Seventh Year Of Separation chapter 54
Want to Stay at My Place?
“Wait, something’s not right.” He Xiao tried to sort out the logic in front of her, “Did my memory go wrong? Isn’t this jacket supposed to be…”
“What do you want to ask?” Li Zhao interrupted her, sensing her confusion.
“The jacket on Manager Gu…”
“It’s mine,” Li Zhao admitted quickly.
“So, are you two…” He Xiao’s gaze shifted between them.
“Boyfriends,” Li Zhao replied.
Buzz—
Both He Xiao and the Gu Jiahe behind her looked at Li Zhao simultaneously, each more shocked than the other.
“Ah—help! Wait for me to calm down, I’m about to explode!” He Xiao panicked, spinning in place without knowing what she was doing.
Gu Jiahe couldn’t stop her from spinning like a top.
“Um…” He placed his drink on the table, trying to calm her down.
He Xiao finally stood still, unable to help but ask, “So, are you the new lover who’s been sending the flowers? Or the old sweetheart?”
Gu Jiahe swallowed hard. How should he put it? Wasn’t he both?
“Shall we sit down and talk?” Gu Jiahe pulled out a chair for her.
“Not ‘brother-in-law’, definitely not,” He Xiao joked.
“Or ‘husband’? Even worse,” Gu Jiahe added.
“Boss’s wife?”
“Pfft—” Gu Jiahe almost choked on his soda. He looked up to see Li Zhao stifling a laugh.
“Just call me as you did before, no need to worry about it,” Gu Jiahe reassured her.
“Okay, okay.” He Xiao nodded repeatedly, then added, “I fully understand and respect all kinds of sexual orientations, so don’t worry!”
Gu Jiahe awkwardly smiled, feeling like the clothes he was wearing were heavier than armor, so he took them off and hung them on the back of the chair.
Fortunately, not long after, Wen Qi rushed over from outside, asking He Xiao if she wanted to go on the bungee jump, and the two of them left together after discussing it.
After He Xiao had completely walked away, Li Zhao’s phone suddenly vibrated.
He opened it to see a message from He Xiao, who had just left: “Although I’m shocked, your taste is not bad.”
Li Zhao: “I know that even without you saying it.”
Five seconds later, another message came: “May I ask, when did you two become a couple?”
He Xiao couldn’t believe that the two of them worked right under her nose every day, yet she managed to miss such a dramatic office romance.
These two men, they were good at keeping secrets.
Li Zhao replied with a few words: “Earlier than you think.”
Seeing him typing on his phone, Gu Jiahe asked, “who are you texting?”
Li Zhao turned off his phone. “No one, just answering some work-related questions.”
“But won’t this affect your work?” Gu Jiahe was worried.
“You mean our relationship?” Li Zhao asked.
“Yeah, will it be affected if they find out?” Gu Jiahe asked.
“No one has a problem with money. As long as I can make them money, why would they make things difficult for me?” Li Zhao replied.
Gu Jiahe took a sip of his soda, lost in thought.
There was a fireworks show at the theme park in the evening. Gu Jiahe had been walking around all afternoon and was feeling a bit tired, showing little interest. But Li Zhao insisted on dragging him to watch.
The fireworks show was held in the middle of the park’s main square, and quite a few people had gathered to watch.
The two of them wandered around until they found a spot near a stone bench.
Gu Jiahe sat down on the stone bench, bored, waiting for the fireworks to start.
Li Zhao stood in front of him with his phone raised.
“What are you taking?” Gu Jiahe asked him.
“Monkey Gazing at the Moon.”
Gu Jiahe took a look at the photo and almost choked.
In the photo, he was leaning against the stone bench, looking up at the sky.
The two of them were having a playful moment, playfully punching each other, completely absorbed in their own world.
Suddenly, there was an exclamation from the crowd ahead: “Look! A shooting star!”
Whoosh—almost instantly, everyone in the crowd looked up at the sky.
Indeed, there was a silver streak in the night sky.
The weather forecast didn’t mention anything about meteor showers today.
Almost everyone pulled out their phones to take pictures, and no one was looking at the fireworks display ahead anymore.
The crowd buzzed with excitement, countless phones aimed at the night sky.
Li Zhao turned his head and saw that Gu Jiahe was clasping his hands together, his expression devout, and he was muttering something under his breath.
Li Zhao leaned in to listen and heard him say, “Bodhisattva Guan Yin, Jade Emperor, Jesus, Virgin Mary, various gods from all over the world… Please bless me to win the lottery jackpot once and get me a three-bedroom apartment. My ID number is 31…”
Li Zhao couldn’t help but laugh at this: “Why are you giving your ID number?”
“You don’t understand. The gods are busy every day, how many prayers do they accept? If you don’t report your ID clearly, how would they know who you are? This is called precision prayer.” Gu Jiahe answered solemnly.
Li Zhao nodded with a suppressed smile, “Okay. I hope your dreams come true, Jiahe.”
After half an hour, the fireworks display ended, and the two of them sat on the stone bench waiting for the crowd to disperse a bit before heading towards the exit.
When Gu Jiahe was about to get into the car, he saw He Xiao again.
She waved at Gu Jiahe and made a zipper motion across her lips.
Gu Jiahe smiled and nodded at her from a distance.
……………
The next day was Sunday, and Gu Jiahe was awakened by knocking on the door early in the morning, a bit annoyed. He hadn’t ordered takeout so why was someone knocking on his door so early?
He had to get up and open the door, but what he saw scared him awake instantly.
The landlord was standing at the door.
He thought to himself that he hadn’t missed any rent this month. However, what shocked him even more was that behind the landlord stood a well-dressed man, probably a real estate agent, and a couple of strangers.
The landlord pushed the door open as if he owned the place, and Gu Jiahe stumbled back a step.
“Xiao Gu, I brought some people to look at the house.”
“Look at the house? What does that mean?” Gu Jiahe’s alarm bells were ringing loudly.
“Ah, I told you last night. Someone wants to buy my house, so they’re coming to see it today.”
Gu Jiahe quickly picked up his phone from the table and checked, and indeed there was an unread message from last night.
Damn it.
Then, he watched as these strangers walked into his home.
He quickly put away some things on the table into drawers and closed the wardrobe door tightly.
Gu Jiahe felt like he was being exhibited like a monkey.
The couple seemed to be satisfied with what they saw, walking around inside and out.
Although Gu Jiahe was the legal tenant here, he felt like he was the one who shouldn’t be here.
It wasn’t until half an hour later that they finally left the house.
After a creaking sound, Gu Jiahe, behind the door, heard them discussing down payments and loans.
He sighed and went to wash his face in the bathroom.
As expected, before the night fell, he received a text message from the landlord.
The message was straightforward, saying that the house had been sold and Gu Jiahe needed to move out within the week. He would compensate him with a month’s rent.
There was no way around it. When it came to this point, most people, like Gu Jiahe, would agree. Despite saying that contracts shouldn’t be broken, in reality, most people didn’t have the time to argue with the landlord.
At 8 o’clock in the evening, Gu Jiahe had a scheduled boxing class with his coach. Li Zhao also went to the club with him.
On the training platform, Gu Jiahe wrapped his hands with boxing bandages and hit the pads held by the coach.
Each punch was heavier and fiercer than the last.
Bang! Bang! Bang! The sound echoed in the gym, attracting several people to look over, thinking there was some internal competition. However, they only saw a tall, thin young man practicing on the platform.
Then came five consecutive roundhouse kicks, with Gu Jiahe delivering powerful and precise blows.
“Not bad, very decisive today,” the coach praised him when he noticed Gu Jiahe getting into the zone.
Gu Jiahe didn’t show much expression, retracted his leg, and nodded. His hair was almost completely soaked with sweat, and his white short-sleeved T-shirt was half-drenched at the back.
Li Zhao sat beside him, observing.
“Take a break for now, we’ll continue later,” the coach checked the time.
After releasing his strength, Gu Jiahe almost tore off the bandages on his hands and revealed slightly reddened joints.
He sat on a bench in the rest area, twisted open a bottle of mineral water, and took a big gulp, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down a few times.
Li Zhao sat beside him and asked, “What’s wrong? Bad mood?”
“Yeah,” Gu Jiahe nodded.
“What’s bothering you?”
Gu Jiahe tightened the bottle cap: “The landlord wants to sell the house. He wants me to move out within a week.”
Li Zhao frowned, “Isn’t that illegal?”
“It is. He doesn’t care though, he said he’d compensate me with a month’s rent.” Gu Jiahe wiped the sweat from his forehead.
“What are you going to do?”
“Move out,” Gu Jiahe swallowed the last sip of mineral water.
Li Zhao cleared his throat and then asked, “How about staying at my place?”
Gu Jiahe lowered his head in thought, “Your place won’t work, it’s too far from my office. And it’s not on my way to work with you. I have to find a new place.”
Li Zhao fell into thought.
After a few minutes, when Gu Jiahe got up to throw away the empty mineral water bottle and came back, Li Zhao opened his phone, sent him a few photos, and an address.
Gu Jiahe opened it and saw that it was a listing for an apartment. “What’s this?”
Li Zhao asked back, “Don’t you need to rent a place?”
Gu Jiahe raised his eyebrows, “Don’t tell me this is your property.”
Li Zhao smiled, “I don’t have that many properties.”
Gu Jiahe looked at the photos, and indeed, they were quite good. The apartment was bright, the living room faced the sun, and the bathroom was clean and well-ventilated.
Gu Jiahe: “Is it close to my company?”
Li Zhao: “5 kilometers, three subway stops.”
Gu Jiahe: “Does it have a kitchen?”
Li Zhao: “Fully equipped kitchen and bathroom, with exhaust fan and stove.”
Gu Jiahe: “Is the price high?”
Li Zhao: “Five hundred more than what you’re paying now, but it includes utilities and property management fees.”
This calculation was indeed quite cost-effective, a rare find that was worth every penny.
Gu Jiahe copied the address into his navigation app and checked the location. Not only was the apartment very close to his company, but it also had a strategic location.
It was less than 5 kilometers away from Li Zhao’s law firm as well.