Chapter 20

I Must Remind You, I’m Single Now

Hu Xiu didn’t understand: “Is it that serious?”

“Li Ai isn’t some rich young master. He was supporting the coffee shop with his job, and his wife earned a decent income.

Since his wife passed away, he’s been living on savings while fighting the lawsuit, and lawyer fees are expensive, charged by the hour.

Lately, he’s been too busy to see us. He’s probably raising money, with everyone turning against him. I don’t know where he’ll get it.”

“But that lawsuit... it’s hard to win, right?”

“Yeah. The other side has money and power, the son of a real estate tycoon, can’t say too much, but they drive a Ferrari.

They were drunk driving, hit three people, Li Ai’s wife and a colleague died, and one boy is in critical condition. The other two people either want compensation or hope to save the boy with two million.

The three victims’ goals don’t align, and Li Ai is just one person trying to get justice, but it looks really hopeless.”

Her lawyer told me that only if the victims simultaneously file for compensation can the case go to trial. The longer these drags on, the settlement fee keeps rising, and the other two families think Li Ai is too stubborn.”

“He probably feels it’s unfair, right? Three lives for six million. By the logic of the rich, that’s already a high price. But killing three people while drunk driving... even if he gets sentenced to death with a reprieve, it still won’t satisfy him.”

“It’s a pity that there is no such thing as fairness in this world. When we’re young, we always think that with enough passion, we can achieve our ideals. Gradually, we first realize that money can solve problems, and later we discover that power has more influence than money— it can even silence voices.

The aspirations our elders have for us to become officials are learned the hard way, after facing setbacks. The longer we live, the more we see the unfairness around us.

In Shanghai, as long as you don’t run into bad luck, you can still live a stable life with moderate wealth. But Li Ai turned out to be one of the unfortunate ones, and he doesn’t want to give in to the rules of this world.

He sold his house for the lawsuit; we all know about it, but we didn’t expect...” 

“Didn’t expect he’d be at the point of closing the shop... He hasn’t told us anything.”

“Why would he close the shop?” Zhao Xiaorou took a puff from her e-cigarette, exhaling the smoke, “I, Zhao Xiaorou, won’t allow it.”

Anxious, Hu Xiu seriously called her father the day before the big meeting.

Not long ago, she’d often pretended to be busy. After hesitating for a while, she asked her father to lend her 50,000 yuan, hoping to help Li Ai raise some money for rent.

As expected, her father questioned her relentlessly and scolded her severely: “What are you thinking? It’s embarrassing enough to be ridiculed by your matchmaking candidates for messing around with leisure activities. Now you’re asking me to lend you money to help a friend pay rent?

I can’t help but think how badly you’re doing in Shanghai if you’re coming crawling back to me like this. If it weren’t for you working hard recently, I’d call your mother and question her on how she raised you to be such a daughter with all these crooked ideas. If this friend can marry you, then I’ll consider it...”

Hu Xiu silently hung up the phone. After the Saturday meeting, instead of rushing to Snowpiercer, she secretly followed her senior sister to an exhibition center where she did simultaneous translation for a session, earning 8,000 yuan.

If she could earn this much every week, she’d make 30,000 yuan a month, which could help Li Ai a little.

Afterwards, Hu Xiu was so tired she immediately fell asleep. Recently, she’d been working hard, so she decided not to meet Qin Xiaoyi. If she really missed him, she’d find a way to chat with him in the middle of the week.

However, thinking about Li Ai not being able to pay rent, and the image of him with a limp and the shop possibly closing without news, Hu Xiu couldn’t bring herself to spare even the 498 yuan. She only checked the session schedule on Dianping and found that the last session on Wednesday finished at 10:30 PM. After working overtime, she went to the street near the emergency exit to wait.

Standing in a low-profile spot, Qin Xiaoyi came out with others, and Hu Xiu gently waved. Qin Xiaoyi actually saw her and ran across the street.

Hu Xiu couldn’t help but feel like this moment was a dream— even if the boy of her dreams were to come to her, he was just too handsome!

“Haven’t seen you around lately.”

“Been a bit...”

“Poor, right? I thought when I told you not to come last time, you’d really listen and not come,” Qin Xiaoyi coughed lightly, “It’s rare for someone to listen to me like that.”

“If I want to see you, I’ll come. See, I came through the back door to find you,” Hu Xiu quickly added to avoid awkwardness, “A friend ran into some problems and urgently needs money, so I wanted to raise a little to help.”

“Is it a very close friend?”

“It’s a guy who came before, he’s a bit limping, don’t know if you remember him.”

“He runs a coffee shop on Yuyuan Road, but he’s facing financial issues and might have to close it.”

“I don’t want to see my friend’s shop close after all this time. I have to help, even though... I don’t have much money— I can’t even bring myself to spend on Snowpiercer tickets.”

“No need to keep saying that,” Qin Xiaoyi stretched lazily, “You still haven’t gotten bored of this storyline? Also, this industry isn’t as simple as you think. No need to see me only in these plays.”

“Oh? Not simple?”

“You shouldn’t have asked me that last question. Forget it— you’re really a bit slow. I’ve quit drinking lately, and was planning to take a walk tonight. Let me walk you back.”

Qin Xiaoyi casually said this as he began walking ahead. Hu Xiu took a moment to recall and finally realized that Qin Xiaoyi was teasing her. She immediately ran to catch up.

Today, she had changed into sneakers after work. The autumn breeze was a little cool, and she wore a black sweater over her proper shirt. Walking side by side with Qin Xiaoyi, she noticed that her eyebrows barely reached his shoulder.

In the shadows, their legs stretched long, and Qin Xiaoyi spoke up: “Do we look like two compasses?”

What a strange train of thought. Hu Xiu had only planned to watch him finish work at the emergency exit, but unexpectedly, it turned into... Qin Xiaoyi walking her home.

It seemed like he enjoyed walking along the road, and while walking home, he started talking about his experiences playing NPCs in various Murder Mystery games. This was his fourth one.

A classmate took a leave to shoot a film, and Qin Xiaoyi seemed reluctant to miss any class time. He only took TVC and short film gigs on weekends or during holidays.

In his senior year, he started doing NPC roles intensively, becoming very familiar with these new interactive mini-theater performances.

Hu Xiu looked at Qin Xiaoyi’s profile, her face a bit flushed: “I’m curious, why don’t you pursue acting?”

“Simple goal, just to make money. Playing NPCs in these games is quick money for me.”

“Is the pay high?”

“Not really, but it’s decent for me.”

He didn’t elaborate further; he didn’t want to talk about it. In the night wind, Hu Xiu’s hair blew across Qin Xiaoyi’s arm. When she noticed, she saw goosebumps rising on his arm under the light.

The two walked quietly into the neighborhood. Hu Xiu couldn’t find anything more to talk about—there was no way someone as handsome as him would be interested in her translation work.

Arriving at the building’s entrance, Hu Xiu waved: “I probably won’t be able to see you again soon. I have to do translation work for my friend.”

“No problem. Teacher Hu, you showed me the courage and emotion that a person should have, and I really respect that.”

“You speak as if you don’t have it yourself.”

“Me?” Qin Xiaoyi smiled faintly, “Maybe.”

Hu Xiu didn’t understand the meaning of that smile.

Half a month passed, and sure enough, Zhao Xiaorou shared good news in their small group of three: “Divorce successful...”

By the time Hu Xiu arrived, Zhao Xiaorou was already sitting at the innermost corner of the coffee shop, drinking coffee. A full table of new products from Li Ai was laid out.

Zhao Xiaorou was excited when she saw Hu Xiu: “Come on, Li Ai has new SOE products again!”

The table was filled with coffee pots and various latte art designs, making Hu Xiu’s heart race. At this moment, they should have been drinking wine...

No, Zhao Xiaorou came to torment Li Ai, so of course, it involved him making latte art, using new beans, and developing new products.

Li Ai, fully accepting, had a green apron with a brooch flashing on his chest. It was something he wore a year ago after losing a bet to Zhao Xiaorou, symbolizing absolute submission to all her requests.

Of course, Zhao Xiaorou had only ever asked Li Ai to bring her an electronic cigarette while traveling, help make coffee, and occasionally give her keys to escape arguments. She had never asked for anything too outrageous.

Now, Zhao Xiaorou stretched her legs and lay across two chairs: “REGARD’s lease renewal was successful, my divorce is finalized, and Hu Xiu has Qin Xiaoyi. Should we celebrate big time?”

“I haven’t gotten Qin Xiaoyi... REGARD renewed the lease?”

Zhao Xiaorou answered before Li Ai could: “Yes, a benefactor helped out.”

“Oh my...” Hu Xiu clapped excitedly. “I even told Qin Xiaoyi that I was sad about a friend’s shop closing down, but now I can bring him to visit when there’s a chance.”

“You two are already at the dating stage?”

“Only... I was thinking about it.”

“Damn. Hu Xiu, I’m reminding you now that I’m single, I’m rich and beautiful. If you don’t make a move, be careful—Qin Xiaoyi might end up with me.”

Li Ai’s delivery arrived just in time. The flower collagen chicken and sea cucumber shark fin rice were wrapped in layers of tin foil, and the clay pot, when opened, emitted a cloud of steam, quickly filling the room with a rich fragrance.

Li Ai was satisfied with the steaming dinner: “That way, drinking coffee won’t hurt the stomach.”

“Oh, Li Ai, stop thinking about health all the time. What we should eat now? Spicy tripe, stir-fried kidneys, super spicy chicken wings, then go clubbing afterwards.”

Hu Xiu looked at the exchanged glances between Li Ai and Zhao Xiaorou. Li Ai’s gaze was gentle, and after frowning for three seconds, he relaxed: “I was just noticing that you’ve lost weight.”

It wasn’t from slimming injections—straight men really don’t notice anything. Hu Xiu silently ate, listening to Zhao Xiaorou’s story about flying to Shenzhen for her divorce, visiting several banks within a week to provide all payment records and mortgage statements. Although they shared the mortgage, the deduction records were all in Zhao Xiaorou’s name.

She carefully divided the share of the house purchase, clearly investigating the price at the time of purchase and the current market value. In the end, Wang Guangming, who had made a huge mistake, only took 1.5 million.

And the 9.7 million RMB school district property in Nanshan District was still under Zhao Xiaorou’s name, and she rented it out to high school seniors for a monthly income.

Zhao Xiaorou transferred 150,000 from her card, feeling some pain, but the appreciating school district property was still a guaranteed income for her.

The killing blow was that Zhao Xiaorou also posted this story on Weibo, publicly humiliating Wang Guangming. His life was only getting worse.

To be a social media influencer, you need real skills and data-writing abilities, and Zhao Xiaorou had truly reached another level.

“I should preemptively celebrate my comeback. I’ve gained a million followers, and my headline fee has increased to 100,000.”

“Another MCN wants to sign me, but I refused. Still, I haven’t figured out how to take things to the next level.”

“Are you worried you can’t succeed without Wang Guangming?” Hu Xiu laughed. “I don’t think so.”

“Of course. My accounts won’t grow beyond his reach. We had a decent relationship as a couple, but when it came to fighting over the house, all the little feelings I had for him evaporated.

From now on, I’ll only think about him in passing—wondering if he’s buried deep enough when it rains, if the urn leaks, or if it will catch fire because of static electricity when the weather’s dry.”

Li Ai shook his head: “Your mouth doesn’t spare anyone. Hu Xiu, I’ve made cake upstairs for you. Could you go get it?”

Upstairs was the second floor of the old house Li Ai had rented. The place was old, but he had arranged it with a unique layout.

In the 10-square-meter small room, the bed and desk were separated by green plants. The bed linens and tablecloths were in muted tones, not reflecting the light, making the entire room feel airy. The wall had mosaic tiles made from shoe boxes, on which were displayed his collection of sports shoes, with the colors of the tiles gradually transitioning, making the whole wall look like an exhibition window.

The storefront on Yuyuan Road was a renovated old house, but the inside was still in poor condition. The bedroom and bathroom were separated, and to use the bathroom, you had to go outside and into a different room—a typical old layout. The stairs were loose, with wood chips falling off, and every time Hu Xiu stepped on them, she felt like the floor might collapse.

But she really liked the house. Whether it was the bedroom or the bathroom, Li Ai had arranged everything in a very cozy manner. The warm tones gave it a welcoming feel. Going downstairs and walking a small maze-like path led her to the bustling streets, providing a sense of quiet amid the chaos—a wonderful little paradise created by Li Ai.

He had once been a designer frequently featured in An Di magazine.

Sure enough, there was a cake ordered in the fridge. On her way back with the cake, Hu Xiu kept wondering why it was placed upstairs—wouldn’t it have been more convenient to place it downstairs?

Walking in through the back door, the fabric curtain hadn’t been lifted, and Zhao Xiaorou was speaking with Li Ai.

“One year’s rent is nothing; it’s just two months of advertising, maybe three. Don’t worry too much about it. Focus on the lawsuit.

Of course, if it doesn’t work out... just settle. I don’t think your wife would blame you—this isn’t your fault.”

“I’ll pay you back as soon as possible.”

“No need. Think of it as me taking a stake.”

“There are proper ways to talk about taking a stake. Now that you’ve helped me through a tough time, I have to repay you, logically and emotionally.”

“Why do you have to be so formal?” Zhao Xiaorou took the coffee from his hands, but her eyes were fixed on the man who had his head down. “Li Ai, I have to remind you, I’m single now.”

“I know...”

There was a two-minute silence in the air, not a standoff nor a blockade. Zhao Xiaorou silently stared at the man behind the cashier counter, while he quietly wiped the cup with a tissue— a cup that was already shining but was now being used as a tool to ease the awkwardness.

Zhao Xiaorou shifted her gaze, and just in time, saw Hu Xiu coming out with a cake: “Hu Xiu, now that I’m single again, it’s time to go to Snowpiercer and flirt with handsome guys— I’ll treat you.”