You on the other side of time

After browsing on the computer for a while, Boss Wu picked up the chewing gum on the table, poured two pieces into his palm, chewed them a couple of times, glanced at Si Yang, and handed the chewing gum to him, "Here, have two."

"No need, Uncle, thank you." Si Yang waved his hand, appearing calm on the surface, but his heart was already churning with turmoil.

"Uncle, there are no cigarettes here. I'm trying to conceive, and my wife absolutely forbids me from smoking." Boss Wu chuckled sheepishly, then looked back at the woman in the blue dress who was hurriedly sorting packages on the floor, his eyes full of tenderness.

"Hmm," Si Yang replied awkwardly. She looked to be over forty, well past her prime childbearing years, so he didn't press her for details.

"There's a house, but the walls of the storage room are peeling, and the landlord isn't willing to fix it. Apparently, because of this, the tenant doesn't want to continue renting it..." Mr. Wu paused here, "But the price isn't cheap; it's the market price. If you want to rent it, I can contact the landlord for you and schedule a time to talk."

"Where exactly is it located?" Si Yang pressed. He wasn't interested in the house itself, but only in the landlord. However, directly asking the agent about a particular landlord would be a dead end; the agent would definitely think he was trying to bypass the agent and avoid paying the agent's fee.

"A family of three rents this place around here; they run a fruit business. Because they wash fruit so often, and the cement floor isn't completely dry, the walls are constantly damp, causing the paint to peel off. When it comes to repairs, the tenants don't care, and the landlord won't agree either; they're still arguing." Mr. Wu sighed. "They're all just trying to make a living; nobody has it easy." Although the repair costs aren't much, people who can only afford to rent in places like this don't have much extra money.

A fruit vendor? Si Yang racked his brains, trying to recall the place. He was quite familiar with it. There were many single-story houses, but it was completely unsuitable for business. The location was poor, the environment was bad, and no one would specifically go out of their way to buy anything.

The places inside were either purely residential or used as warehouses; some had clothes piled up at the entrance, some had shoes stored there, and some even had small massage parlors hidden inside… He drew a map in his mind and immediately matched them up.

The fruit vendor must be Uncle Wang's family. They probably live there themselves and use it as a fruit storage area.

They were getting close to their goal. Si Yang couldn't contain his excitement. "Great, this landlord only has this one unit for rent around here. Are there any other units available? I'll take a look then. After all, I've already invested time and energy, and I want to find a place as soon as possible."

This advice is most useful to real estate agents; performance is paramount, so showing more properties is always a good idea.

"Of course, I'll arrange it right now." Boss Wu was naturally happy to hear Si Yang say that, and he picked up the phone and made the call. Being a businessman, he was afraid that Si Yang would hear their conversation, so he got up and walked to the side, holding the phone and speaking in a low voice while pretending to scan the package.

Even with Si Yang straining his ears, he couldn't hear their conversation at all.

Two or three minutes later, Boss Wu smiled at Si Yang with a somewhat troubled expression, "Young man, this house is not available for the time being. It is said that the current tenant's lease will not expire for some time, and the current tenant is a bit temperamental and does not allow others to view the house."

Si Yang lowered his head and pondered for a while. Just now, Boss Wu had pulled up the satellite map, and he could clearly see that the house that was originally introduced was the one selling fruit. Those fruit baskets were clearly visible in the satellite photo; it was Uncle Wang's house.

"And this one, it faces south, so it should be very comfortable to sunbathe, and it's also convenient to dry blankets and clothes." Si Yang thought for a while before he could come up with a reason, and he pointed directly to the bungalow where the single mother lived on the computer.

"It's the same landlord, but this family signed a five-year lease with quarterly payments." Mr. Wu waved his hand, indicating that they didn't need to consider this bungalow.

"Boss Wu, how about this? Give me the landlord's phone number, and I'll have my friend contact him himself..."

"That's definitely not going to work. If everyone did that, how would we real estate agencies survive?" Before Si Yang could speak, Boss Wu refused decisively.

"What I mean is, we'll definitely be renting the house from you in the end. I'll pay you half of the monthly rent upfront, and we'd like to discuss it ourselves first. The main issue is the price of the rent..."

Si Yang understood his concerns. The market was bad right now, and rental agency fees had long been reduced from one month's rent to half a month's. Young people were also picky, and even after running themselves ragged, they hadn't been able to close a single deal.

"This..." Boss Wu was clearly tempted.

"Okay, it's easy for young people to chat." Boss Wu grinned, found a notepad, neatly copied down the number, and handed it over.

Si Yang paid four hundred yuan, said "thank you," and hurried out. As soon as he reached a quiet spot near Jiuyan Bridge, he made a phone call.

"Feed?" The sound of mahjong tiles clattering came from the phone. Upon hearing that distinct voice, it was indeed Boss Fan; Si Yang's memory had never been wrong.

"Hello, Mr. Fan, I'd like to rent a house. Do you have any available?" Si Yang asked directly, the last time he asked this was in the past.

"Who gave you my phone number?" Boss Fan's questioning voice struck Si Yang's eardrums.

Si Yang wasn't prepared with his explanation, and saying that it was given to him by the owner of Tianluo Real Estate seemed a bit inappropriate, since it involved the leakage of private information.

"She's my friend. She rented a place here before." Si Yang originally wanted to say Song Wanxi's name, but with his mother and sister's past experiences as examples, he didn't want to cause any more trouble, so he vaguely glossed over the information.

"No, I use a different phone number for all my tenants. This is my personal number, and I almost never give it to anyone else," Boss Fan said confidently. "You didn't hire someone from my wife to check how much rent I collected this month, did you?"

Si Yang froze on the spot; he never expected there to be this layer. The longer time dragged on, the more clues he would reveal, so he decided to go all out. "Here's what happened..." He briefly recounted his story with the single mother, and finally sincerely expressed his desire for the mother's phone number so he could talk to her privately.

Suddenly, a loud "smack" echoed on the other end of the phone. "Coward! You dare to do it but not admit it! You pushed the child, so you pushed him. Do you think a mother would falsely accuse an innocent person for no reason? Just honestly pay the compensation you owe, stop playing tricks here, and don't bother her! Don't try anything funny!"