The two-bedroom apartment had finally been cleared out. Qi Lian was incredibly busy; the owners of every project he managed were breathing down his neck, wishing he could finish ahead of schedule. He could only find time after work to gradually tear down the partition in the living room and rip out the squat toilet and the aluminum-plastic ceiling in the bathroom. The walls needed to be sanded down and repainted white—a major task—so he hired Old Liu and his wife, a couple he frequently collaborated with. They finished the entire paint job in just two days.
The apartment originally lacked air conditioning, so he installed a small two-horsepower unit in the master bedroom. The old refrigerator had hummed like a tractor and had been so badly mistreated by previous tenants that its original color was unrecognizable. He replaced it with a domestic brand and sold the old one for two hundred yuan to "Limping Liu," the local junk collector at the gate.
The master bedroom had originally contained a wood-colored bed made of composite board. Its headboard was scarred and mottled, and the frame creaked with every movement. Thinking of Yu Mo’s delicate nature, he didn't want her sleeping on a bed like that, so he spent a significant amount of money on a sturdy, solid wood bed.
After this round of renovations, the place looked fairly tidy. The only downside was the kitchen; it was greasy, and the cabinets were old and unsightly. However, replacing cabinets took too long. Given Yu Mo’s impatient state, he knew that if he delayed things by even a few more days, she would likely direct her frustration at him again, so he decided against it.
Because she had an appointment with Qi Lian to see the apartment, Yu Mo took advantage of a client visit to head home early that afternoon.
The weather wasn't great. Dark clouds rolled across the horizon, yet no rain fell. The entire day remained gloomy, the temperature high and the air stiflingly humid.
As she entered the main gate of the residential area, she reached into her bag for her phone. Earlier, Qi Lian had sent her the apartment number, saying he would be there all afternoon.
Before she could even look at her phone, she spotted Qi Lian standing not far from the gate, talking to a man straddling an electric scooter.
Rarely for him, Qi Lian was wearing sneakers today. He still wore a soft grey T-shirt and black cotton mid-length shorts; his clothes were always simple and looked exceptionally comfortable. To accommodate the person he was speaking with, he leaned forward slightly, unconsciously rolling a cigarette between his fingers as he talked.
Before Yu Mo could decide whether to go up and say hello, Qi Lian glanced in her direction, capturing her gaze with precision.
His expression didn't change much, yet strangely, Yu Mo could feel his gaze acknowledging her. What kind of unspoken understanding was this?
Qi Lian patted the thin man on the scooter and said a few words. The man twisted the handlebar, and the scooter chugged away.
Qi Lian raised his voice toward Yu Mo. "Come here."
Yu Mo trotted over to him.
Today, she wore a dress with a cinched waist that accentuated the curve of her bust. The hem reached her knees, revealing two fair, slender calves. She wore high heels, which elongated her already delicate ankles to a point of heart-wrenching fragility.
As she ran, the ethereal hem of her dress brushed against her body like flowing water, making the curves of her hips and legs flicker in and out of view.
Qi Lian stood his ground, watching her run toward him. His gaze dropped, lingering on her ankles for two seconds as he evaluated them: they were no thicker than his own wrists. From a mechanical perspective, he wondered how such a thin structure could support an entire body.
Yu Mo stopped a pace away from him. Her breathing was slightly quick from the run, causing her chest to rise and fall, and a few stray hairs were plastered to her face.
Qi Lian averted his eyes and simply asked, "Do you want to go back and change your shoes?"
Yu Mo brushed the hair from her face and replied, "No need. Let's go straight there." There was a trace of subtle cheerfulness on her face.
Qi Lian started leading the way, teasing her as they walked. "So happy?"
Yu Mo ignored the jab and asked, "What a coincidence that I used to live on the fourth floor, and now all the apartments we're looking at are on the fourth floor or higher. I haven't seen any on the second or third."
"That just means you have the luck of the foolish. Look around you right now and think about why."
Yu Mo scanned her surroundings. She was already very familiar with the environment here, but she couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.
The buildings in Lianhua were all six-story walk-ups. The distance between the front and back buildings was no more than five or six meters, separated by a cement path lined in places with sparse, malnourished boxwood trees. Every ground-floor resident had welded window cages that extended outward by dozens of centimeters, making the entire passage even more cramped.
She said, "I don't see it."
Qi Lian shook his head. "And here you are, crying and shouting about finding a place on your own. Yu Mo, you might just be born lucky." Seeing her defiant look, he changed the subject before he could finish. "The buildings are too close together. Except for the front row, any unit below the fourth floor in the back rows has lighting issues. They basically never see the sun. Back when the relocation happened, if I had chosen a floor below the fourth, I could have gotten an extra unit by putting in a little more money. Think about why."
Yu Mo nodded, taking the lesson to heart. She truly hadn't considered that aspect.
Passing a trash can, Qi Lian tossed the crumpled cigarette into it.
A few more steps brought them to the perimeter fence of the complex. Beyond it lay the Lianhua River. Qi Lian said they had arrived; it turned out to be the easternmost row of the complex. It was nice and quiet.
Before entering the stairwell, Qi Lian pointed to the building directly behind them. "I live in that one, fifth floor."
The sound-activated light in the hallway wasn't broken; it flickered on the moment they opened the door.
Yu Mo stopped and looked at Qi Lian. Qi Lian looked back at her, unmoving.
After a two-second standoff, Qi Lian’s lips curled into a smile, and he took the first step.
The apartment was on the fourth floor. The stairwell was much like the one in her previous rental: black footprints of various sizes were scattered across the walls, the highest one being taller than a person—she wondered if someone had been practicing wall-running.
Layers of small red and blue advertisements were plastered like psoriasis, one over the other. In addition to the ads, there were handwritten obscenities scrawled in marker. At least the sound-activated lights on every floor were working properly.
Yu Mo called out to Qi Lian, "Qi Lian, did you fix the hallway lights at my old place?"
Taking the stairs two at a time, Qi Lian was already standing on the landing waiting for her. He looked down at her and said flatly, "I charge at least two hundred for that kind of work. Do you think I'm some kind of Living Lei Feng?"
Yu Mo looked up at him, her expression unreadable. "Someone saw you. Does a 'Lei Feng' always do good deeds without leaving a name?"
Qi Lian brushed her off. "I just happened to be bored. I feel restless if I don't work for a day."
He suddenly turned gruff. "Climb faster. If your stamina is that bad, talk less. There's a pile of work waiting for me inside!"
Yu Mo snapped back, "Then go do it! I didn't ask you to wait for me. Just leave the door open."
Seeing that Qi Lian was still lingering, she added, "You went to the gate specifically to pick me up, didn't you? Qi Lian, I think you'd make an excellent real estate agent."
She smiled, revealing her small canine teeth.
Qi Lian narrowed his eyes at her, let out a scoff, and strode up the stairs, no longer waiting for her.
When Yu Mo reached the fourth floor, she saw that the door to the middle unit, 402, was indeed wide open, with the sound of hammering coming from within.
She walked in quickly and closed the door behind her.
The entrance opened into a small living room with a window. It looked clean and bright, and a sudden surge of joy filled her heart.
She pushed open the doors to the two bedrooms to inspect them. The south-facing one was slightly larger and contained a walnut bed. She couldn't believe a rental of this caliber would have such a high-quality bed. She rushed over and touched it; it had the solid, warm feel of real walnut. She was almost moved to tears of joy.
She lay back contentedly on the bare bed slats, not caring if they were dirty. To her left was a small balcony; looking out, she saw the grey sky and the bedsheets on the opposite balcony that hadn't been taken in yet.
Qi Lian walked past the bedroom door with a screwdriver in hand. Seeing her lying on the bed with a silly grin, he paused for a second and his own lips curled upward.
Yu Mo saw him and shouted, "Qi Lian, I want this bedroom, okay?"
He replied, "This room is a hundred yuan more expensive than the other one."
Yu Mo remained lying flat, looking at him with squinted eyes as if she were drunk, smiling playfully. "I want this one. Who is the landlord of this place? Can I meet him? His taste is top-notch."
Qi Lian ignored her and headed into the bathroom, tossing the screwdriver in his hand.
Yu Mo jumped off the bed. Hearing him in the bathroom, she walked over and stood at the door. "Do you have a measuring tape?"
Qi Lian was standing on a folding ladder, installing a new heat lamp unit into the aluminum ceiling.
Yu Mo surveyed the bathroom. It wasn't large—at most a dozen square meters—slightly bigger than the maid's bathroom in her old house. There was no partition for the shower, only a water-retaining strip on the floor. *I'll need to buy a shower curtain online,* she thought immediately.
The best part was that the bathroom had a small window. It wasn't a windowless "dark bathroom." It was perfect; it had everything she liked.
Qi Lian reached both hands toward the ceiling to snap the heater into place, his entire body stretching out, his muscles tensing. He didn't turn around; with the screwdriver clenched between his teeth, he answered indistinctly, "My tool bag is on the living room table. There's a tape measure inside."
She didn't leave immediately. Qi Lian’s posture reminded her of the first time she saw him. Back then, he had been wearing cargo pants, unlike now where he wore only a short-sleeved shirt and shorts. The muscles of his entire body were clearly exposed—long, powerful, and fluid. *He has a beautiful physique,* she marveled once again.
Time had flown by. At first, she had thought this technician was just very tall and looked like someone not to be trifled with. Several times, the way he looked at her had made her feel like a complete idiot.
So, she asked, "Qi Lian, tell me the truth. That first time you helped me fix the light, what were you going to say when you hesitated?"
Qi Lian snapped the heater into the aluminum panel, took the screwdriver out of his mouth, and looked back at her. He spat out a single word: "Stupid." As he said it, a layer of amusement appeared in his eyes.
*I really asked for that one,* Yu Mo thought. She ignored him, turned on her heel, and left the bathroom to rummage through his tool bag for the tape measure.
His tool bag was, as always, clean and organized. Yu Mo wondered if he had some sort of obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Her hand hesitated as she reached in.
At that moment, Qi Lian’s voice came from the bathroom. "Don't mess up my bag! Whatever you take out, put it back exactly where it was!"
She made some clattering noises and cried out in mock panic, "Oh no, Qi Lian! I knocked your bag over! Everything is a mess now, what should I do?"
The hammering in the bathroom stopped. The air went still for two seconds before his restrained reply came: "Take the tape measure and don't touch anything else. Get as far away from it as possible."
Yu Mo laughed silently and carefully pulled out the tape measure.
After finishing the bathroom work, Qi Lian came out wiping his hands. Seeing his toolbox sitting perfectly in its original spot, he asked, "Teasing me? Was it fun?"
Yu Mo was by the window, measuring for curtains. She turned back with a triumphant grin. "You treasure your toolbox so much, I just wanted to see what you'd do."
She stood by the window, a few strands of long hair draped against her face, her smile infinitely gentle and mischievous. The light from outside illuminated her features. Standing in the now-dim room where the lights hadn't been turned on, Qi Lian felt the scene was somewhat surreal.
It took him a moment to reply. "What could I possibly do to you? If it's a mess, it's a mess."
He walked over and switched on the living room light.
Yu Mo held the tape, muttering to herself. One moment there was the *zip* of the tape measure opening, the next she was stepping back to eye the dimensions. She measured every inch of the apartment.
Qi Lian leaned against the wall, watching her busily work with great interest. She was acting like she really knew what she was doing. When she bent over to measure the thickness of the baseboard, revealing her rounded bottom and slender waist, he felt his hands itch with an impulse. He looked away and cleared his throat.
*Dammit, it’s not even spring anymore. Summer is already here.*
He asked Yu Mo, "What are you doing? Planning to do the interior design yourself?"
This reminded Yu Mo of something. She turned back to him. "Do you know the landlord? Can I get a long-term lease? Is it okay if I beautify the place a bit?"
"It's my friend's place. He has plenty of properties and doesn't care about this one. You can stay as long as you want. As long as you don't tear the building down, there won't be any problems."
Yu Mo was satisfied with that and went back to her measurements.
"Weren't you in a hurry to move out? The renovations are mostly done. Tomorrow I'll change a few lightbulbs and hammer in some nails where things need reinforcing, then it's finished. After a cleaning, you can move in the day after tomorrow. See if you want to move in over the weekend."
Yu Mo, who was crouching on the floor, stood up upon hearing this. She looked at Qi Lian with total sincerity. "Qi Lian, I am especially, especially grateful to you for this. You know that, right?"
"I didn't know," Qi Lian replied, a hint of a smile in his eyes.
"Let me treat you to dinner tonight. Do you have any plans?"
Qi Lian shook his head.
Yu Mo retracted the tape measure, handed it to him, and turned to find her bag. "Then it's a deal. I'll go back and change. Let's meet at the main gate in twenty minutes. How does that sound?"
Qi Lian had no objections.
***
| Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 2匹 | two-horsepower | A Chinese measurement for air conditioner cooling capacity (approx. 18,000-24,000 BTU). |
| 铝塑板 | aluminum-plastic panel | A common material for suspended ceilings in Chinese kitchens and bathrooms. |
| 瘸子刘 | Limping Liu | A nickname for a local character. |
| 浴霸 | bathroom heater / heat lamp unit | A common Chinese bathroom fixture combining lights, heat lamps, and an exhaust fan. |
| 活雷锋 | Living Lei Feng | Refers to Lei Feng, a soldier celebrated in China as a model of selflessness and service. |
| 踢脚线 | baseboard / skirting board | The board covering the lowest part of an interior wall. |
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