12. Apartment
Although Qiu Fang had a lot on his plate, he was not forgetful. He requested that the next time they met, he would meet at Weiwei's house.
That momentary thought passed, and Vivian's enthusiasm for the matter faded. She simply bought some salmon on the grocery shopping app, briefly pan-fried it, made a dish of Spanish fried shrimp, and prepared some white wine. Qiu Fang had tasted and seen everything, so she had no intention of impressing him with her culinary skills.
Qiu Fang arrived, and Vivian came downstairs to meet him. In this old neighborhood, if someone wasn't there to pick you up, the winding paths would be difficult to navigate. When she took him out of the elevator, the voice-activated lights in the hallway were broken, leaving it dark. It broke at a perfect time—the elevator lobby in this building was still bright and presentable, but the tangled wires and stained walls in the hallway were a real eyesore.
Qiu Fang sat down. The TV was mid-show, showing "The Holiday," starring Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet. It tells the story of two women who swap houses for a vacation and find love. It was a classic chick flick, with pleasing visuals, a melodious soundtrack, and a 3000K yellow lighting, creating a particularly warm atmosphere.
Both Qiu Fang and she were very natural, as if this heartwarming scene had happened countless times, but it still felt weird because their relationship was far from being that close.
The scene and the relationship do not match, which inevitably makes people feel uneasy and uneasy.
But Qiu Fang didn't care; he was just saying it casually, just looking at it. He was a little disappointed when the pan-fried salmon with broccoli arrived. He'd eaten too much of this kind of pretentious white food, so he'd expected something like home-cooked braised pork.
Qiu Fang now refuses to mention his rural roots in northern Jiangsu. He already bought a house in Shanghai for his parents and hired a nanny. As for his wife and children, they already consider themselves Americans. The children refuse to speak Chinese, and at most they are willing to admit that they are Shanghainese.
While his appearance can be polished, with tailored Italian suits and handmade British leather shoes, his tastes are hard to change. Cheap dishes like red-braised pork are a non-starter at regular business dinners. And for his daily work meals, his female assistant is responsible for devising healthy meals, often consisting of vegetable salads with a touch of bland white meat. To maintain healthy blood pressure and blood lipids in middle age, he rarely gets to enjoy the rich, rich sauce of red-braised pork.
What's so delicious about this crappy salmon? I'd vomit after eating it all the time.
On the surface, he still pretended to be surprised: "I didn't expect that you can cook for yourself."
"You can't always order takeout."
"There aren't many girls your age who are willing to cook."
Qiu Fang said this deliberately, as if Vivian was still very young. He always thought this trick was very effective. There was probably no woman who didn't like being praised for her youth.
"How big is your house?" He looked around and made small talk.
"It's only about 70 square meters."
Qiu Fang wasn't someone who hadn't experienced hard times, but he'd long since forgotten what it felt like. He didn't know what it felt like to live in a small, 70-square-meter apartment, just as he'd forgotten what it felt like to fly economy class. At work, he often berated his subordinates for being too pampered, traveling too much, staying up too late, and complaining that none of them matched his own hard work and perseverance that had led to his success.
The subordinates could only secretly roll their eyes: "You, old man, lie down all the way on your business trip, so of course you're always energetic. How could you imagine how we feel, crammed into cramped seats on early flights, typing out PowerPoint presentations on our computers."
*
"Why don't you eat it? Doesn't it taste good?"
Qiu Fang inexplicably felt a surge of tenderness, a feeling he hadn't felt in a long time in his hard-hearted middle-aged life. Although the house was relatively cozy, he felt helpless and cramped. The thumping of children running around on the ceiling made the warm and inviting space Vivian had painstakingly created seem a little pathetic.
"Vivian, I don't mean anything else. As a girl, you should live in a safer neighborhood. The road you just walked in was so dark. I'll ask Xiao Jia to help you rent another apartment near the company."
"Ah? No, no, it's actually quite convenient to live here." Vivian was very surprised. She had originally just wanted to give Qiu Fang a little illusion of homely warmth. Eating a homemade meal in a small apartment was always more intimate than eating in a cold restaurant.
"Don't make excuses. I'll have Xiao Jia contact you after I'm done."
By the time Qiu Fang left the complex, the driver was already waiting there. The cool breeze cleared his mind. He felt a little regretful.
Renting a studio or a one-bedroom apartment in an upscale neighborhood for around 10,000 yuan a month was nothing to him. But he wasn't sure it was worth it to do it for Vivian.
Qiu Fang worked in finance, after all, and his primary concern was return on investment. Vivian wasn't particularly special to him. Unlike Yoyo, she wasn't a huge thrill, a source of ego boosting and a desire to triumph over other males. And when it came to relationships, naturally, she couldn't compare to a lover who already lived together and had children.
"Never mind, it's not much money." Qiu Fang shook his head and got in the car.
*
Qiu kept his word and a week later had his assistant, Xiao Jia, contact Vivian. Naturally, he didn't need to worry about trivial matters like renting an apartment. Xiao Jia was already familiar with the area and had rented a one-bedroom apartment near the China World Trade Center for a year.
When Xiao Jia contacted her, Vivian felt a little awkward. Xiao Jia, however, was neither humble nor overbearing, but rather open and generous. This wasn't the first time she'd helped Qiu Fang with such matters. The budget Qiu Fang had given also suggested that Vivian wasn't a high-profile figure. So Xiao Jia didn't go for a too expensive rental. After all, the lease was only for a year, so if anything went wrong midway, the losses would be limited.
Vivian tried not to dwell on the meaning behind this. The many trivialities of moving also left her no time for internal deliberation or self-questioning. She spent an entire weekend, hired two part-time workers, cleaned up her house, packed up her personal belongings, and listed it for rent with an agent she knew.
Although her apartment wasn't large, it was well-decorated, a rare sight in the neighborhood, and the price was reasonable, so she rented it out within two days. The move in and out significantly improved her living environment, and the rent covered half of her mortgage.
A week passed before she finished everything. On the day she moved in, she spent hours slowly sorting her clothes into her wardrobe. The first time she sat by the floor-to-ceiling windows, overlooking the CBD at night, it was the transition from day to night, and the air was permeated with an all-encompassing, ethereal blue.
She rarely gazed at the sky at this time, because she was usually typing on the computer in the office.
She knew it was a little ridiculous, but facing the night scene unfolding before her, as dazzling as a crystal chandelier, a strange feeling of pride welled up in her heart.
In "Red Rose and White Rose," the protagonist falls in love with a married woman and tries desperately to woo her. The woman responds, "My heart is an apartment building."
The man replied, "But I'm not used to living in an apartment. I want to live in a single-family house."
Weiwei probably wouldn't be able to live in a single-family house here at Qiu Fang's place. She deliberately didn't think about it.
But sometimes she also wants to be a mysterious woman who lives in a luxury apartment, sits in a cafe during work hours, wears Lululemon and does nothing.
///
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
