“Introduce some clients to me when you have the time.” Chen Hong handed the washed dishes to Yan Jun, who wiped them dry and put them away.
“Sure, I’ll ask around,” Yan Jun said noncommittally. “Where’s your gym?”
“No gym, but I’ll be happy to provide home fitness training,” Chen Hong corrected himself. He only had the service, no longer the facility. Yan Jun hummed in acknowledgment, and Chen Hong added, “Business has been bad with the economic downturn.”
“Yeah,” Yan Jun agreed. “Our company has also seen a drastic drop in business.”
Chen Hong had never talked about his business to his roommates before, but after all that wine, he felt like talking to someone. In his eyes, Zheng Weize was a kid, Chang Jinxing didn’t seem like he had a proper job, and Zhang Yuwen might not necessarily understand him. Yan Jun was the only one who seemed like he might be on the same wavelength as Chen Hong.
Zhang Yuwen entered the kitchen. “You can leave the utensils. The housekeepers will be here tomorrow to clean up. They only have Saturdays off.”
“It’s fine,” Chen Hong replied. “We’re done washing up. Want a cup of coffee?”
“No thanks. I might not be able to sleep later. I’ll play with Xiao-Qi for a while.”
After clearing the dining table and cleaning up the kitchen, Chen Hong and Yan Jun stood in the backyard for a while, drinking coffee and chatting about how tough it was to make a living. Chen Hong had picked the right person. Yan Jun knew how it was: Life was tough and money hard to earn, especially now, when there seemed to be no end to inflation and the economic recession. Neither of them knew when things would take a turn for the better.
As they chatted, they began to lament the unfairness of the world.
“To be honest,” Chen Hong said, “it’s only when I’m back here that I feel like I can breathe and put everything to the back of my mind.”
Yan Jun looked out into the night, lost in thought. “Me too.”
No. 7 Riverbay Road was like a utopia, but what use was a momentary escape? Sooner or later, they still had to return to reality.
“Because the homeowner is rich.” Chen Hong sighed. “In the end, you’ve still got to have money.”
“We will.” Yan Jun had never given up hope for the future. “I hope I can afford a house like this one day.”
Coffee finished, Yan Jun returned to the living room, picked Xiao-Qi up, and took her back to his room. “She has to stay here and sleep with me tonight,” he told Zheng Weize.
“That’s great!” Zheng Weize smiled. “I can see her again tomorrow. I’ll be sure to keep my voice down tonight.”
“No need,” Yan Jun said hurriedly. “I’ll be thankful as long as she doesn’t disturb you guys.” It kept surprising him that his roommates were all kind people whose first thought was not to disrupt Xiao-Qi’s sleep.
Xiao-Qi had been having a great time. This was the happiest she’d been over the past few months. Yan Jun daydreamed as he bathed her. He found himself overcome with the sudden urge to find a partner. He was caught off guard by the way the dinner’s lively atmosphere had magnified his loneliness. Even after he coaxed Xiao-Qi to sleep, Yan Jun continued to toss and turn in bed.
But the night wasn’t a good one. Xiao-Qi cried a few times in the middle of the night and vomited milk all over her pillow. Yan Jun sprang out of bed to hug her, hoping to soothe her, only to find that she was burning up—a fever.
Oh no, Yan Jun thought. She probably caught a virus at the childcare center.
Ever since she was born, Xiao-Qi had rarely been sick. Yan Jun turned on the lights and fed her medicine, but she resisted, and her cries grew louder as he struggled with her. Then Yan Jun applied a fever relief patch. Xiao-Qi was obviously very uncomfortable, leaving him no choice but to carry her around the room. It was almost an hour before Xiao-Qi fell back into a fitful sleep.
Yan Jun groped in the dark to clean up the vomit in the crib, then set the linens aside to wash by hand tomorrow. When he was finally done, he checked the time: already one in the morning. He couldn’t send Xiao-Qi to the childcare center tomorrow. They wouldn’t accept babies with fevers. He’d need to wait until she recovered.
He had to take another day off. Yan Jun thought about who could cover his shift and sent his colleague a message, then checked Xiao-Qi’s temperature again. Her fever hadn’t subsided. He panicked a little, wondering if he should go to the hospital.
Half an hour later, Xiao-Qi started crying. Her fever had worsened. Yan Jun carried Xiao-Qi in his arms and used a ride-hailing app to call for a car, but he couldn’t find one on Riverbay Road at this time of the night, and the nearest hospital was four and a half miles away. He remembered Chen Hong had an electric two-wheeler, but he hesitated over whether to knock on his door.
“What happened?”
When Yan Jun came out to the living room, he ran into night owl Chang Jinxing, who was still up. He hadn’t gone out that night, but he couldn’t sleep before four in the morning because it felt like the day wasn’t over yet. He was in the dining room putting up photos of everyone from the last time they went to play outdoor laser tag.
“Xiao-Qi’s running a fever,” Yan Jun said. “I’m thinking of…”
Chang Jinxing set aside what he was doing and came over to feel Xiao-Qi’s forehead. “Damn, she’s burning up. What’s her temperature? Has she taken medicine?”
“104 degrees now,” Yan Jun said, his brows deeply furrowed. “I gave her medicine, but it wouldn’t stay down.”
“I’ll wake Yuwen up,” said Chang Jinxing.