Her ears grew hot from the woman’s nearly straightforward gaze.
Even though the central air conditioning blew cool air, Lu Jia averted her eyes. “No need for that.”
She had money; she could afford it.
With a half-genuine, half-fake sigh, Sheng Shubai clicked her tongue. “Alright, tenant little sister.”
At Lu Jia’s request, they found a rental contract template online and filled it out temporarily.
Seeing Lu Jia furrow her brows at the digital file, Sheng Shubai generously offered, “If there are any clauses you’d like to add, feel free to say so.”
Lu Jia paused for a moment. “What does Article Ten mean—’The rent can be negotiated by both parties and converted into any form of payment’?”
It was something Sheng Shubai had added, and Lu Jia felt it meant the same as that earlier remark.
Propping her chin with one hand, Sheng Shubai twirled a black ballpoint pen between her fingers twice before slowly stopping.
The woman smiled. “For example, if I come over one day to mooch a meal you cooked, couldn’t the rent be reduced as a thank-you?”
Lu Jia thought it made sense, but the example wasn’t appropriate because she couldn’t cook.
She simply hadn’t unlocked that skill point. As a child, catching fish and shrimp near the Linchang with her family, the soup she boiled was either too salty or too bland. The free-range chickens skewered on sticks were only charred by her.
Moreover, Sheng Shubai said she didn’t usually live here, so the chance of her coming specifically for a meal was low.
Still, Lu Jia nodded. “Thanks, I understand.”
Lu Jia didn’t have much luggage. Sheng Shubai drove her to the hotel to pick up her suitcase.
Daily necessities would have to be bought separately.
Sheng Shubai sent Lu Jia the addresses of nearby supermarkets and let her arrange things as she liked before driving away first.
Lu Jia spent the entire afternoon tidying up her new home.
As evening approached, she lugged several large bags of daily items to the elevator. The display screen jumped from the basement to the first floor.
The elevator doors slowly opened, revealing a very familiar woman standing inside, with two large suitcases beside her.
“Professor Sheng?”
The shopping bags rustled against the suitcases as Lu Jia stepped aside and saw that the lit floor was theirs.
Sheng Shubai raised an eyebrow. “What a coincidence. Just finished shopping?”
Lu Jia hummed in affirmation and asked in return, “Is Miss Sheng here for some business?”
Tapping her knuckles on the suitcase handle, Sheng Shubai curved her eyes in a smile. “The apartment at school is getting renovated, so I’m temporarily moving here for a while—just the unit across from yours.”
Lu Jia thought, that really was quite a coincidence.
Having a familiar person as a neighbor across the hall meant they could look out for each other.
But watching her new landlord and new neighbor push the heavy suitcases out of the elevator and over the threshold made Lu Jia unable to stand by.
She went over to help lift one.
One suitcase was full of cosmetics and skincare products; the other was packed with jewelry.
Learning that both twenty-six-inch suitcases contained such fragile items, Lu Jia, who had originally planned to help move them into the bedroom, immediately set it down obediently, rolled it along with the wheels rattling, and carefully leaned it against the wall.
Sheng Shubai was texting with her head down. Seeing Lu Jia emerge from the bedroom, she leaned against the restaurant side cabinet and said with a beaming smile, “Thanks for the hard work, little Lu sister.”
Lu Jia waved it off. “No trouble at all.”
But she was a bit puzzled. Logically, Sheng Shubai had considerable strength in those moments—why couldn’t she manage the suitcases today?
As soon as she voiced the question, the woman’s gaze slid over, full of meaning.
“It’s not that I couldn’t manage.”
Sheng Shubai’s answer was straightforward. “I had a fever a few days ago and still don’t have much strength.”
“I see.”
Lu Jia nodded in understanding. “Do you have anything else to move? I can help.”
Sheng Shubai said the rest was being handled by the moving company; only these two boxes were valuable, so she brought them herself.
“By the way, someone will come to your place later to collect the prints and woodblocks from the studio. When would be convenient?”
Lu Jia didn’t mind. “Anytime.”
While tallying what to buy that afternoon, Lu Jia had toured the studio. She had carefully admired the paintings on the walls and the woodblocks stacked on the racks but hadn’t touched them.
Every painting bore the same signature: Sheng.
The most recent one was dated ten years ago, with handwriting similar to Sheng Shubai’s on the contract, though now more mature and sharp.
Yet back in M City, when she asked if the other understood printmaking, the answer was “I’ve heard of it,” with an indescribable oddness in her expression.
Lu Jia had no habit of prying into others’ privacy and didn’t plan to ask.
She hadn’t touched the carving knives or inks, storing them neatly in a box in the cabinet. Remembering now, she asked Sheng Shubai how to handle them.
The woman’s tone was casual. “Just leave them. You can use them if you want. Best to use them up—no need to return them to me.”
Lu Jia opened her phone calculator. “Should I add their market price to the rent?”
Sheng Shubai laughed helplessly this time.
“Lu Jia.”
She called her full name and couldn’t resist tapping the girl’s forehead. “Are you made of wood?”
Lu Jia’s head tilted from the tap, then straightened as she seriously replied, “My zodiac is Sheep, but a fortune-teller did say I lack wood in my five elements.”
“Inaccurate reading. What you don’t lack most is wood.”
Sheng Shubai held a cup of hot water; the heat from the ceramic warmed her slightly. “I’m renting the place to you, but that doesn’t mean our relationship is just a money transaction. It could be something else.”
Lu Jia nodded. “I know, like teacher and student.”
Seeing Sheng Shubai’s face darken faintly, she added softly, “…and neighbors?”
Sheng Shubai rubbed her brow and sighed. “Close enough.”
For the moment, she couldn’t find a more fitting term. She certainly couldn’t say… ex-fuck buddies?
“Anyway, though it’s in the contract, don’t take that clause too seriously. It probably won’t come up.”
She had only added it to tease the kid, see her reaction, and have an excuse to waive rent now and then.
The woman slowly lowered her head and sipped the hot water. Her brows furrowed slightly—still, iced was better.
Lu Jia thought she had upset her and stood even straighter, quietly waiting for the next words, only to hear an invitation.
“Want to go out for dinner tonight? To celebrate us both moving in.” Fearing Lu Jia would bring up rent again, Sheng Shubai added, “My treat.”
Soon, the moving company brought over odds and ends and took away the prints from the studio.
After simply organizing, Sheng Shubai knocked on the door across the hall. “Lu Jia, ready to go now?”
They headed to a nearby restaurant with light, subtle cuisine.
Sheng Shubai had originally wanted Hunan cuisine—after all, Lu Jia had just arrived, had only eaten a simple high-speed rail meal for lunch, and hadn’t tried C City’s specialties yet.
Lu Jia waved her hands repeatedly. “I… can’t handle spicy food.”
She was the type who truly couldn’t eat spice; afterward, not only did her lips swell, but she ended up a mess of snot and tears.
M City’s spice level was tolerable. But on a family trip, egged on to try a famous local hotpot base, one bite left her head throbbing in pain; even three rinses of fatty beef in cool water still brought tears from the heat.
Sheng Shubai wasn’t from C City either and had lived here over a decade; she could take or leave spice, so she went along with Lu Jia’s preference.
The dishes were abundant and delicious.
Halfway through, Lu Jia’s phone vibrated. She opened it to see a message from Rong Yi:
“The exhibition opening is tomorrow at nine a.m. Come to the College Building around eight-thirty; we’ll go together with Mengxi.”
Shi Mengxi was a year ahead of Lu Jia, also a professional master’s student.
Rong Yi currently only had the two of them as such students. A few days ago, she had pulled them into a group chat, where Shi Mengxi was very active.
Out of ten messages including greetings, seven were from her.
Sheng Shubai, sitting opposite, picked up the teapot to refill her wheat tea and poured half a cup for Lu Jia too. “What’s up? Got serious while eating?”
Lu Jia came back to herself. “Sorry, replying to my mentor.”
“So it’s that one. It’s late evening, and she’s still messaging students—really squeezing them dry.”
Sheng Shubai tsked. “Not considering transferring to me? I wouldn’t message you at night—or even during the day if I’m free.”
She sometimes slept from four a.m. straight to afternoon and couldn’t message students then.
Lu Jia pursed her lips. “Professor Sheng, I have no plans to switch to watercolors yet.”
Sheng Shubai gave her a sidelong glance. “Lu Jia, can we discuss a different form of address in private?”
From their first meeting, the kid had called her that, making her feel like she’d spent a full day at school.
She hadn’t even gone to work, yet felt utterly drained and pitiable.
“…Miss Sheng?”
Lu Jia hesitated, recalling how she used to address her.
Sheng Shubai couldn’t resist opening her phone’s front camera to check herself, then pointed at her face, puzzled. “Lu Jia, does this face of mine really make it so hard for you to call me ‘sister’?”
Not really.
Lu Jia replied earnestly, “Very pretty and youthful.”
She just couldn’t say it.
Seeing the girl struggle half a day without uttering “sister,” Sheng Shubai ground her teeth and let it slide for now.
Before, in bed, she had called it out quite nicely.
She really wanted to record it sometime and loop it in Lu Jia’s ear for an hour.
–
The next morning, at eight-fifteen.
Lu Jia arrived early at the Academy of Fine Arts’ College Building and spotted a female student-like figure already waiting in the lobby.
She had seen Shi Mengxi’s Moments photos and recognized her by profile, stepping forward to greet, “Shi… Senior Sister, hi, I’m Lu Jia.”
Lu Jia thought she probably wouldn’t be mistaken for a stutterer.
Shi Mengxi was about her height; looking up, she broke into a grin. “So you’re the little junior sister—such a beauty. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have gone to that crowded music festival yesterday; I’d have waited with you in the mentor’s office.”
Lu Jia had only meant to shake hands, but Shi Mengxi took it as a girly intimate gesture.
She gripped her hand tightly, chattering from Advisor Rong’s usual amiability with students to yesterday’s lively music festival atmosphere.
The words came fast, but her gaze was warmly friendly, not off-putting.
Just… when could she let go of her hand?
Lu Jia tried wriggling a few times but failed; everything felt awkward.
“Right, do you drive?”
Shi Mengxi remembered something and asked.
Lu Jia nodded then shook her head. “Got my license freshman year, but haven’t touched a steering wheel in years.”
Shi Mengxi leaned in, grinning mischievously with a wink. “Secret: Advisor Rong failed subject two over a dozen times; we usually take turns driving for her.”
Imagining Advisor Rong’s cool, high-IQ demeanor, Lu Jia couldn’t hold back a chuckle. Before she could respond, the sound of heels clicking on the tiled floor came from behind.
Rong Yi cleared her throat lightly; no one knew when she had appeared behind them, her expression normal. “Mengxi, little Lu, let’s go.”
The two snapped to attention. “Yes.”
Rong Yi glanced at Shi Mengxi, who hadn’t fully suppressed her smile, and asked flatly, “Did you read the literature after the music festival yesterday?”
Shi Mengxi guiltily looked down.
Rong Yi handed her the car keys. “Remember to submit the short paper on time.”
Lu Jia pressed her lips together.
So this was “amiability.”
