Chapter 5: Resting On

Early the next morning, Rong Jiqiao finished washing up and changed into clothes for going out.

Duan Yan had already gone to work. On the coffee table, he had left the breakfast he bought for her. The buns were still warm.

Rong Jiqiao took two bites, but her mind was still on moving to the urban village.

Four thousand yuan.

That meant she could save four thousand a month.

In half a year, that would be twenty-four thousand.

She wiped her mouth, picked up her phone, and called the agent.

“Brother Wang, is it convenient to view apartments today? Somewhere near the urban village.”

The agent laughed eagerly. “Of course, of course. What time will you come over? I’ll wait for you there.”

After hanging up, Rong Jiqiao went out.

She took the subway, then transferred to a bus. After nearly two hours of hassle, she finally arrived at the urban village.

The sky was dull and gray. The cramped buildings were packed tightly together, and electrical wires stretched from one window to another like spiderwebs. Downstairs were breakfast stalls, the smell of cooking oil mixing with the sour stench of trash bins. There were even dead cockroaches on the ground.

The agent stood at the mouth of the alley and waved.

“This way, this way.”

Rong Jiqiao followed him inside. Something sticky squished beneath her shoe. She looked down and saw a rotten vegetable leaf.

The stairwell was pitch-black. The voice-activated light was broken, so she could only feel along the wall as she climbed.

The wall paint was peeling, rough and damp beneath her fingers.

At the turn of the stairs, cardboard boxes and broken bicycle tires were piled up. She had to turn sideways to squeeze through.

When they reached the third floor, the agent took out the key and opened the door.

“This is the one. Take another look.”

The moment the door opened, a wave of mildew hit her in the face.

The room was tiny, less than fifteen square meters at a glance. The bed was pressed right against the wall, and at the foot of the bed stood an old, worn-out desk. The window faced the wall of another building, cutting the sky into a thin, narrow strip.

Rong Jiqiao walked to the window. In the opposite building, someone was brushing their teeth. Water splashed onto the windowsill, and they could see straight into her room.

She turned to look at the kitchen.

The so-called kitchen was just a stove by the door. Right beside it was the bathroom, with only a thin plastic curtain separating the toilet from the stove.

The agent introduced it with a cheerful smile.

“This place is great value. Private bathroom, and it even has a kitchen.”

Standing in that room so small it was hard to turn around, images from her previous life suddenly flashed through Rong Jiqiao’s mind.

It had been a place just like this.

After she returned to the county town, she had lived somewhere like this too.

Her savings were gone, but her spending habits had not changed. In the end, she could only afford a place like this.

The landlord had been a man in his fifties. Whenever he spoke, his eyes kept drifting over her body.

She wanted to find a job, but every resume she sent out disappeared without a response.

The county hospital did not want her. They said she had been away from work for too long and must be rusty.

A restaurant offered her a dishwashing job, but she felt it was humiliating and refused to go.

As her money dwindled, she went back to the capital to find Duan Yan, hoping he would give her some money again.

But Duan Yan looked at her with eyes as cold as knives.

“I’ve already given you money.”

She was unwilling to accept it and went several more times.

She even thought about finding that rich heiress, Duan Yan’s wife, and extorting some money from her.

But she did not even get to meet the woman.

Instead, she brought death upon herself.

One of the rich heiress’s admirers came to her and said he would give her a sum of money if she disappeared completely.

She thought it was a good thing.

In the end, those people took her onto a boat and threw her into the water.

Rong Jiqiao snapped back to reality.

Her palms were covered in sweat.

The agent was still saying something beside her, but she did not hear a single word.

“What do you think?”

Rong Jiqiao looked at the cramped, dim little room.

If someone could not go on living here, there was not even enough space to hang themselves.

Combined with her rejection of such places from her previous life, Rong Jiqiao became even more afraid of this kind of environment.

She gritted her teeth.

“I’ll think about it.”

...

After nine o’clock that night, Duan Yan came back.

He pushed the door open and saw Rong Jiqiao lying on the bed, scrolling through her phone.

“Have you eaten?”

Rong Jiqiao sat up. “I have. What about you?”

“I ate.”

Duan Yan took off his coat, then paused.

“The agent who helped us rent this place told me he took you to view apartments. Do you still want to move?”

She gave two dry laughs.

“Yeah, I was just looking casually.”

Duan Yan walked to the bed and sat down, turning his head to look at her.

“Why didn’t you rent one?”

Rong Jiqiao pressed her lips together, not knowing how to answer.

She could not exactly say the apartment was too shabby and she was not used to living like that.

Lowering her head, she twisted the bedsheet with her fingers.

“It just... didn’t feel very suitable.”

Duan Yan stared at her for a few seconds, then suddenly laughed.

“What part wasn’t suitable?”

Rong Jiqiao looked up and met his half-smiling eyes.

She felt incredibly guilty.

“It just... just wasn’t very suitable.”

Duan Yan leaned against the headboard, one arm propped on his knee.

“Was it because the furniture was old, and even after the kitchen had been cleaned, you could still scrape off two pounds of grease?”

Rong Jiqiao blinked.

“Or was it because the window faced a wall and no sunlight could get in? Or because they were all walk-up residential buildings, and the environment was smelly and messy?”

Rong Jiqiao was completely stunned.

“How did you know?”

Duan Yan smiled.

“The agent sent me a few apartments in the urban village too.”

Rong Jiqiao was speechless.

Duan Yan tilted his head and looked at her, amusement glinting in his eyes.

“Was it too run-down? You couldn’t get used to it?”

Rong Jiqiao’s face turned red.

“I didn’t say that.”

“Then why didn’t you rent it?”

Rong Jiqiao bit her lip. After thinking for a long time, she still could not come up with a proper excuse.

“It just...”

She rubbed the edge of the bedsheet, her voice growing smaller and smaller.

Duan Yan raised an eyebrow.

“I’ll look again tomorrow. Maybe there’s something a little better.”

The more Rong Jiqiao spoke, the more embarrassed she felt. Even the tips of her ears burned.

She had sworn earlier that she wanted to save money.

Now she was the one complaining that the apartment was too shabby.

She secretly glanced at Duan Yan and realized he was smiling.

He leaned against the headboard. The warm yellow light in the bedroom fell across the side of his face, casting half of it in brightness and half in shadow.

That usually cold and quiet face now carried a faint smile. The curve at the corner of his mouth was shallow, almost unnoticeable, but the lines around his eyes had softened.

His features were already sharp and handsome, with straight brows, deep eyes, and a high nose bridge. When he did not smile, he looked like an ice sculpture, cold and unapproachable.

But now, with his expression relaxed, most of that sharpness had faded. There was a hint of teasing hidden in his eyes, as if he had seen through her little thoughts but had no intention of exposing her.

Rong Jiqiao’s face turned even redder. She reached out and pushed him.

“What are you laughing at?”

Duan Yan did not dodge. He let her push him, and his smile only deepened.

He caught her hand.

“Nothing.”

Rong Jiqiao was so annoyed that she tried to pull her hand back, but Duan Yan held it tightly.

She tugged hard.

Duan Yan followed the motion and leaned back, pulling her onto the bed with him.

Caught off guard, Rong Jiqiao fell straight into his arms.

The tip of her nose bumped against his chest, and a scent mixed with laundry detergent and faint sweat filled her nose.

Her mind went blank.

She froze there, not daring to move.

Duan Yan wrapped his arms around her, his chin resting against the top of her head.

“You said you wanted to save money, but you were the first one who couldn’t take it.”

Buried against his chest, Rong Jiqiao’s voice came out muffled.

“I didn’t expect it to be that run-down.”

Duan Yan laughed out loud. The vibration in his chest made her heartbeat stumble with it.

Rong Jiqiao struggled twice but could not break free. In the end, she simply gave up and lay still on top of him.

Only their breathing remained in the room.

One breath after another.

Overlapping, intertwining.

Duan Yan’s fingers slipped through her hair, his fingertips brushing the back of her neck.

Rong Jiqiao trembled all over, and her heart pounded even faster.

She wanted to sit up, but Duan Yan pressed down on her shoulder.

“Don’t move. I’m hard.”