Chapter 74: The Landlord Is Gu Shiyan?

The very next day, Luo Xing invited Shen Que and Yun Cai to her new home for a dinner gathering. The group feasted indulgently.

Yun Cai announced she planned to stay over and sleep with Luo Xing that night. Luo Xing picked out her own pajamas for Yun Cai to use, suggesting she make do for one night.

Night had already fallen outside. Luo Xing sat on the sofa, wearing non-prescription, blue-light-blocking glasses, her gaze fixed on the computer screen where Gu Shiyan had just posted the first version of a model in their group chat.

From the bathroom came the sound of running water, while Luo Xing scrolled her mouse outside. Suddenly, the water stopped.

"Luo Xing?"

Yun Cai called to her from inside the bathroom. Luo Xing glanced over, put down her mouse, and walked over. "What's wrong?"

"The water suddenly stopped. What's going on? I still have soap all over me."

Luo Xing said she'd go in and check. Yun Cai grabbed a towel to wrap herself and opened the door.

"Oh my, you've got foam in your eyes!" Luo Xing tucked her sleeve and wiped Yun Cai's eyes.

Yun Cai preferred to wash her hair and bathe at the same time, so she was covered in suds. Luo Xing hurried to turn on the water heater, pressing the switch upward, but still no water came out.

She frowned. Her brother had accompanied her when she viewed the house, and had specifically checked the bathroom—the water heater had been fine then.

She pulled out her phone. Fortunately, after her brother left, he had made sure she added the agent's contact on WeChat.

Luo Xing sent a message to the agent.

That night, the agent, dressed in a standard suit, followed behind a client, introducing the property. A message arrived on WeChat, saying there was a problem with the house.

The agent's mind was almost in chaos; he saw more than ten clients a day, and such trivial matters were common. Seeing the unfamiliar chat window, with no recent conversation history, he didn't even know which client this was.

He had her send the address. Only then did he check the files and identify the owner.

The agency merely acted as an intermediary; when the owner listed the property, they’d never mentioned this issue. Now that the tenant had brought it up, responsibility would naturally fall back to the owner.

...

Gu Shiyan had just showered, a towel wrapped around his waist, patting his hair dry with a cloth. His phone, left on the table, began to ring.

It was a message from Gu Liang.

[I've unfrozen all your cards.]

Gu Shiyan did not reply, scrolling down to find another message.

It was a notification sent to the number he had left.

[Hello, there's an issue with your rental property. The tenant reports the water heater is broken. This wasn't mentioned before. Please contact the tenant to explain, and provide your WeChat contact so we can communicate.]

Gu Shiyan's brows furrowed.

He, renting out a property?

He opened the message and checked the address.

For a moment, he couldn’t recall if this was one of his properties. After thinking for a long time, he remembered—it was the one he’d let Sun Shiqi stay in.

Hadn’t he asked her to move out?

No, it shouldn’t be Sun Shiqi. He had only let her stay there; they had never gone through an agency, nor exchanged rent.

He frowned, sent his WeChat contact, and then pulled Sun Shiqi out of the blacklist to ask about the house.

Soon, a new contact added him—it was the agent who had messaged him.

No message was sent, only a contact pushed his way.

Gu Shiyan checked and raised his brows.

Wasn’t that Luo Xing?

He clicked; they were already friends, so no need to add her.

On Luo Xing’s end, she waited for the owner to add her, so they could discuss the issue.

Yun Cai sighed, "I’m so unlucky! I feel awful all over."

"Just wait a bit longer, I’ve already called for a repairman."

Calling the owner wouldn’t help at this point. Luo Xing had already summoned a repairman, but the responsibility ultimately lay with the original owner, since the issue with the water heater had been concealed from the start.

Still, the owner didn’t add her.

Instead, Gu Shiyan sent her a message, asking if she’d moved into a new house.

Luo Xing wasn’t sure why he suddenly asked this in the middle of the night, but she replied nonetheless.

He then asked for the address.

Luo Xing frowned and did not tell Gu Shiyan.

[That’s private information—it’s not convenient to disclose.]

A very official reply.

Gu Shiyan’s eyes lowered, his fingers tapping on the keyboard, his lips curved in a faint, elusive smile.

“Oh, come on,” Luo Xing muttered, staring at her phone.

Yun Cai leaned over to look at Luo Xing. “What’s wrong?”

Luo Xing held her phone a bit farther away. “Gu Shiyan is such a creep! He actually got my address! What’s he up to?”

Luo Xing was certain she hadn’t told anyone her address, and Gu Shiyan certainly couldn’t have known—so how did he know her apartment number so clearly?

Yun Cai shuddered. “Oh dear, he’s really running ahead on the path of being a creep.”

Luo Xing messaged Gu Shiyan, demanding to know how he’d gotten her address.

In reply, Gu Shiyan sent two screenshots.

One was the agent’s message to him, and the other was the chat record where the agent pushed Luo Xing’s contact to him.

Luo Xing’s mind stalled for a moment.

This...

She sent him a question mark.

Gu Shiyan’s end showed he was typing.

[Didn’t you say the water heater was broken? What’s wrong with it? I’ll call a repairman, have it fixed for you tomorrow. My tenant?]

Seeing those last four words, Luo Xing swallowed.

Absolutely unbelievable.

[You’re the owner? I thought it was a girl about my age. Did you do this on purpose?]

[Wrongly accused—I just found out my property had been rented out...]

He quickly sent two more messages.

[It used to be Sun Shiqi living there. Maybe she rented it out.]

[Pretty funny, though. I’m the owner, and she just rented it out like that. If the water heater hadn’t broken, you could’ve lived there your whole life and I’d never have known.]

After all, he left many of his properties empty, gathering dust.

Yun Cai read Gu Shiyan’s messages on Luo Xing’s phone and clicked her tongue, "Well, what can you say? This is what they call a twist of fate."

Luo Xing carefully recalled all the things that had happened recently. Each seemed unrelated to Gu Shiyan, and yet, somehow, he ended up involved in every single one.

The physics competition, the incident with Ke Yu, and now the rental.

"Xing Xing, what do you think? Are you going to change apartments?" Yun Cai glanced around, "It’s a shame, really. If you move, you’ll have to find a new place, view apartments, and move your stuff all over again."

As she spoke, Yun Cai began to laugh. "But there’s an upside: if you move, you’ll have to treat us to another meal!"

Luo Xing was speechless. "You wish. Besides, why should I move? My brother paid a whole year’s rent for this place—a huge sum. Moving and packing is exhausting."

Luo Xing looked at Gu Shiyan’s messages on her phone and pressed her lips together.

[So what’s going on here? Your girlfriend rented out the apartment you gave her? How do we resolve this?]