26. The Piano Teacher’s Tale of Renting a Home

After the phone call, everyone in the office understood what was going on.

Li An suddenly had something come up for tomorrow night.

From the conversation, it was clear to all that Li An had a trial tutoring lesson recently, and the client had specifically requested tomorrow evening.

As soon as Li An hung up, Ma Tao inquired, “How about the day after tomorrow?” He already had plans for tonight.

Chen Xuan, knowing that Li An might need to work a shift at the restaurant on Sunday evening, stepped in to ease the situation. “I have something on the day after tomorrow.”

Li An couldn’t commit to a time with everyone just yet; he still didn’t know how the parents might schedule the lessons after their first meeting.

Xu Hongxin, sensing Li An’s difficulty, took charge: “It’s fine, the whole point of these dinners is to have fun. No one would feel good if someone had to put off something important just for a get-together. I say we stop trying to pick a date. Whenever we’re all free, we just go.”

Everyone agreed with Xu Hongxin’s suggestion.

Li An nodded gratefully at Xu Hongxin, thinking to himself that this was a friend worth keeping. “Sorry to disappoint everyone this time.”

Xu Hongxin laughed. “Alright, An, go handle your business. It’s almost three-thirty—you have an appointment with the real estate agent, don’t you?”

Without further ado, Li An clocked out and left.

The gathering for tomorrow night might have fallen through, but the camaraderie in the office left everyone in good spirits.

When Xu Hongxin first arrived, to be honest, he didn’t think much of Li An. The guy was always holed up in the classroom practicing piano, acting like this was more than just a regular job—just like Lin Pengfei.

Every time the three men in the office suggested going out for drinks, Li An would decline, saying he had work at night—hardly what you’d call manly.

But then Xu Hongxin noticed that on odd days, Li An always headed east after work, and on even days, he’d go west.

That made him realize Li An probably did have things to do in the evenings.

Then there was the incident when two parents stormed into the office, almost starting a fight. It was Li An who quickly intervened and smoothed things over before it could reach Old Dong.

From that moment, Xu Hongxin started to respect Li An, and the more they interacted, the more he found him a decent guy.

It wasn’t until a casual conversation revealed Li An was actually older than him that he started calling him “Brother An.”

“Brother An really works hard.”

Xu Hongxin couldn’t help but compare himself, though in truth, they were all more or less the same age.

“True, not all of us grew up as rich locals like you,” Ma Tao chimed in as the topic of Li An moving apartments came up, something he could relate to. He’d also chosen to stay after graduation rather than return home; his entire college network was here, and he wanted to give it a shot.

It felt like every penny he made went straight to rent—sometimes he even had to ask his family for help.

For once, the two didn’t bicker. Xu Hongxin sighed, “Yeah, with Yudong’s salary, it’s not easy for you guys.”

Then he turned to Chen Xuan. “Sister Xuan, how did you end up in Rong City? Didn’t you go to college in Yanjing? I remember your hometown is somewhere down south, right?”

“I’m from Smoke City,” Chen Xuan corrected.

Xu Hongxin nodded. Compared to Smoke City, Rong City was much more developed, and the two weren’t that far apart.

Seeing that Chen Xuan didn’t want to elaborate, he dropped the subject. “Rong City is quite nice. If you can all stay here in the long run, that would be great.”

Chen Xuan hadn’t thought that far ahead, but for now, she was determined not to return to Smoke City.

...

“The bus has arrived at Yunting Garden West Gate. Please hold on and mind your step as you disembark.”

The bus door opened, and a wave of heat hit him, leaving the cool air conditioning behind—a jarring contrast.

Li An glanced around. The bus stop was a bit grimy and cluttered, but thankfully it wasn’t far from the old city center, and the surroundings had the vibe of a well-established neighborhood.

He decided to take a look.

Yunting Garden.

The entrance to the complex was just across the street from the bus stop.

Crossing the road, Li An searched for the west gate while calling the real estate agent.

Before long, two energetic young men dressed in white shirts and black trousers approached, one of them on the phone.

The leader put away his phone and stopped in front of Li An.

“Hi, my name’s Wang Wei. You can just call me Xiao Wang. And you are?”

“Li An.”

“Where are you coming from?”

“Harmony Square.”

Making small talk, the two led Li An into the complex. The leader asked, “Harmony in Guangyuan District?”

“Yudong,” Li An replied, glancing around the complex. It had to be at least fifteen years old.

The assistant chimed in, “So you work in the city center? Then you picked the right place to look for a place—it’s super convenient.”

Li An smiled. “Thirty-five minutes on the bus, and that’s not even during rush hour. You call that convenient?”

The leader grinned, showing his teeth. “It’s the same anywhere within seven kilometers of Yudong Harmony. No matter where you live, you’ll spend about the same time on the bus. But if you live here, you’re just three minutes from the bus stop every morning. That’ll save you a lot of time, right? Plus, there are plenty of buses to the Yudong office buildings from here.”

That was true, otherwise Li An wouldn’t have bothered to come all this way.

As they walked, the leader said, “There’s a place nearby that’s available for monthly rent. Would you like to see it first? The rent is about the same as the one you sent me earlier, and the renovations are really nice.”

Li An had to work at Blue Whale later and didn’t want to waste time with the agents—he’d rented enough times to know all their tricks.

“Here’s the deal.” Li An stopped. “I have something else to do soon. Just show me the two places I mentioned, plus one more you recommend, but keep the budget at fourteen hundred or less. If it’s over, don’t bother. After these three, I’ll have to go. Let’s save everyone time.”

The leader understood immediately. “Got it.” He changed direction. “This way, please.”

...

Half an hour later.

On the balcony of a sixth-floor two-bedroom apartment, the three of them discussed.

The assistant said, “Brother, maybe you should go back to those other two places. But as you heard, the landlords don’t allow pets. There’s nothing we can do.”

Li An nodded. “I’ll think about it.”

After seeing three apartments, Li An found them all more or less the same—old and a bit run-down.

He’d been prepared for that. For this location, to get a small one-bedroom with monthly rent at 1,250, what more could he ask for?

All he needed was a bed to sleep in and a bathroom with a shower.

He was drawn to this apartment because the agent said the landlord was open to negotiating the price below 1,250.

He figured he could get it for 1,200—a couple hundred less than his budget.

But the problem was the landlord didn’t allow pets.

Li An had never kept animals before, so he hadn’t considered this in advance.

And what couldn’t he do with an extra two hundred?

He paused for a moment.

“Are there any cheaper monthly rentals nearby?”

The assistant looked troubled. “Brother, with your budget, there’s really nothing else around here. This area is mostly proper residential complexes, and hardly any places offer monthly rent. In this old complex, there are only a few left. Across the street, even the smallest one-bedrooms in newer buildings go for over two thousand.”

“If you don’t take these, they might be gone in a few days.”

Seeing Li An hesitate, the leader guessed he was put off by the prices. After a while, he asked, “Would you consider a shared apartment?”

“I would,” Li An replied. He’d thought about looking for a shared place near Yudong.

But there, hardly any options offered monthly payment, and the per-room price wasn’t much cheaper than these whole apartments.

The leader thought for a moment. “How much longer on your current lease?”

“Seven days,” Li An said.

Today was the twelfth; the handover was on the twenty-first. If he didn’t renew, he’d have to move on the eighteenth or nineteenth—classes were scheduled that weekend.

The leader checked the time. “Alright, since you’ve got things to do, go ahead. Leave the apartment search to us. We’ll try to find something in the next two days and contact you right away.”

Li An nodded. “Thanks, Xiao Wang.”

“No problem. Just wait for our call.”

After seeing Li An off, the two young men walked back to their office.

The assistant asked, “Boss, are there any shared apartments with monthly rent around here?”

“We’ll check the system when we get back,” said the leader. “Look near Yudong as well. Remember, there’s no such thing as an unrentable apartment or an unfindable one.”

——

The next morning, everyone at Yudong was pleasantly surprised to see an extra two hundred in their monthly pay.

What a treat...