23: Moving to a new home

(The rent in this chapter is based on the rental standards for celebrities. Many people say it's expensive, but that's because you haven't seen truly high-end rental properties. In super first-tier cities, large flat apartments rent for tens of thousands of yuan a month, only to wealthy people like foreigners or celebrities. If you really don't understand, you can search on Douyin.)

This is a house specifically for high-end rentals, for those who have money but don't buy houses, doing business only with the wealthy.

The entire apartment, excluding shared areas, is 268 square meters, costing 38,000 yuan per month, with a deposit of two months' rent and payment of three months' rent upfront, and a minimum rental period of six months.

Small modifications can be made according to personal preference; major modifications require communication with the landlord.

Chen Xiangbei really liked the style of this house; it looked very cozy.

The living room is about 86 square meters, the kitchen is 20 square meters, the balcony is 10 square meters, and the two bathrooms are 6 square meters each.

There are three rooms: he will live in the master bedroom, which is 60 square meters; the second bedroom is 40 square meters for spare use; and the study is also 40 square meters and can be converted into an e-sports room.

The only regret is the lack of a storage room, but the balcony is enclosed, so things can be placed there.

Besides, living alone doesn't require many things, and the items in the rental house have already been sorted through once.

When moving, he'll probably have to sift through them again, and what's left should just be some clothes and other daily necessities.

After touring the house, Chen Xiangbei readily signed the rental contract and paid the rent.

"[Bank Card Number 4539] spent 190,000 yuan at 10:14, balance 314,488.6 yuan."

"Mr. Chen is decisive! Here, this key is for you. Do you want to change the lock? If you do, I won't show you the remaining keys. If not, I'll go back and get the keys for you," the agent asked.

"Of course I'll change it. Just give me one key. I'll buy a new lock and replace it later."

"Alright then, I'll be going now. You can contact me if you have any questions, or you can find the landlord. I'll send you the landlord's contact information later."

With that, the agent turned around, opened the door, and left.

"This money really doesn't last. Renting a house costs 190,000."

Chen Xiangbei first opened a domestic service app and found a professional cleaning team to come and clean the house.

A newly renovated house has a lot of dust left over from the renovation in many places, so it needs to be thoroughly cleaned before it can be lived in.

After placing the order, Chen Xiangbei drove to a home furnishing mall and found a high-end smart lock store.

He bought a smart lock with a novel appearance and a high-security level, and the price was also quite expensive.

The store provided installation and maintenance services. He asked the store to arrange for someone to go with him now to install the lock.

The store readily agreed and arranged for a Old Master to go with him in the car.

The entire purchase process took less than 15 minutes.

While the door lock was being installed, the domestic service team also arrived.

Chen Xiangbei told them his cleaning requirements and then shopped for daily necessities online in the living room.

First, two sets of four-piece bedding for each room, for changing and washing, and two sets each of summer and winter silk quilts.

Then came the cooking utensils.

The kitchen only had large items like a gas stove and refrigerator; small items like bowls and chopsticks were not yet available.

So he bought two sets of bowls, chopsticks, and plates, as well as some other kitchen utensils, and also bought a coffee machine.

The study was empty except for a few tables.

Chen Xiangbei wanted to turn this into an e-sports room, so computers were essential.

Therefore, he found a computer specialty store online and purchased three custom-built desktop computers costing around ten thousand yuan each, as well as two high-end laptops.

Custom-built computers have much stronger performance than pre-built ones; all the components like motherboards, graphics cards, and storage were chosen for quality.

The furniture in the house was complete and high-end; there wasn't much else to buy except for personal necessities.

After some more browsing, Chen Xiangbei had bought everything he needed for the moment; anything else could wait.

In the meantime, the smart lock for the front door had been installed, and Chen Xiangbei tried it out, finding the effect quite good.

It could be opened by fingerprint, facial recognition, or key, making it very secure.

At 12:30 PM, since the new house wasn't very dirty, just needed the dust cleaned up.

Therefore, the domestic service team finished after cleaning back and forth three times.

Chen Xiangbei was very satisfied during the inspection and gave each person an extra 100 yuan as a reward.

After the domestic service team left, Chen Xiangbei walked on the streets near his new home to find something to eat and familiarize himself with the surroundings.

Less than 200 meters southeast of the community was a large supermarket with lots of food options.

Chen Xiangbei found a Cantonese restaurant, had a simple meal, and then went back.

He had originally planned to go back to the urban village to move his luggage, but he didn't want to waste the day's earnings.

So, he returned to the community parking lot to get his car, went to the rental house in the urban village to get his fishing gear, and prepared to go fishing.

It was now two in the afternoon, quite late, so he didn't go far, just fished on the main river channel near the urban area.

This was a riverside park in the urban area, where people fished all year round.

This resulted in the fish in this section being difficult to catch, with many small fish, and the large fish being very cunning.

Chen Xiangbei could only pray that the Secret Bait would work wonders, otherwise the day would be wasted.

At this time, there were many people fishing by the river.

On the hundred-meter-long boardwalk, hundreds of fishing rods were set up, with an average of 3 rods per person, essentially looking for a needle in a haystack.

Chen Xiangbei found a spot with a larger gap, adjusted his equipment, took out the Secret Bait he had prepared in advance, and joined the ranks of fishermen.

An Uncle fishing nearby saw Chen Xiangbei using a large hook and reminded him.

"Little brother, the large fish here are very cunning. You can catch some small fish or gobies, but the big ones are hard to catch."

"Uncle, my ancestral Secret Bait can catch any fish," Chen Xiangbei joked.

"It's not that simple. There was a fishing friend who didn't believe it and spent several hundred yuan on baiting, but in the end, he only caught a few small fish and one crucian carp."

"It's okay, I'll just try. If I don't catch anything, I'll just consider it a contribution to the Zhu River fisheries."

"That's true. The fishing situation in the Zhu River is getting worse and worse now. There are many illegal fishermen, plus the rampant foreign invasive species, leading to fewer and fewer native fish," the Uncle sighed.

"It will gradually get better. Now that urban development is increasingly prosperous and environmental protection is becoming stricter, I believe it won't be long before the water environment of the Zhu River recovers..."

Before he finished speaking, Chen Xiangbei got a bite. Feeling the feedback from the fishing rod, it was quite intense; it should be a decent-sized one.

Patiently playing the fish, he found that this fish's burst of energy was much longer than the fish he had caught in the past; it kept struggling.

But Chen Xiangbei didn't give in. He slowly managed the fishing rod in his hand and pulled it out shortly after.

The surrounding fishermen had been paying attention to the movement on the water.

It wasn't until Chen Xiangbei pulled the fish out of the water that they realized what it was.

The kind Uncle next to him offered to help net the fish, but Chen Xiangbei said.

"Use my net. Yours for catching small fish won't hold this big guy."

Seeing this, the Uncle also realized that it was a big fish, and his small net was even smaller than the fish, so he picked up Chen Xiangbei's net to help.