"It's nearby, just walk northwest for about two kilometers," said the agent.
Zhong Jiudao looked at his big box and the dilapidated road surface and felt that walking two kilometers might be difficult.
"It's okay. I have photos of the house in my photo album, and I've brought the contract with me. Mr. Zhong, if you're satisfied with the photos, we can sign the contract here," said the agent.
He looked as if he would never go to that house. Zhong Jiudao used his left index finger to lightly draw a pattern on the palm of his right hand. Then he raised his right hand and passed his palm across the center of Jiejie's eyebrows.
The agent was stunned for a moment, and then Zhong Jiudao opened his hands and said to him, "Show me the photos."
The agent opened his mouth and couldn't help but blurt out the truth: "Don't look at it, it's all carefully photoshopped, the product is not what you pictured. No one has lived in that house for two or three years, and no one has repaired it. Now it's full of dust and cobwebs. I'll find you some photos before the photoshop."
Zhong Jiudao took the mobile phone handed over by the agent and looked through the real photos of the house. He saw that the overall structure of the house was quite intact. Although it was a house from the last century, the building materials and design were good, and it was still solid after a hundred years. The owner probably renovated it in recent years. On the basis of retaining the original characteristics of the house, water and electricity facilities were added. The bathroom and kitchen are very modern, with both a sense of history and convenience.
"The house is nice and it will be beautiful after cleaning. Why do you need to photoshop it?" Zhong Jiudao asked.
"Who dares to go there? It's a well-known haunted house. After the owner renovated it, disasters kept happening in his home. It couldn't be sold, so it has been listed with our company for rent and sale. After I took over the house, I went to take a few photos. After I came back, I was sick for several days!" The agent was shocked by his own honesty and slapped himself on the mouth.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Zhong Jiudao asked.
"If I had told you earlier, would you still dare to rent it? Even if you were willing to rent it, it is easy to bargain for a haunted house. I have doubled the price set by the landlord, and I told you not to lower the price?" After the agent said this, he slapped himself in the mouth. He felt like he was possessed. Why did he say anything
"I recorded what you just said. Can I file a complaint against your company for deceiving its customers?"
The agent hurriedly stopped Zhong Jiu and said, "No, no, no! How about this, I will rent the house to you at the lowest price set by the landlord, and I will also reduce the agency fee by 20%, okay?"
Zhong Jiudao looked at the agent.
"Reduce the agency fee by 50%! Or I will find you a better house!" the agent said anxiously.
"No, this house is very good. It has many rooms, large space, beautiful decoration, and historical features. Most importantly, it is cheap. There is no more suitable house than this one. I can sign the contract now." Zhong Jiudao said.
The agent then breathed a sigh of relief, took out his briefcase, filled in the price on the standard contract, and asked Zhong Jiudao to sign.
Zhong Jiudao signed and paid the money, and rented the house for one year as the minimum term stipulated by the landlord. He rented the house even though he knew it was a haunted house. What a weird person.
"Mr. Zhong, this house is really a bit weird. Why do you want to rent it?" the agent asked puzzledly.
"I'm a director and I need a house like this to film a movie." Zhong Jiudao raised his hand and clenched it in the air in front of the agent, as if he was taking back something.
Then he told the agent: "Be honest in the future."
After that, Zhong Jiudao effortlessly picked up the suitcase and walked towards the haunted house with steady steps. He was nearly 1.9 meters tall, and he lifted the 32-inch suitcase with the ease of a 20-inch carry-on suitcase.
The agent kept watching him leave his sight, then he muttered to himself: "What's wrong with my mouth today? I told you the truth!"
Compared to the agent's frustration, Zhong Jiudao was in a good mood as he had rented a suitable house at a super low price.
When Zhong Jiudao took the college entrance examination, he did not choose the school that his family had carefully arranged for him. Instead, he secretly took the art exam without telling anyone and was admitted to the directing department of a well-known film and television school. His father was so angry that he threatened to sever the father-son relationship with him and never let him enter the house again.
Zhong Jiudao was unable to go home for two full years during his college years. It was only after his mother mediated that his father reluctantly allowed him to go home for the New Year. However, he still could not accept his choice and wanted him to take the postgraduate entrance examination for the university of their dreams after graduation.
Zhong Jiudao has a dream of becoming a director and wants to present the stories in his heart on the big screen, and he insists on taking this path.
Both father and son were very stubborn, so they could only make a ten-year agreement. After graduation, Zhong Jiudao could freely venture into the entertainment industry within ten years. If he failed to make any achievements, he would have to return home and take up the career arranged for him by his family.
Zhong's father also threatened that Zhong Jiudao should not expect any assistance from his family when filming, and told all his colleagues not to invest in Zhong Jiudao's projects.
This year, Zhong Jiudao graduated from university and started a ten-year commitment. He is now preparing for his first film in his life.
Unable to attract investment from his past connections, Zhong Jiudao could only use the two million he earned from working part-time and doing mysterious odd jobs during college to make the movie. Funds were very tight, so he had to save money in every detail.
Zhong Jiudao originally planned to rent this house for only three months, but unfortunately it was a long-term rental, and the landlord required a minimum of one year, not just a few months. Fortunately, this was a haunted house, so he cut the rent by more than half, saving a lot of money.
Zhong Jiudao carried the heavy box and walked two kilometers to the gate.
This is a detached garden house with a large courtyard and a very high door. The courtyard is full of trees, which have grown into towering trees over the past hundred years. They surround the courtyard lushly, blocking the sunlight, making the whole house look cool and eerie.
Zhong Jiudao looked up and saw that the sun had just sunk into the western horizon, marking dusk.
He took out a bunch of keys given by the agent, opened the dilapidated door, pushed open the door, and saw a completely different scene in the yard.
In the real photos provided by the agent, the courtyard was overgrown with weeds and piled with fallen leaves. The entire exterior of the house was covered with ivy, and the house looked very desolate.
But after opening the door, there was not a single fallen leaf in the yard, and the weeds in the garden had been pulled out by someone, and it was now full of dark red flowers.
In the weak sunlight left at dusk, the flowers in the garden gently spit out blood-red stamens. If you look closely, it is easy to mistake this flower for the face of a beautiful woman, and the stamens are the blood-red lips.
The stone road in front of the door is spotless. The luxurious villa is located at the end of the stone road, surrounded by countless dark red flowers, like the entrance to another world.
Zhong Jiudao walked onto this historic stone road. Facing this strange scene, he smiled and said, "It saves the money of hiring someone to clean it."
As the last ray of sunlight disappeared below the horizon, the yard with many towering trees grew darker faster than the outside world. Standing outside the villa, Zhong Jiudao saw a candle burning in the window on the second floor.
Ordinary people would be so scared seeing this scene that they would run away quickly. But how could Zhong Jiudao give up this cheap house that he had rented with so much difficulty? He used the key to open the rusty lock and pushed open the door of the house.
With a creaky sound, the old wooden door was pushed open, and a biting cold wind blew out from the house.
There were countless oil lamps hanging on the walls of the hall on the first floor. As Zhong Jiudao walked in, the oil lamps lit up one by one, flashing a faint green light, illuminating the entire first floor.
Zhong Jiudao frowned: "Didn't you say that the electricity is on? Why are you still lighting candles? The filming equipment needs electricity, and the phone also needs to be charged."
After saying this, he ignored the strange sight and strode in to look for a power source.
As soon as Zhong Jiudao entered the door, a woman in a white cheongsam appeared in front of the door. She was holding a red candle, and her face flickered in the candlelight, like a ghost floating in the hall.
She walked very lightly, without making any sound, as if floating. She came quietly behind Zhong Jiudao, stretched out her hand to him, and said faintly: "This is not the place for you to come, go quickly."
Suddenly, a sound like a ghost crying came from behind him. Zhong Jiudao turned back expressionlessly and saw the overly long nails on the woman's pale fingers. He said calmly, "Why isn't this where I should be? This is my rental, and I'm the landlord now. Who are you? Why are you in my house? You should be the one leaving."
He also took out the lease contract, revealing the legally binding signature and official seal, as well as a copy of the homeowner's power of attorney to the agency attached to the contract. It was reasonable, legal and beyond doubt.
The woman in white was dazzled by the contract. She slowly withdrew her hand, holding the candle and floated back two steps, putting some distance between herself and Zhong Jiudao. Then she whispered, "I have lived in this house for a long time."
"Oh? How long? Do you have the right to reside here? If you don't have evidence to prove your right to reside here, you should leave here, otherwise you will infringe on my property rights." Zhong Jiudao asked.
He found the light switch on the wall and pressed it. With a "click", the light above the hall came on, illuminating the entire hall as if it were daytime. The woman in the white cheongsam was dazzled by the light and stretched out her hand to block it.
Zhong Jiudao glanced at the woman's feet and saw that she had no shadow under the bright light. He understood and turned off the light again, muttering, "This house is too big. Turning on all the lights will waste too much electricity. Let's save some before turning on the computer."
When the lights went out, the woman in white was obviously relieved. She looked at Zhong Jiudao dimly and whispered, "I have really lived in this house for a hundred years."
"In some foreign countries, if you live in a place for a long time, you automatically have the right to reside there, and the landlord has no right to evict the tenant. But our country does not have any regulations in this regard for the time being. Unless you have a contract granting you the right to reside there, you must move out." Zhong Jiudao made a "please" gesture to the woman in white, then ignored her, visited the first floor, and walked to the second floor.
The moment he turned on the light, Zhong Jiudao had a clear view of the structure of the first floor. The dust and cobwebs on the wall had been cleaned up by someone, and a faint figure flashed in the servant's room in the corner, apparently there was something living there.
The bedroom was on the second floor. The stairs were a bit old and made a creaking sound when stepped on. Zhong Jiudao took two steps and stopped. Looking back, he saw that the woman in white had not caught up with him. Instead, she was holding a candle and looking up at him with resentment.
"Why don't you come up?" Zhong Jiudao asked, "It's okay if you don't come up. Lend me the candle. My phone is running out of battery and it's inconvenient to use a flashlight."
Woman in white: “…”
Before she could say anything, a woman in a Western dress stood at the end of the stairs and said to Zhong Jiudao, "Because upstairs is my place, she, a lowly concubine, is not worthy to come up here."
The woman in white was on the first floor, her expression showing both resentment and fear.
"What era is it still talking about these dross?" Zhong Jiudao shook his head. "My house will be occupied by other people filming in a few days. You should move out as soon as possible."