Can’t Save the World by Pretending to be Dead
Chapter 4
When people get lucky, even if you want to stop it, they can’t be stopped.
“Su city 2.07 large home invasion robbery and murder case” the real culprit is captured, Su city leaders, the central cadres are once again concerned about this small fan factory dormitory building. Factory leaders think, simply not demolished for the time being, all of a sudden the demolition time moved directly to September.
Lian Xi’s demolition payment came down in July.
Waking up early in the morning, Lian Xi brushed his teeth while clicking on his mobile phone, suddenly, a bank transfer text message jumped out——.
[Industrial and Commercial Bank of China] Your account number with tail number 88 received 1363000.00 RMB remitted by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China at 08:32 on 17th July, with a balance of 1381534.00 RMB, Abstract: Demolition and relocation compensation for Kangping District ( in Shenyang 沈阳, Liaoning), Wunan District, Sucheng City.
“！！！”
I am thorough!!!
“Cough cough cough…” Surprise overload, a violent cough, Lian Xi almost choked on the toothpaste foam.
The demolition money just hit the card, half an hour later, Lian Xi received a call from the neighbourhood committee.
“Hey, Lian Xi from building 2, 302, right? The demolition money has been received, right?”
“Yes, I’ve received it.”
“OK, we also received the feedback slip from the bank, so come to the neighbourhood committee this afternoon and sign again to make sure you have received the demolition money.”
Lian Xi promised, “Okay!”
After hanging up the phone, only then Lian Xi remembered that he didn’t ask what time to go in the afternoon. However, he didn’t call back to ask again, since he has to go back to his old house and pack up his things.
At noon, Lian Xi took the bus and came to Kangping District.
Kangping District was an old district from the 1980s, located in the remote Wu Nan District, surrounded by just one bus stop. It would take another twenty minutes to walk from the bus station to the neighbourhood.
Lian Xi had just got off the bus when a high spirited voice came from behind him, “Xiao Lian?!”
He turned around and looked, “Uncle Li!”
He only saw Uncle Li carrying two snakeskin bags, coming down from a bus behind him.
Uncle Li walked up and smiled, “Still know how to come back?”
Lian Xi smiled and nodded, but didn’t know what to say.
After his grandfather passed away, there were not many relatives at home, only Uncle Li would occasionally visit him at the orphanage. Uncle Li’s family had two sons to support, so it was impossible for him to take care of one of his neighbours. But Lian Xi appreciated his kindness, but since he hadn’t seen him for a long time and Lian Xi wasn’t good with words, he didn’t know what to say for a while.
Uncle Li looked him up and down: “Just like when you were a child, you don’t like to talk! He looks so much like your mother ah. Let’s go, let’s go back to our home together.”
Entering the Kangping neighbourhood, moving company vans could be seen everywhere.
By this time, half of the homeowners have already moved out and left, and half remain, and will move out in the next few days.
There are a lot of scrap collectors in the neighbourhood, sitting by the flower (bed decorative mass planting of flowers and shrubs, often bounded by a low masonry border, and often part of a streetscape), with a pair of shrewd eyes, staring around the business. Once someone yells “junk collector”, they will swarm at them.
This is the kind of neighborhood that the junk collectors like the most.
Everyone is on cloud nine, floating on the clouds, full of joy, suddenly becoming rich by having just received a large sum of money from the demolition of the house. Moving will certainly produce waste products, especially the old furniture. It’s fine if you have no money but even if you have money, no matter how you look at it, it is not pleasing to the eyes. At this time to call them to collect scrap, they just enviously said two sentences “Ah, you are so lucky, demolition…you got that much money ah!” Usually, asking for a bloody price (ask for cheaper price) for it.
If you come across more generous, direct to the old furniture, it’s possible they send the old appliances to them!
The two were walking, a scrap collector came up: “Little handsome, congratulations on the fortune ah. Do you have the collected scrap at home?”
Uncle Li: “All collected, no more!”
The scrap collector left with a disappointed face.
Big Uncle Li said to Lian Xi, “Don’t mind them, their price is too low. I know a friend, I’ll call him later and ask him to collect the junk for you. I haven’t asked yet, Xiao Lian, do you still want those old furniture at home?”
Lian Xi: “No, thanks Uncle Li.”
“Arg, we are old neighbours, why thank you.”
Back home.
As soon as I opened the door, the dusty smell of the entire room immediately entered my nostrils.
Lian Xi coughed twice and looked at the old furniture that had long been wrapped in white cloth.
Uncle Li had the key to Lian Xi’s house and would occasionally help clean it, but since the neighbourhood was determined to be demolished, he was too busy with his own family’s affairs, not to mention coming to help Lian Xi’s house to clean. After two months, there was a lot of dust on the floor.
Lian Xi opened the doors and windows for ventilation.
He tidied up the house.
Old furniture and old electrical appliances were definitely not wanted, and some old books he picked a few to take away.
Just now, he asked Uncle Li if he would go to the neighbourhood committee to sign the papers at 2pm, and there was still one hour left. Uncle Li’s side is almost packed. He didn’t need Lian Xi’s help at all. After playing with his mobile phone for a while, Lian Xi opened an old book and read it casually.
This is an 82nd edition of Dream of Red Mansions.
Lian Xi remembers that when his grandpa was alive, his grandfather always liked to sit on the balcony, wearing presbyopic glasses, and turning the book over and over again.
He was calmly flipping through the book, and when he turned to the middle page, suddenly, a photo fell out.
It was a wedding photo.
The man with short hair was wearing a brown suit, and the beautiful woman with the most fashionable long curly hair of the moment was wearing a red cheongsam. The two looked at the camera with gusto and happy smiles.
…. It was his mum and dad’s wedding photo.
Not expecting to find this photo here, Lian Xi picked it up and looked at it for a long time.
“Do I look like my mom?”
Not like at all ah!
As he was thinking, suddenly, two slow footsteps came from the stairs outside the door.
Lian Xi was sitting by the door flipping through a book, the smell of dust in the house was too strong, he could feel more comfortable sitting in front of the door.
Hearing footsteps, he looked up and saw a middle-aged woman and a young pregnant woman.
The pregnant woman shook a small fan with an advert printed on it and complained, ”Mum, why did we have to come, it’s so hot. Wouldn’t it be better to have Zhang Hao come over and sign, yet you had to make me come.”
Middle-aged woman: “Nonsense! What do you know! This is our house, if you let Zhang Hao sign, is the house yours or his?”
“Isn’t the money already on my bank card?”
“Then you have to sign it too! Otherwise, what if the bank later says, Zhang Hao signed it, then it’s Zhang Hao’s?”
“Mum!” The pregnant woman rolled her eyes at her mother who was holding her up, speechless, and when she looked up, her gaze coincidentally met with Lian Xi.
The pregnant woman froze and stopped in her tracks.
The middle-aged woman at the side followed her line of sight: “You are…302’s… you are Lian Xi?”
After a moment of silence, Lian Xi nodded.
The middle-aged woman’s face suddenly turned green and white, her tone displeased, “You’re back?”
The pregnant woman looked at Lian Xi curiously for a few moments and asked, “Mom, who is this little brother, do you know him?”
The middle-aged woman came to her ear, “Just the old Lian family who lives downstairs from our house, their grandson. You even played with him when you were little.”
“Really? How come I don’t remember any of it.”
“His parents were killed by him, and then Old Lian was also killed by him, the family died out, so he was sent to an orphanage. You were too young to remember!”
The pregnant woman muttered, “That’s definitely because he didn’t look good when he was a kid, if He looking like he does now I will definitely remember.”
The two men were not speaking loudly, so Lian Xi probably heard half of it into his ears.
Although she didn’t hear it all, she knew what the middle-aged woman was talking about.
The middle-aged woman stretched out her arms and blocked the pregnant woman’s stomach, not letting her go. She pulled out a smile and said falsely, “Lian Xi, why don’t you sit inside? Why are you sitting outside?”
Lian Xi looked up at the door frame and faintly said, “I’m sitting inside the door.”
“Sit a little further inside.”.
“…”
Pulling the small bench, Lian Xi expressionlessly sat directly on the stairway, in front of his own door.
The middle-aged woman immediately exploded, “Are you out of your mind? My girl is pregnant, do you want to kill my grandson by blocking the way?”
Uncle Li heard the shouts and rushed out, “What’s wrong, what’s wrong? Isn’t this Auntie Wang, and Xiao Li? What’s wrong with you guys?”
Auntie Wang rolled up her sharp little eyes, “Hehe, what’s wrong, look at this loser. Blocking us from going upstairs!”
Lian Xi’s voice is quiet, “I’m not blocking the stairs, I’m just sitting in front of my own house.”
Auntie Wang: “Hey, are you still justified in occupying public space?”
The pregnant woman by the side, however, was ashamed of her and pulled her back, “Okay, Mom, what are you doing? He’s not blocking the way, let’s go in.”
Auntie Wang: “He’s killing the whole family, aren’t you afraid he’ll kill your son?”
“Can you not be so superstitious?!”
“What do you know? Little Scoundrel, get out of the way and go back to your house!”
Lian Xi swept her a glance and continued to look down at his book.
Auntie Wang was furious and cursed again.
Uncle Li felt as though one’s head could explode and didn’t know how to stop the fight.
Seeing that Aunt Wang’s curses were about to call the other neighbours over, her daughter couldn’t hold out first.
“Are you ashamed!”
While saying this, she pulled her own mother’s arm and dragged her upstairs. When they walked up to Lian Xi, Lian Xi raised his eyes to look at them and suddenly silently pulled the small bench and sat inside the door. This time, He even sat even further in than before, far far away from those two.
Auntie Wang and her daughter were quarrelling and complaining to each other, so they didn’t notice his action.
When they left, Uncle Li came over and said helplessly, “Little Lian, why are you sitting back again?”
Lian Xi closed the book, A Dream of Red Mansions (first completed edition 1791) by Cao Xueqin Cáo Xuěqín [曹雪芹], one of the four great novels.
He didn’t even look at it, he kept turning to the first page, and there was that line–
“Full of ridiculous words, a handful of hot and bitter tears.”
Lian Xi: “It’s nothing, I’m afraid I’ll kill them.”
Uncle Li: “Eh! You, what are you saying?”
Lian Xi smiled: “No, I mean it.”
Uncle Li looked at the young man’s bright and clear eyes, his lips opened, but finally just sighed heavily.
At two o’clock in the afternoon, Lian Xi and Uncle Li went to the neighbourhood committee to queue up for signing, and bumped into the mother and daughter again. The two seemed to have stopped quarrelling, and the pregnant woman was wearing sunglasses and fanning herself irritably. Auntie Wang was handing her water.
One looked up and realized that Lian Xi and Uncle Li were looking at them.
Auntie Wang sneered and muttered, “Little Scoundrel!”
However, she didn’t realise that it wasn’t actually her that Lian Xi was looking at, but the daughter beside her.
Or rather, it was her daughter’s slightly protruding belly.
Uncle Li: “Little Lian, what are you looking at?”
Lian Xi came back to his senses: “Uncle Li, do you know how long Auntie Wang’s daughter has been pregnant?”
Uncle Li: “Let’s see… Like two or three months? I can’t remember, anyway, it was before the demolition came out.”
Two or three months …
Lian Xi pondered for a long time. He took out his mobile phone and searched for the time when pregnant women are prone to miscarriage.
”The first three months are all dangerous periods.”
Lifting his head, he looked at the pregnant woman’s stomach again.
Lian Xi looked at the trace of black Qi that seemed to be wrapped around her stomach and pondered.
When the mother and daughter went upstairs just now, Auntie Wang had been protecting her daughter from Lian Xi, not allowing him to get close, let alone see her stomach. He also didn’t know whether this trace of black qi was there from the beginning or just now.
This kind of black qi was rare, and Lian Xi had only seen it on pregnant women who had slipped and had stillbirths.
Without exception, the babies of these pregnant women were all surely already failing to preserve.
If it is just now …
Maybe it’s just like what Auntie Wang said, he really is a bereaved star.
“Building 2! Owners of building 2 come over and line up to sign!”
A crowd of people swarmed over.
***
After signing, Lian Xi and Uncle Li walked towards the bus stop together.
“Xiao Lian, what are you going to do with the demolition money?”
“I haven’t thought about it yet, what about you?”
“Ha ha, I’ve thought of everything. My two sons are doing well in the city, they take care of each other, and don’t need me to worry. I’ll just take the money and go back to my hometown and build a three-storey villa! Uncle must advise you, more than one million looks like a lot, in our city of Suzhou you can not buy any good house, you do not really think you have money, just spend, you know it right?”
“I know, thank you Uncle Li.”
“Okay, then I’ll go first.”
Walking to the bus stop, just as the bus came, Uncle Li walked up: “Contact me often in the future!”
Lian Xi waved his hand, “Hn!”
Of course, Lian Xi never thought of buying a house.
The property price in Suzhou City is getting higher day by day, the real estate agents in Suzhou City are saying every day, “Hurry up and buy a house, it will go up tomorrow!”
Who wouldn’t want to buy a house if they could, but the problem is that they have to be able to afford it!
More than a million, in the city of Suzhou, most of them buy commercial and residential flats, a kind of a floor lived more than twenty families, the seller has to pay 40% of the tax, or commercial water and electricity.
The house he had already found on the rental APP.
It’s still a murder house!
The next morning, Lian Xi contacted the moving company, busy all day, and finally cleaned up.
The real estate agent who rented the house was wearing a small suit and also helped pack for half a day.
Lian Xi brought her a bottle of water: “Do all of you real estate agents help people move?”
The real estate agent was a young girl who just got out of work, called Xiao Liu. She took the water and thanked him. It was a bit hard for her to say, “That, not really. My colleagues have not helped tenants move, I have never done this before. But you do this …” She stammered for half a day, before continuing: “This house, you really want to rent it?” After the words were finished, she then laughed, “No, I have fiancee, so I definitely want to rent. It’s the matter of the agency fee…”
Lian Xi thought for a moment, “You’re helping me move for the agency fee?”
Xiao Liu was also not polite, scratched his short hair and directly said, “Renting this kind of house out, seeking a peace of mind, I will help you move. Otherwise, I will not feel at ease by charging this agency fee! But this time you give five hundred agency fee is enough, just five hundred.”
Lian Xi: “The rent is sixteen, according to the rules, I should charge half, eight hundred.”
Xiao Liu: “It’s fine, except for you, this house has been rented for two years, not to mention the rent, no one has even looked at it! Just five hundred.”
Lian Xi looked at her hair, which was wet with sweat and stuck to her forehead, didn’t say anything, and transferred 500 in silence.
After the little girl left, he pressed Alipay (online payment platform) and typed in another three hundred.
Xiao Liu immediately called back, “I can’t accept this three hundred!”
“It’s okay, this is the rule of your property agent, I’ve rented a house before, I know.”
“Aiya you this, I really can’t accept ah.”
“I have something to do, I’ll hang up first.”
“Ugh Mr Lian, you, this…”
Lian Xi hurriedly hung up the phone.
He breathed a sigh of relief.
It was really too troublesome to communicate with people!
Lian Xi was feeling like he had escaped, when suddenly, the phone rang again, he looked down, it was still Xiao Liu!
Hurry up and hang up!
He hung up three times in a row, but Xiao Liu kept calling. Lian Xi felt his scalp numb, finally answered the fourth call: “Just three hundred, it’s really okay, it’s quite hard for you to help me move, I think it’s okay. Don’t call anymore, I’m hanging up!”
“Wait,wait!”
A light and clear male voice came from the phone, Lian Xi’s hand that hung up the phone abruptly stopped.
He looked at the mobile phone screen.
A strange phone call?
The man on the phone laughed and said, “May I ask if you are the anchor of the Douya Live Streaming Platform, ‘Lian Cheng’? Hello, I’m the Gemstone Guild’s Supervisor, and my ID is called liúlàng (Wandering). You can log in to Douya Live right now and take a look, I just sent you a private message with my Ultra Tube number. I’m not a scammer.”
Author has something to say:
CC: I forgot if you didn’t tell me, I’m still an anchor ……
Readers: actually we probably forgot too…
FW: Be confident and remove the “probably”.