Landlady

"You said you were a writer? Have you published anything?"

"I-I'm an online novelist. To get a work published, it has to perform extremely well."

"So your results aren't good? Then how much do you make a month?"

"If I get the full attendance bonus, it's around six thousand a month."

"Only six thousand? That's not even half the price of my handbag. That's way too little. How are you supposed to make a living in Jianghai City with that kind of ability?"

At Lakeside Cafe in Jianghai City, Shen Lang was on a blind date with a woman his mother's card-playing friend had introduced.

When the subject turned to Shen Lang's income, the atmosphere immediately became much more awkward, making the already socially anxious Shen Lang feel like he was sitting on pins and needles.

After a few seconds of frozen silence, the woman stood up, slung her brown handbag over her shoulder, and gave a helpless smile.

"All right, I've got something to do later, so I'll be leaving first. We'll keep in touch."

In her eyes, this guy looked decent enough and was fairly tall.

But his plain clothes, unshaven stubble, and casually tousled hair made him seem far too sloppy.

He also had that listless air about him. Behind those thick lenses, his eyes were hollow and lifeless, like an otaku who stayed home playing games day and night.

More importantly, he didn't have much money!

His electric scooter parked outside the cafe was a complete eyesore next to all the cars around it.

"Take care."

Shen Lang was not disappointed in the slightest. Deep down, he even felt a little delighted. He could finally be alone again.

Shen Lang was twenty-four years old. Because he loved online novels, he had become an online novelist after graduation, specializing in passionate wuxia stories.

The job was much like being a tech nerd, requiring him to stay home all day hammering away at the keyboard.

This long-term shut-in lifestyle had made Shen Lang, who had already been rather withdrawn, even more introverted and shy.

Other than going downstairs to eat, Shen Lang barely ever left home.

Years of such isolated living had left Shen Lang with terrible social skills.

Whenever he talked with girls, Shen Lang became especially nervous. His ability to speak fell apart, and he often said things completely out of sync with the atmosphere.

That was also the main reason why Shen Lang was already twenty-four yet had never been in even one ordinary relationship.

Just then, his phone rang in his pocket.

"Hello, is this Mr. Shen? Could you come sign the contract later? I need to pick up my daughter from school soon."

"Okay, okay. I'll be right over."

Unable to stand his parents constantly pressuring him to find someone, Shen Lang had found a single-bedroom apartment on a rental site, planning to get away from the old couple who nagged him about marriage every day.

He picked up his coffee and drained it in one gulp, then got up and went to the register to pay.

Judging from that woman's money-minded behavior earlier, Shen Lang had never expected her to split the bill or pay for it.

"Hello, it's 150 yuan in total. Just scan here."

The girl at the register was very pretty. Her eyes curved when she smiled, making her look especially cute.

"Ah, okay."

Shen Lang shyly avoided the cashier's gaze.

Most socially anxious and introverted people were like that. They were not used to making eye contact with the opposite sex, especially when speaking face-to-face with pretty girls.

"Thank you for coming. Take care."

After Shen Lang scanned the code and paid, his vision suddenly blurred.

It seemed that several lines of text and a blurry heart icon flashed above the girl's head.

Shen Lang blinked and looked at her again, but the text and heart icon had both vanished.

"It's time to find some time to work out."

Shen Lang thought it was a bad symptom caused by sitting for too long every day.

After paying the bill, he got on his electric scooter and headed straight for Fulung Community in the suburbs.

Fulung Community was far from the city center, but the rent was cheap and the area was relatively quiet.

That was exactly what the homebound Shen Lang had liked about it, which was why he had readily paid the deposit on the rental website.

Just as he stepped into the elevator, a WeChat notification sounded.

Ping Ping An An (Mom): "@Sleep Till Dawn, son, how did the blind date go today?"

Sleep Till Dawn: "It fell through. What else could it be? Also, today's blind date cost me 150. How about reimbursing me, old lady?"

Ping Ping An An (Mom): "Son, want me to tell you a story?"

Sleep Till Dawn: "What story?"

"Back then, Taishang Laojun spent forty-nine days refining an immortal pill. The pill gained intelligence and ran down to the mortal world on its own. After staying beneath the Ginseng Fruit Tree for a long time, it transformed into the form of a ginseng fruit. Later, Tang Sanzang and his disciples came there. Sun Wukong stole and ate many ginseng fruits, yet he smashed the ginseng fruit transformed from that immortal pill to death with one blow of his staff. Why do you think that was?"

Sleep Till Dawn: "Why?"

Ping Ping An An (Mom): "Because it was danshen. What use is danshen if you don't beat it to death? Don't you agree, son? Smile smile smile."

Sleep Till Dawn: "?"

Looking at the string of smiley stickers his mother had sent, Shen Lang nervously swallowed and quickly left the family group chat, going invisible.

For the sake of his life, he decided not to mooch meals off the old couple this weekend.

The elevator arrived on the twenty-second floor. Shen Lang stepped out and came to the door of his rental apartment.

"Tap, tap, tap, tap..."

The door stood open, and the crisp, loud sound of high heels striking the floor came from inside.

"Is that Mr. Shen?"

Upon hearing the elevator, the sound of the high heels inside drew closer and closer, and Shen Lang's heart beat faster and faster.

He really did not know how to deal with women.

A moment later, a woman wearing a shirt embroidered with brown patterns appeared before Shen Lang.

She had a delicate, fair oval face, with long black hair draped over one shoulder. She wore a flesh-colored pencil skirt and flesh-colored stockings, her legs shapely and slender. From head to toe, she exuded the sexy charm unique to mature women, along with the aura of a refined housewife.

She held a rental contract in her hand, while a large ring of gleaming silver keys sat on the small table in the room.

Shen Lang subconsciously glanced at the number of keys. She definitely owned more than ten apartments.

Pretty, with a great figure, and a landlady too—Shen Lang had only seen married women with such lingering charm in the wish-fulfillment novels written by fellow authors.

"You're Shen Lang?"

The woman gave Shen Lang a surprised once-over, then teased him with a smile. "From your voice, I thought you were in your early thirties. I didn't expect you to be so young."

Faced with the beautiful mature woman's sudden compliment, Shen Lang gave an awkward, nervous smile and hurriedly replied, "Ah, I-I didn't expect it either."

The moment the words left his mouth, Shen Lang regretted them so badly his toes could have dug out a three-bedroom apartment.

What kind of bullshit had he just said? He hadn't expected his own age?

Sure enough, after hearing that, the beautiful mature woman looked at him with a particularly astonished expression.

Shen Lang was so nervous he wanted to die.

After racking his brain for a moment, Shen Lang blindly forced out a compliment. "What I mean is, you look really young too, ma'am. You look just like a young girl."