Chapter 145 : Do you want to rent a place_
Chapter 145: Do you want to rent a place?
Chen Fan crouched on the steps in front of the dormitory building, resting while considering what to do next.
He currently had two choices.
The first was to find Ma Xiaoshuai, whose home was in Yunhai, so he could go and stay there.
The second was to stay in a hotel.
Of course, there was a third method, which was to go to the Star Sky internet cafe across from the school and stay in the office.
Thinking of this, Chen Fan felt a wave of regret.
If only he had installed a single bed in the office earlier.
But it was too late for regrets now, he had to go out first.
So Chen Fan could only drag his two suitcases and trudge out of the school gate.
It would take at least half an hour to walk out of the campus, which gave him a headache just thinking about it.
He couldn't go to Ma Xiaoshuai's home, as Chen Fan didn't want to trouble others.
So he planned to stay in a hotel.
First, he would stay in a hotel for three days until the dormitory building reopened, then move back in.
However, when he reached the campus publicity board, Chen Fan suddenly changed his mind again.
This was because he saw a rental advertisement posted on the board.
It said there was an 85 square meter, two-bedroom, one-living room apartment for rent.
What surprised Chen Fan was that the apartment was inside the Yunhai University campus.
Chen Fan immediately understood.
The only situation where one could have a house inside the campus would be in the faculty apartment building.
The person posting this rental ad must be a Yunhai University teacher.
It also stated that utilities like water, electricity, and heating were included, and there were fans and air conditioning, so it was move-in ready.
To be honest, seeing this ad made Chen Fan quite tempted.
Previously, he had considered moving out of the dormitory and renting a place off-campus.
It wasn't that he didn't want to live with his dormmates.
Rather, according to Chen Fan's plan, he would be making a push on the internet this year.
At that time, he would need a computer and frequently write programs and code, which would be extremely inconvenient in the dormitory.
Originally, Chen Fan had considered renting a place in the residential area across from the school.
But now, seeing that there was an apartment in the faculty housing available for rent, Chen Fan was quite tempted.
After some hesitation, Chen Fan decisively called the number listed on the ad.
The phone rang a few times, and surprisingly, it was answered by a pleasant female voice.
"Hello, I just saw your apartment rental ad, and I wanted to inquire about the place."
"Are you a boy?"
The woman on the other end seemed a bit surprised.
Chen Fan was even more surprised.
"Is it not okay for a boy? I didn't see anything on there saying you were only renting to girls."
The woman explained, "Sorry. I might have forgotten to write that."
"This place of mine is a bit special. I was planning to prioritize renting to girls..."
Upon hearing this, Chen Fan immediately said, "I understand. Sorry for bothering you."
"Wait a moment!"
The woman suddenly called out to stop Chen Fan, seeming to be having an internal struggle.
After a few seconds, she spoke again.
"Um... are you sure you want to rent this apartment?"
Chen Fan laughed wryly, "Well, I would need to see the place first before I can decide whether to rent it or not, right?"
The woman sounded a bit embarrassed.
"Are you at the school right now?"
"Yes, I'm at the bulletin board area."
"Then can you wait for me for half an hour? I'll rush back in half an hour and take you to see the apartment."
Chen Fan smiled, "No problem."
After hanging up, Chen Fan thought about it and simply dragged his suitcases towards the faculty housing area in the east part of campus.
The so-called faculty housing was an area where the school had set aside a plot of undeveloped land on the east side of campus and built over a dozen low-rise buildings.
These apartments were not for sale to the public, but were only sold to the school's teachers at an internal price.
Chen Fan had been in university for almost half a year, but this was his first time coming to the faculty housing area.
To be honest, the environment here wasn't bad at all.
Quiet.
A gray-white wall in the Hui-style separated the faculty apartments from the campus, with the apartment buildings on one side and the basketball and badminton courts on the other.
Since he didn't know which building the other person lived in, Chen Fan could only stop at the entrance of the apartments, watching some graduate student seniors playing basketball on the snowy ground in the distance.
Over twenty minutes later.
A woman wearing a white down jacket came riding over on a bicycle.
A beauty.
Even though the other party wore a bulky hooded down jacket, Chen Fan could still tell she was a beauty.
"Are you the one who wants to rent my place?"
"Yes. My name is Chen Fan." Chen Fan introduced himself with a smile.
The woman curiously glanced at the suitcases by Chen Fan's feet.
Chen Fan quickly explained, "It's like this. I came early, but the dormitory building hasn't opened yet."
"I was originally planning to stay at a hotel, but happened to see your rental ad at the bulletin board area."
Only then did the woman nod in understanding. "Come with me."
She led Chen Fan to one of the buildings, took out her keys to open the unit door, and Chen Fan dragged his suitcases inside.
"You can leave the suitcases here for now, I'll go up and take a look first."
The woman lived on the third floor. To be honest, as soon as Chen Fan entered, he was a bit stunned.
Because he had originally thought it was just an ordinary two-bedroom, one-living room apartment of over 80 square meters.
But after entering, he realized it was actually a duplex townhouse.
With an interior loft.
It's just that the stairs to the loft were inside the room.
From the living room area, there were stairs leading up to the loft on the second floor.
And the 80+ square meters, two-bedroom, one-living room that the woman mentioned in her ad was just the area downstairs.
It didn't include the area of the upstairs loft.
This surprised Chen Fan.
"You... are only renting out this downstairs portion? The upstairs loft..."
"I'm not renting out the loft, I still need to live there myself."
Chen Fan was stunned again.
"You're still going to live here?"
Chen Fan immediately understood. No wonder the woman had said on the phone earlier that she hoped to rent the place to a girl.
Turns out there were some complicated dynamics at play here.
Seeming to sense Chen Fan's awkwardness, the woman took the initiative to explain.
"You don't need to worry about the housing situation."
"This house belongs to my parents, they're retired teachers from the school."
"But recently my mother was hospitalized and needs money for surgery, so I thought about renting out the place."
Chen Fan understood a bit better now.
"But you said you were planning to rent to a girl..."
The woman cut Chen Fan off, "What do you think? Do you want to take a look first?"
"If you really do want to rent, I can rent to you."
"But I have one condition. You need to pay one month's rent as a deposit, and rent for a full year upfront."
As she said this, the woman pursed her lips, clearly somewhat reluctant to make eye contact with Chen Fan.
Chen Fan immediately understood.
It seems this woman was really in need of money.
To even propose such a harsh requirement of paying the full year's rent upfront.
No wonder she wasn't renting out the larger upstairs loft, but instead renting out the biggest floor of her own home, since that way she could collect more rent.
"Let me take a look around the place first."
Chen Fan circled around the house.
To be honest, although the house was a bit old, it was very well-maintained, and you could tell the owner really treasured it and kept it extremely clean.
The rooms were spotlessly cleaned, with everything neatly in its place.
Most importantly, there was an internet port in the bedroom.
Nowadays, houses with internet ports were rare.
After his tour, Chen Fan had really taken a liking to this place.
The woman explained, "Although the house is a bit old, my parents have always cherished it dearly."
"As you can see, there's basically no damage anywhere, and all the furniture is included, so you can just move right in."
Chen Fan turned to face her.
"It seems you haven't mentioned, how much is the monthly rent for this place?"
"700."
Chen Fan immediately frowned.
"Too expensive."