It was almost half-past two in the afternoon when Shanquan finally arrived home. He came with a surprise. He was not alone. There was a girl who came home with him. During the year they lived together at the house, Shanquan never brought home a girl. Not even once. He even never had a meeting alone with a girl. At least, as far as his friend knew, he never had.

To be honest, it wasn't just Shanquan. The four other residents, five if they included Qiuzhen, had never brought any woman to their house. This morning on the phone, Shanquan did not mention that either. He just said he'd be home around noon. Of course, they assumed Shanquan would go home alone. Therefore, it was natural that this time it surprised them.

"Good afternoon, all!"

Shanquan greeted his comrades while waving his right hand. He turned to the girl who came with him. “Please take off your shoes and put them on the shelf.” Shanquan pointed at the shelf used as a place to store footwear. “There are slippers you can use in the house. But here we usually go barefoot when we’re indoors. Just like we used to do back home.”

The girl smiled. She did as Shanquan suggested. Just like Shanquan, she also chose not to wear any footwear.

Yiren, Zhengyi, Xinxiu, dan Yixiong looked at each other. Witnessing that, Shanquan smiled broadly. He explained who the girl who came with him was. "This is Miss Lüqiu. She will stay here with us for a while. I'll give you the full story later. Now we have to clean up first."

Shanquan was the leader of their gang. So it wasn't extraordinary that Shanquan made such a unilateral decision without discussing it with the others. However, all this time, when deciding on important matters, Shanquan had never made his own decisions without consulting them. So Shanquan's words this time sounded a bit strange to the ears of the four of them. It was also possible that Shanquan felt it was not an important decision, so there was no need to ask his friends for their opinion. Or maybe Shanquan felt that because they only had a few days left in the house, all the rules were no longer in effect. However, whatever was on Shanquan's mind, Yiren didn't mind it. He is also sure that other friends will also understand. From the beginning, the four of them, or five including Qiuzhen, had agreed to obey Shanquan, even though Shanquan never asked them to follow his words. After thinking further, Yiren guessed that there was an extraordinary incident that made Shanquan have to take such a step this time.

This is truly an incredibly rare occurrence!

Yiren nodded his head repeatedly. He was eager to hear Shanquan's explanation. Two days ago, he'd seen Shanquan talking to a girl. Yesterday he'd witnessed Shanquan running across the street following the girl. And today, Shanquan brought home a girl, but not the girl he had been chasing yesterday. Without being asked, Yiren stepped forward toward Shanquan and the girl. Then he stretched out his hand to grab the backpack that the girl had just put on the floor. Yiren then picked up the backpack and walked, following Shanquan and the girl. They walked towards Shanquan's bedroom.

Yiren put the backpack in one corner of the room. After that, he sat on the chair in front of the study table. Shanquan asked Yiren to stay in the room to help the girl until he finished taking a shower. Shanquan took a bath first while the girl rested in Shanquan's room, waiting for her turn to bathe.

"What is your full name?" Yiren couldn't help but ask something like that. For Yiren, knowing someone's full name was an essential part of socializing. A surname alone was not enough.

The girl turned. She smiled. "My name is Lüqiu Yingyue."

"Beautiful name." Yiren nodded. He remembered that he once had a friend named "Yingyue."

While waiting for Shanquan to finish the shower, Yiren watched Yingyue observe the situation in the room. Yiren realized there were many things inside his dahge's bedroom, just like his own bedroom. There was nothing unusual in this room. There was a bed, a study table, a few chairs, a wardrobe, and a wooden chest. Plain bedroom walls, without any decorations, except for a wall clock that was not too big. An alarm clock in the palm's size of a grown man's hand was on the table.

Yingyue approached the study table. A notebook beside the alarm had the name "Duanmu Shanquan" written on its cover. She smiled when she read the name.

"What is wrong?" asked Yiren.

"Never mind," replied Yingyue. Then she continued her words. "The name Shanquan somehow makes me think again about the rain I got yesterday."

Yiren was just dumbfounded. He didn't understand what Yingyue meant.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

Maybe yesterday something important happened. Something to do with rain. I mustn't forget to ask Dahge this!

About twenty minutes later, Shanquan finished taking a shower. He entered the room, already dressed neatly, and invited Yingyue to take a shower. After she entered the bathroom, Shanquan asked Yiren to immediately gather their friends to explain what happened yesterday.

Now they sit on the couch in the living room. Hearing Shanquan's story. He told his story from the moment he got Songfei's call.

"Then how did you get out of the elevator?" asked Yixiong after he heard about how Shanquan got trapped inside the elevator.

"As usual, Hannrong toured the building as soon as he arrived. So he got us out of there," Shanquan replied.

"You didn't think to report it to the police?" Yiren was a little surprised. Usually, their dahge was a law-abiding person.

"Not yet. I'm still considering it. We don't know what this girl witnessed was a real kidnapping or simply a quarrel among the family members. I don't want to cause trouble for Hanrong, anyway. If we report to the police, chances are that the police will call Hanrong to be a witness. The building owner will definitely consider him negligent. He let the criminals enter and chased people inside the building. The employer will give him harsh sanction." Shanquan said firmly. He seemed very sure of what he said.

Xinxiu and Yixiong turned their gaze toward the bathroom that Yingyue was taking a bath in. Seeing this, Zhengyi stared at Shanquan with a curious look. He asked. "About this girl. Why don't you just take her home? You make her stay here with us. Honestly, I think it doesn't sound like you at all."

Shanquan then explained his reason for bringing the girl home. "This girl came to town a week earlier than originally scheduled. So her family won't be looking for her in three days. I decided we'd drop her off at her family home in three days. Besides, she seems reluctant to hang out with her relatives. She didn't really know them. Maybe she didn't even know them at all. So I guess it was natural for her to say that she was afraid she would be restrained as soon as she got together with them. By staying here, at least he still wanted to feel the freedom for these three days. I don't think there's anything wrong with us helping him this time."

Upon hearing Shanquan's excuse, Yiren was taken aback. For him, Shanquan's explanation sounds a bit off. His dage was different this time.

Oh my guava, Dage must be crazy! How could a middle-aged man act like a teenager?

But came to think of it, maybe Yiren would also make such a stupid decision if he was in Shanquan's position. It's possible Yiren, or any other man who lived in this house would do exactly the same thing. At least for the time being, until there was a better way out.

Nevertheless, bringing home a young girl who still had a family wasn't something a grown man like them should do. What if the family thought this was a kidnapping? Of course, they would all be in trouble. However, Yiren knew more or less what kind of life Shanquan had been leading. He realized his dahge was not a bad person. It's just sometimes, he neglected the things that happened around him. Not ignorant, but sometimes he just didn't want to interfere in other people's affairs.

Yiren realized they were all clumsy people. People could say they were a little difficult to socialize. People like them tend to perform unusual actions, just like what happened now. Just like right now, they weren't on the purpose of being cold or indifferent to Yingyue, but they honestly didn't know how to behave properly under certain circumstances.

Shanquan assured them that sometimes, once or twice in life, people commit crazy acts. Yes, they had all done something crazy. Leaving the routine in life and choosing to travel indefinitely was a wild action. When doing so, many people back home accused them of running away from the realities of life or even shirking responsibility, both family responsibility and work responsibility.

About the girl, the decision was that they all agreed to let the girl stay here. It's only for three days, after all. If their neighbors asked, they would just told them that the girl was Shanquan's niece who had just come from another city. After all, soon they would also move from this place. So there will be no adverse impact on them.

Soon the girl finished taking a shower and directly joined them in the living room. Her face was so radiant. She looked at all the occupants with a warm gaze.

"Please introduce yourself to my friends here," said Shanquan.

She stood in front of them and introduced herself. "Good afternoon, all. My name is Lüqiu Yingyue. I just came to this city four days ago. In three days, I will meet my relatives to live with them. I think Uncle Duanmu already told you all about what happened. If you have questions, please don't hesitate to ask."

Uncle Duanmu? This girl called Dage an uncle? You must be ancient in her eyes, Dage!

Yiren exclaimed silently while laughing in his mind. He was almost certain that the rest of his friends thought the same.

Soon after that, they all took a turn introducing themselves according to age order—Shanquan, Yixiong, Zhengyi, Yiren, and Xinxiu. Yiren could see the girl was busy memorizing their names. Duanmu Shanquan, Ximen Yixiong, Dongfang Zhengyi, Nangong Yiren, and Beihai Xinxiu.

The girl stared at Duanmu Shanquan. From their interaction, maybe she drew conclusions that Duanmu Shanquan, the oldest occupant, was the boss here. Therefore, his four friends called him Dahge. The five were single middle-aged men. At some point in their life, they decided to live under one roof while living in this city. Yiren didn't know from the girl's perspective that's a good or a bad thing.

They were engaged in fluid questions and answers for about half an hour. Slowly but surely, their stiffness melts away. Then came the time to discuss the serious matters that happened yesterday.