Chapter 298 It’s time to collect the rent!
October 1st was the National Day. All the factory workers had a day off, so the barbecue restaurant could also take a day off. It was also the day to collect rent, so Jiang Xin Bai Yang and his wife went to collect the rent happily.
When they reached the first floor, Jiang Xinbai knocked on the door and shouted, "Is anyone home? It's time to collect the rent."
Zhang Ru was cooking in the house. When she heard the noise, she ran to open the door. When she saw Jiang Xinbai and the others, she smiled and said, "Jiang Jie, Yang Ge, it's you! My sister said last night that she would pay the rent. She was afraid that you would be disappointed when we go out to play later."
"That's not the case. We were afraid that you would go out to play, so we came early." Jiang Xinbai took out the two-part book from her bag, looked at her husband, and asked, "Jinsheng, how much electricity? How much water?"
"12 kilowatt-hours of electricity and 15 tons of water." Yang Jinsheng took down the electricity and water meters of the six households on the first floor at one time.
Jiang Xinbai wrote it down in his notebook, muttering, "Electricity is eight cents per kilowatt-hour, so twelve kilowatt-hours is ninety-six cents, water is ten cents per kilowatt-hour, so fifteen kilowatt-hours is one dollar and eighty cents, and the rent is seventy-five a month, so the total is seventy-seven dollars and seventy-six cents, right!"
Zhang Ru had her husband check the electricity and water meters last night, and they were pretty much the same, so she nodded, went back to the house, took out the money, handed it to Jiang Xinbai, and said with a smile, "Jiang Jie, you said before that if we pay one year's rent, you won't raise our rent, right?"
Jiang Xinbai laughed when he heard it and asked, "Yes, do you want to pay it?" The rent for a year is nine hundred yuan, which is a lot of money.
Zhang Ru smiled and said, "Yes, my sister and I have set up a small stir-fry stand at the night market next door. Although we don't make much money, we have many repeat customers, so it's pretty stable. My husband and brother-in-law also work in the factory, and I don't think there will be any changes in the next year, so I thought I'd just pay one year's rent first."
"Yeah, you're right to think so. Let me tell you something. Other landlords nearby have started to raise their rents. For a house of the same size, theirs has already raised it to eighty-one months, and it's still not as good as mine. So we're planning to raise the rent next year as well. For example, I'm going to rent your house for eighty-one months, while the smaller unit next door only costs fifty-five."
"Really? Then doesn't that mean we earn 60 yuan a year?" Zhang Ru said in surprise.
"Of course. You, don't tell anyone else. I want to pay more for the rent!" Jiang Xinbai said in a half-truthful tone.
"Landlord sister, I heard what you said!" At this time, the door of room 102 next door opened, and a girl's head popped out.
Jiang Xinbai turned around and saw that it was Xu Xiaoman, and smiled, "I let you hear it, what? Do you also have to pay a year's rent?"
Xu Xiaoman stood up straight and smiled at Jiang Xinbai, "Landlord sister, we also have to pay for a year, um, or twenty-five a month?"
"Yes, that's right. Where are your friends? Aren't they living with you?" Jiang Xinbai remembered that Xu Xiaoman and Zhang Daming shared an apartment with their friends. They wanted to renew the lease, so what about the other family?
Xu Xiaoman looked a little embarrassed when she heard this, and whispered, "My friends will not be staying here after this month. Landlord sister, can you keep the other room for me? My sister and brother-in-law will be coming over for a few days at the beginning of next month."
"Hmm? Anyway, your friend will stay until the end of this month, so your sister's arrival will make a seamless transition, which is great. It also saves me from having to look for someone else." Jiang Xinbai replied with a smile.
Xu Xiaoman smiled when she heard Jiang Xinbai say this, "Thank you, landlord sister. I'll give you my money first."
Jiang Xinbai took the money and put it in her bag, then said with a smile, "From now on, just call me Sister Jiang. Okay, go ahead and get busy. We'll continue to collect the rent."
Jiang Xinbai and his companion went to each house one by one in order. Everything went smoothly at other houses, but something went wrong when they reached the last house on the sixth floor.
Jiang Xinbai frowned at the man and woman in front of him and asked, "What do you mean? Don't you want to pay the rent?"
The young man smiled and replied, "No, sister, we just want to pay it a few days later. We will pay it to you after the factory pays you."
"Yes, brothers and sisters, you don't need this little money, just let us owe it for a few days!" the young girl also said.
Jiang Xinbai rolled his eyes, "If everyone defaults on rent like you guys, will I also be left with nothing?"
"Hey, sister, please be kind. My boyfriend and I are going to get our salaries soon, so you guys..."
Just as the young girl was about to say something, the door next door opened again, and a young girl walked out, smiling and jokingly saying, "Feng Yue, didn't you say yesterday that you would go to the bank to deposit money after the National Day? Let me think about how much you said you had deposited? Oh, it seems like you are about to break the 5,000 mark, right? Then how come you don't have money to pay the rent?"
"You, what does Yao Xin have to do with you? Why are you so nosy?" Feng Yue looked at Yao Xin with an unhappy face, regretting that he had let the cat out of the bag in front of Yao Xin yesterday just to show off.
Jiang Xinbai looked at Feng Yue seriously and said unhappily, "Okay, you have money but you don't pay the rent, what do you mean? Pay up quickly."
Feng Yue was still unwilling to give up. She held Jiang Xinbai's hand and begged, "Hey, sister, don't listen to what Yao Xin said. Where did I get so much money? She is just jealous of me, so she said that."
"I'm jealous of you?" Yao Xin came over with her hands on her hips. "What am I jealous of you for? I'm jealous that you're shorter and uglier than me. Can you swear that you didn't say you were going to save money last night? You don't have 5,000 in savings?"
"I, I, what can I do to swear? Who are you to me?" Feng Yue said as he rolled his eyes at Yao Xin, who was really meddling in other people's business.
"Okay, I don't care whether you have money or not. You can't avoid paying the rent anyway. When you rented the house before, didn't I tell you that you can't default on the rent? And you agreed to that." Jiang Xinbai stretched out his hand and gestured to Feng Yue.
Feng Yue had no choice but to go back to the house and get the money. She then yelled at her boyfriend, "Tell your brother to return the money to us immediately. Why should we pay their rent? We are not his parents."
Jiang Xinbai didn't care about that, he just took the money and left. After collecting the rent for both buildings, it was already less than nine o'clock in the morning, just in time to discuss something with the third brother.
"So you went to collect the rent early this morning? And I asked you to collect it all, Xiaobai, Jinsheng, you are really awesome. Hey, your third brother gave me the job of collecting the rent, but I couldn't afford it every time, and I kept dragging it out until next month. Now, don't even mention last month, I still haven't collected the rent from the month before last!" Bai Qianqian said helplessly.
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