CH 24

Qin Lan ate at a high-end restaurant, and I ran out to eat rice noodles, so she wouldn't freak out.

But I can't leave right now, as she isn't done with renting out a room. When I had finished eating and drinking, I waited half an hour for Qin Lan to come out.

I am anxious, I said I have to go to the evening study, so try to hurry up. She glared at me with both eyes: "Is it important to study? Don't go tonight."

I asked if you have looked for a house, if you have, we need to talk to the landlord now.

Once I brought this topic up she stopped cursing, I saw she was excited and seemed to be particularly interested in renting a place to live.

The result was that she led the way, so I'm sure she had made preparations in advance.

The result stunned me, but it is one of the most prosperous districts, the stores are countless, next to the park which is full of people.

I said this must be very expensive, are you sure you want to be this wasteful?

She grunted: "You think I'm just a wasteful person? I'm not that shallow. There is a small apartment here that you can rent with others, and it's quite cheap, only 2,022 yuan a month." (TN: About 300 USD, and very cheap houses/apartments do commonly cost about 300+ USD in China.)

2,022 yuan a month shouldn't be too expensive, I'm not sure. But I was surprised that she was thinking of sharing an apartment with someone else.

I said, "Why don't you rent a separate apartment? What the hell are you doing sharing an apartment with someone? She laughed: "It's great to share a room with someone, right? Maybe one day there will be a Prince Charming."

Well, I hope you meet your Prince Charming soon.

Okay, I think we're done here, it's getting dark, and I'm in a hurry to get back to my evening classes.

We went to the so-called shared apartment, in the back alley of this commercial street, surprisingly there was no one around.

Here are the rental rooms, once inside you can see on the wall there are ads, I read several ads, the basic price is more than 4,045 yuan. (TN: About 600 USD.)

I was puzzled and said that your shared apartment is really 2,022 yuan? Qin Lan was proud of herself: "Why should I lie to you? It's cheap and excellent, thanks to my good luck, I picked up an advertisement on the road, and I came to see it yesterday, and it was indeed 2,022 yuan."

The nature of women is really greedy for anything cheap, she is no exception, but I feel like something is not quite right ah, it's way too cheap. 

It would not be a good idea to say anything more, so I went with her to the shared apartment building. This is a four-story house, not too high or short, downstairs was posted in the advertisement for rent, I looked, four rooms, a kitchen, a bathroom, balcony air conditioning, washing machine, the conditions are considered excellent, but is this really 2,022 yuan?

Qin Lan has gotten excited and is happy to have made a big bargain. She then hurriedly pulled out her cell phone and gave it to me: "Call the landlord quickly."

I asked do you not know how to talk, ah? She glared at me: "I am a lady, you are a servant, I do not need to talk to them?"

Okay fine, I’ll do it.

I called the number, and within ten seconds the landlord answered, a man with a very sharp voice, and asked, "Hello, do you want to rent a room?"

I said yes, the room downstairs, would you mind coming down? He immediately said okay and I hung up the phone and heard footsteps upstairs, crackling and running in a hurry.

Qin Lan coughed, standing coldly, and rather arrogantly. The landlord appeared, he's ugly and quite short, he came over and smiled warmly: " A student, a student is good, a discount of 50 yuan."

How nice? Qin Lan also could not help but laugh a little, her woman's cheap nature kicked in.

The landlord asked us to go upstairs when we finished, saying good things about the house while we went up, what equipment and furniture are ready, so we don't have to buy one.

Qin Lan's eyes have been sparkling, I am speechless, this guy seems very kind.

Later we looked around the house, it's very large and clean, but the air is very stuffy, it seems that no one has lived for a long time. Qin Lan ran around to check the faucet, air conditioner or something, and was happy to be there.

I guess she is always at home depressed and always miserable, now there is a new house that makes her very happy.

I let her be happy, I frowned and asked the landlord: "Uncle ah, for some reason, this house seems to be particularly cheap, nothing happened to it, right?"

This kind of situation is played out in horror movies, after I asked that the landlord immediately shook his head: "What are you talking about? This is a shared apartment, if you want to rent it separately, it will cost you about 6,000 yuan a month, and the electricity and water bills will be charged separately." (TN: 1000 USD)

He said very seriously, and his eyes did not move a bit. I was confused, is it true? Or was he a very good actor in the past?

But I didn't ask more questions, he had a point, sharing a room, 2,022 per person, four people would be 8,091 yuan, it's not cheap. (TN: 8,091 yuan is about 1200 USD.)

I will not dwell on this matter, Qin Lan has been happy, she obviously likes this home.

The landlord smiled and said, "1,685 yuan, the first month you will have a discount ah, afterwards the discount will no longer be there." (TN: 250 USD)

Qin Lan agreed with great enthusiasm, then signed the contract, gave a deposit, everything was done, the landlord also went on happily, said he lived downstairs, and if we needed something just to call him.

I saw the time was late and said I have to go back, you should sleep early. Qin Lan grabbed me: "I do not like the wooden bed here, I want to go to the supermarket to buy my own bed and quilt, you go with me."

I am really going to take her offer of her hair, it’s already dark, I don’t have enough time to study ah. I said I really do not have time, can we go tomorrow?

Qin Lan cursed a few times and said it's okay, she'll settle for a while tonight.

I sighed, she's really hard to please.

Later I still accompanied her to buy a quilt first. I had to go after I was done, Qin Lan pulled me again, the high and mighty look: "Every time I have to wait for you to appear, it's too much trouble."

I said what can I do? She reluctantly pulled out a phone: "Take it, I'll contact you anytime, so you don't run away."

Damn, giving me a phone? I grabbed it and looked up, I have not really touched a phone for so many years, after all, my family is poor.

Now I have a cell phone I am very cool, I touched it, Qin Lan rolled her eyes: "It's only 1348 yuan, outdated things are still very good, but people aren't using them much." (TN: About 200 USD.)

You know a lot, I accepted it nonchalantly, anyway I don't care.

I took the phone and ran away, but it turned out that I was still late, and even the evening reading was over.

But it seems that the teacher has not yet come, so I was relieved to escape a disaster.

I came back and did my homework first, and then started to think of an essay. Since Lin Yin Yin can make money, I can also make money, I'm not far from her.

I couldn't help but look up at her, she was concentrating on her book. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to get a good chance on this.

I have to learn from her, so I hurry up and bury my head in writing novels. The kid, Zhang Xiong, has now described me as a stranger, who ignores everyone, his evening study is to play with on his phone.

I had only written half of my essay after struggling for three study sessions and it was almost time for my evening class.

But I figured that half of it already showed my strength, so I took it to Lin Yin Yin to read.

She looked at it for a while and smiled: "I don't want to discourage you, your writing is not smooth, the plot is confusing, there are many typos, and there are still problems with the phrases, but I really don't want to discourage you."

You've already hit me all over the place. I was so depressed, Lin Yin Yin laughed heartily, then acted like a senior: "You can't get better like this, write in a diary with a few hundred words, that's how I practiced, you can write what happened today, ah, your feelings and so on."

This is a good idea, I thanked, and ran back to the idea. As a result, Zhang Xiong was actually glaring at me: "Li Chen, you actually have fucking balls, it wasn't really obvious to me, ah."

I knew what he was cursing, so I explained, "Don't get me wrong, I was just asking her for advice."

Zhang Xiong did not listen, cursing and swearing very harshly. I stifled my voice and thought, "You blame me for your own uselessness?

I'm not so timid and afraid anymore, and I don't feel sorry for him, it's Lin Yin Yin who was disgusted with him and asked me not to help him.

I didn’t say anything to him, I just let him keep going, he’d get over it soon.

I ignored him and continued to practice my writing. But the phone that Qin Lan gave me suddenly rang.

I was startled, and the whole class looked over.

I was so embarrassed that I fumbled to take out my phone, it must have been Qin Lan calling.

I was busy walking out the door, what was she up to?

I pretended to go to the toilet, before answering, as soon as I answered, I heard Qin Lan's panicked voice: "You quickly come over ah, the house is haunted."

I was stunned, said you're kidding me? She was about to cry out: "Really, earlier I went to eat late night snacks, and heard the aunt next to me say that someone died in this house, so it became cheap. Then I went back to sleep, I heard the bathroom door rattling, come and save me, I dare not move."

She said all of this very fast and urgently, still gasping for air, probably hiding under the covers, and her voice was still a little shaky, so it could not be a joke.

I am also a bit frightened, that house really did have problems, I don't really think it's haunted, but it still sounds very frightening, so I am a bit scared.

Qin Lan, this guy is absolutely terrified. I gritted my teeth and agreed to go over, it just so happened that the evening study was over and students could go out and buy a snack.

I ran outside, but Lin Yin Yin shouted at me from behind: "Li Chen, what's wrong? Since when do you have a cell phone?"

I said there's no time to explain, I'm going to save someone.

She was full of doubts, but also followed me, what a pain in the ass... she’s coming along?

I said it's okay, you go home, it's late. She did not impose, frowning at me she ran away.

I bought a bike service to go to Qin Lan's rented room, it was hard to get there, the back alley was dark, there was really nothing around here, I guess the rent was too high.

I slowed down to take a look at the light of the commercial street to find the room, and then ran up.

Translator Notes: Oops sorry for the cliffhanger! Honestly besides the sister I gotta say the Qin Lan is definitely my favorite girl so far. Anyways I’ll see you all next time byeee!