Chapter 201: Rent

At 8:30 in the morning, Gao Sijin opened his eyes.

The carved hollow ceiling that greeted him gave Gao Sijin a slight sense of unfamiliarity.

“Where am I?”

Sitting up, he found the room’s decor matched his long-held dream room almost perfectly. The display cabinet held many “wives,” nearly all of them his absolute favorite characters. Even as a twenty-two-year-old adult, he was hopelessly enamored with these little trinkets.

The gaming desk was solid wood painted white. The RGB-lit PC case with a tempered glass side panel, an array of peripherals, and a high-refresh-rate monitor were all neatly arranged, completely free of dust, accented with ambient lighting. And this was just the tip of the iceberg for this room.

The room was divided into several distinct zones.

The home theater zone: Housing the projector and sound system.

The gaming zone: Featuring consoles, a PS6, and a massive 100-inch LCD TV.

The reading zone: Bookshelves packed with all kinds of manga, along with some light novels, literary works, and biographies.

The relaxation zone: A tatami area with a beige kotatsu and a small fridge. Gao Sijin opened it to find a variety of foreign-brand juices, sodas, and alcoholic drinks.

The figure zone: Mainly filled with figurines of all types, including life-sized statues and full-body dolls dressed in cosplay outfits.

Opening the wardrobe revealed it was almost entirely filled with women’s clothing and various cosmetics.

“So this really is Yu Qingxue’s home.”

Yesterday, while boarding the plane, Yu Qingxue, his neighbor in the adjacent seat, turned out to be a rich young lady and a die-hard fan of his works.

And so, after the plane landed, she had practically dragged him, with a mix of insistence and coaxing, to her house.

“Huh? Did I change into my pajamas by myself last night?”

His memory was fuzzy.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that he hadn’t put on these pajamas himself. It seemed like his memory had become hazy right after drinking the orange juice Morgana had poured for him. He didn’t have a strong impression of this room either; logically, arriving here last night should have left a vivid mark.

Yet now, he couldn’t recall a thing.

Gao Sijin took his toiletries from his suitcase and went into the bathroom. The reflection in the mirror looked slightly gaunt, as if he had been thoroughly drained. In fact, ever since waking up, he had felt sore all over, his limbs weak, as if he had no strength at all.

But yesterday had been pretty chaotic, he recalled nearly missing the flight, having to sprint a good distance with his luggage just to barely make it onboard.

Bang, bang, bang.

Just as Gao Sijin came out of the bathroom, a knock came at the door.

“Sijin, are you awake?”

Yu Qingxue’s voice came from outside.

Gao Sijin answered:

“Yes, I’m awake.”

“May I come in?”

“Of course.”

Yu Qingxue sauntered gracefully into the room.

She was also dressed in a loose, slouchy set of pajamas. A cute cartoon bear pattern was printed on the chest of the top, its eyes wide and round. The neckline was cut very wide, inadvertently revealing a swath of snow-white, jade-like shoulder.

Beyond that, she wore no black stockings or tights; her long, pale legs ended in a pair of slippers. She looked completely relaxed, her voice a languid, alluring purr.

“Good morning, Sijin.”

She walked in and crossed her long legs as she sat on Gao Sijin’s bed. A faintly weary elegance clung to her, making her seem like a socialite at a cocktail party.

Her very presence instantly filled the entire space with the scent of citrus perfume.

“Good morning to you too, Qingxue.”

“Do you want to sleep a little more?”

Yu Qingxue let out a yawn. Her dark, crescent-shaped eyes narrowed, soul-stirring and carrying a hint of devilish charm.

Having grown up utterly defenseless against this kind of temptation, Gao Sijin quietly shifted to sit in the kotatsu, concealing an unintentional protrusion.

“I won’t sleep anymore. I’m completely awake now.”

“It’s good to see you so spirited.” Yu Qingxue’s eyes glanced, seemingly unintentionally, at a certain area of Gao Sijin.

To think that after last night, when Eldest Miss Tsukiyuki Rio had drugged him with a hallucinogen and ravaged him mercilessly, he could still be this “spirited” upon seeing her this morning.

Gao Sijin’s body’s honesty stirred a tiny flicker of smugness in Yu Qingxue’s heart, though she couldn’t respond to that honesty just yet.

Because this apartment was already blanketed with Eldest Miss Tsukiyuki Rio’s surveillance cameras.

Unless she could find a place beyond Tsukiyuki Rio’s prying eyes, making a move on Gao Sijin would be tantamount to suicide. Yu Qingxue was only twenty and had no desire for a premature death.

“Are you satisfied with this room?”

“I am.”

“That’s good.”

Yu Qingxue extended a well-shaped, beautiful foot, using her toes to point at the PC case:

“That computer has a 4080 Ti and a 13th Gen Intel Core i9. It can handle practically any game. You can use that computer from now on, Sijin.”

“This machine is an absolute god…”

“It’s decent, I suppose. Still quite capable for now. I also really enjoy playing some games, so we can squad up together sometime.”

“Qingxue, how much rent do you think I should pay you?”

“You could pay me any amount. It wouldn’t be a problem even if you paid no rent at all. After all, you’re my absolute favorite big-shot author.”

“How about I pay you 150,000 Japanese Yen per month?”

Converted to Renminbi, that was over 8,000 yuan a month.

Looking around at Yu Qingxue’s home’s decor and facilities, Gao Sijin actually felt 150,000 yen a month was quite cheap. This apartment was a duplex, encompassing over six hundred square meters in total, and was just a stone’s throw from the University of Tokyo.

Logically, even over 200,000 yen a month would be perfectly reasonable, but Gao Sijin couldn’t afford that kind of outlay right now. For him, 150,000 yen a month was already the maximum he could manage.

“Actually, Sijin, you could pay less. I didn’t get close to you for money.”

“But I wouldn’t feel right about that.”

“Fine then. Since you’re such a chivalrous man, a real man who refuses to be kept by a woman, I’ll respect your choice.”

Gao Sijin used an electronic transfer to send 150,000 yen to Yu Qingxue’s bank card.

Once the money arrived, Yu Qingxue turned on the computer.

She used the entire 150,000 yen to open CS:GO loot boxes. The most valuable weapon skin she pulled was a Gut Knife worth just over a thousand yuan. Almost everything else she opened was crafting fodder.

The gacha system in games is magical like that, effortlessly transforming 8,000 RMB into the equivalent of 1,000 RMB, turning gold into dross.

To Gao Sijin, 150,000 yen was no small sum, but to Yu Qingxue, it was merely a pebble she could skip across water without a flicker of emotion.

“Aiyah, I was hoping to pull a Dragon Lore. What a shame.”

“You spent all the rent I paid you on in-game purchases?”

“It’s my money now anyway, I can do whatever I want with it, can’t you see? If it bothers you, just don’t pay me rent. Next time you give me rent, I’ll spend it all on pachinko.”

“Forget it. Do whatever you want.”