Chapter 22 : Chu Tianlan Being Seduced
22: Chu Tianlan Being Seduced
Tap~ Tap~ Tap~
Hollow footsteps echoed from the stairwell.
In apartment buildings with elevators, this method of traveling by stairs seemed somewhat strange, only chosen during earthquakes or fires.
As for why Su Mo and Chu Tianlan were currently taking the stairs?
The reason was simple—the room Chu Tianlan was renting was two floors below her residence, in Room 1603 of Weiyang Apartments Building 11.
According to Chu Tianlan, when Weiyang Apartments initially went on pre-sale, because people didn't understand apartments back then and few bought them, the developer created a special opening event to promote sales: 10% off for buying one apartment, 20% off for two, 25% off for three.
Since the large flat on the 18th floor that Father and Mother Chu liked was too large, buying it alone wasn't cost-effective. So the Chu family directly bought three units with a grand gesture: 1703 for her brother, 1603 for Chu Tianlan, and the 18th floor for Father and Mother Chu.
Hearing Chu Tianlan calmly recount her experience of acquiring property, Su Mo was honestly somewhat shocked.
Emmmmmmmm do rich people buy houses this boldly?
Unlike ordinary families' only children, Su Mo had twin brother and sister, making theirs a special five-person household.
Her parents were just ordinary civil servants from the suburbs. Although life was stable and not impoverished, regarding buying houses, from her father still having 12 years of mortgage payments remaining and having an older brother, Su Mo knew her future house-buying road was very distant.
Now seeing Chu Tianlan, only one year older than herself, already owning property, Su Mo would be lying if she said she wasn't envious.
As for Chu Tianlan's reason for renting out the house?
Su Mo had also inquired and wasn't surprised by the answer.
Since the 18th floor large flat had an attic with many extra rooms, and in recent years Chu Tianlan's brother often left the two little ones with Father and Mother Chu, while Chu Tianlan liked taking care of people plus the two little ones were adorable nephew and niece with blood relations, Room 1603 became vacant for increasingly long periods, used only a few times per month. So a few days ago, meeting the part-time job guy at the entrance, Chu Tianlan decided to rent it out.
With only two floors of height, Su Mo and Chu Tianlan soon arrived at Room 1603's entrance.
Just as Su Mo was wondering where Chu Tianlan in her little white dress would pull out keys, as Chu Tianlan approached the door, Xiao Ai's smart voice sounded from inside, and the door opened naturally.
"Ding~ Face verification passed. Welcome home, master."
Following behind Chu Tianlan, Su Mo was somewhat amazed at this scene.
Although she had seen many electronic door face recognition systems online, this was her first time seeing the real thing.
Entering the room with curiosity, Su Mo immediately smelled a faint fragrance with a girl's living atmosphere. The scent was somewhat similar to the lavender smell on Chu Tianlan, conveying a comfortable, reassuring atmosphere. Just smelling this fragrance made Su Mo develop favorable feelings toward this room.
Taking off her shoes at the entrance and putting on the male disposable slippers Chu Tianlan had prepared for tenants, Su Mo admired how worthy the other was of being Student Council President—so thoughtful to consider even these small details.
However, after putting on the slippers, Su Mo's delicate eyebrows couldn't help but furrow slightly.
Since becoming a girl yesterday, Su Mo's already small feet seemed to have shrunk further, making the male slippers feel very loose. Moreover, being disposable slippers made of thin cloth material for environmental protection and recycling, they felt somewhat cool and inevitably hard when stepping on the floor.
This uncomfortable sensation made Su Mo nostalgic for Lin Muyao's pink soft slippers from this morning.
But only for an instant—Su Mo immediately cast that thought from her mind.
Emmmmmm she was a boy, a boy. She was just doing missions now—why keep thinking about girls' items?
Chu Tianlan, putting on her house slippers, saw Su Mo delaying at the entrance after putting on slippers and thought of the slipper issue, looking toward Su Mo's feet.
After one glance, Chu Tianlan couldn't help but feel surprised.
Although height and foot size were proportional, and Su Mo was half a head shorter than herself so having smaller feet was normal, did boys really have such small feet? And for a boy, weren't these feet too slender and too fair?
With these two questions arising, another confusion Chu Tianlan hadn't understood before quickly emerged.
Why exactly did Student Su Mo want to rent at 'Weiyang Apartments'?
Su Mo didn't know that in the few seconds she stared at the slippers, Chu Tianlan beside her had already labeled her as 'mysterious.'
She also didn't know that when a girl begins to feel mysterious and curious about someone, it might very well be the beginning of her downfall.
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After the brief slipper incident, Su Mo finally entered the small apartment after being stunned for 3 seconds.
Just taking a simple walk through the house with Chu Tianlan, Su Mo had already fallen in love with this apartment.
The 1603 apartment wasn't large, appearing smaller than the apartment Lin Muyao and An Xiaoqian lived in, with only one bedroom, one living room, one kitchen, one bathroom—about 45 square meters of usable space.
If it were for a three-person family to live and cook, the area might seem slightly small.
But although Su Mo had girlfriend Lin Muyao, it was ultimately just a contract—they couldn't live together at all. Using this room alone was more than sufficient.
All the walls in 1603 were light pale green, giving a refreshing feeling that made one's mood pleasant.
Whether it was the illusion of becoming a girl or not, Su Mo might not have appreciated this pale green wall color before, but now she thought it was quite nice.
Although the room's interior appeared somewhat empty since Chu Tianlan had removed many items in preparation for rental, whether from the clean tables and floors, neatly arranged objects, or well-maintained facilities, one could see the homeowner's love for the room.
Su Mo had thought this simple, clean room was already excellent enough. But when they reached the bedroom and Chu Tianlan casually said, "Xiao Ai, I want to watch a movie," watching the tech-filled automatic projector opening, automatic curtain closing, and ambient lighting activating in the room, Su Mo's amazement transformed into shock.
Could it be... this small apartment was actually the so-called whole-house smart customization from online?
That would mean renting would be quite expensive. And for short-term rental, wouldn't it be even more expensive?
Seeing this, Su Mo felt somewhat anxious. She truly loved the house, but if the price was too high, she could only reluctantly give up.
But thinking of giving up such a great-smelling and tech-savvy house made Su Mo's heart ache.
So after brief consideration, Su Mo finally nervously poked Chu Tianlan's waist. With limited funds in her pocket, Su Mo appeared somewhat anxious at this moment, her voice unconsciously weakening by two degrees.
"Um, President Chu, how much would short-term rental of this room for just one month cost?"
Chu Tianlan, who had been planning to demonstrate the room's features and automatic bathtub water-filling method for Su Mo, felt a tickle at her waist and heard Su Mo's somewhat weak inquiry. Turning to meet Su Mo's conflicted yet expectant gaze, she couldn't help but freeze.
Emmmmmm this Junior Su Mo was clearly a boy, so why did he now look somewhat like a lost little deer?
And strangely... strangely cute!
Made one want to hug him~
The feel should be quite nice!
But not now—their relationship wasn't familiar enough yet. Scaring him away would be terrible.
Faced with such pitifully adorable Su Mo, Chu Tianlan, who had originally planned to rent for 6500 per month due to the whole-house customization selling point online but intended to rent to Su Mo for 6000 per month, found her words changing to:
"5000 per month, Junior Su Mo."
After stating the price, even Chu Tianlan herself was somewhat incredulous.
Emmmmmm had she just been seduced?
How did her mouth change the price on its own?
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Su Mo had never imagined she could have such a rich day.
Early in the morning she had sneakily gotten up, secretly gotten a haircut from a sweet junior at the salon, met her girlfriend, then accompanied her to the theater set for acting. In the afternoon she switched to tutoring work for two little ones, and now she had directly rented her employer's house.
Near 5 PM at Weiyang Apartments, since it was rush hour when workers got off work, vehicles were gradually increasing at the main entrance, and people were constantly entering the residential area past the security gate.
Su Mo, having just successfully rented Room 1603, was dazedly guided by Chu Tianlan to register for the residential access card, feeling the paper contract in her hands. At this moment she felt somewhat incredulous and unreal.
Emmmmmm had she successfully rented a house just like that?
Recalling last year when dorm leader Lin Kun discussed rental experiences in the dorm, according to his experience, renting required long negotiations with landlords about various details like water and electricity fees, plus pre-photographing furniture and walls—it was a patient, bargaining tug-of-war.
Resolving everything in one afternoon would be quite good.
Su Mo had originally thought that even if things went smoothly, completing all housing procedures would take until 8 PM.
But from viewing to signing contracts to now registering owner information with property management, it seemed less than half an hour had passed. Things developed too quickly, making Su Mo appear somewhat dim-witted.
Just as Su Mo hadn't fully accepted the situation, a fair small hand lightly touched her forehead. The finger was slender with a delicate, slightly cool touch, bringing Su Mo back to her senses.
"Junior Su Mo, snap out of it. This is the building's access card for taking elevators and opening corridor doors. You must keep it safe. Without it you can't enter the unit door or call elevators."
Looking at the card handed over by landlord + employer Chu Tianlan's soft little hand, printed with her own name and the photo just taken at property management, Su Mo, renting for the first time in her life, felt somewhat excited thinking about having her own independent space. Although it was only temporary for one month, this house-owning experience still made her somewhat elated.
Thinking that this room was also a whole-house customized smart room and a house Chu Tianlan had lived in, this excitement amplified somewhat.
Standing beside her, Chu Tianlan watched Su Mo's fair little face, her feminine delicate features carrying a faint blush from excitement, like a little rabbit that had found a carrot...
Chu Tianlan didn't know why she could always see this vocabulary that didn't match boys on Junior Su Mo.
What puzzled Chu Tianlan even more was that looking at this weak young man only one year younger than herself, her body surprisingly had a strange desire to make contact with him.
This contact desire differed from unconsciously wanting to give care and attention when holding Chenchen and Ningning. It was more Chu Tianlan's body itself wanting to explore the 'mysterious' elements in Su Mo.
Chu Tianlan didn't know why she would have evil thoughts similar to boys online who wanted to see girls' clothing and undergarments upon seeing beautiful girls.
At this moment she was only certain of one thing: regarding this weak Junior Su Mo, her personality of liking to take care of people seemed to have begun developing interest.
To confirm her guess, Chu Tianlan lightly coughed. After attracting Su Mo's attention back, she said softly:
"Junior Su Mo, regarding rent, as we agreed in the contract just now, it's 5000 yuan per month. Your tutoring salary is 6000 yuan per month. At month's end, I'll deduct some electricity and water fees based on your usage, then pay your salary. Is that acceptable?"
While speaking, Chu Tianlan directly extended her delicate, smooth left hand toward Su Mo in a handshake gesture.
"Junior Su Mo, if there are no problems, then let's have a pleasant cooperation. Please take care of me in the future!"
Su Mo looked at Chu Tianlan's extended slender palm, hearing the generous rental conditions from her red lips.
At this moment she increasingly understood why her roommate Wu Di would like Chu Tianlan.
Emmmmmm such a beautiful, kind-hearted, gentle and polite neighborly big sister—who wouldn't like her!
However, one thing puzzled Su Mo slightly. Although they were both schoolmates and adults, this handshake etiquette somehow felt off somewhere?
Could it be Chu Tianlan's habit as president?
Although Su Mo felt something was vaguely amiss, facing Chu Tianlan's gentle extended hand looking at her, the next second she still extended her fair little hand.
Feeling the gentleness and softness transmitted from her palm, Su Mo's heart began beating rapidly again for who knows how many times today. Fortunately, having experience from acting with Lin Muyao's handshake this morning, although her heart beat vigorously, it was still within an acceptable range.
At this moment Su Mo felt somewhat fortunate. If there hadn't been this morning's rehearsal scene and she had directly shaken hands with President Chu now, with her heart feeling uncomfortable and collapsing unable to get up, that would have been embarrassing.
However, speaking of which, how many seconds should a handshake last?
President Chu...
Why hasn't she let go yet?