"It was," the man said with a smile that made her skin crawl. "But now I've moved in, haven't I?"
Zeng Keqin turned and left.
She called the landlord. "I'm not renting this apartment. Refund my deposit."
The landlord's once-friendly tone instantly changed. "We agreed. No refunds."
"But your ad clearly said female-only roommates. Now there are men living here. That's a breach of contract."
"Contract? Do you have a contract? Not even a receipt? You paid the deposit through WeChat. You can talk until you're blue in the face, but you can't do anything about it."
Zeng Keqin didn't panic. Instead, she said calmly, "We don't have a written contract, but when I transferred the money, I noted 'rental deposit' in the memo. That has legal effect. Also, when I viewed the apartment, I recorded what you said on my phone. That can serve as evidence."
"Finally, I forgot to tell you: I'm a lawyer. If you don't refund my deposit, I'll have to sue you. The deposit is two thousand. According to the Civil Code, the breaching party must double the deposit. I only want the principal back—that's already a concession."
There was a few seconds of silence on the other end. Finally, the landlord cursed and said, "What bad luck. I'll refund it."
Soon, a WeChat transfer of 2,000 yuan arrived.
Zeng Keqin accepted the payment, blocked and deleted him.
Back at the dorm, her roommates were helping her pack.
"No need to pack. The apartment fell through."
"What happened? You already paid the deposit, didn't you?"
Zeng Keqin explained the whole story.
"These landlords are awful!"
"You have to be careful renting in the future. It's a minefield."
"Good thing you went to check beforehand. It would've been too late if you'd moved in."
Zeng Keqin grabbed some clean clothes from her wardrobe and headed to the bathroom. "I'm going to take a shower."
Her back exuded an indescribable weariness.
*
In Jiangchuan's most prestigious office building, on the thirty-second floor, a light was still on.
Jiang Shiyu sat in front of his computer, a design still being refined on the screen. His phone on the desk kept vibrating, group messages popping up one after another, making him irritated.
He picked up the phone and opened the group chat.
Qian Bo had been sending messages nonstop, interspersed with Fatty's shocked emojis.
Qian Bo: [Guess what I just heard? Junior Zeng almost got scammed looking for an apartment! She paid the deposit, and it was supposed to be all female roommates, but there was a creep living there!]
Fatty: [Holy shit! And then?]
Qian Bo: [Then Junior Zeng dropped her lawyer card and scared the landlord into refunding her, hahaha.]
Fatty: [Badass! No wonder she's a law student!]
...
Jiang Shiyu stared at the chat history, frowning slightly.
He exited the group, scrolled to his contacts, and stopped at the note "Little Quail." Finally, he pressed the call button.
Zeng Keqin had just finished showering and was hanging clothes on the balcony. Fang Yu's voice came from inside: "Qinqin, your phone!"
She dried her hands, picked up the phone, and answered.
"Hello?"
"It's me." Jiang Shiyu's voice was low. He got straight to the point. "You've been looking for an apartment lately?"
Zeng Keqin was taken aback. "How do you know?"
"My roommate told me. Heard you got scammed by a second-hand landlord?"
She hung the last T-shirt on the rack. "Not really scammed. I got the deposit back."
"Then do me a favor."
"What favor?"
"I have an empty apartment here. I want to rent it out. Since you have experience finding apartments, help me figure out how much to rent it for."
Zeng Keqin frowned and said crossly, "Are you making fun of me? I have no experience at all!"
A light laugh came from the other end, his magnetic voice tickling her eardrums.
"Just help me estimate the price so I don't get screwed by the agent."
"Where's the apartment?"
"Lvyuan Community."
She remembered that place—she'd even stayed there one night. A high-end neighborhood in the city center, with strict security and convenient transportation.
She made a rough estimate. "Around three thousand."
Suddenly, silence fell on the other end.
Had she quoted too low?
"Then... how about fifteen hundred? Would you rent it?"