Chapter 25: Moving Underground

I paid for another day's room, and the next morning, I washed up and was about to go downstairs to get something to eat, and when I walked to the door, I saw a business card sandwiched between the crack of the door, and I took it to check.

On the business card the size of a cigarette box, there is a beautiful woman who has just come out of the bath, much like Yang Guifei who walked out of the Huaqing Pool, and the business card reads: Please call when you are lonely in the same city, and there is a WeChat signal, I smiled after reading it, threw the business card into the trash, opened the door and went out.

There was a torrential rain last night, and today it is relatively cooler, and the air is damp.

My top priority today is to find a fixed place to live, it is very inconvenient to stay in a hotel every day, and I can't cook by myself, and I will look for a job when I find a place to live.

I simply ate a few steamed buns, and then used my mobile phone to open a navigation, trying to find a real estate rental center, and the map marked a house 2KM away from me, just this one.

When I arrived, I found out that the rental center was a shabby residential building with a real estate rental company hanging on the door of the unit on the first floor, and I thought that it would be very powerful to be able to navigate such a place.

I knocked on the door, and it took a long time for a woman with heavy makeup to open the door, and the smell of cosmetics greeted me, and I reflexively sneezed.

She looked me up and down and said, "You want to rent a house?" ”

I said yes, and she looked at me again and said, "Are you a student?" ”

I shook my head, and she thought for a moment and said, "Is it okay to share a house?" ”

The two of us stood at the door talking like this, and she didn't let me in, and I didn't want to go in.

I said, "I want to rent a single apartment, is there any?" ”

She said suspiciously: "The price of a single apartment is high, can you afford to rent it?" ”

When I saw her look at me with disdain, I instantly became angry, and I said, "Why should I come to you if I can't afford to rent a house?" ”

She frowned and said, "No, no, you can go to someone else's house and ask." ”

With that, he closed the door.

I touched a nose of ash, who provoked someone early in the morning, and 10,000 grass and mud horses galloped past in my heart.

I walked out of the unit building, took out my mobile phone again, stared at the navigation for a while, there was a rental center 3KM to the northwest, I sighed, and walked to this rental company.

This rental company is much more formal, at least it is a commercial building, floor-to-ceiling glass windows, and the sign is also very decent, I pushed the door in with satisfaction.

There was a middle-aged woman at the office bar who was bowing her head and writing, and there were people sitting in the hall looking around, as if waiting for a train.

I walked up to the bar and said to the middle-aged woman, "Hello, I want to rent a single apartment." ”

She raised her head, her skin was fair, but there were many wrinkles at the corners of her eyes, and she said unhurriedly, "Wait a minute, I'll show you." ”

She was checking on the computer, I looked back at the small business hall, and suddenly found that on the lounge chair in the hall, there was a middle-aged man in his 35-year-old staring at me, I was terrified, what is this person looking at me, and I don't owe him money, I hurriedly looked away.

At this time, the middle-aged woman said to me: "Now this season all the single apartments are rented out, but there are a few apartments with sea views, and the prices are slightly higher." ”

I was a little frustrated, and asked tentatively, "How much?" ”

The middle-aged woman said lightly: "They are all paid off at one time according to the annual rent, with an annual rent of 100,000 yuan and a deposit of 10,000 yuan." ”

I was dizzy when I heard this, why is it so expensive, and we can't afford so much money to rent a house in our small town for three years.

When she saw that I was hesitant, she persuaded me, "Isn't it the best of both worlds, young man, when I see that you are coming alone, you might as well share an apartment, and someone will cover half of the price for you." ”

I said bitterly, "No thanks." ”

I didn't like to be crammed into a room with a few strangers, so when I first wanted to rent a room, I decided to rent a single apartment, which was quiet and convenient to live alone.

After pushing the door open and walking out, I lit a cigarette and was about to look at the next rental company, when the door was pushed open, and it was the middle-aged man who had been staring at me in the hall just now.

When he saw me standing at the door, he walked up to me with a smile on his face, and I thought to myself, what the hell is this man trying to do with all this sneaky and mysterious thing?

She walked up to me and said with a smile, "Do you want to rent a house, young man?" ”

I saw that he was trying to sell me housing, so I took a puff of my cigarette and nodded.

He asked again, "Do you want to rent a single apartment?" ”

I thought to myself, just now he kept staring at me, it turned out that he wanted to listen to my conversation with the middle-aged woman, and then insert a needle in the stitches.

I looked at him and said, "Why do you have to squat in the rental hall when you have a listing, and just register the rental information." ”

After hearing this, he hurriedly said: "This is not right, brother, I have to charge a fee for registering with them, I will rent the first-hand house to you directly, there is no difference in the price charged by the middleman, you pay less, I earn more, how good is this." ”

I listened and said it made sense, and asked him, "Do you have a single apartment there?" ”

He swore and said, "Yes, you are satisfied, do you want to go with me to see the house?" ”

I said, "Don't worry, how much is the annual rent of your house?" ”

"Not much, 30,000 a year, the location is good, it is close to the bus station and the supermarket, it is much cheaper than those intermediary companies, I see that you are very anxious, so I will give you the best one, do you see it?"

I threw the cigarette on the ground, stomped it out with my foot, looked at him and said, "30,000 is too expensive." ”

After hearing this, he looked at me with an exaggerated face and said, "Brother, this is still expensive, in this new city, you can inquire, how can the house in my area be so low." ”

I saw that his expression was full of sincerity and credibility, so I said, "Take me to see the house first, and then discuss the rent after reading it." ”

He took me on a walk for about 20 minutes, to the courtyard of a residential area, the yard is full of tropical greenery, the apartment building is 6 floors high, the corridor is exposed on the outside, a bit like a motel in the United States, the white railing is fixed on the edge of the corridor, and the doors of the apartments are neatly arranged on the floor.

He took me to the corridor on the third floor, walked to a white door, took out the key, opened the door, and walked in, the pure white room was cleaned spotlessly, the sun shone through the window on the checkerboard curtain, there was a kind of tranquil atmosphere, there was a large bed in the east corner of the room, covered with sky blue sheets, next to the big bed was a square table, used to put things, I walked to the house again, there is a bathroom and kitchen inside, you can take a bath, there are all kinds of cooking utensils on the stove, air conditioning in the bedroom, TV, The wireless network is not bad.

The middle-aged man saw that I was a little emotional, so he said: "How about my brother, what I said is good, and out of this house, everywhere is very close, vegetable market, supermarket, school, just a few minutes away." ”

I smiled and said to him, "Okay, that's it." ”

He was so excited that he took out two lease contracts out of nowhere, handed me one and said, "Sign this, pay the money, and you can live here." ”

I took a look at the contract, it was all trivial matters, I signed it, paid a deposit of 3,000 yuan, he handed me the keys and utility card and left.

I went back to the hotel, returned the room, took my luggage to the nearby supermarket to buy some daily necessities, returned to the apartment building, I took out the key, stuffed it into the keyhole, twisted it many times and couldn't open it, I wondered if this person gave the wrong key.

I called him, and the phone was turned off all the time, and I was so anxious, what the hell was going on, I was standing at the door and a little overwhelmed.

In a moment, a girl of eighteen or nineteen came upstairs and knocked on the door next to me, and when she saw me looking at her in a panic, she asked me suspiciously, "Huh?" That's not right. ”

I hurriedly said, "Do you know a little landlord here?" ”

The suspicion on the girl's face became even heavier, and she said, "Landlord? This apartment building is developed by a big boss, where is the individual small landlord? ”

My hairs stood on end, and the anger in my heart rose with it.

She saw that my face was extremely ugly, and said, "Besides, this house has been rented out, and a big brother who used to live here to learn to paint went abroad last month, and the house has not been returned." ”

I instantly thought of a possibility in my heart, I was deceived, I often see on TV, those who pretend to be landlords and defraud rent, but I didn't expect this to let me catch up.

I picked up my luggage, I didn't want those daily necessities, I took out my mobile phone and clicked on the navigation, and ran to the police station in the jurisdiction, and the little girl shouted behind me: "Hey, your things." ”

I said out loud, "Here you go." ”

A policeman in his 40s sat in front of me, and I told him everything that had happened, and he frowned, writing with a pen on a piece of paper.

After he finished writing, he raised his head, looked at me and said, "There are many such cases in our city every year, and now there are countless people who rely on this method to cheat. ”

I asked curiously, "Why does he have the key to that apartment building?" ”

The policeman smiled and said: "Young man, that kind of master of cheating, isn't it a trivial matter to imitate a key, let alone open a door, even that kind of sophisticated safe they can open." ”

I was worried, I brought 40,000 yuan when I came out of the house, and the expenses of these days, plus the money that was cheated away, now there is less than 2,000 yuan left, I am angry in my heart, these damn liars, let me catch you and have to dismantle you.

I said to the policeman, "What about my money, can't I get it back?" ”

The police said: "I have filed for you, and we are now investigating this fraud gang thoroughly, you leave your contact information, and we will naturally contact you after we solve the case." ”

As soon as I heard it, it was a stone in the sea, and I thought I was unlucky.

I wandered around the street aimlessly, I didn't know where I was going, I just felt like I had been exiled by fate, my soul and body were about to be separated, there were a few stray dogs wandering next to the garbage bin on the side of the street, a dirty dog found a bone and gnawed it with relish, and several other dogs saw this, bared their teeth and ran over to snatch it, and in an instant, a group of stray dogs came out of all corners of the street and joined the battle for bones, and there was a roaring sound of biting at the scene.

The scene when I saw the dogs fighting together made me even more nervous and irritable.

I walked quickly around the group of dogs, carrying my luggage and continuing to walk, my stomach rumbling in protest, I looked up and around, there was a fried dumpling shop across the street, and the business was very good, I thought to myself, eat your stomach first.

I ate two large plates of fried dumplings and drank a bottle of mineral water.

When I came out, it was already dark, and I had to find a place to stay, this street was full of convenience stores for eating and selling some daily necessities, and there were no hotels and hotels for accommodation, so I had to continue looking.

Wandering around, I returned to the previous hotel, and the young woman looked at me with a puzzled look on her face and said, "I came back in the afternoon to check out, and I didn't go out for a while, and then I came back to open the room, what are you tossing?" ”

I smiled wryly: "It's hard to put into words"

It was still that room, and when I walked in, I was lying on the bed with a blank mind.

I was drowsy, half-asleep and half-awake I saw Xue Xinyan's figure, her graceful posture, dancing among the flowers, her face was delicate, like a fairy who came out of the painting, which made people think about it, suddenly, the style of painting changed, the sky was cloudy, the wind was blowing, the wind overturned the turf, the whole sky was sunny, chaotic, I found myself standing in an abyss, the abyss was extremely dark, the wind and sand hit my face, I didn't feel pain, this place made me infinitely afraid, I wanted to go out, But I was very weak, and suddenly, a series of familiar voices sounded in my ears, calling me, and this voice would make people impatient after listening to it for a long time.

I woke up, it turned out that the mobile phone was ringing, I grabbed it to check, it was a call from Sun Kai.

"Hey"

"Xiao Tao, I heard that you came to the south?"

"Who did you listen to?"

"Auntie told me in WeChat, when did you come?"

Mom is really a little assistant in communication.

"Oh, it's only been a few days"

"What's the difficulty, you speak?"

"Got it"

"What's next for you?"

"I'm looking for a job first, and I'm planning for the future"

"I heard that Xue Xinyan was taken away by her mother, you don't have to be too sad"

My mom really said everything, and there was a black line on my face.

"Yes, her mother found her and picked her up, what am I sad about, she made the right choice to go with her mother, her mother is very rich."

"Yes, then you can pick up a good old mother-in-law and fight for 20 years less."

After saying that, he smiled smugly on the other side of the phone.

"You have it, if you like that old mother-in-law, then I'll let you forget it."

After we talked a few more innocuous things, the phone hung up.

The deathly silence in the room, the air stuffy made me breathless, I turned on the air conditioner, lay on the bed again, picked up my mobile phone, opened WeChat, and saw two messages on Xue Xinyan's avatar.

I hurriedly clicked on it, and the first message read: Why didn't you contact me?

The second message was a video call that didn't go through.

I looked at the time, half an hour ago, and I was sleeping.

I hurriedly clicked on the video call, waiting for the other party to answer, and after the prompt sounded three times, Xue Xinyan's beautiful and charming face appeared on the screen.

Behind her is like a hall, with bonsai, beautiful European-style sofas and coffee tables, and many oil paintings hanging on the wall.

She looked at me suspiciously and said, "Where are you?" ”

I looked at the screen and said, "Southern"

Xue Xinyan's eyes widened, and she looked surprised.

"Didn't you say that you were asked to wait for me in the small town, why did you still run out alone?"

There was reproach in his voice.

I said with a look of grievance: "If you leave, the city will be empty, what is the point of leaving me alone." ”

"Then you can't just leave, what are you going to do in the south? What city are you in? ”

I told her what I thought, and of course I couldn't tell her about being cheated.

She told me her new mobile phone number, and after chatting for a while, she hung up.

When I woke up the next day, I wanted to go around the street, and when I came to a building, I saw a rental advertisement on the wall, so I went over to look at it.

It's a basement, but the monthly rent, a house for two people, a monthly rent of 500, I think this is quite suitable for me, busy making a phone call on the advertising paper.

"Hey, who's that?"

"I want to ask, do you still rent your basement?"

"Zhao, do you rent monthly or annually?"

"I want to rent it for a month."

"Okay, if you're interested, come and have a look."

I added him on WeChat, and he sent me the location, and I searched for a long time, and finally stopped in front of a dilapidated building.

I thought to myself, why are there such crumbling old buildings in the new urban area?

I walked into the basement, it was hot and humid, the pungent smell hit my sense of smell, and when I walked to the innermost door, the door opened by itself, and there was a middle-aged man in his 40s sitting inside, a bunk bed, and there were large bags of things thrown on the bed, as if they were wholesale clothes, and the smell in the room was unpleasant and dirty.

When the middle-aged man saw me looking here and there, he said impatiently, "Did you call to rent a house?" ”

I nodded, and he said, "Then if you want to watch it, just live in the upper bunk, 500 a month, just give me the money, don't bother anything else." ”

I asked, "Don't you have to sign a rental contract or something?" ”

He stared at me and said, "Sign a yarn, this is a broken place, can you still sell it, can I still run for 500 yuan?" ”

I listened to what he said and said, then I'll move over tomorrow, he lay on the bed, looked at his phone and said, "Whatever." ”

The next day, I bought some toiletries, carried my luggage, and moved to this basement, he gave me a key, and hurried away with the big pile of plastic bags of clothes, he told me that there was water in the yard for washing and laundry, and I used a basin to follow, there was no hot water, and if I was thirsty, there was a quick-boil kettle for boiling water in the basement.

I cleaned up the top bunk, took the bottles out of the basement and threw them away, found a mop in the hallway, mopped it inside and out, and when I was done, I was a little hungry.

I was going to go out to eat something, but I didn't expect to walk into the yard, and since I saw the stove and the cooking utensils were placed on it, I thought to myself, are they all eating in the yard.

I went to the supermarket to buy some food, and when I came back, I was busy cooking, and the middle-aged man came back, smelled the food, and came over and said, "You know how to cook?" ”

I smiled and nodded, he nodded with satisfaction, stretched out a rough hand and said, "My name is Wang Dagang, you can call me scumbag brother in the future." ”