Chapter Thirty: The Price of Housing Depends on How Many Men Get Married

Building Five, Unit Two, Fourth Floor—the very heart of the Huamei Community, with a stunning view. Upstairs, downstairs, in front and behind the building, you can see everything. If you add a telescope... well, wouldn’t the whole community be at your fingertips? Brother, you really know how to pick a place!”

As soon as Su Xue entered Wang Zheng’s apartment, she started wandering through every room, acting like an expert appraiser, critiquing his home. And Wang Zheng had been thoroughly painted by Su Xue as a lecher whose sole aim was to win over every beautiful woman in the community.

Bai Bing, overhearing this, suddenly looked enlightened. She had never gotten along with Su Xue, but somehow, guided by Su Xue’s words, she began to resonate with her. Her gaze toward Wang Zheng changed; she instinctively stepped back two paces, covering herself protectively with her hands.

“You really are a lecher!” Bai Bing’s eyes revealed her thoughts.

It was over; his reputation for innocence had been ruined in a few words by Su Xue. But why was Bai Bing joining in? Wang Zheng fixed his gaze on Bai Bing. Others could call him a lecher out of misunderstanding, but she had forced herself into his life, insisting on staying by his side—what right did she have to judge him?

Wang Zheng glared fiercely at Bai Bing and said irritably, “Relax! Even if I become a monk and chant Amitabha, I wouldn’t get involved with you. I don’t have the habit of giving up on myself!”

“You’ve forgotten what you said the first time we met? Princess, prince, shameless after marriage... lecher!” Bai Bing pouted, taunting him.

“Shut up, you little fraud!”

Wang Zheng hurried to his bedroom, searching for the culprit. He found Su Xue rummaging through his wardrobe, like a grave robber on the job, scouring for some hidden treasure. Wang Zheng strode over, grabbed her collar, and hauled her out of the bedroom, tossing her into the living room.

“Why aren’t you cooking? What are you doing in my wardrobe?”

“Where’s the telescope?”

“What telescope?”

“The one you use for peeping!” Su Xue stared at Wang Zheng with her big, watery eyes, asking the question brazenly, shamelessly.

I... I’m really not a lecher, I’m a good man~~!

A wave of helplessness washed over Wang Zheng. He slumped onto the sofa with a thump. Why is it so hard to be a decent person?

Caesar once said: kill one man, you’re a criminal; kill a hundred, you’re a hero. I must be a hero squared by now—so why am I still seen as the villain?

Seeing Wang Zheng so dispirited, Su Xue stuck out her tongue and carried her groceries to the kitchen.

“Brother, you know what? I’m living with Chu Chu now!” Su Xue’s voice floated in from the kitchen. Even someone who’d never met her could guess her profession: broadcaster—her mouth never rests, rattling on like beans frying in a pan, hardly pausing for breath!

“What about it?” Wang Zheng asked.

“The housing prices in Jinghua City are sky-high. People like me and Chu Chu, just ‘small clerks,’ can’t afford to buy a home, so we’re still renting together!” There was a hint of grievance in Su Xue’s words, and perhaps a whiff of scheming—Wang Zheng’s instincts told him so.

Men have instincts, too!

“House prices rise depending on how many men are about to get married. If you and Chu Chu dump a few more men, send them into despair and off to monasteries, maybe next year’s prices will drop!” Wang Zheng teased, waiting for Su Xue to reveal her real purpose. This clever girl definitely had something to say, but was too embarrassed to come straight out with it, so she was padding her story.

“Don’t mention it—even monks are speculating on real estate now!”

“No worries! Tomorrow, all the speculators will turn into monks,” Wang Zheng called out. Small clerks? If even news anchors count as small clerks, then there’s no such thing as a good job! When did this girl learn to talk in circles?

‘If you want to go in circles, I’ll go with you!’ Wang Zheng thought.

“Chu Chu and I rent a two-bedroom apartment, but you live alone in a four-bedroom place. Don’t you think that’s unfair?” After a long silence, Su Xue’s voice rang out again.

Wang Zheng glanced at Bai Bing. Did she count as a person? Maybe she was just a pet—one day she might sneak off. Wang Zheng pretty much guessed what Su Xue was driving at, but before she could say it, he had to shut her down, or his home would turn into utter chaos.

“I gave you that diamond; it’s enough to buy a house anywhere in Jinghua City. If you don’t like your job, buy thirty apartments and rent them out—collect rent every day, you’ll be busy enough~~!”

“That was a gift from you; how could I sell it?” Su Xue suddenly appeared at the kitchen door, watching Wang Zheng in the living room. She blinked her big eyes and tried hard to squeeze out a few tears for effect. “Brother, don’t you think Chu Chu and I are pitiful?”

“Men who pursue you could queue from Jinghua City all the way to Cairo. If you mooch a meal every day, you’ll live to be over a hundred. People like me, with no job and nowhere to mooch, living off my parents, are the real pitiful ones!”

Su Xue was so incensed that her chopping grew louder, as if she might split the cutting board in two. She glared at her roommate Chu Jun, who was snickering nearby, and shouted, “Brother, where’s your intelligence gone? Buried in the Sahara? How do you still not get what I’m saying?”

“I don’t see why I have to understand what I don’t understand...!”

“You’re pretending to be clueless!” Su Xue reappeared at the kitchen door, staring at Wang Zheng and raising her voice.

“I’m not!” Wang Zheng shook his head vigorously, trying to prove he wasn’t pretending—he was genuinely ‘clueless’!

“I want to live here!”

“Don’t even think about it!”

“Why not?”

“Still thinking about it?”

Actually, Wang Zheng had guessed what Su Xue meant as soon as she brought up the topic of housing. Perhaps, after losing so many siblings, Wang Zheng’s unexpected appearance stirred up Su Xue’s childhood sense of dependence. Seeing him felt especially close, and only when she saw him did her heart feel at ease. So she was using all sorts of excuses to try to move in.

But what Wang Zheng wanted most was a free, unfettered life—the very reason he once hoped a foreign friend would help him buy a one-bedroom apartment. Now, having Bai Bing around was headache enough; if Su Xue moved in, he’d never have a chance to chat up beautiful women again.

Wang Zheng desperately wished to find a mistress for this house right away! Bai Bing and Su Xue would only have the opposite effect.

“Brother, you let Bai Bing move in but not me. You’re playing favorites!” Su Xue protested, emerging from the kitchen with a kitchen knife in hand, her brows furrowed.

“She moved in without my permission—she’s a complete female scoundrel, a spy!” Wang Zheng pointed at Bai Bing and said to Su Xue, “You’re a lady, a good girl. Don’t learn from her, okay?”

At that moment, Wang Zheng resembled a kindergarten teacher patiently lecturing his ‘little students,’ urging them to behave and not cause trouble! Bai Bing, naturally, became the negative example, marked as the bad student.