Volume 1, Chapter 58: The Female Co-tenant

Stepping out of the airport, Zhou Yang felt an overwhelming sense of melancholy.

Over this past period, he had already grown accustomed to the feeling of living together with Tang Yumei.

Now, however, he needed to quickly find a new place to live.

Zhou Yang temporarily booked a hotel room and left his luggage there, planning to move into a proper apartment if he found one in the next few days, or simply stay at the hotel if he didn't.

Before leaving, Tang Yumei had even left him a sum of money, which was more than enough to cover his various expenses at the hotel.

Since he had the afternoon off from work, Zhou Yang spent it visiting numerous real estate agencies, and finally found a suitable apartment nearby.

Calling it suitable was a stretch; in truth, it was merely close to his company.

The residential compound's environment was quite pleasant—Zhou Yang even felt like he had been there before, though he couldn't quite remember when.

The apartment itself was also very clean and tidy. To save some money, Zhou Yang had opted for a shared apartment.

It was a two-bedroom, one-living-room layout with a single kitchen and bathroom. The master bedroom was already occupied, so Zhou Yang was assigned to the second bedroom.

"Little Zhou, you know, the person living in the master bedroom is an absolute beauty!" The elderly landlord said, bending over with a cryptic, knowing smile. "And she's your colleague, too—both of you work at the EPS Group."

"Oh? What's her name?" Zhou Yang asked.

"Her name is... now what was it! Look at my memory at my age, I can't even remember," the old man said. "You two can get acquainted yourselves later!"

"Haha, alright!" Zhou Yang said.

"The rent is fifteen hundred a month, one month's deposit and three months' advance payment," the old man said as he handed the rental contract to Zhou Yang, adding on the side, "I must warn you, young man, the master bedroom wasn't originally meant to be rented to a guy—she was worried living together would be inconvenient. But since I think you seem like a good person and you're colleagues, I'm renting it to you. You must mind your behavior and avoid causing any dissatisfaction from the girl, otherwise I'll have no choice but to kick you out, and the deposit will not be refunded under any circumstances!"

Zhou Yang nodded. "Don't worry, Grandpa. Between nine years of compulsory education and four years of university, my moral standards are still up to par."

"Hahahah, that's great, that's great!" The old man handed a bunch of keys to Zhou Yang. "Here, these are the keys. If anything comes up, just give me a call. My phone number is on the contract."

"Alright, Grandpa, you go ahead with your busy day!" Zhou Yang said.

"Will do!"

The old man hummed a little tune as he walked out, cradling a thick stack of crisp red banknotes in his hand, a cunning and greedy smile plastered across his face.

"Fifteen hundred a month, and you can't find prices this high in this area anyway. Besides, if that girl gets unhappy and kicks him out, I've already stated in advance that the deposit won't be refunded—pure profit!"

As it turned out, this was the old man's petty scheme.

Ordinarily, renting this room out for eight hundred to a thousand yuan a month would already be considered quite a feat.

Furthermore, the existing tenant had requested a female roommate.

The old man figured that making money that way was too slow, so he deliberately recruited a male tenant while stacking the deck in advance, planning to kick him out at the slightest hint of trouble and keep every penny of the money without refunding anything.

Right now, the old man was actually hoping that Zhou Yang and the beauty in the master bedroom would have a falling out so he could make a quick buck and then find the next tenant.

However, Zhou Yang lacked experience and was completely unaware of the old landlord's dirty tricks.

His sole focus was on getting settled, moving his luggage into the room, and starting to unpack and tidy up.

After that, he went to the bathroom to fetch some water, preparing to wipe down the entire apartment.

Fair is fair—the tenant in the master bedroom must have been a girl who loved cleanliness. The common areas of the living room were kept extremely neat, and the blanket on the leather sofa was folded with razor-sharp creases.

Outside the master bedroom door stood a shoe rack holding all kinds of women's shoes: sneakers, casual shoes, and towering high heels with exaggerated conical heels.

Moreover, every single pair was branded, impeccably clean, and spotless.

She seemed like a girl with a strong sense of style.

Thinking about this, Zhou Yang walked into the bathroom to draw water.

However, the moment he stepped inside, his eyes were immediately drawn to a fluttering array of intimate garments overhead.

There was a window in the bathroom, and near it, a steel wire had been strung horizontally. Hanging from it were clothes hangers displaying various pieces of women's lingerie.

There were easily four or five complete sets.

Every single set was distinctive and quite alluring.

Zhou Yang had never seen such a variety before, and coupling this with what the old man had said about the master bedroom occupant being a great beauty, he imagined that stunning woman wearing these items would be nothing short of an absolute knockout.

For a moment, Zhou Yang was filled with overwhelming excitement, feeling as though he had struck gold by renting this apartment, and he developed a strong, premature fondness for the girl from the master bedroom whom he had yet to meet.

Yet, over the next few days, the girl in the master bedroom did not return even once.

Zhou Yang found it rather strange and considered calling the old man to ask about it, but then thought better of it, realizing how inappropriate that would be.

Another tenant's personal affairs were none of his business, and inquiring about them would make him look like he had sinister motives.

Besides, her staying away wasn't a bad thing at all—he could pretend he had such a spacious place entirely to himself.

However, just as Zhou Yang was getting used to the atmosphere of living alone, the front door clicked open late one night, and the girl had unexpectedly returned.

By then it was already deep into the night, and Zhou Yang was half-asleep, lacking the energy to get up and check.

When he woke up the next morning, the landlord had called him.

"Young man, the female tenant complained about you last night, saying your snoring was terribly loud!" the old man said.

"What?" Zhou Yang was taken aback. "I don't really snore!"

"How would I know? Young women are light sleepers, you know. You need to be considerate. If you keep snoring like that, she's going to keep complaining. Make sure you close your bedroom door tightly, and if all else fails, pull the quilt over your head to sleep!" the old man said.

Zhou Yang: "..."

Are you trying to suffocate me?!

"Look, Grandpa, I really don't snore much. Even if I did, I'm in my room and she's in hers, separated by two walls and a huge living room—how could she possibly hear it that clearly?" Zhou Yang felt deeply wronged.

"How am I supposed to know?" The old man feigned complete ignorance. "In any case, you need to be careful. If she complains again repeatedly, I'll have no choice but to ask you to leave. Alright, that's all for now."

The old man hung up the phone with a sinister grin.

The girl in the master bedroom hadn't complained at all; he was deliberately sowing discord.

Once he soured their relationship and a conflict inevitably arose, he could easily kick Zhou Yang out.

Human hearts could be truly vicious.

Zhou Yang was furious.

He had been moved in for nearly a week, and she had only spent a single night back, yet she had gone ahead and filed a complaint against him.

What kind of person was she?

No way, tonight he would stay up late, wait for her to return, and have a proper argument with her.

The more Zhou Yang thought about it, the angrier he became. He walked to the bathroom to wash up, only to find that the entire fluttering display of intimate apparel had been cleared away.

Furthermore, a waterproof sticky note had been pasted above the bathroom sink, bearing the words: "Keep it clean."

"What the heck!" Zhou Yang was on the verge of exploding.

We're both just tenants here, yet you act like you own the place.

And when was I ever unclean? I clean the bathroom spotless every single time, and I even scrubbed all the grease off the kitchen—it's immaculate.

It was her, on the other hand, who hadn't shown up for a week, leaving the living room covered in dust that he had to clean up all by himself.

No, tonight he had to stake out the place; he wanted to see what kind of girl she really was.