DCTMOAS Chapter 48
by SuxxiAfter spending the third day of the Lunar New Year at home, Chu Cheng hitched a ride back to Tingzhou with his uncle.
He didn’t bring up the matter of canceling the lease with anyone again. He went alone to the housekeeping company and terminated the cleaning service contract himself.
Since it was still the middle of the school year, all the apartments near No. 10 High School were already occupied. Not only did the agency have no available listings at all, but even the local rental groups were full of desperate sublets and urgent postings — every last one of them was out in the far-flung areas.
Chu Cheng spent most of the day running around outside, circling every neighborhood near the school, paying special attention to the rental ads on the bulletin boards.
When he came up empty-handed, he got a call from Zhou Jin.
“Where are you?”
“Near Yuncheng District C. Spent the whole day running around, all for nothing.”
Zhou Jin had expected as much:
“Find somewhere to sit and rest. I’ll come to you.”
Chu Cheng looked around and spotted an open café. He made plans with his senior to meet there.
“One Camellia Latte.” He ordered at the counter, randomly picking one from the signature drinks list.
The cashier said, “Alright, please wait a moment.”
The New Year holiday wasn’t officially over yet, and at this hour, there were no other customers in the shop. Chu Cheng quietly sat at a round table, fiddling with his phone. He casually drafted a rental post for his WeChat Moments — before hitting ‘post’, he made sure to block a lot of people from seeing it.
Very soon, a steaming cup of latte with a leaf-shaped design was set down in front of him.
As the wind chime above the door swayed, a gust of cold air blew in through the glass door.
The café’s only employee looked up with a welcoming smile again:
“Hello, what would you like to drink?”
It was Zhou Jin who’d just walked in. He glanced at the menu. Since coffee in the afternoon would mess up his sleep, he ordered a hot fruit tea instead and sat straight down across the round table.
“It’s only the fifth day of the Lunar New Year — why are you so free?” Chu Cheng set down his phone, curious why this newlywed wasn’t busy visiting relatives left and right.
Zhou Jin answered:
“Nan Nan went to stay with my mother-in-law.”
Chu Cheng lifted the porcelain cup and took a small sip of his still-steaming latte.
“Did you two fight?” he asked.
“Of course not.” Zhou Jin frowned, meeting that gossipy look across from him. “Actually, we just got back to Tingzhou. This year, she came with me to spend New Year’s at my family’s house, right? It was her first time spending the holidays away from her parents. On a day that’s all about family reunion, she can’t help feeling guilty, like she didn’t do enough to be a good daughter.”
Chu Cheng teased him:
“Then why don’t you go coax her properly? What kind of husband are you?”
Zhou Jin let out a helpless sigh:
“How am I supposed to coax her if she misses her parents? All I can do is tell her to go back and stay with them for a few more days.”
He clearly didn’t want to dwell on it, so he shifted the topic:
“Anyway, how’s house-hunting going?”
Chu Cheng just pursed his lips and spread his hands — silence was more eloquent than any words.
Lounging back in the beanbag chair, Zhou Jin wasn’t the least bit surprised.
“I told you it’d be impossible to find anything decent this time of year. You didn’t listen — and you didn’t even ask the landlord for compensation for breaking the lease.”
The café worker came over with the steaming fruit tea, said “please enjoy,” and went back behind the counter.
Chu Cheng replied breezily:
“Getting the deposit back is good enough — life’s hard for everyone, you know?”
Zhou Jin picked up his glass cup but didn’t bring it to his lips right away. Instead, he just watched his junior calmly sipping his coffee, and let out a sigh.
About to be homeless and he’s still thinking about other people… what a temperament. Anyone else would be stressed out of their mind by now.
After a pause, he poked at the real question:
“So you rushed back from home like this — did Professor Jin and the old man ask you why?”
“Of course not,” Chu Cheng answered casually at first, but when he looked at Zhou Jin — who used to be his mom’s undercover informant — he quickly added, “I didn’t lie! Just… left out a few details.”
Zhou Jin burst out laughing:
“Finally learned your lesson? Got scolded at home, huh?”
Chu Cheng didn’t dignify that with a reply.
Zhou Jin went on:
“Anyway, I bet they don’t know what’s really up. Otherwise, in this freezing weather, you think they’d let you run around town looking for a place? They’d have just bought you an apartment remotely and put it under your name.”
Chu Cheng let out a short laugh, but his take was completely different:
“Even if they did know, that would never happen.”
Zhou Jin raised his eyebrows.
“Never?”
“Come on,” Chu Cheng said, sure of himself, “forget the old folks — even my uncle, who’s as free-spirited as they come, he’ll give me a car, bring me food, make sure I stay warm, book me a hospital room, find me a cleaning service — he’d even pay someone to date me if he could — but he’s never said, and will never say, he wants to buy me a house in Tingzhou.”
He was crystal clear.
“Because they know — this is the city I chose for myself. I want every part of my life here to bear my own mark. If it didn’t, there’d be no difference from just staying back home in Beijing.”
Chu Cheng wasn’t the type to humble-brag about how he’d “never depend on family” for the sake of appearances. He knew perfectly well he’d just won the reincarnation lottery — not everyone is born free of worries and safety nets like him.
And precisely because he understood that, he wanted to live as selfishly as he pleased.
He lifted his coffee cup, his tone unhurried, calm, and content.
“The secret to keeping our family atmosphere harmonious and open is mutual respect. I don’t cross any lines, and they don’t overstep either. Only with that can my path toward my own ideals stay wide open.”
Zhou Jin leaned in with a sly grin:
“So then — what exactly are your ideals?”
A smile slowly glimmered in Chu Cheng’s eyes, brightening them up with a lively spark.
“In the short term? My goal is to enjoy life while I can. Be the kind of person who spends every penny they earn each month — using what I deserve to get what I want.”
Zhou Jin couldn’t help but grow curious. In his eyes, Chu Cheng was never someone with a crazy appetite for spending.
Never mind how well-off the Chu family was — just looking at all the scholarships, grants, stipends, and extra wages he’d racked up during his student years (not to mention the living expenses he never fully spent each month) — it was obvious he had a decent bit of savings.
Sitting up a little straighter, Zhou Jin asked what was on his mind:
“Seriously though — you do have some money stashed away, right?”
Chu Cheng tilted his head, pretending not to understand.
“Senior, what kind of money are we talking about?”
Zhou Jin stared at him, baffled:
“You have different categories of money now?”
Chu Cheng chuckled and teased.
“Of course. If Brother Chuan someday keels over from staying up late and needs a new liver or kidney, you bet I’ve got money to lend him.”
Zhou Jin clicked his tongue:
“Could you at least wish him some good health?”
Chu Cheng shrugged with an impish grin and pointed at the menu, where a box of oat cookies was listed as a coffee pairing:
“But if we’re talking about this little snack here — looks delicious, right? — then, given my salary, it’s a bit pricey.”
Zhou Jin snorted:
“Oh, order it. My treat.”
“Thank you, Senior,” Chu Cheng said lightly.
Zhou Jin shot him a look that basically said ‘just forget I asked anything’, and Chu Cheng tossed back a half-hearted “Thanks” in return.
The cookies weren’t baked in-house — the server just fetched a box from the display and brought it over.
They munched and chatted, drifting back to the housing situation. Chu Cheng knew that out-of-town faculty could technically apply for school housing, but ever since he’d started working, the dorms had always been full.
Zhou Jin revealed:
“The plan to build more staff apartments has been in the approval pipeline forever — basically, who knows when it’ll happen. And even if you did get one, it’s not that great. I lived there for a bit back then — moved out pretty fast. Even if you got approved, you’d hate living there.”
Translation: the process is a hassle, and the place sucks.
Chu Cheng got the picture immediately:
“Got it. No point pinning my hopes on that — guess I’ll just keep searching on my own.”
He glanced down at his phone — the rental post he’d put on Moments had already gotten a bunch of replies, but most were just nosy small talk. Only Lu Yan had shared an actual rental lead, along with a comment underneath:
[“I saw this on the notice board at my complex. It’s been up for ages — no idea if it’s still available.”]
“Ninety-five square meters, two bedrooms, both facing south,” Zhou Jin read the details aloud. He’d seen Lu Yan’s comment too. “Fantian Jingyuan… hmm — who lives there again?”
“Yu Siting,” Chu Cheng answered immediately, already pressing the dial button and calling the number listed.
Time was tight — so he just arranged with the person on the other end to view the apartment in an hour. Zhou Jin had to pick up Teacher Shen from his mother-in-law’s place, so he didn’t go with him.
The name Fantian Garden popped up a lot around Chu Cheng — he’d heard it so many times, but it was his first time actually coming in person.
It wasn’t until the taxi dropped him off that he realized the person he’d called wasn’t the actual owner of the unit — but rather an agent commissioned by the property’s sales office.
The male sales agent was dressed in a dark blue uniform — jacket and slacks. When he saw Chu Cheng, he greeted him enthusiastically:
“Hello, I’m Xiao Lin from the Fantian Jingyuan sales office. You can just call me Xiao Lin.”
“Hello,” Chu Cheng nodded politely in return.
Xiao Lin gave him a quick rundown of the basic situation.
A one-living-room, two-bedroom apartment facing east, exactly as described in the rental listing. The owner had only lived there for about a year and a half after the keys were handed over — it’d been vacant ever since. It was fully renovated, basically ready to move in with just a suitcase.
Chu Cheng carefully walked through the layout and decor, all while Zhou Jin called him on video chat to help him judge things.
This was the most upscale complex in the whole city — super close to both his school and his old place. Everything about the apartment ticked his boxes, except for two gut-punching details: the rent was sky-high, and the landlord wanted it paid six months upfront, plus a two-month deposit.
“I always knew that the rent here is higher than my monthly salary,” Chu Cheng said, leaning against the windowsill, phone in hand, joking with his senior, “but actually seeing it in person still feels like someone’s stabbing my heart with a knife.”
He didn’t notice the slight shift in the sales agent’s expression behind him.
After thinking it over, Chu Cheng turned to Xiao Lin, figuring he didn’t look like it was his first time showing tenants around — so he asked if he could help negotiate with the landlord to switch to quarterly payments instead.
After all, paying six months upfront plus a double deposit means handing over tens of thousands all at once — a heavy load for any ordinary tenant.
“That’s absolutely impossible,” Xiao Lin shot back, his tone sharp and his attitude carrying a faint, unmistakable impatience.
Chu Cheng, who was always pretty tolerant with people, just figured Xiao Lin was venting his frustration at having to work through the holidays — so he didn’t take it personally. He asked,
“So you’ve already asked them before?”
Xiao Lin’s face stayed obviously sour.
“Of course. None of the owners here are desperate to rent. If a tenant looks financially weak, they’d rather let the place sit empty than do some kind of alternative charity.”
Chu Cheng was a little taken aback, then gave a small smile.
“Got it.”
So… these apartments simply weren’t for “poor people.”
On the other end of the video call, Zhou Jin snorted in outrage:
“What the hell? Renting here for a few years costs as much as the down payment on a new apartment — how is that ‘charity’? This sales agent’s attitude is pretty damn arrogant, huh? Just imagine how the property management would treat you later if you moved in. Don’t bother — come back already.”
“Not coming back.” Chu Cheng, completely unbothered by the slight, sounded as calm as ever:
“I haven’t finished looking at the place yet.”
The two who’d just had that tense exchange stepped back out into the hallway. Xiao Lin clearly already sensed this deal was going nowhere, so his mood naturally dipped compared to when they’d first met.
Chu Cheng noticed but didn’t care. He kept his tone neutral and asked.
“I heard Fantian Garden is divided into north and south complexes. The north side mostly has units like these two- and three-bedrooms, right? While the south side is all stand-alone houses and big flat units. Can I ask — which side do you usually handle in your work?”
Xiao Lin shot him a glance and answered truthfully:
“I am handling the South Complex.”
Chu Cheng gave him a small smile:
“Really? Then I’ve made you walk me around this side for so long — sorry to trouble you, you’ve worked hard.”
The male agent froze for a second at that, but in his mind, he just figured he’d run into another softie he could push around, so he didn’t say much more. He was about to leave when he heard Chu Cheng speak up again:
“So let’s head over to the South Complex then.” Chu Cheng turned to him, looking perfectly amiable. “I’ve been wanting to see what the villas at Fantian Jingyuan are like anyway. And if you don’t mind, could you explain in detail what makes this place so special?”
The agent’s foot, halfway out the door, stopped dead.
Time passed, and dusk gradually fell.
Long after the sales office’s closing time, Xiao Lin — still in his deep blue uniform — stepped out of a single-family villa with a face as dark as the night.
Chu Cheng followed behind him unhurriedly, both hands tucked into his padded jacket pockets.
In his earpiece, Zhou Jin’s voice crackled with disbelief:
“Wait, hold up — what exactly was going through your head, making him show you three villas plus two big flat units? And the best part — you even added his WeChat and asked him to send you the floor plans! You looked so serious about it that even I believed you were actually planning to buy!”
Chu Cheng narrowed his eyes slightly.
What was I thinking? Just that looking around doesn’t cost a dime, does it?
Zhou Jin let out a low whistle, half impressed, half exasperated.
“Your nerves, man. Just being a teacher is such a waste — you could run rings around people for a living. I learned something new today too — got to tour a 480-square-meter villa up close. I’ll be dreaming about that place tonight.”
Up ahead, Xiao Lin — who’d come out first — stood awkwardly by the roadside. When he saw Chu Cheng walk closer, he forced himself to ask,
“So… Do these two units match your needs?”
Chu Cheng ended the call with Zhou Jin and nodded without a shred of guilt:
“Not bad at all.”
Then the two of them walked along the South Complex’s pathway, chatting as they went.
They’d barely gotten a few steps when a familiar voice called out from behind:
“Teacher Chu!”
Hearing that, Chu Cheng turned around to look — sure enough, there was his precious troublemaker. His face lit up in surprise as he walked over:
“When did you get back? Weren’t you going to stay out till the eighth?”
Lu Yan laughed, scratching his nose casually:
“Too tired — came back early.”
Chu Cheng didn’t think much of it and looked around:
“You live around here?”
Lu Yan nodded and pointed to a building nearby:
“Yeah, I live on the second floor there with my uncle. Teacher Chu, were you checking out the unit I told you about? How was it?”
Chu Cheng smiled gently and tilted his head toward Xiao Lin.
“Seems like the staff here don’t think it’s a good fit for me.”
Lu Yan’s smile faded a bit as he followed his gaze:
“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?”
Xiao Lin didn’t know who Lu Yan was, but working here long enough, he knew that anyone in the South Complex was a big shot you couldn’t afford to offend. His face instantly went pale, and his heart sank to his shoes.
But Chu Cheng didn’t press the issue — he just gave Xiao Lin a polite nod:
“So I asked him to show me around the South Complex too. Thanks again — I’ll think it over.”
Xiao Lin’s face twitched awkwardly. He nodded stiffly, then practically fled.
Lu Yan watched him go, still suspicious:
“So, what happened to the apartment in the end?”
Chu Cheng chuckled and replied: “It’s kinda expensive — obviously. If the price wasn’t ridiculous, a place like this would’ve been snatched up ages ago.”
If it were just a short-term lease, that’d be fine. But paying a deposit plus six months’ rent upfront all at once? Way too reckless.
“But the environment here is honestly amazing. If they’d let me pay month-to-month, I’d definitely wanna move in for a bit.”
Hearing this, Lu Yan looked thoughtful. “Mmm… In all of Fantian Jingyuan, the only place you could probably get a month-to-month deal is the ground floor of this building.”
“You rich families actually have soft-hearted saints like that?” Chu Cheng looked at the neat, elegant garden on the ground floor, then through the bright glass windows at the tasteful interior decor. “With a yard this nice, I really would love to live here. But they haven’t exactly posted any ‘For Rent’ sign outside.”
“That’s easy to fix, isn’t it?” Lu Yan didn’t even think twice — he reached out and pressed the doorbell. “Just go talk to the saint yourself.”
Chu Cheng quickly tried to stop him. “Hey! I was kidding!”
This kid really was a man of action — just says it and does it. This was the Nanyuan district — every unit here was a luxurious 220-square-meter palace. He’d never actually rent here.
Fortunately, the doorbell only rang once and didn’t catch the homeowner’s attention.
Lu Yan smirked mischievously and said, “I’m messing with you too. Nobody lives on this floor.”
Chu Cheng breathed a sigh of relief — but before he could get a word out, Lu Yan stuck out his thumb and held it up to the smart lock scanner.
[Beep— Unlocking.]
With an electronic female voice prompt, the sleek black door clicked open from the inside.
Lu Yan tilted his head back, looking up at the pure white stone staircase that gleamed with a cool, crisp vibe. He raised his voice and shouted, “Uncle! Get down here! Teacher Chu has something to talk to you about!”
Author’s note:
Chu Cheng: Who am I, where am I, what was I supposed to be doing again?
Lu Lu: Sure, my uncle and I both live on the second floor, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t buy the first floor too!