This is an assistant?
Meng Shang hadn't lied, nor did he have any hidden agenda—he really had brought Jiang Ruoqi to see the apartment.
On Saturday afternoon, driving away from the city center wasn't too congested. After about half an hour, Meng Shang parked his car at the entrance of a high-rise residential complex.
The security guard clearly knew him well; he raised the barrier and let them through without asking any extra questions.
They swiped their card to go up from the underground garage. The apartment for rent belonged to a friend of Meng Shang's from another department, who had originally bought it as a wedding home. But relationship troubles over the past two years had led to a divorce mid-year, and he decided to take advantage of his renewed single status to go on a study trip to North America for a while. Since he wasn't sure about his future plans and wasn't in urgent need of money, he didn't want to sell the place. Instead, he wanted to find a suitable tenant for a long-term lease to supplement his exchange rate expenses.
Meng Shang had a sudden inspiration and contacted his colleague on the fly. Thanks to the wonders of smart locks, the colleague, still in the middle of the night in North America, opened the door for them remotely.
This terrifying sleep schedule gave Jiang Ruoqi a real taste of the hardships of medicine.
But aside from that, Jiang Ruoqi did like the apartment quite a bit.
It was on the 12th floor, two bedrooms and a living room. The south-facing living room overlooked the central water feature and greenery of the community. The spacing between buildings was generous, so there was none of that awkwardness where houses are pressed against each other and you open a window to see what the neighbors are doing.
Nearby shopping and grocery runs were convenient, though Jiang Ruoqi didn't plan to cook. She secretly searched for nearby delivery options and felt that with the abundance of food and the almost negligible delivery fees, she certainly wouldn't starve.
And coincidentally…
Meng Shang also lived in this complex, in the same building, directly below. Jiang Ruoqi took the opportunity to probe a little and learned that he still had many years of mortgage payments ahead.
What a sad story.
After all this commotion, dusk was falling.
Meng Shang turned to the side and let out a small yawn. Jiang Ruoqi noticed and didn't feel right using the excuse of asking for tea to really enter his home. Besides, she couldn't quite figure out the change in Meng Shang and wasn't bold enough to place her full trust in him. So she declined his offer to drive her back, telling him to get some good sleep, and asked him to keep the apartment on hold—she'd give him an answer within three days.
Jiang Ruoqi was waiting. Not for a better listing from the agent, but for news from Ada in Gangcheng.
From the complex, it was a five-hundred-meter walk to the subway station. Jiang Ruoqi wanted to take advantage of her free time to test the subway commute time and route. So on impulse, she soon found herself standing on a crowded evening subway car.
Public transport in a first-tier city is really unbelievable. Even on a weekend evening, it was packed with people, and there was no seat to be found. Because of the crowd, the air inside the car was stale and lacked freshness. The direct result of crowding and oxygen deprivation was a drowsy, muddled feeling that made you want to sleep.
Jiang Ruoqi was plagued by sleepiness and forced herself to stay alert for the station announcements. Unfortunately, the bilingual announcements came at fixed intervals, sounding like meaningless strings of tones in her ears, while the warm yellow light overhead had the same feeble quality as the setting sun.
She rested her head against the handrail to steady herself, feeling suddenly hot. Looking down, she realized she had actually taken Meng Shang's scarf with her.
In Jiang Ruoqi's mind, a scarf was a very personal item.
She hesitated for a moment, then reached up to lift one end and brought it to her nose. There was a faint smell of disinfectant.
Sharp, like the stereotypical impression of a doctor.
But she felt this was more like the real Meng Shang, the one in her memory.
The subway came to a stop. Jiang Ruoqi, because of standing for so long, was suffering from a nagging backache. The inertia of the stop made her stumble slightly.
She tightened her grip on the handrail and took out her phone to check the time. Only then did she notice a notification on her lock screen from another green social app—the WhatsApp she more commonly used in Gangcheng.
The message had arrived, but it wasn't what she was hoping for.
Ada said Su Yansheng had gone on a business trip to the opposite shore and wouldn't be back until Sunday evening at the earliest. But she'd keep an eye on things for Jiang Ruoqi and promised not to push her good friend into a fire pit.
Jiang Ruoqi sighed, a rare occurrence.
She sighed to relieve her frustration, but the frustration was largely due to her unbearable backache after standing for forty minutes, not because of Meng Shang.
That was how she convinced herself.
She scanned the QR code to exit the station, moving from one kind of dimness to another.
The cold wind hit her face, making her shiver. She pulled the scarf tighter. Calculating, she felt that a forty-minute commute was acceptable for now, but if it came to the weekday morning peak hour, she feared it would become a real-life horror story.
For the sake of her back, Jiang Ruoqi decided that when she had time, she would look into exchanging her driver's license and get herself a car.
At the same time, Meng Shang was sitting up in bed. There was a faint noise from outside the door, not loud, but it disturbed him and kept him from feeling sleepy at all.
He kept picking up his phone from the bedside table, calculating subway intervals, and almost exactly on time, he sent a message to Jiang Ruoqi.
[Meng Shang]: Did you make it to the hotel?
He was the one who had brought her here; she was new in town, and he hadn't been able to escort her back personally, which made him a bit uneasy.
He used the same excuse to convince himself.
The other side replied not long after.
[Seven]: Just arrived at the hotel lobby. Feels like the cold wind is going to slice my head off. Thanks to Dr. Meng's scarf, guess it was fate that I accidentally took it—it saved my life. So I'll have to return it next time.
[Seven]: But Dr. Meng, aren't you asleep yet? Being forced to 'work overtime'—this is more than 24 hours already.
Meng Shang looked at the screen instantly filled with text, a smile creeping onto his face. She made it seem like nothing ever troubled her.
In flattering terms, it seemed like she had all her troubles under control, which was why she never appeared stuck or annoyed.
[Meng Shang]: About to sleep.
[Seven]: Perfect timing. It's dark now, just the right hour to say goodnight.
[Seven]: Goodnight, Dr. Meng~
Just as Meng Shang was replying, the bed beside him suddenly sank, and something furry bumped into his elbow.
The main light in the room was off, only the bedside lamp emitting a trembling glow. In the faint light, he could make out a chubby golden chinchilla cat by his hand.
Like a large kiwi fruit, the little cat lay down beside him discontentedly, then flipped over to show its belly, trying to catch its owner's attention.