Chapter 47 – Lessons from a Failed Experiment

By the time Jiang Yushi followed Cheng Xiaomei and moved into Su Lifeng’s place, more than half an hour had already passed. Su Lifeng used that time to tidy up the apartment, mainly to further dispose of his bloodstained clothes. The way Tang Tang had simply opened his door and walked in had reminded him that even in his own home, leaving things like that lying around wasn’t safe.

At the same time, he glanced at the door lock and wondered if he should just replace it altogether…

When he went downstairs to throw out the trash, Su Lifeng unexpectedly ran into an old neighbor from the floor below.

The neighbor was just as startled to see him. “You’re not holed up inside messing with experiments today?”

Su Lifeng smiled. The man went on, “Ah, you grad students have it good. I graduated a couple years ago, and now work’s got me running around like my head’s on fire. Lately my girlfriend’s been pushing me to get married too. I told her this apartment was perfectly fine, but she insists we have to buy a new place. So who knows, maybe we won’t be neighbors much longer.”

A few years ago, this neighbor had still been a teenager carrying a basketball around. Now he wore a cheap suit, his expression exhausted, his tone full of complaints.

Su Lifeng paused for a moment, then could only say, “You’re getting married? Congratulations.”

“What’s there to congratulate me for? You don’t have the pressure of earning money yet, so you don’t understand how miserable it is. A single coin can stump even a hero. Right now all I can think about is how to sell this place for a decent price. You know how it is-new residential complexes these days are all elevator apartments. Not many people want to buy old places like this anymore…” The neighbor started rambling on with more complaints.

As Su Lifeng listened, however, his eyes suddenly lit up. “Are you in a hurry to sell?”

“Pretty much. My girlfriend’s family has their eye on a new place, and we’re still short half the down payment. Sigh, I regret not staying in school for another couple of years. Sure, I would’ve started earning money a little later, but the salary after graduation would’ve been higher…”

Before he could finish, Su Lifeng spoke again. “In that case, would you consider selling it to me in installments? Whatever you’re short for the down payment, I can pay that part first.” After buying that huge pile of supplies, he still had over a hundred thousand left. It should be enough to use toward buying an apartment.

When he saw that basement in the post, Su Lifeng had already been tempted. Buying this man’s apartment didn’t necessarily mean he could dig out a basement, but it would achieve the effect of having a few extra bolt-holes. As long as he connected the two floors and kept the curtains downstairs drawn all year round, no one would ever imagine that someone was actually living on the floor below.

At a time like this, any improvement to his safety margin was worth it.

Of course, there was another factor involved as well… Su Lifeng had realized that having one man and three young girls living in a single apartment was simply too cramped.

Earlier today, on the balcony, he had even seen a pair of underwear Cheng Xiaomei had hung out to dry. Its style was very different from the cotton underwear Su Lian usually wore. It even had two thin bow ties on it.

Out of physiological curiosity, he had reached out and tugged one of the ties, confirming that the bow could indeed be untied. However, in order to tie it back into a bow again, he had spent a full five minutes…

“… In the future, I must remember the lesson from this experiment,” Su Lifeng thought.

His thoughts had wandered too far…

Su Lifeng rubbed his nose and looked at the neighbor, who had abruptly stopped muttering and was now staring at him in disbelief. “So? Will you sell?”

“Well…” The neighbor clearly still found it hard to believe. Sounding him out, he said, “I do want to sell this apartment, but it’s not like I’m desperate to dump it either. So when it comes to the price, I won’t accept anything too low.”

“Market price,” Su Lifeng cut in directly. He didn’t mind that the neighbor had immediately changed his tune. In fact, if not for the unnecessary suspicion and trouble it might cause, he would have said, “Name your price, and I’ll buy it.”

Besides, it was only a down payment. This neighbor might not even make it to the day Su Lifeng paid the balance before he realized that new house or old house, there was essentially no difference anymore. Still, if he could enjoy a brief stretch of happiness before everything sank into chaos and despair, that was a good thing too…

“You’re really buying it?” the neighbor couldn’t help asking.

“Yeah. I’m still a graduate student, but I just found a part-time job a few days ago,” Su Lifeng said, giving him a calm smile.

“…” The neighbor stood there with a complicated expression. Only after watching Su Lifeng walk off with the trash did he hurriedly pull out his phone and make a call. “Hello, Lili? Go tell your mom when you get back-we can get married now. The apartment? Yeah, sold, sold. You wouldn’t believe it if I told you. The buyer’s that student upstairs from me, the grad student. He said he found a part-time job. What kind of part-time job makes over a hundred thousand? All right, when we sign the contract, I’ll ask him. If it’s suitable, we can do it too…

“Gotta go. I still have work today. Our company boss suddenly called a meeting, saying his daughter brought back something good from a nightclub. Isn’t that ridiculous? Her? That girl is just a rebellious teenager who spends every day hanging out in nightclubs. Yeah, that area by the burned-down Third People’s Hospital…”

Su Lifeng had just thrown out the trash when he saw Jiang Yushi’s car.

“You’re okay!” Cheng Xiaomei cried out in surprise, then immediately felt like her voice had been too loud and quickly covered her mouth. What struck her as a little strange, though, was that this time Su Lifeng didn’t give her that speechless look. Instead, he quickly looked away and even gave a dry cough.

“Huh? What’s wrong?” Cheng Xiaomei was completely baffled.

Jiang Yushi opened the driver’s-side door and hopped out, then stuffed the keys into Su Lifeng’s hand. “Is this enough for rent?”

Seeing Su Lifeng look at her in surprise, Jiang Yushi walked straight ahead and said, “That’s that. No bargaining.”

“Um…”

“I already told you not to worry about this. These things are all external possessions now. They’ll be worthless soon anyway, so if you think about it, I’m the one coming out ahead…”

“No, I wanted to ask-if you walk off like that, do you even know which way my place is?” Su Lifeng asked calmly.

With her back to him, Jiang Yushi stood silently for a few seconds. Then she abruptly turned around, lowered her head, and returned to the car without a word before sitting down properly.

Su Lifeng got into the driver’s seat. He could still feel Jiang Yushi’s warmth lingering on the leather seat. Then he slammed his foot down on the accelerator.

Indeed, in Su Lifeng’s current view, driving a luxury car like this was no different from driving that unlicensed car last night…

That was what he thought, but the residents they passed all cast surprised and envious looks their way. One woman carrying a grocery basket nearly jumped out of her skin and, with an exceptionally sharp eye, said, “Isn’t that the young grad student? The one surnamed Su? Oh my, that isn’t just any car, is it? And the girls sitting inside are so pretty, just like celebrities…”

After they got home, less than two seconds after entering the door, Su Lifeng suddenly heard Cheng Xiaomei let out a cry of alarm. “Ah! How did my panties end up like this!”

“Ugh, it must’ve been blown around by the wind last night…”

Su Lifeng silently turned his head, then let out a long breath of relief. A woman’s powers of observation… why did they feel even more terrifying than a Xenospecies?