Chapter 82 - This apartment building is mine.
You Liangxing did not know what was pumping in that brain of his or perhaps it might have been the work of gods and demons, because he actually allowed Kang Shengzhe to pull him away. By the time he reacted, first by squeezing out a silent, black question mark, he was already a distance away from A University, walking side by side with Kang Shengzhe on a road strewn with maple leaves.
... Why did he actually follow him out?
The members of the student union were still in the dormitory building.
The idea of turning around, however, went up in smokes and disappeared the moment he was met with Kang Shengzhe’s curved brows and eyes. You Liangxing told himself that he should not repeat such an action in the future and texted Liao Su to inform him before he continued to walk down the small road he had traversed countless of times in the past two years with Kang Shengzhe.
The scenery still remained the same. He did not know why but, with the change of his companion, the experience felt rather different.
Inexplicably, You Liangxing felt a tad sensitive, and as he gazed at his surroundings, they seemed to bring a meaning that was not present in the past.
Kang Shengzhe was in a good mood. As they walked past the football field, he laughed lightly, saying, “When I was younger, I liked coming to A University to play. My mom was a student who graduated from A University and our house was nearby. Whenever we had nothing to do, she would bring me here for a stroll, but that football field wasn’t a grass lawn back when I was a kid. Instead, it was just a pure dirt ground, and I used to play wrestle a lot around there.”
They had known each other for quite some time but they hadn’t seen each other for a while. Thus, even-tempered and good-humoured conversations like these, where they had a start and finish, was rare for them. You Liangxing said, “Play wrestle, I thought you...”
Kang Shengzhe: “What did you think?”
You Liangxing thought about it. “I thought you were the type who would stand by the side and watch others wrestle, and you wouldn’t even move an inch.”
Chuckling, Kang Shengzhe said, “Liang Liang truly knows me well. I usually waited for the other kids to finish fighting before I went to roll around in the dirt to cooperate with their performance. Afterwards, I would cry while I was all muddy and ask for a medical leave so that I could laze at home and not go to school.”
You Liangxing was surprised: “Did you manage to ask for a leave?”
Kang Shengzhe had a face of pride: “I didn’t manage to get a leave.”
You Liangxing: “......”
Kang Shengzhe’s expression became stronger, “However, you must be willing to try in life.”
You Liangxing sighed with emotion, “Luckily, you managed to enter A University.”
Not only did Kang Shengzhe manage to enroll into A university, he was even the top Liberal Arts Scholar in City A. Looking at his results, no one would have suspected that he had slept in during his college entrance examinations and he had an unchanging lazy personality from young up until now.
Kang Shengzhe smiled. “In life, there are two types of things: things that don’t necessarily have to be done, and things that absolutely need to be done. Therefore, I just have to do the things that need to be done well, and slack off on the rest, how great is that?”
“Other than the things that need to be done, you’d do nothing else?”
Kang Shengzhe: “That’s right.”
“Then why did you pull me out to slack off together?”
Kang Shengzhe blinked and corrected him: “It’s not called pulling you out to slack off together, it’s called taking a stroll together with you. In my opinion, taking a stroll with you is something I have to do.”
Those words seem to hold a profound meaning behind them, and You Liangxing could not help but lift his head to look at Kang Shengzhe. Mid-air, his gaze clashed with Kang Shengzhe’s smiling eyes, and very quickly, as if he had been scalded, You Liangxing swiftly looked away.
Kang Shengzhe did not pursue it and changed the topic instead. “Liang Liang, listen to this.”
You Liangxing said: “Listen to?”
“The wind,” said Kang Shengzhe.
Along the road of A University’s campus, there were students passing by from time to time. The basketball court in the distance was quite noisy and the air was a little hot and humid. In this sort of environment, he wanted him to listen to the wind?
He felt strange, but once he saw Kang Shengzhe’s serious expression, You Liangxing chose not to question him. Carefully, he tried to feel around before he replied, “I can’t hear it.”
Kang Shengzhe said: “Close your eyes.”
You Liangxing closed his eyes as instructed and his eyes went dark. The sounds around him started to amplify, but suddenly, You Liangxing felt that there was something strange by his ear. An exhale. Someone blew a breath into his ears.
You Liangxing: “......”
He opened his eyes and almost uttered a curse. After enduring and enduring, he spat out, “Are you sick?”
Innocently, Kang Shengzhe said, “Liang Liang~ A handsome man shouldn’t be so unsentimental.”
You Liangxing could not see any sentiment in it at all, but looking at Kang Shengzhe who was teasing him and taking advantage of him made him sneer. Then, he delivered a fierce punch towards Kang Shengzhe’s stomach, which made the taller man turn obedient for a minute.
After the minute was up, he recovered his grinning expression. “Worth it, worth it~”
You Liangxing: “......”
You Liangxing felt the onset of an irritation-induced headache. Unfortunately, a punch could not silence the poisonous animal that was Kang Shengzhe, and even eye rolling would achieve no effect. Noticing that they were about to walk around A University’s campus once, and it was about to be eight in the evening, You Liangxing opened his mouth to say: “We should be going back soon.” After confirming the time, he added, “You’re not broadcasting today?”
Kang Shengzhe said, “Don’t have a choice, I had to take a leave.”
It was no wonder considering how busy the start of university could get and taking a leave was unavoidable. Suddenly, You Liangxing remembered what the freshman in 507 had said, of how Kang Shengzhe had yet to clean up. If he did not go back now, he did know what time he would have to stay up until tonight.
Kang Shengzhe said: “I don’t need to clean it up, I’m not staying in school.”
The fact that You Liangxing understood his circumstances made it easier for Kang Shengzhe to explain. “It’s inconvenient for me to stay in school when I have to broadcast every day, which is why I need to find a house outside. I was delayed for a while today because of my accommodations, but I’ll be moving out in a few days.”
“What about your home?”
Kang Shengzhe said: “I already told my family that because I need to broadcast every day, I’ve been disturbing their rest slightly. Now that I’ve entered university, I should be taking the opportunity to move out.”
So that’s what happened, You Liangxing nodded and said, “Have you found a house?”
Kang Shengzhe shook his head: “Not yet, it’s not easy to find a house. After getting in contact with the sellers, I have to personally go down to each house to take a look, and I’m too lazy for that.”
When it came to word ‘lazy’ Kang Shengzhe was extraordinary straightforward. You Liangxing laughed soundlessly and said: “If you can’t find one, I have...” He paused before he could finish the sentence.
Kang Shengzhe’s pricked his ears up keenly and asked, expectant, “What, what?”
You Liangxing hesitated for a moment. Before he spoke again, he seriously considered the consequences he would incur from his following words. After contemplating it thrice, he still said: “The apartment building I’m staying in... it has good conditions, the environment is decent, it’s very quiet.”
Sure enough, once he said those words, Kang Shengzhe’s eyes abruptly brightened. If he moved to the apartments You Liangxing was staying in, wouldn’t he be able to see him every day?
His entire face lifted up with his excitement. Happily, he said: “That’s good, that’s good~ If Liang Liang says it’s good, that place must definitely be good, I’ll move there tomorrow!”
You Liangxing suddenly had a headache, “... Don’t mess around, you haven’t even seen the place yet.”
Kang Shengzhe said: “Since we haven’t seen it, we can go and see it now.”
You Liangxing felt a deep sense of powerlessness wash over him as his entire person was pulled towards the entrance of the school in vigorous strides by Kang Shengzhe.
He never expected that from their initial plans to return to their respective houses would actually change to taking the same taxi to go straight to You Liangxing’s apartments in a blink of an eye. The decision was as unrestrained and free as it could get.
Along the way, Kang Shengzhe was extremely happy, and whenever You Liangxing looked over, he could clearly imagine the little red flowers that were jumping out of Kang Shengzhe’s swaying head, filling the entire car interior.
“Are you that happy?”
Kang Shengzhe: “Yeah~”
His smile was innocent and without any pretence. You Liangxing went silent, mood brightening in a small, inexplicable way. Just as the corner of his mouth quirked up slightly, Kang Shengzhe gave him a close-eyed smile as he said: “Think about it~ We’re going to your apartments now, and we definitely won’t make it back to school in time. And since we can’t go back to school, we can only stay in Liang Liang’s house, right? Staying overnight, even idol dramas these days don’t dare to write it like this.”
You Liangxing: “......”
You Liangxing’s smile gradually disappeared, hating how he could not kick Kang Shengzhe out of the car.
After more than an hour, the car finally reached their destination. You Liangxing was seated closer to the apartment and he told the administrator that they were going to check out of the rooms. Soon after, the administrator auntie handed You Liangxing an entire bunch of keys before she lowered her head again to watch her show as if the huge bunch of keys had nothing to do with the apartment property but a handful of green onions and parsley instead.
Kang Shengzhe felt strange. “Don’t they need to accompany us?”
You Liangxing replied, “No need.”
Perceiving Kang Shengzhe’s puzzlement, You Liangxing said simply, “I know the administrator.”
“Oh,” the question was momentarily pushed aside. Kang Shengzhe and You Liangxing went straight to the top floor. Kang Shengzhe’s thoughts were simple; he wanted to be neighbours with You Liangxing. And as they were passing by You Liangxing’s door entrance, Kang Shengzhe smiled, refusing to move, to which You Liangxing answered with a punch to his stomach to make him shuffle away with much difficulty.
After they pressed the light switch, the entire room suddenly lit up. At first glance, the entire room was particularly spacious; it had wooden floorboards, grey walls and amenities like furniture, water and electricity which were included to allow a tenant to move in immediately. Not only that, the way it was decorated was extremely satisfactory.
Kang Shengzhe circled around the apartment, extremely satisfied. And because it fulfilled his other blatant motives, he tacked the metaphorical board right away. “I’ll take this one.”
You Liangxing said: “Are you certain?”
Kang Shengzhe replied: “I’m certain.”
He made the decision so quickly such that You Liangxing had nothing left to say. He stood by the apartment window and glanced out. From his angle, he could see the night view of City A, and the neon lights and shadows overlapping one another increased the radiance and beauty that each aspect had.
Kang Shengzhe remarked, “It’s beautiful.”
You Liangxing agreed, “Mn.”
For those few, short seconds, neither of them spoke. In the quiet, Kang Shengzhe seemed to have an unusual thought as if he had taken a small step forward. It was just like the dark scenery he had in front of him; he had seen You Liangxing in front of him so many times, but in the future, he could look at the scenery together with You Liangxing.
“Liang Liang, how much is the rent here?”
In accordance to logic, this question should be easy for You Liangxing to answer, considering how he rented a place here as well. However, he did not know why but You Liangxing seemed to struggle with it briefly because he had to think about it. “Rent... Two thousand? Two thousand five? ... En, it’s fine if you pay two thousand.”
Two thousand and two thousand five was not considered a hefty sum to Kang Shengzhe. Despite his recent entry into university, his identity as an anchor and its corresponding worth ensured that he would have no issue staying in an apartment that costed him a few thousand per month. What interested Kang Shengzhe, however, was the tone that You Liangxing used, because it made it sound like he had the jurisdiction to decide the pricing of rent for the apartment.
Kang Shengzhe laughed, “Are you that familiar with the administrator to the extent where you can secretly give me a discount?”
You Liangxing declined to comment but Kang Shengzhe did not pursue the topic either. He simply said: “Then I’ll pay the rent now to secure the flat so no one can snatch it away. Right, do I merely have to give it to the administrator downstairs?”
You Liangxing said: “Actually, it’s fine if you just give it to me.”
Feeling baffled, Kang Shengzhe replied, “Give it to you?”
You Liangxing: “Well, the entire apartment building is mine any way.”