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At the behest of Napoleon III, Baron Haussmann was engaged in a decade-long reconstruction project for Paris.

This included the restoration of all the roads, the demolition of old streets from the Middle Ages, and the use of the axis concept to turn the lanes into parks. Avoid the revolution-loving Parisian mob piling up street fortresses. The paving of Paris was resurfaced and the sewer system was rebuilt.

It was a reconstruction that made the transition to great modernity while preserving the original artistic style, and made Paris truly the capital of artists and romance.

The blueprint is beautiful, but the city, which is still being rebuilt, looks dirty.

Carrying a suitcase in his left hand, Garion stepped on the mud all over the ground and came to 24 rue St. Anthony, an inconspicuous building, with a steep four-slope top showing a freshly refreshed light blue, and the gray-brown walls were inlaid with blue slender glass windows, and the doors and windows were arranged in a small vertical grid, which seemed out of place with the classicist style buildings of the surrounding high domes.

That's where he found his footing.

The building was owned by Mrs. Emily's husband, but it is now in her name. Her husband had passed away a year earlier, leaving a house as an inheritance.

However, she has been very distressed lately, and she has been unable to give up when cooking, sighing from time to time. Mrs. Emily wants to rent out the house, but she doesn't expect to find a strange neighbor.

The upstairs room has been empty for more than two months since the tenant quit the lease, with no new occupants coming in. Tenants who come to rent for low prices often leave their rents within a few days. It's not because the heating breaks down after three days, or because the shabby and peeling walls smell unbearably musty, but because there is a madman living directly opposite the window, who starts yelling and screaming after 12 o'clock at night, occasionally slapping the table and lifting the furniture during the day, and the tenant has to shake his head and pack his bags after complaining to the landlord about the ineffect.

Mrs. Emily also tried to negotiate with the madman opposite, but the other person seemed to be avoiding the others, intentionally or unintentionally. She even enlisted the help of the police, but they did not violate the law, and the police made it clear that they didn't care about these trivial matters, and Emily was helpless for a while. I can only lower the rent to attract tenants, but over time the news spreads, and even if the price is lower, there is no interest in renting Mrs. Emily's house.

There was the sound of a doorbell and a rhythmic knock on the door. Emily wiped her wet hands from her apron and walked briskly to open the door, wondering who had come to the door so late.

Garian didn't expect that the person who opened the door was actually a middle-aged woman, and her hair, which had not been taken care of for a long time, was messily combed to the side.

He pulled out the rental ad and pointed to a line that said Ferrorand. Hesitantly, he said, "I'm here to rent a house, and I want to find the landlord, Mr. Florent." ”

Emily explained to him, "I'm the landlady and my husband passed away a year ago. ”

Garion bowed slightly to apologize, and indicated his intention, "Mrs. Ferrorand, my name is Garian, and I plan to rent a house in Paris, I wonder if you still have rooms for rent here?" ”

"Yes, of course."

Hearing that the other party had come to rent the house, Emily was overjoyed, and immediately moved a crack and motioned for him to come in quickly. She picked up the candlestick on the table and prepared to take Garion upstairs.

"The room was on the third floor, facing west. You saw the ad before, and I've renovated the furniture in the house. The heating pipes are also new, and the beds and other furniture were just bought half a year ago. ”

Emily enthusiastically introduces the house to Garion, fearing that the other party will suddenly regret it.

After entering through the entrance, there is a narrow corridor with various oil paintings hanging on the walls, and at the end of the corridor is a staircase that creaks when stepped on by damp and moldy wooden planks in the rainy season. Mrs. Emily led Garion to the third floor and used the key to open the closed door.

As soon as I entered, I smelled a damp and cold smell, indicating that the room had been vacant for a long time and had not been occupied. Garion wrinkled his nose and looked around. It had indeed been repainted, with plaster powder mixed with the cold, damp air that permeated the surroundings.

Emily the landlord walked over to the closed glass window and opened the latch, allowing fresh air to pour in from outside, and the dull air inside the house suddenly dissipated.

Emily took the key and introduced the house to Garion, "The bathtub is a little smaller, but it works." Including heating, the rent is 64 francs a year, Monsieur Garrian, which is relatively cheap on the eastern side. If you go elsewhere, it's at least 70 to 80 francs. ”

The eastern part of Paris is a ghetto for the poor, and the rest of the city can be staggeringly rents a month.

At this time, the most exaggerated house in Paris was at 42 rue Bonapart, although it was a small building, but because of the glorious history of Monsieur Balzac's residence, it was regarded by people all over the world as one of the important symbols of French ideology and culture.

Thanks to the father of the modern French novel, rue Bonapartt has set the record for the most expensive property in Paris in recent years.

Garian put the suitcase on the ground, looked around the bathroom and bedroom, and found that all the facilities had just been renovated, although it was simple, but compared to the price of the rental, it was definitely more than so cheap, and he couldn't help but wonder in his heart, and secretly observed the landlord, seeing that her eyes were dodging, and it was a hot performance, and he guessed that the other party should have other things to hide from him. So he was not in a hurry to sign the contract, but deliberately looked around, intending to get the secret out of her mouth.

Garion stopped and looked, pretending to be careless, "This house is indeed good, and the furniture and facilities are in good condition. But...... Did Madame Felleurand not tell me something? ”

Emily chuckled inwardly, and her hand involuntarily tightened the chest of her apron. Seeing the other party's movements, Garion was even more sure that the other party was hiding something from him. So he paused his tone, walked to the glass window that was pushed open, stared at the rue Saint-Anthony where the carriage passed, and said slowly, "It's just that I have heard from other people that there seems to be something wrong with this house, and that Madame Fellerent knows what the problem is, so I will not talk about it, but I want to get the answer from you, is the situation the same as they say?" ”

Emily is just a housewife with little knowledge, and she doesn't notice that Garion is just trying to trick him out, and the other party also finds out the secret behind it in a few words.

Since the last thing she wanted to hear came out of the other party's mouth, Emily had no choice but to sigh and said helplessly, "Yes, since you have heard about Mr. Garion, I will tell you the truth." It's not that there is a problem with this house, but that there is a strange-tempered neighbor living diagonally across from it, which scares away a lot of tenants. I can't do that. ”

"Strange tenant?"

Garion followed the landlord's finger and looked across the other side at a window that had opened at some point. As soon as he finished speaking, there was a heart-rending roar that drew his eyes to look directly across from him.

"No, it's shit, it's just a mess of shit! Worse than dead rats and carrion in the sewers of St. Anthony Street! Why is it rejection again, damn it, damn it! I curse you editors with no eyes! ”

Then I heard a loud bang of the dust from the ceiling falling as well, as if something had been broken.

Garian's gaze turned strangely to Mrs. Ferrorand, who only shrugged his shoulders and made a helpless expression, and pulled the hair on his forehead, ready for Garion to turn and leave.

She explains, "There was a poor writer on the other side, and every time I got a rejection letter, I started to go crazy. ”