Chapter 137: Did he meet scammers?

"It says here that you will be attending Peking University this autumn?"

"Um."

"Then congratulations!"

Auntie Zhang’s voice suddenly boomed, echoing through the empty walls of the apartment, startling the young man.

"There is a hidden welfare that our apartment building offers to students who rent an entire apartment by themselves. We can help you get furniture sets and household appliances from secondhand shops at a heavily discounted price."

The young man’s eyes widened under the brim of his cap.

"Welfare?"

Auntie Zhang nodded enthusiastically.

"That’s right! When the owner first built this place, he actually wanted to extend this benefit to all the tenants. But we told him that would be too much for us to handle, so he eventually limited it to students who rent an entire apartment on their own."

The young man hesitated before speaking.

"...That sounds almost too good to be true."

Seeing that he was still skeptical, Auntie Zhang rolled her eyes.

"Of course it’s true! There is a student renting one of the one-bedroom apartments on the fourth floor. He can vouch for us. We helped him get his furniture from a secondhand shop at a discount, too."

’Although, at the time, I only helped him because I felt sorry for the poor boy,’ she added silently.

"If you want to ask him about it later, go ahead. But don’t go telling the other tenants about this, or I’ll be in big trouble."

Only then did the young man seem convinced.

After all, it was not the kind of lie that would be difficult to expose.

His amber eyes visibly curved up into crescents.

"Then I’ll have to thank you, Auntie Zhang. When can we go?"

Auntie Zhang was momentarily surprised by how readily he agreed, but she quickly recovered.

Everything had already been pre-arranged, and the owner of the secondhand shop was someone Auntie Zhang was close with.

The old woman and the young man left the suitcase in the apartment and headed downstairs.

Along the way, several tenants happened to see Auntie Zhang accompanying the unfamiliar young man.

They could not help wondering why the usually grumpy old woman seemed so unusually friendly and accommodating today.

"Auntie Zhang, who is this boy?"

Auntie Zhang waved a hand impatiently without even stopping.

"I’m busy! Don’t bother me!"

The tenants watched the pair walk away, their curiosity growing.

"I saw that boy pulling a suitcase earlier. He must be a new tenant."

"But aren’t all the apartments in this building occupied? Do we even have any..."

Their voices gradually trailed off as a certain thought occurred to them.

The tenants exchanged glances.

Could this boy be the new tenant of the eighth-floor apartment?

"Ah, I just remembered I need to go home and cook!"

"I should check on my dog, too. Who knows what kind of mess it has made at home!"

One after another, the tenants found excuses to leave.

However, a few minutes later, several of them had somehow gathered outside the Liu family’s apartment on the third floor.

They exchanged awkward smiles before one of them eagerly stepped forward and knocked on the door.

They couldn’t wait to share the news.

After all, Elder Sister Liu and her husband had been pining for that unit on the eighth floor for years. Now that someone else had finally moved in, how could they possibly miss such an interesting piece of gossip?

At the secondhand shop, Auntie Zhang exchanged a few words with the owner before taking Lin Feng straight to the storage room.

The shop owner couldn’t help glancing curiously at the young man accompanying her.

However, before he could ask anything, Auntie Zhang glanced over her shoulder and shot him a warning glare.

The owner touched his nose and cleared his throat.

"Sister Zhang and I are practically family, so I’ve saved some of my best new arrivals for you. I will give them to you at almost the original purchase price. Go ahead and take a look. See what you need."

Lin Feng stepped forward and examined the pile of goods.

The storage room was filled with all kinds of furniture and household appliances.

Most were still in excellent condition, almost indistinguishable from new ones except for a few faint scratches here and there.

His eyes landed on a refrigerator.

A price tag was attached to it, showing the original purchase price paid to the previous owner rather than the shop’s usual selling price.

The amber eyes widened.

"A double-door refrigerator for only 85 yuan?" he murmured in disbelief.

He quickly moved on to check the other appliances.

The most expensive item was a split-type air conditioner, priced at 180 yuan.

Before moving out, the boy had already checked the prices of these appliances with his cousins.

Yet even compared with the secondhand market, these prices were less than half of what he had expected to pay.

Some were even only a quarter of the usual secondhand selling price!

A front-loading washing machine cost 80 yuan, while a cordless vacuum cleaner was only 30 yuan.

A rice cooker and a water dispenser were 10 yuan each.

An electric kettle and a fan were only 6 yuan apiece.

Looking at these prices, the boy slowly turned around to look at the two people standing behind him.

The bright lighting inside the storage room suddenly felt a little eerie.

His cousins had warned him about scammers before he moved out.

Could it be that he had actually walked straight into a scam?

"Well... I think it’s still a little early to decide."

The boy’s slender figure slowly edged towards the door.

"Let me think about it first. I haven’t received my allowance yet, so I can’t really buy anything right now. How about I tell you tomorrow after consulting my family?"

Auntie Zhang and the shop owner blinked in surprise.

These were already the lowest possible prices, practically the original purchase costs. And the young man still wasn’t satisfied?

Then they noticed how stiffly the boy was edging towards the door, and they finally understood.

"Pfft!"

The shop owner suddenly burst into laughter. He laughed so hard that tears gathered at the corners of his eyes.

"Hahahaha! Sister Zhang, this kid you brought is hilarious! He actually thinks we’re scammers!"