The apartment that Locke was looking for was very close to the Southern Cross Law Firm, but the residential area was a little old, and the outside of the building looked mostly gray and inconspicuous, living like a patch of baldness among the mansions. The most embarrassing thing is that the newly erected suspension lanes and elevated bridges in the past few years have perfectly crossed over its head, and it cannot be reached by four or six. Even the commercial street opposite it has lost its popularity, and its original commercial value has dropped.
As we all know, this place has been closed and re-planned sooner or later, so all the homeowners are hoarding it and do not plan to sell it easily.
But the younger generation of homeowners don't like to live here, so there are only old people and tenants who don't like moving nests.
"This place looks a little old, but everything else is good." Before entering the gate of the residential area, Locke glanced at Yan Suizhi's face, and explained a little embarrassedly: "I looked around and bought Things are convenient, but the traffic is a bit... But you can walk to the Southern Cross here, you don't need to drive. In short, apart from the traffic, there is really nothing to say. There are three major districts here, and students from several schools like to rent here. There are not too many people, so the safety is not bad.”
"The way you look at me makes me feel like I'm a living bomb." Yan Suizhi said angrily.
Locke smiled and scratched his head: "No, I'm just afraid that you think this place is too old."
Although Yan Suizhi had told him that as long as the rent was appropriate and the house was clean and tidy, there were no other requirements. But he always felt that Yan Suizhi was like the kind of person who grew up with brocade clothes and jade food, and he might not be able to endure such a gray old district.
"How come." Yan Suizhi didn't care much, "I don't sleep on the bench in the community. It doesn't matter if the building is old or not."
In fact, when he was particular, he really had requirements for the environment outside the house, but Locke had been working hard for him for a long time, and he would not displease the little intern.
The apartment was on the ninth floor, and the landlord was a tall, thin man with pale skin and blue eyes. It can be seen that when he was young, he should be a slightly thin handsome guy, but at this time, there are deep wrinkles around the corners of his eyes and lips.
"I'm actually ready to wait until the evening." The landlord said, reaching out to shake them, "Mervin Bai, a poor landlord who has waited for you for a century."
Yan Suizhi: "Sorry, I almost have to go on a business trip again today, so you can wait for the second century."
"Then I will engrave the rental contract on my epitaph, and I will rest in peace after you sign it."
Locke: "..." You two are really interesting.
Mervyn Bai seemed to be a natural acquaintance, and he was rude at the first meeting, but it did make people feel a lot closer and not restrained.
"Come on, let's take a look at the layout first." He waved to Yan Suizhi, "Come with me, the shoe rack on the side of the entrance has the function of sterilizing and sterilizing, so you can take it off and put it on as you like, and there will be no odor. , but I smelled it just now, and I think this function is useless for you, but if there are guests coming, it is very useful."
Yan Suizhi: "...do I want to thank you for the compliment?"
"No thanks." Mervyn Bai said again, "The password for the door is set here. After you sign the contract, I will allow you to press your thumb on it. Of course, not yet."
He passed through the entrance and the short corridor opposite, and pushed open a door on the left. "This is the living room. Two sets of sofas can lie down at will, each of which can be very comfortable. Passing through this glass door, it is In the kitchen and dining room, although the pots, bowls and kitchenware are not new, they are not much different from new ones. There may be some milk and frozen meat in the refrigerator, and they are all yours. Then here...is the bathroom and utility room, Just a piece of advice for you, keep the sliding door on the tub closed when you're taking a shower to keep the water from splashing out. It's a bit slippery, and a drop on your pretty face could ruin it. And here's the bedroom—"
He speaks very quickly, and if he reacts a little slower, he may not be able to keep up with his rhythm.
However, the house is really clean and well-lit. It is indeed a comfortable looking place, and it is commendable that it has an artistic atmosphere. The paintings hanging on the walls are very particular, and the lines and colors match every space just right.
While waiting for the landlord to open the bedroom door, Yan Suizhi raised his hand and touched a nearby painting.
It was a character outline drawn with charcoal and minimalist lines. It was a bit like the sketch of a character without facial features that fashion designers love to draw, except that the focus was not on clothing, nor was it colored.
It can be seen that there is a man and a woman in the painting. The woman is sitting elegantly, reaching for a cup of tea, while the man puts a thumb rose in her teacup as if teasing her.
Seeing his actions, Mervyn Bai raised his eyebrows and asked, "How is it? Isn't this painting pretty good?"
Yan Suizhi nodded, "Very good, I can see that the painter is a dashing person."
Mervyn Bai became more interested when he heard what he said, "Is that so? Can you see that? What else can you see?"
"It can also be seen that the painter should be a bachelor of ten thousand years." Yan Suizhi said.
Mervyn Bai: "… "
Yan Suizhi admired it for a while before noticing the silence of the landlord, "What?"
Mervyn Bai looked at him numbly for a long time, then poked himself with his thumb, "Thank you for your evaluation, the artist is here."
Yan Suizhi nodded clearly, "Then it seems that I said it correctly."
"… "
For a moment, Locke regretted introducing the two of them. He always felt that the landlord would be kicked out of the house at any time after being stabbed twice. But later he realized that he was thinking too much. When was Yan Suizhi unpleasant, oh, except for the old lawyer Hobbs.
In short, after two sentences, the landlord was already grinning and going to hook up with Yan Suizhi, "You know a lot about painting."
Professor Yan Da, who doesn't like to be too close to people, quietly avoided his claws, "You painted all the paintings in the room?"
"Yeah." Mervyn Bai said, "I've been eating rent and painting since I resigned. It's been more than 20 years."
Yan Suizhi nodded.
But Locke was a little curious, "Resign? Then what did you do before?"
Mervyn Bai Zhou exudes the temperament of "enjoying life without restraint". He is a little bit stingy. The clothes and pants are the loosest. Randomly tied a braid at the back of his head.
Judging from his current state, it's hard to imagine what work he did before.
Mervyn Bai seemed a little unhappy when he mentioned his previous job.
"Uh? Sorry, did I ask something that shouldn't be asked?" Locke noticed his expression sensitively. It can be seen that he has made some progress after his internship.
"Ah—" Mervyn Bai dragged his tune, "It's not against you, I just think of my previous work and I'm a little uninterested. My donkey face is for work, not for you."
He didn't evade Locke's question. He even drooped the eyes of the dead fish and took the initiative to say to Locke, "What do you think my job was before?"
"I don't know, it's hard to guess." Locke said, "I feel like I'm a painter, an artist, or a book fair or a designer?"
Every time he said one, Mervyn Bai waved his index finger, and in the end he was a little more complacent, "It's a pity, it's all wrong. It seems that I have been very good all these years, and I have cleaned up the original temperament, Very successful, congratulations."
After he sold out, he said, "I work in the hospital."
He knocked on the painting of a man and a woman on the wall again, "These two are the two I have seen in the hospital, and in a sense they are one of my patients. When the specialist doctor met them in the back garden of the hospital, I happened to pass by and was a little impressed by that scene, and then I remembered it occasionally and drew it down."
The little fool Locke was stunned for a while, "To be honest, I can't tell at all, is it a doctor?"
"It's not really." Mervyn Bai said, "I'm in the research room and I'm not in clinical practice, but there is still an indirect connection with the patient."
This time, even Yan Suizhi was a little surprised.
Locke asked: "Research laboratory? What is researching?"
Mervyn Bai waved his hand, "Forget it, it's all in the past, and I don't want to mention it. And for more than 20 years, I've forgotten all about my work."
After visiting the bedroom, Locke couldn't help but glance at him for a while, and then glance at him again.
"Although this version of the temperature control device has been installed for ten years, the effect is not bad." Mervyn Bai said, "If something goes wrong, you can call this number. This classmate, you have already cast your eyes on me for forty years. It's been seven times, and if you look at it two more times, I will suspect that you want to start a grandfather-grandson love with me."
"… "
Locke looked horrified, "No wait, what grandchildren? How old are you?"
Mervyn Bai rewarded him with a startling wink, "Is there something wrong with your focus? I've done the math, and it's not very old, maybe 70 years older than you."
At this rate, he is now in his 90s. In fact, even at the age of 90, the root of the tail is still in its prime, and it will take another 20 years to reach the tip of the tail. In this way, the folds between the corners of his eyes and the brows and the nasolabial lines around his mouth are a bit too deep, especially the two between the eyebrows. If it wasn't for years and months of frowning, there would rarely be such deep lines.
Combined with the words just now, it seems that his previous work has indeed brought him a lot of trouble.
Mervyn Bai didn't run on Locke anymore, but took them to the last door, "This is also a bedroom, but it's not in the rental area, it's all my own things. In fact, this is what I occasionally do. I don't plan to vacate the room that I will live in."
He said so, and still opened the door of this room, "Although I don't rent it, I don't mind letting you visit, cherish this opportunity, it will be locked after a while, and you will never open it again. rights."
Compared with the previously cleaned up spaces, this bedroom really has traces of occupants. There is even an antique notebook on the bedside, with a pen in it, like a temporary exit in the middle of writing.
There are several rows of bookshelves with artistic style nailed to the wall, which are scattered. There are two rows of picture albums for the collector's edition, and two sketchbooks spread out on a certain page, and the other rows are filled with various photos, occasionally with pots of freshly colored cacti in between.
"Look, for the convenience of renting, I specially replaced the flower vine with a cactus, you don't need to worry about it." Mervyn Bai said.
Yan Suizhi was very sincere: "I won't take care of it, don't worry. All the flowers and plants that I took care of in the past are dead."
Mervyn Bai: "...Then it's better to raise your hand."
Yan Suizhi's eyes swept across those photos, most of which were pictures of Mervyn Bai painting or holding art exhibitions, with two exceptions.
Those two are a few years old at first glance. From the style of clothing to the style of scenery, it can be seen that they should be more than 20 years ago. In the photo is a cemetery. Mervyn Bai is walking slowly among the green pine and cypress trees with a white Sabbath in his hand. To his side and farther behind, there are rows of silent tombstones.
The other photo is still the cemetery, but from a different angle. This time, even Mervyn Bai himself didn't leave the country, so he only took pictures of countless tombstones spread out among the dark green trees.
When Locke saw these two photos, he was speechless, thinking that the landlord really didn't know how to avoid it. These two photos were very artistic and good, but it was a bit too much to put them in the bedroom facing the bed. Strange, don't you feel terrified when you glance at it when you go to sleep at night
Looking at these two photos at the same time, Yan Suizhi's thoughts were completely different from his.
Although the photo does not capture the gate of the cemetery, nor does the name of the cemetery appear anywhere. But Yan Suizhi recognized it at a glance, "Is this the Juniper Cemetery in the 13th district of Helan Star?"
Mervyn Bai nodded, a little surprised: "Yes, can this be seen?"
"It happens to be familiar." Yan Suizhi said.
Of course I can recognize it, because for a long time, Yan Suizhi went there every day, and stayed there for an afternoon. The location of the tombstone there, what kind of tree it was planted, and which piece of terrain was higher on the steps. He was a little tired, and he knew which part of the terrain was lower, and the water flow tended to accumulate into pieces when it rained.
Because his parents are buried there.
Yan Suizhi looked at the two photos for a while. There were hundreds of tombstones in them, and under two of them lay the person he missed the most.
"What's wrong?" Mervyn Bai asked.
After a while, Yan Suizhi turned his eyes away and said apologetically, "It's nothing, I'm a little distracted."
"Oh, it doesn't matter," Mervyn Bai said, "every time I look at these two photos, it's easy to get distracted, and the whole afternoon passes by in a daze."
He took the two of them out of the room, locked the door again, and said, "My hometown is in Helan Star. When I was working, I mainly stayed in Decama. After I quit my job, I went back for half a year, and I stayed here for half a year. There is a joint art exhibition in Decama recently. I was supposed to gather here, but I suddenly received a communication last night. My mother is ill and I have to rush back to Helan to take care of it for a while, otherwise I may not even want to enter in the future. home."
"What disease? Is it serious?" Locke asked with concern.
Mervyn Bai said with a smile, "You really look like a blond little angel at this time, and if you're a little fatter, it's more like drinking. It's nothing serious, maybe she has the flu, has a fever, and is already in the hospital. But even if she is now I'll be alive and kicking in the evening, and I have to go back, so I can rest assured that I have to take a look."
"Then—" Mervyn Bai returned to the living room with the two of them, and the rental contract that had been prepared was transferred out of his mind, and the imitation paper was spread on the glass coffee table, "If you have no other problems, let's fix it. Is the contract signed?"
In fact, before entering the door, Yan Suizhi preferred not to rent, because the environment of this residential area was really bad. But now he changed his mind a little.
Maybe it's because the interior of the house is really good, even beyond his expectations. Or maybe it's because of those two cemetery photos...
Yan Suizhi thought about it and said, "To be honest, I'm very satisfied with this place, but due to some reasons, I may not be able to determine the lease term for the time being—"
Mervyn Bai glanced at Locke, then waved at Yan Suizhi with a dashing face: "It doesn't matter! I know, I heard from Locke's classmates that you can get limited salary during your internship now, and you can live independently. Under the premise, no matter which one may not be able to pay for half a year's rent in one go. It is normal, I have met children from Southern Cross before, and I know it too well."
He mistakenly thought that the reason Yan Suizhi said was "suffering money", of course, this understanding was correct to some extent. Of course, what Yan Suizhi was actually thinking about was that he might not live long before the sheepskin would fall off.
But I can't tell the landlord about this. Since the landlord has found a reason for him, of course he is happy, nodded along with the words, and said, "That's it, I'm very sorry, but I'm a poor ghost right now."
This poor ghost has no self-consciousness of a poor ghost at all, his temperament and momentum are first-class, and he is very calm.
Locke glanced at the side, then silently turned his head to cover his face.
Who knew that Mervyn Bai laughed, "Hey, I like your character! To be honest, it's not easy to meet such an interesting tenant, so let's take advantage of my good mood now, let's go with you first. Sign a one-week trial agreement. I'm going to stay in Helan for about a week anyway, and it would be nice if someone could help me look at the house. You can also move your luggage here first and live for a few days as a buffer. If I really like it here, how about renewing my contract month by month with me?"
Locke took a peek at it and said in his heart that most people could not agree to this agreement. Under normal circumstances, when you see the landlord being so good at talking and being so considerate, you should say: "No, how can I do this, sign for one month first" or "sign for three months", which is equivalent to taking a step back, and both parties are happy.
Who would have thought that Yan Suizhi actually nodded and said, "Really? If this is the case, it would be great, thank you very much."
Locke: "..." How are you
Professor Yan Da is really kind.
He said, bowed his head and swept the contents of the agreement, and then filled in the lease period for 7 days, and filled in several other fields, and finally signed the signature at the end.
When signing the autograph, he got stuck again, and when he turned it back, he still had a "tsk" in his heart, thinking that it was really easy to make mistakes without classmate Gu coughing in time.
Mervyn Bai didn't care, he took over the agreement, checked the information filled in several places, and then signed his name without hesitation.
Except for Locke, everyone is happy.
With these two people around, the process of renting a house, which should have been very cautious, was surprisingly fast. It only took less than half an hour from viewing the house to signing the agreement.
Until Yan Suizhi left and was about to leave, Locke couldn't react, "Is this all right?"
"if not?"
When he walked to the door, Mervyn Bai suddenly remembered something, patted his forehead, and said, "Hi - I forgot to mention it when I was excited, you can live here as you wish, with two exceptions."
"Which two?"
"You can't keep animals." Mervyn Bai said, "No animals are allowed. Don't let me see any traces left by animals. I'm very sensitive to this matter, and I will suffocate if I see it. True, no joke, this is Serious thing. I have a bit of a... psychic shadow on this kind of thing. So make sure! Make sure! Don't violate it."
Yan Suizhi nodded, "Don't worry, the salary of the intern is extremely difficult to support me, and there is no extra money to keep pets."
Mervyn Bai said: "That's good."
"… "
"Uh no, I wish you an early salary increase." Mervyn Bai added, "The other thing is that you are not allowed to bring your girlfriend over. This is also very serious and also my psychological shadow. There was only one rule before, Without this one, the three tenants in a row are the same as humanoid motors. The only thing you can do in life is to fight. The sensitive point of a ten thousand year bachelor cannot be touched, so promise me not to bring it."
Yan Suizhi didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "I don't have a girlfriend. I don't know if this will comfort you."
Mervyn White added decisively, "Boyfriends can't either."
Yan Suizhi: "..."
"Why are you silent?" Mervyn Bai's eyes were filled with mischievous suspicion.
Yan Suizhi said angrily, "No, not at all. If I look at it like this, I might want to delete the agreement."
Mervyn Bai nodded reassuringly, "Okay, I've given you seven-day permission for your fingerprint, and you can move in tonight and enjoy your new life."
…
Yan Suizhi told Gu Yan when he planned to return to the Southern Cross Law Firm.
In fact, at the moment of signing the agreement, he once had the idea of calling Gu Yan a message to ask, but the moment the idea flashed, he was marked with a cross. As for why, he didn't think about it.
Or that he actually knew why, but a certain consciousness involved didn't make him think too much.
However, when he returned to the Southern Cross Law Firm, he found that the office on the second floor was empty.
He thought about it and sent a message to Gu Yan with his smartphone: "Have you already gone to the port?"
After a while, the other party's message replied: "Already on the shuttle."
"So fast?"
"Urgent."
After a while, another message from Gu Yan came: "You are leaving Hong Kong, you can go back by yourself at night."
Yan Suizhi thought about it and returned to him: "By the way, Locke helped me find a new apartment. I just signed a short-term agreement, and I will move in the next two days."
After all, living there would cause trouble for Gu Yan. Although Gu Yan didn't care, Yan Suizhi couldn't make fun of his future.
Only this time, after waiting for a long time, Gu Yan's message did not come back.