My Landlord is an Idol Singer - Chapter 159

Gu Zhinan could hardly believe it. He had just returned, and now the landlord was back too? “You’re back too, Landlord?”

“‘Too’?” Xia An’ge immediately caught the implication in his words. “What do you mean, ‘too’?”

“So, he hadn’t been at the apartment these past few days either?” She suddenly remembered how he’d asked to borrow money. “You didn’t use that money to buy a house, did you?”

“…Huh?” Gu Zhinan was completely thrown off. He hadn’t expected that angle at all. “What house? With what money? I just paid the rent here, why would I move out?”

“Oh.” Xia An’ge casually changed her shoes, threw her coat aside, and sat down on the other sofa. She sniffed the air, confirming there weren’t any unfamiliar scents. “Then why did you say ‘too’?”

“Uh…” Gu Zhinan scratched his head, set the guitar down, and sat back on the sofa. Looking at the landlord’s new makeup style, he mentally gave her stylist a thumbs-up. “How could someone look this sweet and innocent?”

“I just got back from Hangzhou today too. What about you, why’d you come back?”

“This is my home.”

“…”

Seeing him deflate like a balloon, Xia An’ge’s lips twitched into a slight smile. “My love song album drops tonight, at midnight on the 17th. We held the launch event today. I gave Xiao Ying and Mengying three days off to go home, so I came back home too.”

It was the most she’d said in one breath. She licked her lips, clearly parched, and just then her stomach growled loudly. She froze, a rosy blush quickly crept up her face. She hadn’t eaten anything since the afternoon, only some fruit.

“I know. I helped promote it in Legend of Sword and Fairy, and even on Weibo. But what’s with calling me ‘Gu Straight Man’?” Gu Zhinan asked while trying not to laugh.

“No reason.” Xia An’ge instinctively grabbed her handbag, which contained the book she’d just bought.

Gu Zhinan had already seen the corner of a book sticking out when she’d set her bag down. “What book? Something about music?”

“Yeah.” Her face turned even redder. She tried to close the bag, but the book was too big and the flap wouldn’t snap shut.

“I’ve been wanting to learn some singing techniques. Let me borrow it?”

“No!!!” Xia An’ge shouted suddenly, clutching her bag as if he might actually grab it from her.

“You’re so stingy.” Gu Zhinan backed off at the sight of her reaction.

“If you want to learn to sing, I’ll teach you myself. This book’s… a bit advanced, not suitable for you.”

Seeing his disappointed look, she spoke a bit more gently, thinking he was upset.

“Ah… his level’s too low, huh?” Gu Zhinan chuckled and nodded. “Hungry? If you unblock me on WeChat, I’ll reheat the food. I cooked earlier, there are leftovers.”

Her blush deepened. But she suddenly blinked her peach blossom eyes playfully. “When did I block you?”

“???… Selective memory?”

“Half a month ago? We had that argument—” Before he could finish, Xia An’ge shot him a cold glare that made him clam up instantly. “Man, women switch moods fast.”

“I never blocked you, you must be mistaken. I’m going to change and then I want dinner.” She stood, still hugging her bag, a bit pouty as she padded into her room in her fuzzy slippers.

“Seriously?” Gu Zhinan rolled his eyes. Her phone was literally still sitting on the table.

He pulled out his own phone and sent a message to the contact that had been returning red exclamation points for weeks.

And… it went through!

“What the hell? Since when?!” He looked up at her screen as it lit up, just a preview, no sender name. She must’ve hidden notifications. He sent another message, and sure enough, it showed “delivered” within seconds.

“She’s sneaky.” Women really are impossible to read.

Sighing, Gu Zhinan got up and reheated all the dishes for her.

Meanwhile, in her room, Xia An’ge’s face was so red she could die from embarrassment. She pulled the book from her bag, and the title stared back at her, “How to Successfully Win Over a Hardcore Straight Man”

“If that brute had seen this, I’d never be able to show my face again.” She stuffed the book under her pillow and changed clothes. By the time she emerged in familiar loungewear, the timing was just right.

She looked at the freshly reheated dishes on the table, steam still rising. Across from her, Gu Zhinan sat resting his chin in his hand.

“Thanks,” she said softly. It was the first time someone had reheated food just for her.

“When did you unblock me?”

“Hm?” She pretended not to hear, popping a piece of twice-cooked pork into her mouth. Inside, she was overjoyed. “I can eat meat again!”

“WeChat,” Gu Zhinan pressed.

“I never blocked you.”

“Then why were all my messages marked as rejected?”

He wasn’t buying it. He’d accept “once blocked” or “now unblocked,” but not flat denial.

“I don’t know.” Xia An’ge didn’t even glance at the veggies, focused entirely on demolishing the meat. “Not bad,” she thought. “That brute actually knows how to cook. And it’s delicious!”

She’d realized this the first time she’d mooched a meal from him. But he couldn’t even cook instant noodles for himself. “We complement each other,” she thought, her feet swinging happily under the table.

“You—”

“Mom always said not to talk while eating,” she said seriously, cutting him off. He was interrupting her meat time.

Gu Zhinan laughed. “Eat up, Fatty Xia.” Then he darted off to the sofa, leaving only a cool parting view of his back.

Xia An’ge’s swinging feet stopped abruptly. Her cheeks puffed up. “Fatty Xia???”

She turned to glare but saw him duck down behind the couch. Her face turned crimson. “She wasn’t fat anymore! She’d dropped to 94 pounds!”

She almost slammed her chopsticks down and yelled that she wasn’t eating anymore, but then she looked at the few remaining pieces of pork… with an internal scream, she imagined beating Gu Zhinan to a pulp, then picked up another bite.

“Just this once. I won’t gain weight from this.”

From the sofa, Gu Zhinan watched her obvious internal struggle and couldn’t help but chuckle. Her weight-loss journey… still had a long road ahead.

About ten minutes later, Xia An’ge had cleared the dishes and sat down on the couch, glaring at him. She held out her fair, delicate hand. “Pay me back.”

“…Huh?” Gu Zhinan froze. He only had 600,000 yuan left, how was he going to repay her 2 million? “I don’t have money.”

“Don’t care!”

“Come on, don’t hold grudges like that… You’re not fat. Skinny Xia, okay?”

Xia An’ge said nothing, but her glare gave him chills. “Do you really think I’m fat?”

There was a long silence before Gu Zhinan heard her speak again. She turned her head, refusing to look at him.

“No, of course not. Your figure’s perfect, why try to get even skinnier?”

“But you called me fat!” Her eyes filled with anger and a trace of hidden hurt.

“I didn’t!”

“You did!”

“Do you have proof?” He braced himself. If she didn’t block him on WeChat, then he never said it!

Xia An’ge clenched her little fists, ready to punch him. “Why did you need the money anyway?” She managed to hold back. He was still the same brute. She really didn’t know what to do with him.

“Uh… if I told you I was filming a movie, would you believe me?”

“What movie?”

“This brute is filming a movie?” She was suddenly intrigued.

“A Little Thing Called First Love,” directed by Lai Jingming. It’s shooting in Hangzhou.” Gu Zhinan explained his whereabouts over the past few days with complete honesty.

Xia An’ge nodded slightly, secretly pleased. “He’s been so well-behaved!” No wonder he’d said ‘You’re back too,’ he had only just returned himself.

Wait, “A Little Thing Called First Love”?

“You know how to write a first love movie script?”

“Well… I know a bit.”

“But didn’t you say you’ve never been in love?” She picked up on something off. His songs were all sad too. Could it be…?

“Let me reintroduce myself. I’m a novelist. Novels are all about creativity and imagination. Understand?” He skillfully leaned into his author persona.

“Oh…” She was half-convinced. Then he mentioned something about Masked Singer, and her heart skipped a beat, she’d heard of that show from Cheng Mengying.

“You’re going to be on Masked Singer? That’s why you wanted me to teach you how to sing?”

“I’m not the contestant, I’m just doing my job. Got paid to go.” He shrugged. Getting paid to do a job, totally reasonable.

“How many rounds do you think you’ll last? Can you make it to Round 4?” Her tone suddenly turned soft, with a hint of expectation.

“How should I know? But it’s masked, so as long as they don’t guess who I am, I can keep singing. Once I lose, I’ll take the money and run. Want me to use some of it to pay you back?”

“I don’t want it.” She turned her head with a huff.

“…???”

“Weren’t you just asking for repayment like five minutes ago??” Gu Zhinan clutched his head. Every one of her moves was a killer, he couldn’t take it anymore.