On the day Lin Bei moved, Jiangcheng was hit by a rain shower—neither too heavy nor too light.

Not heavy enough to cancel the move; heavy enough to turn every cardboard box into a soggy, pitiful mess.

“Are you sure that’s all there is?” Wang Tangtang stood in the doorway of Lin Bei’s rented apartment, staring at two jute bags and a backpack on the floor, her expression as if she’d just seen a corpse—shocked, yet tinged with disbelief.

“Simplifying life,” Lin Bei said, stuffing the last hanger into the jute bag. “You know what’s the most exhausting part of moving? It’s not the actual carrying—it’s the packing. So my rule is: if there’s nothing to pack, then there’s nothing to pack.”

“You’ve lived in this rental for a year, and this is all the stuff you’ve accumulated?”

“There’s also half a bottle of dish soap and a roll of toilet paper that’s almost used up,” Lin Bei said, pulling them out from the kitchen. “That has to come along too—new ones cost three yuan!”

Wang Tangtang’s lips twitched. “You’re really cheap.”

“That’s not being cheap; that’s optimizing resources,” Lin Bei replied, slinging the backpack over his shoulder and holding one jute bag in each hand, looking like a migrant worker entering the city. “Let’s go. Where’s my Porsche?”

“What Porsche?”

“Your little electric scooter! Isn’t that your idea of a Porsche?”

“Get lost,” Wang Tangtang rolled her eyes, but still helped carry one of the bags. “Seriously, are you really moving into Emerald Bay—the most expensive residential community in Jiangcheng?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Sharing an apartment with a guy?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Is he good-looking?”

“Mm-hmm.”

Wang Tangtang stopped and looked at her intently. “Lin Bei, have you been tricked? When something seems too good to be true, there’s usually a catch.”

“What kind of catch?”

“For example, he could be a pervert, or a gay, or even a perverted gay.”

Lin Bei thought for a moment. “Even if he is a pervert, I’m a poor pervert. What would he possibly want from me? My flip-flops? My twenty-nine-yuan T-shirt?”

“He wants you because you’re young and beautiful!” Wang Tangtang exclaimed, flustered. “Look in the mirror—you may be lazy, but you’re not ugly, right? What if he tries to make a move on you…?”

“I’ll just lie down and accept it,” Lin Bei said, deadpan. “Anyway, resisting is exhausting.”

“…Are you serious?”

“Just kidding,” Lin Bei said, patting his best friend on the shoulder. “Don’t worry—I’ve already done my homework. That guy has a severe cleanliness obsession; he even thinks I’m dirty just by shaking hands. Do you really think he’d try anything with me? He probably thinks I’m a whole petri dish full of bacteria.”

Wang Tangtang thought about it and realized there was some truth to that.

“All right, then I’ll go take a look for you. If he so much as lays a finger on you, I’ll beat him to death with my keyboard.”

“You’re a programmer—instead of typing code, you’re now beating people with a keyboard?”

“That’s called multithreading,” Lin Bei quipped.

The two of them rode Wang Tangtang’s little electric scooter through the rain all the way to Emerald Bay.

This time, security guard Lao Zhang didn’t stop Lin Bei—he even nodded at her. “Miss Lin, moving again?”

“Yeah, Brother Zhang. Thanks for your hard work.”

“No problem, no problem,” Lao Zhang said, eyeing the two jute bags and clearly wanting to say more but holding back.

Wang Tangtang whispered, “You’ve even become friendly with the security guard?”

“Relationships are the primary productive force,” Lin Bei murmured. “Let me tell you, Lao Zhang is the gossip hub of this complex. If you get on his good side, it’s like having surveillance cameras installed throughout the whole neighborhood.”

“…You really are a genius.”

The elevator arrived on the 22nd floor, and Lin Bei pulled out the key to open the door.

As soon as the door opened, Wang Tangtang froze.

Not because the apartment was luxurious—though it certainly was—but because there was someone standing in the doorway.

No, to be precise, there was an iceberg standing there.

Su Chen was wearing a white home shirt today, with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms, revealing a pair of sharply defined biceps. He leaned against the wall by the entryway, holding a cup of black coffee, his expression as indifferent as if he were watching two intruders.

Wang Tangtang’s mouth gaped open in perfect O shape.

She whispered in a voice only Lin Bei could hear, “Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap—why didn’t you tell me he looked like this before?”

End of Chapter 3: Moving Is a Battle, and I Choose to Surrender 1