When arriving in a new environment, observing the surroundings is the instinct of a hunter who goes into the mountains to hunt. The place where Lu Shanmin and his party are located should be an old city. The surrounding houses are all five or six-story tube buildings, with exposed spider webs on the outer walls of the houses.
The same old wires, the alleys between the houses are very narrow, a row of restaurants and grocery stores are messy, there is a vegetable market not far away, people are coming and going in the alleys, this is the rush hour after work, there are naked people in the crowd.
There were men whose arms smelled of sweat, and there were also people in fashionable suits and leather shoes. Lushan people were a little strange. In the taxi, they saw blooming flowers along the way. After passing a few streets, they seemed to have entered another world.
Huang Mei pouted with some dissatisfaction, "There is a place like this in the East China Sea. We won't just live here in the future."
Zhang Li said calmly: "We checked the rent in Donghai online before we came here. We only have the money to live in this kind of place. The rent for those clean and bright apartments costs tens of thousands a month."
Chen Kun was also a little disappointed, "Hey, let's just settle for now. When we make money, we can move into a high-end community next year."
The four of them waited until dark before Chen Kun's cousin hurried over. She looked about thirty years old, wearing a black business suit, and her face was full of exhaustion.
Chen Kun ran over excitedly, "Cousin"
The woman smiled and nodded, and looked the two girls up and down. When she saw Lu Shanmin, who was dressed in blue and gray clothes and wearing a pair of rubber shoes, a trace of disgust flashed in her eyes.
Chen Kun introduced with a smile: "This is my cousin, Li Jing." Then he looked at Zhang Li and Huang Mei, "These two are the college classmates I mentioned on the phone." Finally, he pointed to Lu Shanmin, "This is us.
The fellow villagers we met on the train also live with us temporarily."
Zhang Li and Huang Mei smiled and nodded, "Hello, Sister Li, thank you for finding us a house."
Lu Shanmin also smiled and nodded towards Li Jing, but did not receive a response from the other party.
"Let's go. You are tired after riding the train for a few days. We will have dinner first and then take you to your place of stay."
We randomly found a restaurant on the street and ordered a few dishes. The group of people had not eaten a decent meal for several days. At this moment, they did not care about their image and wolfed down the food. The table of food was quickly wiped out.
After finishing the meal, Zhang Li wanted to pay the bill, but Li Jing waved her hand and said, "Let me settle the bill. You have just arrived in the East China Sea, so you can save a little. In the future, you will understand that although the East China Sea is full of gold, it has nothing to do with you.
"
Apart from the taxi driver just now, Li Jing is the first Donghai person Lu Shanmin has come into contact with. As a careful hunter, when he saw the exhaustion and sadness on her face, he knew that what she just said was not a casual joke.
, Lu Shanmin thought to himself, it might not be as easy as Chen Kun imagined to gain a foothold in the East China Sea.
Chen Kun chuckled and said in Zhang Li's ear: "Just keep it, my sister is rich."
When paying the bill, Lu Shanmin glanced at it secretly. It was two hundred and twenty yuan. This was once again beyond his understanding. It was enough to feed a family in Mazui Village for a month, but it was only enough for a few people to have a meal here.
The rental house was not far from the place to eat. Under the leadership of Li Jing, the group came to a dilapidated building. In Lu Shanmin's opinion, this building was not much better than the dilapidated hotel in Luliang County. He looked up and took a look.
Look, No. 222, Minsheng West Road, Luohu Street, Baihui District.
The narrow corridors, dim lights, and mottled white dust on the walls were different from the East China Sea he imagined. They were completely different worlds from the world he saw in the taxi. Li Jing opened the door, and a smell of
The musty smell hit their faces, and the four of them walked around. There were two bedrooms and one living room, less than forty square meters. There was a color TV set in the living room, and an old three-person sofa with broken leather. In front of the sofa was a
There is a yellowed coffee table. There is a small bed in each of the two bedrooms, and there is no other furniture. For the Lushan people who have spent the night in the mountains and forests more than once, there is nothing dissatisfied, as long as they have a place to stay. But
Chen Kun and Huang Mei showed obvious displeasure on their faces, and even Zhang Li frowned slightly.
Li Jing scanned everyone's expressions and said impatiently: "I spent a lot of effort and asked my friends to find this apartment. When I first arrived in Donghai, I lived in a basement of several square meters.
, just be content."
Zhang Li bumped Huang Mei and Chen Kun with her elbow, and quickly said with a smile: "We are very satisfied, Sister Li took the trouble."
Li Jing forced out a smile and said, "You guys can stay here first. I have something else to do. Please clean up and go to bed early."
Seeing Li Jing standing there looking at everyone with no intention of moving, Zhang Li walked forward with a smile, "Sister Li, how do you pay the rent?"
Li Jing smiled and said, "I know it was not easy for you when you first came here. I specially found a friend who is a second-hand housing agent. After some hard work, I asked him to help negotiate the lowest price with the landlord. A house in this area used to cost at least 7,000 a month."
As he spoke, he looked at the wide-mouthed expressions on everyone's faces and continued, "Finally, we finally talked about five thousand a month."
Huang Mei couldn't help but screamed out, "Five thousand."
Li Jing looked impatient, "This is already the cheapest price in this area." Huang Mei tightly grasped the bag in her hand, which contained fifteen thousand yuan brought by the three of them.
Li Jing sighed and said: "You just graduated, don't you know that in this world, hiring people to do things costs money. In order to rent a house for you, I broke my legs in the past few days, and I gave my friend five thousand yuan to take care of things."
Fee, if it weren't for the fact that Chen Kun is my cousin, I wouldn't bother to care about it. I won't bother with you for other travel expenses and tonight's meal. You can just give me 20,000 yuan."
When he heard the 20,000 yuan, Chen Kun's cheerful expression froze. Huang Mei tightly grabbed the bag in her hand and looked at Li Jing in panic, while a trace of anger flashed in Zhang Li's eyes.
Lu Shanmin, who had been watching with cold eyes, had a fierce look in his eyes, glaring at Li Jing like a beast in the mountains. Speaking of this, Lu Shanmin's gratitude to the woman in front of him turned into extremely angry. He had never seen the world again, and he could do it at this time.
It was obvious that the woman in front of her regarded her group of people as lambs to be slaughtered.
Li Jing saw Lu Shanmin's gaze and subconsciously took a step back in fright. Then she puffed up her chest and said, "Even if an agency rents you a house, you still have to pay one month's rent to the agency. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't be familiar with this place."
I don’t know how much money I’ll get cheated out of.”
Lu Shanmin snorted coldly: "But Chen Kun is your cousin."
Li Jing raised her neck and said, "So what, brothers are still settling the scores."
Lu Shanmin gritted his teeth, glared angrily, clenched his fists, and walked towards Li Jing step by step, "One thousand hard-earned fees, a total of sixteen thousand. If you want it, just call the landlord here and we can talk about it ourselves."
Li Jing looked at the ferocious-looking Lushan people dressed in mountain villagers' clothes, and slowly backed away in fear. A piece of news she saw on TV a few days ago flashed in her mind. A barbarian who came to work in the city from a remote mountainous area followed a single woman in the middle of the night.
Unable to succeed, he angrily broke the woman's neck and took away all her belongings.
Lu Shanmin approached step by step, and Li Jing retreated step by step. Only when she had no way to retreat, she said angrily: "Okay, I promise you."
Lu Shanmin snorted coldly, took out the money from his backpack, counted four thousand yuan from it and handed it to Huang Mei.
Huang Mei took out the money from her bag and counted it three times with trembling before handing it to Li Jing.
Li Jing snorted coldly, put the money into her pocket, and said harshly to Chen Kun: "Chen Kun, you are a college student after all, why are you hanging out with a barbarian? I advise you to stay away from him in the future. This kind of asking for money
People who don't care about their lives can do anything." After saying that, he slammed the door and left.
Zhang Li breathed out, "Thank you"
Lu Shanmin smiled slightly, "I also have a share of the rent."
Huang Mei looked unhappy and complained to Chen Kun: "Why is your cousin such a person? You still brag about how rich and nice she is."
Chen Kun was ashamed and angry, "She was not like this in my hometown before. Who knew she would be so greedy for money after staying in Donghai for a few years, and she would even trick me."
Zhang Li frowned and said, "Let's think about what to do in the future."
Seeing that everyone was silent, Zhang Li continued, "I suggest that everyone use their money to make overall arrangements. I still have five hundred."
Huang Mei took out her wallet and counted it, "I have more than five hundred."
Chen Kun touched his pocket and said, "I still have six hundred yuan here."
Lu Shanmin brought 5,000 yuan with him when he left the mountain. He spent more than 700 yuan on bus and train tickets, and he still had more than 200 yuan left. "Two hundred and fifty yuan."
Zhang Li continued: "Keep the money you have for yourself first. Huangmei originally had 15,000 yuan shared by the three of us. After paying the rent, there are still 3,000 yuan left. These 3,000 yuan will be used by the four of us."
The public funds are used to pay water, electricity, property management fees and purchase vegetables, rice, oil and salt.”
Chen Kun frowned, "The three thousand yuan belongs to the three of us."
Zhang Li snorted coldly, "Without the mountain man, the fifteen thousand yuan would have been stolen on the train. Without him, I would have to pay an extra four thousand yuan to your cousin."
Chen Kun lowered his head angrily. What happened tonight made him feel very bad. He was cheated by his cousin and lost all his face. The two times he rescued people from danger were Lushan people, which made him worthless. Chen Kun secretly fell in love with Zhang Li.
It is no longer a secret, but now the girl I like is actually protecting a villager from the mountains, while I am a college student, how can I save my face?
"Yes, but I have a condition. I don't want to share a room with him."
Just as Zhang Li was about to say something, Lu Shanmin shook his head at her, "I sleep on the sofa, and the living expenses I owe will be made up after I find a job."
Zhang Li glanced at Lu Shanmin in confusion. She didn't understand what kind of person Lu Shanmin was. Sometimes he was like a bad guy who was very easy to talk to. Even if Chen Kun and Huang Mei started ridiculing him intentionally or unintentionally on the train, there was no sign of anger at all. Sometimes he was very talkative.
Like a wild lone wolf, he snatched his wallet back alone on the train and hated Li Jing just now.
Seeing that Lu Shanmin had no objection, she did not raise any objection. She also understood Chen Kun's mood at the moment, and in order to live in harmony with each other, she gave Chen Kun a step up.
Next, Zhang Li started arranging cleaning and was busy until late at night before cleaning up.
After riding the train for a few days and being busy one night, they went back to their rooms to rest. Lu Shanmin slept on the shabby sofa and gradually fell asleep. In his dream, Bai Ling told himself the beauty of the East China Sea with a smile on his face.