When Assistant Jiang received the call from ZhouXiang, he wasn’t surprised. There are many people who wanted to get in contact with him. However, he dared not treat ZhouXiang like any others in randomly dismissing him. His big boss personally invited ZhouXiang for a meal. He has worked for YanMingXiu for over a year and has never seen him pay so much attention to one person. Who knows what his boss is thinking. He only knows that he can’t offend ZhouXiang.
The two of them chatted politely for a while. ZhouXiang used the excuse of wanting Assistant Jiang to introduce him to others as they continually chatted. In the end, he was able to successfully get YanMingXiu’s itinerary.
ZhouXiang got a more precise time. YanMingXiu will be flying to Chongqing next Thursday. But it wasn’t work relating to the entertainment circle but dealings with his own business.
Most of the people in the entertainment circle called YanMingXiu “President Yan” because YanMingXiu is unlike most performing artists who are constantly called to participate in various types of programs or to participate in public activities. YanMingXiu has his own company. It fact, it was doing quite well.
Besides filming or advertising, YanMingXiu literally does not participate in any social activities. He didn’t seem to care about his exposure rate just as long as he has works from time to time to ensure that the public will not forget him.
According to Assistant Jiang, YanMingXiu would not be able to return till at least Sunday with this meeting in Chongqing.
ZhouXiang decided not to hesitate any further. He will take action on Thursday night.
After dinner on Thursday night, ZhouXiang watched TV with ChenYing as usual. Shortly after 10pm, he used the excuse that he was meeting a friend to go out. He had initially planned on going out in the middle of the night and not tell ChenYing but he came to realize that ChenYing is a very light sleeper. It would be much more troublesome if she found out.
He prepared a series of things: a hat, sunglasses, mask, flashlights, pliers, etc. With all this tools, definitely no one would think that he’s actually going back to “his own home” but instead would think of him intending to steal.
ZhouXiang also felt pitiful and ridiculous. He had to go back to his own home to get his hard-earned money. But in order to do so, he needed to “steal” it. There is no other way. If he was caught looking like this, he certainly would be considered a thief.
He got to the corridor of his own neighborhood and waited for a while to give himself the courage. After confirming no one was around, he quickly pulled out the spare key from the fire box and shuddered while using it to open the door’s lock.
He looked for a long time standing outside the door. There was not a bit of light within. There shouldn’t be anyone but he was still so nervous that he was trembling all over.
The security door to his condo was the same as before. It is not so easy to open. Even after the key is inserted, he needed to hold the door handle up to make the key fit perfectly with the keyhole. The sound of the gear rotation is especially loud in the middle of the night, gently pounding at ZhouXiang’s heart.
The door opened!
ZhouXiang looked around again. He quickly turned the door handle to the wooden door inside and walked into the condo, quietly closing the door.
The condo was filled with a muggy dusty smell. ZhouXiang immediately come to realize that no one had come to this condo for some time. In this season, if the windows are not opened for several days, there will be this kind of stifling smell. It seems that YanMingXiu does not live here.
ZhouXiang didn’t dare to turn on the light. Instead, he turned on his flashlight and scanned the room. The light of the flashlight and the glimmering moon enabled him to see his home once again.
Everything looked exactly as it did from his memory. There is not a bit of change. It seems like the passage of two years is all an illusion. He had only left for three months and has returned. His home, this place that has been with him from birth has been kept just as it was, waiting for him to return.
In this condo, his memories are everywhere. He and his parents, him and YanMingXiu, his 30 years of life stories have all but concentrated in this old condo, so much that that every old wall is sprinkle with the taste of memories.
ZhouXiang felt pain. He had an urge of wanting to cry.
How much he hoped to be able to just appear here for the mere reason of ‘coming home’ as he had done countless times in the past instead of only temporarily staying like a thief?
ZhouXiang sniffed his nose and didn’t dare to think more. Although YanMingXiu is in another city, he still didn’t dare to stay here for too long. This is likely what’s called a person’s guilty conscience.
He wrapped the plastic bag on his shoes and gently walked in. The flashlight flashed through the dust on the shoe cabinet. It wasn’t thick, just a thin layer of dust, which proves that there are people who came to clean from time to time. Maybe YanMingXiu still felt a bit of their former affections toward him so would occasionally have people come to clean it. That way the condo is not abandoned.
He walked through the familiar small porch straight into his bedroom where he put his cash.
He had a habit of putting spare cash in the bedside table. It wasn’t much, just four to five thousand yuan which was still better than his monthly salary. He was ready to take the cash and go back to the living room to get his bank card.
When he got into the bedroom, it looked just the same as before… even the bedding was the one he bought with YanMingXiu. ZhouXiang couldn’t help but walked over and touched the neatly folded silk blanket, that soft and smooth feel. ZhouXiang could even remember that comfortable feeling on his bare skin, especially when YanMingXiu turned over and wrapped the both of them with the blanket.
ZhouXiang smiled bitterly as he gently put the corners of the blanket back in place. He quickly opened the bedside table. Sure enough, the money that he casually threw in there was still there.
ZhouXiang had a pretty good life before. Four to five thousand was not a lot of money to him. At that time, he was able to flauntingly casually drive his car, take a boy that he had just met for a meal and gift him little presents. There was hardly any worries in his life until he met YanMingXiu.
But now, even if it is ¥4 to ¥5, he will save it. In order to save the bus fare money, ChenYing will walk half an hour home in the blazing hot sun holding a bunch of groceries. ZhouXiang is also forced to change his habit of buying things without looking at prices. Instead, he’d diligently tried to save all the money he could.
This ¥4,000 to ¥5,000 is already a pleasant surprise for ZhouXiang.
He quickly put the money into his pocket and then returned to the living room. But what he didn’t expect was that the flashlight would malfunction. The light flashed a few times and then stopped working. ZhouXiang was angrily annoyed. He could only use the light on his cell phone to get his bank card from the closet. The cell phone’s light would always turn dark after a short while so it was frustrating hard for ZhouXiang.
When he went to GuangXi, he only brought a card for emergency use. In fact, following the crew, they were responsible for providing the meals. Adding on, there was no place to spend money in the mountains so he actually brought too much. He couldn’t remember how much was on the card, it certainly wasn’t much. The card with more money is place in the drawer. There were pile of his bills in the drawer, including documents and passbooks, etc. even his parents’ marriage certificate were in there.
Just as he turned around, he sensitively heard the security door’s lock turning.
All the fine hairs on ZhouXiang’s body stood upright.
Is there someone? YanMingXiu? That’s impossible! Isn’t he in Chongqing! How could he be so unlucky as to be openly caught like this!
If YanMingXiu sees him here, how would he be able to explain this? Even with ten heads, he didn’t know how to explain it!
In his moment of desperation, ZhouXiang was at complete loss on what to. He grabbed a few things like his bank card and stuffed into his pocket. Then, he quickly closed the drawer. Panicking, he planned on sneaking into the study room to hide but didn’t expect to have a little mishap as he was rushing. His tripped over the small stool near his foot and fell onto the ground with a loud thump.
The front door was opened and the shadow of a tall figure appeared at the door, yelling, “Whose there?!”
End of the chapter
