Chapter 5: Explanation
The next day was Thursday. Ji Xinchen and Xiong Le spent the whole morning playing Switch. Xiong Le went home after lunch. As usual, Ji Xinchen drove around all afternoon. He returned home for dinner, parked the car, ate something, and left with his bass for practice.
It was the same time and place as yesterday, and the same drama played out.

Ji Xinchen felt that the timing of his departure for practice and his poker-faced ex-boyfriend's return from work was a bit awkward. He decided to leave earlier in the future, otherwise, it would be somewhat embarrassing to keep running into him.

On Friday, it was cleaning day again. Ji Xinchen set an alarm and got up before eight. He quickly tidied up and went upstairs to work.

Today, Poker Face seemed to be in a bad mood. When Ji Xinchen was cleaning, he just sat on the sofa smoking, motionless. He didn't even go to the north bedroom to get the binoculars to look across. When Ji Xinchen was tidying up the living room, he was walking around, his eyes didn't even blink, they were unfocused.

After cleaning the living room and kitchen, Ji Xinchen changed the bedding and tidied up the two bedrooms. When he finished and came out, Poker Face was still sitting on the sofa, the cigarette in his hand seemed to have never gone out.

"I'm done cleaning."

"Okay, thank you." Qi Shen thanked him, without even raising his eyes.

Seeing his state, Ji Xinchen felt a pang of sympathy and sat down on the sofa to talk to him: "If something is bothering you, you can talk to me. I'm really good at comforting people."

"I don't want to talk about anything. You've seen it all, haven't you?"

"I can listen to your complaints, accompany you in cursing someone."

Qi Shen shook his head.

"The more you hold it in, the worse you feel. Maybe talking about it will make you feel better."

Qi Shen turned to look at Ji Xinchen, "You talk too much, can you shut up?"

Ji Xinchen was stunned. "Wh...what? I'm kindly trying to comfort you, and you..." He suddenly stood up, "With that poker face of yours without any expression, who..."

Who can stand you? You deserved to be dumped! Ji Xinchen closed his mouth midway, the rest of the sentence was only shouted in his mind.

Qi Shen finally showed emotion. He frowned and pursed his lips as if he wanted to retort. However, after a stalemate of two seconds, he didn't say anything. He just turned his head, threw the cigarette butt into the ashtray, and lit another one.

Ji Xinchen was ready for an argument, but seeing that the other party was completely silent, he didn't want to continue the stalemate. So, he picked up the bedding he'd changed, grabbed the vacuum cleaner, and left.

The whole world quieted down. Qi Shen pinched his temples and took a heavy drag on his cigarette.

For two days in a row, Pei Xin's attitude towards him did not waver in the slightest — impossible meant impossible, there was no room for negotiation, nor any reason.

Qi Shen thought he wanted an apology, so he apologized; Qi Shen thought he wanted to be coaxed, so he coaxed; in the end, Qi Shen thought he really wanted to break up, so he agreed, just begging for a chance to woo him again. But all sorts of guarantees and prospects failed to soften Pei Xin's attitude.

Qi Shen had speculated whether the plot was heading in the most dramatic direction, but after thinking about it, he didn't think that would be the case - although Pei Xin was only 28, four years younger than him and most of the time needed his pampering, he trusted Pei Xin's character. Their attitudes towards relationships were also consistent. He didn't believe the end would be like that, but last night...

Until now, Qi Shen couldn't believe that the man he saw in the binoculars - the new lover - was a new boyfriend that Pei Xin had found after breaking up with him ten days ago. He was so familiar with Pei Xin's house, so relaxed and comfortable with Pei Xin, and their state of cuddling on the sofa and occasionally kissing while watching TV was so natural... Qi Shen also couldn't believe that Pei Xin would cheat, watching him struggle with job hunting while finding someone who could accompany him every day...

Qi Shen wanted to have a good talk with Pei Xin, no matter what the truth was, he could accept it, he just wanted an explanation. But the waiting time was too hard to endure, apart from chain-smoking, Qi Shen didn't want to do anything, and couldn't get anything done. He even opened Pei Xin's WeChat several times to confront him directly, but in the end, he held back. He wanted to look into Pei Xin's eyes and hear him say it himself.

Qi Shen forced himself to sleep for more than two hours during the day, woke up, made a simple sandwich with fast-food chicken breast, whole wheat bread, fried egg, and tomato, ate it, then sat up and stayed up until six before going downstairs.

After being blocked by Qi Shen for two days, Pei Xin was not afraid at all. He knew that Qi Shen couldn't do anything outrageous, so he still went to work and dated as usual. But he didn't expect Qi Shen to live just across the street, monitoring his daily life.

"When did you get together with your new boyfriend?"

Hearing Qi Shen ask this, Pei Xin was startled for a moment, then quickly returned to normal. "Two months ago."

Qi Shen was still expressionless, not like a man questioning someone who had cuckolded him, but rather like a lawyer questioning a witness. "So you admit you cheated?"

"I admit."

"Why? Give me an explanation."

Pei Xin chuckled lightly. "I've told you many times, because I don't want to wait any longer."

"Why didn't you tell me clearly at the time?"

"Qi Shen..." Pei Xin's expression suddenly changed, becoming somewhat sad, "To tell you the truth, I still like you, I can't bear to give up on you, but when I was in agony from acute appendicitis and fainted at work, where were you? After the operation, I stayed in the hospital for several days. Where were you then? My mom asked me every day 'why isn't your partner coming to see you', where were you?"

Qi Shen furrowed his brows tightly, "When did this happen? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Two months ago. From when I fell ill to when I recovered in a week, if you had called me you would have known, but you didn't."

"I might have been too busy then, I'm sorry."

Pei Xin shook his head, "Everyone has their own reasons, I understand, and I made mistakes too, so let's forgive each other, okay?" After saying that, Pei Xin stared deeply into Qi Shen's eyes and said "goodbye," then turned and left.

Qi Shen watched as his figure entered the door of Building 7, disappearing in the corridor, then walked over to the bench to sit down, carefully sorting out the information Pei Xin had given him—Pei Xin had been sick and hospitalized two months ago, and he hadn't been there, not even making a phone call for a week, and someone had taken advantage of the situation.

How should one judge the wrong and right between two people? Who was the victim? How could things be made clear? These questions seemed to be beyond Qi Shen's analytical abilities. As the CFO of a Fortune 500 company, he suddenly couldn't balance his accounts.