033. My Home Doesn't Have a Water Meter

"Hello?"

Lu Ban went out onto the balcony and shut the glass sliding door between it and the room. As he watched Qin Tiantian sleep in midsummer while clutching a pillow and wrapped in a blanket, he answered the phone.

The other side was silent for a moment.

Just as Lu Ban began to wonder whether some eerie voice would come through the phone and he would receive a videotape tomorrow containing a well and a woman, a voice finally came from the other end.

Thankfully, it was a human voice.

"Sorry to disturb you so late. May I ask if this is Mr. Lu Ban? Your username on the Old Days Video Network is Motionless, correct?"

"My home doesn't have a water meter."

Lu Ban answered at once.

"?"

The other party was clearly taken aback, unable to understand what Lu Ban was talking about. But he had obviously seen plenty in life and quickly adjusted his emotions.

"Here's the situation, Mr. Lu Ban. I'm Li Zijian, secretary to the chairman of Jiangcheng Industries. We saw the video of you exploring Jiangcheng Grand Theater online and would like to discuss it with you. I wonder if you'll have time tomorrow? I'm truly sorry for disturbing you so late."

There was a trace of helplessness in the voice of the man calling himself Li Zijian. It was like a superior suddenly calling him on New Year's Eve, while he was having his reunion dinner, and ordering him to find a client and collect an overdue payment. He clearly had no desire to disturb either his own or the client's holiday mood, yet was forced by his wretched life to put on a business smile and approach the client.

"Are you going to sue me?"

That was Lu Ban's immediate reaction.

Jiangcheng Grand Theater had effectively rotted in Jiangcheng Industries' hands. It was Jiangcheng Industries' property, so had he committed illegal trespassing?

Wait, there hadn't been any police tape or signs prohibiting entry nearby. It shouldn't be illegal for him to go in and take a look, right?

He would find some legal videos to study later.

"...No, no, you've misunderstood. Our chairman saw the video and wants to ask you a few questions."

Li Zijian was momentarily rendered speechless by Lu Ban. Only after a while did he answer.

"Your chairman?"

Lu Ban sensed that something was wrong.

"Yes. I don't know whether you've heard of her, but our chairman's name is Song Yunyan."

Thump—

Lu Ban's heart skipped a beat.

Song Yunyan?

Hadn't she died at Jiangcheng Grand Theater?

"Mr. Lu?"

Li Zijian was puzzled by Lu Ban's sudden silence.

"...What time tomorrow, and where should I go?"

Lu Ban gathered his thoughts and asked instead.

"There's no need for you to come to us. We'll send a private car to pick you up at ten tomorrow morning. Your current address is Building Four, Apartment 1304, XX Residential Community, correct?"

Li Zijian smoothly recited Lu Ban's current address.

"...Correct."

Lu Ban gave a brief reply.

"Good, I've noted it. Then I won't disturb your rest, Mr. Lu."

The other party hung up.

Lu Ban stood on the balcony, listening to the classic Spring Festival Gala songs coming from the room. For a moment, he was at a loss.

He would set aside the question of how they had obtained his account, identity, and address information. In the Internet age, privacy was utterly defenseless before capital. As long as they spent some money investigating the real-name information on the Old Days Video Network and then asked a real-estate agency to look up the rental records corresponding to his ID card, they could find all that.

What concerned Lu Ban was something else.

He picked up his phone and searched for news about Song Yunyan while comparing it with the pictures of old newspapers he had downloaded.

Then Lu Ban realized that he had indeed overlooked something.

The reports from back then had all focused on Du Danping's death. They mentioned that there had been five people in total, but never said that Song Yunyan had died at the same time.

So although Song Yunyan had been there, she hadn't been burned to death in the fire?

She was the daughter of Jiangcheng Industries' former chairman. Had she inherited the company and become its chairwoman?

"Song Yunyan saw me exploring Jiangcheng Grand Theater and saw Du Danping performing, so she came looking for me?"

Lu Ban roughly pieced together the whole sequence of events.

"Fortunately, I didn't upload the scene of me smashing Du Danping's ghost's head. Otherwise, would Song Yunyan have ground me to dust?"

Only now did he realize the possible consequences.

"Or could Song Yunyan really be dead, with the current 'Song Yunyan' actually being something disguised as her?"

Another possibility surfaced in his mind.

"Forget it. I'll leave these troubles to tomorrow's self. Time to sleep!"

Lu Ban decided not to dwell on his worries.

He lay down on the chair and fell asleep to the sound of "Congratulations and Prosperity."

The next day, eight o'clock.

Lu Ban woke up right on time, the song still playing beside his ear.

"Run forward, facing the cold stares and ridicule. How can you feel the vastness of life without enduring hardship?"

He glanced at the bed. Qin Tiantian was sleeping like a dead pig, completely motionless.

Lu Ban got up, washed, changed his clothes, and went out to buy breakfast.

Two steamers of soup dumplings, two bowls of soy milk, and four fried dough sticks—all packed up and brought home.

When he returned, Qin Tiantian had only just crawled out of bed. She looked half-asleep, unable even to open her eyes.

Lu Ban placed the breakfast on the living room table. Thinking of the ways he had seen to increase his follower count, he decided to establish a personal image.

Establishing a personal image couldn't be too deliberate. It had to be done casually.

So he picked up his phone, took a picture of the breakfast, and posted an update on the Old Days Video Network.

Did everyone sleep well last night? Get up and have some breakfast!

Such a positive and uplifting post was sure to inspire people!

The moment Lu Ban put down his phone and opened the takeout containers, notification vibrations began sounding.

Holding a fried dough stick with chopsticks in one hand and dipping it into the soy milk, he scrolled through the comments with the other.

It's all because of your video! I stayed up all night and couldn't sleep!

This breakfast couldn't be some kind of underworld breakfast, could it?

Wait, look carefully. Isn't there a human head in the soy milk?

Damn, are you taking revenge on society first thing in the morning?

Soy milk has to be salty!

Get lost. Who can drink salty soy milk?

All sorts of comments poured in within just a few minutes.

Lu Ban already had nearly fifteen thousand followers. On the Old Days Video Network, he could be considered a small UP with a circle of his own.

"Is there something wrong with the picture?"

After seeing the comments, Lu Ban opened the picture and enlarged it for a careful look.

He saw that a face was indeed reflected in the soy milk—a face that did not belong to Lu Ban.

"Don't just stand there. Hurry up and eat."

Seeing Qin Tiantian in the reflection of his phone, Lu Ban raised his head and urged her.

"I slept so well. Your bed really is something. I've never slept this comfortably at home."

Qin Tiantian stretched like a cat and sat across from Lu Ban at an angle from which she couldn't see anything.

"I'm going out later. Hurry up and go home."

Lu Ban asked.

She isn't planning to freeload off my bed, is she?

At most, he would let the blue-eyed ragdoll cat freeload off his bed. As for women, the farther away they rolled, the better!

"Of course I'm going home! I'll leave once you go out."

Qin Tiantian yawned, picked up her chopsticks, and began eating breakfast.

The two of them ate their breakfast while each looking at their own phones, barely exchanging a word.

After tidying up, it was exactly ten o'clock when Lu Ban's phone rang.

It was yesterday's number.

"Hello, Mr. Lu. I've arrived downstairs. The car is ready."

Lu Ban acknowledged him and glanced downstairs through the window.

Good grief, was that some kind of stretch luxury car?

Qin Tiantian, who had followed him to look down, also saw the black luxury sedan that was completely out of place amid the surroundings of the residential community.

"Wow, are you secretly a rich second-generation heir?"

As she spoke, she even began humming a little tune.

"Shut up."

Lu Ban was about to get into the black luxury sedan and didn't want to hear the woman sing.