Wang Dazhuang is coming.

When Lin Bei received his call, she was in the kitchen making sweet and sour ribs. Ever since the white vinegar incident, she hadn’t touched any liquid seasonings for three days straight—she even used soy sauce very cautiously.

“I’m coming over this weekend to see you,” Wang Dazhuang said on the phone. “And grab a free meal while I’m at it.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be working overtime?” she asked.

“The project got delayed. The boss said we can submit it next Monday, so I’ve got nothing to do this weekend.”

Lin Bei hesitated for a moment.

“I’ll ask the landlord first.”

“Does your landlord interfere that much?”

“He’s not interfering—he’s just a neat freak. Don’t go touching anything when you’re here.”

“I’m a programmer; what am I going to touch? All I know how to touch is a keyboard.”

Lin Bei hung up and walked into the living room. Su Chen was sitting on the sofa reading a book.

“Brother Su.”

“Mm.”

“I’ve got a friend coming over this weekend for dinner—just dinner, and then he’s out of here.”

Su Chen turned a page. “Boy or girl?”

Lin Bei was taken aback. She hadn’t expected Su Chen to ask that question.

“Boy. He’s my college buddy—a close friend.”

“What’s his name?”

“Wang Dazhuang.”

Su Chen’s finger paused for a moment. “Wang Dazhuang?”

“That’s his real name. His parents named him that because they wanted him to grow up strong and healthy.”

“Is he really that strong?”

“He’s 1.78 meters tall and weighs 90 kilograms,” Lin Bei admitted honestly. “But he’s super clean! Even though he’s a programmer, he’s not sloppy at all—he showers every day!”

Su Chen fell silent for a moment, then closed his book.

“Sure, he can come. But there are three conditions.”

“Go ahead.”

“First, change shoes at the door and wipe the soles. Second, no entering my room. Third, no sitting on my sofa.”

Lin Bei glanced at the sofa she was sitting on. “Then where am I supposed to sit?”

“On the dining chair. It’s plastic, so it’s easy to wipe clean.”

“…Are you serious?”

“I never joke around.”

Lin Bei took a deep breath and sent a message to Wang Dazhuang: “You can come this weekend, but you have to wipe your shoe soles at the door, no entering the landlord’s room, and no sitting on the sofa.”

Wang Dazhuang replied instantly: “What??? Is your landlord some kind of pervert?”

Lin Bei: “No, he’s just a neat freak. Just bear with it.”

Wang Dazhuang: “Fine, I’ll put up with it—for the sake of those ribs.”

The weekend arrived quickly.

At ten o’clock on Saturday morning, the doorbell rang.

Lin Bei went to answer it, and there stood Wang Dazhuang, holding a carton of milk, a bag of fruit, and a big bag of spicy gluten snack strips.

“Spicy gluten snack strips?” Lin Bei’s eyes lit up.

“You love those the most, don’t you?” Wang Dazhuang grinned. “I brought them specially for you.”

Su Chen came out of the kitchen and stood behind Lin Bei.

The moment Wang Dazhuang saw Su Chen, his grin froze.

He looked at Su Chen, then at Lin Bei, then back at Su Chen again.

“Lin Bei,” he whispered, “you call this a landlord?”

“What’s wrong?”

“This is obviously a male celebrity!”

Su Chen said impassively, “Third shelf of the shoe cabinet—guest slippers. Wipe the soles clean before coming in.”

He pointed to a box of wet wipes by the door.

Wang Dazhuang glanced at the wipes, then at Su Chen, and obediently squatted down to wipe his shoe soles.

After he finished, he walked into the living room, ready to sit on the sofa.

“Don’t sit!” Lin Bei and Su Chen shouted at the same time.

Wang Dazhuang nearly fell in fright.

“Dining chair,” Su Chen said, pointing to the plastic chair next to the dining table. “Sit there.”

Wang Dazhuang looked at the few transparent, obviously brand-new plastic chairs, then at the expensive-looking leather sofa in the living room.

“I get it now,” he whispered to Lin Bei. “Your landlord isn’t just a neat freak—he’s sick, too.”

“Listen, he can hear you,” Lin Bei whispered back.

“I can hear you, too,” Su Chen said.

Wang Dazhuang shut up.

During the meal, the atmosphere was a bit awkward.

Lin Bei had prepared four dishes and one soup: sweet and sour ribs, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, stir-fried seasonal vegetables, pickled cabbage fish, plus a bowl of seaweed and egg drop soup.

Wang Dazhuang ate with grease dripping from his mouth, praising as he went, “Lin Bei, your cooking has improved again! Much better than back in college!”

“In college, I used the little electric cooker in the dorm—it was already a miracle if it could even cook the food properly.”

“That’s true. Do you remember? In our sophomore year, you used that little cooker to make hot pot, and the whole building’s power tripped!”

End of Chapter 17: A Classmate Is Coming