Chapter Twenty: The Milk Tea Shop 4 (Even if you only eat two meals a day, you still have to rush)
"After a long day, I came home drenched in sweat. I wanted to take a cold shower, but I ended up even dirtier than before. I was about to wash some rice and cook a meal when I ate it and ended up in the hospital with excessive bacteria..." Zhu Lin shuddered just imagining it.
“What era are we living in? Even in the village, people don’t live like that anymore!” She sincerely suggested to Zhou Rui, “Why don’t you move to another place?”
“I do want to move,” Zhou Rui said, scratching his head in frustration. “But finding and looking at apartments takes a lot of time. And if I like an apartment, the price has to be right. I don’t have much of a budget.”
Zhu Lin hesitated for a moment, then made up her mind, "Why don't you rent my house?"
Zhou Rui looked up in surprise, "You have spare rooms for rent?"
“My family is from the countryside. A long time ago, we bought a piece of land and my dad spent some money to build a building there. Later, we divided each floor into several single rooms, bought some furniture from the second-hand market, renovated it, and rented it out,” Zhu Lin explained. “It’s not fully occupied now, and several rooms are empty. Although it’s a bit far away and the renovation isn’t particularly fancy, it’s cheap, and the water and electricity are readily available. It’s much better than where you’re currently living.”
It took Zhou Rui a while to understand what Zhu Lin was saying. His expression was rather strange. "I didn't know you were a landlady... I've never heard you mention it before?"
Zhu Lin looked up at the sky and said, "The building belongs to my parents. I'm just a lowly working person."
"You're kidding me." Zhou Rui scoffed. "It's a different feeling to have money at home than not. My family is still in debt, and I have to help pay it off every month. Even if your parents don't give you any subsidies, at least they won't take your salary. You have a family fortune, so you can spend your salary as you please every month, and it doesn't matter if you spend it all."
"Yes, that's right," Zhu Lin admitted. "I support myself every month."
"That's great." Zhou Rui said with a hint of envy.
"How about we go see an apartment together after get off work today?" Zhu Lin suggested.
“Okay,” Zhou Rui readily agreed.
Zhu Lin turned to look at Yun Xin, "How about you? Is your place alright? Want to come along?"
“I was just thinking of moving to a different place,” Yunxin responded enthusiastically, “I’ll go too.”
That's how it was settled.
At 3 p.m., the colleague on the night shift took over on time, and the three people on the morning shift automatically left. Zhou Rui asked how to get there.
Zhu Lin said, "I drove here, I'll take you there."
Zhou Rui, “???”
He looked shocked. "When did you buy a car?"
Zhu Lin turned her face away guiltily, "It's for commuting to work. My parents said it's too far away and taking the bus is too tiring, so they bought it for me."
Zhou Rui was stunned. "I've never seen you drive this before?"
Zhu Lin: "Because I parked on the next street and then walked five minutes to the shop to work. Besides, I work for someone else, so I can't drive a car that's better than my boss's and flaunt it."
Zhou Rui had nothing to say.
Zhu Lin added, “When I worked in other places before, my colleagues would find out that I had a house for rent, and people would always gossip about it. I changed jobs and moved to a new environment, and I didn’t want to be like before, so I deliberately kept a low profile. It’s not that I wanted to hide it from you.”
"Alright, no need to explain, I understand." Zhou Rui was only shocked when he first heard it, but after calming down and thinking about the girl's usual behavior, he felt that she didn't seem like a child from a poor family. There had been signs all along, so he regained his composure. "Where is the car parked? Let's go, let's go over there."
"This way, follow me."
Zhu Lin led the way, with Zhou Rui and Yun Xin following behind, making several turns. After a short while, the three of them stopped in a corner of the parking lot.
“This is it.”
Zhu Lin unlocked the door with her key and then gestured to the two of them, "Get in the car."
On the road.
As Zhu Lin drove, she introduced the store to the two of them, saying, "You can ride an electric scooter, which will take about thirty minutes to get to our store. You can also ride a bicycle and transfer at the subway station."
"The transportation is quite convenient," Yunxin said.
Zhou Rui then said, "Let's go check out the house first, and the surrounding facilities as well."
"Okay, take your time looking. If you're not satisfied, you don't have to rent it." Zhu Lin said indifferently.
In fact, if it weren't for her loose tongue causing Zhou Rui's injury, she wouldn't have wanted to reveal that her family owned a house for rent.
As for colleagues, we can see each other during work hours, but after get off work we each have our own lives and don't need to keep in touch.
But since things have already come to this, there's no need to hide anymore. Just openly give them a tour, and let them decide whether to rent it or not.
With this in mind, Zhu Lin drove home.
Twenty minutes later.
"We're here," Zhu Lin said.
Zhou Rui got out of the car and looked around, finding that there was a supermarket nearby, making it very convenient to buy daily necessities.
On the way here, there were small restaurants everywhere along the street, so it was easy to find places to eat.
There's a pharmacy nearby, so if you get a headache or fever, you don't have to go too far to buy medicine.
Zhou Rui didn't say anything, but he was already somewhat biased in his heart.
Zhu Lin parked the car and came over, saying, "Come on, I'll show you the room. Look, this is the building, it's my place."
Zhou Rui tried hard to stay calm, but his composure crumbled after three seconds—damn it! I'm so envious!
As I was going upstairs, a group of children suddenly ran out and almost bumped into me.
"I've told you so many times, don't run around like that, what if you bump into someone?" Zhu Lin muttered, then tried to go upstairs.
Yun Xin clearly saw that each of the children had a line of words on their bodies, indicating that their time of death ranged from 22 to 30 minutes.
"Where are you going?" She blocked the way, preventing the child from leaving.
"Let's go swimming!" a chubby little boy shouted.
"Didn't the teacher tell you that swimming is dangerous and that children shouldn't go swimming alone?" Yunxin said this deliberately.
The tallest of the six rolled his eyes. "We're going as a group of six, not alone."
"Six children together is not allowed; they must be accompanied by an adult," Yun Xin said decisively. "No swimming, let's find another activity."
Zhu Lin overheard this and, remembering Zhou Rui being beaten, felt a chill run down her spine. She quickly chimed in, "Did you hear me? No swimming! If you dare sneak off to swim, I'll definitely tell your mother when she gets back!"
Telling the parents is a very effective tactic.
The six children timidly replied, "We understand."
"Alright, go have fun." Zhu Lin waved her hand dismissively.
Seeing that the black mist and writing on the children had disappeared, Yun Xin stepped aside and followed Zhu Lin upstairs.
"Brother Qiang, they said we can't go swimming, so what are we going to do?" the chubby boy asked listlessly.
"Are you stupid!" The tallest boy watched the adults leave and said in a low voice, "Can't we just go secretly and not let them find out?"
"But Sister Zhu Lin said she would tell the parents..." The chubby boy looked troubled.
"Only cowards are afraid of being told by their parents. If you don't go, you're a coward," the tallest one sneered.
The others started making a ruckus, mocking, "Coward! Coward!"
"I...I'm not like that." The chubby boy's face turned red. "Fine, I'll go then."
“There are two types of rooms. One type is like this one without windows, with a private bathroom, kitchen cabinets, and a small refrigerator, so it's like having a small kitchen.” Zhu Lin turned on the tap. “It’s all clean water, and we haven’t received any power outage notices recently.”
"The washing machine is in the hallway and is for public use. If you don't want to use it, you can buy one and put it in your room."
"I bought the air conditioner from a second-hand market. If it breaks down, let me know and I'll find someone to fix it."
"Water and electricity bills are prepaid and metered; you pay only for what you use. That's about it. If you need furniture, you can buy it yourself and take it with you when you move out."
“There’s another type, with an extra window, better lighting, but the monthly rent is higher. I figured you probably didn’t need that, so I didn’t take you there.”
Zhou Rui was very satisfied and politely inquired about the price.
Zhu Lin gave a number.
Zhou Rui did the math and realized that it was only 200 yuan more expensive than where he lived now, but the quality of life was completely different.
Although there are places to spend money everywhere, and he doesn't have much money left for food or to rent a better house, the thought of the power outage and the dirty water that comes out when he turns on the tap makes him feel that even if he only eats two meals a day, he has to get out of that hell as soon as possible.
With that in mind, Zhou Rui resolutely said, "I'll rent this house. Let's sign the contract."
Yunxin also said, "I'll rent one too, but it has to have a window."
"Okay, I'll go get the contract..."
Before he could finish speaking, a loud wail erupted outside the building: "Help! Brother Qiang and the others are drowning! Someone, please come and save them!"
Upon hearing it, Zhu Lin recognized the chubby boy's voice. She opened the window and shouted down, "Didn't I tell you not to go swimming?!"
"Brother Qiang said to go secretly and not be discovered..." The chubby boy answered, sobbing, feeling wronged and scared.
Zhu Lin sighed, thinking about the troublesome bunch of kids.
"Don't sign the contract, let's go save them first." Yun Xin said as she rushed downstairs.
Upon hearing that a child had drowned, several free adults immediately came out and asked the chubby boy to lead the way.
The chubby boy ran while crying, pointing the way for the adults, saying, "They're over there."
Five small figures were seen splashing around in the water, some of them swallowing mouthfuls of water.
The adults were very anxious.
Some men who could swim took off their clothes and jumped in to save people.
"Over there, over there." The people on the shore couldn't swim, so they were just giving directions haphazardly.
The man ignored them and swam off into the distance. "Hey, save the ones closest to us first!! Save as many as you can!" someone shouted at him.
At this moment, a neighbor tugged at the man's sleeve and whispered a reminder, "The one furthest away is his child; he wants to save his own child first."
The man immediately fell silent.
The man swam a long way, pulled the child back, handed him over to someone he trusted, and then went back into the water.
"Quickly, perform CPR!"
One person rushed forward to help, pressing on the child's chest several times. Finally, the child responded, vomited up the water he had choked on, and opened his eyes.
"It's alright, it's alright."
When the chubby boy saw his friend being rescued, he let out a loud "Wah!" and could finally cry his heart out.
Over there, the man pulled two more children from the nearby water. "Quick, CPR!"
Zhu Lin and her two companions arrived just then.
Zhu Lin asked the man, "Are you alright? Are you feeling the strain?"
If someone runs out of energy halfway through swimming, even an adult will be at a disadvantage.
"It's alright, I can manage." With that, the man plunged back into the water.
Zhu Lin looked around and raised her voice, asking, "Is there anyone else who can swim? Is there anyone who can go down and help him pull the child out?"
"I'll go." At the critical moment, Zhou Rui jumped into the water to help rescue the person.
(End of this chapter)
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