Chapter 2: Meeting

Ji Xinchen doesn't have a regular job, rehearsals are usually scheduled at night, so his biological clock is set to sleep late and get up late. He won't get out of bed until late in the morning. But today, he was awakened by his phone before eight in the morning. He took a look at it in a daze, and there was a WeChat notification on the screen.

[Mr. Fussy: Come clean up and add some items as soon as possible.]

After reading this sentence, Ji Xinchen instantly woke up, sat up and stared at the ceiling in annoyance. Why did the old man insist on buying a house with a floor in between when he first bought the house? If it were me upstairs, I'd definitely buy a house shaking machine to teach him a lesson!

After smoking a cigarette, Ji Xinchen's mood eased a little. He reluctantly got up and washed, didn't eat breakfast, and took the things he bought yesterday along with a cordless vacuum cleaner and cloth upstairs.

Ji Xinchen knocked on the door.

A few seconds later, the door opened. The man inside was only wearing a pair of home pants, bare-chested, with a towel in one hand, drying his hair.

Ji Xinchen, who is about the same height as Qi Shen, found his eyes involuntarily drifting downward from Qi Shen's face, over his protruding Adam's apple, his sexy collarbone, and then directly onto his naked chest muscles — the full, smooth chest muscles sprinkled with droplets of water, and... the two small, red grains on his chest...

Ji Xinchen heard himself swallow. Then the man turned around and walked away. Ji Xinchen entered the room while ogling his back muscles and narrow waist, and put on a pair of slippers. "Hello, I'm here to clean."

Qi Shen grunted in acknowledgement, then put the towel back in the bathroom, went into the master bedroom to find a t-shirt to wear, and came out. Qi Shen knew his body was attractive, and he was used to being looked at in the gym, so he ignored Ji Xinchen's earlier lapse.

"Um... please replenish the supplies first." Qi Shen said emotionlessly, then walked over to the dining table, lit a cigarette, tapped the table, and looked at Ji Xinchen.

"Ok." Ji Xinchen took out two packs of tissues and two garbage bins and was about to go to the bedroom.

"Cleaner!" Qi Shen called him and tapped the table again, "Ashtray."

Ji Xinchen widened his eyes, "What did you call me?"

"Cleaner." Qi Shen slowly repeated, tapped the table again, "This is the third time I'm reminding you, ashtray."

"I'm the landlord, not a cleaner!" Ji Xinchen was speechless, his mind filled with all kinds of punctuation marks, asterisks, and hashtags — he was at a loss for words!

Qi Shen saw that he hadn't moved and raised the cigarette in his hand.

Ji Xinchen muttered a few curses in his mind, then pulled out an ashtray from that pile of trash cans and put it on the dining table.

"Do not exceed nine o'clock when cleaning every day." Qi Shen flicked ash from his cigarette, "The bedding doesn't need to be changed every day, it's not environmentally friendly. Change it once every three days."

Ji Xinchen could not stand it anymore and argued with him: "Guesthouses change with each guest, who cleans every day? Do you think this is a five-star hotel? Should I also offer you a turn-down service at night?"

Qi Shen seemed unfazed by his anger and asked calmly, "Oh? Is there a turn-down service?"

Suppressing his anger, Ji Xinchen pointed out the window. "Turn right out of the community, next door is Shangri-La, thank you."

"If not, it doesn't matter." Qi Shen shrugged, put out his cigarette, and went back to the north room to pick up his binoculars and continue to watch Pei Xin's house.

Although he knew that today was Monday and Pei Xin definitely went to work, he still couldn't control his voyeuristic desire.

The sofa seemed to have been tidied up where Pei Xin sat last night, with the cushions neatly leaning against the back of the sofa, and the take-out containers on the coffee table had been taken away. Pei Xin has a habit of taking out the trash when he leaves for work. He must have come to clean it up before he left in the morning. He wondered what clothes Pei Xin wore today... He left too early, he needs to get up earlier tomorrow to see him before he leaves.

Qi Shen moved the binoculars a bit, carefully looking at the four-piece set on the bed. The yellow-blue duvet cover was crumpled at the foot of the bed, and the deep blue bed sheet seemed to still have the creases where Pei Xin had slept. He remembered that set of bedding, they had made love on it.

Qi Shen put down the binoculars and rubbed his brow. Why? Actually, he just wanted an explanation. If he couldn't salvage the situation, he wouldn't cling and pester, but he needed to try before giving up, he needed to know the reason.

Outside, Ji Xinchen was banging around arranging the trash cans, lining garbage bags, arranging the ashtrays, dusting and vacuuming, all done before entering the north bedroom.

"Hey, excuse me." Ji Xinchen walked towards the window intending to clean the sill. He approached and noticed Qi Shen was holding binoculars, seemingly looking at the building opposite, "Hey, are you a cop?"

Qi Shen turned his head, staring at Ji Xinchen. "Does it have anything to do with you?"

"I tell you, if you're not a cop, special agent or national security, you better not mess with this kind of stuff." Ji Xinchen pointed at the binoculars in his hand, "This is called invasion of privacy, I can call the police and have you arrested at any time."

Qi Shen suddenly got energetic, he placed the binoculars on the windowsill, turned towards Ji Xinchen with his arms folded, "Aren't you also invading someone's privacy? Quickly take down the hidden cameras." Qi Shen said while observing his expression.

Ji Xinchen paused, "What camera?"

"The cameras in this house."

Ji Xinchen's eyes widened, "What cameras in the house? Don't make false accusations!"

Qi Shen paused for a moment, then nodded, "I looked for them last night and couldn't find them. Just now was just to confirm." He said and then turned to leave, "You clean up, I'll get out of your way." He ignored the angry gaze behind him.

Qi Shen inspected the room and didn't find anything problematic before he contentedly sat on the sofa and lit a cigarette.

This landlord seems as fragile as a cooked chicken, his shoulders can't bear weight, hands can't lift, but he's quite efficient at work, just that his tongue is sharp and not easy to get along with. Qi Shen was pondering in his heart. Maybe he should lower his demands, if he knew his landlord was just a kid, he wouldn't have taken things so seriously.

"All cleaned up." Ji Xinchen came out of the north room in a huff, carrying the vacuum cleaner to the door to change his shoes, not even glancing in Qi Shen's direction.

"Wait."

Ji Xinchen raised his head upon hearing his words, his eyes ready to breathe fire. He thought if this guy caused more trouble, he would ask him to leave!

Qi Shen put out his cigarette, stood up, and walked to the door, "Forget it, no need to clean every day, clean every two days, and change the bedding every four days. Also, is there a gym in the community?"

Upon hearing his words, Ji Xinchen's expression immediately softened, "Oh, there's a gym, homeowners can use it for free, if you need it, I can get you a homeowner's proof."

"Good, thanks."

Although Ji Xinchen has a temper, he's like a docile donkey, if you speak nicely to him, his anger immediately dissipates, "No problem, I'll contact the steward later, and send it to you on WeChat."

Having said that, Ji Xinchen turned and walked out the door, messaging the steward as he walked to his own place to get the homeowner's proof. After sending the message and putting his phone back in his pocket, he realized a problem--wasn't he angry just now? How did he turn around and help him? This poker face, first making a large request and then backing off a little, making people willingly accept, amazing!

"Ah, damn it!" Ji Xinchen looked up and shouted towards the upper floor, his voice echoing in the empty staircase, "You must be a PUA master!"

The soundproofing of the entrance door is very good, and there's a fire door between the staircase and the corridor, so Ji Xinchen's voice couldn't reach Qi Shen's ears.

At this moment, Qi Shen was leisurely standing by the window in the north room, holding his binoculars looking at Pei Xin's house. He has looked at everything visible in the living room and bedroom over and over dozens of times, almost memorizing their positions.

"The first day." Qi Shen muttered to himself, "There's more than half a month before I start my job, is that enough to win you back?"