ATLAS TRANSLATES

After parking her car, Shu He had barely reached the lift when disaster struck.

This was already the second lift breakdown this month.

The thought of climbing ten floors immediately irritated her, but she had no choice but to convince herself it was fine—just think of it as exercise.

By the time she reached the tenth floor, she was checking her phone while punching in the door code.

The landlord, apparently annoyed by questions from other tenants, had posted screenshots of conversations with property management on social media.

It was just everyone shifting blame. Shu He’s flame of annoyance quickly extinguished. Since graduating, she’d discovered there were too many frustrating situations in life that simply couldn’t be helped.

Not all landlords were like Li Minyu.

Not everyone was normal, either.

In recent months, problems with the flat had become frequent—first the lift issues, then noise from the construction of new buildings nearby.

Recently, the landlord had even informed her about a rent increase starting next month.

Since the flat was also far from the coffee shop, Shu He started thinking about moving. Conveniently, her lease was ending next month anyway.

Past ten o’clock, she emerged from the bathroom when Tong Yuan called to request time off.

Shu He checked tomorrow’s staff schedule and agreed.

After finishing her work, she casually turned on Bluetooth to play music. Her eyes drifted to the blue perfume bottle on her dressing table.

This morning, her usual perfume had run out, forcing her to dig out this bottle as a last-minute replacement.

This perfume was a thank-you gift from a student when she worked as a tutor at university. She had refused it several times, only to discover later that it had been slipped into her bag.

According to Xiang Lanye, it was a niche foreign brand.

Shu He never used perfume before. Her first bottle was a gift from Jing Yi, and she eventually grew accustomed to that brand.

After their breakup, she put that bottle away and chose a different one for herself.

She deliberately avoided the familiar brand, selecting something different. It felt strange at first, but she grew used to the new scent.

Now she realised her old perfume had been used for quite a while—time for a change.

She considered trying some new fragrances at a counter. She’d heard about customised perfumes and planned to try that when she had time.

Xiang Lanye didn’t need her car these days and generously let Shu He use it.

Having a car definitely reduced commute time to the shop.

Shu He began to wonder if she should buy a car. She’d considered it when she first returned, but had been too busy to pursue the idea.

“I think you should focus on moving first.”

After Xiang Lanye’s analysis of pros and cons, Shu He agreed. With her lease ending soon, moving was more urgent.

She began hunting for a new place, but good flats were hard to find.

A decent place in the city centre with good environment and security would cost at least six thousand.

It reminded her of when she was looking for her shop location—headache-inducing. She simply posted about her flat search on social media, without much hope.

When Li Minyu saw this post, she was drinking bird’s nest soup in Liang Xu’s office.

She had some vacant properties and immediately contacted Shu He.

They quickly arranged a time to view the flats. When Liang Xu returned from his meeting, he noticed Li Minyu’s soup was still unfinished.

“My mum returns the day after tomorrow. Will you come with me to pick her up?”

“I’m busy.”

Liang Xu raised an eyebrow. Since his uncle’s death, Li Minyu spent her retirement leisurely dancing, shopping, and collecting rent—a lifestyle even he envied. What could possibly keep her so busy?

Li Minyu explained that she was taking Shu He to view flats. Liang Xu paused, looking up thoughtfully.

After dropping Li Minyu home, Liang Xu went to Jing Yi’s place.

Opening the door, he found the large room dark and oppressive, with tightly drawn curtains.

He went over to open the curtains and windows before knocking on the recording studio door.

Unsurprisingly, no one answered.

Liang Xu went to look for the key, only to discover that the man had… actually hidden it.

How extreme. If he’d known, he would have made a spare key in advance.

He boiled some water and made himself comfortable on the sofa. Instead of knocking like before, he sent a message:

Liang Xu: [I have news about Shu He. Want to hear it?]

After a silent moment, he realised the man had probably muted him while working.

He called instead.

After being hung up on three times, the other side finally answered.

Before the man could lose his temper, Liang Xu spoke rapidly: “I have news about Shu He. Come out if you want to hear it.”

“…”

He hung up without waiting for a response.

About fifteen seconds later, the studio door opened from inside. The sound of a wheelchair approached, but Liang Xu just sat with his legs crossed, glancing at the man without helping. His words were venomous: “I thought you were dead.”

Jing Yi wore a black hoodie. His dark eyes were like a still, dead lake—completely different from his nearly broken, bloodshot appearance before.

He coldly eyed Liang Xu. “What news?”

Liang Xu didn’t answer directly. He looked at the man’s legs, and Jing Yi allowed himself to be examined with numb indifference.

“Have you been doing your rehab this week?”

Jing Yi’s gaze grew increasingly impatient at this irrelevant question.

Liang Xu crossed his legs the other way. “Aren’t you able to stand now? You must be close to walking. Won’t you make an effort to walk to her? Do you expect her to fall from the sky into your home?”

Seeing the cold expression soften slightly, Liang Xu continued: “Don’t blame me for not warning you—even if she came, you couldn’t stand to greet her.”

“…”

The man’s chest rose and fell. His lips tightened and his fingers tapped impatiently: “Yes.”

Satisfied with the answer, Liang Xu smiled. ‘I know how to handle you.’

He told Jing Yi about Shu He looking for a flat, suggesting she could rent the place opposite his—it was Jing Yi’s property anyway. Being so close would give them opportunities to interact.

After hearing this, Jing Yi just lowered his eyes in silence.

Liang Xu couldn’t figure out what he was thinking. The water boiled noisily, and he went to get it. When he returned, Jing Yi looked up, his voice calm and flat: “Let her move in here.”

“Where?”

Jing Yi tapped his hand, confusing Liang Xu further. “And you? Where will you live? Move to the flat opposite?”

“My home. Why should I move?”

He sounded so entitled that when Liang Xu finally understood, he was incredulous and almost laughed in disbelief.

“Jing Yi, are you mad? You really want to trap her in your home?”

The man showed no reaction to this outburst. He maneuvered his wheelchair back into the studio with Liang Xu following—

“Besides, do you think she’ll come just because you want her to?”

“Haven’t you heard the saying that the perfect ex-boyfriend is better off dead? You want to live with your ex? Are you insane?”

His rapid-fire criticisms made the wheelchair stop suddenly. Liang Xu stood behind him, his heart skipping a beat, regretting his quick tongue. The new song would probably never be finished now.

But Jing Yi wasn’t as furious as he’d expected.

Of course—he was practically just an empty shell now, devoid of emotions, caring about nothing except Shu He.

“You can do it.”

The unexpected affirmation confused Liang Xu: “?”

Jing Yi had already looked away. He stared at the papers with multiple versions of lyrics on his desk, murmuring to himself:

“What if… what if she agrees…”

Liang Xu truly believed this was impossible and was about to offer more advice when the man reverted to his cold, emotionless demeanor, leaving one final statement before returning to his room—

“The new song is almost finished. If she agrees, I’ll give it to you early.”

“…”

Long after the door closed, Liang Xu remained stunned.

He could hardly believe it.

Wasn’t he supposed to be the boss?

How had it turned into him being assigned work and offered empty promises?

Was this reasonable?

—

In the end, Liang Xu still approached Li Minyu.

He told her Jing Yi wanted to rent out his empty room at a low price and asked for her help, but the landlord had to be in her name.

“Why?”

“You know how reclusive he is. He doesn’t like dealing with people.”

Li Minyu knew Jing Yi and was genuinely kindhearted, but she still had concerns.

“Isn’t it unsafe for men and women to share a flat?”

Then she remembered the young man was in a wheelchair, but still hesitated.

“We’re not forcing her to move in. You can take her to see it first, and if she doesn’t like it, you can show her your properties instead.”

Li Minyu felt pity for Jing Yi and had already decided to help, but still teased: “My flats are so nice, little Shu will definitely choose mine.”

Liang Xu shrugged: “That’s not necessarily true.”

The next day, Li Minyu explained the situation to Shu He while showing her the flat.

Shu He didn’t mind sharing with someone as long as they were clean and respectful.

“Don’t worry, he rarely goes out, keeps to himself, and spends most of his time in his recording studio. Of course, if you don’t like it, I have two other flats.”

Liang Xu had informed Jing Yi in advance, but when Li Minyu brought Shu He in, no one was there.

Li Minyu had seen the flat yesterday but still wasn’t familiar with it.

Shu He assumed her potential flatmate wasn’t home and followed Li Minyu to see the bedroom.

She was satisfied with the ventilation, layout, size, and orientation. It even had a private bathroom and a large balcony.

Li Minyu relayed Jing Yi’s message that Shu He could use everything, including the sofa and refrigerator.

Shu He agreed. Looking around, she noticed the flat was spacious—twice the size of her current place. It had little furniture and no plants, making it feel somewhat empty.

Li Minyu explained that it was previously rented to one person who could no longer afford it, so they decided to rent out the other room.

Shu He glanced at the closed door, guessing it belonged to her potential flatmate.

After their chat, she asked about the rent.

Li Minyu named a price that surprised Shu He—lower than expected, suspiciously so.

Already feeling guilty, Li Minyu noticed her look and asked something not in Liang Xu’s script: “Would you like to meet him? If you like the flat, you’ll be neighbours. Of course, I have better options too.”

Shu He was taken aback, realising Li Minyu meant her unseen, mobility-impaired flatmate.

She readily agreed. Li Minyu knocked twice on a door.

An awkward silence followed.

Li Minyu said uncomfortably: “He might not be in. Little Shu, shall we look at my other two properties?”

“All right.”

After they left, everything returned to silence.

Jing Yi, who had been waiting in his room, slowly moved his wheelchair to the window.

From the third floor, he could clearly see the two figures below.

Only when the red sports car disappeared did he look away and leave his room.

He went straight to the bedroom next door. The thought that she had been there made his dead heart beat again, his blood rushing with excitement through every part of his body.

After some time, he sat holding his phone, deep in thought.

If she agreed…

The room needed proper preparation.

Yes.

Proper preparation.