Chapter 7

Chapter 7: The Love Letter, Yellow. Garbage. "No, I'm feeling much better than before." Just the fact that he was willing to walk around the lake with her was enough to lift her spirits considerably. Xie Zeyan said nothing. Afraid he didn't believe her, she repeated herself: "Really." She couldn't tell whether Xie Zeyan believed her or not—she only heard him ask again: "Then what do you usually do when you're unhappy?" When she's unhappy. Nan Shu suddenly remembered the New Year's Eve party in her sophomore year of high school. That year coincided with the school anniversary, so the New Year's Eve party was grand and lively. She and Liang Jiayi had gotten lucky and drawn seats in the front row. But that day, she'd gotten into an argument with someone over some matter, and by the time she rushed to the venue, there were still tear stains on her face. By then, the New Year's Eve party was already drawing to a close. The host was announcing the final performance. Under the spotlight, a young man in his school uniform was holding a guitar. When the crowd made out his face, almost everyone erupted. "Oh my god, oh my god—is that Xie Zeyan on stage?!" "Ahhh yes, it's him! He's going to sing, he's holding a guitar!" A gentle prelude began. The young man's fingertips plucked at the guitar strings, his voice carrying the youthful rawness unique to his age, yet pure. "The first time I saw you, you were so beautiful." The moment he sang the first line, the audience erupted into heated discussion again. "The school heartthrob is singing a love song?" "Xie Zeyan doesn't have a girl he likes, does he? How come I'm heartbroken before I've even been in love, ahhh." "Just looking at you from afar like this is the closest distance I can be to you." Nan Shu still remembered that when Xie Zeyan sang that line, his usually cold and aloof eyes revealed a rare tenderness and lingering affection. Just like how, at this very moment, he was bending down to ask her what she did when she was unhappy. She remembered that after listening to that song that day, she seemed to feel much happier. Although she'd missed the New Year's Eve party, she'd been lucky enough not to miss that song. So Nan Shu answered Xie Zeyan: "I listen to music." Xie Zeyan glanced at the convenience store behind the girl, thought for a moment, and said, "Then wait for me." Nan Shu didn't know what Xie Zeyan was doing in the convenience store. She sat on the chair by the entrance, occasionally glancing inside to look for Xie Zeyan's figure. Until a shadow pressed down heavily over her, and she caught the familiar scent of cedarwood at the tip of her nose—she knew Xie Zeyan was back. The man sat down beside her, and at the same time, something ice-cold was slipped into her ear. Earphones. Xie Zeyan put the other earpiece into his own ear. "Let's listen to some music together." So Xie Zeyan had gone into the convenience store just to buy wired earphones. Nan Shu's heart pounded like a drum, as if the earphone cord were tugging at her heart, sending a tingling, numbing sensation through her. Until a familiar melody began to play. Nan Shu turned her head in surprise. "'Can't Wait for You'?" It was the song Xie Zeyan had sung on stage back then. Her skirt hem was brushed by the wind against Xie Zeyan's suit. Nan Shu could never have imagined that one day, on a bustling street, she would share the melody of the same pair of earphones with Xie Zeyan. "Xie Zeyan,"—only after the music ended did Nan Shu take off the earphones, a smile finally breaking across her face—"I've realized you're not quite the same as the impression I had of you." "Is the impression better or worse?" Xie Zeyan took off the other earpiece and asked her. Nan Shu thought for a moment. "It's always been good." She then explained what she'd just said: "In high school, I thought you were pretty cold and aloof, but now I've found that you're not actually that icy." Xie Zeyan smiled too. "So, Classmate Nan Shu has discovered that she had quite a few misunderstandings about me?" "I guess... that's right?" Maybe being cold and aloof was one side of Xie Zeyan, but since their reunion, he didn't seem to have shown her that side much. "Well then, let's take this opportunity to get to know each other again." Xie Zeyan extended a hand, a hint of a smile at the corner of his lips. "Hello, Nan Shu. It's a pleasure to meet you." • As expected, Nan Shu couldn't sleep again that night. This time it wasn't because of any yellow. garbage, but because of Xie Zeyan's "It's a pleasure to meet you." The song they'd listened to together, "Can't Wait for You," had been on loop in her head all night. The person she'd secretly had a crush on from afar, the one who had once seemed so out of reach, was now her friend. Everything felt like a dream. Tossing and turning, Nan Shu thought about the landlord situation from earlier that day. Since she couldn't fall asleep anyway, she simply picked up her phone and started looking for a new place. The current landlord was like a ticking time bomb—it could go off any day now. She needed to move out of this trouble spot as soon as possible. But the process was far from as smooth as Nan Shu had imagined. She first contacted an agent, who found a few apartments based on her requirements. The first one was a two-bedroom, one-living-room unit at a reasonable price, but the downside was that the neighborhood was too old. The one the agent introduced was on the ground floor, with mottled marks on both the floor and the walls. Nan Shu could already imagine how damp the place would be during the plum rain season. The second apartment was in a great location—the subway station was right outside the neighborhood, and it was close to her talent agency. The downside was that it was too expensive: 4,500 yuan a month, with utilities and internet not included. As the agent walked Nan Shu out of the second place, she said, "Miss, space in Jingjia is at a premium. Any decent place won't come cheap. How about this—would you consider sharing with a roommate? Two people splitting a three-bedroom, two-living-room place would give you plenty of space, and the rent wouldn't be as heavy." Nan Shu shook her head. Given her profession, sharing with a stranger could bring unnecessary complications. The third apartment, however, suited her quite well—around 80 to 90 square meters, and it had been freshly renovated not long ago. Because the owner was in a hurry to rent it out, the price was also set reasonably. The agent explained, "This place was originally a young couple's wedding home, but when they got engaged, the two families hit a snag over the bride price. Now the wedding's off, and the wedding home is going on the rental market." "Then I'll take this one. Thank you, Auntie." She probably wouldn't find anything better even if she kept looking, and since she needed a place urgently, Nan Shu decided on the spot. That evening, she went home and started packing some of her things. But a day later, just as Nan Shu was drawing her comic and getting swept up in a wave of emotions, she suddenly got a call from the agent. The agent on the other end hesitated. "Um, miss..." Nan Shu set down her stylus, sensing something was wrong. "Auntie, is there a problem with the apartment?" The agent said apologetically, "Oh dear, I didn't see this coming either. The young couple got back together—they said they're not renting it out anymore, and the wedding is back on." Nan Shu: ... Congratulations to them. The apartment that was practically in her grasp slipped away. Nan Shu didn't bother contacting the agent again and instead started browsing listings on a rental app herself. A few places looked good in the photos, but when she went to check them out in person, the reality didn't match the pictures at all. There were a few others she liked, but the landlords were very concerned about her dog, worried it might chew through the sofa and wallpaper, so they ultimately turned her down. Night gradually fell. Traffic streamed endlessly along the road, headlights merging into a river of light. As Nan Shu walked out of the last neighborhood, she rubbed her sore neck. She'd been looking at apartments for five straight days now, and not a single one had worked out. She had no idea how much longer this would take. Her stomach let out an untimely "grumble." She hadn't had time for lunch, and the place she'd just viewed reeked of formaldehyde—now her head was starting to spin. There happened to be a Lawson convenience store right by the neighborhood entrance, so Nan Shu went in to grab something to fill her stomach. She ordered a few skewers of oden and sat by the window, mechanically shoving food into her mouth while her mind drifted to the apartments she had lined up to see tomorrow. Who knew if she'd find the right place tomorrow. One step at a time, she supposed. Even the skewers she usually loved tasted bland now. She was resting her chin on her hand, poking at a big chunk of radish in the broth with a bamboo stick, when a familiar figure suddenly appeared outside the glass display window. The man wore a familiar, gentle smile as he waved at her and called out in surprise, "Nannan?" Liang Xubai was dressed in casual clothes. Nan Shu wiped her mouth with a napkin and stepped out of the convenience store. "Xubai-ge? Are you just getting off work?" "Yeah." Liang Xubai pointed at the brightly lit building ahead. "Our hospital is right over there." Then he asked, "What are you doing here?" Nan Shu let out a sigh. The two of them found a coffee shop and sat down, and she told Liang Xubai about her apartment search. After listening, Liang Xubai thought for a moment, then picked up his phone. "I don't have any spare listings myself, but I can ask a friend for you." He opened his contacts, and after a few rings, Zong Yi's voice came through on the other end. "Busy man like you—what's the occasion for calling me?" Zong Yi stubbed out the cigarette he was holding in the ashtray. "Oh? Spare listings? My brother's right here—let me ask him for you. He's sitting next to me." "Hold on a sec, I'll get back to you." After hanging up, Zong Yi set down his phone and turned his head to look at the man sitting at the desk. "Hey, Yan-ge, do you have any spare listings on your end?" The glow from the laptop screen fell across the man's face, and the blue-light-blocking glasses on his nose faintly reflected the text on the monitor. Xie Zeyan lifted his eyes slightly. "What?" "It's like this—a friend of a friend of a friend of Ms. Zong's is looking for a place to rent, and they wanted to ask if we have any spare listings." Ms. Zong was Zong Yi's mother. Xie Zeyan frowned, utterly confused. "What kind of connection is that, stretched so thin?" "Just tell me—do you have an empty place or not, and are you renting it out?" "No." Xie Zeyan didn't hesitate. "Not renting." Four short words, and it was exactly what Zong Yi had expected. Xie Zeyan seemed indifferent to everything, let alone renting out a place to someone—something that involved so many entanglements. "Alright, I'll get back to him." Zong Yi reopened his WeChat chat with Liang Xubai, saying as he scrolled, "Hey, I heard it's a young girl, been looking for an apartment for a week with her dog. If my dad hadn't banned me from running the racing team, frozen my cards, and taken away my place, I'd have rented it to her myself." Xie Zeyan hadn't been paying much attention until he heard "with her dog." His fingers paused on the laptop keyboard, and he turned his head. "What's her name?" Zong Yi said, "Let me ask." A moment later, "Nan Shu." A flicker of something crossed Xie Zeyan's expression. "Now that you mention it, Nan Shu—that name sounds familiar somehow." Zong Yi repeated it a few times under his breath before it finally clicked. "Wait, isn't she from our year at No. 1 High? I remember she was in the student council with us. Pretty good-looking too. And she was close with that one guy... can't remember his name—that scumbag you put in his place." Seeing that Xie Zeyan remained silent, Zong Yi nudged his shoulder with his elbow. "Yan-ge, you remember her?" Xie Zeyan's dark eyes dimmed. "No." Zong Yi shrugged. "Alright, guess I shouldn't have asked. Even the school beauty slipped you a love letter and you didn't give her a second glance, so it's no surprise you don't remember Nan Shu. Anyway, I'll let my friend know—we don't have any—" "I'll rent it." Xie Zeyan's voice cut through abruptly. "What did you say?" Zong Yi wondered if his ears were playing tricks on him—wasn't this the same guy who'd said no just a minute ago? "I said," Xie Zeyan lifted his eyes lazily, "I'll rent it."