If You Can't Pay the Rent, Then Be My Maid to Work Off Your Debt

The girl called "Wanwan" looked at Jiang Yubai and tilted her head slightly.

Rather than doing as she was told and returning to her room, she opened the door wider and stepped outside.

She seemed to have only just gotten out of bed. Dressed in nothing but a light pink lounge outfit and barefoot, she walked over and stopped beside Lin Tingwan.

Up close, Jiang Yubai was surprised to discover that the two girls before him looked almost as if they had been carved from the same mold.

Neither wore makeup. Both had clear, fair skin, elegant noses, and pale pink lips like cherry blossom petals in early spring.

Perhaps the only way to tell them apart was by their eyes at this moment—

One was glaring at him with wariness and vigilance, while the other's gaze was crystal-clear, carrying a faint trace of curiosity.

"Twins?" Jiang Yubai could not help asking. "Is this your younger sister?"

Perhaps Jiang Yubai's gaze was too direct. Lin Tingwan stepped to the left and shielded her sister behind her.

She took a deep breath and answered something else entirely. "We... we'll move out as soon as possible."

"Move out?" Jiang Yubai froze for a moment. "Move where?"

"That's none of your business." Lin Tingwan's face remained expressionless.

Jiang Yubai's mouth twitched. "Classmate Lin, as your landlord, let me give you a friendly reminder. This is already one of the cheapest residential areas in Licheng."

"Even if you find somewhere cheaper, the moving deposit and agency fees will still cost money."

"You can't even scrape together this month's rent... Are you planning to sleep under a bridge?"

With every sentence Jiang Yubai spoke, Lin Jianxia's shoulders sagged a little further.

She bit her lower lip as a profound sense of helplessness rose from deep within her.

No matter how much she hated the guy in front of her, she had to admit—Jiang Yubai was right.

She could neither pay the rent nor afford the cost of moving.

Her wages from her part-time job would be paid in just a few days...

She gritted her teeth.

It was one thing for Jiang Yubai to be ambiguous with other girls in class, but she had never expected him to set his sights on her.

He must have done plenty of things like taking advantage of someone in a vulnerable position...

Scumbag! Beast!

While Lin Jianxia's thoughts were in turmoil, Jiang Yubai rubbed his chin, feeling rather puzzled himself.

Although Licheng No. 3 High School was not some prestigious school, it was still a private high school with strong teaching standards. Naturally, its tuition fees were correspondingly high.

For that reason, the students who attended usually did not come from poor families. So how had Lin Tingwan ended up unable to even pay her rent?

Had her family fallen on hard times?

He was still thinking when he subconsciously raised his eyes and met a pair of amber-clear eyes.

The girl called Wanwan was staring at him without blinking. Her gaze was so clean that, for some reason, his heart skipped a beat.

It was not until the girl suddenly held out her hand that Jiang Yubai noticed she was holding a small spiral notebook and a gel pen.

Seeing him look over, the girl lowered her head and quickly scribbled a few words. Before long, she held the notebook up for him to see.

"Hello, Jiang Yubai!"

The handwriting was neat and graceful, complete with an exclamation mark that gave it an earnest sort of cuteness.

What the hell?

Though Jiang Yubai was full of question marks, he still responded instinctively. "Hello, hello... Nice to meet you..."

At his response, the girl's eyes brightened slightly. She lowered her head and wrote again, soon raising the notebook once more.

"Are you bullying Sister Jianxia?"

"How am I bullying—"

Jiang Yubai did not know whether to laugh or cry, but then he abruptly stopped, his eyes widening slightly.

Wait.

She did not speak... and she was called Wanwan...

"You're Lin Tingwan?!" Jiang Yubai blurted out.

Sister Jianxia...

He paused, then turned toward the other girl. "You... are Lin Jianxia?"

"Wanwan, don't talk to him."

The girl suddenly spoke, stepping forward to block her sister as she stared intently at Jiang Yubai, utterly guarded.

"You two..." Jiang Yubai looked from one to the other. "Are twins?"

Lin Jianxia ignored his question and suppressed her anger as she said, "Jiang Yubai, what exactly do you want?"

"What do I want?" Jiang Yubai rolled his eyes. "Didn't I say it already? I'm here to collect the rent."

To Lin Jianxia, those words sounded like an ultimatum.

She fell silent for several seconds. Her voice trembled faintly, but she still forced herself to speak. "Could you... give us a few more days?"

"Sure." Jiang Yubai nodded indifferently.

"...Huh?"

Lin Jianxia's expression went blank, as though she had not expected him to agree.

In that instant, countless scenes from the novels and comics she had read flashed through her mind.

No, that was not right, was it?

Shouldn't he have learned that she could not repay him, then used collecting rent as an excuse to drag her into his harem and make her do this and that for him every day?

How—

"However," Jiang Yubai added the second half of his sentence, "in exchange, I have a small condition too... That's not too much, right?"

Lin Jianxia's face instantly turned pale.

Of course... she knew it could not be that simple...

She barely managed to calm herself before softly telling the girl beside her, "Wanwan, go back to your room first."

Lin Tingwan tilted her head, seeming somewhat reluctant.

But when she met her sister's serious gaze, she obediently nodded in the end and returned to her room with her notebook.

Only after the door shut did Lin Jianxia relax slightly.

She bit her lower lip and fixed her eyes on Jiang Yubai again. "Go on. What is your condition... It cannot involve my younger sister!"

She had already made up her mind. If he dared make any excessive demand, she would throw him out immediately.

If it was merely something not too unreasonable, then for her sister's sake, it would not be impossible to play along for a while...

"Where exactly am I a womanizer?"

...Huh?

Lin Jianxia blinked, unable to react for a moment.

"My condition is that you tell me exactly how I'm a womanizer." Jiang Yubai repeated impatiently. "If you can't explain it, I'll sue you for slander."

After hesitating for a moment, Lin Jianxia finally spoke in a small voice.

"I heard it... My sister heard it. Everyone says your family is rich, and that you're seeing Zhao Yun, Li Qiuyue, and the others at the same time..."

Jiang Yubai's mouth twitched.

Great. It was another rumor spread by that bunch.

After Lin Jianxia finished speaking, she watched Jiang Yubai warily. Only when he did not come after her for trouble after waiting for a long time did she cautiously ask, "So the condition you mentioned... really was just that?"

Seeing her guarded, wary little expression, Jiang Yubai could not help laughing. "What else did you think I would ask for?"

"...Then what are you here for today?"

"Didn't I already say it? This building belongs to my family. I came to collect the rent." Jiang Yubai gave her a baffled look.

What was with Lin Tingwan's sister? Why did she seem a little slow? She still could not understand after hearing the same thing several times.

Lin Jianxia hesitated several times before finally squeezing out, "You... you didn't deliberately arrange all this just to take the chance to threaten me?"

Jiang Yubai was almost angered into laughter. "Do you really think I specifically came to threaten you just because this month you can't pay your rent?"

Oh, what a cliché—some rich young master setting up a scheme to prey on a poor little school beauty.

It really felt like, if things continued according to this script, some personal bodyguard named Lin Yi would jump out the next second and beat him senseless.

He had no interest in being a villain, but...

Jiang Yubai rubbed his chin, his gaze landing on the girl before him.

Her eyes were clear and lovely, her lips pale pink, and her delicate little face was so exquisite that one could not help looking a few more times.

Her originally fair ears were now tinged with translucent pink, while her earlobes were especially red, like two ripe cherries half-hidden among her soft hair.

He suddenly thought of Lin Tingwan, who had never spoken and always wore a cold expression around everyone.

Even with such an unlikable personality, she was still pursued and fawned over by a crowd at school, mainly because of that unbelievably beautiful face.

If there really were some bored people in high school who copied novels and made a school beauty ranking...

Then that face before him would probably sit firmly at the top without any suspense.

But Lin Jianxia had no time to think about what Jiang Yubai was pondering. Biting her lower lip, she only wished she could dig a hole and crawl into it.

How could there be such a coincidence in the world?

Of all months, it had to be the one when she was shortest on money. Her usually easygoing landlord had suddenly become inflexible, and the person who had come down to inspect the place just happened to be her classmate...

Especially when she had heard people in class say that this guy was practically a lecherous demon, and no pretty girl in their class could escape his clutches.

Put those two things together, and was this not exactly the plot of a rich young master doing whatever it took for that sort of thing?

Lin Jianxia was still letting her imagination run wild when Jiang Yubai suddenly seemed to remember something. "Wait, have we met before?"

"..."

Apparently not expecting him to bring that up so suddenly, Lin Jianxia's expression stiffened at once.

"N-No, we haven't, have we?"

What was with that guilty look?

"Then how did you know who I was the moment you saw me?" Jiang Yubai narrowed his eyes. "Also, I never told you my name, did I?"

Even if he and Lin Tingwan were classmates, there was no reason Lin Jianxia, whom he had never met, would recognize him at a glance.

Lin Jianxia opened her mouth, then suddenly lowered her head. Her lips pressed tightly together, and she refused to say a single word.

Seeing that she intended to remain silent to the bitter end, Jiang Yubai shrugged carelessly. "Not talking? Fine. Then just pay the rent today."

"You—!" The girl before him suddenly raised her head. "Didn't you say there was only one condition?"

"I changed my mind."

Jiang Yubai took a sip of tea and frowned.

Damn, this tea tastes awful.

After waiting several seconds without hearing anything, he looked up again to find Lin Jianxia still glaring at him through clenched teeth, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on but did not dare extend its claws.

"What's so hard about saying it..." Jiang Yubai was a little speechless.

"Fine, then—"

Just as the words reached his lips, a fun idea suddenly flashed through his mind.

You were the one who ruined my reputation first...

He paused and deliberately drawled, "Then... if you don't want to say it, that's fine. I'll change my condition."

Seeing that he was not going to press the matter, Lin Jianxia visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Go ahead."

Jiang Yubai, however, slowly looked her up and down, his tone as leisurely as if he were discussing the weather.

"I've recently been planning to rent a place, and I happen to be short on someone who can help take care of things."

"Since you can't pay the rent right now—"

"Then how about this?" His eyes curved slightly. "Be my maid for a while and work off your debt."