Chapter Nine
Zuo Xutong returned home empty-handed, picked up the half-eaten steamed bun from last night and started eating it. She hadn't eaten anything that morning in order to catch the bus, and now she was so hungry that she was seeing stars. Her hand holding the steamed bun was trembling slightly.
After eating the hardened, cold steamed bun, she sat down at her desk and opened some documents. Two or three hours later, her hunger returned.
Eating is such a hassle, she thought, but in order to keep her brain functioning properly, she put the documents face down on the table and prepared to go out to buy some food.
As soon as she stepped out of the building, she noticed the electricity bill posted on the mailbox, clearly showing her apartment number and a balance of -57.3 yuan. She was in arrears! A sudden panic gripped her; she stared desperately at the paper fluttering in the wind, like a patient seeing "CA" written on a test report.
She regretted spending that money in a moment of haste a few days ago. Over the past two years, she had developed a habit of buying a batch of experimental materials as soon as she received her salary, and then secretly conducting experiments in the school's laboratory after dark. But how could she compete with those laboratories that specialized in membrane electrode research at such a speed? So she was often anxious, fearing that if someone developed a substitute with comparable performance and lower cost, all her efforts over the past five years would be in vain.
Two years ago, despite everyone's advice, she stubbornly chose to drop out of school. Now, looking back, was her decision a mistake? Thinking this, Zuo Xutong felt so distressed she could hardly breathe. She could only reach out and hold onto the wall, standing there for a long while to catch her breath. Finally, she ripped off the overdue payment notice and turned back upstairs.
Hungry and exhausted, she fell asleep on the table after a while. In her dream, a vast, lush meadow stretched out before her, with several large, leafy trees standing tall among it. Not far away, a rabbit hid in the grass, its silhouette appearing and disappearing. Suddenly, a little girl ran into her field of vision. Beside her sat a young couple, nestled together under a tree, enjoying the tranquility of late summer. She could feel their happiness.
Suddenly, the man under the tree turned around and transformed into Luan Mingfeng. She was startled. He was married, a happy family of three, while she felt like a lonely ghost, only able to hide behind the tree and peek at others' happiness. She felt an unbearable suffocation in her heart, as if a huge rock was pressing down on it. The excruciating pain pulled her consciousness out of the dream.
Outside the window, it was already dark. She rubbed her stomach; the excruciating feeling in her dream was actually a stomachache caused by hunger. The dream, however, felt real. Luan Mingfeng should already be married, with a wife and children, but she felt no sadness at all. Right now, she only cared about one thing: whether the membrane electrode development would succeed. As for anything else, she had no time to worry about.
Zuo Xutong went to the small supermarket downstairs and bought two packets of instant noodles. After cooking them, she wolfed them down. Shortly after eating, she felt a burning pain under her right rib. As time went on, the pain not only did not subside but continued to worsen, eventually radiating to her entire back. There were no painkillers in her rented room, so she could only drink more hot water, but at this stage of her illness, simply drinking water didn't seem to help much.
She knew it was probably a recurrence of her chronic cholecystitis. Previously, each time it flared up, a good night's sleep would do the trick. So she went to bed early, but the room was too cold. She curled up in the damp, chilly blankets, unable to fall asleep. Finally, around 10 p.m., she couldn't take it anymore and struggled to sit up to go out and buy medicine.
The distance from her home to the pharmacy wasn't far, but it took her twice as long as usual to slowly make her way there. Through the glass wall, she saw that the pharmacy was completely dark inside, with a U-shaped lock hanging on the door.
It was 10:30 p.m., and most of the shops on the street were closed. Zuo Xutong felt a chill run through her body, and the cold made the pain in her upper right abdomen even more pronounced. She squatted on the ground, a position that slightly relieved the pain.
"Hey, what's wrong?"
She turned around, and Peng Kun was standing behind her.
"My cholecystitis has flared up," she replied weakly.
Peng Kun glanced at the dark pharmacy next door and immediately understood.
"Shall I take you to the hospital?" he said.
Zuo Xutong shook her head. The slight fever hadn't completely confused her. She knew she didn't have money to go to the hospital, so she could only grit her teeth and bear it: "It's nothing, it's just an old ailment."
"Are you really alright? Look at you, you can barely walk upright anymore." He frowned.
Do you have any painkillers at home?
“Taking painkillers indiscriminately can mask the underlying condition. Why don’t you go to the hospital for a checkup?” Despite Peng Kun’s repeated persuasion, Zuo Xutong remained adamant about not going to the hospital. In the end, he had no choice but to give up. “Then come back with me to get your medicine.”
The villas in Tianxin Yayuan are all detached houses. Because they are far from the city center, the property prices here haven't risen outrageously. The villa complex is surrounded by low-rise buildings, with only the front row on the north side adjacent to the park. From Yuanjiang Road, it looks no different from an ordinary residential area.
Once inside, Zuo Xutong discovered a hidden paradise: ancient pavilions and terraces, exquisitely carved arched bridges, and crystal-clear river water where colorful koi carp hid among the rocks, their tails swaying leisurely.
Peng Kun's residence was located near the north side. They walked through most of the residential area, finally coming off the asphalt road and onto a side path paved with gravel. Looking into the distance, Zuo Xutong could see a large-aperture telescope, taller than a person and resembling a cannon barrel, prominently displayed on the open-air balcony of a villa's second floor. After a while, Peng Kun led her to the telescope and took out a key to open the front door.
"Is this your home?"
"right."
"Is that an astronomical telescope?" Zuo Xutong pointed to the telescope upstairs.
"That's right."
"It must be quite expensive, right?" she blurted out out of curiosity, but then realized she was being too nosy.
"It's not expensive; even street sweepers and scavengers can afford it." These were the words Xiao Ping used to mock him that day, and he still remembered them.
Zuo Xutong was extremely embarrassed: "Please don't take what happened that day to heart."
"Don't worry, I'm not that petty." Peng Kun walked into the living room, poured her a cup of hot water, and then said, "Please sit wherever you like, I'll look for the first-aid kit."
Zuo Xutong sat on the sofa and looked around. The decor was a low-key, simple industrial style. The gray walls looked like they hadn't been painted white. There were no luxurious crystal chandeliers or cashmere carpets, nor a grand marble dining table. The large living room felt empty and somewhat desolate. A moment later, Peng Kun found the first-aid kit and took out the painkillers.
Zuo Xutong took a pill and then got up to say goodbye.
“Try to go to the hospital when you have some free time. Taking painkillers all the time isn’t a solution,” Peng Kun said, picking up his coat and following her to the door. “I’ll take you home. This is the suburbs, and the security isn’t great.”
Zuo Xutong didn't want to trouble him any further: "No need, it's so late, you should get some rest."
Peng Kun ignored her words and asked as they walked, "Is the rent over there reasonable?"
Zuo Xutong nodded, not understanding what was going on.
"Didn't you do any on-site research before renting the place?" he asked again.
"No." Seeing that he hesitated, Zuo Xutong became a little wary. "What's wrong? Just say what you want to say."
Peng Kun hesitated for a moment, but finally told her, "There was a home invasion robbery in your neighborhood last year."
"Has anyone died?"
"Um."
Zuo Xutong listened in silence.
On their way back, the two passed by the Nanxuan Bridge where she had set up her stall that night.
"You were the one who called the urban management officers over that day, weren't you?"
“That’s right,” he readily admitted.
"Don't misunderstand, I didn't mean to blame you."
"You blame me?" Peng Kun stopped and looked at her in surprise. "I thought you were going to thank me."
"Thank you for confiscating all my goods?"
"Thank you for saving you and guiding you back from the wrong path."
Realizing his mistake, Zuo Xutong smiled wearily.
Night fell, and there were no pedestrians on the street, only their long shadows under the streetlights, sometimes overlapping, sometimes separating. A few minutes later, they entered the apartment complex where she rented a room. Peng Kun had lived here for many years, but had never set foot in this place before. The environment here was terrible; the walls of the buildings were peeling, like they had psoriasis, antennas crisscrossed in front of the buildings, and garbage was piled up everywhere.
Zuo Xutong lives on the third floor of a five-story building, in a north-facing one-bedroom apartment. The living room is sparsely furnished: a wardrobe with only half a door remaining, an old desk, and a chair with a white-painted back. That's all. It's cold inside; there's no heating, and the temperature difference between indoors and outdoors is barely noticeable.
Upon opening the door, Zuo Xutong immediately noticed that the living room desk was covered with documents and scraps of paper related to membrane electrodes. She quickly stepped forward and blocked the desk with her body. Of course, she hadn't forgotten her past experience as a lab technician, so she didn't want anyone to know that she was developing ultra-low platinum membrane electrodes, especially since he was the company's boss.
However, Peng Kun didn't notice the messy desk at all; he was pondering how the people living here were going to survive the cold and damp winters of Longjin City.
He looked around the impoverished home and couldn't help but ask, "Isn't it cold living here?"
"It's alright." Her hands were behind her back, close to the edge of the desk.
“I have another house on Tianyao Road that has been unoccupied. Why don’t you move there?”
Zuo Xutong was stunned for a moment, not understanding what he was talking about.
"It's too cold here, no one can live here," Peng Kun said.
Zuo Xutong felt a warmth in her heart and was speechless. Over the years, no one had cared about her life, whether she ate well or lived well. She had survived all by herself through hard work and struggle. However, she still refused.
After Peng Kun left, she drank some hot water, washed up quickly, and then lay down on the bed, drifting off to sleep. In the middle of the night, a loud crash came from upstairs, like something heavy had hit the floor, followed by several screams from a woman. Startled awake, Zuo Xutong remembered Peng Kun's description of the burglary and was too frightened to breathe. Trembling, she reached for her phone, wondering whether to call the police, when she heard laughter from upstairs. Only then did Zuo Xutong realize how incredibly poor the soundproofing of the apartment was. Immediately afterward, the bed upstairs creaked rhythmically, accompanied by a woman's sharp, short moans.
Zuo Xutong sat up, turned on her phone screen. It was only a little past two in the morning. She scratched her hair in frustration, looked at the dark night outside the window, and sighed helplessly.
For several days in a row, she was awakened by the noise from upstairs. Finally, one day, she couldn't bear it any longer, got out of bed, put on her coat, and went outside. The old building had an open corridor, and it was the coldest time of year. A cold wind rushed up from her slipper-clad feet, making her shiver.
There were no motion-sensor lights in the stairwell, and dark clouds obscured the moonlight, making it pitch black all around. Her mind was foggy, and as she groped her way up the stairs in the dark, her foot slipped, and she fell hard. Fortunately, she had only gone up three or four steps; if she had rolled down the top of the stairs in the freezing cold of the night, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
Zuo Xutong clutched her injured ankle and sat on the cold steps, gazing through the corridor at the dark gray clouds in the night sky. She couldn't understand how she had fallen to such a state. She sat in the cold wind for several minutes until her mind cleared and her anger subsided considerably before she painfully stood up, dusted herself off, and limped home.
The next day, Zuo Xutong ran into the young couple upstairs. They must have been new tenants. The woman was heavily made up, with long, chestnut-brown waves in her hair. Underneath her open white down jacket was a low-cut, round-neck, tight-fitting top with oval sequins that revealed her taste. The man had high cheekbones, narrow eyes, and while not tall, he was quite stocky. His hands were covered in dark blue tattoos. He had half a cigarette dangling from his lips and kept cursing, every word he uttered containing sexual references.
Looking at his fierce face, Zuo Xutong realized that the fall last night was actually a blessing in disguise; otherwise, her momentary impulsiveness might have led to a bloody incident.
The noise from upstairs was severely affecting her work during the day, so when Peng Kun asked her again if she was considering moving, she finally put aside her pride and agreed without hesitation. However, she insisted on paying rent, and Peng Kun couldn't persuade her otherwise, so he said, "Then let's calculate it according to your current rent."
Zuo Xutong nodded in agreement, but shamelessly said, "I don't have the money to give you right now, can you pay me back first?"
“Okay, no problem, I’m not living off rent.”
“Let me give you an IOU, or we can draft a contract…” Before she could finish speaking, Peng Kun interrupted her: “Don’t bother. You work for me, do you think you’ll run away?”
From childhood, Zuo Xutong had always been independent and self-reliant. Even during the years she dated Luan Mingfeng, she stubbornly refused to spend a single penny of his money. But recently, she had inexplicably accepted his repeated help. Now that she had already broken the precedent, she might as well go all out and borrow another thousand yuan from him after negotiating the rent.
Peng Kun's old house is located at the end of Tianyao Road. The residential complex was built more than ten years ago. He lived here before moving, and he didn't sell the old house after moving to a villa.
The worst small apartment on Tianyao Road costs around 3,000 yuan a month. This apartment is located in the best Nanshan Manor in the area, and it has three bedrooms and one living room, fully furnished with appliances and furniture.
"Is it really appropriate to rent this house to me for two thousand yuan?" Zuo Xutong stood in the middle of the living room, looking down at the landlord and creditor sitting on the sofa.
"Is there something wrong?" Peng Kun asked.
“In a neighborhood like this, with an apartment layout like this, the rent would be at least eight or nine thousand.”
“You still think it’s too cheap? Fine…” Peng Kun said, standing up, walking to the TV cabinet, taking out a key, and locking two of the rooms, leaving only the south-facing master bedroom open. “Now it’s a one-bedroom apartment. Any other questions?”
Zuo Xutong shook her head in disbelief.
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