Wang Qiqi hummed a tune as she stood at her doorstep, reaching for her keys. The door opposite slid open, and Han Tao rushed out, calling, "Qiqi, come here!"

Wang Qiqi looked at Han Tao’s beaming face, wondering why the boy was so exhilarated. "You didn't haggle the price down, did you?" she surmised cautiously.

Han Tao shook his head. "No, I haven't even set a price yet. We signed the contract directly. I just have to wait a few days for the property deed and the land certificate to officially be in my name."

Wang Qiqi froze. No haggling? What was there to be excited about? "You weren't this pumped up when I called you yesterday." Could he have won five million? Oh, wait, they didn't have the welfare lottery yet, only instant scratch-offs, the biggest prize being a Santana. Maybe he found a bag of cash instead.

Han Tao motioned for Wang Qiqi to sit on the table, then went inside and brought out half a watermelon for her. "This morning, I finalized the agreement with the other party, then I went to the housing authority to process the transfer. After that, I checked in with the agency, planning to list the place for rent."

Hearing this, Wang Qiqi understood; Han Tao had already rented the place out. "You couldn't be that lucky, could you?" But rentals in that neighborhood were certainly in demand. What concerned Wang Qiqi was the rent amount.

Han Tao nodded. "It's rented. Qiqi, do you know how much the rent is?"

Wang Qiqi pondered. "Fifteen hundred?" That should be pretty high, at least much more than the rent for her own place.

Han Tao looked at Qiqi in astonishment. He had expected her to guess a thousand. "I didn't have the nerve to name a price; the agency set it for me—two thousand a month." Frankly, if Han Tao hadn't already signed a preliminary lease and received a small deposit, even he wouldn't have believed it.

Two thousand? Wang Qiqi was stunned speechless by the figure. Her mouth fell wide open as she stared at Han Tao. The expression itself would have been fine, but the crucial detail was that Qiqi was eating watermelon. As her mouth gaped open, watermelon juice streamed down the corner of her mouth, making her look exactly like a drooling one-year-old.

Han Tao reached out and wiped the watermelon juice from the corner of Qiqi's mouth. "Look at you, slobbering like a child." Han Tao could honestly say he hadn't intended to do it; it was just a natural reaction to seeing the juice by her mouth.

If Shi Man had been present, she would surely have found the scene exquisitely beautiful. And it was, perhaps, a beautiful moment, but Han Tao's action caused a split second of awkwardness for Wang Qiqi, and Han Tao quickly withdrew his hand.

After a moment, Han Tao managed to regain some composure. He coughed slightly. "In the end, the other party countered to eighteen hundred. The formal contract signing is in a week." Just thinking about the annual rent totaling over twenty thousand made his heart swell with happiness. At this rate, the initial investment would be recouped in eight years, and the house would still be theirs.

Wang Qiqi quickly adjusted her mood too. "That's great, congratulations. Though I must say, I'm annoyed—my place only gets a thousand a month, though the renovation isn't as good as yours. I wonder if the new tenants will regret it." Wang Qiqi joked. If it were her, she would certainly regret it, preferring to take out a bank loan to buy instead. "Rent will only keep going up, and finding a clean tenant who takes good care of things isn't easy either."

"The other party inspected the house and was quite satisfied. Judging by his demeanor, he seems like a tidy person. Oh, right, he needs to hire a cleaning lady," Han Tao remembered something. "I wonder if Aunt Gong would be interested? Every afternoon... to cook dinner and do some light cleaning. They can discuss the wages in person." Han Tao had actually heard from the tenant and the agency; he had immediately thought of recommending Gong Hong, but then he paused, realizing Qiqi hadn't left for Beijing yet. Would she agree to let Gong Hong go?

Zhang Qian wasn't overthinking it. Even though she hadn't left yet, it would only be about half a month at most, and she might even be traveling for over ten days. "It’s fine, I’ll page Aunt Gong. She can go try out, and if the requirements are too high, maybe Aunt Gong won't fit." Often, people with simple needs turn out to be the most critical.

"After asking Aunt Gong’s opinion, I'll contact the other party. Honestly, I feel more secure letting Aunt Gong go over to clean." It was their property, after all, and they couldn't check frequently to see if anything was broken. If Aunt Gong cleaned, she would certainly keep the place spotless, which would help secure a better rental price when they changed tenants later.

As soon as Wang Qiqi got home, she paged Aunt Gong and waited for Gong Hong to call back, while she returned to her room to pack. Thankfully, Wang Qiqi had bought a suitcase a few days prior, otherwise, heading to Beijing would have been chaotic.

Gong Hong had been wondering where to find an afternoon job, preferably one that paid well. She never expected that the job she couldn't find through connections, Wang Qiqi had secured for her—well, not exactly secured, as she still had to negotiate with the employer, but this small gesture made Gong Hong very happy. It was rare for a change of employer to be handled so generously, which only made Gong Hong take even better care of Wang Qiqi’s property for the next few years.

Wang Qiqi was merely doing a favor that cost her nothing. If the arrangement worked out, it would be a win-win-win situation. The next morning, she leisurely dragged her suitcase toward Beijing.

Gao Kai had wanted to contact Wang Qiqi as soon as he received his acceptance letter, but his calls went unanswered. Then came the celebration party thrown by his family, followed by a string of invitations—either others treating him or him treating others. By the time Gao Kai finished all these social obligations, he remembered he hadn't contacted Qiqi. He had originally planned to invite Wang Qiqi, perhaps adding Shi Man and Zhu Lina for a trip to Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. He disliked seeing the latter two women, as they never gave him a pleasant look, but he knew he couldn't afford to offend them, nor could his parents. But now, thinking about those two buzzkills was pointless; it was too late for Qiqi to get a passport in time. This realization frustrated him deeply, making him curse himself for being an idiot for not thinking to notify her sooner.

In this frame of mind, Gao Kai decided to go to Qiqi’s house early that morning. He worried that Qiqi would leave early again. But Gao Kai genuinely wanted to know if Wang Qiqi was truly out or just pretending to be out to avoid his calls.

Not long after walking into the residential complex, Gao Kai spotted a woman walking towards him. She was carrying a suitcase, holding an umbrella, wearing a long dress, and sporting sunglasses perched on her nose, moving with a graceful, captivating sway. Although Gao Kai couldn't see her face clearly, based on her figure alone, he was sure she must be attractive. Too bad he was on a mission today; otherwise, he could have approached her for her contact information.

Wait, asking for contact details wouldn't take much time. Thinking this, Gao Kai straightened his clothes. He was immensely grateful today for dressing more formally to leave a good impression on Wang Qiqi. He cleared his throat, struck what he believed—and what many of his mischievous friends confirmed—was his most captivating pose for women, and waited for the beautiful lady in sunglasses to approach him. Yes, he was Gao Kai, the handsome Gao, and beauties came to him; he didn't need to pursue them.

Wang Qiqi walked with her head down, preoccupied with whether she had arranged everything important and secured her money. She hadn't noticed the peacock-like man waiting for her ahead. Of course, even if she had noticed him, Wang Qiqi wouldn't have dodged him. "Are you kidding? This is my home turf. Besides, why should I go out of my way to avoid him?"

Gao Kai waited and waited, until the beauty was close enough. To Gao Kai’s disappointment, she didn't seem to notice him at all, which made him feel like he had lost face. He coughed, and just as the woman was about to walk past him, he spoke, "Excuse me, I was wondering, where is number 160?" This, he thought, was the least intrusive way to strike up a conversation.

Wang Qiqi truly hadn't noticed Gao Kai until she heard his voice. She thought, Could I be this unlucky? Out of the four gates in the complex, why did I have to choose this one to leave from? She regretted it instantly. But Wang Qiqi was curious: had Gao Kai been waiting downstairs for her this early? That didn't seem right; if it had been him, he would have confronted her the moment he saw her.

Wang Qiqi pondered, realizing only one possibility remained: the person hadn't recognized her. Otherwise, he would have asked for his own house number, or at least Wang Rui’s. But his male hormones were acting up again. Wang Qiqi inwardly cursed, Starting his lecherous antics so early. Looks like he’ll catch AIDS sooner or later. Wang Qiqi resolved to ignore him completely, pretending she couldn't hear anything.

Wang Qiqi ignoring him was interpreted by Gao Kai as perhaps the beauty being deaf. Otherwise, even if she didn't know where number 160 was, she wouldn't just walk straight past him, ignoring him completely. "What bad luck. She looked good, but turns out she's deaf."

Since Gao Kai had decided the beauty was deaf, he spoke those words without any reservation. Hearing this, Wang Qiqi could only offer a wry smile—her guess had been accurate. Initially, she hadn't intended to respond, but since she was close to the complex gate and a taxi was pulling out of the compound, Wang Qiqi immediately flagged it down. After loading her luggage into the car, she put down her umbrella.

"Hey there, future brother-in-law. You didn't need to say your wife’s older cousin is deaf, did you? Oh, and congratulations on getting into Shen University. Though I really wanted to go to the same university, I’m going to C University, so no chance of being classmates." After saying this, Wang Qiqi got into the car and called out one last thing as the driver pulled away, "I've already told my relatives I’m going to C University."

With that, Wang Qiqi urged the driver to speed up, worried that if another taxi stopped for Gao Kai, he might actually catch up to her.