32: Something went wrong with the system?

"Handsome guy, are you the one who wants to rent the apartment?"

"Yes, that's Mr. Li, right?"

"Yes."

Led by the landlord, the two parked the electric scooter and went upstairs to view the apartment.

It was on the sixth floor of an elevator building, with two bedrooms, a living room, a balcony, and a bathroom. Neither the living room nor the bedrooms had tiled floors, so there was no need to worry about condensation during the humid spring season. The actual area was roughly fifty or sixty square meters, and Ye Su could take it all in with a single glance.

The air conditioner, refrigerator, and other supporting appliances were all complete, and they weren't those energy-inefficient antiques often talked about online. With no other issues, Ye Su decided to rent the apartment on the spot.

Seeing Ye Su rent the place so readily, the landlord briefly explained the lease terms:

"Two thousand five hundred per month, one-year minimum lease, two-month deposit plus one month's rent. If you move out early, the deposit won't be refunded. You pay the utilities online yourself. If things break during normal use, I can find someone to fix them. If it's man-made damage, you'll need to pay for it according to the price, which I'll write in the contract."

"Can I do a one-month deposit and one month's rent?"

With a two-month deposit, Ye Su would only have five hundred yuan left on hand. Naturally, he wanted to negotiate to see if he could keep that extra two thousand five hundred yuan to use for emergencies over the next few days:

"I'm a bit short on cash these days, so a two-month deposit is a bit stressful. But don't worry, I will definitely pay the rent on time every month."

"I always ask for a two-month deposit when I rent out my place. Look at the appliances and the sofa in here—if you accidentally break them, a one-month deposit wouldn't be enough to cover it."

"Don't worry, I'll just be using them normally; I definitely won't break your things. Besides, even if I accidentally broke something, it's impossible to break everything, right?"

The landlord seemed a bit hesitant, presumably afraid that Ye Su was in financial difficulty and would fall behind on rent later:

"How about this: since you said things are a bit tight for you these few days, you can just pay one month's deposit first. When you pay next month's rent, you can make up for the other month's deposit. Is that okay?"

Make up the deposit next month?

Let alone waiting until next month to sell off those gold futures, where he should be able to make a profit, even just dismantling the coffee table in the next two days to retrieve the [qianlong tongbao·back dragon and phoenix lucky coin] inside would be enough to make his life prosperous again.

"Alright, let's do as you say. Thank you, landlord."

Hearing Ye Su agree to pay the remaining deposit next month, the landlord was clearly much more at ease.

If Ye Su were problematic, he would rather leave the place vacant for a while than take on a troublesome tenant.

"Okay, let's sign the contract."

Since the lease was for less than a year, the deposit wouldn't be refunded anyway, so the landlord wasn't afraid of Ye Su playing tricks. He filled in 5000 yuan for the deposit directly on the lease contract, but the receipt he gave Ye Su only covered one month's deposit and one month's rent.

With the landlord's help, he linked his utility accounts, took the two keys and the access card, and Ye Su successfully completed the first rental of his life.

"Take care, landlord."

"Yeah."

After seeing the landlord off, while the excitement was still fresh, Ye Su wandered around the inside and outside of the apartment, then ordered a four-piece bedding set based on the dimensions of the master bed.

It was already past eleven o'clock. Going to the mini-storage, calling a vehicle to move the coffee table back, would be a bit rushed, and the items he bought online yesterday were still in transit.

"I've already paid seven days of rent, so leaving it there for a while longer is just getting more of my money's worth."

It wasn't a rush. Ye Su rode his electric scooter to the supermarket to buy a mop and other daily necessities, cleaned the apartment simply, and then returned to the school cafeteria to grab lunch.

Ever since the "illicit affair" between Ye Su and Chen Xinyi was exposed, his three roommates didn't want to bother with him anymore, wondering what Ye Su was actually doing whenever he disappeared all day.

This actually saved Ye Su the trouble of making up stories.

...

After finishing two classes in the afternoon, the delivery arrived just in time, so Ye Su rode his electric scooter to the mini-storage building.

When he used the mini-storage's trolley to move the coffee table downstairs, the van he called had already arrived.

"Driver, could you help me lift this? And then when we get to the underground garage over there, could you borrow a trolley to help me carry the coffee table upstairs? I'll give you an extra ten yuan, is that okay?"

Stingy as he was, Ye Su knew that the driver was earning hard-earned money, and he was still clear-headed enough to know what fees should be paid.

"Sure." The driver agreed readily.

"Driver, can the electric scooter be lifted onto the van and transported together? That way you won't have to wait for me over there."

"Hmm." Presumably because Ye Su had offered extra money, the driver didn't make a fuss about the electric scooter being dangerous. "Fine."

For two grown men, lifting the coffee table and the electric scooter onto the van was easy.

Back at the residential complex, they moved the coffee table upstairs. After scanning ten yuan to the driver and seeing him off, Ye Su couldn't wait to open the package, take out the metal detector, and go to the coffee table.

Holding onto a glimmer of hope, he first took out the two drawers to inspect them. Unsurprisingly, there was no sign of the ancient coins.

He swept the metal detector around a few times. Only the two spherical handles made the metal detector beep, which allowed Ye Su to rule out the possibility of the drawers having hidden compartments.

"This 79 yuan was well spent. If I didn't have this thing, I'd probably have to take an axe to the whole coffee table."

Immediately after, Ye Su focused his target on the coffee table, picked up the metal detector, and started scanning.

But after scanning inside and out several times, ensuring that every spot was covered, even scanning inside the drawers thoroughly, Ye Su was dumbfounded.

"What's going on? Why is there nothing here?"

During the detection, the metal detector had beeped several times, but when Ye Su used all his might to flip the coffee table ninety degrees, he discovered that the places where the metal detector had beeped were just nails used to fix the corners.

Unwilling to give up, Ye Su took the metal detector and scanned it several more times, but the result was still the same.

"Could I have bought the wrong one?" Ye Su's heart tightened, and he wanted to run back to the furniture store immediately to confirm.

But then he shook his head and comforted himself: "That shouldn't be..."

Yesterday, when he was choosing the coffee table, the system's prompt light had clearly landed on this coffee table. The target was so obvious, how could he have picked the wrong one?

"Could it be that the wood is too thick for this small metal detector to detect, or does this thing not detect copper coins at all?"

To verify, Ye Su took out a coin, placed it under the coffee table, and scanned it with the metal detector.

Beep, beep, beep—

"It can detect it..." Ye Su was completely confused now:

"Even if the metal detector failed, I just checked it, and this coffee table is made so solidly that it's impossible for there to be a hidden compartment inside, right?"

"Could it be that in the end, I still have to saw this coffee table open? That's too much work!"

Looking at the hundred-plus pounds of wood in front of him, Ye Su didn't know where to start and could only pace back and forth around the coffee table.

Thud—

Accidentally, his right big toe kicked the drawer he had just taken out, and the pain made Ye Su gasp:

"Damn! Why am I so unlucky today!"

"Hmm?"

Rubbing his big toe, Ye Su's gaze suddenly fell on the two drawers on the floor, or more accurately, on the two flat, circular handles with patterns.