Chapter 21

After tidying the kitchen, he returned to the bedroom.
The moved-in bookshelf and desk stood against the wall. Ji Zhou first arranged his books neatly in rows, then began hanging clothes and making the bed.
During this, he received a message from Mianmian:
[Husband, I’m awake. Have you eaten?]
Joice: [Not yet. I’ll go out and eat in a bit.]
He checked the time. It was already 2 p.m.
The room was mostly in order. Ji Zhou rolled up his sleeves and washed his face.
He still needed to hand over the old rental to the landlord, so he called to set a meeting time, then changed clothes and headed out.
As he walked out of the bedroom, he heard rushing shower sounds from the shared bathroom. He guessed his roommate had just gotten up.
His steps paused. Suddenly remembering the note the roommate had left, Ji Zhou felt in his pocket, then turned back to the desk for a pen and wrote one word at the bottom of the note:
Okay.
When he came out again, the water had already stopped—probably done showering.
Ji Zhou did not think it was polite to block a bathroom door and greet a stranger on first meeting, so he stuck the note on the second bedroom’s wooden door and decisively left.
Bang.
Ye Muyang had just stepped out of the bathroom when he heard the front door close.
Wiping his hair, he walked to the living room and looked around. The big apartment was still empty as ever, as if the closing sound had been his imagination.
He turned back to his room and saw that familiar sticky note at his door.
At the bottom of his long paragraph, there was only one word: “Okay,” like a superior approving documents.
Oh. So it hadn’t been his imagination. The new roommate had gone out.
Not knowing what kind of person the other party was, Ye Muyang felt a bit uneasy.
He had no right to choose roommates. Apartments in Shangjin Qingyuan never lacked tenants.
As soon as Fan Jia moved out, the landlord contacted him, saying someone would come view the room that afternoon.
When Ye Muyang got home that day, he didn’t run into the viewer. He didn’t know whether the person had already come and left or never showed up.
A day later, Yu Bei called and said his lease was almost up and he was planning to move.
So Ye Muyang thought about letting Yu Bei share with him.
Living with someone close to him and with the same preferences would always be more comfortable than living with a stranger. They could also film videos together often—killing two birds with one stone.
Thinking that, Ye Muyang excitedly called the landlord to ask about the master bedroom.
To his surprise, the landlord chuckled and said, “Already rented out. Handsome young guy.”
Ye Muyang felt a little disappointed. Hearing the roommate was male made his heart sink to the bottom.
For many years, he had suffered the most attacks from men. They called him sissy, called him filthy gay, even feared he was contagious. Women had always shown more tolerance toward his orientation and kink. He had been repeatedly devastated and repeatedly healed.
To avoid the same thing happening again—and to avoid conflict with his roommate—he planned to simply avoid him as much as possible.
So he wrote that note and stuck it on the master-bedroom door, making his requests clear and drawing a clean boundary.
The note had stayed there for days. Today it was finally removed and got a response.
That also meant the new roommate had officially moved in.
Ye Muyang shrugged. He didn’t expect to become friends, only hoped they could coexist peacefully.
Anyway, his schedule was nocturnal. Once doors were closed, they’d be strangers to each other.
After tossing the note into the trash, Ye Muyang sat at the vanity and prepared to do makeup.
Once the swelling in his face went down, he resumed streaming, starting punctually at 8 p.m. every night and usually ending around midnight.
Looking at his bare face in the mirror, he opened a beauty camera app and took a well-angled photo.
He sent it to Joice with text:
[There’s an ugly little sheep here. Sir, would you like to sign for delivery?]
Mianmian: [To sign, type “baby.” No return function.]
Green-tea tactics. Tried and true.
-
Unlike those landlords online who intentionally made trouble, Sun Youquan only made a symbolic walk-through, checked utilities, then returned Ji Zhou’s deposit in full.
“Do you want to inspect furniture condition more carefully?” Ji Zhou reminded him.
Sun Youquan waved his hand. “No need. We’ll replace everything anyway. Furniture from the other place will be moved in.”
“Mm,” Ji Zhou replied. “If there’s nothing else, I’ll leave first.”
“Alright.”
After returning the key, Ji Zhou went downstairs to his car.
Moving into a new environment meant another long adaptation period. He might have insomnia at night.
Ji Zhou wanted to buy some sleep-aid aromatherapy.
He had just sat in the car when his phone rang—an unfamiliar local number. He answered:
“Hello.”
No one spoke.
Ji Zhou glanced at the screen to confirm the call was still active, then tried again:
“Hello?”
This time, finally, a man’s voice came through—low, hoarse, and constrained:
“Ge.”
Ji Zhou’s face darkened.
Ji Zhou had two younger brothers. One was simple-minded sweet fool Tong Wen. The other was calculating white-lotus Qin Yue.
Qin Yue was his stepbrother, also the current popular pro esports player Sky.
Ji Zhou said coldly, “Wrong number.”
“I won the championship again...” Qin Yue hurriedly said, “Ge, this is—”
Ji Zhou didn’t hear the rest and hung up directly.
Without hesitation, he added the number to blacklist.
After all that, he saw a message Mianmian had sent forty minutes earlier.
She had very beautiful eyes, even more spirited without makeup, the kind that made people want to sink in.
The irritation in Ji Zhou’s chest eased. He typed:
[Baby.]
Mianmian: [Ding! Signed successfully~]
Mianmian: [Our store now has buy-one-get-one. In twenty minutes, you’ll receive another pretty little sheep.]