Chapter 178: A Stalker, Maybe!
An Han rented a small apartment with one bedroom and one bathroom, around thirty square meters in size.
This apartment building not only accepted long-term tenants like her but also short-term guests like a hotel. Because of that, there were many people coming and going, making the place not very safe.
The main reason she chose this apartment was because the entrance on the first floor had a security door that required a card to enter. Even though there were many people, the short-term guests only stayed on the lower three floors, while long-term tenants like her lived on the top two floors.
Also, the apartment was in a quiet and remote location, which made it easier for her to avoid Su Peng.
But who could have guessed that Su Peng would take her suitcase and come here anyway, and even find a way to contact the sub-landlords?
Carrying An Han’s luggage, Su Peng had been frowning ever since he entered the building. He looked around carefully, then climbed up to the fifth floor in one go with two big bags.
If it had been An Han, carrying one suitcase and a thick quilt, she probably would’ve needed ten minutes just to climb those five floors.
The place felt more like a hotel than an apartment. The hallway was long and dark, with tightly closed doors on both sides. As they passed by some rooms, voices and loud videos could be heard inside.
Su Peng glanced at An Han with slight dissatisfaction, only to see her looking quite excited. She didn’t seem to dislike the place at all. In fact, she looked like she actually liked it.
“My room is over there,” An Han said as she walked ahead, jogging to the end of the hallway. She took out her key, opened the door, and smiled. “Not bad, right? It’s small, but still pretty nice.”
Su Peng leaned in and looked inside. There was a double bed, a small wardrobe, and a cheap little computer desk, those were all the furniture in the room. After stepping inside, he also noticed an old air conditioner and a tiny bathroom tucked deep in the corner, so narrow it was hard to even turn around in.
“Did you sign a contract?” he asked, putting down the luggage.
“Yes, the contract’s on the table.”
The room had already been cleaned before being rented out, so she didn’t need to do any extra cleaning. She dragged her luggage to the wardrobe and neatly put away her clothes. She would be living here for the next two or three months.
She didn’t need a living room or a kitchen, as long as the bedroom was clean and tidy, she was happy. The only downside was the small bathroom. If only it had a bathtub...
After unpacking and making the bed, An Han sat down tiredly at the end of the bed. Her phone, lying on the bed, started ringing.
She picked it up, tapped on the screen, and turned on the speaker.
“Mr. An Han, congratulations, you’ve—”
Before the person could finish speaking, she hung up directly. Then she noticed that the number was the same as the scam call she’d gotten earlier.
“I don’t even have money for you to scam...” she muttered, blocking the number before looking up at Su Peng. “What are you looking at?”
Ever since entering the room, he had been acting oddly, checking the outlets, the router, the light bulbs, and every corner like he was investigating something.
“I’m checking if there are any hidden cameras.”
Only then did An Han realize that rental rooms or hotels might have secret cameras hidden inside. She hadn’t thought about that at all before.
“How is it?” she asked seriously, suddenly feeling nervous.
“Looks fine so far.”
Su Peng checked the socket under the desk one last time, confirmed there was nothing wrong, then stood up and turned to ask, “Another scam call?”
“They said I won a prize.”
“Be more careful. There are a lot of scams these days,” he said as he walked up to her. “Do you want to keep moving your stuff from the dorm or get breakfast first?”
Sitting down, An Han’s eye level was about the same as his waist, so she quickly lay down on the bed to hide her embarrassment.
“Breakfast. You can go buy it,” she said.
“Alright.”
“Are you crazy or what! Get out of here right now! I don’t need you to buy me breakfast, and I don’t need you to help me move!”
She suddenly grabbed a pillow and threw it straight at Su Peng.
“You’re insane! I already moved out of the dorm, and you’re still following me around!”
Su Peng caught the pillow in surprise and looked at the angry An Han.
“So... I should go?”
“Get lost!”
He shrugged, not really caring, tossed the pillow back onto the bed, and walked straight out of her room, even closing the door behind him.
The sound of his footsteps in the hallway slowly faded away. Listening to that firm, fading sound, An Han suddenly sat up and muttered under her breath,
“Is he mad? He left so decisively…”
“It’d be nice if he was mad, but... his favorability score didn’t even go down...”
She sighed, ran her hands through her hair in frustration until it turned into a messy nest, and groaned,
“Ugh~ it was supposed to be a happy day!”
If she hadn’t kicked Su Peng out, this weekend would’ve been so relaxing. But even if it was nice, she couldn’t let herself enjoy that kind of forbidden comfort. Otherwise, she might end up liking a man...
Lying back down on the bed, An Han absentmindedly scrolled through TikTok on her phone. Most of her daily items could be brought from the dorm, but she still needed to buy a set of hangers, a few wall hooks, and cleaning tools like a broom, mop, and trash bin. All that would easily cost more than a hundred yuan.
She only had a few hundred left, so she’d have to live frugally and wait for next month’s allowance.
As her thoughts drifted, she began thinking about her ID problem. Since her ID card still showed her as male, her official gender was still “male.” She needed to fix that before graduation, or her diploma wouldn’t match her identity at all.
“The system should be able to handle it, right?”
Once the system gave her a reward related to ID correction, she’d have to accept that mission. If she tried to change the gender marker herself, the paperwork and required documents would be overwhelming and there was no guarantee she could even get them.
Then, she heard the landlady’s voice coming from the hallway.
“Young man, take a look and see which room you like. This one’s 550 yuan a month, it’s a bit bigger…”
Someone’s checking out the rooms already?
An Han frowned in confusion, then she heard a deep male voice.
“Is room 502 occupied?”
“No, I’ll open it for you to see.”
“!!!”
She jumped off the bed, rushed to the door, and peeked out into the hallway. There was Su Peng, wearing the same gentle smile, as if he had already guessed how she would react. The moment she looked out, their eyes met.
The cheerful landlady said, “That’s the young man from room 501, don’t mistake him for a girl.”
She had seen An Han’s ID before, so she was sure An Han was male.
“Su Peng!”
“You two know each other?” The landlady sensed the tension between them and wisely stepped back.
“You’re a freaking stalker, aren’t you!”
“How could I be?” Su Peng said with a bright smile, suddenly acting surprised. “Oh, so you live here too? That’s great!”
“I forbid you to live next door to me!”
“Sister, well…” Su Peng looked helplessly at the landlady.
The landlady just laughed and said, “It’s fine, he’ll take this room. Young people are like that.”
He just called a fifty-something lady ‘sister’!
“You really have no shame...”
An Han glared at Su Peng through gritted teeth.