Chapter 4 – A page full of absurd words and bitter tears.
Once the fate of a person is on an upwards trend, they really can’t put a stop to it.
“The murderer of “Su City’s 2.07’s Extraodinary Burgluary and Murder Case” has been caught. Su City’s leaders and political cadres once again started paying attention to this small fan factory dormitory. So considering this fact, the factory’s managers decided to temporarily suspend tearing it down. Right now the demolition has been moved to September.”
Lian Xi’s demolition fee for his own place arrived in July.
Early that morning, Lian Xi was brushing his teeth when suddenly a bank transfer notification from his bank jumped out at him. “Your Industrial and Commercial Bank Account ending in 8816, on July 17 at 8:32 received a remittance of 1363000.00 yuan from ICBC Bank. The balance is 1381534.00 yuan. Description: SuCheng WuNan District KanPing Neighbourhood Demolition Compensation.”
“!!!”
Goodness!!!
“Cough cough cough..” Shocked, Lian Xi almost choked on the toothpaste foam.
Half an hour after the money reached his account, Lian Xi received a call from the neighbourhood committee. “Hello, is this Building 2, Unit 302’s Lian Xi? Have you received the demolition money?”
“Yes, I have received it.”
“Good. We’ve also received the receipt from the bank here. In the afternoon come by the neighbourhood committee to sign your name to confirm you’ve received the demolition money.”
Lian Xi hurried to agree: “Okay!”
Only after hanging up the phone did he remember he didn’t ask what time exactly he was supposed to go over. However he didn’t call back. It would be a good opportunity to just go by his old house to clean up.
At noon, Lian Xi took the bus to the KangPing Neighbourhood.
The community was an old building complex built in the 1980s and was located in the remote WuNan District. Nearby there was only a bus station. And it still took twenty minutes to walk from the bus station to the small community.
As soon as Lian Xi got off the bus, there was a spirited voice that came from behind him. “Xiao Lian?!”
Lian Xi turned around. “Uncle Li!”
He saw Uncle Li holding two bags and descend from a bus behind him.
Uncle Li came over and smiled. “You still know how to come back?”
Lian Xi smiled and nodded, however he didn’t know what to say afterwards.
After his grandfather’s death, he didn’t have any more relatives in his family. Only Uncle Li occasionally came by the orphanage to visit him. Uncle Li had two sons in his family to support so it was impossible for him to take in his neighbour’s child. But Lian Xi knew he was concerned about him. However it had been a long time and Lian Xi wasn’t good at talking so he temporarily didn’t know what to say.
Uncle Li looked at him up and down. “You’re still the same as when you were a child, you don’t like to talk! You look just like your mother. Come ba, let’s go home and take a look.”
After entering the KangPing Neighbourhood, there were moving trucks to be seen everywhere.
By this time half of the residents had already moved away, and there was only one half left. They were busy moving over these last few days.
There were also a lot of trash collectors in the neighborhood. They sat beside the flower beds, eyeing their surroundings shrewdly. Once someone yelled out, “waste for collection!” they would swarm up.
Trash collectors loved demolition areas.
Once people received a large demolition fee and got rich overnight, their heads would be floating in the clouds and full of joy. Moving will certainly produce a lot of waste, especially old furniture. It was fine if people were poor but if they got rich then these old furniture would turn into eyesores. At this time they could go to collect the waste, and just have to say a few envious wordslike “oh you’re so blessed, you made so much money from the demolition!” and then they could get everything for next to nothing.
If you came across someone generous, it was possible that they might just give you all their old furniture and appliances for free!
As the two people walked past, a few trash collectors came up to them. “Hey handsome guy, congratulations to you ah! Do you have any trash at home that needs collecting?”
Uncle Li: “It’s all been collected already so no!”
The trash collector looked very disappointed and walked away.
Uncle Li said to Lian Xi: “Don’t pay any attention to them, their prices are always low. I have a friend, later on I’ll give him a call and he’ll come to collect your trash. That’s right Xiao Lian, do you still want the old furniture that’s at your place?”
Lian Xi: “No I don’t want it. Thank you Uncle Li.”
“Ai, no need to thank me. We’re old neighbours after all.”
He returned to his old home.
As soon as he opened the door, the smell of dust which had been unventilated for a long time assaulted his nostrils.
Lian Xi coughed twice and looked at the old furniture in the room which had long ago been wrapped in white cloth.
Uncle Li had the key to Lian Xi’s home and would occasionally come by to help him clean but since the neighbourhood was about to be demolished, he was busy with his own affairs and didn’t have time to help Lian Xi. In two months a lot of dust had accumulated all over the ground.
Lian Xi opened the doors and windows to ventilate the place.
He began to pack up the house.
He didn’t want the old furniture and appliances. As for the old books he picked a few to take away.
Just now Uncle Li had told him that the signing at the neighborhood committee was not until 2PM which meant he had about an hour’s free time. Uncle Li had already packed up his things and didn’t need help. Bored and after playing with his phone for a while, he flipped open a book to casually read it.
It was the 82nd edition of “Dream of the Red Chamber”.
Lian Xi remembered that his grandpa liked to sit on the balcony with his spectacles, reading this book over and over again.
He calmly flipped through the book and once he got to the middle page, a photo fell out suddenly.
It was a wedding photo.
A short-haired man was wearing a brown suit while a beautiful woman wearing a red cheongsam with her hair curled in the fashionable style of the day stood by his side. They looked at the camera in high spirits, smiling happily.
… it was his parent’s wedding photo.
Not expecting to discover this photo here, Lian Xi picked it up and stared at it for a while.
“I look like my mom?”
It’s not alike at all ah!
As he was thinking about it, there came the sound of slow footsteps from outside.
Lian Xi was sitting by the door to flip through the books. As the smell of dust in the room was too strong, he could only sit comfortably by the doorway.
Hearing footsteps, he looked up and saw a middle aged woman and a young pregnant woman.
The pregnant woman was fanning herself with a small fan with a printed advertisement on the side. She complained, “Mum, why did we have to come here? It’s so hot I’m dying. I could have just had Zhang Hao come over to sign, why did you make me come?”
The middle aged woman said: “Don’t talk nonsense! This is our house. If you let Zhang Hao sign then is the house yours or his?”
“Isn’t the money already in my card?”
“But you still have to sign it! Otherwise what if in the future the bank says it’s signed for by Zhang Hao, so it belongs to Zhang Hao. What will you do then?”
“Mom!” The pregnant woman rolled her eyes at her mother, speechless. She raised her hand and her gaze crossed Lian Xi’s.
The pregnant woman paused then stopped her footsteps.
The middle aged woman followed her gaze. “You’re… from no 302. Are you Lian Xi?”
After a pause, Lian Xi nodded.
The middle aged woman’s face went green then white. She said in an unhappy tone, “You’re back?”
The pregnant woman looked curiously at Lian Xi several times then asked, “Mum, who is this little brother? You know him?”
The middle aged woman whispered into her ear, “He’s the grandson of Old Lian that used to live downstairs from us. You played with him when you were a kid before.”
“Really? How come I don’t have any impression of him?”
“His mum and dad were cursed to death by him. Then Old Lian was cursed to death by him too. Everybody in his family died so he went to live at the orphanage. You were just a kid so of course you don’t remember.”
The pregnant woman muttered, “That must be because he didn’t look good when he was young. If he looked like this I would certainly remember him.”
The two people spoke in voices that were neither high nor low, about half of which entered Lian Xi’s ears.
Although he didn’t hear the whole thing, he approximately knew what the middle aged woman was saying.
The middle aged woman stretched out her arm and blocked the pregnant woman’s stomach, not letting her walk closer. She smiled in a fake manner, “Lian Xi ah, how come you don’t go inside more. Why are you sitting outside ah?”
Lian XI looked up at the door frame. He said faintly, “I am sitting inside.”
“Go inside a bit more.”
“…..”
Lian Xi pulled his stool expressionlessly towards the stairwell, directly in front of his own door.
The middle-aged woman looked like she was going to explode. “Is your brain broken? My girl just got pregnant, are you trying to curse my good grandson by blocking the way here?”
Hearing her shouts, Uncle Li ran out. “What’s the matter? Oh if it isn’t Auntie Wang and Xiao Li. What’s the matter?”
Auntie Wang raised her eyes heavenward. “What do you think is the matter? It’s all because this star of misfortune is blocking us from going up the stairs!”
Lian Xi said quietly, “I’m not blocking the stairs. I’m just sitting on my doorstep.”
Aunt Wang: “You’re unreasonably taking up public space!”
The pregnant woman on the side felt embarrassed and pulled her, “Stop it, mom. What are you doing? He’s not blocking the path, let’s just go up.”
Aunt Wang: “He cursed his entire family to death. Aren’t you scared he’ll curse your ah?”
“Can you stop being so superstitious!”
“What do you know! Little rascal, get out of the way. Go back into your own house!”
Lian Xi glanced at her then continued to flip through his book.
Aunt Wang was so angry she began yelling again.
Uncle Li felt like his head was swollen. He didn’t know what to say.
Seeing Aunt Wang’s yelling was about to bring the other neighbours out, her daughter couldn’t stand the embarrassment any longer.
“You’re so embarrassing!”
As she spoke she pulled her mother’s arm, dragging her forwards. When they got close to Lian Xi, he silently looked up at them then suddenly pulled his stool and went inside his house. Now he sat even further inside than before, leaving a wide berth between himself and them.
Auntie Wang and her daughter quarrelled with each other and didn’t pay attention to his actions.
After they were gone, Uncle Li came over and said helplessly, “Xiao Lian, why did you go back inside?”
Lian Xi closed the cover of Dream of the Red Chamber.
He hadn’t really looked through it. His eyes had been focused on the first chapter and that line of words-
“A page full of absurd words and bitter tears”.
Lian Xi: “No particular reason, I don’t want to curse them.”
Uncle Li: “Hey! You, what are you talking about.”
Lian Xi smiled. “I’m being serious.”
Uncle Li looked at the young man’s bright and clear eyes and his lips opened and closed. Finally he sighed heavily.
At 2PM, Lian Xi and Uncle Li went to the neighbourhood committee to sign the documents and once again ran into that mother and daughter. The two appeared to have stopped arguing and the pregnant woman was wearing sunglasses and fanning herself irritably. Aunt Wang was handing her water.
They looked up and saw Lian Xi and Uncle Li looking at them.
Aunt Wang laughed coldly and said sneeringly, “Little rascal!”
However she didn’t discover that Lian Xi was not looking at her but her daughter beside her.
Or rather, at her daughter’s slightly bulging stomach.
Uncle Li: “Xiao Lian, what are you looking at?”
Lian Xi replied: “Uncle Li, do you know how long Aunt Wang’s daughter has been pregnant?”
Uncle Li: “Let me think, probably two or three months? I can’t remember exactly, but I think it was before the news about the demolition.”
Two or three months…
He took out his cell phone and looked up the time that pregnant women were at risk of miscarriage.
“The first three months are the most dangerous period.”
He raised his head and looked at the pregnant woman’s stomach.
Lian Xi saw a black cloud hovering above her stomach and fell into contemplation.
Just before, Aunt Wang had been protecting her daughter the entire time, not letting Lian Xi come near. So he didn’t see her stomach clearly. So he didn’t know if that black cloud was something that was there originally or had only just appeared.
That kind of black cloud was rare. Lian Xi had only seen it in pregnant women who were about to experience a miscarraige or stillbirth.
Without exception, the babies of these pregnant women would not survive.
If it had just appeared…..
Then perhaps it was just as Auntie Wang said, he really was a star of misfortune.
“Building 2! The owners of building 2 please come up to sign!”
The crowd surged up.
***
After signing their names, Lian Xi and Uncle Li went to the bus stop together.
“Xiao Lian ah, now that you’ve received the funds, what do you plan to do?”
“I haven’t thought about it yet. What about you?”
“Haha, I’ve figured it all out. My two sons are doing well in the city, they take care of each other and don’t need me to worry about them. I plan to take the money back to my hometown and build a three-storey villa. Let uncle give you some advice, although a million sounds like a lot, you can’t buy a good house in Su City. Don’t think you’re rich and spend money frivolously, do you understand?”
“I understand. Thank you Uncle Li.”
“Okay, then I’ll go first.”
Just then, the bus came to the bus platform, Uncle Li walked up to the bus and yelled back, “Keep in touch in the future!”
Lian Xi waved his hand. “En!”
Lian Xi never thought about buying any house.
Su City’s housing prices are rising higher and higher by the day. Every day the agents in the city would say, “Hurry up and buy a house today, tomorrow the price will go up!”
That was easy to say. Which person that could buy a house didn’t want to, the problem was they couldn’t afford it in the first place!
With one million, one could at most buy a commercial apartment in Su City. The kind that had twenty or so households one one floor. The vendor would have to pay 40% of the tax and the water and electricity were commercially owned.
As for Lian Xi, he had already rented a place through a rental app.
Of course it was a house where a murder had occurred!
Early the next morning, Lian Xi contacted the moving company. He was busy the entire day and finally cleaned everything up.
The real estate agent wore a suit and also helped him clean for half the day.
Lian Xi handed her a bottle of water. “Do all real estate agents help people move?”
The real estate agent was a young girl who had begun work not long ago. Her name was Xiao Liu. She took the water with thanks and said with a bit of a reluctance, “That ah, not really. My colleagues don’t help people move and before I also haven’t done that. But as for you…” She stammered for a little while then finally said, “This house, are you sure you want to rent it?” After that she smiled. “That’s not right, you’ve already moved in and definitely have to pay rent. But as for the rental agency fee….”
Lian Xi pondered, “You’re helping me move because I’m paying you a rental agency fee?”
Xiao Liu didn’t beat around the bush. She rubbed her short hair then said directly, “When renting this kind of place, what I want is to have peace of mind. That’s why I helped you move, otherwise I really can’t take your agency fee with a clear conscience! This time, you just need to give me 500 yuan. 500 yuan is enough.”
Lian Xi: “The rent is 1600. According to the rules, you should take half. That’s 800.”
Xiao Liu: “Don’t worry. Other than you, in the last two years no one has even come by to look at this place, much less rent it! 500 is enough.”
Lian Xi looked at her sweat-soaked forehead and didn’t say anything. Silently he transferred her 500 yuan.
After the young woman had left, he pressed Alipay and transferred another 300.
Xiao Liu immediately called him back. “I can’t take this 300!”
“Don’t worry. This is the real estate agent’s rule. I’ve rented before so I know.”
“Aiya, this … you… I really can’t take this.”
“I’ve got something on so I’m going to hang up.”
“Ah, Mr Lian, you…”
Lian Xi hurriedly hung up the phone.
He breathed a sigh of relief.
It’s really too much trouble trying to communicate with people!
Just as Lian Xi was feeling like had gotten over this hurdle, suddenly his mobile phone rang again. He looked down. It was still Xiao Liu!
He hurried to hang up the phone.
After hanging up three phone calls in a row, Xiao Liu kept calling. Lian Xi’s scalp felt numb. Finally he picked up the fourth phone call. “Really, don’t worry about that three hundred. You worked so hard to help me move. Don’t call anymore, I’m going to hang up!”
“Wait!”
From the phone came the sound of a light-hearted male voice. Lian Xi’s hand that was holding the phone froze.
He looked down at his phone screen.
Unknown number?
The man on the other end laughed. He said, “Is this the live-streamer “Lian Cheng” from the Douya Platform? Hello, I’m a manager from the Gem Guild. My ID is “Wandering”. You can log on to Douya to have a look. I’ve sent you a private message with my username. I’m not a scam artist.”
***
The author has something to say
CC: Don’t forget, I’m actually a live streamer…
Audience: Actually, we approximately all forgot….
Lucky babies: Be more confident, just take “approximately” out.
Chapter 4 – A page full of absurd words and bitter tears.
Once the fate of a person is on an upwards trend, they really can’t put a stop to it.
“The murderer of “Su City’s 2.07’s Extraodinary Burgluary and Murder Case” has been caught. Su City’s leaders and political cadres once again started paying attention to this small fan factory dormitory. So considering this fact, the factory’s managers decided to temporarily suspend tearing it down. Right now the demolition has been moved to September.”
Lian Xi’s demolition fee for his own place arrived in July.
Early that morning, Lian Xi was brushing his teeth when suddenly a bank transfer notification from his bank jumped out at him. “Your Industrial and Commercial Bank Account ending in 8816, on July 17 at 8:32 received a remittance of 1363000.00 yuan from ICBC Bank. The balance is 1381534.00 yuan. Description: SuCheng WuNan District KanPing Neighbourhood Demolition Compensation.”
“!!!”
Goodness!!!
“Cough cough cough..” Shocked, Lian Xi almost choked on the toothpaste foam.
Half an hour after the money reached his account, Lian Xi received a call from the neighbourhood committee. “Hello, is this Building 2, Unit 302’s Lian Xi? Have you received the demolition money?”
“Yes, I have received it.”
“Good. We’ve also received the receipt from the bank here. In the afternoon come by the neighbourhood committee to sign your name to confirm you’ve received the demolition money.”
Lian Xi hurried to agree: “Okay!”
Only after hanging up the phone did he remember he didn’t ask what time exactly he was supposed to go over. However he didn’t call back. It would be a good opportunity to just go by his old house to clean up.
At noon, Lian Xi took the bus to the KangPing Neighbourhood.
The community was an old building complex built in the 1980s and was located in the remote WuNan District. Nearby there was only a bus station. And it still took twenty minutes to walk from the bus station to the small community.
As soon as Lian Xi got off the bus, there was a spirited voice that came from behind him. “Xiao Lian?!”
Lian Xi turned around. “Uncle Li!”
He saw Uncle Li holding two bags and descend from a bus behind him.
Uncle Li came over and smiled. “You still know how to come back?”
Lian Xi smiled and nodded, however he didn’t know what to say afterwards.
After his grandfather’s death, he didn’t have any more relatives in his family. Only Uncle Li occasionally came by the orphanage to visit him. Uncle Li had two sons in his family to support so it was impossible for him to take in his neighbour’s child. But Lian Xi knew he was concerned about him. However it had been a long time and Lian Xi wasn’t good at talking so he temporarily didn’t know what to say.
Uncle Li looked at him up and down. “You’re still the same as when you were a child, you don’t like to talk! You look just like your mother. Come ba, let’s go home and take a look.”
After entering the KangPing Neighbourhood, there were moving trucks to be seen everywhere.
By this time half of the residents had already moved away, and there was only one half left. They were busy moving over these last few days.
There were also a lot of trash collectors in the neighborhood. They sat beside the flower beds, eyeing their surroundings shrewdly. Once someone yelled out, “waste for collection!” they would swarm up.
Trash collectors loved demolition areas.
Once people received a large demolition fee and got rich overnight, their heads would be floating in the clouds and full of joy. Moving will certainly produce a lot of waste, especially old furniture. It was fine if people were poor but if they got rich then these old furniture would turn into eyesores. At this time they could go to collect the waste, and just have to say a few envious wordslike “oh you’re so blessed, you made so much money from the demolition!” and then they could get everything for next to nothing.
If you came across someone generous, it was possible that they might just give you all their old furniture and appliances for free!
As the two people walked past, a few trash collectors came up to them. “Hey handsome guy, congratulations to you ah! Do you have any trash at home that needs collecting?”
Uncle Li: “It’s all been collected already so no!”
The trash collector looked very disappointed and walked away.
Uncle Li said to Lian Xi: “Don’t pay any attention to them, their prices are always low. I have a friend, later on I’ll give him a call and he’ll come to collect your trash. That’s right Xiao Lian, do you still want the old furniture that’s at your place?”
Lian Xi: “No I don’t want it. Thank you Uncle Li.”
“Ai, no need to thank me. We’re old neighbours after all.”
He returned to his old home.
As soon as he opened the door, the smell of dust which had been unventilated for a long time assaulted his nostrils.
Lian Xi coughed twice and looked at the old furniture in the room which had long ago been wrapped in white cloth.
Uncle Li had the key to Lian Xi’s home and would occasionally come by to help him clean but since the neighbourhood was about to be demolished, he was busy with his own affairs and didn’t have time to help Lian Xi. In two months a lot of dust had accumulated all over the ground.
Lian Xi opened the doors and windows to ventilate the place.
He began to pack up the house.
He didn’t want the old furniture and appliances. As for the old books he picked a few to take away.
Just now Uncle Li had told him that the signing at the neighborhood committee was not until 2PM which meant he had about an hour’s free time. Uncle Li had already packed up his things and didn’t need help. Bored and after playing with his phone for a while, he flipped open a book to casually read it.
It was the 82nd edition of “Dream of the Red Chamber”.
Lian Xi remembered that his grandpa liked to sit on the balcony with his spectacles, reading this book over and over again.
He calmly flipped through the book and once he got to the middle page, a photo fell out suddenly.
It was a wedding photo.
A short-haired man was wearing a brown suit while a beautiful woman wearing a red cheongsam with her hair curled in the fashionable style of the day stood by his side. They looked at the camera in high spirits, smiling happily.
… it was his parent’s wedding photo.
Not expecting to discover this photo here, Lian Xi picked it up and stared at it for a while.
“I look like my mom?”
It’s not alike at all ah!
As he was thinking about it, there came the sound of slow footsteps from outside.
Lian Xi was sitting by the door to flip through the books. As the smell of dust in the room was too strong, he could only sit comfortably by the doorway.
Hearing footsteps, he looked up and saw a middle aged woman and a young pregnant woman.
The pregnant woman was fanning herself with a small fan with a printed advertisement on the side. She complained, “Mum, why did we have to come here? It’s so hot I’m dying. I could have just had Zhang Hao come over to sign, why did you make me come?”
The middle aged woman said: “Don’t talk nonsense! This is our house. If you let Zhang Hao sign then is the house yours or his?”
“Isn’t the money already in my card?”
“But you still have to sign it! Otherwise what if in the future the bank says it’s signed for by Zhang Hao, so it belongs to Zhang Hao. What will you do then?”
“Mom!” The pregnant woman rolled her eyes at her mother, speechless. She raised her hand and her gaze crossed Lian Xi’s.
The pregnant woman paused then stopped her footsteps.
The middle aged woman followed her gaze. “You’re… from no 302. Are you Lian Xi?”
After a pause, Lian Xi nodded.
The middle aged woman’s face went green then white. She said in an unhappy tone, “You’re back?”
The pregnant woman looked curiously at Lian Xi several times then asked, “Mum, who is this little brother? You know him?”
The middle aged woman whispered into her ear, “He’s the grandson of Old Lian that used to live downstairs from us. You played with him when you were a kid before.”
“Really? How come I don’t have any impression of him?”
“His mum and dad were cursed to death by him. Then Old Lian was cursed to death by him too. Everybody in his family died so he went to live at the orphanage. You were just a kid so of course you don’t remember.”
The pregnant woman muttered, “That must be because he didn’t look good when he was young. If he looked like this I would certainly remember him.”
The two people spoke in voices that were neither high nor low, about half of which entered Lian Xi’s ears.
Although he didn’t hear the whole thing, he approximately knew what the middle aged woman was saying.
The middle aged woman stretched out her arm and blocked the pregnant woman’s stomach, not letting her walk closer. She smiled in a fake manner, “Lian Xi ah, how come you don’t go inside more. Why are you sitting outside ah?”
Lian XI looked up at the door frame. He said faintly, “I am sitting inside.”
“Go inside a bit more.”
“…..”
Lian Xi pulled his stool expressionlessly towards the stairwell, directly in front of his own door.
The middle-aged woman looked like she was going to explode. “Is your brain broken? My girl just got pregnant, are you trying to curse my good grandson by blocking the way here?”
Hearing her shouts, Uncle Li ran out. “What’s the matter? Oh if it isn’t Auntie Wang and Xiao Li. What’s the matter?”
Auntie Wang raised her eyes heavenward. “What do you think is the matter? It’s all because this star of misfortune is blocking us from going up the stairs!”
Lian Xi said quietly, “I’m not blocking the stairs. I’m just sitting on my doorstep.”
Aunt Wang: “You’re unreasonably taking up public space!”
The pregnant woman on the side felt embarrassed and pulled her, “Stop it, mom. What are you doing? He’s not blocking the path, let’s just go up.”
Aunt Wang: “He cursed his entire family to death. Aren’t you scared he’ll curse your ah?”
“Can you stop being so superstitious!”
“What do you know! Little rascal, get out of the way. Go back into your own house!”
Lian Xi glanced at her then continued to flip through his book.
Aunt Wang was so angry she began yelling again.
Uncle Li felt like his head was swollen. He didn’t know what to say.
Seeing Aunt Wang’s yelling was about to bring the other neighbours out, her daughter couldn’t stand the embarrassment any longer.
“You’re so embarrassing!”
As she spoke she pulled her mother’s arm, dragging her forwards. When they got close to Lian Xi, he silently looked up at them then suddenly pulled his stool and went inside his house. Now he sat even further inside than before, leaving a wide berth between himself and them.
Auntie Wang and her daughter quarrelled with each other and didn’t pay attention to his actions.
After they were gone, Uncle Li came over and said helplessly, “Xiao Lian, why did you go back inside?”
Lian Xi closed the cover of Dream of the Red Chamber.
He hadn’t really looked through it. His eyes had been focused on the first chapter and that line of words-
“A page full of absurd words and bitter tears”.
Lian Xi: “No particular reason, I don’t want to curse them.”
Uncle Li: “Hey! You, what are you talking about.”
Lian Xi smiled. “I’m being serious.”
Uncle Li looked at the young man’s bright and clear eyes and his lips opened and closed. Finally he sighed heavily.
At 2PM, Lian Xi and Uncle Li went to the neighbourhood committee to sign the documents and once again ran into that mother and daughter. The two appeared to have stopped arguing and the pregnant woman was wearing sunglasses and fanning herself irritably. Aunt Wang was handing her water.
They looked up and saw Lian Xi and Uncle Li looking at them.
Aunt Wang laughed coldly and said sneeringly, “Little rascal!”
However she didn’t discover that Lian Xi was not looking at her but her daughter beside her.
Or rather, at her daughter’s slightly bulging stomach.
Uncle Li: “Xiao Lian, what are you looking at?”
Lian Xi replied: “Uncle Li, do you know how long Aunt Wang’s daughter has been pregnant?”
Uncle Li: “Let me think, probably two or three months? I can’t remember exactly, but I think it was before the news about the demolition.”
Two or three months…
He took out his cell phone and looked up the time that pregnant women were at risk of miscarriage.
“The first three months are the most dangerous period.”
He raised his head and looked at the pregnant woman’s stomach.
Lian Xi saw a black cloud hovering above her stomach and fell into contemplation.
Just before, Aunt Wang had been protecting her daughter the entire time, not letting Lian Xi come near. So he didn’t see her stomach clearly. So he didn’t know if that black cloud was something that was there originally or had only just appeared.
That kind of black cloud was rare. Lian Xi had only seen it in pregnant women who were about to experience a miscarraige or stillbirth.
Without exception, the babies of these pregnant women would not survive.
If it had just appeared…..
Then perhaps it was just as Auntie Wang said, he really was a star of misfortune.
“Building 2! The owners of building 2 please come up to sign!”
The crowd surged up.
***
After signing their names, Lian Xi and Uncle Li went to the bus stop together.
“Xiao Lian ah, now that you’ve received the funds, what do you plan to do?”
“I haven’t thought about it yet. What about you?”
“Haha, I’ve figured it all out. My two sons are doing well in the city, they take care of each other and don’t need me to worry about them. I plan to take the money back to my hometown and build a three-storey villa. Let uncle give you some advice, although a million sounds like a lot, you can’t buy a good house in Su City. Don’t think you’re rich and spend money frivolously, do you understand?”
“I understand. Thank you Uncle Li.”
“Okay, then I’ll go first.”
Just then, the bus came to the bus platform, Uncle Li walked up to the bus and yelled back, “Keep in touch in the future!”
Lian Xi waved his hand. “En!”
Lian Xi never thought about buying any house.
Su City’s housing prices are rising higher and higher by the day. Every day the agents in the city would say, “Hurry up and buy a house today, tomorrow the price will go up!”
That was easy to say. Which person that could buy a house didn’t want to, the problem was they couldn’t afford it in the first place!
With one million, one could at most buy a commercial apartment in Su City. The kind that had twenty or so households one one floor. The vendor would have to pay 40% of the tax and the water and electricity were commercially owned.
As for Lian Xi, he had already rented a place through a rental app.
Of course it was a house where a murder had occurred!
Early the next morning, Lian Xi contacted the moving company. He was busy the entire day and finally cleaned everything up.
The real estate agent wore a suit and also helped him clean for half the day.
Lian Xi handed her a bottle of water. “Do all real estate agents help people move?”
The real estate agent was a young girl who had begun work not long ago. Her name was Xiao Liu. She took the water with thanks and said with a bit of a reluctance, “That ah, not really. My colleagues don’t help people move and before I also haven’t done that. But as for you…” She stammered for a little while then finally said, “This house, are you sure you want to rent it?” After that she smiled. “That’s not right, you’ve already moved in and definitely have to pay rent. But as for the rental agency fee….”
Lian Xi pondered, “You’re helping me move because I’m paying you a rental agency fee?”
Xiao Liu didn’t beat around the bush. She rubbed her short hair then said directly, “When renting this kind of place, what I want is to have peace of mind. That’s why I helped you move, otherwise I really can’t take your agency fee with a clear conscience! This time, you just need to give me 500 yuan. 500 yuan is enough.”
Lian Xi: “The rent is 1600. According to the rules, you should take half. That’s 800.”
Xiao Liu: “Don’t worry. Other than you, in the last two years no one has even come by to look at this place, much less rent it! 500 is enough.”
Lian Xi looked at her sweat-soaked forehead and didn’t say anything. Silently he transferred her 500 yuan.
After the young woman had left, he pressed Alipay and transferred another 300.
Xiao Liu immediately called him back. “I can’t take this 300!”
“Don’t worry. This is the real estate agent’s rule. I’ve rented before so I know.”
“Aiya, this … you… I really can’t take this.”
“I’ve got something on so I’m going to hang up.”
“Ah, Mr Lian, you…”
Lian Xi hurriedly hung up the phone.
He breathed a sigh of relief.
It’s really too much trouble trying to communicate with people!
Just as Lian Xi was feeling like had gotten over this hurdle, suddenly his mobile phone rang again. He looked down. It was still Xiao Liu!
He hurried to hang up the phone.
After hanging up three phone calls in a row, Xiao Liu kept calling. Lian Xi’s scalp felt numb. Finally he picked up the fourth phone call. “Really, don’t worry about that three hundred. You worked so hard to help me move. Don’t call anymore, I’m going to hang up!”
“Wait!”
From the phone came the sound of a light-hearted male voice. Lian Xi’s hand that was holding the phone froze.
He looked down at his phone screen.
Unknown number?
The man on the other end laughed. He said, “Is this the live-streamer “Lian Cheng” from the Douya Platform? Hello, I’m a manager from the Gem Guild. My ID is “Wandering”. You can log on to Douya to have a look. I’ve sent you a private message with my username. I’m not a scam artist.”
***
The author has something to say
CC: Don’t forget, I’m actually a live streamer…
Audience: Actually, we approximately all forgot….
Lucky babies: Be more confident, just take “approximately” out.
