this chapter is brought to you by mio
as translator, proofreader and editor!
[Please, Xu Yao, be human! Sheng Zhou’s life matters too!]
[Sheng Zhou: Are you people polite?! Hahahahaha.]
[I’m now certain that Xu Yao is truly a scapegoat and has never dated Sheng Zhou. She’s just the head of Sheng Zhou’s antifan club!]
[Maybe Xu Yao’s hatred stems from love. If you can’t get him, you destroy him. [Dog head.jpg]]
Li Xiaoli saw the newcomer and immediately said to Xu Yao, “Boss, this is Zuo Ning from B404.”
Li Xiaoli thought he was coming to pay the rent and had already prepared the universal voucher to be given out after paying this month’s rent. Zuo Ning’s tired face instantly flushed red, all the way to his ears.
Xu Yao smiled and had Lu Ye close the livestream before Zuo Ning could speak.
Zuo Ning’s sun-tanned face was as red as a cloud, and he spoke with some difficulty, “Landlady, I… can I delay my rent for a month, no, half a month?”
Xu Yao: “Sure.”
Zuo Ning was instantly stunned, “S-Sure???”
Zuo Ning had been prepared to use all his might to persuade Xu Yao to let him delay the rent, but Xu Yao agreed without a word! This was unexpected.
Xu Yao’s freshly manicured fingers tapped lightly on the table, and she asked with a smile, “I heard you’re a director? You make TV dramas?”
Zuo Ning, still somewhat green, said, “Not TV dramas, short dramas.”
How could Xu Yao not know? In the original plot, Zuo Ning, like her, was a cannon fodder character. To film this short drama, he sold his small apartment, his only home, and became homeless, not even being able to afford rent. His girlfriend betrayed him, and under the weight of various pressures, he left a suicide note and jumped off a bridge.
When he died, everyone started to love him. Countless netizens mourned his soul, grieved his passing, and marvelled at his talent.
Everyone watched Zuo Ning’s painstakingly created supernatural short drama, “Yin1 Fate“. The female lead, Liu Yingxia, directly bought the copyright to this short drama under the pretext of supporting his legacy.
It was this “Yin Fate” that launched the short drama boom in this novel world, hailed as the ancestor of short dramas, bringing Liu Yingxia fame and fortune.
Short dramas, as the name suggests, are extremely short, only a few minutes long, but every frame and every line of dialogue is quintessential!
Xu Yao asked, “Are you short on investment? I can cover two months’ rent for you in the urban village.”
Zuo Ning’s tired eyes brightened at the mention of ‘investment,’ but they dimmed again upon hearing the second half of her sentence.
Two months’ rent in the urban village? Zuo Ning’s rent was also fifteen hundred a month, so he instinctively thought two months’ rent would be three thousand. Three thousand was nowhere near enough; although he was filming a short drama and was trying hard to cut costs, once filming started, it would be a money pit.
Zuo Ning first thanked Xu Yao for allowing him to defer one month’s rent before leaving.
*
pls do not share this anywhere or u will always stub ur toe when u walk past a door frame !! this translation has been stolen from mioscorner.com, pls only read there i’m begging u :kneels:
On Weibo, there was a trending topic called [Rental Issues], with nearly a million followers. It featured posts from netizens seeking help regarding renting, and occasionally, legal professionals would offer assistance.
Common posts included questions like “What to do if a bizarre landlord refuses to return the deposit?”, “Should I call the police if the landlord opens my door in the middle of the night?”, “Looking for a sublet, DM me,” and “Is it wrong that I won’t return the deposit because the tenant filled my new house with garbage?” This was a gathering place for ordinary workers to vent about their rental experiences.
Zhang Jiawang, an ordinary worker, had been on a business trip with his boss and hadn’t returned to Haicheng for a few days. He had recently posted a sublet notice in the rental topic, so he would check it from time to time.
Just as Zhang Jiawang clicked into Weibo, he was surprised to find numerous message notifications, all from his sublet post.
——[Bro, is your place still available? Can you sublet it to me? I urgently need a place to stay.]
——[OP, can I sublet your house? I can pay the deposit right now, and then we can sign a new lease with the landlord together.]
——[Netizen, we’re from the same hometown, please sublet to me and not to others.]
Zhang Jiawang: “??”
Subletting wasn’t that easy, especially when dealing with a second landlord.
His sublet notice had gone unanswered for several days, and now, just a short time later, he had hundreds of replies, all hoping to sublet.
Several even offered an extra fifty yuan!
Zhang Jiawang was deeply puzzled. What was so appealing about the urban village in Haicheng that a group of netizens was scrambling to rent?
Could this be some new type of scam??
Feeling strange, Zhang Jiawang cautiously refrained from replying to those netizens immediately. Instead, he clicked into the rental topic to look for clues.
A pinned video post in the rental forum caught his attention.
Zhang Jiawang watched the five-minute video and chuckled, guessing that the guy who posted it had encountered another bizarre landlord. He was curious to see what kind of strange landlord needed to be dealt with today.
In the video, a man in his thirties spoke excitedly: “I consider myself someone who has rented dozens of times over the years, and I’ve seen all kinds of strange landlords, but I’ve never encountered one as bizarre as this!”
Zhang Jiawang thought the guy looked somewhat familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere before.
“Previously, we suffered under the tyranny of a second landlord. The landlord said she would collect the rent herself, but I didn’t take it to heart, since all landlords are pretty much the same. But this landlord lady specifically gave each tenant supermarket vouchers, and my wife just bought a bunch of fruit with them!”
The video shifted, and the guy was filming the hallway: “Hey, the story doesn’t end here! This morning, as we were leaving for work, we ran into a group of cleaners doing a thorough cleaning, trying to dig out the dirt from the tile seams. I heard they even had a rat removal service. I almost died of fright when I went downstairs early in the morning; they had probably collected forty or fifty pounds of dead rats, and the smell was overwhelming.”
He attached a few photos of the pile of dead rats, which startled Zhang Jiawang, and then he realised the video environment looked very familiar, almost like his own home!
“You think it ends here? Not at all! When I got home from work, I found my place had changed… Don’t get me wrong, my home wasn’t ransacked by the landlord; the landlord lady furnished every room! We live in the worst urban village, and having a broken bed is already a blessing. I don’t even remember the last time I slept on a mattress. In the neighboyring furnished urban village, rent starts at two thousand! I casually asked, and the landlord lady said she hopes her tenants can live comfortably in her place.”
Zhang Jiawang scoffed; who didn’t know this trick? It was just a prelude to raising the rent, right?
The guy in the video seemed to be deliberately dragging out the suspense, elongating his tone: “The most crucial part is— the rent hasn’t increased!”
Zhang Jiawang was taken aback. Rent hasn’t increased? Then he heard the guy in the video say: “After working for so many years, this is the first time I’ve encountered such a conscientious landlord. She gives gifts, arranges for cleaning, and even provides furniture. Without a second thought, I extended my lease with the landlord lady for another six months!”
Netizens were left confused. Wait… today isn’t about complaining about landlords or tenants? Are we praising the landlord instead?
[What kind of divine landlord is this? I want to rent from her too! Where does this netizen live in Haicheng?]
[It’s definitely Xu Yao, 100% Xu Yao. I watched her live stream all day today! She’s truly a landlord goddess.]
#DivineLandlordXuYao# quickly trended!
[If my landlord were half as good as Xu Yao, I would wake up laughing in the middle of the night. She’s a true goddess.]
[No rent increase, thorough cleaning, and furniture provided, just to make her tenants comfortable?]
[Haha, I live there! I heard Xu Yao tell Team Leader Li that she plans to install an elevator in a few days! No rent increase and she’s adding an elevator. I regret having criticised Xu Yao before; I admit my mistake QAQ.]
[Adding an elevator to an old building? My God, why can’t there be more landlords like Xu Yao in this world?]
[Haha, I live nearby and I’m calling to rent a room right now. I’m planning to move in tomorrow. The infrastructure and environment are better than other urban villages, and the furniture conditions are comparable to a community but half the price. It’s truly the best value for money!]
Immediately, there were netizens living near Haicheng frantically inquiring below this Weibo post: [Sister, are there still available rooms over there? I’m planning to rent too!]
Xu Yao’s two buildings in the urban village originally had a few rooms left, but as soon as the trending topic hit, Li Xiaoli received hundreds of calls in an instant, all for viewing appointments!
Li Xiaoli was exhausted from running up and down, and suddenly understood Xu Yao’s suggestion before she left about installing an elevator in each of the two buildings in a few days.
At that time, Li Xiaoli looked at Xu Yao with a ‘my boss is a big spender’ expression, but now, sitting on the stairs panting, she just wanted to say—
Her boss truly has foresight!
Although she was tired after a whole day, fortunately, Li Xiaoli managed to rent everything out smoothly.
Li Xiaoli remembered that a few tenants seemed to be planning to sublet, so she called, “Are you Mr. Zhang Jiawang? Are you still planning to sublet…”
Before Li Xiaoli could finish her sentence, Zhang Jiawang on the other end immediately raised his voice to interrupt, “I’m not subletting! Who said I wanted to sublet?! I’m coming back from a business trip tonight!”
He recognised the brother in that video; it turned out they were neighbours in the same building!
What a joke, there’s no other place in Haicheng’s urban village with such high cost-performance! Why would he sublet to someone else, then go rent another place at a high price, possibly encountering a nasty landlord? Is he out of his mind?
After understanding the situation, Zhang Jiawang ruthlessly deleted those posts and subletting Weibo posts; anyone who mentioned subletting would provoke his anger.
Subletting? Impossible, never!
Xu Yao’s trending topic was indeed too hot; many netizens saw it, including Zuo Ning, who was currently eating instant noodles with friends in a rental apartment.
Zuo Ning held a fork in one hand and a sausage in the other, staring at Weibo when suddenly a comment refreshed: [Xu Yao’s two buildings in Haicheng’s urban village, one estimated at two hundred thousand, two buildings could collect about four hundred thousand in rent a month.]
Zuo Ning’s eyes were glued to the words ‘four hundred thousand,’ his heart beginning to race violently as the sausage in his hand uncontrollably fell to the ground with a thud.
His friend, who was slurping noodles, immediately picked it up and said, “Wash it, it’s still edible. Just consider it a celebration that the landlord is willing to let us owe a month’s rent… What are you daydreaming about?”
Zuo Ning’s breathing quickened, his voice trembling, “I pulled in an investment today, and someone might… might invest eight hundred thousand.”
The rental apartment fell silent for a few seconds, and with a thud, the half-eaten sausage fell from his friend’s hand again.
“Eight, eight hundred thousand?” His friend stared at Zuo Ning in disbelief, still holding onto the instant noodle soup bucket.
“Bro, you’re way too calm! Eight hundred thousand, that’s eight hundred thousand, not eight bucks! And you’re just telling me this now???”.
Zuo Ning’s face was completely blank, as if he were in a dream, and he began to regret, “She asked me if I needed investment? She wants to invest two months’ rent for the urban village, and netizens said her two months’ rent is about eight hundred thousand…”
His friend fell silent for a moment; was this the unit of measurement for rich people? They thought it was the rent for one room, but Xu Yao was talking about two buildings!
With that eight hundred thousand, their short drama would be saved!
Nowadays, web dramas can’t be made without tens of millions in investment, but short dramas are different; a single episode is only a few minutes long, using the smallest investment to earn the most money.
His friend, while happy, looked at Zuo Ning suspiciously, “Why did the landlord suddenly say she wants to invest? She probably hasn’t even seen the project, right?”
Although Zuo Ning wasn’t exactly a campus heartthrob, he was still quite handsome, and even though he had tanned a lot recently, his looks were definitely acceptable.
Zuo Ning couldn’t figure it out either; if they were talking about looks, that tall bodyguard who accompanied Xu Yao to collect rent today wasn’t any less attractive than him.
Zuo Ning thought for a moment, and as if he suddenly understood, could only think of one reason: “Uh… it seems to be because I’m Sheng Zhou’s antifan?”
His friend’s eyes widened, and he slapped his thigh: “Is that it? Then I’ll immediately become an antifan of Sheng Zhou as well—I’ll roast him to the core.”
Zuo Ning: “…”
Zuo Ning could no longer sit still eating instant noodles; he immediately dashed out towards Li Xiaoli’s room, and as soon as he reached downstairs, he bumped right into Li Xiaoli.
Zuo Ning immediately asked Li Xiaoli for Xu Yao’s contact information, took a few deep breaths, and then seriously dialled that phone number on his phone.
At this moment, Zuo Ning felt anxious; he was afraid he was overthinking, but if it was true, not asking would mean missing out on a huge opportunity, a chance to bring “Yin Fate” to the screen!
After a few dozen seconds, the call connected, and he heard Xu Yao’s somewhat lazy voice; she had just finished a bath, and a professional spa masseuse was kneeling in front of her, pouring essential oil into her palm to massage her acupoints. Xu Yao let out a comfortable sigh.
Zuo Ning nervously spoke up, “Excuse me, is this Miss Xu Yao? I’m Zuo Ning.”
“You… you said you were planning to invest two months’ rent for the urban village. Did you mean eight hundred thousand?”
Xu Yao: “Yes, otherwise what do you think?”
Rather than waiting for Zuo Ning to jump off a bridge and let Liu Yingxia pick up the cheap copyright to make a fortune, it was better for her to take it directly.
After all, it was just two months’ rent, not a lot.
Zuo Ning’s pupils shook: “…!”
What he initially thought was two months’ rent—three thousand yuan.
What Xu Yao meant by two months’ rent for the urban village—eight hundred thousand!
It turned out… money really does fall from the sky. Zuo Ning felt a bit dizzy from this huge surprise, joy dancing wildly on his face.
Zuo Ning really couldn’t understand, “Why would Miss Xu invest in me?”
Xu Yao: “Aren’t you one month behind on rent?”
Zuo Ning was a bit confused: “?”
Was it just for this? Just to help him pay the overdue rent?
Zuo Ning was so excited he was almost incoherent: “Then Miss Xu, let’s discuss this in detail now, you now…” Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed it was getting late, so he could only regretfully change his words, “How about we talk tomorrow? Nine in the morning, oh no, eight o’clock, is that okay?”
If conditions allowed, Zuo Ning wanted to finalise it right now, fearing that once Xu Yao woke up and cleared her mind, she would regret it.
Xu Yao nodded in agreement. The rent for the urban village had mostly been collected this month, so she could take a break for a couple of days before collecting from the next tenant, which she had time for tomorrow.
After hanging up the phone, Xu Yao seriously recalled the novel. The original text had mixed reviews for Zuo Ning’s short drama; while there were indeed many excellent aspects, it was also criticised for being poorly made and having numerous plot holes.
Zuo Ning was not only the director of the short drama “Yin Fate,” he was also the crucial screenwriter. It was said that his inspiration came from an episode of sleep paralysis he experienced. However, while Zuo Ning had exceptional talent in filming, he was clearly not as skilled in plot development compared to professional screenwriters or even novelists.
Hiring two professional screenwriters could perfectly resolve the issues.
Xu Yao scrolled through her phone contacts and called a number saved as “Yan Xiang.”
This young man was a talented junior from the same university as Xu Yao, majoring in Chinese. They had previously been in the same club, which was how she had his contact information.
Yan Xiang was a male author from Lujing Literature City2. Although he was a boy, his writing style was delicate, respectful of women, and devoid of the male gaze, making it very comfortable for Xu Yao, as a female reader, to read.
Yan Xiang had grand ambitions, dreaming of one day adapting his works for film and television, so he had also self-studied screenwriting.
However, recently, this junior was likely overwhelmed with his senior year internship, as he had to submit an internship report.
“Senior sister Xu Yao? What do you need me for?” Yan Xiang was nestled in his school dormitory, one hand on the phone while his eyes were glued to a job search website on his computer.
Their university was not particularly prestigious, and it was even harder for Chinese majors to find good jobs unless he decided to take the graduate entrance exam or civil service exam at the last minute, but Yan Xiang always felt that his aspirations lay elsewhere.
During his senior year internship, he hadn’t actually gone for an internship, instead staying in the dormitory to learn how to write scripts. As a result, his advisor had started urging him for his internship report a few days ago, which made Yan Xiang anxious.
Xu Yao asked, “Do you want to come help me out? I’ll pay you.”
Yan Xiang had seen Xu Yao’s livestream that morning and knew she had hired Li Xiaoli to collect rent for her. Surely she wouldn’t ask him to collect rent too?
Collecting rent was fine, but the rent wouldn’t go to him! The thought of experiencing rent collection made him feel even worse.
Yan Xiang felt a bit resistant, “Senior, you know I’ve been busy looking for a job and writing my thesis, and I…”
Xu Yao interrupted softly, “I’ll give you an internship certificate.”
Yan Xiang straightened his back instantly, “Boss, where and what time do I start work tomorrow?”
feel like my mandarin is getting worse despite working at a mandarin majority speaking workplace QAQ
–‘{@
Rich benevolence
Making people “bootlickers”.
It’s funny, but sad.