When he was playing with his phone at work, Liu Qing happened to see Huo Zhenzhen's WeChat Moments post from last night.
In her post, she complained about how hard it was to find a place to stay. She even uploaded a few photos of her new rented place. It was a small single room that could only fit one bed without much room left.
There was also a photo of her new electrical fan.
When the two of them decided to rent a house together, Liu Qing had also wanted to rent a small single room as it was cheaper.
However, Huo Zhenzhen was unwilling to do so and said that they might as well continue staying in the dormitory as they could save more money that way.
He had no choice but to rent a one-bedroom house.
Now that she was renting a place herself, he did not expect her to only rent a small single room. Furthermore, it looked like it was a windowless room.
Also, the furnishings in the room looked a little helter-skelter.
Liu Qing was in an inexplicably good mood as he scrolled through the posts.
There's a saying that made perfect sense to him—I'm relieved to see that you're not doing well.
This sentiment applied to most people after a breakup, regardless of gender.
That was how Liu Qing felt now.
He thought about deleting this woman from his contacts list, but he decided against it after some consideration.
In two months' time, he would be a brand-new person, a part of the rich second generation living a life of debauchery.
A life like that would be incomplete without having an envious audience.
I will just keep her around.
Security work was dull and boring. The 12-hour shift was so long that one could even get sick of playing with one's phone.
The security guards working at the Jiayi apartment complex looked dispirited when they were at work, regardless of their age or gender. They only came back to life after work.
However, Liu Qing acted differently today. He had just thrown away his identity as a spare tire and he felt very relaxed. As he thought about the happy life he was going to have as a rich second generation in two months' time, he could not help having a wide smile on his face. He could not hide it even if he tried.
It was so obvious that a colleague asked him about it when they were having lunch in the canteen.
"Liu Qing, what's with you today? You look as if your mood is not bad."
"What do you mean by not bad?" Liu Qing said cheerfully. "I just went through a breakup and I feel so miserable right now."
The colleague shook his head. "Stop talking nonsense. You don't look like you went through a breakup. Tell me what has made you so happy and I promise I won't ask you to give me a treat."
"We really broke up!" Liu Qing said seriously. "I'm a puppy if I lie to you."
"Really?"
"Really!"
The colleague observed that Liu Qing did not seem to be lying and he immediately got interested and asked with a grin, "So who cheated?"
He was not the only one who was interested to know. All the other colleagues eating in the canteen became curious as well and they all lowered their voices and waited for his reply.
Liu Qing did not want to admit that he had been cheated on and he frowned.
"Say, why are you so crude? Is that the only reason for a breakup? Can't our personalities be incompatible? Can't our values be different?"
"But you've been together for a few years. It can't be that you only just realized now that your personalities and values are different, right?" his colleague retorted.
What he said made sense. For a moment, Liu Qing did not know how to refute him.
With a sigh, Liu Qing threw up his hands. "Alright, let me tell you the truth. She's now an office worker in the city so she looks down on me, a junior security guard with no future. It's too awkward for us to be together so we decided to part ways and be happy separately."
"But that shouldn't make you so happy," the colleague said doubtfully.
Liu Qing felt helpless. "Yet you didn't believe me when I told you that I feel so miserable right now."
"It's not like this. It's definitely not like this!"
The colleague kept repeating the same phrase, then his eyes suddenly lit up.
"I understand now. You must have gotten a fortune and didn't want to be with your girlfriend anymore, so you found an excuse to break up with her. People say that there are three happy things in life—a promotion, a fortune or a dead wife. As a security guard, there's no such thing as a promotion. So if you're so happy to break up with your girlfriend, then there's only one possibility left. That means you're rich!"
Liu Qing's heart skipped a beat as he thought, "Damn it, is everyone Detective Conan now? He can even find out about this!"
The colleague rubbed his hands excitedly. "Tell me, did you win the lottery or the two-color ball lotto? How much did you win? Are you prepared to treat your brothers to a meal?"
Liu Qing scolded him in a joking manner, "Have you gone crazy from thinking about food? I only have about 3,000 dollars in my account now. I only got paid yesterday and I'm the poorest person in the company. How can I be rich?"
"Then what are you happy about?" his colleague asked.
"In the future, the money I earned is mine to use. I don't have to do what others want. Isn't that something to be happy about?" Liu Qing asked him back.
"I don't believe that's the reason," said the colleague.
One of their older colleagues, who had been listening by the side, spoke up now. "Xiao He, you don't believe that it's the reason because you're still too young and you don't have a girlfriend yet. When you do, and when you have a family, you'll understand how good a reason this is."
The older colleague was 50 years old, with his own family and a wealth of life experience.
One could tell from what he said.
Liu Qing smiled and glanced at him.
A few other older colleagues in the canteen all expressed their agreement. They all felt that Liu Qing's reason was already a very good one.
All of them had enough life experience to imagine Liu Qing's joy.
Xiao He, who had no life experience yet, inevitably became the target of everyone's ridicule.
It left Xiao He in a serious state of confusion.
Did I really guess wrongly?
Is dating really that scary?
Am I blind to my good fortune?
I was still thinking about finding a girlfriend and falling in love!
Could it be that being single is the true blessing for a man?
But I still want to be in a relationship!
If Liu Qing knew what Xiao He was thinking, he would definitely expose those thoughts mercilessly. No, what you want is not to fall in love. What you want is just to do whatever you want!
People who were bored tended to spread gossip very quickly. When Liu Qing woke up from his afternoon nap, he had received several messages from his colleagues on WeChat and the contents were all similar.
"Did you really break up?"
Liu Qing replied to the messages one by one.
"Yes, we did."
Both male and female colleagues sent him messages.
When a female colleague called Xiao Wen received his reply, she immediately sent him another message.
"Your girlfriend moved out?"
Liu Qing replied, "Isn't that obvious, why won't she move out after breaking up? The rent is so expensive, why would I let her stay for free?"
Xiao Wen replied, "I heard you rented a one-bedroom house? And you have air-conditioning?"
Liu Qing replied, "Yes."
Xiao Wen replied, "Now that you're alone, are you going to terminate the lease?"
Liu Qing replied, "Not at the moment. Why? Are you looking to rent a house?"
Xiao Wen replied, "It's summertime and it's too hot in the dormitory. I want to move out, but rents are very expensive."
Liu Qing sent a cute nodding emoji in reply.
Xiao Wen replied, "How about we become housemates? I'll pay for half the rent and utilities."
She followed up with a shy-looking emoji.