Chapter 1 - An Uninvited Guest

On Saturday, He Bing's biological clock woke him up punctually at 7:40 AM. He took one look at his phone before collapsing back into bed. When he finally opened his eyes again, it was to a call from his mother at almost half past eleven. He pressed the answer button while closing his eyes, "Hi, Mom."

"Son, still not up yet?"

He Bing rolled over. "Almost."

"I need to tell you something. Hey, don't you fall asleep on me."

He Bing reached under his shirt and scratched his belly. "Go ahead, I'm listening."

"Do you still remember your Aunt Cui's son, Xiao Liao? He used to come play at our house all the time."

He Bing certainly remembered that guy. "Liao Yucheng?"

"Yeah. Weren't the two of you pretty close? You were classmates from elementary school all the way through college."

"I guess. What about it?"

"Yesterday your Aunt Cui told me that Xiao Liao's company just transferred him to headquarters. He's supposed to start next week, but the timing's really tight and he doesn't have time to find an apartment. Then I heard that their office is in the same city as you! Since it must be hard for Xiao Liao to be alone in a new city, I told your Aunt Cui to let him stay at yours for a while, until he can find his own place and move out."

He Bing's brain instantly snapped awake. "Huh?"

"What? How's this inconvenient for you? Didn't your girlfriend just dump you anyway?"

"That's not the point." He Bing sat up abruptly in bed, running his fingers through his disheveled hair. "How could you not ask me about this first?"

"Aren't I asking you now?"

He Bing was on the verge of a meltdown. "Mom, you should've at least discussed things with me before agreeing. How can you just randomly dump people on me like this?"

"It's hardly random," His mother sounded quite displeased at his words. "We've been neighbours with their family for over ten years — we're that close! What's the big deal about helping with a little favor like this? And poor Xiao Liao, all by himself in some strange city, you think that's easy?"

He Bing knew his mother was always like this. If she wanted to help people, fine, but why did she have to volunteer him to do her good deeds? "Mom, I'm also stuck alone in a strange city. You think that's easy for me?"

"That's exactly why I want Xiao Liao staying with you! I know how hard you're working out there, and now you don't even have a girlfriend anymore. At least with Xiao Liao around, you'll have a familiar face. You two can look out for each other." 

He Bing really didn't know how to argue with that logic.

Then his mother added, "Oh right, I already gave Xiao Liao your address yesterday. He caught an early morning flight today, so he should be arriving at your place right about now."

The second his mother stopped talking, a loud "ding-dong" rang out. The doorbell was ringing.

"You've got to be kidding me—" He Bing cradled his head in his hands.

His mother heard him getting out of bed. "Finally getting up?"

"Well, I can't exactly stay in bed now, can I? Liao Yucheng is already here," He Bing groaned in utter exasperation as he put on his slippers, then muttered into the phone, "Mom, you're a real Lei Feng!"

He Bing hastily ran his hands through his hair to smooth down the unruly strands, tugged at his wrinkled oversized T-shirt, rubbed the sleep from his eyes, and then walked out to open the front door.

"He Bing!" The handsome, clean-cut face at his door was practically glowing with enthusiasm. Liao Yucheng stood there with two suitcases at his feet and a bag slung over his shoulder. He greeted He Bing energetically, showing no signs of travel fatigue whatsoever. "It's been so long."

"Haha, yeah, long time no see." He Bing scratched the back of his head and bowed slightly in embarrassment, making way for Liao Yucheng. "Come, come in."

It was only then that He Bing realized that his quick fix-up job earlier had been woefully inadequate. Standing face-to-face with this guy, he was hit with that same old feeling of being completely outclassed, just like when they were kids.

And He Bing's apartment only seemed to amplify this by a million times. His place was spectacularly messy—it looked like a tornado had swept through the bachelor's pad. He frantically cleared off the sofa, finally excavating a sitting space for his guest  He frantically cleared off the sofa, finally excavating a sitting space for his guest. "Have a seat, haha, it's, uh... a bit chaotic here."

"No problem, men are all like this, aren't they?" Whether it was genuine or not, Liao Yucheng didn't seem to mind at all. He smiled and sat down in the gap between newspapers, magazines, and dirty clothes.

He Bing stood there like a deer in headlights before remembering he should offer his guest some water. But there was no bottled water at home, and he couldn't exactly serve tap water to a guest. In desperation, He Bing opened the fridge, grabbed a can of beer, and handed it to Liao Yucheng with an embarrassed grin. "There's literally nothing else in the house, have some beer to, uh, quench your thirst, haha."

Liao Yucheng smiled and accepted it. "I love drinking this stuff, thanks." He pulled the tab and gulped down several mouthfuls.

Liao Yucheng's ease and composure made He Bing feel increasingly awkward. "My mom just told me you were coming when you knocked on the door—I literally just hung up the phone. I didn't have any time to prepare at all. I'm really sorry about this."

Liao Yucheng put down the beer, his face showing a hint of apology. "I'm the one who should be sorry, showing up at your place without any notice. I'll be troubling you for this period of time."

So you do know you're troubling me! He Bing screamed internally, but he had always been a people-pleaser by nature. Even seething with irritation, he could only grin and bear it for now. "It's fine, just make yourself at home. Move out whenever it suits you. It's almost noon now—are you hungry? Give me a moment, I'll get cleaned up, and then we'll head out for food."

Liao Yucheng nodded at him with a smile. "Sounds good."

He Bing escaped to the bathroom and immediately slumped against the door with a moan. His entire hot-mess lifestyle was now on full display: sleeping till noon, living in squalor, being a complete train wreck of a human being.

Liao Yucheng had always been a sore spot for him. They'd grown up in the same neighborhood for over ten years, knew everything about each other, but calling them close friends would be a stretch. The two of them actually used to be really close as kids, but somewhere around their teenage years they drifted apart. Of course, He Bing was the one who started keeping his distance.

The problem was that Liao Yucheng was just better at everything. Not dramatically, just consistently a notch above. Better grades, better looking, more charming, smarter. All these small advantages added up to something that felt pretty damn significant.

Because they were the same age, the adults around them constantly compared the two boys.—and He Bing always came up slightly short compared to Liao Yucheng. As a teenager with a fragile sense of ego, this inevitably made He Bing develop some resentment toward Liao Yucheng. Since they each had other friends anyway, the two gradually stopped hanging out.

Looking at his puffy face and wrinkled shirt in the mirror now, He Bing then thought about how polished Liao Yucheng had looked at the door and wondered if the gap had only gotten worse.

Then He Bing remembered that he and Liao Yucheng gone to neighboring universities, though naturally Liao Yucheng's was more prestigious. Come to think of it, this city was where Liao Yucheng had lived for four years, so didn't he have other friends to crash with? Why did he have to end up in He Bing's disaster zone? Was his mom really just that enthusiastic at volunteering other people for charity work?

Whatever. Since he was already here now, He Bing would just suck it up and be a decent host for a couple of days. With this resigned thought, he turned on the faucet and splashed water on his face.