My Romance Game Updated – Chapter 36

by Little Panda

Rent

First of all, there was no way they were going to live in the Tin Shacks. Setting aside the living conditions, the mere fact that several hundred people were crammed into one room—co-ed, no less—was enough to make the girls refuse. Although patrol personnel made rounds in the Tin Shacks area at night, they only patrolled the exterior and would just open the door to take a quick look inside. Who knew what kind of filthy things could happen in there?

The more people there were, the more complicated things became. This was the apocalypse; one shouldn’t always be so naive as to hold the most beautiful fantasies about the people around them.

Since the Tin Shacks were out, the only option left for Ren Chenxi and her group was the Teaching Building. The people there were just as complex, but at least a classroom had a door, windows, and its own private space. As long as they were vigilant and careful, a classroom was a relatively safe choice for a group of espers like them.

When they heard Ren Chenxi’s decision, Chen Gu and the others stared with wide, shocked eyes. Mu Ning even shook her head slightly in disapproval.

“Xi-jie, you’re all so strong, why not live in the Villa Area? Most of the espers in our base who are 3rd-order or above choose to team up and live in the Villa Area. You… Xi-jie, you-you can’t just because of our Boss, just…”

“We just don’t have any crystal cores!” Ren Chenxi interrupted Chen Gu’s baffling speculation, annoyed. No matter how much she disliked Mu Ning, she wouldn’t wrong herself and her companions by deliberately choosing to live in a terrible environment because of her.

“But Xi-jie, you didn’t even ask us about the cost of living in the Villa Area!!!”

“It’s definitely expensive!”

“No, it’s not that expensive! I think you can definitely afford it, Xi-jie. Besides, you have so much medicine, and medicine sells for sky-high prices in the base these days…”

“How much is ‘not that expensive’?”

“Uh… one… five thousand 1st-order crystal cores a month?” Chen Gu secretly exchanged a look with Mu Ning before answering hesitantly.

“Liar!” In Nanhai Base, the conversion rate for crystal cores was the same as the system’s crystal stone exchange rate: one 2nd-order core was equal to ten 1st-order cores, a 3rd-order core was a hundred, and so on. If a villa truly only cost 5,000 a month, Ren Chenxi could certainly afford it. The problem was, anyone could see that the rent for a place like the Villa Area couldn’t possibly be that low.

In reality, the rent for the Villa Area was as high as 20,000 1st-order crystal cores a month. That was why the espers who lived there were often several small teams sharing one building to split the cost.

Perhaps Ren Chenxi could afford 20,000 crystal cores, but the problem was that she still needed to save up cores to draw cards and build her strength! The thought of spending the equivalent of twenty card draws just to live a little more comfortably made Ren Chenxi’s flesh hurt.¹

Seeing the conflicted look on Ren Chenxi’s face, Mu Ning spoke up coolly. “5,000 1st-order crystal cores is the price I’m renting it to you for. I have two houses. The other one is just sitting empty, so I can rent it to you.”

“Two houses!!!”

All the S University students gasped in unison. Even Ren Chenxi was filled with all kinds of envy, jealousy, and hate.² From Mu Ning’s tone, it was clear both houses were her own. She didn’t have to pay rent and could even decide to rent out her property. If it were a base-owned house, how could she have the right to do that? So, while other espers could only pay rent, how did this Mu Ning come to own two houses?

Sensing Ren Chenxi’s confusion, Mu Ning explained in a low voice, “Qi Sheng assigned them to me.”

“…” Damn it, why did that explanation sound like she was showing off! Are you trying to flaunt the fact that only you have a private residence? But you haven’t forgotten that Fan Juntian’s entire family lives in the Luxury Mansion Area, have you? What are you so smug about!

While Ren Chenxi was seething internally, Chen Gu quickly added, “The last time the base was hit by a zombie tide, Boss contributed the most, so she was awarded two houses. Boss risked her life for these houses!” The subtext was: Don’t get the wrong idea, Boss didn’t get these houses easily through some shady means.

Amidst the fervent, worshipful gazes of the junior students, Mu Ning just stared fixedly at Ren Chenxi and continued, “The house is mine. I wouldn’t let just anyone live in it, but you are… you are his meimei. I should take care of you, so how about I charge you 5,000 1st-order crystal cores for rent?” In truth, Mu Ning didn’t want to charge Ren Chenxi a single crystal core, but she was afraid Ren Chenxi wouldn’t accept it.

How about it? What else could she say? A price like that for a detached house… of course she was tempted! She wouldn’t have to live with a bunch of other people, and she’d have her own bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom. Using the toilet and taking a shower would be so convenient…

But… it was Mu Ning’s house, after all. A house Mu Ning was renting to her cheaply. Hearing Mu Ning repeatedly say she wanted to take care of her just pissed Ren Chenxi off. She didn’t want to be indebted to Mu Ning at all!

Sharply sensing Ren Chenxi’s intention to refuse, Mu Ning beat her to it, not giving her a chance to speak. “I know you don’t want to owe me any favors. How about this? Don’t you have a lot of medicine in your space? We can’t be sure how much medicine it will take to heal Sun Jia, or how expensive those medicines are. So just treat this as a transaction with me. As long as you completely heal Sun Jia’s injuries, I’ll rent this house to you for 2,000 1st-order crystal cores.”

The moment Mu Ning said this, the refusal on the tip of Ren Chenxi’s tongue was forcefully swallowed back down. That’s right, I’ve already decided to treat Mu Ning as a stranger, so making a fair trade with a stranger is perfectly normal, right? She had just heard Chen Gu mention the sky-high price of medicine in the apocalypse. Using her medicine to trade for cheaper rent… that was acceptable! A house rented through a fair trade meant she wouldn’t be indebted to Mu Ning. She could live there with a clear conscience, and comfortably at that.

And so, under the scorching gazes of Jian Dan and the others, Ren Chenxi gave a slight nod. Seeing her finally agree, Jian Dan’s group cheered and high-fived. After all, life in the apocalypse was hard, but who wouldn’t want to live in a big house with better conditions?

As Jian Dan and the others happily pulled Ren Chenxi into their chattering, the group of S University students exchanged glances. Then, Tang Ying mustered her courage, took a step forward, and asked Ren Chenxi cautiously, “Xi-Xi-jie… um… we…”

It wasn’t just Ren Chenxi and her friends who wanted to live in a big house; the S University students also wanted better accommodations. They had traveled a great distance to seek refuge with Mu-xuejie. While they did hope for some care from Mu Ning, they never intended to freeload. Now, Mu Ning only had two houses—one for her own team and one rented to Ren Chenxi. Compared to Mu Ning’s team, Ren Chenxi’s side only had five girls. So, Tang Ying wanted to discuss with Ren Chenxi whether they could rent half the house from them.

However, the request was on the tip of her tongue, but Tang Ying couldn’t bring herself to say it. Along the way, Ren Chenxi had already taken care of them so much, even getting injured to protect them. To ask to co-rent with her now… Tang Ying was a little embarrassed and also afraid Ren Chenxi would refuse. Of course, if Ren Chenxi did refuse, her group would choose to live in the Teaching Building.

Ren Chenxi looked at Tang Ying, then at the nervous S University students beside her, and took the initiative to ask, “Well, it’s a bit empty for just the five of us in a big house. If you don’t mind… would you be willing to co-rent with us?” They were her former junior schoolmates, after all. Plus, more people meant they could split the rent further. Besides, if it were just five girls living in one house, it might attract the attention of scoundrels. More people meant more safety. As for whether these people were reliable and if they could coexist peacefully in the future… she had the mini-map’s red dot indicator. What was there to be afraid of?

“Really? Can we really co-rent with you, Xi-jie?” The sudden surprise made the group of young students excited and overjoyed~

“Is that okay?” Ren Chenxi turned back to ask for the opinions of Jian Dan and the other two. She was in a team with the three girls now, so her companions’ opinions were also very important. Jian Dan’s group already knew Yang Xiangrui’s group and had a good impression of them. Furthermore, they were only able to rent this house because of the medicine in Ren Chenxi’s space, so without any hesitation, all three of them agreed. That only left Huo Keyu, who was still in quarantine. But it probably wouldn’t be a big issue. Although Huo Keyu was very wary, she generally went along with the group’s decisions. For instance, when they first met these students, didn’t Huo Keyu refuse to let them on the bus? But later, when danger struck, she was the first to move away from the bus door.

Over here, Ren Chenxi’s side had reached an agreement, but over there, Mu Ning was inexplicably a little unhappy. She didn’t know why, but she felt nothing about her own team being co-ed. Yet, the thought of Ren Chenxi living with a group of boys made her feel displeased.

“You all…” Meeting Ren Chenxi’s questioning gaze, Mu Ning paused, then continued, “Are you just going to live together, men and women?”

“…Aren’t you also living together, men and women?” Ren Chenxi was baffled. What was wrong with men and women living together? At worst, they could just assign different floors to men and women!

“…” Mu Ning didn’t know what to say, so she simply continued to signal Chen Gu with her eyes.

Chen Gu received Mu Ning’s hint. Although he didn’t quite understand, he knew that Boss seemed to mind her boyfriend’s meimei living in a co-ed arrangement. His eyes darted around, and he immediately said, “Actually, co-ed living is very inconvenient. Both of Boss’s houses are those very old-fashioned self-built houses you see in the countryside. The first floor has a kitchen, a dining room, and a public toilet, and the second to fourth floors are for sleeping…”

“???” Having grown up in a peaceful era with relatively advanced technology, Ren Chenxi was very confused. With so many people in one rural house, wouldn’t they have to line up for the toilet when they were in a hurry?

Before Ren Chenxi could ask, Song Xin at her side had already blurted out the question. Chen Gu patiently explained, “Well, in the past, rural people… were also used to using chamber pots…”

Actually, when they were first assigned these two self-built houses, the toilet situation was even worse. It was only after they put in a great deal of effort and paid out of their own pockets to hire some workers that they managed to improve the toilets slightly and even partition off a separate bathroom. Initially, they had only planned to renovate one building, but it was Boss who insisted on renovating the other one as well. Chen Gu always felt that Boss had intended to save that other building for herself and her future boyfriend. But now that the boyfriend was gone, giving it to the boyfriend’s meimei was the same thing. And then… living with the boyfriend’s meimei was also the same thing?

Right, what Boss meant just now was that she hoped their two groups would combine and split the houses by gender, right? That way, Boss could logically and justifiably live with her boyfriend’s meimei? At this thought, a flash of inspiration struck Chen Gu, and he immediately suggested, “Anyway, since there are a lot of us now, why don’t we just split up by gender, one house for men and one for women?”

The author has something to say:

Chen ‘Wingman’³ Gu: I don’t know why, but as long as I follow the Boss’s wishes, it’ll be fine~

Tang ‘Dream Crystal’ ‘Tool Person’⁴ ‘CP Chief’⁵ Ying: Beautifully done

Footnotes

肉疼 (ròuténg): Literally “flesh hurting.” A slang term for feeling the sting of spending money or resources, as if it’s a physical pain.
羡慕嫉妒恨 (xiànmù jídù hèn): A popular Chinese internet slang phrase combining “envy, jealousy, and hate” to express an intense and complex feeling of wanting what someone else has.
助攻 (zhùgōng): Literally “assist” in sports. In slang, it means to act as a “wingman” for a potential couple.
工具人 (gōngjù rén): Literally “tool person.” A slang term for a character who exists primarily to serve a plot purpose, often without much agency of their own.
CP头子 (CP tóuzi): “CP” is short for “couple pairing.” A “CP chief” is slang for the biggest fan or “shipper” of a particular romantic pairing.

Footnotes

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