Chapter 14: Renting the Haunted House, Zhao Mansion's Zhao Qingyan

Dongfang Capital, Central Ring.

As the leading international metropolis in Dragon Country, Dongfang Capital is often described as the cradle of skyscrapers.

Walking in the Central City District Zone, towering buildings are visible everywhere, resembling steel giants standing at the heart of the city.

Zhang Wei was at this moment quietly admiring the city.

The bustling streets, busy office workers, the green belts along the road adding splashes of color to the city, and the diverse passers-by on the sidewalks.

Sometimes, watching such a city can be a delight.

But while Zhang Wei could calm his mind, those around him could not.

"Hey, hey, hey, driver, how long has it been? Why hasn't the bus moved at all?"

The guy sitting next to him couldn't help but wave his hands and complain.

Not just him, other passengers around were also becoming impatient.

"Hurry up, I'm going to be late for work!"

"Driver, how do you drive? A journey of a few minutes, how come it's been half an hour and we still haven't arrived?"

"What's happening up ahead, isn't it just a traffic light? Why haven't we passed it yet?"

A big city has its advantages, but naturally, it has its downsides too.

As the city grows larger and the economy better, more people buy cars, leading to traffic problems, especially in Dongfang Capital where this issue is particularly obvious.

Traffic jam!

About traffic jams, there's even a joke.

Once, there was a number-plate restriction management in the Central City District Zone of Dongfang Capital. A driver in a restricted car got stopped by a patrol officer, leading to the following conversation:

Patrol officer: "Do you know what day it is today?"

Driver: "Saturday!"

Patrol officer: "Then, do you know your car's number is restricted today?"

Driver: "Of course, but yesterday wasn't restricted!"

Patrol officer: "Yesterday was yesterday, today is today!"

Driver: "But I finished work yesterday."

Patrol officer: "What does your finishing work yesterday have to do with driving a restricted car today?"

The driver finally spread his hands: "There's a big connection, because I've been stuck in traffic since yesterday and haven't moved an inch!"

Patrol officer: "..."

...

The traffic problem in Dongfang Capital has a long history and has even been turned into online jokes by netizens.

Seeing the conflict between the surrounding passengers and the driver escalating, Zhang Wei couldn't help but speak up.

"Driver, I need to get off, I have an appointment, please understand!"

The bus seemed like it would not be moving any time soon, but Zhang Wei wasn't used to making others wait.

The driver was helpless, but as a veteran of this route, he knew Dongfang Capital's traffic quirks well. There was likely a fender bender ahead, and it probably wouldn't clear up anytime soon.

He opened the rear door, allowing some passengers who were in a rush to exit the bus.

Anyway, the road was already choked with traffic and no one could move. It was safe for passengers to leave the bus.

Zhang Wei quickly picked a direction and started to hurry.

Luckily, the place he was going to was near Central Ring. It was only a ten-minute walk, and he still had spare time from the appointment with the landlord.

After dashing all the way, Zhang Wei finally arrived at his destination just before the agreed time.

Located in the southeastern region of Central Ring, close to the Huang River, a popular internet-famous ancient town, Sifang Gate Street.

Sifang Gate Street is a famous internet sensation within Dongfang Capital.

Contrasting with the surrounding modern skyscrapers, this place only features some old houses with white walls and black tiles.

The entire street is laid out in a "field" character shape, with the central intersection bustling with activity and street vendors energetically peddling their goods. You can see girls dressed up and striking poses for selfies with their mobile phones everywhere.

Zhang Wei walked into a small alley and followed it for several minutes before arriving at the eastern street.

Unlike the lively central street, the east street was deserted, with not a single pedestrian in sight, as if entering a completely different world.

Across the street was a moat around ten meters wide. The water was quite clear.

Zhang Wei looked towards his side, and the whole Eastern Gate Street had only a few large family courtyards, separated by walls that obscured the view into their interiors.

"The place the landlord mentioned for the meeting looks to be right here, but where is she?"

Zhang Wei looked around for a moment, but didn't see anyone; not the landlord, let alone any other soul.

Although he didn't like being late, he disliked waiting for others even more, and he liked it least of all when others had to wait for him.

He pulled out an old-style flip phone to check the time and found that he wasn't late, but the landlord was.

"Could the landlord be stuck in traffic?"

Zhang Wei seemed to have had an epiphany.

The roads were so congested on the way here that he almost arrived late himself; it was likely the landlord was caught up in the same traffic.

With that thought, he resigned himself to the situation.

"Well, I might as well wait!"

After looking at the desolate street, he decided to wait.

An hour later.

Along with a roar of an engine, a high-end SUV drove into the alley and stopped in front of Zhang Wei.

A stocky, muscular woman stepped out of the car. She appeared to be in her early forties, heavily made-up, emanating a strong perfume scent from several meters away.

The auntie was dressed in a similarly loose, expensive suit with a string of pearls around her neck and a designer bag on her arm.

No matter how Zhang Wei looked at her, one word flashed in his mind: wealthy lady!

The wealthy lady glanced at Zhang Wei and then at her surroundings before finally walking over and asking,

"Are you Little Zhang? We got stuck in traffic, sorry for that!"

As expected, the landlord was indeed delayed by traffic.

But although she was apologizing, her expression carried a hint of arrogance. She spoke with her head held high and her gaze at Zhang Wei was more scrutinizing than anything.

"Are you Sister Lin?" Zhang Wei asked tentatively.

"Actually, I wasn't born with the name Lin, but after marrying my husband, everyone in his family started calling me Madam Lin," the wealthy lady explained with a thick Dongfang Capital local accent.

Fortunately, Zhang Wei had grown up in the Southern region, and the orphanage was in the neighboring city. Having spent his time after getting into university in Dongfang Capital, he could understand the dialect.

The wealthy lady gestured for Zhang Wei to follow her.

"Little Zhang, where are you from?"

"I've lived in Jinying City since I was little."

"Oh my, Jinying City, what a nice place! You look young, still a student?"

"Yes, but I'm about to graduate and preparing for the Judicial Examination."

"Judicial Examination, so you're from a law school? Which one?"

"East University Law School!"

"Oh ho, you attend the same school as my husband!"

...

As they walked and talked, the wealthy lady was like a neighborhood aunt, inquiring into Zhang Wei's background.

She was surprised to learn he was from East University Law School, while Zhang Wei was surprised to find out her husband was an alumnus of his university.

Suddenly, Zhang Wei caught a glimpse of a plaque at the entrance of a courtyard nearby.

"A martial arts school?"

A sign hung at the entrance of the courtyard, boldly inscribed with "Zhang's Martial Arts School."

"Little Zhang, don't worry about them. What era is it that people still practice martial arts? It's all just fancy moves that are all show and no substance," the wealthy lady said disdainfully as she noticed the sign for the martial arts school.

Speaking of which, it seemed she remembered something and expressed with indignation, "That girl from the martial arts school has no manners. I kindly tried to set her up with my older brother's nephew, and she didn't appreciate it at all. It makes me angry just mentioning it!"

Zhang Wei chuckled and replied casually, not taking the matter to heart.

They walked past the martial arts school and soon arrived at the entrance of the next courtyard.

This time, the gate bore the words "Zhao Family Mansion," and there happened to be someone inside.

"Hey, isn't that Lin's Second Sister-in-Law? What brings you to the old house today?"

The person in the courtyard recognized the wealthy lady and greeted her with a smile.

It was a man who appeared to be no spring chicken, his hair nearly half gone, dressed casually and watering the plants in the courtyard.

"Young Zhao, not working today?"

"It's the weekend, so I'm staying at home to relax a bit. Sister-in-Law Lin, this young man behind you is...?"

The man's surname was Zhao, clearly the master of the house. He glanced at Zhang Wei behind the wealthy woman, somewhat curious.

"Oh, this is Little Zhang, I brought him to take a look at the house. You go ahead and do what you're busy with!"

The wealthy woman didn't want to talk more with the man and quickly walked past the entrance of Zhao Mansion with Zhang Wei.

The man, on the other hand, looked at Zhang Wei with some surprise; he didn't think this young man would rent the house next door.

Because there were significant problems with this house—it was even the site of a death.

Soon, Zhang Wei arrived at his destination.

The landlord, Sister Lin, used the key to open the courtyard gate, and suddenly a messy courtyard unfolded before them.

The whole house was massive, resembling a mix of a quadrangle dwelling and a garden. The entrance courtyard alone was fifty or sixty square meters, and there was an arch on one side of the yard, leading to the next door.

Zhang Wei peeked through the arch and actually saw a pond and rockery; the courtyard seemed quite large.

"This is the old residence of my husband's ancestors. When it comes to the Lin Family, our ancestors were quite the household name back in the day..."

Sister Lin spoke of her family's house with a proud face, starting to boast.

"The house itself must cover at least a few hundred square meters, right?"

"Hmph, just a few hundred square meters, you're way off, Little Zhang!" Sister Lin said disdainfully, looking up: "With the front and back courtyards, plus the area by the entrance, it's at least a thousand square meters. Just look at the inside of the house; there are two whole buildings, not two rooms, two buildings, you know!"

The house was indeed large, especially by the real estate prices in the Dongfang Capital Central City District Zone. Some new residential areas within the Central Ring sell for several hundred thousand per square meter.

A house and courtyard spanning thousands of square meters, even if priced at a round figure of one hundred thousand per square meter, would cost a hundred million.

Moreover, though the house was old, the value of this piece of land was extraordinary. This was Dongfang Capital, where every inch of land in the Central Ring was worth its weight in gold.

A house worth a hundred million, being rented out just like that—the landlord's family was truly unique.

"Such a big house, and you're only asking for 5000 a month in rent?" Zhang Wei was also curious.

"Sigh, I had no choice, these kinds of houses are hard to rent out nowadays. In my opinion, it's better not to rent the house out at all, or just rent it all out in one go!"

Sister Lin sighed with resignation, talking about the matters of the house.

The house was indeed large, but after all, it was her husband's ancestral home, and they didn't want it to be spoiled by unsavory tenants.

They had thought about listing it with an agency, but the agency didn't do a good job.

"Speaking of this really gets me angry. I entrusted it to those agency companies, but I made it clear to them that this house is the ancestral home of our family, and that they must not let disreputable people live there."

"And what do you know? I had barely left before they put up wooden boards to divide the house into more than ten sections. They turned a grand residence into a birdcage. I rented to them for ten thousand a month, and they charged three thousand for each unit, profiting over thirty thousand a month. Isn't that infuriating?"

"If it weren't for young Zhao next door who changed something, I wouldn't have known how they ruined my house."

"In the end, I had someone kick all the tenants out, and that bunch of agents even wanted to sue us. Humph!" Sister Lin said this with her hands on her hips and a triumphant expression: "Humph, they should have asked around what my husband's family does for a living!"

Zhang Wei didn't reply but walked around the courtyard and noticed quite a bit of household garbage.

He was also clear that the biggest problem with the house hadn't been mentioned by the landlord.

"Little Zhang, so, do you want to rent the house or what?"

"The house is actually not bad, but let me ask you, there really aren't any major problems with it, are there?" Zhang Wei asked knowingly.

He looked at the landlord, and Sister Lin looked back at him, her gaze flickering slightly, a sign of hiding something in her heart.

"Little Zhang, I won't lie to you, this house does have a little problem, but it's nothing major. If you do want to rent..."

"How about this, landlord, I'll rent it for 4000 a month!"

Sister Lin was still thinking of brushing him off, but Zhang Wei went straight for a discount.

He knew that the house had previously been the site of a suicide; a tenant had killed himself there, so the house was considered inauspicious.

Most people wouldn't dare to rent it, but who can resist a haunted house at such a cheap price?

Such a large house in the Central City area of Dongfang Capital was only 5000 a month.

Moreover, transportation was convenient, with a mere ten-minute walk to the nearest public transportation station, even including a subway stop—couldn't be more convenient.

But bargaining was still necessary.

"4000 a month!"

Sister Lin was startled, seeing how honest Little Zhang seemed, but he'd slashed 1000 off the price right from the start.

In the end, after a round of haggling, Zhang Wei rented the entire house for 4500 a month.

As Zhang Wei didn't have a smartphone and couldn't transfer money, he had to go with the landlord to the nearest bank to complete the transaction.

Zhang Wei rented for a whole year and paid Sister Lin a total of 58000 including the deposit.

After signing the contract, Sister Lin handed over the keys to Zhang Wei.

Now, that large courtyard had become Zhang Wei's.

The courtyard was located at the very end of Zhengdong Gate Street, and the house was indeed not small, with only four households in a row, suggesting that these four families were also prominent ones in Dongfang Capital back in the day.

Unfortunately, times had changed, and now this location was quiet, except that the crossroads behind their yards had become a popular internet sensation, which brought some liveliness.

Out of the four households, the first one always kept its doors closed.

The second was Zhang's Martial Arts School, which seemed to have residents, but Zhang Wei was unclear about their situation.

As for the third household, Zhao Mansion, that would be Zhang Wei's neighbor for the coming year.

When Zhang Wei returned to the front gate of Lin Mansion, the master of the neighboring Zhao Mansion just walked out.

"Zhang Wei, why don't you come in and sit in my yard?"

The master was very hospitable, apparently eager because he noticed that Zhang Wei planned to rent for a long time.

After thinking it over, and considering that they would be neighbors for the next year, it was essential to build a good relationship, so he accepted the invitation.

Unlike the messy Lin Mansion, the courtyard inside Zhao Mansion was evidently well-maintained, with a beautiful small garden at the entrance featuring many flowers.

The master of Zhao Mansion was named Zhao Qingyan, the same age as the landlady from the Lin Family.

"Zhang Wei, you seem to be about the same age as my daughter, so from now on, just call me Uncle Zhao, meeting each other is fate after all."

Zhao Qingyan was articulate and warm-hearted in his dealings, treating Zhang Wei with courtesy.

However, when he thought about how this Uncle Zhao was not even fifty years old, almost the same age as he was in his previous life, and now he had to address him as "uncle," he felt a bit unpleasant about it.

During their conversation, Zhao Qingyan revealed that he worked at Blacksmith Technology, in the research and development department.

Zhang Wei wasn't very familiar with the enterprise, but he had heard of its great reputation.

This was an internet company with assets exceeding a hundred billion, one of the leading companies in the internet industry of Dragon Country, headquartered in Dongfang Capital.

"Uncle Zhao, are you a programmer?"

"Yes, otherwise why would I be losing my hair so fast!"

Zhao Qingyan seemed unbothered by what others thought, scratching the bald front part of his head without a hint of sadness on his face.

Programmers, after all, may have high salaries, but they come at the cost of their hair!

"By the way, why did you think of renting the Lin Family's house? This place is known as a notorious haunted house around here!"

"Mostly because it's cheap. I'm just a poor student, where would I get the money to rent a better place? Besides, I'm gearing up for the legal exam, and after the subjective part, there's the objective one, not to mention waiting for an internship. Even if I pass everything and get my professional qualification certificate, that won't be until next year."

Zhang Wei sighed with resignation. If he had the funds, who wouldn't want to rent a place with a good location that also looks beautiful and appealing?

With limited funds, he had to make do with the next best thing. Although Lin Mansion didn't look attractive, it was situated in a not-so-bad location.

"So you're a law student, from East University?"

"Yes."

"You're the junior brother of the Lin Family's second son. If Uncle Zhao ever encounters any legal troubles in the future, I'll be counting on you!"

"Uncle Zhao, you jest. I don't even have my practice certificate yet, so I can't give you any advice even if I wanted to."

"Hahaha, that's true. But if I do run into a real issue at work, that young man needs to give me some advice. If he can solve the problem, I can apply for a subsidy from my company. In any case, you won't be left out of the benefits."

"Certainly, certainly..."

"By the way, Zhang Wei, why don't you save my number? We can keep in touch more frequently in the future."

Zhao Qingyan said, taking out his smartphone.

When he saw Zhang Wei's flip phone, he was surprised.

He hadn't expected a young person today to still be using such an old-style feature phone.

"Zhang Wei, wait a moment!" Zhao Qingyan thought of something, promptly went back inside the house, and soon returned.

"This is a test model of a smartphone developed by our company last year, which has now reached the user feedback stage. A large part has been put onto the market. You can use it, and if there are any issues, just tell Uncle Zhao."

As he spoke, he handed over a compact, trendy black smartphone to Zhang Wei.

Zhang Wei declined initially, but Zhao Qingyan insisted, so Zhang Wei no longer refused.

The two not only exchanged numbers, but Zhang Wei also downloaded and installed a VChat app, adding Zhao Qingyan as a friend.

After chatting for a while more, Zhang Wei got up to leave, and Zhao Qingyan naturally did not overly retain him.

Leaving Zhao Mansion and passing by Zhang's Martial Arts School, Zhang Wei faintly heard some sounds coming from inside, as if someone was hitting wooden stakes.

It was perfectly normal for someone to be training at a martial arts school, so he was not surprised in the slightest.

He left Zhengdong Gate and went to a supermarket on Central Street to shop for groceries.

Lin Mansion was vast, but apart from trash, it had nothing else, so he had to tidy up properly.

Having moved houses, he still had to deal with the hygiene issues in the house.