“My friend…” Shang Zhitao turned around to look, but couldn’t see Luan Nian standing in the shadows. “My friend must have gone outside to wait for me. It’s fine, I’ll wait for him here. You go ahead and pack up—you still have work tomorrow.”

“Will you be alright by yourself?”

“I’ll be fine.”

Shang Zhitao watched as Sun Yuanzhu went upstairs, then turned around to see Luan Nian emerging from the shadows. “Eh? I thought you weren’t here.”

Luan Nian glanced at her belongings but didn’t offer to help, turning instead to walk toward the car.

“Aren’t you going to help me?” Shang Zhitao asked him.

“Don’t you have hands?” Luan Nian tossed out this comment as he got into the car, coldly watching Shang Zhitao struggle by herself. She didn’t have much—two large suitcases and a big cardboard box. It seemed that as someone drifting in Beijing, she wouldn’t have prepared too many things. Why buy so many things when you’re like a migratory bird moving twice a year?

Shang Zhitao used a great deal of effort to put her things in Luan Nian’s trunk. Luan Nian truly didn’t lift a finger to help. When she got into the car, he started the engine and drove off.

His mood changed faster than turning the pages of a book!

At home, he still let Shang Zhitao take care of everything herself. When he went downstairs to get her things, he saw that the big box contained the gifts he had given her. He recognized the things he had given her—they were still unopened, with a thin layer of dust on top.

“Not going to use it?” he asked abruptly.

“What?”

Luan Nian gestured with his chin toward the box. “The bag I gave you.”

“Oh, oh, oh.” Shang Zhitao responded with several ‘ohs.’ “I cherish it too much.”

Luan Nian could tell she was just being perfunctory, and he turned and left. It was on the way to work the next day, while waiting at a red light, that he asked Shang Zhitao, “How much is your rent?”

“What?”

“How much do you pay for that place?”

“My room is a bit over a thousand.”

“You can rent at my place, one thousand per month.”

Shang Zhitao was stunned. Luan Nian’s place was so nice—even if he charged her two thousand a month, she would still be willing! She thought about it seriously, then shook her head. “Thank you, but I still prefer to rent elsewhere.”

“Why? Because you can’t bear to leave your roommates?”

“Yes.” Shang Zhitao nodded earnestly. “My roommates are good people.”

In her heart, she was straightforward—her roommates were good people!

“Congratulations on finding good roommates.” Luan Nian’s tone was neither warm nor cold, and Shang Zhitao couldn’t tell if he was genuinely congratulating her or mocking her.

When Saturday came, she went out early to meet up with Sun Yu and Sun Yuanzhu, still in that area. They had researched places online in advance, called each one, and visited them one by one. Finding a place was truly difficult. The photos online looked good, but when they arrived at the actual apartments, they were barely better than pigsties. When they finally found a good place, the rent was sky-high.

It was too hard. Shang Zhitao thought to herself, renting is too difficult, I definitely need to buy my own place! Then I can have all my friends move in with me, and we can eat and drink together.

The three of them wandered around the North Fifth Ring Road all day, and by evening they were completely exhausted. The weather was cold, their stomachs were empty, and they hastily ate a bowl of knife-cut noodles before agreeing to continue the search tomorrow. Just as they were about to part ways, Sun Yu received a phone call. On the other end was the friendly voice of an older woman: “Child, do you remember me? I’m your landlady.”

“Yes, hello, auntie.” The three looked at each other, wondering why the landlady was calling them.

“Have you found a place yet?” the landlady asked directly.

“Not yet, auntie,” Sun Yu replied politely.

“Since you haven’t found a place, why not come back to stay at my place? I’ll keep the price the same as before.”

“Huh? Weren’t you afraid of retaliation from the real estate agency?” Sun Yu asked the landlady.

“It’s fine now. The police called today and said the matter has been resolved. The agency also called me today saying they’ve written a guarantee, submitted their ID cards, and left fingerprints. Not only will they not cause trouble, but they’ll also help us keep an eye on things. Their attitude was especially good.”

“All right, auntie. Let us discuss it first, and we’ll get back to you later, okay?”

This dramatic turn of events left the three of them torn between laughter and tears. Sun Yu asked them, “Shall we stay there?”

“Yes!” Shang Zhitao suddenly felt very happy.

“Then let’s stay!” Sun Yu nodded as well.

Seeing them so happy, Sun Yuanzhu nodded. “Good, then let’s continue living there. But I have one small suggestion…”

“What is it?”

“Can we redecorate the place? Zhang Lei has moved out, and I’ll cover his share of the rent because I want a separate study.”

“Sure!” The girls knew they were taking advantage of Sun Yuanzhu, but they didn’t want to calculate things too precisely with him because, after all, he was Sun Yuanzhu! Since he was paying extra rent, they would take on more of the daily expenses. Regardless, living with good friends was enough.

Shang Zhitao was very happy and was humming a tune when she entered the door. Luan Nian was on the phone with Dr. Liang. Hearing the sound, he pressed the mute button and looked up to glare at her. Shang Zhitao quickly covered her mouth, pointed upstairs, and ran off.

“Eh? Was that a girl humming just now?” Dr. Liang had excellent hearing and asked him directly.

Luan Nian pretended not to hear and continued, “My flight is next Sunday.”

“When will you return to China?”

“End of February. There will be meetings at headquarters, and I need to review two projects.”

“That’s good, you can spend more days with us.” Dr. Liang sounded to be in a good mood. She took a sip of water and said, “So you’re dating someone, right?” Dr. Liang would never be distracted from a topic by Luan Nian. She understood her child best.

“I didn’t mishear just now—a girl was humming,” she asserted again.

“I don’t want to discuss this issue.”

“Why not? It’s fine if you’re dating. Are you afraid to tell me you’re dating because you think I’ll pressure you to get married? Don’t worry, I won’t, and neither will your father. We only set you up on blind dates because sometimes it’s hard to refuse the goodwill of friends and relatives.”

“I don’t want to discuss this issue because I’m not dating.” Luan Nian paused. “I’m an adult.”

At this point, Dr. Liang understood. Not dating, but an adult—that meant he was just having fun, right? Her son had reached the point of just playing around.

“This isn’t good, is it? It’s not good for you or the girl,” Dr. Liang said.

“I’ll handle it myself.”

“Fine, handle it yourself. I’m hanging up.”

Luan Nian hung up the phone and saw Shang Zhitao coming downstairs with a water cup. “Isn’t there a water dispenser upstairs?”

“It’s out of water.”

“Why were you so happy just now?”

“I found a place to live.”

Shang Zhitao drank a cup of water and placed the cup on Luan Nian’s bar counter. “I can move out tomorrow. Thank you for taking care of me these past few days. I wasn’t intentionally making noise just now. I didn’t know you were on the phone.”

“It’s fine.”

“Good, no trouble caused then.”

Shang Zhitao pointed upstairs. “I’ll go to sleep now? I’ll leave early tomorrow morning because I need to organize the place. It might take all day, so I want to leave early and not affect work on Monday.”

“Mm.” Luan Nian made a sound of acknowledgment, with nothing else to say.

After going upstairs, Shang Zhitao packed all her things and lay in bed with the lights off. She had heard Luan Nian on the phone, though not intentionally. “I’m not dating, I’m an adult, I’ll handle it myself.” He might as well have told his mother directly that she was his long-term sex partner.

Shang Zhitao felt that Luan Nian hadn’t done anything wrong—he had only told the truth. The emotion she had felt from Luan Nian that day disappeared completely. So it was like that: because they had slept together, when a woman you’ve slept with gets beaten up, you have to stand up for her at least once to show your masculinity, or perhaps it was a man’s possessiveness at work, rather than like or love.

The next day, she woke up early and quietly carried her things downstairs. After some thought, she left a note on the pillow: “Thank you for letting me stay these past few days. Sorry for the disturbance.” Very polite and formal.

The small moving truck Shang Zhitao called took her from Luan Nian’s complex to the North Fifth Ring Road. The unreal feeling from the past few days disappeared, and standing at the entrance of the apartment building, she felt like she was back in the real world. Her world was in this real setting—surrounded by decay and bustle, but with good friends by her side.

Light snow began to fall from the sky. She stood there looking up for a while, thinking how quickly the year had passed. She felt the year was ending well, despite some dramatic twists and turns, but ultimately satisfying.

Sun Yu also returned with her luggage, and the two of them laughed when they saw each other’s belongings.

“I never thought we’d make a full circle and end up back here. This must be our unbreakable bond with this place. I found a mover.” Sun Yu pointed to someone approaching from a distance. “Let’s not exhaust ourselves. After all, I’m a partner in a nearly bankrupt startup—I can afford these hundred yuan. I can manage it.”

“Well, I’m at least an errand-running employee at a top foreign company. I’ll cover today’s meal. I can manage it.”

They smiled at each other and went upstairs.

When they opened the door, they saw Sun Yuanzhu’s things already piled in the living room. He was assembling a bookshelf he had bought online that required self-assembly. He had also bought attractive wallpaper, and the old sofa in the living room was gone.

“This…”

“Didn’t we say we’d fix the place up properly?” Sun Yuanzhu smiled and dusted off his hands. “The two south-facing rooms are for you two. I travel often, so I don’t need a south-facing room. You two can choose between yourselves.”

Such kindness had to be accepted because he was Sun Yuanzhu.

The three of them played music and quietly listened while organizing their things. Sun Yu sent Shang Zhitao a message saying, “My remaining romanticism is at work. I hope this feeling and this scene accompany us until we’re a hundred years old.”

Shang Zhitao also loved moments like this.

In this space and time, there were no people or things around her that made her feel pressure. Everything was simple.

Setting up the house like this gave her a sense of belonging in this city for the first time.

Sun Yuanzhu sat in the sunlight of the living room assembling shelves. Everything around was warm and cozy, as beautiful as a dream.

They kept working until night, and only then did the home take on its new appearance.

Sun Yuanzhu took out a diagram and told them about his plans.

“I want to put a long desk here where we can sit side by side and work.”

“Here I’d like to place some flower stands with a few potted plants, and maybe a small fish tank to bring some life to the space.”

Shang Zhitao raised her hand. “I also want to raise something.”

“What?”

“I want to keep a dog.”

Seeing the other two with widened eyes, she nodded firmly. “I want to get a dog as a New Year’s gift to myself. Are either of you afraid of dogs?”

The other two shook their heads.

“Then I’m getting a dog!”

Shang Zhitao applauded the decision she made for herself.