Just as Fang Zhenyue was about to argue, Uncle Jiu handed over a flyer from a real estate agency, pointing to a room on it:
“This one is in Mong Kok, 59 square meters. It’s not much bigger, but it’s much newer than your current place.”
Jiayi carefully examined the flyer—it was indeed much newer, and it was in Mong Kok with a monthly rent of over 8000.
With her current savings, she could afford it, but if the size wasn’t much different, and Mong Kok was even further from Yi Ji, she weighed the pros and cons and felt there might not be a need to move.
She thanked Uncle Jiu and was about to go look for a property manager when another voice chimed in:
“Hey, Eleven, I also found a place for you. I wanted to tell you about it a couple of days ago, but we were at a critical point in a case, and I forgot. Now is the perfect time to let you know.”
Qiu Sushan came to talk to Fang Zhenyue and Yi Jiayi about some internal matters. Hearing their conversation, she suddenly slapped her forehead, remembering that she too had a set of prime real estate available.
She headed back to her office to get some photos from a friend, and handed them to Jiayi with a smile, saying:
“I was just telling her that a colleague of mine was looking to rent, and before she went abroad, she decided to just hand over the apartment to me, asking me to find someone reliable to rent it out.”
“It’s a large flat of 1000 square feet (92 square meters), with three bedrooms and one living room, and a big kitchen too. There’s even a small outdoor balcony. The building has 20 floors, and this apartment is on the 10th floor, which is very convenient as it’s one of four units on the floor.”
Jiayi’s eyes lit up upon hearing this.
What?
A thousand square foot luxury apartment!
“It’s located on Canton Road in Mong Kok, in the Yongfa Garden community. Ah, it’s so close to Yi Ji, convenient for your younger siblings to catch the school bus, just a turn away from the door,” Qiu Sushan continued.
Jiayi clutched her chest; it sounded perfect!
“My friend is part of this wave of emigration, moving to the UK with her husband, and they won’t be back for a few years. But this apartment was their first home after getting married, and they might want to return to it when their children grow up and they retire. They don’t want to sell it, they want to keep it. But they are worried about it getting damaged if just rented out casually, so they want to rent it to someone reliable. They haven’t found the right person yet, so it’s been left vacant.”
“If you guys think it’s okay, and move in, all the furniture and appliances are there. Just take good care of the place, normal wear and tear from living is fine, you’d be helping them look after the place. The rent she mentioned offhand is 5,800 Hong Kong dollars a month. If you find it expensive, I can talk her down a bit, just a word from me.”
Madam sat across from Jiayi, introducing the apartment and discussing the details like the most professional real estate rental manager.
Jiayi’s heart fluttered with excitement; it all sounded like a dream property.
“The building in Yongfa Garden community is fantastic!”
She had visited that community with a property manager before; it has beautifully landscaped greens, small squares for children and the elderly to exercise, pedestrian paths paved with small red bricks, walls covered with trumpet vines and ivy, and the buildings themselves are faced with blue and white bricks… Oh, it’s a high-end Nordic-style community!
From the 10th floor, you could probably see many of Mong Kok’s bustling streets, and at night, lying on the small windowsill, enjoying the sea breeze from Victoria Harbour in the distance, maybe even catch the most beautiful cyberpunk neon lights.
Most importantly, the 80 square meter units on the ground floor there rent for over ten thousand Hong Kong dollars a month, a price she wouldn’t even consider.
5,800 Hong Kong dollars?
What an earth-shatteringly good deal, almost enough to make her cry!
It all sounded too good to be true.
“Madam, can I go see the apartment? Is the one for 5800 at Yongfa Garden really available?” Jiayi, holding two photos high above her head, shook the pictures as she asked Qiu Sushan with a goofy smile.
“Ah!” Qiu Sushan suddenly remembered something and her smile faded, “I forgot to mention, there’s another requirement.”
“What requirement?” Jiayi’s face fell.
As expected!
Such good deals always come with a ‘but’.
“They are renting it out at a low price, and it’s okay as long as the tenant takes good care of the place. However, there’s one condition they insist on no matter what,” Qiu Sushan licked her lips.
Jiayi braced herself as if preparing to face death, nodding vigorously, indicating she could handle it:
“Madam, go ahead, I’m listening.”
“When they got married, they adopted Van together. If you move in, you must continue to take good care of Van. For instance, you need to talk to Van often so he doesn’t feel lonely. Make sure Van’s diet is balanced so he doesn’t get too thin. You also need to take Van out to bask in the sun at least three times a week, though daily would be best, otherwise Van might get sick from calcium deficiency…”
“Wait, Van isn’t a child, is he?” Jiayi widened her eyes, was renting the place going to come with a son?
Qiu Sushan flipped through a dozen photos, finally finding one and handing it to Jiayi:
“It’s just a little map turtle.”
Jiayi’s serious expression slowly cracked, a good place like this, even if the landlord wanted her to raise a donkey, why would it be hard!
Taking the photo of Van, Jiayi cultivated some affection for the dazed little creature pictured, sitting up straight and declaring:
“I will definitely take care of Van as if he were family!”
“That’s great, let’s go see the apartment together at noon then.” Qiu Sushan and Jiayi hit it off immediately.
“Madam, I’m really so thankful! If we can make this work, please let my brother and I properly thank you!” Jiayi’s eyes filled with gratitude.
Sergeant Fang, who had been rejected after forcefully recommending a villa listing, silently poked the edge of the table with his finger, muttering in his mind: My friend’s villa is clearly better.
“Easy to say, easy to say,” Qiu Sushan waved her hand, continuing, “With the reward money you get, you can live anywhere, no need to thank me at all. On the contrary, I should thank you. Now I don’t have to take care of Van every day, it’s really tough.”
“Eh? What reward money?” Jiayi looked confused.
“?” Qiu Sushan raised an eyebrow, “You didn’t know?”
“I didn’t know…” Jiayi scratched her head.
“You didn’t tell Eleven?” Qiu Sushan immediately turned her head to glare at Fang Zhenyue.
Sitting on the side, Fang Zhenyue suddenly glared, shifted his gaze, leaned back, and raised his arms to cover his eyes with his palms, rubbing his eyes gently while feigning extreme fatigue and muttered vaguely, “I forgot to mention.”
Qiu Sushan always felt as if she could read some evasiveness and embarrassment in Fang Zhenyue’s voice… What about it? He was always knocking on Police Inspector Huang’s office door and even wrote emails to the ‘White Browed Eagle King’ of the Organized Crime and Triad Bureau, demanding the reward money for Ye Yongqian to be honored.
He argued vehemently for equality, insisting that just because Yi Jiayi was a police officer with the duty to catch criminals, the reward offer should not be dismissed.
He also had loud debates with Inspector Huang in the office, causing everyone on that floor to think Fang Zhenyue was about to quit, challenging Sir Huang one-on-one. He argued that even though it’s the police’s duty to apprehend criminals, shooting Ye Yongqian was justified, and that shouldn’t negate the reward, which was also meant for detectives from the Organized Crime and Triad Bureau. Yi Jiayi was a CID detective and had nothing to do with them.
If a precedent were set that ‘all detectives capturing criminals should not receive reward money’, then detectives from other departments, or even other groups, upon spotting a criminal, wouldn’t bother anymore, blah blah blah…
This had led to Inspector Huang calling Qiu Sushan daily to complain about this rebellious guy who was utterly lawless.
Fang Zhenyue, having offended all his superiors in his argumentative stand, finally managed to secure the reward money—1 million Hong Kong dollars! Such great news, why wouldn’t he tell Yi Jiayi?
Qiu Sushan stood arms crossed by the desk, simply not understanding Fang Zhenyue.
“Patrick——” Just as Qiu Sushan was about to properly discuss this matter, Fang Zhenyue interrupted:
“Just say it, why bring me up, madam?”
Fang Zhenyue stood up from his chair, turned to a puzzled Yi Jiayi, and smiled, “The reward money for Ye Yongqian is about to be issued, probably next week, and it will be directly deposited into your account. 1 million, remember to treat madam to a big meal then. The process was really troublesome, madam tirelessly wrote reports and filed applications, truly a great boss.”
“???” Jiayi’s mouth was agape as wide as a walnut.
How much money?
1 million Hong Kong dollars?
Jiayi suddenly clutched her chest, feeling her heart couldn’t withstand the shock of such a large amount.
Even before her transmigration when her family was affluent, she had never seen so much money!
Especially back then, when she was just a student who knew only how to spend money, not how to earn it.
Now she had actually earned so much money?
Or rather… an unexpected windfall, a fortune from heaven!!!
A scream was about to burst from her throat, but before she could utter a sound, someone else started screaming for her.
Liu Jiaming covered his face, screaming loudly like a woman watching a horror film.
His face flushed, as if he had won the big prize himself.
“We’ve struck it rich! Our Sister Eleven has made a fortune! Ahhh!” Liu Jiaming’s throat seemed to burst from screaming.
“Good heavens! If only I knew, I wouldn’t have rushed in with Brother Yue, I should’ve just blocked that walking ATM at the door!” Sanfu lamented.
“Madam, I love you!” Jiayi had no choice but to leave the screaming to Liu Jiaming, turning to embrace Qiu Sushan and loudly confess her feelings.
“Hahaha.” Qiu Sushan suddenly felt a kind of happiness that belonged to a mother, like being hugged by her daughter. She gently patted Jiayi’s back, glanced up and smiled at Fang Zhenyue standing nearby, raising her eyebrows slightly.
Fang Zhenyue nodded busily, as if indicating something.
Seeing that he was unwilling to discuss the story behind the reward, Qiu Sushan willingly refrained from saying more.
Having merits without claiming them, truly a strange person.
…
During lunch break, Team B detectives accompanied Jiayi as they turned onto Yi Jiadong’s street, and then went with Madam to view the house.
Once inside, not just Jiayi and her older brother, but everyone else fell in love with this apartment.
The landlord had really put effort into the renovation; the curtains, tables, chairs, and other home decorations were irresistible.
Thus, Yi Jiadong and Jiayi immediately decided, paid the rent, signed the contract, and just like that, rented this auspicious house.
From then on, not only did Yi Jiadong have to support Ding Baoshu and Sun Xin, two major players in his own ice room, but in his new home, he also had an English-named turtle son.