie Huai’s toes.

Xie Huai let go in pain, and Xia Xia slipped away like a loach, darting into the bathroom.

Xie Huai shouted: “Xia Xia—”

He followed her in, only to see the girl unhesitatingly lift the toilet lid.

Immediately, her devious expression underwent a complete 180-degree transformation, demonstrating the highest level of what it means to have multiple personalities.

Her eyebrows bunched together, her mouth slightly open, her delicate features tinged with a strange sadness.

She glanced at the toilet, quickly looking away, exclaiming: “Oh, my goodness—”

She glanced again, looking away again: “Oh my goodness, goodness—”

Xia Xia turned her face aside, one hand clutching her chest, the other held up like an orchid covering her eyes.

With an expression like she couldn’t breathe: “Oh my, how could someone produce such an enormous… this is truly terrifying!”

Xie Huai: “…”

Before Xia Xia could continue her affected behavior, Xie Huai dragged her out of the bathroom by her collar.

He threw her onto the sofa.

Xia Xia had gotten revenge for last night and regained face from this morning, putting her in an excellent mood.

She sat on the sofa, smiling as she watched Xie Huai.

Beside her were Xie Huai’s clothes for today – not his usual casual wear, but black dress pants and a white T-shirt, with a silver-gray tie on top.

Xie Huai looked down at her: “You don’t think I’m still going to let this slide, do you?”

“Of course not.” Xia Xia instinctively hugged her knees, looking at him pitifully. “Brother Huai, can you not hit me?”

“I cleaned the toilet last night, so it’s your turn today – fair is fair.”

Xia Xia said: “But I don’t know how. I’ll just make it worse.”

“Acting pitiful won’t help.” Xie Huai methodically took off the T-shirt he’d slept in. “If you don’t know how, call the landlord and let him figure it out. I need to go out now, and if the toilet isn’t fixed when I get back tonight…”

He pointed to his bare upper body: “Do you see clearly?”

Xia Xia once said Xie Huai didn’t have muscles like Zhao Yilei; now she wanted to take those words back and swallow them.

While Xie Huai might not have exaggerated biceps, he was the type who looked slim in clothes but had meat when undressed, with six-pack abs that were tight and beautiful.

Xia Xia’s face instantly turned bright red. She didn’t know what Xie Huai wanted her to look at, but she shamelessly took in his entire upper body.

Xie Huai pressed her head close to his abs: “I wanted you to look at this.”

Xia Xia was forced to look closely, her cheeks hot enough to cook an egg.

“I’m serious this time.” He let go and put on his white shirt, using fierce words to cover his embarrassment. “Don’t think that because I used to be reluctant to hit you, you can act without restraint in front of me. Now that we’re living under the same roof, if you make me unhappy and I decide to teach you a lesson, no one can help you.”

“Have it fixed before I get back tonight, understand?”

Xia Xia covered her face, mumbling: “I understand.”