pjbooks Chapter 8 The Secret in the River View Room
Chapter 8 The Secret in the River View Room
When Chen Mo finished signing the purchase contract and left Jiangpan Mansion, it was already 11 p.m.
He stood at the entrance of the residential compound and lit a cigarette.
He doesn't usually smoke much, but tonight his mind was racing with too many thoughts, and he needed a cigarette to cool down.
Guan Yao on the plane, Shen Jiayi in the bar, Lin Shiyu in the rented room.
Three women, three completely different flavors.
Guan Yao was cold. That coldness wasn't a deliberate act, but rather an innate, chilling quality, like well water in the depths of winter. Even as she bent down in the bathroom, her eyes remained completely still, as if she were simply completing a task, clean and efficient, without any hesitation.
Shen Jiayi was warm. Her warmth was like a summer evening breeze, carrying the unique composure of a mature woman. She wore a red dress, her voice languid, and a half-smile always played on her lips as she spoke, making her enigmatic yet irresistibly alluring.
Lin Shiyu is shattered. Like a broken mirror, each shard still reflects light, yet each shard is sharp. You want to bend down and pick them up for her, but you're afraid of cutting yourself. But what you fear even more is that if you don't pick them up, no one will.
Chen Mo exhaled a puff of smoke, watching it slowly dissipate and disappear under the dim streetlights.
He took out his phone and opened the bank's app.
Balance: 9,467,800 yuan.
Nine million four hundred and sixty-seven thousand eight hundred yuan.
He paid a down payment of 860,000 yuan for the house, and the system returned 8.6 million yuan. It's like getting a house for free and making a net profit of more than 7 million yuan.
He had a general idea of the system's logic. The larger the purchase amount, the more cashback you get, and it arrives almost instantly with no delay.
But he also noticed a problem: the system only triggered the cashback when he "spent." Buying plane tickets counted, buying clothes counted, buying a house counted, and even the 50,000 yuan he topped up at the bar counted. But what about transferring money to Lin Shiyu to help her pay off her debts? If it did, then he could just transfer 200,000 yuan and the system would return 2 million, making the deal much better. If it didn't, then he'd have to find another way.
Chen Mo stubbed out his cigarette and decided to give it a try tomorrow.
He hailed a taxi and gave them his home address.
My phone vibrated as the car crossed the bridge over the river.
A WeChat message from Su Wan.
"Chen Mo, did you go to see Lin Shiyu?"
"Um."
"How is she?"
Chen Mo thought for a moment and typed back: "Not good, but it will get better."
Su Wan sent a sighing emoji and said, "You were always meddling in other people's business back in college, and you still are."
Chen Mo smiled and replied, "This is no small matter."
Su Wan was silent for about a minute before sending a voice message.
Chen Mo opened the phone, and Su Wan's voice came through, carrying a subtle emotion: "Chen Mo, are you this nice to every girl?"
This question surprised Chen Mo.
He thought for a moment and replied, "No."
Su Wan fell silent again.
After a while, she sent a text message: "That's good. Good night."
Chen Mo looked at the two words on the screen and felt that there was something more to her words, but he was too lazy to think about it. He put his phone in his pocket, leaned back in his seat, and closed his eyes to rest.
When Chen got home, his mother was already asleep.
On the coffee table in the living room was a bowl of white fungus and lotus seed soup covered with plastic wrap, with a note next to it: "Son, the soup is on the table, remember to drink it. Mom."
Chen Mo picked up the bowl, peeled off the plastic wrap, and drank it all in one gulp.
The sweetness is just right, and the temperature is just right too.
His mother always did this; no matter how late he came home, she would always leave him a bowl of soup or gravy. It was warm in winter and cool in summer, all year round, without fail.
Chen Mo washed the dishes, returned to his room, lay on the bed, and stared at the ceiling.
There's a crack in the ceiling that's been there since he was a child, and it gets a little bigger every year. But his dad has never fixed it, saying he'll "fix it when we save up enough money for a complete renovation."
This "waiting" has been going on for almost twenty years.
Chen Mo closed his eyes.
He didn't plan to tell his parents about the system. It wasn't that he didn't trust them; it was just that the whole thing was too outrageous, and telling them would only make them worry. He just needed them to gradually feel the changes. A bigger house, a nice car, a trip abroad, and a better life for them.
That's the most important thing.
As for those women...
Chen Mo rolled over, a smile curving his lips.
There is ample time.
The next morning, Chen Mo was awakened by a cell phone ringing.
He squinted at the screen; it was an unfamiliar number.
"Feed?"
"Mr. Chen Mo? This is Xiao Zhou, a sales consultant at Jiangpan Mansion. The loan application for the apartment you viewed yesterday has been approved. Can you come to sign the formal contract at 3 PM today?"
Chen Mo was stunned for a moment.
So fast?
Normally, mortgage approval takes at least three to five business days, so how come it was approved in just one night?
"So fast?" he asked.
Xiao Zhou's voice on the other end of the phone carried a hint of flattery: "Mr. Chen, we have a partnership with the bank, and your qualifications are excellent. The bank has given us special approval for expedited processing."
Chen Mo hummed in agreement: "Okay, I'll be there at three o'clock this afternoon."
After hanging up the phone, he glanced at the time. It was 9:30 a.m.
There are still five and a half hours until 3 p.m.
He rolled over, opened WeChat, and saw a message from Lin Shiyu sent at 2 a.m.
"Chen Mo, I can't sleep. I'm thinking about the work you mentioned. Are you serious?"
Chen Mo typed back: "Seriously. I'll pick you up at 3 PM this afternoon, bring your ID, and help you cancel your rental agreement first."
He sent the message, assuming Lin Shiyu was still asleep and wouldn't reply quickly.
But less than ten seconds later, the other party replied.
"Okay. I'm all packed."
Chen Mo looked at the message and a slight smile appeared on his lips.
She's already packed? Does that mean she's been packing her bags since last night? Or rather, she's been waiting for this message?
"Then I'll be downstairs at three o'clock."
"Okay. Be careful on the road."
Chen Mo put down his phone and got up to wash up.
He went into the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. He had slept well last night, his complexion was good, and his eyes had a sharp light that seemed to have been activated by the system, like some long-dormant beast finally opening its eyes.
I shaved my beard, washed my hair, blow-dried it, and then styled it simply with hair wax.
He opened his wardrobe, but the clothes he bought from JD.com yesterday hadn't arrived yet, so he had to continue wearing the black jacket and white sneakers.
It doesn't matter.
What you wear is not important; what matters is the person wearing the clothes.
Chen Mo has always been confident about this.
At 2:50 p.m., Chen Mo appeared on time at the entrance of the alley in the urban village where Lin Shiyu rented a place.
He saw her the moment he got out of the taxi.
Lin Shiyu stood under the streetlight at the alley entrance, with two large woven bags and a backpack at her feet.
She was a completely different person today compared to last night.