Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Time slipped by without me noticing.

I kept bouncing back and forth between taking the money and not taking it. The red leather suitcase got dragged from inside my apartment to outside the door, then from outside back in again, until all four corners were scraped bald.

That day, I finally made up my mind to call the police.

I had just dragged the suitcase to the doorway when a wave of dizziness suddenly hit me.

Ever since I started living alone, it had been a long time since I’d eaten anything resembling a proper meal. I had planned to take some painkillers, but the moment I turned around, my vision went black.

A gust of wind blew in from somewhere.

It brushed across my neck like smooth, icy silk.

In my unconscious state, I instinctively caught the scent of food. I forced my eyelids to flutter open and saw a young man standing in front of me.

Seeing that I was awake, he brought the food to my mouth.

It was an old-dough steamed bun, with a little red dot on top. Who knew what year it had been left over from? But after one bite, my stomach felt satisfied in a way it hadn’t for a long time.

Gradually, I lowered my guard. “Do you live here too?”

“Mm.”

“What should I call you?”

“Pei Yu.”

He was dressed in a spotless white shirt and trousers. When I looked down, however, both his feet were bare and dusted with a bit of grime-it seemed that in order to save me, he hadn’t even had time to put on shoes.

There were still good people like this these days?

I was instantly even more touched. “Thank you.”

As soon as I said it, I saw the smile at the corner of his lips.

The room was dim, so dark I couldn’t even make out the nearby furnishings, yet his face seemed to be veiled in a faint silver glow. Gentle and quiet, it made it impossible not to feel fond of him.

As if possessed, I took the initiative and suggested we become roommates.

“Do you want to live with me?”

Pei Yu agreed.

From that day on, we lived together.

Because the tenement building was cramped, one of us always slept on the bed while the other slept on the wall-yes, I have no idea how he managed it, but he always slept on the wall.

Also, he really only knew how to make steamed buns.

Although they looked ordinary, tasted average, and were even cold and hard, my stomach problems truly never acted up again.

With him keeping me company, life somehow became smooth and effortless.

My fondness for him grew by the day.

I even began making plans to spend the rest of my life with him.

When I finally told him about the money of unknown origin, he was holding a vermilion brush, dabbing little red dots onto freshly steamed buns one by one.

His pale, lonely face was blurred by the rising steam.

After hearing the whole story, his expression did not change in the slightest, as if it were not an enormous sum of money at all. “Then what do you think?”

I rubbed my chin. “A gift from the heavens-no, I mean, I do think this money comes with certain risks.”

He nodded. “You can’t use this money.”

“Why not?”

“Do you believe in another world?”

“Another world?”

“Yes.”

In the midst of an inscrutable silence, he lifted his eyes and looked at me with deep meaning. “Perhaps this sudden fortune is someone from another world making offerings to you.”

At that, a prickling chill ran up my spine, and I shuddered.

That was way too terrifying.

Even though I was a staunch atheist, I nearly backed down in fear. Fortunately, before throwing the suitcase away, I checked my bank balance again.

Wonderful.

-Another poor yet brave day.