Since the little monsters never ate or drank, they did not have excrement. They would never get through the urine or feces test.
When Deeny told Su Yang about the test results with a blushing face, it reminded him of the comments he saw on TikTok, one of which was [I can’t imagine a cute girl like you going to the toilet. It breaks my heart.]
‘Great. You people might want to know that your cute little Deeny really doesn’t need to go to the toilet.’
Other than Deeny and Pool, the other little monsters also went through the health checkup but their vitals were drastically different from normal humans.
Little Hus did not even have blood, let alone excrement. When he went through the X-ray machine, the machine did not even detect anything from his body. He was the first one to be disqualified.
Sanque and Gru were more or less the same. Their bodies were basically plants, so they were not even close to an animal.
Even Little Lady Knife, who gained a humanoid body with the second point, shared no similarities with a human body. The X-ray result showed that the blades that she had as limbs were actually connected to her bones. Aside from that, the blood test results were drastically different from that of a human being’s either.
Su Yang did not know what caused her vitals to be this different. Maybe it was because of her Life Evolution or something else entirely.
After the tests, he heaved a sigh of relief because Pool should be able to get his health certificate.
‘What about the urine and feces test? I guess I’ll have to step in! The health checkup isn’t all that strict either. No one will wait in front of the toilet anyway! If he can pass the X-ray and the blood test, it should be fine.’
With that in mind, Su Yang gave his father a call and said that he had a friend who was an unregistered citizen, so he wanted his father to ask around the village to see whether he could be registered in their village.
His father asked with a slightly worried tone, “Is your friend…clean? I mean it’s safe, right?”
Su Yang smiled and said, “Don’t worry, Dad. He lost his family when he’s young and has been begging in the city since then. He’s got a job recently, so he needs the credentials. He’s a nice guy.”
His father remained suspicious, but he agreed to ask the village chief for help.
Su Yang knew his father well. Since his father said he would help, he would do it.
After the phone call, Pool came to Su Yang with a long face. “Lord Su Yang, the landlord came again tonight.”
“Did he recognize you?” Su Yang asked.
Pool shook his head. “He’s suspicious, but I said the younger one is my brother, so he let me off.”
“Is it about the rent again?” asked Su Yang.
Pool nodded. “He was fiercer than the last visit. He said if we don’t agree to the increased rent, he will get his lawyer to sue us!”
Su Yang frowned. “Sue us? For what?”
“He said the rent we asked for is below the market price, and he said he was deceived into signing the agreement, so it is invalid. He will seek legal help to invalidate the agreement.”
Some thoughts later, Su Yang said, “Okay, I’ll take care of it. I’ll go talk to the landlord tomorrow.”
…
The next day, Su Yang called the landlord and asked him out for a meeting. The landlord agreed. The two of them met up at a coffee shop near the campus.
Su Yang arrived at the coffee shop early and ordered a cup of coffee while waiting for the landlord.
Half an hour later, the landlord finally showed up.
The landlord was a man in his 50s who spoke in an authentic Shanghainese accent. As for whether or not he was a local Shanghainese, no one knew because most of the outsiders could speak better Shanghai dialect than the locals.
The landlord grinned when he saw Su Yang. “Su! There you are. I’ve been trying to get to you in the past few days, but you are a busy man.”
Su Yang answered in a neutral tone, “Uncle Fang, you have my contact number. You could’ve just given me a call if you wanted to.”
Surprised, the landlord apped his forehead and said, “Oh my goodness. I’m getting old. My brain is not functioning as well. I don’t even remember I have your contact.”
Su Yang smiled but did not reply to the question. He said, “Uncle Fang, we are all adults here, so let’s be honest. What do you want with our shop?”
The landlord suddenly looked embarrassed. “My, my, it’s not about what I want. It’s about what I feel. I have a feeling that the rent you are paying is a little too low.”
Su Yang took the agreement out and said, “I have the agreement here and your signature is on it. I don’t think it’s appropriate for you to violate the agreement like this.”
The landlord replied with slight hesitance, “Su, I might have signed a black-and-white with you, but the rent is half of the current market price and I might not have been in a clear state of mind then. I think the law allows us to negotiate further.”
Su Yang frowned. He did use the [Elementary Verbal Canon] to persuade the landlord during the initial negotiation and the landlord had fallen for it, thus the 10% discount on the rent. However, the claims about the current rent being half of the current market price or the landlord not being in a clear state of mind was pure nonsense.
‘I remember that the landlord almost knelt down and worshipped me as God! If I hadn’t stopped him then, he might have been my lackey now!’
Su Yang tapped his fingers on the arm of the couch. A while later, he asked, “Uncle Fang, how much rent are you asking for now?”
The landlord smiled. “I’m not asking for much. Just the market price will be fine. I’m currently taking 6,000 yuan per month from you, so if you can pay up to 12,000 per month, we will be good.”
“12K?! Are you out of your mind, Uncle Fang? Is your spot worth that much? Are you kidding me?” Su Yang was shocked.
The landlord grinned. “Of course. My location is right outside the east gate, so it packs a ton of commercial value!”
“Besides…the feng shui there is good for business,” whispered the landlord, “You guys have moved in for two weeks and your business has skyrocketed! It’s an auspicious spot! Am I right?”
‘Auspicious, my a*s! I did all the advertising myself!’
The landlord leaned back on the couch since Su Yang was not moved by his words. He said with a bland tone, “There are many other milk tea shops eyeing my location, and they are willing to pay triple the price. Please don’t get it wrong.”
Su Yang’s heart was filled with disgust when he saw the landlord’s face. ‘This kind of blood-sucking landlord that preys on common citizens and small businesses is the worst kind! When business is good, you raise the rent. When people get a salary increase, you raise the rent…B*stard!’
Su Yang remembered seeing a post online saying that when working in Shanghai, a third of the salary earned had to go to rent and the rise of rent would follow!
However, Su Yang’s businesses were still in the growing stage. The ‘Monster Family’ series and the milk tea shop had only just started, and Su Yang had a ton of matters to attend to, so he did not have time to argue with the landlord.
‘Fine! I’ll accept the raise if it’s not too bad! Just you wait, you old b*stard! In two months, I’ll buy a shop there and you will cry in your ‘auspicious’ shop!’
Su Yang activated the [Verbal Canon] and started negotiating.
In the end, his silver tongue managed to lower the landlord’s 12,000 yuan to only 8,000 yuan, which was a 2,000 yuan increment to the previous 6,000 yuan rent.
Su Yang realized that one’s will was the determining factor of [Verbal Canon]. He was able to persuade the landlord to give a 10% discount the last time, but this time around, even after he activated [Intermediate Verbal Canon] and negotiated for two minutes, he could barely move the landlord.
The landlord fixed the rent at 8,000 yuan and showed no signs of compromising.
‘Fine! 8,000 it is!’ Su Yang accepted his fate.
After they signed an additional agreement, Su Yang stormed out of the coffee shop. He was fed up with the landlord’s disgusting smirk.
Su Yang was still grumpy after he went home. It was then that he received a call from Wang Dong. “Mr. Su, Junqing is pressuring me to arrange a meeting with you. I can barely hold them off for any longer.”
“Why can’t you? Just tell them I’m not meeting them and not negotiating about anything! We aren’t even taking jobs from them anymore, so just ignore them!” Su Yang bellowed.
After he hung up the phone, he went to the bathroom for a shower to calm his grumpiness. He lost almost 10,000 over the negotiation which impacted his mood. He had the urge to break into the landlord’s house at night to smash his face with the brick.
On the next day, which was a Sunday, something worse came.
At night, when Pool came back from work, he looked at Su Yang with a depressed gaze and said, “Lord Su Yang, the landlord came by again and said he wants another raise! This time, he even started to disturb our customers and sent them away. Thankfully, it was near closing time. Otherwise, we might not have been able to do business.”
Su Yang frowned hard. “He did that? I thought I talked to him yesterday afternoon!”
Then, his ringtone echoed throughout the living room. Su Yang summoned the panel and noticed that the call was from the agent that had helped him register his companies.
He answered the phone and the agent said, “Mr. Su, someone from the SAMR (State Administration for Market Regulation) is dropping by tomorrow for an inspection. I got the notice today and I almost forget to inform you.”
‘What the f*ck? Is he calling me on a Sunday night to tell me about an inspection tomorrow morning? What is going on?! What’s with the problems popping up one after another?!’
