Tag: Retiring From the Circle to Collect Rent Everyday

this chapter is brought to you by mio
as translator, proofreader and editor!

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At the same time, the official Weibo account of the variety show ‘My Home Life‘ finally released their long-awaited trailer.

There were a total of five groups of guests, from entertainment industry artists, social elites, to ordinary individuals; but the most anticipated was undoubtedly the top star Sheng Zhou.

The show’s photographer was clearly very skilled, taking especially good care of Sheng Zhou.

In that brief trailer, the camera opened with a long shot of the door, moving into the top luxury mansion in Haicheng, with the final shot landing on Sheng Zhou’s handsome profile standing in front of the oversized floor-to-ceiling window!

In the video, Sheng Zhou opened his arms to the camera, smiling gently, “Welcome to my home; from now on, there’s wine, and there’s also me.”

A small trailer sent countless fans of Sheng Zhou into excited screams.

[My God, Sheng Zhou is really amazing; having him in the entertainment industry is our blessing!]

[I checked, the mansions in Haicheng start at one hundred million yuan; looking at the luxurious decoration in the trailer, this one must cost at least two hundred million yuan¹. Sheng Zhou is really impressive to be able to afford a place like this.]

[So happy, finally got a chance to see Zhou Zhou’s mansion, but I probably couldn’t even afford a toilet in Zhou Zhou’s house, right?]

[Don’t be disheartened, dear; we ordinary people can have our own lives too. I wouldn’t even dare to fantasize about such top luxury mansions; the most painful are those with a bit of money and are neither rich nor poor, who can think and buy but have to empty their pockets.]

[Haha, I know who you’re talking about; sister, you’re really harsh, but I like it. Shh—don’t mention that certain woman who has withdrawn from the circle; it’s an insult to the comment section.]

[Sisters are meant to encourage each other; think about it this way: it would take me twenty years to buy a regular three-bedroom apartment, while that certain woman would also need to not eat or drink for twenty years to buy a mansion like Zhou Zhou’s. We’re all the same, instant psychological balance [dog head.jpg].]

The fighting spirit of Sheng Zhou’s fans is well-known across the internet; they have battled against many artists but suffered losses against Xu Yao, making her a top villain in the eyes of all Sheng Zhou’s fans. Everything had to be dragged out and stepped on.

The production team directly turned a blind eye to this, and instead, were quite pleased. The popularity of Xu Yao, who was hated all over the internet, hadn’t diminished at all these days, despite her withdrawal from the circle. And since it wasn’t their show that was causing the trouble, the situation was just right to help boost their show’s traffic and hype.

Xu Yao, who was seated in the rental collection van and planning to collect rent in the new community today, squinted her eyes: “?”

Sheng Zhou’s luxury mansion at Haicheng Shangpin²?

He bought it?

Is this how Sheng Zhou is promoting it?

Indeed, Sheng Zhou is promoting it this way, because he has discovered that his landlord is likely a very easy-going person. He doesn’t proactively pay the rent, yet the landlord doesn’t care, even letting the situation drag on as is for more than half a year, as if he hadn’t noticed anything. It seems like his landlord is the kind of top-tier big shot who doesn’t care about that little money, right? After all, to a wealthy landlord, that rental amount is just a drop in the bucket.

Sheng Zhou is quite conscious about his status; seeing that his landlord has never said anything, his team has subtly promoted the over a hundred million yuan mansion at Haicheng Shangpin as his own property.

As it turned out, the generous landlord indeed had no reaction.

Before the premiere of the variety show ‘My Home Life,’ there was such a frenzy of hype, yet the wealthy landlord hadn’t made a peep. To Sheng Zhou, this was indeed the best landlord!

Unlike Xu Yao, who only has two buildings in the urban village, yet trying to win people over with some no-threshold coupons and second-hand furniture.

Xu Yao only thought about collecting rent on time, so as long as Sheng Zhou’s fans didn’t dance in front of her, she couldn’t be bothered.

As a result, her Weibo comment section was filled with: [Rich girl, have you checked out @My Home Life? Want to see a real big house? Considering buying one?]

Xu Yao watched in admiration; indeed, the main character with issues has a group of fans with issues too.

Xu Yao snorted coldly while sitting in the professional rental collection van, her crystal-manicured fingers quickly tapping on the virtual keyboard of her phone, while Lu Ye and the others silently watched from the side.

What did these little fans provoke her for?

[Xu Yao v replied to @Zhou Zhou’s little wife: He rents it.]

Fans: ???

Almost instantly, a new trending search term popped up—#Xu Yao hints that Sheng Zhou’s Hai Cheng Shang Pin mansion is rented#

[Rented? Xu Yao, you’re still spreading rumors! Who doesn’t know that Zhou Zhou looked at the Haicheng Shangpin mansion last year? There are even paparazzi photos of it!]

[At this point, is this even a hint? This is a direct statement, right? Xu Yao, can you just shut up and stop riding other people’s coattails?]

[Our Yao Yao didn’t say this ‘he’ is Sheng Zhou, right? Among the five groups of guests, there are indeed guests who directly said their houses are rented.]

[Xu Yao’s fans, can you stop trying to whitewash her? Xu Yao, just wait to be sued; plus, last time you spread rumours about Sheng Zhou and Liu Yingxia dating, I’ll sue you until you kneel and beg for mercy!]

Xu Yao watched as Sheng Zhou’s fans hopped furiously in her comment section, clicking her tongue twice and as she said, “Aren’t I doing well? I’m even helping Sheng Zhou create hype for the trending topic; and it’s even free of charge.”

Lu Ye and the others: “…”

Well, Miss Yao Yao is quite the good person.

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:

Xu Yao didn’t care about Sheng Zhou or the angry netizens; she closed Weibo and switched to the rental collection WeChat. She had noted each tenant as “(XX Community) Building X XX – Tenant Name,” and Xu Yao clicked into each chat box to take a look.

Several properties under her name had reached the rent collection period in the past few days, including Tai’an Community, while tomorrow, she had Haicheng Shangpin. She had been a quite busy these days.

Many tenants in Tai’an Community had already paid their rent on time, but Xu Yao noticed something strange—

“What do these tenants mean? They all refuse to pay the property management fee?”

Naturally, the urban village buildings had no property management, but proper communities and apartments did have property management. The property management is equivalent to a housekeeper, and owners are required to pay property management fees, which vary in price depending on the community’s amenities; the more upscale the community, the more expensive the property management fee.

Once a house is rented out, tenants are required to pay the property management fee just like they do for utilities.

When purchasing property, aside from considering location, school districts, house prices, and layouts, many buyers also consider property management, as excellent property management is undoubtedly a plus.

Xu Yao was quite puzzled as to why this group of tenants hadn’t paid the property management fee, so she planned to take people to Tai’an Community for an on-site inspection.

As the car drove into the underground parking lot of Tai’an Community, Xu Yao had just gotten out when she saw a puddle of water in the parking lot, clearly from a leakage. Only a few people were standing around watching the leak.

Xu Yao frowned slightly; Tai’an Community is considered a decent residence in Haicheng, and with such a leak, the property management still hadn’t sent anyone to handle it? How bad did it have to get?

Xu Yao instructed, “Lu Ye, contact the property management immediately to handle this.”

The people watching the leak turned around upon hearing this, and upon seeing a pretty young girl, they immediately smiled: “Little girl, are you here to visit a friend? What’s the use of looking for property management? They’ll just treat the symptoms, not the root cause; it will just leak again and again.”

“The property management staff are probably still busy dealing with the elevator in Building 3 and can’t keep up.”

An elderly lady with a bamboo broom was sweeping the water nearby and started chatting with the man that was next to her: “The elevator in Building 3 is broken again? It’s been under repair every day and still can’t be fixed?”

“Isn’t that right? Apparently someone was lociked in the elevator for over ten minutes again. That group of property management takes money but doesn’t do the work. I told my son that after this, we won’t pay the property management fee anymore!” The old man was cursing, clearly harbouring grievances that had been building for quite some time.

Xu Yao had a rough idea of the situation and led Lu Ye and the others to walk into the community.

The pool for the fountain in the community was completely empty, let alone the fountain itself. In the distance, there were a few stone pavilions, and outside the pavilion was a swimming pool, but it was also empty, revealing the blue tiles inside the pool, which were coated with light yellow water stains, clearly showing signs of being unused for a long time.

Seeing several mothers playing with their children in the stone pavilion, Xu Yao asked, “Isn’t the swimming pool in the community open?”

“It hasn’t been open for a long time. The property management said they were afraid of children drowning, so they locked it all up,” one mother with a boy complained, “I bought a house here just for that swimming pool; what kind of garbage property management locks it up and doesn’t let us use it?”

Xu Yao nodded and continued walking forward with Lu Ye and the others. She curiously asked, “Lu Ye, didn’t you know about the internal situation of the community before?”

Lu Ye was silent for a moment. The Xu family had too many properties; aside from those that were vacant and not rented out, for the many rented properties, they only cared about collecting the money and didn’t bother managing the internal environment of the community, nor could they manage it.

Because the Xu family owned too many properties, they often forgot to remind tenants to pay rent, with tenants reminding them instead.

Lu Ye followed Xu Yao closely behind, bowing deeply as he said, “My apologies, Miss Yao Yao. This is indeed my oversight, we will definitely improve this in the future.” This was the first time Lu Ye faced a work-related crisis.

Xu Yao nodded, speaking earnestly, “Since I enjoy the benefits, I must also fulfil my obligations. The tenants have spent real money to rent my house, and I hope they won’t regret it.”

Xu Yao had experienced 999 quick transmigrations, many of which she had started off in poverty. She had also rented houses before, so she could empathise with the struggles involved.

Lu Ye stared at Xu Yao for a while, letting out a heavy ‘hm‘ from his nostrils.

After inspecting the area, Xu Yao felt she had a general understanding and led Lu Ye and the others back.

Xu Yao responded to one of the tenants in the Tai’an community: [I went to the community today to check things out. I will handle the property management issues.]

Little 6 felt pained: [You’ve worked hard, host, running around every day to collect rent.]

The tenant was actually feeling uneasy. After all, the landlord has handed the responsibility of paying the property management fees over to them. They said they wouldn’t pay, yet the landlord wasn’t angry but instead said they would help solve the problem?

How would they solve it? The property management was already like this; they wouldn’t just change the property management company, would they?

The tenant had a belly full of questions but didn’t dare to ask Xu Yao directly, only saying a simple thank you on WeChat.

“Tomorrow is the rent collection period for Haicheng Shangpin, right?” Xu Yao casually asked as she picked up the rent collection tablet. “Pull up the tenant information for Haicheng Shangpin first; I want to see the situation.”

Haicheng Shangpin was one of the top luxury residential communities in Haicheng, with property management fees reaching twenty yuan per square meter per month. The service level was excellent and ranked among the best in the country.

Xu Yao glanced at the electronic records and was pleased to see that the tenants had not complained about the property management at Haicheng Shangpin—after all, it was a wealthy area.

Xu Yao remembered Sheng Zhou, who had blocked her on WeChat. The rent collection period was tomorrow, and he still hadn’t unblocked her or added her back. She could only say, “Pull up Sheng Zhou’s information and find his phone number.”

After all, it isn’t embarrassing for a landlord to call asking for rent.

Previously, she had added Sheng Zhou on WeChat in a period that hadn’t been during the rent collection period, so it had felt inappropriate to call him—as if she were a clingy person demanding rent. But now it was different; it was already the agreed-upon rent collection period, so it was reasonable for her to call him.

Lu Ye typed ‘Sheng Zhou’ into the rent collection tablet and pulled up his rental information.

Xu Yao glanced at it, noting Sheng Zhou’s name, age, and a copy of his ID.

Xu Yao remarked with a sense of amusement, “Sheng Zhou’s ID photo is truly a nightmare; his makeup artist must be well-paid. His fans would probably cry if they saw this photo, haha.”

As Xu Yao continued to scroll down, her gaze suddenly froze for a moment, and she quickly stopped laughing.

Wait… wait a minute.

Sheng Zhou had rented a luxury apartment worth over a hundred million at Haicheng Shangpin for more than a year, but the key point was—

Xu Yao’s pupils dilated in shock as she exclaimed, “Sheng Zhou hasn’t paid rent for half a year??”

Lu Ye, who usually maintained a calm demeanour, finally had a change in facial expression: “……”

It’s over; is he going to be laid off early?

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the next chapter is over 10k words — i almost thought i was translating two chapters, so the next update after these two chapters are released will be in two weeks!

this whole story glorifies landlords to a certain degree, but best believe xu yao is one of the more conscientious landlords (she does address everyone eventually owning their own house later on as well)

1. approx 28 million usd ↩︎
2. previously translated as ‘Top Quality Haicheng’ but sounds awkward. essentially just ‘top tier’ apartment complex/condo in Haicheng ↩︎

this chapter is brought to you by mio
as translator, proofreader and editor!

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Qu Xi could tell the platinum content in this business card was quite high. She often received business cards from various executives in the entertainment industry, but she had never seen such a lavish business card. Regardless of the reason, it would be a great collectible item.

Xu Yao was definitely the most discerning. Even with this luxurious and high-end business card sample, she still found several flaws.

Xu Yao said disdainfully, “It really is quite ordinary, nothing stands out at all, it needs to be redone.”

Seeing Lu Ye lean in slightly, appearing to listen to her demands, Xu Yao took the silver-white, high-quality platinum business card and said, “I’m quite satisfied with the material, but what’s written on this card? Just my name and phone number?”

“Have the designer add my business scope on it, like ‘real estate cooperation in multiple locations such as Jing City, Hai City, Gang City, Yunzhou, etc.’, ‘specialised rental without loss’, and so on.”

Lu Ye: “…”

Lu Ye let out a long breath and said, “Sorry, it was my oversight. I will arrange for the modifications and re-customisation immediately.”

Xu Yao was satisfied and arranged for everything to be done. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of Qu Xi’s eager little eyes and couldn’t help but smile, “Once the business cards are revised, I’ll give you one.” Look, high-end business cards are in demand.

Qu Xi was delighted to hear this and promised that she would treasure Xu Yao’s business card once she received it. Then, Qu Xi curiously asked Xu Yao why she had invited her today.

“Have you had any successful auditions recently?”

Qu Xi pouted, looking like she was about to cry. It was upsetting to bring this up; if she had been successful, she would already be on set. But then she thought of something and couldn’t help but speculate, “Yao Yao, you’re not planning to take me to collect rent, are you?”

Her friend saw that she had been struggling to find acting jobs, so she was planning to take her on an adventure? Qu Xi thought it would be quite nice for Xu Yao to be a landlord and relax, but her dream was to become a famous actress…

Xu Yao shook her head, “Collecting rent is boring and painful; I wouldn’t drag my friend into suffering. I’m recommending a role for you, the female lead in the short drama ‘Yin Fate’.”

Qu Xi currently had no acting jobs, so she was a daily internet surfer, a 5G player¹, and knew about the trending #Official Account of ‘Yin Yuan’ and its contrasting videos. She roughly understood that the female lead in this short drama was a deceased young lady from the Republic of China.

Although it was just a short drama, it was still a female lead role, something Qu Xi had never experienced. She instinctively touched her chubby round face, feeling quite uncertain, “Me? The director said I’m not suitable for the female lead, at most I could play the sister of the female lead or male lead.”

“And isn’t this Republic of China young lady quite cunning? Can I do it? They all say I don’t have an aggressive look.” Qu Xi was very insecure about this.

Qu Xi didn’t have Xu Yao’s stunning looks; if she walked the red carpet, she wouldn’t stand out. Her appearance was more like the that of the girl next door.

Xu Yao stared at her obedient bangs and generously said, “I think you’re very suitable.”

She particularly wanted to see the female lead with bangs, looking harmless, yet silently taking out everyone!

However, even though she was the investor, recommending the female lead still required the director Zuo Ning’s approval. She decided to take Qu Xi over when the platinum suite at Cloud Peak Hotel was due in seven days.

Qu Xi was still a bit hesitant, “But what about the company…”

Xu Yao was very calm, “I will handle that trash company.”

To be honest, Qu Xi had been tricked into signing with the agency along with Xu Yao, and later found out how terrible it was but felt trapped. She envied Xu Yao for being able to terminate her contract smoothly, not expecting Xu Yao to readily agree to help her deal with it.

Qu Xi was both surprised and delighted. Since she had no acting jobs, she was just idling at home anyway, so she agreed.

The short drama was very short; with sufficient funding, it could be completely filmed in just over ten days. Qu Xi thought about how to thank her landlord friend for providing her with a luxury apartment and helping her deal with the company issues, so she didn’t plan to ask for a fee, treating it as a friendly appearance.

The extremely pleasant seven-day experience in the platinum suite at Cloud Peak Hotel for Zuo Ning and the others was finally coming to an end. The script had been thoroughly revised, and with money and a good script, Zuo Ning felt rejuvenated, believing the future was bright.

Now, all they needed to do was go back to the film academy to select a female student to re-shoot the female lead’s scenes.

And good luck kept coming; on the day of check-out, Zuo Ning saw Xu Yao bringing in a beautiful girl, and his eyes instantly lit up.

Of course, he had no strange thoughts; he just thought this girl resembled Xiu Xiu.

His ex-girlfriend was also very beautiful, someone who looked cool and had a spicy flavour, but he always felt she didn’t quite fit Xiu Xiu’s character. Xiu Xiu innocent and pure young lady from the Republic of China, died at the beautiful age of sixteen, and should be someone like Qu Xi!

When Zuo Ning heard Xu Yao say she was recommending Qu Xi to try for the female lead, he felt it was just right.

“Thank you all for your hard work these days.” Xu Yao reread the revised script and expressed her satisfaction.

Zuo Ning and the others didn’t feel it was hard work at all; they felt like they were in a joyful paradise. This experience was something they could remember for a lifetime.

Ran Lingfeng said with righteous indignation, “If this is called hard work, I hope it lasts a lifetime.”

Xu Yao chuckled, took out her phone, and transferred money to the two, “First, let’s settle the wages for screenwriter Zhang and Little Yan.”

Screenwriter Zhang was quite surprised to see Xu Yao transfer fifty thousand over. Fifty thousand wasn’t much for him, but they had been well-fed and well-treated in the platinum suite, working at most two hours a day, and still getting fifty thousand after tax for a week. This was truly a dream job.

Screenwriter Xiao Zhang thought for a moment and said seriously, “Miss Xu, if you need anything in this area next time, just let me know.”

More opportunities for side income would be great.

Yan Xiang was even more excited, howling with joy. The seven-day internship earned him fifty thousand, enough for him to boast in front of his relatives, until Xu Yao handed him an internship certificate, which made him truly go wild!

“Wow, wow, wow, Xu Group’s internship certificate! Oh my god!” Yan Xiang had completely forgotten his reserved demeanour as a Chinese literature major, screaming at the sight of the bright red stamp.

Zuo Ning and the others were taken aback and couldn’t help but lean in to see the excitement, “Which Xu Group?”

“The Xu family of the richest man!”

Everyone was stunned to hear this. The family that was incredibly wealthy, involved in multiple fields, and whose assets were something they could never earn even a fraction of from the time they started working?

Now the heir of the richest family was Xu Jing. Thinking of Xu Yao sharing the same surname, could they be related?

Even a slight connection to the richest Xu family, even if just a distant relative, would mean Xu Yao was definitely either rich or noble.

Yan Xiang kept reading the words written on the internship certificate: “This student worked diligently during the internship, was proactive and responsible, was good at thinking, and could draw inferences from one instance… This is the certification.”

Yan Xiang clutched the internship certificate tightly, fearing even the slightest damage. He hurriedly asked the hotel’s personal butler, “Do you have a document sleeve? Please give me one to protect it.”

If even just one corner of this internship report had a crease, Yan Xiang would feel heartbroken.

After all, this was the Xu Group! How many workers with top 985² degrees aspired to join this prestigious company, while many outstanding graduates from Tsinghua and Beijing University were turned away? Yet he had managed to obtain an internship report from that Xu Group!

The value of this internship report was evident; it was a golden key to open doors.

With just this internship report, Yan Xiang could not only resolve the long-standing issue of his internship report but also outshine all the fourth-year students in the Chinese department!

Moreover… it would provide him with unprecedented help in his job search.

The personal butler quickly brought a transparent document sleeve, and Yan Xiang only felt at ease after personally placing the certificate inside, his eyes shimmering with tears as he looked at Xu Yao.

At this moment, Xu Yao was no longer just an ordinary senior with money to Yan Xiang; she was his idol!

Yan Xiang said earnestly, “Senior Sister, I will definitely write topic you gave me well, and I promise to write you a joyful novel without any online ghostwriting!”

Wasn’t it just about doing detective literature while simultaneously interacting with various handsome boys? He could do it!

Xu Yao smiled. See? A single piece of paper can hold Yan Xiang in its grasp. Xu Jing has always wanted her to work at the company, but she refused. Since she has shares in the Xu Group, Yan Xiang’s internship can indeed be considered as interning at the Xu Group.

Zuo Ning and the others, who had already graduated, were no longer so impulsive about internship certificates, but the future looked bright with Xu Yao’s presence.

Xu Yao looked at them with clear eyes, filled with infinite enthusiasm for the future. After working in the quick-transmigration industry for so many years, she had long lost such passion. Xu Yao sighed, “Sometimes I really envy you.”

“You can strive to pursue your dreams, while I can only retire early and collect rent.”

Everyone in the suite fell silent: “?”

“Keep up the good work, Zuo Ning, remember you still owe me a month’s rent.” Xu Yao reminded Zuo Ning before leaving.

Zuo Ning’s eyes glistened with tears; he understood.

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:

The official account of the short drama “Yin Fate” gained hundreds of thousands of followers due to the massive traffic push from the short video platform.

After the official account’s attention on Xu Yao sparked discussions, it then followed Qu Xi and officially announced her as the new female lead.

Qu Xi sat in front of a carved mahogany bed, wearing a bright red wedding dress. Under the red veil was her youthful and beautiful face; the pale complexion combined with the bright red lips immediately evoked a sense of Chinese horror.

[Wow, the new actress is so young, the impact of wearing a bright red wedding dress is so strong, you really know how to scare people.]

[Is this Qu Xi? Last time she exposed Xu Yao, she had two roommates, one of whom is Qu Xi! Qu Xi seems to have a pretty good relationship with her.]

[I get it now, so the official account followed Xu Yao because Xu Yao paid to get her friend in? I was scared to death; I was wondering how Xu Yao could afford to book a platinum suite at the Cloud Peak Hotel for her employees!]

[+1, I feel relieved all of a sudden. Xu Yao, a woman with such poor moral character who spreads rumors, having so much money is really unbearable.]

There were also fans of Sheng Zhou using the opportunity to promote: [Don’t mention that unlucky woman Xu Yao, Zhou Zhou is going to participate in a new variety show ‘My Home Life‘, let’s watch Zhou Zhou in a mansion worth a billion in Haicheng!]

Xu Yao collected 400,000 in rent from the urban village in the city each month; to buy a suite like his would take at least twenty years, and that’s without eating or drinking.

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i want the kind of hard work xu yao has

1. refers to someone who’s chronically online and is extremely fast at picking up on internet trends, slang, etc. ↩︎
2. 985 universities are the top ranking universities in china ↩︎

this chapter is brought to you by mio
as translator, proofreader and editor!

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What do readers worry about the most? Clearly, they endure sleepless nights waiting for the author to update, only to find themselves faced with a plot that makes them uncomfortable!

And now, Yan Xiang wanted to tell Xu Yao that the joy uniquely belonging to Xu Yao was determined by her, the only reader!

In the novel world he created, she could be the wealthiest global tycoon, or she could instantly ascend to the realm of immortals, becoming a goddess surrounded by countless celestial beings.

He, Yan Xiang, would resign himself to be a heartless typing machine for his senior!

But Xu Yao was not buying it and wanted to give this talented junior a good lesson.

[Xu Yao: There’s too many of these online meal replacements¹ of yours, I’m already tired of them.]

The financial backer is always picky, but Yan Xiang didn’t take it to heart. He suddenly felt that Xu Yao’s words made quite a bit of sense, so he wanted to get more feedback from her.

[Xu Yao: Can you write detective stories? Include those movie emperors, domineering CEOs, campus heartthrobs, and doctors you mentioned earlier.]

Yan Xiang was momentarily stunned in front of his computer screen.

Detective…? Such a serious genre needs to incorporate so many handsome guys? This is quite a novel challenge!

Yan Xiang only replied to Xu Yao with an ‘ok’ emoji, but at that moment, he had already started brainstorming. He was always eager to satisfy his wealthy client.

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:

Meanwhile, Zuo Ning, who had just finished his work, couldn’t contain his desire to share. He was originally a graduate of the directing department and had a minor in photography. Back when he was in the urban village, he would humorously think that if directing didn’t work out, he could switch careers to become a photographer.

However, whether in directing or photography, both are money-burning industries.

Zuo Ning took out his camera and recorded a short two-minute video, which he uploaded to a short video platform.

Little Ou, an ordinary netizen who loves folklore and enjoys watching supernatural stories for thrills, had previously stumbled upon Director Zuo’s updates on the filming progress of “Yin Fate” and had been drawn in.

Nowadays, foreign zombie films only know how to use bloody violence to stimulate the audience’s eyes, and Little Ou had only felt numb after watching too many.

However, the films from the island nation often randomly harm good people without reason, which made it hard for Little Ou, who had been indoctrinated with the idea of “revenge for grievances,” to adapt.

Yet, this obscure Yin Fate that he accidentally came across, with its two large red lanterns against a dark background and the eerie red cloth shoes appearing at the street corner, had just the right flavour! From then on, Little Ou frequently checked Director Zuo’s filming progress updates.

However, Director Zuo had not updated for almost a week, which made Little Ou feel quite anxious.

There are many young people with dreams in China, but the vast majority are defeated by capital.

Although “Yin Fate” only had a little over a thousand fans, it was fortunate that most of them were active fans, with the comment section filled with worried messages.

[Wuwuwu, Director Zuo, are you still there? “Yin Fate” won’t be canceled, right? I’ve been looking forward to it for so long.]

[Director, say something! If you don’t update the filming progress, I feel like it’s going to be over.]

[I heard the female lead is Zuo Ning’s girlfriend. If they broke up, she won’t act anymore, and the situation will be even tougher.]

[It’s not easy for young directors to pursue their dreams, but it should be hard to attract investment for this short drama. How about crowdfunding? I can contribute a little.]

Little Ou immediately liked this comment. As an ordinary office worker, he couldn’t spare a lot of money, but a couple of hundred yuan was no problem.

Mainly, the long break in video updates was really worrying.

Just then, Zuo Ning updated a short video. Before Little Ou could feel happy, he noticed that the video cover and the filming location in the urban village looked very different, and his heart sank.

An ominous premonition seemed to loom over the horizon.

Could it be that they were really going to announce the cancellation of the short drama?

With a nervous heart, Little Ou clicked on the video, and what appeared was Zuo Ning’s cheerful face: “Hello, family! Long time no see. Today, let’s talk about something happy. We’ve secured investment for ‘Yin Fate’!”

The camera shifted, revealing a nearly hundred-square-meter super spacious living room, under bright and dazzling lights was a low-key yet luxurious long conference table.

“The value of the suites the investor arranged for us is this amount,” the male lead Ran Lingfeng exaggeratedly made an ‘eight’ gesture with his hand, “and also hired professional screenwriters and well-known novelists to help polish the script.”

Eight?

Little Ou instinctively thought it was eight thousand, as eight thousand was already quite extravagant for him. But he quickly realised that eight thousand was definitely not enough; just the living room was nearly a hundred square meters, capable of accommodating a small meeting for over ten people!

So, there was only one possibility—

“Eight, eighty thousand?

“That’s right, even in the off-season, it’s eighty-eight thousand eight hundred for one night.”

Little Ou would have to earn that amount in a year! And that was just for the place they would use to revise the script! He was instantly overjoyed; with such an investor, how could “Yin Fate” short drama be canceled?

Totally secured!

[Wuwuwu, which kind-hearted bodhisattva came to the rescue?]

[So great, really great! My anxious heart can finally relax.]

[So starting tomorrow, we can expect updates on the filming progress again, right? Awesome!]

At this moment, the comments section was still quite normal, with a few fans expressing their anticipation for the short drama to be filmed on schedule.

But they didn’t expect that starting today, the official account of the “Yin Yuan” short drama would seem to have changed skins, with Zuo Ning no longer sharing filming progress every day, but instead—

“Hahaha, we just finished coordinating the script today, and we need to reward ourselves! Let’s order some king crab, pan-seared foie gras, and tuna belly with black truffle…”

“I feel a bit tired after discussing some of the plot holes with screenwriter Zhang and screenwriter Yan for half an hour. Let’s have a professional masseuse come up to help us relax our brains, after all, we can’t overthink.”

There were even videos of him just lounging around: “Hahaha, I can still see the neon lights of Haicheng at night while lying in the bathtub. My heart feels incredibly peaceful.”

“…”

Fans: ?

Do you even know what this account is for? This is the official account of the “Yin Fate” short drama, not a leisure blogger!!

Zuo Ning was now wealthy, but he was still the thrifty young director he had always been, so he wouldn’t spend money on marketing.

However, the official account of the short drama “Yin Fate” became inexplicably popular due to this stark contrast.

The short video platform was buzzing with searches for #Official Account of “Yin Fate” Short Drama#!

[Hahahaha, I’m dying of laughter. Go search for “Yin Yuan” and you can feel what a drastic change in style looks like.]

[A few days ago, Director Zuo: meticulously filming every frame, diligently working without daring to spend an extra cent; Now Director Zuo: Platinum Suite, fine dining, luxurious enjoyment.]

[This official account is so funny. For the past few months, they’ve been diligently filming short dramas, but these past few days, it’s all about sharing the Platinum Suite at the Cloud Peak Hotel.]

[Main task: Platinum Suite experience; Side task: filming short dramas [dog head holding a rose.jpg]]”

Countless netizens, drawn in by short video recommendations, found this hilarious. Previously, the official account’s videos only garnered a few thousand views; yet the latest video had reached a staggering hundreds of thousands of likes!

This world’s short video platform is truly terrifying.

[The investor daddy specially booked the Platinum Suite; wouldn’t it be a waste of the gold master daddy’s money if we didn’t experience it properly? The experience is right.]

[My god, I wouldn’t dare dream this big! Things will work out, Director Zuo has met a benefactor in life! Thank you, I have new dream material for tonight.]

[My friend is a little second-generation rich heir, he can afford the Platinum Suite at the Cloudtop Hotel, but he wouldn’t be willing to pay for his employees. I want a dozen bosses like this.]

[The last boss this good was Xu Yao a few days ago, right? She hired a girl to collect rent for her who doesn’t have to work 9-to-5, so happy!]

As a top-tier star, Sheng Zhou’s fans were everywhere. Seeing these highly-liked comments, he immediately became unhappy.

[Xu Yao dares to compare herself to this big shot with a salary of 15,000? She’s gotten too big for her britches!]

[Xu Yao has retired, so stop trying to to ride on someone else’s popularity… She does make a lot from renting out her two buildings in the urban village, around 400,000 a month, but a night at the Cloudtop Hotel’s Platinum Suite costs nearly 90,000, it’s not something she, with her little money, can afford.]

[Besides Beijing, it’s probably just Haicheng, right? Haicheng has countless wealthy people. A net monthly income of 400,000, honestly, doesn’t even rank in Haicheng, and an annual income of four to five million isn’t much nationwide.]

So, stop trying to ride on the short drama’s investor daddy’s popularity.

Seeing the overwhelming comments and a bunch of nosy netizens leaving messages like “Director, do you still remember your filming task?”, Zuo Ning’s face flushed. He just wanted to share the progress of the script revisions, he didn’t know how it turned into showing off the Platinum Suite.

Finally, the short drama’s official account got back to work.

Just a minute ago, the official account for the short drama “Yin Fate” followed Xu Yao’s personal account.

This small action instantly caused a huge stir!

[?? What’s going on here!]

[Followed Xu Yao? Why would they follow Xu Yao? Director Zuo, don’t scare me.]

The official account doesn’t follow people casually. The “Yin Fate” short drama only followed Zuo Ning’s personal account, the male lead Ran Lingfeng, and two staff members.

After the actress who played the female lead left, the official account also unfollowed her.

Therefore, following Xu Yao definitely wasn’t a casual action…

[Xu Yao has retired and won’t be acting anymore, so there’s only one possibility—she’s the one who booked the Platinum Suite at the Cloud Peak Hotel for Zuo Ning and the others!]

[Yes, yes! I remember, the last scene of Xu Yao’s urban village rent collection livestream was Zuo Ning!]

[My god, if it’s really Xu Yao, she dares to pay for them to stay in a Platinum Suite, which means… she doesn’t just collect rent from urban village buildings?]

The internet went crazy. Even seeing Xu Yao collecting rent from urban villages didn’t impress some well-off netizens.

An annual income of five million isn’t considered very wealthy.

With such huge black-and-red traffic, as long as she’s thick-skinned enough to stay in the entertainment industry, it’s easy to earn it back!

But… she’s paying for her employees to stay in a Platinum Suite, which means her net worth is far more than just a little.

No matter how crazy the internet got, Xu Yao didn’t care; collecting rent was her priority.

She had been busy recently as several buildings were due for rent collection recently. The next few buildings she’d be collecting rent from were residential buildings in the community.

Qu Xi was called to Xu Yao’s house today. The little girl excitedly wandered around the top floor of Haicheng Bay No. 1, constantly exclaiming in surprise.

This house was clearly more extravagant and luxurious than the one she lived in. She even discovered that the floor under her feet was made of moonstone!

Moonstone is usually used to make bracelets and pendants! Her landlady friend used it as flooring!

Seeing Qu Xi touring her home, Xu Yao let her be. Remembering the task she’d given Lu Ye a few days ago, she called him over.

Lu Ye was always meticulous. As if he’d anticipated this, he took out a custom-made business card and presented it with both hands.

“Miss Yao, please check; is there anything you’d like to change about the business card?”

This was just a sample; modifications were still possible.

Lu Ye hired a professional business card designer. It featured Xu Yao’s name and contact information.

Qu Xi returned, catching sight of the silver-white business card in Xu Yao’s hand. Seeing this, Xu Yao smiled and asked for her opinion.

Qu Xi curiously took it. She’d received many business cards and found them all similar, except this one had a different feel: “The design doesn’t seem like anything special, not particularly eye-catching, but what material is this card made out of? It feels more substantial than ordinary business cards.”

Lu Ye’s expression was calm: “Miss Yao wanted a high-end business card, so I arranged for someone to design this one with platinum, for a more luxurious feel.”

Qu Xi: “…”

Qu Xi was stunned for a while, finally managing to squeeze out a few words: “I’m sorry, I take back the ‘nothing special’ I just said.”

And now she just wanted to be the first person to own a Xu Yao business card!

---

should’ve never left this week’s updates to the last minute, now i’m rushing the second update desperately before midnight QAQ

1. meal replacement in fan culture relates to it refers to a variety of things (including but not limited to) fan fiction, fan art, photos, and texts that are not directly related to the original content you want to see, but can generate alternative associations and give people a sense of satisfaction ↩︎

this chapter is brought to you by mio
as translator, proofreader and editor!

---

Want to accurately grasp a soon-to-graduate college student in the palm of your hand? Just give them an internship certificate.

Xu Yao had the professional massage therapists for the spa leave and called Lu Ye in, asking for his opinion, “Do you think I lack a bit of prestige?”

Seeing that Lu Ye didn’t understand her meaning, Xu Yao added, “Don’t you think I lacked the aura of a rich heiress when I left my number for Li Xiaoli and Zuo Ning today?”

Lu Ye immediately got what Xu Yao meant and bowed, “Yes, Miss Yao Yao, I will arrange for someone to customise some exclusive business cards for you right away.”

Xu Yao nodded in satisfaction; this was something she had thought of on a whim. As a top landlord, not having business cards was indeed inappropriate.

Xu Yao had come to this world to retire and enjoy life, so she went to bed early every night for her health. Before sleeping, she sent the address to Zuo Ning, Yan Xiang, and a professional screenwriter she had a nodding based acquaintance with.

The location coordinates—Haicheng, Cloud Peak Hotel.

Yan Xiang was still happily thinking about finally getting an internship certificate and didn’t think much of it, while Zuo Ning felt a jolt in his heart upon seeing the address. A hotel? Who discusses investment projects at a hotel?

Cloud Peak Hotel was a top tier five-star hotel owned by the wealthy Xu family, combining accommodation, dining, and entertainment, with branches in multiple cities both domestically and internationally. It was rumoured that the most expensive room could cost up to a hundred thousand a night, offering a view of the entire Haicheng.

Zuo Ning had a girlfriend he dated during college, who was also the female lead in “Yin Fate.” They had completely broken up a few days ago, and he was now single, but…

Zuo Ning was torn between going and not going, tossing and turning until he finally fell asleep in a daze. The next day, his body was more honest than his spirit, waking up promptly at six to rush to the bathroom for a shower, then standing in front of the mirror carefully shaving off the stubble that had appeared.

His friend Ran Lingfeng watched Zuo Ning’s actions and suddenly realised, “Right, right, right, you have to clean yourself up to meet big project investors. Take me with you.”

Ran Lingfeng was not only Zuo Ning’s friend but also the male lead in the short drama “Yin Fate.” He had previously discussed the plot arrangement with Zuo Ning and was the only support Zuo Ning had before his death.

The two of them took two subway trips and finally arrived at Cloud Peak Hotel. Looking at the towering luxury hotel, both swallowed nervously and walked inside.

Zuo Ning didn’t have Xu Yao’s business card, only her verbal invitation, and he approached the beautiful receptionist with some unease, “Excuse me, Miss Xu Yao invited us here to discuss a project.”

The receptionist looked surprised at the two young men, immediately putting on a sweet smile and having them escorted to the VIP exclusive elevator. “Miss Xu Yao is waiting for you in the platinum suite on the seventieth floor.”

“Zuo Ning’s heart grew increasingly anxious, his palms sweating. They arrived at the only room on the seventieth floor, flanked by hotel bodyguards. Looking at the luxurious golden double doors, they lacked the courage to ring the doorbell, even thinking about turning around and running away.

Ran Lingfeng grabbed Zuo Ning and pressed the doorbell first, “Let’s go in and talk.”

The doorbell rang, and the door opened from the inside.

Before they could take in the luxurious suite, their eyes were drawn to two other young men inside. One was standing, leaning in to listen, while the other was half-kneeling around Xu Yao, like she was a queen.

Ran Lingfeng was shocked, “So many people?”

Xu Yao set down her wine glass and said, “The more, the merrier. Come in quickly.”

The more, the merrier? The two walked in awkwardly, standing stiffly at the farthest corner.

Xu Yao immediately introduced them, “This is professional screenwriter Little Zhang, and this is screenwriter Yan Xiang. I invited them to help polish and refine the script for your short drama.”

Zuo Ning and Ran Lingfeng instantly turned red, feeling like despicable little people who truly deserved to die.

They had thought Xu Yao was just having a moment of whimsy when she said she wanted to invest two months’ rent, but who knew she had even found a professional screenwriter to help.

They shook hands to get acquainted, and Zuo Ning took out the prepared project materials, smoothly signing the investment contract with Xu Yao, who became the largest investor in this short drama.

Xu Yao estimated that she should be the only investor; at this time, short dramas had not yet become popular in the world, and no investors would risk their funds on such a high-risk project with no prospects.

With the most say, Xu Yao succinctly stated, “I have only one requirement for this short drama—showcase Chinese horror to the extreme!”

In the original text, Zuo Ning was not a professional screenwriter; to please the audience, Western horror elements had even appeared in the plot, which felt quite awkward. Chinese horror, infused with folk elements, could scare the audience to screams with just a single set.”

Xu Yao looked around and said, “You all stay here and revise the script; I’m leaving now. If you get hungry, thirsty, or have other needs, just call the hotel butler.”

The four of them stood there in a daze, staring blankly at their surroundings, instinctively swallowing their saliva.

Let… let them stay here?

Yan Xiang had asked before coming; the platinum suite at Cloud Peak Hotel, while not as luxurious as the presidential suite, still cost 88,888 a night during the off-season…

Seeing Xu Yao planning to leave with Lu Ye, Zuo Ning hurriedly asked, “Miss Xu, aren’t you going to stay with us? No… I mean, aren’t you going to supervise us as we revise the script?”

Zuo Ning realized his words might have been ambiguous and quickly blushed, rephrasing his question. In Zuo Ning’s mind, since Xu Yao had booked such an expensive suite, she must be enjoying it herself and just casually bringing them along, but now she wanted to leave?

Xu Yao sighed, “I’m busy every day, and I have to go collect rent; I don’t have that much free time.”

She was either collecting rent or on her way to collect rent; it was really tiring.

Zuo Ning felt a bit confused. He had heard from Li Xiaoli last night that the rent for two buildings in the urban village had already been collected this month. Could it be…

Zuo Ning suddenly realised something, looking at Xu Yao in shock. Could this largest investor possibly… have several buildings in the urban village?!

Xu Yao left with Lu Ye and a few bodyguards but first had a brief meeting with the manager of Cloud Peak Hotel.

This Cloud Peak Hotel, located in Haicheng, was also secured by Xu Jing for her on the day she inherited the estate. However, Xu Yao didn’t want to manage the hotel, finding it too troublesome and preferring the simple joy of collecting rent. So, after deducting income from dining, other services, and various expenses, Xu Yao only needed to collect pure rent each month.

Thus, Xu Yao kept the presidential suite on the top floor for herself to stay in from time to time, leaving the platinum suite for them. After all, renting it out for a few fewer days just meant a little less rent, and these top suites weren’t always occupied by wealthy guests anyway; leaving them empty was just leaving them empty.

After Xu Yao left, the four of them stood in the platinum suite, looking at each other in disbelief for nearly five minutes before slowly coming to their senses.

“Wow, I can actually stay a night, oh no, a few days in the platinum suite of Cloud Peak Hotel in my lifetime! I’m going to call my grandma right now and ask if our ancestral grave is smoking green!”

Ran Lingfeng ran around the suite, pulling out his phone to take pictures and videos, unable to control his excitement.

The platinum suite had four rooms, each nearly a hundred square meters, with two living rooms of varying sizes, a private bar, a massage room, and more.

Yan Xiang followed, wandering around the platinum suite, shouting, “Wow, these windows are actually bulletproof!”

“Wow, I want this room; I love this bathtub!”

The four young men were like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden¹, making all sorts of excited noises.

Zuo Ning secretly clicked his tongue; Xu Yao had arranged for them to stay for seven days, which accounted for nearly two-thirds of the investment funds. He felt like he had encountered a benefactor in his life, choking back tears as he clenched his fist and said, “I need to hurry and revise the script!”

It was the professional screenwriter, Little Zhang, who spoke up, “How about we order some breakfast first? Have you all eaten breakfast yet?”

Seeing the others shake their heads, Xiao Zhang awkwardly called the hotel restaurant. In less than ten minutes, a waiter pushed in a cart, placing a stack of exquisite breakfasts on the dining table, instantly boosting everyone’s appetite.

While eating, Yan Xiang asked, “Senior Sister said she would give me an internship certificate, so that’s why I came. How about you?” Now that he thought about it, Yan Xiang felt he should be ashamed.

The screenwriter Xiao Zhang replied shyly, “Miss Xu called me and said she would provide meals, accommodation, and a salary, so I came.”

Indeed, it was all-inclusive; they just hadn’t expected the conditions to be this good!

This might be the only chance in their lives to stay in such a nice hotel, right?

Ran Lingfeng asked the smiling 24-hour butler standing nearby, “Is this the best room in Cloud Peak Hotel?”

“No, the presidential suite on the 72nd floor is the best, but it’s reserved for Miss Xu and is not available for rent.”

The group instantly felt disoriented. It was always reserved for Xu Yao?

Then… didn’t that mean it was still charging rent even when it was unoccupied?

They calculated in their heads how much Xu Yao would be wasting if she didn’t stay there for a month, and they felt a wave of heartache for her.

While eating breakfast, they discussed the script for “Yin Fate.” Since it was a short drama script, it was only a few tens of thousands of words long, and wouldn’t even take an hour to finish reading

Even revising it wouldn’t actually take seven days; Yan Xiang even felt that in such an environment, his creative inspiration was bursting!

As soon as they finished breakfast, the four young men each grabbed a laptop and began revising the script in the living room, their efficiency surprisingly high.

On the basement level of Cloud Peak Hotel, there was an entire floor of an eight-meter-high library. They could arrange for the private butler to borrow any materials they needed.

Zuo Ning planned to finish revising the script in three days, and even so, there were various hours where they were free in the day’s 24 hours.

The very familiar Ran Lingfeng and screenwriter Little Zhang, after finishing their parts, went to play billiards in the billiard room, while a waiter stood by with a towel to wipe sweat.

Zuo Ning remembered that he had a short video account, where he had previously been using to document his filming progress in real-time with over a thousand fans. Out of boredom, he had the idea—why not film the platinum suite? His desire to share was stirring.

Only Yan Xiang sat upright in front of the computer, his fingers flying over the colourful mechanical keyboard, the sound of keys clicking rapidly, his typing speed astonishingly fast. The eyes behind his black-framed glasses sparkled with a strange light, and a smile lingered at the corners of his lips.

Seeing Yan Xiang so diligently typing, Zuo Ning felt an overwhelming sense of shame.

Clearly, he was the director and screenwriter of the short drama, yet he was already slacking off, while this youngest and still in his senior year talented junior was working hard. He really should be ashamed!

Zuo Ning quickly took his seat and began to revise the script, incorporating the folk elements that Xu Yao had mentioned.

*

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:

Meanwhile, Xu Yao was sitting on a soft sofa, one hand holding the list that Lu Ye had sent over, and the other hand gripping her phone, the screen displaying the WeChat contacts—new friends interface.

Since inheriting the estate, Lu Ye had communicated the news of the change of landlord to all the tenants, and most of them were quite nice. Upon receiving the news, they added Xu Yao on WeChat as per the rules.

Xu Yao was going through the WeChat requests one by one when she noticed that there were still a few people who hadn’t added her.

Top Quality Haicheng was the top luxury residential community in Haicheng, comparable to Haicheng Bay No. 1, housing many industry bigwigs and entertainment stars. Xu Yao was intrigued to see a name on the list: “Sheng Zhou.”

Confirming that this top star hadn’t added her yet, she took the initiative to send a WeChat request.

The landlord is collecting rent; adding people is nothing to be ashamed of, hehe.

According to the plot in the book, she had indeed had a crush on the top star Sheng Zhou before. She didn’t know how she had obtained Sheng Zhou’s WeChat ID, but after the scandal broke, he unilaterally deleted her.

At that moment, Sheng Zhou had just finished a magazine shoot and was planning to head home with his assistant to film a pilot episode for the upcoming variety show “My Home Life.” Sitting in the van back to Top Quality Haicheng, he noticed Xu Yao had added him, with the note “Landlord.”

Sheng Zhou found the peculiar reason somewhat amusing. Did “landlord” refer to him as the owner of her heart in a cheesy way? He also saw Xu Yao’s selfie avatar and felt a surge of irritation. Instead of accepting, he left a message: “Please don’t bother me anymore; I could never like you.”

After sending that message, Sheng Zhou decisively blocked Xu Yao on WeChat.

Xu Yao was very beautiful, even more stunning than Liu Yingxia. When Sheng Zhou learned that Xu Yao, an eighteen-line actress, had a crush on him, he secretly felt quite pleased. However, ever since the scandal affected his career, he was forced to break up with Liu Yingxia and had developed a strong dislike for this woman.

Since breaking up with Yingxia, Sheng Zhou had been in pain every day, even zoning out during filming and accidentally calling the female lead “Xiaxia,” earning a glare from the actress.

Xu Yao: “?” Is he insane?

Xu Yao looked up in shock and asked Lu Ye beside her, “Didn’t I note that I’m the landlord?”

Lu Ye: “…”

After a moment of silence, Lu Ye asked, “Should we contact him by phone?”

Xu Yao thought for a moment and shook her head, “No rush; I’ll be collecting rent in a few days at Top Quality Haicheng. I’ll see what happens then.” She had so many tenants!

Xu Yao twisted her slightly sore neck, reflecting on how hard it was to collect rent, wishing for a moment of joy.

Just as Lu Ye was about to ask Xu Yao if she wanted to arrange for a masseuse, Xu Yao’s phone vibrated. She opened WeChat to see it was Yan Xiang, the talented junior from the Chinese department.

He had sent a document about ten thousand words long, and Xu Yao was somewhat surprised.

It had only been a day, and their efficiency in revising the script had already produced ten thousand words?

Xu Yao immediately felt that leaving the platinum suite at Cloud Peak Hotel for them was indeed the right choice; providing the best conditions led to the highest efficiency. She quickly set aside the rent collection list and opened the document.

The female lead in “Yin Fate” was named Xiu Xiu. However, when she clicked in, she found that the female lead was not “Xiu Xiu,” but “Xu Yao”!

Xu Yao silently stared at the joyful opening of the novel. In just ten thousand words, the wealthy landlord “Xu Yao” had met the entertainment industry’s film emperor, a domineering elite CEO, a pure university campus heartthrob, and a sharp-tongued yet exceptionally handsome top doctor.

Xu Yao: “…”

It must be said that the writing of the talented junior from the Chinese department was indeed excellent. The word choices and descriptions resonated deeply with Xu Yao, making her unable to help but smile. The plot was indeed very enjoyable, but the content was all above the neck.

[Yan Xiang: Senior sister, what do you think?]

Yan Xiang always felt a pang of guilt. He was living well, eating well, getting paid, and even needed to provide an internship certificate, yet all he did was revise the script? The script didn’t have many major issues, and minor changes were very easy to fix.

After thinking it over, Yan Xiang decided to use his strengths to thank his senior by personally crafting a joyful novel tailored for Xu Yao! Otherwise, he wouldn’t feel at ease taking this money.

[Yan Xiang: Senior sister, custom-made for you. Whatever plot you want, I can write it. Modern CEO, female supremacy, or even an alternate world where one becomes an emperor?]

Xu Yao: “…” He really knows how to write.

[Xu Yao: Luckily, you’re from Lijiang, not Potang².]

[Yan Xiang: I can have a try.]

---

hehehe gonna try update this twice a week !! probably somewhere near the middle of the week wed/thurs so it doesn’t clash with my other series

1. dream of the red chamber reference. refers to those that have never seen the world, country bumpkin, etc. ↩︎
2. because lijiang is supposed to be a parallel to jinjiang which is where the author is hosting the novel, i’m assuming potang is a jab at another site for overworking/pushing for quick updates (?) not too sure with this one ↩︎

this chapter is brought to you by mio
as translator, proofreader and editor!

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[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

1. referring to the ‘yin’ in ‘yin and yang’. multiple meanings but in this context, yin would refer to the supernatural like ghosts, demons, metaphysics, etc. ↩︎
2. online novel publication site — a play on jjwxc in chinese, jinjiang literature city ↩︎

this chapter is brought to you by mio
as translator, proofreader and editor!

---

Killing their heart is nothing more than this!

Today was Xu Yao’s first live stream, and the vast majority of the attendees were fans of Sheng Zhou and Liu Yingxia. When the camera panned to Li Xiaoli’s room, the fans of Sheng Zhou in the live chat nearly went wild.

Clearly, this Li Xiaoli was a fan of Sheng Zhou!

The fans of Sheng Zhou were ecstatic at that moment, even eager to see Xu Yao’s expression. Would she be furious? Her tenant, whom she cared for so much, was a fan of Sheng Zhou.

But there was nothing to be done; Sheng Zhou was just that popular.

And the result??

The live chat exploded even more, the speed so fast that Lu Ye could barely keep up. In short, Li Xiaoli was unilaterally outed as a fan of Sheng Zhou!

[This Li Xiaoli is too disgusting; her mindset is too weak and she doesn’t deserve to be a fan of our Zhou Zhou, get lost.]

[Does this woman not know how much trouble Xu Yao has caused for Zhou Zhou? Several endorsements have fallen through because of Xu Yao’s rumors, and she switched sides at the last minute? It’s just some broken furniture, just a broken job! She doesn’t deserve to like Zhou Zhou!]

Li Xiaoli couldn’t see the barrage in the live stream; she was unaware that she had just stabbed Sheng Zhou’s fans in the back. Calmly, she looked at the poster on the wall and said, “It must have been left by the previous tenant.”

As she spoke, Li Xiaoli reached out and tore down the poster closest to her. The poster split right through Sheng Zhou’s face, as if he had suffered a severe punishment.

This scene was a form of extreme abuse towards Sheng Zhou’s fans, and the insults in the live stream grew even louder.

Onlookers, however, were more rational: [A broken idol that you can’t even touch through the screen is no match for a warm bowl of rice. Life is tough for adults.]

[Yeah, some of Sheng Zhou’s fans probably haven’t been beaten down by society yet. If someone offered me a job with a monthly salary of 15,000, I could curse Sheng Zhou into a brain haemorrhage! After all, there’s a pile of dirt on him that deserves to be criticised!]

[In the end, it’s all Xu Yao’s fault. If she hadn’t grasped the lifeline of this young lady who was eager to find a job, Li Xiaoli wouldn’t have “betrayed” her.]

[Isn’t Xu Yao a landlord? Collecting rent isn’t that simple, right? What job is she really offering Li Xiaoli? Don’t let the young lady get her hopes up for nothing.]

Li Xiaoli felt a bit anxious, unsure if Xu Yao would change her mind upon learning that she had been a fan of Sheng Zhou. She took the initiative to ask, “Boss, what exactly do you want me to do?”

Xu Yao and Li Xiaoli went outside, where workers were moving in the purchased furniture, including a bed frame, mattress, and single sofa. Xu Yao smiled and said, “Your job is to help me connect with the tenants in the urban village.”

Collecting rent in an urban village is different from high-end residential areas; every month, the water, electricity, and gas meters need to be read. This time, she had managed to relax a bit by giving everyone supermarket vouchers without any conditions, but she couldn’t keep giving out supermarket vouchers every month, could she?

Giving them once is a small gift that makes people grateful; if she did it every time, it would become expected, and if she ever missed a month, it would be her fault. That’s just human nature.

Li Xiaoli was a bit stunned. Is that it? Is that the job content?

Seeing her shock, Xu Yao emphasized, “This job isn’t easy. You need to keep track of the rental and lease progress; every month, you have to read the meters and verify the data; you also need to pay attention to the sanitation conditions in the urban village every day, coordinating and arranging for the cleaning team to do the cleaning; as well as handling any damage or repair issues with the tenants’ furniture and appliances; and you must communicate with me promptly about any urgent matters that arise with the tenants.”

The more Xu Yao spoke, the more she felt that being a landlord was truly hard work! Collecting rent might be enjoyable for a moment, but there are a ton of miscellaneous tasks. She was still arranging for others to do the work while she lay back and collected money.

Little 6: [The host is really smart, shifting the hard work onto others. This job content is indeed quite laborious.]

Xu Yao agreed, “I can only give her more bonuses in the future to compensate her, and provide two domestic trips and one international trip a year for a good rest.”

Little 6: [Mm-hmm, the host is a good person.]

However, Li Xiaoli’s mind was filled with—”No need for a nine-to-five?”

Xu Yao suddenly recalled her unfortunate days working in the fast-travel bureau and said seriously, “A nine-to-five is inhumane.”

Goddess! Bodhisattva! Deity!

Li Xiaoli was almost overwhelmed with joy; she finally believed in the phrase “after hardship comes happiness”!

No need for a nine-to-five! She could sleep until she naturally woke up, check the cleaning situation in the urban village building every day, and only be busy reading the meters for two or three days each month, occasionally coordinating with the tenants. What kind of divine job is this?

Li Xiaoli was young but had worked many jobs. Those bosses who offered three to four thousand in salary treated people like cattle, and buying social insurance? Ha, that was a joke.

Li Xiaoli even came to the realisation… if this was her job, she would have plenty of free time.

Li Xiaoli felt a bit panicked; she suddenly didn’t know what to do with so much salary and so much free time!

The live stream was going crazy. Aside from a few die-hard fans of Sheng Zhou who were still struggling, the office workers were turning red with envy.

[Give me a job like this, sob sob sob, what kind of divine job is this? No need to wake up early, no need to squeeze onto the subway, and I could even get breakfast done in the time it takes to go downstairs.]

[Does Xu Yao have any more buildings? Let me have one; I don’t need 15,000, just give me 10,000, sob sob sob—I’m a college graduate on the verge of being driven mad by job hunting!]

[I don’t need 10,000; just give me 8,000, I really want to work for Xu Yao.]

[Angry, ban industry involution!]

[Actually, to be honest… there’s really no need to be a fan of Sheng Zhou; just be a fan of Xu Yao… Sorry, Zhou Zhou QAQ.]

[This job isn’t good for young people; it will make them lose ambition. I suggest I take it; I’m not afraid.]

Xu Yao asked, “Can you accept the job content?”

If there weren’t so many people around, Li Xiaoli would have jumped for joy, “Yes, yes, yes, I can definitely do it!”

Was there even a need to consider this job content? Wasn’t this just a preview of the daily life of a landlord?

Li Xiaoli’s job content was actually quite similar to that of the second landlord, Li Qiang, but Li Qiang constantly infringed on the tenants’ interests, crazily squeezing profits, as if he wanted to drain them dry. In contrast, Li Xiaoli was simply working for the landlord Xu Yao, receiving her salary without ulterior motives.

Xu Yao had gone through 999 fast-travel tasks and believed her ability to judge people was quite good.

In this novel, there were only a little over a hundred characters described, and even the famous characters in the renowned classic “Dream of the Red Chamber” numbered only around seven or eight hundred. Yet, the world is so vast that outstanding people cannot be limited to just those described.

Xu Yao suddenly said to Little 6, “Are you here to assist me in achieving a perfect retirement?”

Little 6 happily replied: [Yes, host, Little 6 will help retirees avoid danger and live happily for the rest of their lives.]

Xu Yao calmly said, “I have reasonable suspicion that Li Xiaoli is going to attack me.”

Little 6: [???]

Little 6 quickly checked Li Xiaoli’s original life history and reassured Xu Yao: [Host, don’t worry. Li Xiaoli is currently in a difficult situation, but she has strong work abilities and will work in one company until retirement, making significant contributions to her boss.]

Xu Yao felt proud. See, she knew her judgment wouldn’t be wrong.

Xiao 6:[……]

*

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:

The urban village had undergone a transformation. Each room was furnished appropriately, and tenants noticed that not only had the rent not increased, but the rental agreement clearly stated the unit price for civilian water, electricity, and gas.

Unless the rental market was universally like this, no one would want to rent from a second landlord and be exploited.

Meeting a landlord like Xu Yao was indeed good luck.

Li Xiaoli, who had started work early, said to Xu Yao, “Boss, many tenants in Buildings A and B hope to sign long-term rental contracts.”

Xu Yao smiled, “Okay.”

Renting her property was like sending her money!

Xu Yao, of course, knew that they were signing long-term contracts for fear that she would raise the rent temporarily. As long as the rent was fixed within the contract period, she wouldn’t be able to change it, but Xu Yao didn’t care about that little money.

Lu Ye, who used to be in charge of managing all of Xu’s family’s properties, looked at the submitted forms and said, “Miss Yao, this month’s rent from the two buildings in the urban village totaled 400,000 yuan, which is about 65,000 yuan more than usual.”

In the past, that 65,000 yuan was the kickback profit eaten up by the sub-landlord, Li Qiang.

Lu Ye continued, “However, you arranged for the cleaning team today and purchased furniture, costing about 500,000 yuan. Profit is expected to begin next month.”

The furniture was actually quite cheap and sturdy, but there was a large quantity, so the cost was considerable.

However, Xu Yao was very satisfied. She wasn’t in a hurry to use the rent from the urban village; next month would be here in a flash. Was she afraid she wouldn’t receive the rent?

Li Xiaoli was quick to learn. She had been renting in the urban village for a month and was more familiar with it than Lu Ye.

Looking at the form, she said, “Boss, 98% of this month’s rent has been received, but a few haven’t paid yet. I’ve contacted them by phone and asked them to transfer the money directly to you if it’s inconvenient for them to come.”

Xu Yao asked who they were. If they were truly facing temporary difficulties, she wouldn’t make things difficult for them, but if they were deadbeats, she would evict them immediately.

“Wang Dazhi (Uncle Wang) in A606, Liu Guihua (Aunt Liu) in A321… and Zuo Ning in B404, but Zuo Ning said he’ll come to see you soon.”

Li Xiaoli was a little surprised. She remembered that the young man in B404 didn’t seem like the kind of deadbeat who would owe rent, or perhaps young people generally had better qualities.

Xu Yao smiled upon hearing the name and said nothing.

Watching Li Xiaoli busy herself at the rent collection stall, she seemed to think of something and said, “Xiaoli, I’ll advance you half a month’s salary.”

After going to Li Xiaoli’s home earlier, Xu Yao noticed several packs of instant noodles, not even the bucket-sized ones, on her table, along with a few shriveled white steamed buns. It seemed she was indeed struggling.

Li Xiaoli’s eyes instantly reddened, and she choked back a sob, nodding, “Yes, thank you, Boss.”

Even just half a month’s salary, 7,500 yuan, was higher than her previous monthly salary. It was enough for her to buy many necessities. She hadn’t eaten meat in a long time and wanted to buy some pork; she was sick of eating instant noodles. Oh, and she had a 100-yuan universal voucher, so she could buy a few more packs of sanitary napkins, the kind with brands that were more hygienic.

She could even buy a few clothes and pants she’d had in her shopping cart for a while, so as not to affect the boss’s image.

Life suddenly seemed brighter. Li Xiaoli found hope for the future. Right now, she wanted to immediately go back and throw all of Sheng Zhou’s things in the trash!

Feeling elated, Li Xiaoli remembered that Sheng Zhou actually had a lot of scandals, but she had been blinded by her fan filter.

Now, Li Xiaoli looked at Xu Yao firmly and said, “Boss, I’m actually a Sheng Zhou antifan.”

Sorry, Sheng Zhou, you’ve just lost a fan, but the world has gained a happy worker!

The tall, thin boy who had been dawdling along heard those words, was stunned for a moment, and then his mind wandered, “Um, can being an antifan of Sheng Zhou offset the rent?”

Xu Yao, who abided by the law: “…”

Actually, there was no need for that.

---

feels like the job market is universally bad for recent graduates QAQ

another day of nobody getting hurt except sheng zhou ◡̈

this chapter is brought to you by mio
as translator, proofreader and editor!

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Little 6: The host is really so understanding it’s heartbreaking.

Xu Yao slowly finished the pastries and drinks, telling Lu Ye, “It’s about time to go home, we’ll come back tomorrow.”

It was clearly unrealistic to collect all the rent in one day; the tenants had different free times, and some tenants hadn’t come to pay rent yet.

As a landlord, there are always a few days in a month when collecting rent is a bit harder; she needed to learn to adapt to her new profession.

Lu Ye was very efficient, arranging for people to take away the sunshade and long table, watching Xu Yao get into the car with her bulging tote bag.

Some tenants in the urban village were middle-aged and elderly who didn’t use smart devices; they paid their rent in cash, filling Xu Yao’s oversized tote bag to the brim.

In the car, Xu Yao asked Lu Ye for his opinion, “Do you think it would be more convenient if I brought a snake-skin bag?”

Lu Ye: “…As long as you’re happy.”

Xu Yao thought her idea was good and took out her new phone to scroll through Weibo, finally having a chance to play with her phone after a busy day.

Aside from the trending topic about Xu Yao having a house, she also saw #FuhuiSupermarket#, creating a wave of publicity as she single-handedly promoted her own supermarket by giving tenants no-threshold coupons.

[The chain supermarket under the richest family is indeed better than others, good quality and low prices, and the customer service is also great.]

[Ah, I saw this trending topic and realised I haven’t been to the supermarket in a long time, I’m going to Fuhui Supermarket tonight to stock up.]

[The steak at Fuhui Supermarket tastes super good, and the large bottles of milk are very fresh, highly recommend!]

[@FuhuiSupermarket, you’re trending! Is the gold master not giving Xu Yao any money?]

[Curious about where Xu Yao got so many no-threshold coupons for Fuhui Supermarket?]

Xu Yao thought it was standard practice to advertise her own supermarket, but she soon received a transfer from Xu Jing.

[Xu Jing: Yao Yao knows how to promote her own supermarket, that’s great!]

Xu Yao paused for a moment. If she told Xu Jing that she learned 1+1=2 today, this doting brother would probably praise her with a loving smile, saying, “Our Yao Yao is amazing!”

To show her gratitude for Xu Yao renting a place to her, Qu Xi had just messaged her to come over for a barbecue at home. As Xu Yao returned to Haicheng Bay No. 1 and was about to enter the elevator, Qu Xi, drenched in sweat, came back carrying a large bag from Fuhui Supermarket, and Lu Ye stepped forward to lift it with one hand.

Since moving into the luxurious apartment rented from her landlord friend, Qu Xi had been eager to barbecue on the spacious balcony that was over six meters high, as she had never experienced anything like it before!

Lu Ye arranged for someone to come over and skewer the food, while Xu Yao and Qu Xi sat in front of the grill, enthusiastically barbecuing, the meat skewers sizzling under the high heat.

As night fell, the enormous balcony without windows lit up with LED ambient lights, which Qu Xi had bought online for decoration. Although her salary wasn’t much, Qu Xi was still a girl who loved life.

Qu Xi sighed inwardly, feeling pleased for her landlord, as she didn’t even have to prepare the ingredients for the barbecue herself.

Qu Xi first handed Xu Yao a skewer of lamb, then took one for herself, looking at the river view and saying to Xu Yao with great satisfaction, “Yao Yao, I never even dreamed that one day I could eat barbecue while enjoying the night view in the most expensive flat in Haicheng. It’s just too blissful. If I become famous, I’ll save up for a few years and buy one too!”

From here, overlooking the entire Haicheng, it truly felt different; one could have both the warmth of human life and the luxury of wealth.

Xu Yao completely agreed with Qu Xi’s viewpoint and, while eating the skewers, asked her, “So how did your audition go?”

Qu Xi’s shoulders slumped, but she quickly turned her frustration into appetite, biting into the meat skewer and said, “Not successful. The assistant director said I look too much like a little girl to play the lead role, but I never even thought about being the lead! I coudln’t even get cast as the third female lead.”

Just as expected.

In the original text, Qu Xi never landed any notable roles until she died at thirty in a basement in Jing City, but in the book, her acting skills were quite good, easily surpassing her own wooden acting.

Qu Xi didn’t want to pass on her negative energy to Xu Yao, so she quickly perked up and changed the subject, saying, “Yao Yao, I saw your trending topic today. Even as a regular person, there are still so many videos of you collecting rent. Why don’t you just start a live stream yourself?”

Xu Yao thought the same; starting her own live stream would give her control, which was much better than being overshadowed by other internet celebrities. She heard that the food blogger who happened to meet her today gained over a hundred thousand followers, making them the biggest winner of the day. Plus, she had many former fans crying and begging her to live stream so they could see more of her.

Xu Yao nodded, seeing Lu Ye coming over with the skewers he had prepared.

She tucked her hair behind her ear, which had been blown by the wind, and said, “Come on, let’s keep barbecuing. Lu Ye, you should join us too.”

Lu Ye paused for a moment and replied, “Okay.”

*

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:

The mornings in the urban village start earlier than in other places. As the first light of dawn broke, the breakfast stalls downstairs were already set up, including one selling jianbing guozi.

Li Xiaoli smelled the delicious aroma of jianbing guozi from the stall across the street, and her biological clock woke her up. She had two interviews today.

After washing up, she looked at the walls of her room plastered with posters of Sheng Zhou, encouraging herself, “Come on, I must find a job today.”

Having left her hometown, Sheng Zhou, as an idol, had always been her spiritual support.

As Li Xiaoli opened the door with her bag, she saw a black rat darting away as if fleeing for its life, with someone chasing after it.

The urban village had a poor environment, and encountering rats was too common; exterminating them was something they often did.

But soon, Li Xiaoli noticed something unusual—the corridor… was much cleaner! The puddles on the floor had vanished without a trace, making it feel very refreshing!

Li Xiaoli went down the stairs, running her fingers along the handrail, and found no dust on her fingertips, clearly indicating it had been cleaned.

The entire building looked as if it had been thoroughly cleaned, which lifted her spirits considerably.

When Li Xiaoli reached the first floor, she was shocked to see a pile of rat corpses stacked together like a small mountain, including some weighing two pounds. It frightened her quite a bit.

A group of people in matching uniforms was there, and the cleaning team leader explained to them, “We are a professional cleaning team and also provide extermination services.” As long as the payment is sufficient.

Clearly, Xu Yao had paid very well.

The tenants in the urban village also paid sanitation fees, but this fee was for the removal of their household waste; there was no cleaning of the corridors or wiping of the handrails.

With a dirty and chaotic living environment, it was naturally easy for rats and cockroaches to thrive.

Xu Yao said matter-of-factly, “I want a good environment for collecting rent; is that a problem?”

She couldn’t possibly be a top landlord with over a hundred buildings and end up stepping on garbage, right?

Collecting rent was her profession; what was wrong with creating a good working environment for herself?

Of course, there was no problem!

Many tenants wore smiles on their faces; in fact, everyone loved cleanliness, but since the public areas were not cleaned, they felt it was a loss to do it themselves, so they could only turn a blind eye to the mess.

They actually disliked the second landlord, Li Qiang, because every time he came to check the rooms, he not only nagged but also always tried to deduct some money. However, they found Xu Yao much more pleasant to look at.

The old lady didn’t understand the internet and didn’t know that Xu Yao was a target of online criticism; she only felt that Xu Yao was rich and beautiful, which made her feel very pleased.

Grandma Huang was doing exercises at the door, constantly praising, “This environment is clean now, and the air is better. I can do my exercises much more smoothly.”

They were indeed benefiting from it.

Xu Yao’s people had already set up the stall in the same spot yesterday, and her payment code was placed on the table.

Today, she arranged for one group to collect rent and another to re-sign rental contracts with the tenants.

After finishing her exercises, Grandma Huang couldn’t help but come over and ask, “Landlady, are you still giving out supermarket coupons when you collect rent today?”

Xu Yao nodded, “Yes, I’ve sent for it.”

Grandma Huang was instantly delighted, “Then I need to hurry and call Zuo Ning to collect it. This young man is quite a nice lad! I wonder what he was busy with yesterday. My grandson asked him to come, but he seemed to be delayed by something.”

When Xu Yao heard that name, her eyes brightened slightly, and she noticed Li Xiaoli was planning to head to the subway.

“Miss Li, I heard that the leg of your bed is broken? I’ve arranged for a repairman to come by,” Xu Yao called out to Li Xiaoli, seeing her expression tense for a moment, and added, “Don’t worry, the bed leg was already broken when you rented the place, so you won’t have to pay for the repair.”

Collecting rent wasn’t as easy as it seemed; aside from receiving the rent, she also had to address the tenants’ needs.

If the furniture in the house was broken, it was her obligation to handle it.

Little 6 began to feel heartache for Xu Yao, thinking she worked too hard.

Li Xiaoli’s face showed gratitude, but she also felt a bit complicated looking at Xu Yao.

Because of Sheng Zhou, she had a poor impression of Xu Yao; however, Xu Yao didn’t seem as terrible as the online rumors suggested. At least in terms of renting out properties, she was quite a competent landlord.

Li Xiaoli immediately took the carpenter upstairs to fix the bed leg. She couldn’t help but think that if she weren’t a fan of Sheng Zhou, she might have been completely charmed by Xu Yao.

Xu Yao was enjoying the morning breeze when, just a few minutes later, the repairman she had called came down, clicking his tongue and complaining, “What kind of furniture is that? Just a rotten wooden frame. If a heavier person sleeps on it, they’ll fall sooner or later. Miss Xu, do you really want to fix it? It’s not worth it at all.”

Li Xiaoli, who followed him down, felt a bit disappointed but said, “I can sleep just fine with a red brick under it, no need to trouble yourself.”

“From Li Xiaoli’s social experience, it was best to avoid getting involved in money matters with the landlord. As long as she didn’t deduct money from her, she would be grateful.

The worst rental conditions in the urban village were having only a bed, without even a mattress!

Xu Yao understood the principle of “to let the horse run, you must feed it grass¹.” Her two buildings in the urban village could provide decent furniture, which would increase her rental income.

Moreover, according to the carpenter, that bed frame was so rotten it couldn’t support the weight of a slightly heavier person. If a tenant fell and got hurt in her property, she would be responsible.

After considering for a moment, Xu Yao cheerfully invited Li Xiaoli to go to the furniture city together, planning to buy some furniture and conveniently take her for an interview afterward.

Because Xu Yao noticed that Li Xiaoli had a resume tucked under her arm.”

Li Xiaoli’s interview wasn’t time-sensitive, and taking a car would definitely be more comfortable than squeezing onto the subway. She also saw Xu Yao’s luxury car parked at the entrance of the urban village and couldn’t help but nod.

Beside them, Lu Ye clumsily helped Xu Yao open the live streaming room on her social media account. Miss Yao Yao suddenly announced this morning that she would start live streaming herself.

Before she withdrew from the scene, Xu Yao was being criticized all over the internet, but she had accumulated over a million fans.

Although she started the live stream without any prior notice, nearly ten thousand viewers quickly flooded in, including many fans of Sheng Zhou among the haters.

[Wow, Yao Yao is live streaming! Did we hear the prayers of us beauty fans? That’s great! Yao Yao is so beautiful!]

[Xu Yao looks so much better after leaving the entertainment scene, with fair skin and beauty. Her withdrawal is a huge loss for the entertainment industry.]

[Is this the urban village in Haicheng?? I rented a place there when I was broke, and the environment was a total mess! How did it become so clean?]

[Xu Yao, this vicious woman, oh my god, I’m so scared! Why are you showing me a mountain of dead rats? I almost threw up my breakfast.]

[So yesterday’s rent collection and supermarket coupons were just to become an internet celebrity and start live streaming, huh? I knew it. Being an internet celebrity is not as good as staying in the industry as an artist.]

The live stream chat was noisy, with only a small number of Xu Yao’s beauty enthusitasts, while Sheng Zhou’s fans were jumping around in the chat.

They got into the car heading to the furniture city, while another group continued to stay at the flowerbed stalls in the urban village to collect rent.

Li Xiaoli looked at Xu Yao’s profile. As a fan of Sheng Zhou, she felt a bit guilty and didn’t dare to talk much with Xu Yao, while Lu Ye, holding the live streaming phone, was even quieter.

So during this not-so-long car ride, it was filled with—’Alipay received XX yuan,’ ‘WeChat received XX yuan’…

It just kept ringing all the way!

[The office workers shed tears of envy, suddenly understanding why Xu Yao wanted to withdraw! Even in the entertainment industry, you have to work; where’s the joy in being a landlord?]

[The two buildings in Haicheng’s urban village can earn three to four hundred thousand, just lying down and making money.]

[If I were Xu Yao, you wouldn’t see me on screen; I wouldn’t even go into the entertainment industry!]

The car slowly entered the outdoor parking lot of Yisen Home Furnishings. Li Xiaoli’s mind was still trying to catch up as she followed Xu Yao and the others out of the car.

Li Xiaoli thought the new landlord was kind enough to buy some furniture, at most taking her to a second-hand furniture market, but instead, they arrived at… Yisen Home Furnishings?!

Although Yisen Home Furnishings wasn’t a luxurious high-end brand, the furniture inside wasn’t cheap either; it was a popular choice for many ordinary renovations.

Xu Yao was collecting rent, not doing charity, so the furniture for the rental properties wouldn’t be too good. Moreover, using overly high-end furniture in the urban village buildings would make tenants afraid of damaging it and having to compensate, which would be counterproductive.

Li Xiaoli looked at Xu Yao’s figure, and the salespeople’s pitches, which were simply unbearable. She couldn’t help but quietly tell her idol Sheng Zhou, whom she regarded as her spiritual support, that she would slightly betray him for just a moment, but after this, she would still be his most loyal fan!

Li Xiaoli began to introduce to Xu Yao, “Miss Xu, I used to work in a related field. If you’re looking to buy furniture for the rental property, I actually recommend this type of furniture. It’s not only cheap but also very durable.”

“Since it’s for immediate occupancy, it’s best to choose furniture that has been in stock for a long time to avoid formaldehyde exposure and also to lower the price further.”

“Xu Yao looked at Li Xiaoli a few more times and suddenly smiled, “Then let’s get a hundred bed frames first, a hundred sets of dining tables and chairs, and oh, also sofas…”

Xu Yao came here purely to stock up!

Although the prices were very cheap, Xu Yao bought in bulk, enough to fill her up!

The furniture store owner was all smiles, assuring Xu Yao that he could deliver everything to her destination today, even up the stairs!

[@my landlord, come learn what a good landlord looks like.]

[Although I don’t like Xu Yao, I can’t criticize her for this. I also want to rent a furnished place; an empty apartment is very inconvenient.]

[Don’t be too naive, there are no good landlords in this world. You get what you pay for. The moment I saw Xu Yao buying furniture, my heart sank.]

[Just wait, the rent is about to go up. All landlords are the same shade of black!]

After buying the furniture, they got back in the car. Li Xiaoli sat next to Xu Yao, and through the car window, she could see a large truck following them, loaded with furniture. Like other netizens, her initial joy of new rental furnishings was gradually replaced by a sense of unease. She realised one thing—

Is the rent going to increase?

She had just heard that Xu Yao had terminated her contract with the second landlord, Li Qiang, and was going to sign a rental contract directly with them? This seemed like a prelude to a rent increase.

However, Li Xiaoli could also understand Xu Yao wanting to raise the rent; buying all that rental furniture costs money, after all. The landlord can’t just invest without return. But from her personal perspective, she didn’t want the rent to go up, and if she had to move out, she might not find such a cheap place in a good location again…

Li Xiaoli was almost at her wit’s end when Lu Ye, sitting in the passenger seat, suddenly turned to her and handed over some documents.

Lu Ye: “Miss Li, please sign here if the two contracts are correct.”

Li Xiaoli took the rental contract, her eyes scanning the document, and immediately saw the monthly rent amount—1500 yuan, with the words written out in full, stating that water, electricity, and gas fees would be calculated separately according to national standards.

Li Xiaoli was instantly stunned. “The rent hasn’t changed?”

How is it still 1500?

There are so many more pieces of furniture now; how could the rent not go up? Li Xiaoli was a bit confused. Is Xu Yao really running a charity as a landlord?

Xu Yao sipped her milk tea, bit into the pearls inside, and simply said, “I’m not the second landlord; I don’t profit from the difference.”

So even though Xu Yao had actually increased the rent, the amount they were paying was exactly the same as what they had given to Li Qiang, and they even got a lot more furniture! Li Xiaoli and the others were very accepting of this.

[Hahaha, those who said Xu Yao would definitely raise the rent can come and get hit; the written contract shows it hasn’t changed.]

[Oh my, is there really such a conscientious landlord in this world? Is it true? I’ve never encountered one before.]

[So the second landlord is truly detestable!!]

[Giving out no-threshold supermarket vouchers, buying furniture, and not raising the rent—what kind of divine landlord is this?]

[Don’t celebrate too early; didn’t you hear that handsome bodyguard say? Two contracts, who knows if there are any hidden clauses that could trap you. I fell for that before when renting, and I really regretted it.]

[Let’s see the second contract before celebrating +1]

Li Xiaoli was a cautious girl. She suppressed her excitement and quickly checked the second contract, fearing there might be a trap inside.

However, the second one seemed… not to be a rental contract.

But rather… rather…

Li Xiaoli looked at the clearly written labour contract above. This was what she had longed to see since looking for a job. Li Xiaoli could hardly believe her eyes.

At the same time, Xu Yao’s gentle voice came from beside her: “Miss Li, are you interested in working for me? The monthly salary is 15,000, with five insurances and one fund.”

A monthly salary of 15,000? Li Xiaoli felt a twinge of shame for doubting the new contract earlier. She felt as if she had just won a huge lottery, and her head was spinning. At this moment, she didn’t care that Xu Yao was the rival of her idol, Sheng Zhou.

What Li Xiaoli craved most now was a job; she needed a job to sustain her life!

Originally, she had planned to apply for a waitress position today. She didn’t look down on waitressing; she just knew that a waitress’s monthly salary could never be as high as 15,000!

Even in the economically developed Hai City, a monthly salary of 15,000 was not something just anyone could easily obtain.

Li Xiaoli hadn’t even asked about the specific job details. She watched as the furniture was carried into the building in the urban village, with workers hauling it up since there was no elevator. She could use this furniture too. Li Xiaoli’s mental defenses were gradually being broken down by Xu Yao, and she thought to herself:

Oh my, it seems like she really has encountered a female bodhisattva.

No matter how great a spiritual support is, it doesn’t compare to the actual bodhisattva who saves her from the fire and water!

The workers carried the bed frame to Li Xiaoli’s room, and she rushed to open the door. The room didn’t have much in it, but it was quite clean.

Xu Yao, who followed behind, noticed the decorations in the room were all related to Sheng Zhou—posters, photos, merchandise, and little trinkets. She curiously asked Li Xiaoli, “Are you a fan of Sheng Zhou?”

Li Xiaoli stood in the middle of the wall covered with Sheng Zhou posters, her expression filled with confusion and disbelief, as if she had never heard that name before. She asked, “Who is Sheng Zhou?”

---

SOMEONE GIVE HER THE OSCAR NEOWWWW

1. you can’t expect to reap benefits without giving something in return ↩︎

this chapter is brought to you by mio
as translator, proofreader and editor!

---

The harsh reality: No middle-aged woman can refuse a supermarket coupon! Especially a no-minimum coupon! None!

One hundred yuan may not seem like much, but it can buy quite a few daily necessities.

The news spread quickly, and before long, many tenants from the two buildings in the urban village came down to join the excitement.

An elderly lady who collected cardboard for money looked at the line of people and curiously asked, “Is this for real?”

Just then, a middle-aged woman returned, waving a large bag of daily necessities in her hand, and enthusiastically said, “Aunt Huang, how could it be fake? I just came back from that new supermarket. Guess how much I spent on this bag of stuff?”

The elderly lady glanced at the items in the bag—fruits, toothpaste, toothbrushes, and various seasonings—all things that most people could use.

The middle-aged woman continued, her tone quite cheerful, “It only cost five yuan.”

It felt like finding a hundred-yuan bill on the street, something that could make a person happy for the whole day.

As soon as the middle-aged woman finished speaking, another young girl came back, huffing and puffing, carrying a durian weighing about four pounds. The bag had the logo of Fuhui Supermarket, and the pungent smell of the durian immediately invaded the noses of those around.

The young girl was very pleased, saying, “It really is a no-threshold coupon! This durian was discounted to 102 yuan for four pounds, and I only spent two yuan to buy it! The shape is perfect; it should have a lot of flesh.”

Durian is not a cheap fruit for an ordinary working-class young girl, but its delicious taste makes it very popular.

Who doesn’t know Xu Yao? The one who is hated all over the internet. This girl couldn’t help but want to be her fan! The first durian of the year was given to her by Xu Yao!

Hearing this, the elderly lady was also tempted. She temporarily set aside the cardboard she was collecting and thought about asking a young neighbour for help to take a photo since she didn’t have a smartphone.

The line of people paying rent grew longer, and the young people, showing good manners, formed an orderly queue.

There were many delicious little shops in the urban village, and some internet celebrities often came here to explore food, just in time to stumble upon this scene!

[Wow, is that Xu Yao! Didn’t she retire? Wow, she’s really beautiful; her skin is so fair in the sunlight!]

[I’m out, I just came to watch a food exploration, and I ended up seeing this woman. I’m leaving, I’m leaving.]

The comments in the live stream were filled with criticism, but the data was quite honest. The moment Xu Yao appeared on camera, the viewership of this food blogger’s live stream skyrocketed, increasing by tens of thousands.

[What’s going on? Are they really collecting rent? Is Xu Yao really a second-generation landlord?]

[This is the urban village of Haicheng; landlords have to come to collect rent and check the water, electricity, and gas meters. Do you think just setting up a stall lets tenants pay by themselves? Wanting money without working, how beautiful!]

“Actually… I can, wuwuwu, I can really get a two-yuan durian! Xu Yao, the woman who made me fall in love with a durian.]

Soon, the viewers in the live stream discovered that they could bring their latest water, electricity, and gas meter photos to pay rent and receive a one-hundred-yuan no-threshold shopping coupon.

[If that’s the case… I can too! Why doesn’t my landlord do this kind of activity? I want to participate.]

[What’s the point of a one-hundred-yuan no-threshold coupon? Xu Yao spreading rumours about Brother Zhou and Liu Yingxia dating is bad character; I wouldn’t want that coupon even if you gave it to me for free!]

[Give it to me, I want it, I have thick skin.]

[Xu Yao’s flip-flops are studded with diamonds; I want to sneakily take one off.]

The live stream became increasingly lively, not needing to generate topics.

The line grew longer, and even Li Xiaoli showed up. When she saw Xu Yao, her face turned bright red because her idol was Sheng Zhou. Previously, when there were rumours about Sheng Zhou and Xu Yao, she didn’t have a good impression of Xu Yao! Now, she felt a bit embarrassed to come and get a no-threshold coupon.

“That’ll be 1620 yuan in total.”

Li Xiaoli was still staring at Xu Yao’s face, momentarily not reacting. She only knew that the tall bodyguard next to her announced a number that was different from what she had calculated before coming down. She blurted out, “You calculated it wrong!”

The afternoon sun was just right, and Xu Yao was feeling a bit drowsy. Hearing Li Xiaoli’s words, she opened her half-closed eyes and looked at Lu Ye.

Lu Ye affirmed, “It’s not wrong.”

The tenants behind couldn’t help but lean in to listen.

Li Xiaoli recalculated, muttering, “The rent is fifteen hundred, and the water, electricity, and gas fees total eighteen hundred…”

As she calculated, Li Xiaoli’s voice grew softer; her calculation of eighteen hundred was clearly too high!

Li Xiaoli quickly checked the ledger in front of Lu Ye and was shocked to exclaim, “You calculated the electricity fee at fifty-two cents?”

Not only was the electricity fee correct, but the water and gas fees were also at the standard rates set by the government!

Xu Yao elegantly yawned and said to Li Xiaoli, “Miss Li, you’ve been PUA¹‘d in your rental situation. We all charge normal water and electricity prices,” Xu Yao said earnestly, “I’m just collecting rent, not a bandit.”

Nearby, the second landlord, Li Qiang, felt awkward standing there. The second landlords made profits by charging high rents and skimming off the water and electricity fees, and Xu Yao’s words seemed to be aimed directly at him.

Li Xiaoli had been having a terrible time lately, facing setbacks everywhere. She had almost gotten into a fight with the second landlord earlier. Looking at Xu Yao’s righteous and charming face, her nose suddenly felt a bit sour.

She must have really been PUA’d; clearly, this was the normal price for civilian water, electricity, and gas, yet she felt unusually happy. Saving on living costs was also great.

Li Xiaoli sniffled lightly, scanned the QR code with WeChat to pay the rent, and tremblingly took the one-hundred-yuan no-threshold coupon.

Then she heard Xu Yao’s clear voice say, “I apologise for the inconvenience caused to all the tenants. Thank you for choosing to rent my house. From now on, I will personally handle all matters related to the house.”

Xu Yao glanced at the one-hundred-yuan no-threshold coupon in front of her and smiled, “Just a small gift; I hope you all won’t dislike it.”

Gaining favour, Xu Yao was quite skilled at it.

Little 6 praised: [The host is indeed an excellent employee of the quick-transmigration bureau.]

Xu Yao: Mhm~

Xu Yao signalled for Li Xiaoli to leave the line, “Next.”

Li Qiang stood there, listening to the “Payment received—”, “WeChat received—”, “XX Bank received—” notification sounds that rang out every minute. He gradually realised… that he, the second landlord, might really be unemployed now.

Xu Yao didn’t go to read the meter and let the tenants do it instead, but everyone was very happy…

[What to do, I suddenly have a bit of a crush on Xu Yao, the beautiful landlord sister is quite likeable.]

[Wuwuwuwu why isn’t Xu Yao my landlord? My landlord only refuses to return the deposit!!]

[I’m dying of laughter, is this how you buy people off? A bunch of people being PUA’d, it’s illegal for the second landlord to charge high prices, if there’s trouble, just call the police or even sue directly!]

[The people upstairs clearly haven’t suffered from society’s harshness, the second landlord is really the norm, everywhere you look. No matter Xu Yao’s intentions, I still hope my landlord is someone like Xu Yao, shedding tears of hardship from being beaten by life.]

[Uh… am I still in the state of ‘Xu Yao really has a house’??]

After Xu Yao officially announced her retirement, she once again made it to the trending topics on Weibo, but this time it wasn’t for negative reasons.

#XuYaoReallyHasAHouse#

#XuYaoCollectingRent#

These two topics trended one after the other.

[Wow, so her retirement declaration wasn’t just bravado? Xu Yao really is a second-generation landlord?]

[Yes, both buildings in the urban village belong to her, not just a unit, but entire buildings!]

[Two buildings, and they’re in the best location in the urban village in Haicheng… My goodness, if it were me, I would just lie flat.]

An ID named “Xu Yao Yao Yao Yao” commented: [Wuwuwu I’m crying, I saw Yao Yao again, I was so sad for too long after she retired, the entertainment industry really lacks a goddess like her! I beg Yao Yao to go live, I really want to see her QAQ I’m just a humble fan of her looks.]

This Weibo post received a lot of likes from Xu Yao’s fans who are obsessed with her looks. Not to mention her retirement, it’s a huge loss for the entertainment industry!

Nothing else, just wanting to see the fairy Yao Yao again~

Sheng Zhou also saw the trending topics while filming. Upon seeing a fan’s skeptical comment, [If Xu Yao’s retirement and going home to collect rent is true, then is what she said about Sheng Zhou and Liu Yingxia dating also true?], Sheng Zhou felt a bit unhappy and directly reported it.

*

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:

The line of tenants coming to pay rent was getting longer, and after Grandma Huang happily received a hundred yuan no-threshold coupon, she seemed to remember something and patted her grandson’s shoulder, saying, “Good grandson, go tell your Uncle Zuo Ning at the alley entrance to stop taking pictures there, come here to pay rent and get the coupon.”

Grandma Huang was missing some teeth and kept mumbling, “I’ve never seen a camera that can take pictures like a TV drama, I really don’t understand these young people.”

Grandma Huang is a straightforward person who likes practical things, like the coupon in her hand!

Today was a small but happy day in the urban village.

Xu Yao was really tired; the repetitive sounds of ‘Alipay/WeChat payment received’ were too hypnotic. The weather was neither too hot nor too cold, and the afternoon sun was warm and not glaring.

Under the large sunshade, Xu Yao leaned back on a beautiful lounge chair, her face covered by a hat that had been deliberately lowered, her eyes gradually closing.

Nearby, Lu Ye and the others were diligently collecting rent, while Xu Yao’s phone, set to a lower volume, kept chiming with payment notifications.

Xu Yao didn’t know how long she had slept; she only felt that this lounge chair was not as comfortable as her million-dollar mattress at home. Someone was calling her name beside her, and she slowly woke up.

Little 6 was heartbroken: [Host, you clearly came to retire and enjoy life, and now you can’t even take a proper nap, it’s really too hard!!]

Xu Yao took off the hat from her face. Her eyes, which hadn’t opened for a long time, were slightly stung by the sunlight, and she blinked a few times to adjust.

She saw a middle-aged man in a suit getting out of a luxury car not far away. The man was holding a delicate box of pastries and high-end tea drinks, placing them on Xu Yao’s table, and spoke respectfully, “Miss Xu Yao, I am the manager of Pinxian Pavilion. This is afternoon tea sent by Mr. Xu for you. I hope you enjoy it.”

Pinxian Pavilion, a five-star restaurant in Haicheng, with the manager personally delivering it!

Xu Yao thanked him and opened the afternoon tea and pastries in front of her, casually asking Lu Ye beside her, “How much have we collected so far?”

Lu Ye looked at the bill and wiped out the zeros: “The two buildings in the urban village have received a total of 273,600.”

Oh, that was pretty quick, all that in the duration of just a nap.

Xu Yao took a bite of the exquisite pastry, feeling a bit of soreness in her neck. She agreed with Little 6’s concern for her current state but seriously told Little 6, “I’m used to hardship, it’s no big deal.”

---

Little 6 was heartbroken: [Host, you clearly came to retire and enjoy life, and now you can’t even take a proper nap, it’s really too hard!!]

i’m about to spit blood, are those even human words ?! i want that problem !!!

1. pua is derived from ‘pickup artist’ and normally refers to somebody being gaslighted, abused, hypnotised into doing something or thinking something is normal ↩︎

this chapter is brought to you by mio
as translator, proofreader and editor!

---

They had seen RVs before, but they were all in TV dramas; in reality, it’s rare to see one.

On the roadside, a girl checked online and exaggeratedly elbowed her friend beside her, mouthing, “Two million.”

A two-million RV, just used to store clothes and accessories for outings!

Xu Yao also felt that her outfit was fine for collecting rent in a high-end community, but she needed to change for the elevator-less urban village.

Xu Yao climbed into the RV and pulled the curtains, while Lu Ye helped her close the door, turning around like a guardian, standing with his back to the door.

Xu Yao changed into a short-sleeved shirt and shorts, swapping her high heels for rhinestone flip-flops. After considering for a moment, she chose a simple white oversized tote bag from a row of bags.

After changing her outfit, Xu Yao walked into the urban village with Lu Ye, who briefly explained the situation as they walked: “The rental situation in the urban village is quite complicated, so we haven’t collected rent in person before. Instead, we rented to a second landlord, who then sublets it to the tenants. This month, our contract with the second landlord happens to expire.”

The so-called second landlord is when the landlord rents the house to a second landlord, who then rents it out at a higher price to ordinary tenants, profiting from the price difference.

In fact, many tenants have long suffered under second landlords!

Not only are the rents high, but the second landlords also raise the utility fees. For ordinary residential electricity, which costs over fifty cents per kilowatt-hour, unscrupulous second landlords can charge up to one and a half yuan per kilowatt-hour.

As Xu Yao listened to Lu Ye’s explanation, she suddenly noticed several delivery guys not far away watching the commotion, and one delivery guy who had already left came back.

Clearly, there was gossip to be had!

In the crowd, a pale young girl was desperately clutching a middle-aged man’s shirt, hysterically shouting, “The bed leg was already broken! You didn’t fix it when I moved in, so why should I pay for it? Why!”

Li Xiaoli was about to break down. She had been working in Haicheng for almost a month but had not found a job. Her expenses were piling up with no income, and today was the time to pay next month’s rent. When the second landlord came to check, he found that the only piece of furniture in the room—the wooden bed frame—had a broken leg, which Li Xiaoli had propped up with a red brick for balance, and he demanded she pay to fix it.

The pressure of recent days exploded in an instant, and with red eyes, Li Xiaoli was unwilling to pay for the repairs.

The man angrily shook off Li Xiaoli’s hand, saying, “If you don’t want to rent, pack your things and leave. There are plenty of people who want to rent.”

The implication was clear: if she damaged the furniture, she could forget about getting her deposit back.

Although the urban village environment was poor, it was close to the subway, had a good location, and low rent, making it a top choice for students who had just graduated and were short on funds.

Hearing this, Li Xiaoli was on the verge of a breakdown; the deposit was one month’s rent of fifteen hundred yuan, which was no small amount for her!

As it looked like the two were about to get into a scuffle, Xu Yao looked at Lu Ye, who immediately stepped forward and easily pulled the two apart.

The man felt a bit angry when pulled away, but noticing Lu Ye’s shoulder, he saw the scar running from his brow to his eye and immediately felt intimidated.

Lu Ye said directly, “You must be Li Qiang, right? Our rental contract with you expires this month, and we do not plan to renew it. From now on, our lady will collect rent directly from the tenants.”

Since their contract with Li Qiang was expiring, it naturally meant that the second landlord would no longer collect rent.

Li Qiang was initially taken aback, then his gaze fell on Xu Yao a few meters away. Standing in the crowd, she shone like a star, exuding the aura of a wealthy young lady.

Li Qiang made his money through being a second landlord; if the landlord was unwilling to renew the lease with him, he would have no right to sublet to other tenants, thus losing the opportunity to profit from the price difference, and he certainly had no right to demand Li Xiaoli pay for the bed leg repairs.

However, when Li Qiang saw Xu Yao, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Collecting rent in the urban village was not as easy as he had imagined; in the end, this lady would still find it troublesome and tiring, and would hand the work over to second landlords like him!

Li Qiang first showed a look of regret and readily agreed.

Only Li Xiaoli, with wide eyes, instantly recognised Xu Yao!

The Xu Yao who had recently been rumoured to be involved with her idol, Sheng Zhou!

In person, she was even more beautiful than online; if it weren’t for Li Xiaoli being a fan of Sheng Zhou, as a beauty enthusiast, she couldn’t help but want to become a fan of Xu Yao’s looks.

Xu Yao couldn’t be bothered to look at Li Qiang and said to Lu Ye, “Let’s go, time to collect rent.”

Li Xiaoli looked up at the six-story building in front of her, then at Xu Yao’s retreating figure, feeling somewhat stunned.

Xu Yao said on Weibo that she was going to withdraw from the circle and go home to collect rent, and she really had a property to collect rent from?

*

The urban village environment was poor; a single room in a nearby community could rent for three thousand, while here it could be solved for just over a thousand.

The building was somewhat dimly lit, with piles of garbage at the entrance, and some liquid spilled on the concrete floor. Li Qiang, seemingly oblivious to Xu Yao’s frown, enthusiastically said, “Miss Landlord, the water meter box is up ahead, the electricity meter box is every two floors, and the gas meter is in each room.”

After speaking, Li Qiang handed them the water, electricity, and gas meter readings for the two buildings in the urban village from last month.

Xu Yao approached the water meter box, but the dim environment made it hard to see the meter. Lu Ye took out a flashlight from his bag: “Miss Yao Yao, let me do it.”

“No need, I’ll try it myself.”

Xu Yao began to read the water meters one by one, bending over to see better, and soon felt a bit sore.

Xu Yao suddenly realised that collecting rent seemed quite hard…

Just then, a pair of unusually bright eyes appeared under the flashlight, and the next second, a dark rat darted out from the water meter box.

Lu Ye rushed forward, stepping on the rat’s tail, causing it to squeak in pain. Not only did Lu Ye show no mercy, but he also brought his other foot down, nearly crushing the rat’s skull, the sound of cracking bones clear and crisp, blood pooling beneath his leather shoes.

Lu Ye, realising what he had done, instinctively glanced over at Xu Yao.

Xu Yao, stroking her chin as she surveyed the “crime scene,” remarked, “This must weigh at least two pounds, right? Quite fat.”

Rats in the south are as astonishingly large as cockroaches.

After finishing the water meter readings, they walked up the stairs to the second floor to read the electricity meter, and then they had to knock on each door to read the gas meter.

Little 6 felt heartbroken: [Host, isn’t this too hard for you? Retiring to be a landlord is exhausting too.]

Xu Yao felt the same way.

Li Qiang looked at Xu Yao, who was holding her waist, and immediately said, “Miss Landlord, why not do it like before? Just rent everything to me, and I’ll transfer the money directly to you.”

He wasn’t afraid of the hard work of reading the meters! Let him do it!

Unlike high-end residential areas, where you just inform the property manager and let the tenants transfer the money via WeChat without even meeting, in urban villages, you have to personally read the water, electricity, and gas meters.

Li Qiang was sure Xu Yao wouldn’t be able to go door to door reading the meters!

Xu Yao looked at Lu Ye and tentatively asked, “How about you do it?”

Lu Ye: “…”

Xu Yao suddenly felt she was being too much of a taskmaster to her bodyguard and thought, “Let those tenants take pictures of the water, electricity, and gas meters and send them to us.”

Even in slippers, Xu Yao felt tired climbing up to the sixth floor to read the meters.

Lu Ye replied straightforwardly, “That might be a bit difficult.”

Many tenants had a good attitude; as soon as they heard about paying rent, they would transfer the money without a second thought, but getting someone to read the meters was something few would be willing to do.

Li Qiang stifled a laugh and didn’t chime in.

Xu Yao smiled, “Isn’t it simple?”

*

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:

In front of a flower bed in the urban village, a long table was set up with a large sunshade overhead, and Xu Yao was sitting underneath, enjoying the comfortable breeze.

On the long table was a payment QR code.

A passerby excitedly uploaded a video online: “I met Xu Yao, she’s really collecting rent.”

Although Xu Yao had become an ordinary person now, she couldn’t escape the widespread negativity online and that explosive announcement about her withdrawal from the scene, as well as her effortless way of resolving contract issues. Discussions about Xu Yao were still very hot online.

Just then, a middle-aged woman with an empty bag, planning to go to the supermarket, walked out of the building and headed towards Xu Yao and the others. After all, with supermarkets now charging for plastic bags, bringing your own could save some money.

The middle-aged aunt looked them over for a moment, somewhat uncertain, and asked, “Was that young man who knocked on the door just now saying we should come pay the rent and that he could give us coupons for Fuhui supermarket?”

Landlords were all quite crafty; it was already good enough that they hadn’t raised the rent, who would give out supermarket coupons?

However, she had heard that Fuhui supermarket was a large national chain opened by the richest man, the Xu family, and a new branch had recently opened nearby with discounts. She thought she’d come here to try her luck.

Seeing Lu Ye nod, the middle-aged woman cautiously confirmed that they were indeed the landlords, then took out her smartphone, somewhat clumsily opened her photo gallery, and showed the meter reading she had just taken before leaving.

Xu Yao pushed the payment QR code in front of her and said,

“The total for rent and water, electricity, and gas plus sanitation fee is 1730 yuan. If everything looks correct, please scan this code.”

The middle-aged woman calculated it herself using her phone’s calculator and found that Xu Yao had even kindly rounded down by five yuan, instantly lifting her spirits as she quickly scanned the code to pay.

At the same time, Xu Yao’s phone chimed—”Alipay received 1730 yuan.”

Xu Yao thought this was the sweetest sound in the world; even the smallest mosquito is still meat, and when accumulated, it becomes a fortune!”

Lu Ye handed a red coupon to the middle-aged woman, who looked at it in surprise, “No minimum spend of 100 yuan?”

Who gives out coupons like this? Aren’t they usually conditional discounts or percentages off? Those are the supermarket’s usual tricks.

The middle-aged woman was skeptical but thought since she was already planning to shop at the supermarket, she might as well go. After buying her goods, she nervously handed the coupon to the cashier and asked, “Excuse me, can this be used?”

The cashier scanned the code on it and smiled, “Yes, you just need to pay me the extra five yuan.”

The middle-aged woman glanced at the customer next to her, who was paying for similar items and had rung up over a hundred yuan, while the cashier only charged her five.

When the middle-aged woman came out of the supermarket with her bag full of groceries, she looked at her haul and realized she had only spent five yuan! It was truly a great deal!

It was as if this middle-aged aunt suddenly woke up; she immediately called her neighbour, who enjoyed dancing in the square, and said urgently, “Sister Zhou, right? Are you home? Hurry, hurry, you need to come downstairs to pay the rent now!”

“Oh, and remember to take a picture of the water, electricity, and gas meters before you go! The young landlord is giving out a 100 yuan no-minimum coupon, you can buy anything at the supermarket without restrictions!”

---

anything can be solved with the right incentive HAHAHAHA

this chapter is brought to you by mio
as translator, proofreader and editor!

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In response to Xu Yao’s sincere request for safety, Lu Ye readily agreed to arrange it for her.

Xu Jing mentioned that Ji Zhengqing was on a business trip abroad that morning and that they would have to wait for him to return before they could hold the engagement banquet. He reassured Xu Yao not to worry about the online matters and suggested she take some time to rest.

Xu Yao planned to move into Haicheng Bay No. 1 herself. Xu Jing arranged for a driver to take her back. While the car was still on the road, Xu Yao’s phone vibrated again; it was another roommate, Qu Xi.

Seeing that name, Xu Yao’s eyes filled with pity.

In the book, Qu Xi was an ordinary working-class individual who had been rejected by a black-hearted entertainment company, wasting ten years of her youth. At thirty, she finally got a precious audition opportunity and decided to head north to Jing City for one last pursuit of her dreams, only to die in the basement she rented.

“Yao Yao, what’s going on? I just got back from the audition and saw your retirement post on Weibo! Don’t act on impulse!” Qu Xi said cautiously, fearing Xu Yao was having a mental breakdown. “How about we travel around for a couple of days to clear our minds?”

Xu Yao didn’t respond but instead recounted how Zhao Rumei had moved out that morning and asked Qu Xi to pack her things and come pick her up.

“Okay, got it,” Qu Xi replied readily, also advising Xu Yao not to take Zhao Rumei’s lease termination to heart.

With Zhao Rumei moving out, the rent for this three-bedroom apartment was a bit burdensome for Xu Yao and Qu Xi to share, so Qu Xi guessed that Xu Yao had already found a new place.

It would be nice for the two of them to rent a small two-bedroom apartment together.

Xu Yao instructed the driver to head to the shared apartment complex to pick up Qu Xi. Qu Xi had a pure, doll-like face and wore her bangs neatly, looking quite obedient. She was slightly nearsighted and stood at the entrance of the complex with her suitcase. It wasn’t until the black luxury car approached that she squinted to see the logo, instantly frightened into immobility.

Xu Yao hadn’t even given the driver a signal when the very perceptive driver had already opened the car door, kindly helping Qu Xi lift her suitcase into the trunk.

Qu Xi was taken aback by the attention. She got into the car and sat beside Xu Yao, noticing a tall, handsome man sitting in the front passenger seat, thinking he was a fellow carpooler.

Qu Xi gently and quietly touched the genuine leather seat cushion beneath her, her hands trembling.

Fearing that her excitement might lead to embarrassment, Qu Xi took out her phone and sent Xu Yao a WeChat message.

[Qu Xi: Ah ah ah ah my Yao Yao, what kind of divine luck do we have? We carpooled into a top-tier luxury car! I’ve seen this car online, it starts at eight digits!]

[Qu Xi: How could my behind be worthy of sitting in an eight-digit luxury car?! It doesn’t deserve it ah ah.]

[Qu Xi: No wonder the uncle can afford a luxury car, his personality is really nice, and he even helped me with my suitcase!]

[Qu Xi: Wuwuwu so cool, so this is how sweet the wind outside a fancy car is!]

Sitting beside her, Qu Xi frantically sent her a flurry of messages, so fast that Xu Yao could barely keep up. When words could no longer express her excitement, Qu Xi began bombarding Xu Yao with emojis.

She was so happy she could faint!

Xu Yao thought she would need to buy a car in a few days to make it easier to collect rent.

After a while, Qu Xi finally calmed down, rubbed her sore cheeks, and asked Xu Yao, “Yao Yao, where are we renting this time? It doesn’t have to be too big; actually, a small house has its advantages.”

“We’ll be there soon.” Xu Yao glanced at Qu Xi’s cheeks, and despite being a twenty one year old adult, she looked more like a fifteen or sixteen year old high school girl, smiling.

Qu Xi gazed blankly through the car window at the extremely grand entrance of the community ahead—Haicheng Bay No. 1.

The top residential area in Haicheng, with towering camphor trees lining the road and tall black iron railings in European style, the car drove right in.

Qu Xi felt a bit flustered, but seeing the back of the man in the passenger seat eased her nerves considerably.

This should be the destination of the carpool, right? Today was her lucky day.

Thinking this way, Qu Xi’s tension dissipated, and she excitedly sent another text to Xu Yao.

[Qu Xi: Hahaha Yao Yao, we hit the jackpot! We actually get to see inside Haicheng Bay No. 1! I wonder when we can live in such a luxury apartment ourselves.]

Xu Yao smiled and said, “Right now.”

Qu Xi was stunned for a moment: “Huh?”

The car stopped in front of a building’s lobby, the driver parked the car and got out to open the doors for Xu Yao and Qu Xi, while the property manager helped them swipe the entry door open.

Lu Ye pressed the elevator button first, letting the two of them in, and then asked Xu Yao, “Miss Yao, which floor will Miss Qu be living on?”

Qu Xi, who was secretly observing the elevator handrails made of genuine crocodile leather, was confused: “…………??” Which floor? Can we even choose?

Xu Yao thought for a moment: “Eighth floor, ‘8’ is prosperous.”

By the time Qu Xi followed her into 801, everyone was bewildered. What greeted them was an ultra-large living room of over a hundred square meters, with various high-end furniture in sight, and the bright decor style was very suitable for girls.

Qu Xi took half an hour to digest the fact that Xu Yao had taken on the ‘if I’m not popular, I’ll retire and collect rent’ top landlord script.

“You won’t be living here for free; you’ll still pay me rent,” Xu Yao never forgot her identity as a landlord, “The monthly rent is three thousand.”

“Qu Xi: “!!”

Xu Bodhisattva! Living Bodhisattva!”

The housing prices in Haicheng were extremely high; the small room in the three-bedroom apartment they had previously shared was already three thousand a month.

For a luxurious flat like Haicheng Bay No. 1, three thousand wouldn’t even be enough, even if you added a zero!

Xu Yao glanced at the time and walked towards the hallway:

“It’s getting late; you should rest well. I’ll go back and take a bath first.”

Qu Xi was stunned; she had thought this was Xu Yao’s home, and she would be satisfied if her friend let her stay in a guest room for three thousand at such a low price. But now… Xu Yao was leaving? This huge apartment was solely for her to live in?

Qu Xi was dazed for a long time until the sky gradually darkened, and she finally came to her senses. She decisively took out her phone and opened the camera to record: “Hey guys, what’s it like to be taken flying by a landlord friend? I know now!”

That night, a five-minute sharing video went viral on Red Note, with likes skyrocketing to tens of thousands!

In the video, Qu Xi frantically showcased Haicheng’s number one luxury community, the super large master bedroom, the high-end bathtub in the bathroom, and the six-meter high balcony with a view of the river just outside the glass door. Qu Xi thought it would be perfect for a barbecue night with a few friends!

[Wow, I’ve got material for dreaming tonight! Are there any more friends like this amazing landlord? I want one too.]

[Three thousand to rent a flat in Haicheng Bay No. 1, I wouldn’t even dare to dream this, wuwuwu. This isn’t collecting rent; it’s clearly just to avoid making the landlord feel awkward!]

[Emergency help needed! I beat up my best friend, and she still won’t admit she’s a landlord. What should I do?]

[Emmmm this blogger seems to be a little artist, and it seems like Xu Yao is her roommate. Could this landlord be Xu Yao?]

[Hahaha, is there really someone who believes Xu Yao’s nonsense about retiring to collect rent?]

Li Xiaoli, an ordinary girl who had just come to Haicheng to work, was sitting in a small house in the urban village eating instant noodles, enviously watching the video. She wouldn’t dare to dream like that; she just hoped to earn enough money to rent a better place, as the environment in the urban village was really too poor.

After the landlord friend video went viral on Red Note, Li Xiaoli continued to eat her instant noodles while clicking into Sheng Zhou’s Weibo, as she was a fan of Sheng Zhou and wanted to see if there was any response.

It seemed that Sheng Zhou had discussed it with Liu Yingxia, as they both responded together on Weibo.

[Sheng Zhou: Single.]

[Liu Yingxia: Single.]

Countless fans were moved to tears; they knew their brother/sister was single, and Xu Yao, that drama queen, was clearly spreading rumours!”

Xu Yao lived in the building opposite Qu Xi, in the best location of Haicheng Bay No. 1. The top-floor duplex villa was incredibly comfortable, complete with an extravagant open-air swimming pool.

Xu Yao contentedly soaked in a bath, leisurely applying skincare oil all over her body. Lu Ye was still on the phone, asking if she wanted him to arrange for a massage therapist to help relieve her fatigue, especially since she had been under immense stress from online harassment lately.

That evening, her fiancé, Ji Zhengqing, who was merely a tool for her inheritance, added her on WeChat but remained silent after the addition.

Xu Yao spent a few days in a state of dejection, but when she finally woke up naturally, the top chef Lu Ye had arranged had already prepared exquisite meals. She cozied up at home, playing games, and happily indulged as a spendthrift player for a few days.

Lu Ye appeared before her: “Miss Yao Yao, your issues with your former management company have been resolved, and you can now use your social media accounts freely.”

Great!

Having successfully terminated her contract with the trash company, she was now a bona fide ordinary person.

Many sharp-eyed netizens had clearly noticed this as well. Xu Yao’s reckless Weibo post announcing her withdrawal from the industry had not only gone unremoved by her company, but even her personal profile, which previously stated ‘Artist of Mars Entertainment,’ had vanished.

[Xu Yao’s company officially announced the termination! Wow, does Xu Yao really have the capital to terminate? Is she really going to use the script of ‘If I’m not famous, I’ll go home to inherit billions’?]

[Insider news: Mars Entertainment didn’t even dare to ask Xu Yao for compensation, and all her social media accounts have been returned to her! Suddenly, I kind of believe what she said; Sheng Zhou and Liu Yingxia can’t really be in a relationship, right?]

[Sheng Zhou and Liu Yingxia have already clarified, okay?? Who would believe a former eighteen-line now ordinary person over the parties involved? That’s just funny.]

Fans were genuinely naive; their older brothers and sisters were being slandered by Xu Yao. Why didn’t they dare to sue her for defamation? Go ahead and sue her! If they dare to sue Xu Yao, I’ll believe they’re fine!

Sheng Zhou and Liu Yingxia were indeed in a dire situation lately. Their relationship had suddenly been exposed by that foolish woman Xu Yao, and public opinion was very unfavorable for them. Several projects that were about to be finalized had suddenly been put on hold.

Fortunately, the variety show he valued the most, “My Home Life,” had no intention of replacing him. This show took place entirely in the residences of the guests, and many viewers loved to see the luxurious lives of celebrities, so the show had always been popular.

“Brother Sheng, the house you rented just informed us that the owner has changed, and they want you to add the new owner’s WeChat for rent payment,” the assistant reminded Sheng Zhou.

“Don’t add!” Sheng Zhou replied sharply, “Can’t you see I’m already annoyed?”

This luxurious apartment was the one Sheng Zhou intended to use for the show. He had forgotten to pay rent for a month in his previous rental, and it seemed the landlord had also forgotten about it. Since the landlord didn’t bring it up, he didn’t ask either, and it had dragged on for nearly half a year.

He decided to just pretend he didn’t know about it.

From this perspective, the wealthy landlord seemed very easygoing, so filming the show in this luxurious apartment would allow him to showcase his lavish lifestyle to fans without worrying about the production team damaging the place, since it was rented, he wouldn’t feel heartbroken.

*

Xu Yao was shopping in a high-end mall in Haicheng, followed closely by Lu Ye and the smiling, wrinkled mall manager, with bodyguards carrying large bags behind them.

Every time they passed a luxury store, the sales assistants looked at them with the eager eyes of someone witnessing the arrival of a god of wealth.

Lu Ye silently watched Xu Yao, who was strutting confidently in her newly bought eight-centimeter high heels. He approached her and whispered, “Miss Yao Yao, the gentleman called to ask if you have enough money to spend. If not, he can transfer some to you.”

Xu Yao had indeed spent quite a bit recently, so it was no wonder her brother was checking in on her. After all, he had finally found his sister, whom he had been waiting for twenty years.

However, Xu Yao shook her head: “No need.”

She was here to retire and enjoy life; she couldn’t always be her brother’s little parasite. She had her own sources of income; those hundred-plus properties were not just for show.

Xu Yao immediately turned to Lu Ye and asked, “Where can I collect rent now?”

Lu Ye took out his tablet to check and replied, “The village in the city is just about to reach the rent payment period, while the other rental properties in the school district will have to wait a couple more days.”

“Then let’s start with the village in the city.”

Lu Ye watched Xu Yao walk out in her high heels, thought for a moment, and waved to the mall manager: “Please arrange a luxury van for us.”

The two properties Xu Yao held in the village had excellent locations, but due to inferior infrastructure compared to nearby communities, the rent was much more affordable, making them a top choice for newly graduated college students.

Xu Yao knew that these two buildings in the village would eventually be demolished, causing their value to skyrocket, which was why she had secured them.

The roads in the village were narrow, and there was no underground parking, so when a luxury car drove in, it immediately caught the attention of passersby. Young girls excitedly took out their phones to snap pictures, encouraged by friends to ask for WeChat IDs.

A delicate, slender leg stepped down from the high heels, making those around realize that the wealthy also had daughters; a rich girl had arrived!

Xu Yao, dressed in the latest season’s long dress and wearing sunglasses, looked up at the two six-story buildings in the village, which had no elevators.

Collecting rent was no longer like before; now, payments could be made directly via WeChat transfer, except for a few tenants who might not know how to use smartphones and would need to be visited in person.

But the new landlord Xu Yao suddenly remembered that aside from the fixed rent, she also needed to go upstairs to check the electricity, water, and gas meters to confirm the costs!

Behind her, Lu Ye suddenly asked, “Miss Yao Yao, do you want to change your outfit first?”

Xu Yao turned her head in surprise, just in time to see a black luxury van driving towards them, stopping directly in front of them.

Lu Ye stepped forward and opened the car door with a flourish.

Inside the van, there were bright, refreshing short-sleeved T-shirts and shorts from various luxury brands hanging, a large bunch of keys on the left side, and a row of high-end slippers at the bottom, the most eye-catching pair even adorned with rhinestones!

Rent collection outfit for the landlady!

Xu Yao couldn’t help but give Lu Ye a thumbs up, praising his exceptional ability to take action.

Truly a leader of a professional rent collection team.

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:

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going out to collect money would be a dream