Chapter 1: Mr. Fussy

"Ding, ding, ding."

Just as Ji Xinchen finished refueling his car and was lining up for the free car wash, his phone suddenly rang. He took the phone from its holder to check. It was a notification from a home-sharing platform: someone was inquiring.

"Can I get a discount if I rent for a month?"

A big client! Ji Xinchen quickly replied, "15% off."

"Off-platform?"

Off-platform... Ji Xinchen calculated the platform's cut and gave the lowest discount.

"30% off, but you need to pay half upfront."

"Deal. Send me your WeChat ID."

Ji Xinchen sent his WeChat ID. Just as he switched to WeChat, a car behind him honked, urging him to move forward. After parking his car and checking WeChat again, the friend request had arrived. He approved it and made a note – 'One-month tenant.' He clicked on the man's profile picture – a standard business photo. He was wearing a suit and crossing his arms, but not smiling – thick eyebrows, big eyes, a high nose, thin lips. His good-looking features composed an indifferent poker face.

The car in front was already being washed. Ji Xinchen handed his car wash ticket to the staff, closed his car window, and turned on the air conditioner. It was still a bit hot in early September and the car felt stuffy with the windows closed.

Picking up his phone again, Ji Xinchen sent a greeting emoji. The other party didn't type a message but directly transferred some money. He opened the calculator and calculated the total: daily price x 15 days x 30% off. The amount was correct down to the last penny.

"Couldn't you round it up?" Ji Xinchen had just finished complaining when a new message arrived.

"I'll arrive this afternoon. Make sure it's clean."

Seeing the green light up ahead, Ji Xinchen drove his car into the car-wash booth. After parking, a staff member came to wipe down his car. He responded with an OK emoji, but couldn't help but mutter to himself – "Such a rude person!"

By the time his car was cleaned, it was nearly noon. Ji Xinchen turned off his ride-sharing app and drove straight home.

Ji Xinchen lived in Diamond Bay, facing the Sea river. The south-facing windows offered a direct view of the river, a view no worse than the neighboring Shangri-La or the Ritz-Carlton across the river.

Ji Xinchen lived on the 14th floor of building 2. The apartment he rented out was on the 16th floor. These two apartments were precious assets of Ji's father, who always boasted about his discerning vision, having bought the apartments at a low price and seeing their value double.

The Ji family were all local natives. Ji's father was a real estate dealer when he was young and had flipped more properties than he could count on his hands and feet. Now he had retired and left these two apartments to his son. He and his wife had moved to Jixian County to run a rural bed and breakfast, a fulfilling and fun way to spend their retirement.

Ji Xinchen didn't have any grand aspirations. He listed the apartment on a home-sharing platform to earn some pocket money. He drove for a ride-sharing app to pass time. But he spent most of his time practicing the piano and rehearsing.

Ji Xinchen was a young rock and roller with his own band. They had released a few albums and regularly performed live. They weren't top-tier famous, but they had a decent fanbase. Ji Xinchen had been in the music circle since he was 18 or 19. After bouncing between three bands, the current one was the most successful and reliable.

He brought clean bedding to the 16th floor and opened all the windows for ventilation. He thoroughly cleaned the apartment and set a temporary password for the tenant. It was almost 1 pm when he finished everything. Ji Xinchen felt a bit hungry, so he went back to his apartment and cooked some instant noodles. After eating, he lay down on his bed and took a nap.

The sound of his phone woke Ji Xinchen up. The smart lock sent a notification to his phone when someone used the temporary password.

The tenant is here? He checked the time and then turned on the surveillance camera for the front door on the 16th floor.

He rewound the footage by one minute and saw a man in the frame. He was wearing a neat shirt and casual pants, broad-shouldered and tall, with his sleeves rolled up to his forearms. He was holding a 28-inch suitcase in one hand and typing the password with the other. The man picked up his suitcase and entered as soon as the door opened. After closing the door behind him, the surveillance footage showed no further movement.

Nice physique, Ji Xinchen thought as he locked his phone, nodding in approval. But it was a pity – such a poker face.

The first thing Qi Shen did after entering the house was to look for cameras. He walked around each room without finding any large ones, and it was too early to find pinhole cameras; he would have to wait until it was dark. So, he simply opened his suitcase, took out a binoculars, and stood by the window of the north-facing room to look into the community.

Building 2 is opposite Building 7, and from this angle, he could see Pei Xin's house perfectly. Qi Shen stared through the binoculars for half an hour, but there was no sign of anyone in the living room or the master bedroom of that house. 

Perhaps he's not at home? He might have gone out... Qi Shen put down the binoculars, turned around, sat on the windowsill, and lit a cigarette. How could more than a year of a relationship end so suddenly? Even though they spent half of their time apart due to the long distance, he had always been trying to find opportunities to change that. Now that he had finally found a suitable job opportunity to end the long-distance relationship, why did he want to break up instead? Why?

"Why..." Qi Shen said softly with his eyes downcast. After speaking, he raised his hand and took a fierce drag on his cigarette. The flame receded, and it rapidly turned to ash. Then it couldn't bear its own weight, collapsed, crumbled, and fell to the ground.

Qi Shen instinctively lifted his foot to catch it, but when his brain reacted, he quickly retracted his foot. He then went to the kitchen, extinguished the cigarette under the tap, and threw it into the trash can. He took a tissue from the dining table, wet it in the kitchen, went back to the north bedroom, cleaned up the cigarette ash on the floor, and then returned to the kitchen and threw it into the trash can.

"One, two, three..." Qi Shen walked around the room, then took out his phone and sent a message to the landlord.

[Every bedroom, living room, dining room, and kitchen should have tissue paper and a trash can (with trash bags). Also, please prepare an extra four or five packs of tissues. The bathroom needs three more rolls of toilet paper, wet wipes, and four ashtrays. Please replenish these items as soon as possible.]

"Damn it! He's so demanding!" Ji Xinchen cursed after reading the message. He lifted his head and pointed at the ceiling, but then remembered that the person was not upstairs. He was sandwiched between two floors, so he stopped cursing, took a screenshot of the WeChat conversation, and sent it to his band's group chat for a venting session.

[You've been doing this homestay business for so long, aren't you used to it yet?]
[Is this the most demanding guest you've ever had?]
[Endure it for the sake of the money, haha.]

Ji Xinchen felt even more irritated after reading his bandmates' replies. 

"What are you guys for? You're not comforting me at all!" Ji Xinchen sent an angry voice message. His bandmates also sent voice messages back, all of them in a state of laughter.

"You... you better go shopping now... hahaha!"
"If you buy too much and can't carry it, remember to rent a shopping cart!"

[A bunch of losers!]

Ji Xinchen replied with this message and then turned off his phone, rummaged through the storage cabinet for a while, and found some toilet paper, tissues, and wet wipes. 

The consumables were enough, but there were no extra ashtrays or trash cans. He really had to buy those now. 

Ji Xinchen lit a cigarette, smoked it while he turned on his phone, and changed the tenant's WeChat note to "Mr. Fussy". 

I'll tolerate you for the sake of the money, just this once!