I looked at this woman again. She sat upright, with slightly curled long hair hanging down to her shoulders. Her fair skin and slender figure, along with the upward curve of her mouth, exuded a confident and sharp aura. In short, she was an unquestionable beauty. Just by looking at her for the first time, it seemed like there was nothing in this world that couldn’t be forgiven!

Lao Li waved at me, “Zhao Yang, come over, I have something to tell you.”

“Is it about the rent? I’ll pay it together next month when I receive my salary, okay?” I said with a forced smile, after all, I had been delaying the rent with Lao Li for so long.

“It’s about the house… um… this house has been bought by this girl.”

“You sold this house?! Who’s the idiot willing to buy this old house that can’t withstand an earthquake!” I looked at the woman and shouted. In the face of the crisis of homelessness, I couldn’t care less about her elegance and beauty. I got angry first!

Lao Li looked at the woman with a frown, feeling embarrassed. After a while, he said to me, “You should move out tonight. I won’t ask you for the rent for the past few months either!”

“Lao Li, the older you get, the more you act like a grandson… Even if you want to sell the house, you should have let me know in advance. Where am I supposed to find a new place to live on such a rainy day?”

“Just find a hotel to stay for now.” Lao Li said without caring about my feelings.

“You don’t even have the ownership of the house anymore, don’t talk to me!” I retorted at Lao Li, then turned to the unfamiliar woman and said, “The house is yours now, can I continue renting it from you?”

The woman shook her head, “I bought it to live in myself, I have no plans to rent it out.”

I immediately became unsettled, “Miss, are you okay? You drive a million-dollar luxury car and come to live in this rundown house!… Are you intentionally trying to make things difficult for me?”

The woman ignored my anger and calmly said, “You have one hour to move out…”

Before she could finish her sentence, I interrupted, “I’m not moving… Have you ever seen someone who doesn’t give any notice and just tells others to move out?” I finished speaking and sat down next to the woman on the sofa. The woman instinctively moved to the other side.

I lit a cigarette and looked around this old house. A sense of loss overflowed in my heart. Two years ago, when I came to Suzhou, I had been living here. In this house, I had endured the most difficult period of my life.

Here, I had confided in the living room’s clock, and poured my heart out to the old floor lamp in the bedroom all night long. Every object here seemed like a close friend who had gone through hardships with me. Leaving here meant losing the last trace of my livelihood.

The smoke emanating from my mouth made the woman annoyed, and she stood up from the sofa and walked to the other side.

I felt even more unlucky. It seemed like all the bad things had happened to me today, and everyone who came to find me was unhappy.

After a while, Lao Li said to both of us who were deadlocked, “I have something to attend to at home. You two can discuss the house matter slowly…” Without waiting for a response, he walked out as if he had thrown away a hot potato, stepping on the oil on the soles of his feet, as if he was skating, and left with his bag.

There were only me and the woman left in the house.

…

Outside the window, the strong wind and cold rain began to rage again. Such harsh weather made me even more unwilling to move out. I decided to sit here and stubbornly stay with this woman. After all, I had nothing left but time.

I spoke to her, “Miss, may I ask for your name?”

She responded without smiling, “Is it important?”

“Of course it’s important. I need to know which immortal brought me to this homeless state on a cold rainy night!”

She ignored the sarcasm in my words and replied coldly, “You only have 40 minutes left now. If you don’t move, I’ll call the police.”

I was about to explode when the phone rang. I frowned at the woman before taking out my phone from my pocket. It was a call from Le Yao, another woman who annoyed me.

Impatiently, I answered the call, “What’s wrong again? Didn’t I give you money?”

Le Yao remained silent for a moment before saying, “Zhao Yang, tomorrow is the weekend… Can you accompany me to the hospital for a check-up?”

“Is the baby in your belly mine? Can’t you find a friend to accompany you? Do you think I have nothing to do?” I said in a rapid-fire manner, trying to make her give up on this unrealistic idea with my imposing manner.

“In this city, you are the only friend I have.”

“Le Yao, you’re mistaken. We are just friends with benefits, not friends… Do you know what friends with benefits means?”

Le Yao ignored me and said softly, “I’m really scared alone!… If you don’t come, I’ll just let myself perish! I won’t go for the check-up anymore!”

I patiently said, “You went alone today, so tomorrow you should be more familiar with the route.”

“I felt how terrifying it was precisely because I went alone yesterday!”

Le Yao’s persistence was driving me crazy. Out of habit, I cursed, “Fuck you!”

“Fuck you too! The child was conceived by you. If I had known, I would have given birth to the child and raised him, telling him that his father is a beast!”

The sound of a disconnected call echoed from the phone.

……

“What a mess!” I lit a cigarette, smacked my forehead vigorously. For two years, I had never encountered such a troublesome friend with benefits like Le Yao. Despite her solemn promises, I could equally assert: the child is not mine! She claimed that I was her only friend in this city, which made me suspect that she was trying to swindle me. Just last week, I saw a photo of her partying at a bar with a bunch of people on Weibo.

“Scumbag!”

I looked up, only to find a woman staring at me with an extremely disgusted expression. It was just the two of us in the room, so there was no doubt that she was cursing me.

“Were you listening to my call?” I asked emotionlessly, not caring that she had called me a scumbag, because even I couldn’t tell if I was one or not.

“You have 30 minutes left.” The woman’s tone was even colder than before.

What a troublesome rainy night. After giving all my cash to Le Yao today, I was penniless. Where could I move to now? The world is vast, yet there seems to be no place for me, Zhao Yang.

After a moment of silence, I said to the woman, “Miss, look at the storm outside, it’s quite late now, I definitely can’t move out tonight!”

The woman glanced out the window, finally giving me some leeway, “When will you move?”

“Tomorrow.”

“What time?”

“Before one in the afternoon.” I said in a softer tone, because I was about to ask her for a favor.

She nodded, “You can leave now, remember to move your things out on time tomorrow.”

I remained seated, leaning towards her after a while, and asked hesitantly, “Miss… could you lend me some money?”

She seemed surprised, but firmly said, “I have no obligation to lend you money.”

“So you won’t lend me any? Then don’t expect me to leave tonight. I can’t possibly sleep under a bridge without a penny to my name!” I slumped onto the sofa, warning her, “Don’t even think about calling the police. This is your and Old Li’s fault for not giving me a heads up, at least let me prepare.”

She looked at me as if I were a plague, further confirming her eagerness to get rid of me. Unexpectedly, she said, “I don’t have any cash.”

I stared at her in disbelief. Her statement of not having cash was a sign of wealth and class. Wealthy people nowadays don’t usually carry cash in their wallets. Their consumption often reaches tens of thousands, and the small amount of cash that could fit in their wallets obviously wouldn’t suffice.

“Miss, it’s fate, I also don’t like stuffing cash in my wallet!” I shamelessly told the truth, I rarely carried cash in my wallet.

She ignored me.

I continued, “How about this, you lend me your card, I’ll only swipe a thousand. I’ll return it to you when I move out tomorrow, or there’s an ATM 200 meters away downstairs, if you don’t trust me, you can come with me…”

She pulled out a bank card from her wallet and interrupted me, “The password is six zeros. Before one o’clock tomorrow afternoon, get everything done.”

I took the bank card she handed me, “No problem!”

I wasn’t surprised that she trusted me with her bank card. Old Li knew my phone number, workplace, and network of contacts very well. Or perhaps there wasn’t much balance on this card.

……

She sat quietly on the sofa. I took another look at her. Honestly, I had never seen such a beautiful woman in my twenty-something years of life. She seemed to possess a quality that other women didn’t have. However, the regrettable thing was: we didn’t seem to get along!

As I was leaving, I half-jokingly, half-seriously said, “Miss, would you consider cohabiting with me? I can cook and give massages. After a long day of work, I can provide you with a full range of services at home, guaranteed to make you comfortable…”

“Get out!” She finally lost her temper, a throw pillow flew towards me with missile-like precision.