Jiangcheng University.
Li Manni and Xu Wenqian were packing their luggage, after all, they were moving out tomorrow.
Although there is limited space in the dorms and they couldn’t have too much luggage, girls always have many bits and pieces.
“Manni, what kind of car does your brother-in-law have? I wonder if it can fit all this stuff.”
Xu Wenqian had packed two suitcases just with clothes, and other miscellaneous items filled two large woven bags. She wasn’t even done packing.
“His car is pretty big, but it seems like we have too many things, maybe it’s better to call a moving service,” said Li Manni, whose luggage was similar to Xu Wenqian’s, except she had fewer clothes and more books, filling an entire large woven bag.
“We two can ride in your brother-in-law’s car, taking some fragile items with us, and let the moving service transport the luggage,” Xu Wenqian suggested.
“Hmm, that could work,” nodded Li Manni, thinking the plan feasible.
“Huh, I got a message from the landlord?”
Xu Wenqian had been so busy packing that she hadn’t checked her phone. Now, as she was nearly done, she picked it up and noticed a message from the landlord.
She quickly opened the message and then was stunned, “Huh?”
“This…”
“What’s wrong?” asked Li Manni, who was drinking water and looking at her with confusion.
“The landlord has returned the rent, saying that the apartment is no longer available for rent.”
“How can they do this? They should have told us earlier!” Xu Wenqian complained angrily, wanting to scold the landlord in the messaging app but decided to accept the returned rent first.
Once the money was received, Xu Wenqian angrily replied, “Your action constitutes a breach of contract; returning the rent isn’t enough!”
After sending the message, she asked Li Manni, “Manni, should we demand compensation?”
“In theory, we could,” Li Manni replied, also inexperienced with such matters.
“Then we’ll ask for one month’s rent as compensation!” Xu Wenqian immediately sent another message to the landlord: At least compensate us with one month’s rent!
However, right after she sent the message, all she got back was a red exclamation mark.
“Huh?”
“He actually blocked me!!”
“What a person!!” Harboring frustrated rage, Xu Wenqian found herself feeling helplessly like she was punching cotton.
“This person is utterly untrustworthy!”
Li Manni was at a loss for words, not expecting to encounter such a situation.
“Ah, I’m so mad!!”
“I want to sue him!!” Xu Wenqian clenched her small fists, wishing she could punch the untrustworthy landlord.
“Let it go, we got our rent and deposit back, so there’s no real loss. Going through a lawsuit could take forever,” Li Manni advised.
A while ago, she covered an interview involving a landlord-tenant dispute, where the landlord wanted to withhold part of the deposit because they felt the tenant left the apartment too dirty. But the tenant, infuriated, destroyed the apartment’s interior, forfeiting the deposit and fleeing.
The outraged landlord reported it to the police.
But the police considered it a civil matter and, lacking evidence to definitively blame the tenant, advised the landlord to pursue legal action.
However, legal proceedings in such cases can drag on, and quantifying damage and compensation is not straightforward. Even if the landlord won the lawsuit, receiving the compensation was not guaranteed.
Enduring such an ordeal is indeed distressing, but the landlord in that case was partly to blame. Some landlords act this way, looking for excuses to withhold deposits when tenants move out. If they come across an easy-going tenant, the tenant is likely to suffer in silence, but with those who are hot-tempered, it could lead to a counterproductive outcome, or even mutual destruction.
Although this situation wasn’t the same as the one with Li Manni going on an assignment, the final procedures were pretty similar, and since there were no financial losses involved, the court might not even support their claims.
“No way, I just can’t swallow this bitterness!”
“I’m going to curse him continuously for a hundred days, what kind of person is he!”
Xu Wenqian, who had just entered society not long ago, clearly hadn’t suffered enough of its harsh blows yet, with more experience, things like this wouldn’t seem like a big deal at all.
A big forest attracts all kinds of birds.
You can’t expect everyone to live up to your own standards of quality and morality.
“Luckily it’s the weekend, so there’s time to look for a place.”
Li Manni offered comforting words.
“Sigh, guess that’s the only option now…”
Xu Wenqian flopped down onto a chair, deflated like a punctured ball.
Li Manni sent a message to Yang Hao: Brother-in-law, I won’t be moving tomorrow afternoon after all, so you don’t need to keep your afternoon free.
At this moment, Yang Hao was at an art training center, attending a piano trial class with Xixi.
Not being able to afford it in the past, but now that their financial situation had improved, Yang Hao thought of letting Xixi learn one or two musical instruments. Of course, these instruments had to be ones she was interested in, so attending trial classes was necessary for her to get a feel for them.
Seeing Li Manni suddenly saying she wouldn’t be moving, Yang Hao asked about the situation, then found out that the landlord had suddenly breached the contract.
After thinking it over, Yang Hao sent the address of the apartment he’d bought in the morning to Li Manni: This residential area is pretty close to your workplace, right?
In fact, he already knew the answer to this, as he had looked for a broker nearby after dropping off Li Manni that morning, so Fenghua Residential Area naturally wouldn’t be far from her workplace.
Indeed, Li Manni gave a positive response.
Yang Hao was intending to send another message, but seeing that it was only six o’clock, he decided to call her directly.
“If it’s okay for you to stay there, I’ll go to the university right now to help you move your stuff over. That way, you can be more relaxed at the family sports day tomorrow.”
“What?”
“But the rent for that residential area is a bit high.”
“Wenqian and I don’t have such a high budget.”
Although Fenghua Residential Area was an old neighborhood, its excellent location meant a two-bedroom apartment rented for around two thousand five hundred.
Li Manni and Xu Wenqian, however, had rented an apartment in a relatively more out-of-the-way location, where the rent was only one thousand eight hundred.
“How much was the rent for the place you were leasing before?” Yang Hao asked.
“One thousand eight hundred.”
“Then this place will also be rented to you for one thousand eight hundred.”
“What, this??”
Li Manni was baffled: “Brother-in-law, but the landlord won’t agree!”
“He will.”
Yang Hao was certain in his tone, and without dwelling on this issue, he continued, “Is everything mostly packed up?”
“Er, pretty much.”
“I’ll be there in about forty minutes.”
After saying that, Yang Hao hung up the phone.
Li Manni in her dormitory was utterly bewildered, as clever as she was, she couldn’t untangle this situation right away.
The apartment was probably a friend’s of her brother-in-law’s, but if the rent was cut to one thousand eight hundred, that would be six to seven hundred below the market price. Her brother-in-law wouldn’t be planning to cover the difference himself, would he??
“Oh my dear Manni, why is renting in Jiangcheng so expensive!”
“It’s just too unfriendly for us wage earners! Rent, food, transportation, utilities, phone bills, plus clothes and cosmetics, I feel like my four thousand five Gold Coin monthly salary just isn’t enough!”
“Ahh, won’t some domineering CEO like me and take me under his wing… I’m asking to be kept…”
As Xu Wenqian scrolled through the rental APP, the steep rents made her agitated, punching her chest in mock desperation like a distressed worker.