While the agent stood frozen, Mai Ding gritted his teeth. “You don’t need to go in such a huge circle just to threaten me!” Then he immediately changed his expression and smiled brightly at the agent. “Ignore him. Let’s continue…” Mai Ding could clearly feel the gaze drilling into his spine from behind. He lost his nerve and changed direction. “I’ll go back and think about it some more. If I have any questions, I’ll call you.”
“All right. I’ll keep looking for other places for you too.”
“Thank you for the trouble.”
On the entire drive home, Mai Ding refused to give An Zi Yan a pleasant expression. “I seriously regret bringing you. A house is important. We might live there for the rest of our lives. How can you decide so casually? I think that apartment is too expensive. The renovations don’t need to be so extravagant. We’re not in a rush to move anyway. We should buy in a new development and renovate simply. As long as there’s a bed and somewhere to eat, that’s enough. We don’t need to spend too much. We hardly even sit on the sofa because we’re usually at work.”
“I’m not going to live there, and I’m not paying for it.”
“You! You married me and you won’t even buy me a house?” Mai Ding imitated the women on television, but An Zi Yan was apparently the kind of terrible man who would never qualify as the male lead. He reached up and adjusted the rearview mirror until it reflected Mai Ding. “Take a good look. Do you think you’re worth an entire house?”
“An Zi Yan!”
When they reached the building, Mai Ding did not even wait for An Zi Yan to park in the underground garage before heading upstairs. As he ran up the steps, he saw Xu De and Yu Rong Mei moving things. He froze. No way. Their information network could not be that fast. Had they somehow heard Mai Ding and An Zi Yan were planning to buy a house and decided to move too?
“Oh, you’re back. I knocked earlier but nobody was home. I was worried we wouldn’t get to say goodbye.” Only after hearing Xu De did Mai Ding realize he had imagined too much. Out of politeness, he nodded. “You’re moving?”
“Yeah.” Yu Rong Mei gave a bitter smile as she pulled out a suitcase. “Somehow our landlord found out about what we do. He can’t accept people doing that kind of thing in his property, so he refuses to keep renting to us.”
“You’re leaving today?”
“Mm. It’s a shame we never managed to persuade you in the end. Now we have no choice but to say goodbye.” Xu De thoughtfully carried Yu Rong Mei’s suitcase along with several other things, struggling a little as he went down the stairs. Yu Rong Mei immediately stepped forward with concern. “Stop pretending to be a gentleman. Let me carry some.” They passed Mai Ding. The two of them looked no different from an ordinary affectionate married couple. They were not bad people either. Mai Ding suddenly turned around and looked down the stairs at them. “Does giving the person you love to someone else really make you feel good? Does the other person truly enjoy it too?”
“Why wouldn’t it? After trying someone else and still not being tempted away, still loving each other, isn’t that the best proof of love? No matter whose arms he or I end up in, we still love each other and think about each other. Don’t you think our love is incredible?”
Mai Ding could not understand that logic. An inexplicable anger surged up inside him. He knew perfectly well he was meddling in someone else’s business, but he still clenched his fists and shouted. “Why does love need other people to help prove it? Under another man, on another woman, what exactly are you trying to prove? Does your love have to be different? Does it have to be extraordinary? What’s wrong with small, ordinary love? Is it not good enough for you?” Xu De and Yu Rong Mei seemed completely unconcerned by Mai Ding’s words. “We’ve heard disapproval too many times. Do you think you can persuade us? It’s the same way other people can’t persuade you. We’re no different, Mai Ding. Don’t deny it. In other people’s eyes, you’re not necessarily any nobler than us. How many people do you think can accept the two of you?”
“I don’t care about other people. At least my family and his family…”
“Have they truly accepted you? Or are you only telling yourself they have? Have you ever considered that they made concessions because they love you or An Zi Yan? That they weren’t willing at all, and that because of your selfishness they’ve been hiding their pain?” Mai Ding wanted to deny it, but discovered he could not do so with absolute certainty. He had never looked at it from this angle before. Unknown fear crashed over him all at once. Xu De noticed An Zi Yan standing on the stairs. His expression was cold as he stared directly at them. Xu De tugged Yu Rong Mei’s arm, and the two of them stopped talking, hurriedly slipping around An Zi Yan and heading downstairs. An Zi Yan’s canvas shoes landed on the edges of the steps one after another, closing the distance between them. When he reached Mai Ding, before Mai Ding could speak, An Zi Yan bent down and slung him over his shoulder. “We’re going home.”
“I’m going to fall!” Mai Ding cried out, afraid to move. Looking down at the stairs from this position was genuinely frightening.
“You won’t.”
He had only said two words. They were not romantic, not warm, but in that instant the stairs in front of Mai Ding no longer seemed so frightening.
An Zi Yan would not let him fall.
Annual leave for office workers was pitifully short. It seemed to end before anyone had properly settled into it. They still had not resolved the house issue, and now there was even less time. Besides, Mai Ding did not want to borrow money from An Zi Yan. Without mortgage pressure constantly reminding him, he worried he might become lazy and slack too. There was already one hopeless person in the household. They could not afford another. With his head full of small worries, Mai Ding walked into the company. He had only been apart from his coworkers for a short time, so Public Relations naturally had not changed much.
“Happy New Year, everyone. This year we’ll keep working hard together. Let’s all do our best.” Mai Ding once again said something that made everyone cringe. They glanced sideways at him. “You still haven’t been fired? We thought we’d come back for the new year and finally stop seeing you in the office.”
“You’re speaking ironically, right? That’s irony, right?!”
“He’s starting the self-hypnosis again.”
“The scariest people are the ones everyone around them hates but who never notice it themselves.”
Mai Ding had been at the company less than ten minutes and already wanted to leave. Unfortunately, he did not have that kind of temper, so he could only sit back down. Fan Shao Jun asked, “Mai Ding, tell the truth. How many women did you fool around with over the holiday?” Mai Ding had made so many New Year wishes for nothing. This year was exactly like last year. He still could not escape the label of scumbag. Mai Ding looked up and only then noticed Fan Shao Jun’s face was shining white. “What happened to your face? Did you go to a beauty salon?”
“I only got a whitening injection. What do you think? Pretty good effect, right?” Fan Shao Jun patted his pale cheek. Country bumpkin Mai Ding gasped in amazement. “I thought only celebrities had access to technology this advanced.”
“Outdated.”
“Technology is so advanced now. Can they do anything?” Mai Ding asked curiously.
“What do you want done?”
“Is there some kind of soul-whitening injection? Something that makes a person kind, cute, hardworking, and energetic after one shot?”
“Who do you want to inject?”
“I want to…” Before Mai Ding could finish, the intended recipient had already appeared in front of him. An Zi Yan’s face was cold. “If you have time to chat, how about using it to write your resignation letter?”
“Sorry.” His mouth apologized while his heart screamed: I’m definitely going to inject you with an entire bucket of soul-whitening solution! Sigh. The new year had really changed absolutely nothing.