Era of Mist

Chapter 280: Chapter 279: A Dog’s Bark: Expensive, Expensive, Expensive

After finishing his side job, Shi Tiexin found a place to eat.

With his head on straight, Shi Tiexin immediately fell back into his old, frugal habits. He constantly reminded himself that he was broke now, and the world he saw instantly became much simpler.

He wandered through the main streets and back alleys, his eyes automatically filtering out any lavishly decorated storefronts. Any place with high-end lighting effects, regardless of what its sign said, was automatically translated in his mind into phrases like ’None of my business’ or ’Not for me’. This significantly reduced his mental load.

After searching for a moment, he found an eatery that seemed to fit his self-perceived status. He squeezed into a shared table in the crowd and ate a bowl of noodles. The flavor was mediocre and it contained negligible essence, but the portion was large and filling.

The bill came to five value points.

’So expensive!’

After eating, he started looking for real estate agencies to sort out his housing situation. From what he knew, Tumu First Orthodox School offered student dorms, but the fees were steep—ten thousand value points for a school year. This immediately solidified his decision to find a place on his own.

In fact, many students solved their housing problems this way.

The dorms at Tumu First Orthodox School were said to be two-person suites with good living conditions, complete with an attached gym and cultivation rooms. Students whose families could afford it were happy to live there. But Shi Tiexin wasn’t picky about conditions right now; he was just looking for whatever was cheapest.

He searched around, and the cheapest option he found was 320 points a month.

”Can I see the apartment?”

”Hold on, let me check. Hmm... alright, I happen to be free. Follow me.”

The real estate agent’s expression was sullen and indifferent—not a pleasant sight. But what was even less pleasant were the living conditions. Not only was the building old and in a remote location far from Tumu First Orthodox School, but the hygiene was the real kicker—Shi Tiexin saw a rat the size of a shoe!

The moment he opened the door, a rat as big as a shoe scurried past him in a flash. As big as a shoe!

Now, consider that Shi Tiexin was over two meters tall. Just how big do you think his shoes were!

Looking inside, he saw what was once a normal family home, with about 120 square meters of usable space. But for 320 points a month, you definitely weren’t getting all that space.

Countless thin partition walls had been used to divide the various large and small rooms into even more tiny, tiny rooms. The soundproofing of the plastic partitions was nonexistent, and more importantly, the rooms were minuscule. Besides a bed, there was basically no room for any other furniture.

The 120-square-meter apartment had been crudely partitioned into eight single rooms, every one of them filthy. It was afternoon, and the mix of tenants seemed quite... eclectic. There was snoring, teeth grinding, and someone yelling at their computer game, with no one showing any consideration for anyone else.

Suspicious panting sounds were also coming from the bathroom, making it impossible to tell what was going on in there.

”This is it?”

”This is it.” The agent apathetically pushed open a door. The inside was a pigsty, crammed like a storage unit. ”This is the last room. That’s all just trash other people left behind. Just clean it up and it’ll be fine.”

Shi Tiexin looked around and noticed a problem. ”There doesn’t seem to be a bed.”

”There isn’t.”

”How am I supposed to live here without even a bed?”

”Didn’t I just say? You furnish it yourself. No bed? Sleep on the floor. You figure it out.” The agent glanced at his watch, his face a mask of impatience. ”Look, are you renting it or not? There are other people waiting to see it, so don’t waste my time.”

’Forget it. How the hell am I supposed to study if I live here? This environment is even worse than the trash class dorms at Fengming First Middle School!’

’At least in the trash class dorms, no one was screaming while playing video games.’

”Do you have anything better?” Shi Tiexin decided to give it one last shot. ”I don’t care about the size or the location, and I can clean it myself. Do you at least have anything quiet?”

”So picky!” The real estate agent rolled his eyes, then thought for a moment before suddenly clapping his hands. ”Hey, I actually do have one. It’s a basement apartment in a residential complex just across from the Central Hospital.”

Shi Tiexin immediately perked up. ’Ooh, a great location!’ ”A basement is fine! Is it quiet?”

”Should be.” The agent offered his flawless reasoning. ”The tenants there are all patients with depression. I don’t think they’d be very noisy.”

”Uh...”

”There are also infectious disease patients waiting for appointments nearby, so it’s a bit cheaper. Five hundred and eighty a month.”

”Five hundred and eighty for *that*?!”

”Five eighty is a good deal,” the agent said smugly. ”You don’t have to take it. Plenty of others will. I can rent it to those depression and infectious disease patients for even more than 580 a month. There’s a long line of people waiting for a room.”

Shi Tiexin was speechless.

”If you’re still not happy, I have a premium listing,” the agent said, suddenly pulling out a brochure with a sly grin. ”Take a look at this one. Great location, lots of natural light, convenient transportation. It’s a ninety-eight-square-meter apartment, and we’re only looking for three people to share. The other two are female students. The key part is the shared bathroom and kitchen. *Shared*, you get it? This is your chance, kid! You want it?”

’That actually sounds pretty good—and I’m not talking about the two female students!’

”How much?”

”Only three thousand two hundred a month.”

”My family is poor. Farewell.”

”Hey, hey, I can go a little lower! Three thousand one hundred is fine too!”

”Still poor. Continuing my farewell!”

’This is so damn expensive! For that price, why wouldn’t I just live in the dorms at the First Orthodox School? In comparison, the school’s housing fee suddenly seemed like an incredible bargain.’

Shi Tiexin beat a hasty retreat, leaving the real estate agent to stare contemptuously at his back. The agent spat and muttered, ”Poor country bumpkin.”

Could Shi Tiexin really not afford the ten-thousand-a-year dorms? Yes and no. If he wrote business cards for a month starting today, he’d have the entire year’s housing fee covered. Broken down monthly, the dorms only cost a little over eight hundred, which was much more cost-effective than one of those partitioned rooms.

But that wasn’t the right way to look at it.

Besides housing, didn’t he need money for essence-nourishing food? For supplementary secret manuals? For Power Skill Methods? For tuition and all sorts of other fees?

An income of ten thousand a month would have been fine at any other school, but at the First Orthodox School, it probably wouldn’t be enough. After all, the First Orthodox School was a gathering place for geniuses, and there were plenty of students with family backgrounds far superior to He Chong’s.

In the future, these classmates would all be his competitors in the Provincial Examination.

Shi Tiexin had no intention of just handing over the top spot in the Provincial Examination. Whether he could succeed or not, he would never back down without a fight.

That was why Shi Tiexin felt it was necessary to save money in every possible way, so he could spend it where it was needed most.

For example, on buying a better Nourishing Essence Technique.

’Speaking of Cultivation Techniques, should I find a shop to sell that Heart Skill Secret Manual?’ With that thought, Shi Tiexin immediately found a moderately-sized shop and walked inside.

The first thing he saw upon entering was a large sign reading ”GRAND SALE.” Below it was a full array of other placards: ”EXTRA DISCOUNT,” ”SUPER DISCOUNT,” ”FINAL MARKDOWN,” the whole shebang.

’What exactly is on sale?’

He took a closer look—Basic Driving Skill.

He looked at the price—five thousand value points.

’Prices in the city are so damn expensive!!’