Ch120.1 – Renting a Place
The signal wasn’t very good as it was rather intermittent. Yu Hao found an old residential building about one stop away from the office and rented one of its rooms. Zhou Sheng suggested that he not share an apartment with someone else, since he could end up with a weirdo as a roommate. But this was the most value for money place that Yu Hao could find. The nephew of the landlady lived there by himself and was an otaku addicted to gaming. He was preparing for the civil service exam, had no girlfriend, played games all day, and studied at home.
One room and one living room was remodelled into two rooms. Yu Hao was very satisfied with it, as it had the effect of noise isolation as well. 2,800 per month, rent to be paid once every three months. Yu Hao paid 11,200, including a one-month deposit.
Zhou Sheng video called him again, “I’ll demand my salary from the old man in a minute.”
“It’s enough.” Yu Hao said, “I still have more than 10,000 left.”
Zhou Sheng wasn’t very pleased with the fact that Yu Hao was sharing an apartment with someone else, but looking for houses was quite tiring. After Yu Hao found one that was somewhat suitable, he really didn’t want to rush about everywhere anymore. In any case, before his internship ended, he would only come back at night to sleep for a few hours, and he wouldn’t hold any dinner parties here for guests either, so it didn’t really matter much.
Yu Hao knew Zhou Sheng’s principle was “don’t scrimp, it’s fine as long as you like it’, so Yu Hao led the topic to ‘I like it’, and Zhou Sheng finally accepted it doubtfully.
“Why don’t you buy it?” Zhou Sheng said, “Since you like it. The card’s on you, I’ll borrow some from the old man and add another four million into it. It can be treated as an investment.”
“I’m going crazy!” Yu Hao blew up, “To spend more than six million yuan to buy this one bedroom, one living room apartment that’s 40 square metres and 30-years-old, do I have nowhere else to spend my money? The windows are about to fall off!”
Zhou Sheng, “Then it looks like you don’t really like it that much. Do as you like ba, but don’t let yourself suffer.”
“I thought you’d buy the house.” Lin Ze said after he heard Yu Hao describe his rented place.
Yu Hao, “Uh, I really can’t afford it. That one bedroom and one living room costs more than six million yuan.”
Situ Ye said, “In these times, property prices really are an abnormality.”
Yu Hao said, “It’s not for us to dabble in property in the first place. Renting’s pretty good.”
Lin Ze said, “Property prices have nothing to do with whether or not one rents. It’s proven to be a rather vile proposition for the entire country: toiling away for a year can’t be compared to investing in two apartments. Think about it, what does that mean?”
Yu Hao said, “The rich will get richer, while the poor will get poorer ba.”
“No.” Lin Ze corrected, “To some extent, it negates the national value of ‘diligence’.”
Yu Hao thought, holy shit, you really dared to say it. But after he thought about it carefully, that really was the case. Lin Ze sighed, “Working hard for your entire life can’t be compared to buying a house and waiting for it to appreciate in value, then who would still be willing to diligently create riches? That’s the most fundamental and devastating blow.”
“Do you have a camera?” Situ Ye asked.
Yu Hao said, “I do, but it’s really cheap. A 3,000 yuan camera, I don’t know if the photos taken would meet the requirements.”
Situ Ye said, “It’s enough, don’t worry. I’ve used lousy cameras before too. As long as the photographer is handsome, any photo he takes will look good.”
Lin Ze, “And what kind of logic is that? Then……Jin Laoshi, Yu Hao will follow me, while Xiao Ye can follow you?”
“Xiao Yu can follow me.” Jin Weicheng said, “We won’t tear the couple apart.”
Yu Hao was not yet able to understand the subtext that Lin Ze and Jin Weicheng had exchanged in those two short sentences, and it was only when Jin Weicheng spoke that he had a vague sense of the implication behind their words.
Jin Weicheng said, “Let me take a look at your camera?”
It was Yu Hao’s first time taking his camera out in the office. He took a photo of the office, and when he took it out, Situ Ye’s, Lin Ze’s, and Jin Weicheng’s expressions were all frozen.
Yu Hao, “???”
Situ Ye, “Your camera’s 3,000?”
Yu Hao, “Yeah.”
Situ Ye, “GET, ME, ONE, TOO!”
Yu Hao, “……”
Lin Ze understood. He glanced at Situ Ye reproachfully and asked, “It’s a gift from someone ba?”
“Zhou Sheng bought it for me as a gift for starting work.” Yu Hao was a little frightened as he asked, “How much does this camera cost?”
Jin Weicheng made a gesture and Yu Hao said, “I just knew he must have lied to me, 11,000……is still okay ba.”
“110,000!” Situ Ye said, “What are you thinking?!”
Yu Hao’s soul scattered immediately. He had been knocking this camera around everywhere on the way here, and didn’t even mind it when his bag got bumped into. But it actually costs 110,000?!
Situ Ye extended a hand, Yu Hao passed him the camera. He wanted to text Zhou Sheng immediately, but after he constructed a few sentences, he deleted them again. He didn’t know what to say for a moment.
“Kids raised by the rich really are different.” Jin Weicheng shook his head helplessly, “I could tell when I first met Xiao Yu, his family environment is too superior. He has a kind of self-confidence from the inside out that can’t be concealed no matter what.”
Yu Hao quickly said, “I really wasn’t raised by the rich……” But he was rather powerless in trying to wrangle himself out of it, and after thinking about it, he had to admit, “I can be considered to be raised by my rich boyfriend ba.”
Lin Ze said, “If it wasn’t a kid who didn’t need to worry about clothes and food, why would they enter our profession?”
Jin Weicheng laughed. He pointed at himself, then at Lin Ze, and Lin Ze said, “So I’ve always respected Jin Laoshi.”
Jin Weicheng laughed, “Xiao Ye was raised by a rich family too.”
Situ Ye didn’t say anything and just fiddled around with the camera. Yu Hao said, “Lady Boss, do you want to lick it a few times?”
Situ Ye, “Can I?”
Yu Hao and Situ Ye burst out laughing again. Jin Weicheng said, “Alright then, I’ll head back first. Xiao Yu, see you tomorrow.” As he spoke, he got up and left.
As soon as Jin Weicheng left, Situ Ye immediately revealed his displeasure and said to Lin Ze, “Did the rich spend his family’s money? Does he need to detest the rich so much?”
Yu Hao, “I really wasn’t raised by the rich……don’t fight, what’s there to fight about this?”
“Jin Laoshi has been a reporter for so many years,” Lin Ze explained, “He has already loosened his hold on materialistic desires a lot, don’t recklessly make such conjectures about him.”
Situ Ye said, “Oh? I don’t think his hold is that loose ba? Otherwise why would his words need to sound so sour all the time?”
Lin Ze said, “Do we need to discuss this in front of Yu Hao?”
Yu Hao, “???”
“What does that mean?” Yu Hao asked, “Does Jin Laoshi dislike me?”
“No.” Lin Ze said, “He likes you a lot. I wanted swap groups, but see, wasn’t he willing to take you along?”
Yu Hao said, “Did I offend him without noticing?”
“No.” Situ Ye said, “You’re already doing a very good job, you’re just no match for the glass hearts everyone has now ma.”
“Situ!” Lin Ze was a little angry now, so Situ Ye stopped talking.
Yu Hao’s EQ was far from that of Zhou Sheng, but he wasn’t a fool. He quickly said, “If there’s any problem, then boss and lady boss, please let me know. I’ll take note and correct it.”
“It’s alright.” Situ Ye said, “Ah Ze and I like you very much, you’re too good at enduring hardships, but you don’t need to work overtime until 2 to 3am every night before going back.”
When Yu Hao heard that, he was incredibly moved, “How did you know that?”
Lin Ze, “The editor on the night shift at the general office said that you’ll leave the lights on until late at night every day. You should pay attention to getting enough rest too.”
Yu Hao said helplessly, “I didn’t major in media, so there are too many gaps in my knowledge that I have to fill up.”
“No one received professional training,” Situ Ye said, “But they aren’t worse off compared to any others, so be more confident.”
Yu Hao nodded doubtfully. Lin Ze said, “I studied hotel management.”
Situ Ye said, “I studied Spanish.”
Lin Ze, “Studied Spanish your ass.” Then he said to Yu Hao, “When I met him, he was selling coffee at Starbucks. Jin Laoshi used to be a worker. See, whose major fits?”
Yu Hao, “Oh, is that the case? You guys aren’t lying to me? Un……”
Situ Ye passed Yu Hao a stack of coupons and asked him to eat something good. They still had to conduct interviews during National Day, so he should rest earlier and not tire himself out too much.
