Chapter 20
As the waiter left the private room with the order menu, Li Ye couldn't resist opening his phone again and logging into his mobile banking app. He checked the balances of each of his bank cards, which had already been reduced to zero, repeatedly confirming the information. Even now, it still felt very unreal.
"Zhou Yuan, have we really bought a house?"
Li Ye's voice was light and airy, as if it would break at any moment as it soared upwards. Zhou Yuan's reply temporarily brought him back to the ground. He patted the backpack containing the house purchase contract, "The contract is here."
“If you hadn’t discovered yesterday during your review that these two apartments weren’t on the agent’s initial viewing list, and if I hadn’t gone to hire a lawyer beforehand today,” Li Ye said, gulping down a cup of tea to calm his nerves, “the chaotic situation would have left us inexperienced young people completely bewildered.”
"In the first few days of house hunting, the properties that Agent Qian took us to see all seemed normal, but when it came time to sign the contract, he didn't seem to be in a bad mood." Zhou Yuan, who noticed something was wrong beforehand and had known Agent Qian for a longer time, made this judgment afterward.
“She is very familiar with that Mr. Sun, they must have a private relationship. She barely earned any commission this time, she was helping a private individual.”
Hearing this, Li Ye refilled his cup with tea, taking small sips as he sipped, sighing, "In a normal transaction, her commission would be this much, but today she only got a tiny bit. The difference is so huge. Does she have to pay such a high price for just helping out?"
"Never mind all that, just avoid it next time." Zhou Yuan indicated that there was no need to pay attention to those trivial matters.
"When you come back a month later, rent a place and avoid this agency. I saw the information about the agency you were looking for before, and it was a big company."
Li Ye simply sighed and then stopped, not particularly interested in any further gossip that was clearly not going to be revealed, and the topic returned to the house.
"We bought an off-plan property. When we first heard that it was a property that hadn't been handed over yet, our hearts were in our throats. Fortunately, nothing went wrong in the end."
“That Mr. Sun is definitely suspicious. He bought off-plan properties in this area in separate blocks, but the online contract signing has been delayed. It feels like he’s ready to make a move at any time. If the buyer isn’t smart and cautious enough, he could take the opportunity to rip them off. On the other hand, the developer’s side is a minor problem.”
Zhou Yuan boldly offered a conjecture: "Cash flow."
Li Ye was frightened by his own imagination and wanted to put his mind at ease by speaking it out.
“That Mr. Sun said that his company was in trouble and that he needed to sell the house to solve the problem, but in reality, he didn’t even mention the company’s name. Could we have run into something illegal, like transferring money obtained through illegal means, or illegally transferring company assets, even if the company is his own?”
Zhou Yuan put down his teacup, and also grabbed Li Ye's teacup, gently patting her back a few times with his left hand. "You're just scaring yourself. The new purchase contract with the developer is completely legal and compliant. We just need to wait for the online registration in three days."
Li Ye was still uneasy. In the past, when the money was in her bank account, she would only count it once every six months. Now, almost all of it had been spent at once, but the things she bought had not yet been fully received. It was perfectly normal for her to be emotionally unstable for a while.
"The house will be handed over in a month, and it will also take time for the □□ to arrive. It will take at least a month and a half before I can feel completely at ease." Li Ye's fluctuating emotions began to calm down. "After the online contract is signed, I will go on a trip, shortening the duration from two months to one month. During this period, you should remember to pay close attention."
"Knock knock!"
The waiter knocked on the door to serve the food. Zhou Yuan and Li Ye simultaneously put their phones away and placed them in their backpacks. Different vibration sounds indicated that the phones were working when new messages or calls came in.
After all the dishes were served, the space returned to silence. Li Ye realized that she couldn't remember which dishes she had ordered. She tried to recall the order from a dozen minutes ago, but the words that came out of her mouth were a continuation of the previous conversation.
"It's also possible that the developers will abscond with the money."
Zhou Yuan paused for a moment as he scooped shrimp into Li Ye's bowl, then used serving chopsticks to put a large piece of roasted lamb chop on Li Ye's plate. He told Li Ye to eat first, which effectively relieved his anxiety.
“The developer is a large company, and I’ve heard of them before. They won’t run away now, and they won’t be able to run away anytime soon.”
This morning, after repeating the same story so many times, Zhou Yuan's anxiety wasn't as obvious. Perhaps he had come to believe it himself after being reassured time and time again.
"Eat first to replenish your energy, then we can review the situation carefully this afternoon." Zhou Yuan scooped another spoonful of Eight Treasures Tofu into Li Ye's bowl, telling him not to overthink things while eating.
Li Ye held up a lamb chop with her left hand and ate it, while giving Zhou Yuan an OK sign with her right hand. She also felt that her mind was spinning in place, unable to grasp the core of the matter. She focused on eating to replenish her energy and relax her brain.
Unfortunately, this meal was destined to be anything but peaceful for the two of them.
Let me explain the seating arrangement between the two. There was a round table in the private room. Zhou Yuan's seat faced the door, with an empty seat behind him, followed by Li Ye's seat. Their backpacks and two cell phones were on an empty chair in the middle.
At first, he only held the lamb chop with his left hand, but now he grabs it with both hands and tears into it. Since everyone is an acquaintance and they are in a private room, Li Ye doesn't care about his image when he eats.
Since Li Ye wasn't particularly interested in seafood, he would usually only eat a little bit and then Zhou Yuan would happily finish the rest, even though Zhou Yuan was usually the one who ordered the seafood.
For example, now, after scooping a large spoonful of Eight Treasures Tofu with plenty of ingredients into Li Ye's bowl, Zhou Yuan almost only focused on this one dish and picked up seafood such as abalone and sea cucumber.
At that moment, a vibration came from the backpack. At first, no one paid any attention; it was probably just a message from someone. But this was like a trigger. The vibration continued incessantly, and the backpack began to move slowly. By the time Zhou Yuan realized something was wrong and reached for his phone, the backpack was just a hair's breadth away from falling off the chair.
Zhou Yuan picked up their bags and put them back in the deepest part of the chair. He took out his phone to check messages. Li Ye had just finished eating a lamb chop and was staring at them, hesitating whether to wipe the grease off his hands depending on the situation.
"It's the property management company I added before. I was just added to the community's chat group. The new group chat hasn't been set up yet, and the message notifications keep going off."
Li Ye nodded to indicate that she understood, then showed Zhou Yuan her oily hands, smiled and winked at him. Zhou Yuan, who was about to pick up the bowl and chopsticks again, returned to his chair, picked up Li Ye's small animal backpack and hung it on the back of the chair. During this time, new message notifications kept vibrating.
The vibration of her phone made the room buzz incessantly. Li Ye also found it noisy, but it helped to balance her anxiety, giving her a tangible sense of the money she had spent, beyond the thin stack of paper contracts.
Zhou Yuan only changed the settings of the group chat on his phone. He didn't seem bothered by the noise, but he slowed down his chopsticks and reached for the lamb chops for the first time during the meal.
"This is also a reward for being out and about all this time, and a bonus for the initial success of the project."
After washing away the oil and wiping his hands clean, Li Ye put his backpack off the back of the chair, took out his phone and hand cream, and while looking at the several new group chats on his phone, he smeared peach-scented cream all over his hands.
After observing for a while, I found that the owners of Phase 1 who already live there have some interesting stories. Li Ye and Zhou Yuan bought Phase 2 apartments. Actually, Phase 3 is the only one currently on sale. From the perspective of the community's planning, Phase 1 and Phase 2 are the most reasonable.
"As long as no one causes trouble later, can this be considered a lucky break?"
After eating, blood flows to the stomach first, and it's hard to say when one's brain is more alert than before eating. Li Ye only realized what he was saying after he had spoken.
"From now on, it's best not to talk during meals, or even before or after meals. Your brain is completely useless."
Zhou Yuan made a zipping motion at his mouth at the right moment, so he wouldn't tell anyone.
Li Ye pretended to stand on tiptoe to knock Zhou Yuan's head, but at this moment he had to pretend he hadn't heard.
The atmosphere completely collapsed. Li Ye picked up her bag and dragged Zhou Yuan away from the restaurant, even though she had no idea where to go in the afternoon. In the end, Zhou Yuan took them to a music store and booked a practice room.
"We agreed on a time, and no one else will bother us." This was Zhou Yuan's reason.
Li Ye didn't care about the location; she just wanted to appear the same as before when they returned to their lodgings. "Why don't you play a piece for me now?"
This trip to the music store was a spur-of-the-moment decision. Zhou Yuan didn't bring his violin with him, but luckily the store owner knew him and lent him one.
After some tuning, the melody that Li Ye had been hearing most often recently flowed from Zhou Yuan's fingertips. She had been watching tango tutorial videos when she got home that night, and the dance music was "One Step Away," which was the same song as the dance.
She seemed to have mentioned to Zhou Yuan during the New Year period that she wanted to learn tango, and she chose this piece so precisely, or perhaps her usual preferences were too obvious.
When the piece ended, Li Ye wasn't fully immersed in the music. Zhou Yuan even doubted himself and asked directly, "Is it because you haven't practiced enough? Or has your overall level dropped?"
"I was wondering why you chose this piece, and it's probably both, that you've shortened your practice time?" Li Ye thought it was great that the two of them just said what was wrong with each other directly.
“Li likes that movie, it’s easy to guess.” Zhou Yuan paused for a moment, distinguishing between the answers to different questions, “He’s transitioning, from half-performing and half-composing to fully composing.”
Thinking of the company Zhou Yuan had booked to go to, and remembering that she also worked in a field that was half related to her major, Li Ye sighed and said, "If the job requires you to take a lot of classes, then you'll have to take a lot of extra classes. Although there are almost no classes at the school, it's much easier to audit classes at the music academy."
On the other side, Zhou Yuan had already put down his zither and taken out paper and pen from his backpack to begin the debriefing he had mentioned. Seeing this, Li Ye went over and exclaimed in his heart once again about Zhou Yuan's extraordinary ability to act.
"I'll try my luck with an agent... I'll try a different one next time..."
"A simple simulation of the house..."
After observing for a while, Li Ye decided to sit next to Zhou Yuan and wait for the conclusion. However, for the first time, he sighed, "Zhou Yuan, it would be better to have your own territory sooner rather than later, so that you don't have to find a place at the last minute like today when something happens."
Zhou Yuan did not reply, but simply added another mark to the word "renovation" that he had highlighted.
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