Jiang Xinghuai was drunk, a white blur swaying before his eyes. But in his mind, a trace of awareness still lingered, an unease that came from not being home yet.
The man standing next to him acted as though he hadn’t heard him speak, remaining silent.
Jiang Xinghuai frowned. He didn’t ask for help again, but instead forced his eyes open, staring at the elevator’s number panel, searching for the button for the 17th floor.
The panel glowed with white light, stabbing his eyes with pain. He couldn’t make out a single number clearly.
He traced the numbers upward one by one, and then froze.
The button for the 17th floor was already lit.
——From before he came in.
Jiang Xinghuai blinked his sore eyes, thought for a while, then tilted his head up to look at the man: “You’re also on the 17th floor?”
Fu Yan frowned slightly but said nothing.
“You’re that neighbor of mine?” Jiang Xinghuai asked bluntly.
Only then did Fu Yan lower his head to glance at him. The boy looked young, about seventeen or eighteen. He wore ripped jeans and a white T-shirt, with two cross necklaces hanging from his neck.
Jiang Xinghuai also took the chance to size up this neighbor of his. He is someone who had already moved in for more than a month, whom he had never once seen in person, and who had filed several complaints against him.
Leather shoes, black suit, tie. Looked decent enough, but why was he so fond of tattling?
“Uncle[mfn]Dàshu (大叔). Depending on tone, it can be neutral, teasing, or even mildly disrespectful, like calling someone “old man” or “middle-aged uncle”[/mfn], weren’t you just about to pull me up?” Jiang Xinghuai was well-practiced at disgusting people.
Fu Yan paused for a moment. Just a moment ago, he was being called Uncle[mfn]Shūshu (叔叔)[/mfn], and now it had turned into Uncle[mfn]Dàshu (大叔)[/mfn].
“Can you stand up?” Fu Yan asked him.
“Weren’t you planning to call the police?” Jiang Xinghuai shot back provocatively.
“If that’s what you want,” Fu Yan replied smoothly.
“Better pull me up instead.” Jiang Xinghuai gave a sweet smile. “Thanks, Uncle[mfn]Shūshu (叔叔)[/mfn].”
Fu Yan reached out his hand.
Jiang Xinghuai narrowed his eyes, not extending his own. After staring at the man for a moment, he suddenly stretched out his hand and slapped it hard into the man’s palm, the sound sharp and loud.
“So helpful, aren’t you? Uncle[mfn]Shūshu (叔叔)[/mfn].” He asked in a taunting tone, “Then could you maybe stop filing complaints against me in the future?”
Fu Yan withdrew his hand, his expression calm, and pulled out a handkerchief to wipe his palm.
With a ding, the elevator arrived.
The man stepped out of the elevator.
Jiang Xinghuai let out a cold snort. His limbs were weak, his vision spinning, and he leaned against the elevator wall, slowly dragging himself out.
“Uncle’s not going to help me up anymore?” Jiang Xinghuai said as he walked forward, not forgetting to disgust this coward who only knew how to file complaints behind his back.
This person was just as annoying as his stepmother.
His stepmother, too, was always whispering into his father’s ear behind the scenes, fanning the flames.
And now, great! His father ignored him, no longer really caring about him.
Supporting himself against the wall, he only managed to take a couple of steps forward before a wave of dizziness hit. His knees went weak, and he was unable to hold himself up.
“Really about to kneel,” Jiang Xinghuai muttered to himself in a low voice.
Hearing the noise, Fu Yan turned back. The boy had already collapsed on the floor.
Fu Yan stood where he was, waiting for a minute. The boy let out two groans, but still didn’t get up.
He let out a sigh and still walked over.
“Are you awake?” Fu Yan asked.
The boy answered with a faint hum.
Fu Yan grabbed hold of his arm and hauled him up. The boy’s body had no strength at all, so Fu Yan could only half-support him as they walked forward.
After just a few steps, Jiang Xinghuai shook his dizzy head, regaining some clarity.
He turned his head to the side, and the man’s black tie brushed across the tip of his nose.
Jiang Xinghuai’s nose itched, and he sniffled.
Hearing the sound, Fu Yan furrowed his brows.
Was he crying?
Fu Yan paused for a moment before lifting his hand and giving the boy’s back a light pat, a gesture meant as comfort.
Jiang Xinghuai didn’t know why this man suddenly patted his back, but by now they had already reached the door. He pressed his fingerprint on the lock and, in a mocking tone, offered thanks: “Trouble Uncle to take care of me.”
“You’re welcome,” Fu Yan replied, still supporting him.
Jiang Xinghuai: “………………”
Was this Uncle really stupid, or just pretending to be? Could he not hear the sarcasm?
“Good night, Uncle.” Jiang Xinghuai said speechlessly as he pulled open the door.
“Good ni—” Fu Yan didn’t finish his words.
Jiang Xinghuai slipped inside, rolling his eyes as he shut the door.
With a bang, the heavy door swung back, nearly hitting Fu Yan’s nose.
Fu Yan: “…………night.”
Fu Yan looked at the tightly closed door, his face calm and unreadable.
Inside, Jiang Xinghuai didn’t even make it to the bedroom door before collapsing on the carpet by the sofa and falling asleep.
All through the night, his mind was muddled and noisy, filled with goats raving at a disco. Why goat, he had no idea.
Until the shrill sound of his phone ringtone rang out.
“Damn it…” Jiang Xinghuai struggled to open his swollen eyelids. Then he hunched forward, pressing a hand against his stomach.
It took a long while before Jiang Xinghuai’s attention was finally pulled over by the phone’s ringtone.
He picked up the phone, rubbed his eyes, and saw that it was Xiao Xu from property management calling.
Jiang Xinghuai frowned and answered: “Hello?”
“Hello, Mr. Jiang. I’m really sorry, but we’ve received another complaint. Could you please turn down the volume of your sound system at home?” Xiao Xu’s voice sounded embarrassed.
“What?” Jiang Xinghuai froze, then suddenly realized that the music of Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf had been blaring beside his ears the whole time.
“Pleasant Goat~ Beauty Goat~ Lazy Goat~ Boiling Goat~ Soft Goat~~~”
“Wait a second…” Jiang Xinghuai pushed himself up from the floor, staggering as he made his way to the game room where all his electronic devices were set up.
In the corner, a waist-high, teardrop-shaped speaker was tirelessly blasting noisy goat songs.
“Don’t look at me, I’m just a goat~ The cleverness of a goat is beyond imagination~~”
Jiang Xinghuai stared wide-eyed in utter bewilderment.
All this time, he thought it was just yesterday’s drinking that made his head pound like it was exploding. Turns out this thing had been blaring the whole night—no wonder his head had been filled with goat.
Jiang Xinghuai’s face darkened. He bent down and pressed the power button.
The music didn’t stop. Pleasant Goat and Beauty Goat kept blaring noisily.
What was going on?
“Mr. Jiang, the resident of 1702 means that when the noise level in a residential building reaches a certain decibel, it’s considered illegal. If he really calls the police, it’ll be trouble for you, and it puts us in a difficult spot as well. I hope you can understand.” Xiao Xu’s voice came softly over the phone, trying to persuade him.
“My speaker’s broken.” Jiang Xinghuai, irritated, pressed the button again, but the goat songs still didn’t stop.
“Broken?” Xiao Xu immediately replied, “Then do you need us to arrange repair service for you? We also have someone who can—”
“Forget it, I’ll deal with it myself.” Jiang Xinghuai was losing patience.
“It’s no trouble. I can bring the tools up right now and fix it. Mr. Jiang, if you don’t mind—”
“Want me to file a complaint about you for noise pollution?” Jiang Xinghuai asked.
“Wish you a pleasant weekend.” Xiao Xu hung up decisively.
The speaker still wouldn’t stop.
Annoyed, Jiang Xinghuai slapped his hand against the speaker. With a bang, the room finally fell silent.
Jiang Xinghuai gave a snort, turned, and headed toward the bedroom. On the way, he stripped off his clothes, leaving them scattered across the floor, and went into the bathroom.
After his shower, with just a towel wrapped around his waist, Jiang Xinghuai didn’t even bother to dry his hair before rushing back out.
Starving, he ordered takeout, then rummaged through the living room for something to eat first to fill his stomach.
Just then, the front door sounded.
The knocking was urgent.
Jiang Xinghuai frowned, tossed aside the soggy chips in his hand, straightened up, and walked over: “Who is it?”
No response from outside—just more knocking, hurried and chaotic.
“What, mute or something? At least say something, will you?” Jiang Xinghuai pulled open the door.
The person outside flinched at the swing of the door, stepping back a couple of paces, but still said nothing.
It was a man, thin and tall, wearing a work cap and a uniform Jiang Xinghuai recognized. It is the property management for this apartment building.
“Xiao Xu?” Jiang Xinghuai asked uncertainly.
Hearing his voice, Xiao Xu lifted his head slightly. His eyes were vacant, his face deathly pale.
Through the dripping strands of wet hair hanging in front of his eyes, Jiang Xinghuai finally saw clearly. It really was Xiao Xu. He confirmed it, then said, “Didn’t I say I don’t need you to fix it? I’ve already—”
“Ah… help… ah… help…” From Xiao Xu’s throat came a few low, strangled murmurs.
“What?” Jiang Xinghuai didn’t catch it at all. “What did you say?”
Xiao Xu took two small steps forward, reaching out his hand.
Instinctively, Jiang Xinghuai reached out to support it. “Wait… I…”
Xiao Xu clutched his hand, the grip tightening more and more, his eyes widening further and further.
Jiang Xinghuai swallowed hard. “No… ge, it’s my fault. I really didn’t know this would affect you so much. But I really did turn the speaker off just now! Ge, don’t be like this.”
No sooner had the words left his mouth than Xiao Xu’s eyes flew wide open and, in the next instant, his whole body collapsed straight down.
“Hey!” Jiang Xinghuai’s body lurched to the side with the pull, barely managing to grab the door handle.
The hands they had been gripping so tightly clenched even harder for a moment, then slipped apart under the force.
Jiang Xinghuai landed hard on the ground, his back slamming against the door.
With a bang, the door swung shut tightly.
Jiang Xinghuai rubbed his backside, yanked at the bath towel that had almost slipped off, and then bent down to pick up his shattered phone.
He pressed it twice, but the phone gave no response. “What the hell is wrong with you!”
On the floor, Xiao Xu lay on his back, and thick blood vessels quickly crawled across his pupils. Green veins bulged one by one, spreading up from his neck, winding upward, until they covered his entire face. It was hideous and grotesque.
“I told you, the speaker’s already off. It’s off!” Jiang Xinghuai was still cursing as he jabbed at his phone, not noticing the shadow behind him slowly rising.
Xiao Xu was getting to his feet, his body moving in a stiff, mechanical way. His arms twisted unnaturally at his sides, unmoving as his legs dragged his waist, and his waist pulled up his entire upper body. In that rigid, jerky motion, he stood upright in one go.
“I’m warning you! Don’t play this crap with me! You think I scare that easily—fuck!” Jiang Xinghuai cursed as he spun around, eyes wide, his whole body jolting in shock. “What the hell is that!”
The transformed Xiao Xu made a swallowing sound deep in his throat, his head tilting to the side, bulging eyes fixed deathly on Jiang Xinghuai. From his throat came that same wet gulping noise.
Jiang Xinghuai swallowed too, feeling something was wrong. “No… wait, are you—”
Xiao Xu suddenly lunged at him.
“—Fuck! What are you doing!” Jiang Xinghuai cried out in shock, quickly ducking down and squatting, grabbing a few old skateboards he’d left outside, and swinging them hard at Xiao Xu’s waist.
Xiao Xu staggered back a few steps.
Taking the chance, Jiang Xinghuai pulled away fast, clutching at his bath towel, eyes wide, still not understanding what was happening.
But Xiao Xu seemed to feel no pain at all. As if nothing had stopped him, he charged forward again.
Jiang Xinghuai held the skateboard up between them, panting as he shouted, “Wait! No—Xu Dawei, what the hell’s wrong with you?! Are you out of your mind?!”
Xiao Xu didn’t speak. When he couldn’t break through the skateboard blocking him, he simply threw himself against it.
Jiang Xinghuai, with his small frame and light weight, was sent flying. His bare back slammed directly into the cold ceramic tiles.
The skateboard flew out of his hand as well.
“Hss…” Jiang Xinghuai hissed, clutching the back of his head where it had smacked painfully against the wall. This time, he was truly furious. Tilting his head back, he cursed, “Fuck! I’m telling you, you’re finished! You’re done! You’re fired! Tomorrow you pack your shit and get out!”
Xiao Xu’s steps faltered for a moment.
Seeing that he didn’t move, Jiang Xinghuai let out a breath, clutching at the towel that was about to fall off, propping himself up against the wall as he stood. He threatened, “Good, you know fear. But I’m telling you, this isn’t over! Just wait until I tell your boss tomorrow!”
Xiao Xu immediately stepped forward two paces.
“Alright, I won’t, I won’t!” Jiang Xinghuai shuddered, retreating a step. “I won’t tell, isn’t that enough?!”
His backward movement seemed to trigger some kind of switch. Xu Dawei’s pace quickened, faster and faster as he came at him.
“Xu Dawei! What are you doing!” Jiang Xinghuai, trembling, stretched out his hand and pointed at him, threatening, “You’re crazy! Do you even know who the hell I am?!”
Right now, Xiao Xu didn’t know who he was. But Xiao Xu didn’t care. Xiao Xu still wanted to bite him.
“Xu Dawei, you’re done for!” Jiang Xinghuai was consumed with fury, scrambling desperately as he lunged for the skateboard on the ground.
Too late. Xiao Xu was already upon him.
In that instant, Jiang Xinghuai burst out with astonishing flexibility, twisting his waist and grabbing the board, swinging it hard.
Xiao Xu’s charge stalled, the hand he had reached out stopping just a fist’s distance away from Jiang Xinghuai.
Jiang Xinghuai’s breathing was ragged, his whole body tense and motionless.
The end of the board was wedged straight into Xiao Xu’s mouth.
Xiao Xu grew violent. He started biting the skateboard.
Something wasn’t right.
Pressing against the wall, a chill seeped up Jiang Xinghuai’s back.
This was absolutely not normal.
Crack, crack—
Under the force between the two of them, the board was already making the sound of imminent breaking.
The skateboard was about to snap.
Those boards he’d left outside had already been abused by him enough.
Jiang Xinghuai’s hands trembled. Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at his neighbor’s tightly shut door, inching slowly toward it.
He really had no choice. The situation before his eyes was too terrifying. The only thing left was to shamelessly beg for help.
“Hey! Anybody there!” Jiang Xinghuai didn’t dare move his upper body, but he stretched out his leg and kicked hard at his neighbor’s front door. “Uncle! Open the door! Help me out!”
No one answered. No one opened the door.
Jiang Xinghuai’s arms were about to give out.
Xiao Xu, riled up by the loud pounding on the door, suddenly jerked back, yanking the skateboard out of his mouth.
He bent down and lunged for a spot the board couldn’t block, biting straight down.
“Ah!” Jiang Xinghuai felt a sharp pain in his thigh, followed by a sudden chill across his lower half.
When he quickly looked down, Xu Dawei’s mouth was clamped onto his bath towel—and he tore it away.
Staring at his exposed lower body and the bite marks on his inner thigh, Jiang Xinghuai was so furious he nearly lost his mind. “You pervert!”
The damned pervert Xu stayed ferocious, launching a second attack.
Driven into a frenzy, Jiang Xinghuai lashed out, grabbing his hair with both hands and shoving his head downward. “Do you even know how much this bath towel costs, you bastard?!”
Xiao Xu: “?”
Jiang Xinghuai snapped, “Handmade in the UK, one hundred thousand pounds apiece!”
Xiao Xu froze with his mouth open, the bath towel dropping from between his teeth. On his otherwise expressionless face, there appeared, almost imperceptibly, a flicker of fear.
Jiang Xinghuai pressed the advantage: “Even if you starved yourself and worked property management for a hundred years, you still couldn’t pay it back!”
Xiao Xu’s mouth snapped shut.
Breathing heavily, chest rising and falling, Jiang Xinghuai clutched his hair, not daring to let go.
The two of them held that strange stalemate.
Until steady footsteps came from behind.
Jiang Xinghuai realized what that meant and turned back with delight.
1—2—3. Just as he was about to count to 4—
The door of his neighbor behind him opened from the inside.
Out stepped a neighbor in a suit, the kind who looked calm, steady, and reliable—the kind who looked ready to lend a hand.
Hope flared in Jiang Xinghuai’s eyes.
The very next second.
On that neighbor’s ice-cold, expressionless face, the corner of his mouth suddenly twitched.
Jiang Xinghuai couldn’t understand why that kind of expression had appeared on his neighbor’s face.
He turned his head back, abandoning his anger, letting go of his prejudice.
With a normal person’s mindset, the neighbor looked at Jiang Xinghuai and Xiao Xu.
The scene was, indeed, rather unsightly.
Jiang Xinghuai: “……”
With a loud bang, the door behind him was slammed shut with great force.
Jiang Xinghuai, tragic and furious: “It’s not what it looks like!”
