A Young Woman's Heart

"Tch, forget it, I still don't like handouts." Mo Xueyao muttered with droopy eyelids, "Those people will lose interest in you one day, and then you'll have to rely on yourself."

"Once I've saved enough money, I won't have to worry about the rest of my life." Shi Haiming leaned comfortably against the wooden chair, but then he heard a 'crack' and the backrest broke off. He fell sprawled on the ground.

"Hahaha, serves you right for being so smug." Li Gutao burst into laughter, feeling extremely relieved.

“Sigh, you shouldn’t envy me. Being a rich woman is great, but you also need to be healthy. Look at my body.” Shi Haiming lifted his clothes a little. “Here, here, there are marks all over my body.”

"What is this?"

"They were tied up with ropes and whipped."

Li Gutao said seriously, "Suddenly, I'm not envious of you at all."

"It's so miserable."

"Right, that's why money isn't so easy to earn."

"Wait, have you turned into a masochist? The kind who gets happy just from being hit?" Mo Xueyao teased.

"Damn, how could that be!" Shi Haiming awkwardly changed the subject. "Come on, let's not talk about this anymore. I'll take you guys to ride bumper cars!"

"How old are you, still riding bumper cars?"

"How about we ride the carousel?"

"Let's go with bumper cars," Mo Xueyao muttered.

The three brothers put their arms around each other's shoulders and walked towards the area on the mountain with amusement facilities.

The sight of two boys and a girl, arm in arm, attracted a lot of attention.

"Wait a minute." Li Gutao released his hand from Mo Xueyao's shoulder. "There are too many people, so it's better not to put your arm around Xiaoyao."

"Why?" Mo Xueyao frowned in confusion.

"It's not good for your image... People might think you're the kind of woman who's promiscuous, especially since you live nearby. You might run into someone who knows you."

"Hmm..." Mo Xueyao scratched her head vigorously, but in the end, she also let go of the hand on Li Gutao's shoulder.

……

Chapter 306 Three-Story Duplex

A gentle breeze brushed against Tian Tingchan's cheek as she and Zuo Ziya stood in front of an apartment building.

This is a ten-story apartment building.

Completed last year, and just finished renovations this year.

But in reality, it looks like a residential building with more than twenty floors.

The reason it doesn't match the floor number is because all the rooms in this apartment are duplexes.

Moreover, it's not a two-story duplex, but a three-story duplex.

Although each floor is small, when combined, the space is quite large.

"It's very expensive here." Tian Tingchan seemed unwilling to go in.

"It's okay. The places we looked at before were all too run-down. The rental manager here is a friend of my father's, so we can rent a place at the lowest possible rent... um... about five hundred a month should be enough," Zuo Ziya reassured her. "Let's go in and see if we like it."

If we calculate based on a monthly salary of 800, the rent actually accounts for more than half of the total.

Clearly, this is not a place for the poor to rent.

Many people with a taste for a sophisticated lifestyle will likely rent here.

"Miss Zuo." Just then, a woman in her thirties walked over quickly, bowed slightly, and smiled, "Excuse me, I had something to attend to earlier."

"It's alright, we only waited a few minutes." Zuo Ziya shook her head. "Shall we show you the house?"

“Okay, many units in this building are currently vacant—because it's just starting to be rented out.” The woman smiled at Tian Tingchan. “We have units available on whatever floor you need. May I ask this lady’s name?”

"The cicadas in the sky."

"Miss Tian, ​​my surname is Zhang, you can just call me Ms. Zhang. So, you're looking for a place to stay, right? Which floor would you like?"

Tian Tingchan didn't answer, but only glanced at Zuo Ziya.

"Then show us the top floor first."

"Okay, let's take the elevator up."

Stepping into the elevator lobby, the buttons indeed only showed floors one through ten, but the upward speed was noticeably slower than other elevators.

The main reason is that the ceiling height of each floor is particularly high.

Upon arriving on the tenth floor, Ms. Zhang went straight to the room at the end of the corridor, took out a handful of jingling keys, and opened the door.

Tian Tingchan noticed that there were many rooms on this floor, arranged very closely together.

It seems that each room does not occupy a large area; the main advantage is that the multiple floors expand the space.

The room that was opened was the last one on the tenth floor, and the room number was 1022.

To be honest, most people probably wouldn't live in such a uniquely designed place. Putting aside whether it's practical or not, it's definitely not cost-effective.

Pushing open the door, you enter a slightly low, tiled entryway with a shoe rack nearby.

Then there was a raised wooden floor.

"The area of ​​each floor is 20 square meters, and the total area of ​​the three floors is 60 square meters. Because this is a corner unit, each floor has an extra bay window of about 3 square meters," Ms. Zhang explained as she entered. "All the corner units are decorated like this, fully furnished, and the monthly rent is 1,200 yuan."

"Mm." Zuo Ziya nodded.

Ms. Zhang glanced at her, then smiled and said, "Of course, we'll try our best to give Ms. Zuo the best price possible."

Tian Tingchan walked a little further inside and opened a sliding door.

"That's the kitchen. It's quite spacious. If you're alone, you can eat right there in the kitchen. If you have a group, you can use the dining area outside," Ms. Zhang quickly explained.

The kitchen is on the left after entering, while the right side is an empty area with a table and two chairs placed by the window, which can be used as a dining area.

The table is expandable, meaning it can accommodate even more people.

Although 20 square meters is not a large space, it still feels quite spacious if you just put a kitchen and a dining room in it.

Tian Tingchan felt a strange stirring in her heart and couldn't help but walk to the stairs and go upstairs.

“This stairwell is not wasted either. There is a storage room under the stairs, which can hold all kinds of sundries, and even put a small bed in it to be used as a small room. Because it is right next to the wall, it also has a window. This corner unit is definitely the best in terms of layout. The design is very reasonable. We invited a Japanese designer to design it.”

"Um……"

"This is the bathroom with separate wet and dry areas, and there is a separate shower room," Ms. Zhang continued, pointing to the middle area. "This area is used as a balcony. If you want your clothes to dry quickly, you can hang them on the bay window. For the sake of overall aesthetics, we did not design an outside awning, so clothes cannot be hung outside."

This floor doesn't have wooden floors; the bathroom has tiles, while the exterior is all marble.

The washing machine is placed behind the wall outside the bathroom, taking up just the right amount of space without any waste.

Next to the stairs leading up to the top, there are several cabinets combined together, which can be used to store clothes or other miscellaneous items.

“These cabinets are all movable, so you can combine them however you like,” Ms. Zhang said with great enthusiasm. “For example, you can move these three cabinets forward a little, and that will create an extra independent space here.”

"Is there a storage room under these stairs?" Tian Tingchan pointed to the space under the stairs.

"No, this is the bathing area. There's a separate bathtub, and since you lie down while bathing, you don't have to worry about the ceiling being too low. There's also a window here, so you can see the scenery outside."

"Hmm..." Tian Tingchan was truly tempted this time.

Although Zuo Ziya paid for it, it's still not good to owe someone such a big favor.

And what if she stops paying in the future?

Given her own standard of living, it would be virtually impossible for her to afford the rent.

Unless I get a job after graduation, I can barely afford it.

"This bathtub is relatively small. Although it doesn't allow you to stretch your legs out, it's definitely comfortable to lie in. You can let the water cover your body, which saves water so you won't feel bad about taking a bath."

"As expected of a Japanese design, it definitely has a bathtub." Zuo Ziya chuckled, then looked at Tian Tingchan, "Little Chan, shall we go up to the top and take a look?"

"Mm." Tian Tingchan nodded gently and followed Zuo Ziya upstairs.

This is the real top floor, not only the top floor of this room, but also the top floor of this apartment building.

The third floor looks significantly more spacious because it doesn't require stairs.

Moreover, there is a small door at the entrance; once it is completely closed, the area becomes a separate room.

On the far left, in the windowless area, there was a wall-mounted television, which was definitely a high-tech product in this day and age.

The renovation is indeed very good, and it has all kinds of home appliances, so it's no wonder the rent is so high.

However, Tian Tingchan clearly felt that the third floor was much shorter than the two floors below, which made her feel a little uncomfortable.

“Miss Zuo and Miss Tian should have noticed, right? This floor is a bit shorter, isn’t it? Luckily, this is the top floor. Because the roof is sloped, it’s only the sides that are lower, while the middle is still high enough. That’s why we designed a skylight and a small eaves on the top floor to let in the outside light, but at the same time, it’s not easy to get the windows dirty. If the windows are too dirty, you can contact us and we will send someone to clean them.”

"The third floor is quite spacious. We designed movable cabinets that can be used to store clothes or bedding, and there are no beds. As you can see, the floor is quite soft, so you can lie down and sleep directly. If you really need to, you can buy a small mattress to use."

Tian Tingchan walked up to the cabinet and discovered that it was movable. There was a track on the ground that allowed the cabinets on both sides to be moved to the middle, thus blocking out two-thirds of the space at the back of the room.

"This is also a unique design. After being separated like this, the part near the door can be used as a study. It's next to the window, so you can feel the sunlight," Ms. Zhang said. "The other side is more spacious and can be used to sleep, or to watch movies or TV while leaning on that single sofa that looks like a large beanbag. If you prefer more space, you can also pull out the cabinets and place them on both sides."

Perhaps only a small country like Japan could come up with so many creative ideas within such a small space.

Overall, Tian Tingchan is very satisfied and likes it very much.

Although each floor of the three-story building is small, it gives you the feeling of living in a small villa.

Or rather, it's like living in a tower.

This compact, even somewhat cramped, design made Tian Ting Chan feel very safe.

"Xiao Chan, do you like this outfit?"

"……not bad."

"Then let's rent it?"

"Never mind." Tian Tingchan hesitated for a moment, then shook her head.

"Little Chan," Zuo Ziya pulled Tian Tingchan over and whispered in her ear, "You should accept other people's kindness too. Don't always be so stubborn. For me, spending this little bit of money every month is really nothing. You don't need to feel uneasy. Just accept my kindness generously. After all, there aren't many of us like you. You are a very good child, and I really want to help you."