Qiao Jingjia cast a resentful glance at Fu Huixing, who was walking side by side with Shi Li not far away.
"My brother and I are connected at heart, but he's playing mind games with me," he thought.
Rongrong originally lived in an old-style residential building. Just from the exterior, one could tell the building had a long history.
The staircase was narrow and dim, unable to accommodate two people walking side by side.
Rongrong led the way, with Shi Li following behind her. Fu Huixing and Qiao Jingjia trailed the two female classmates at a distance.
Despite its age, this residential building was one of the best among its peers - not only was it built tall, but it had also endured for a long time.
Rongrong's family lived on the sixth floor, with no elevator. Shi Li climbed to the sixth floor, panting heavily.
She had been to old residential buildings without elevators before. Duan Yaojing's family lived in the university's affiliated community, and although they didn't have an elevator, living on the second floor meant they didn't feel the pain of climbing stairs.
Rongrong unlocked the door with her key. The living room was filled with cardboard boxes of various sizes, containing Rongrong's personal belongings.
She had already packed everything up yesterday afternoon after returning home from class, just waiting for today after school to take advantage of the half-day holiday to move.
Rongrong's personal items weren't many. Apart from the paper boxes piled in the living room, there were also some toiletries in the bathroom.
After everyone entered the living room, Rongrong handed each of them a bottle of room-temperature mineral water, saying, "There's no hot water left, please make do with this for now."
Having climbed six floors in one go, Shi Li now desperately needed a bottle of mineral water to quench her thirst.
"Actually, there's not much to help with. I called a mover and paid him extra to carry my things downstairs," Rongrong explained.
Feeling somewhat redundant, Shi Li scratched her head awkwardly.
Rongrong asked everyone to rest in the living room while she finished packing up some items.
Fu Huixing, seeing that Qiao Jingjia was a boy, felt it wasn't appropriate for him to go help, in case there were any private female items.
Under the suggestive glances of the two, Shi Li reluctantly followed Rongrong to lend a hand.
Not long after, there was a knock at the door, and someone quickly went to open it.
The mover, having heard on the phone yesterday that the client was a girl, wanted to raise the price, using the high floor as an excuse to demand more money.
However, the door was opened by a burly young man who looked like he had been through a lot in society and wasn't easy to mess with.
Qiao Jingjia thought to himself, "Is it my fault I look older?"
People tend to bully the weak and fear the strong. Faced with an adult man, the mover lost the righteousness he had when dealing with young girls, but still said, "Your apartment is on a high floor and there's no elevator. It'll cost extra to move things down."
Rongrong, who was tidying up in the bathroom, heard this and came out. "Why should we pay extra? Didn't we agree on the price yesterday? I already told you we're on the sixth floor with no elevator. The price we set already considered these two factors. Using this as an excuse now, aren't you just trying to raise the price?"
The mover still argued unreasonably, "You didn't explain clearly yesterday. If I had known your place was on the sixth floor, I wouldn't have taken this job. I'm only doing this now because I feel sorry for you young ladies. Don't be ungrateful. Just pay a bit more, and I'll deliver your stuff. Where else would you find such a good deal?"
This kind of last-minute change and price gouging was really annoying.
Rongrong frowned, "I recorded our phone conversation last night. Do you want me to play it back for you, or should I share our dispute with the platform? What do you think the platform will say?"
No matter which platform it was, they would openly side with the customer, that was undeniable.
The mover's expression changed, and he finally grumbled, "Fine, fine. I'm not good with words, I can't argue with you young people. We'll do it your way. Is that okay?"
He made it sound as if Shi Li had been the unreasonable one all along.
Before the mover could start, Shi Li held out her hand, "Wait a moment."
She felt that this uncle wasn't a good person and might try to cause trouble behind their backs.
Shi Li opened her phone's video function and thoroughly recorded the boxes in the living room as evidence.
She even captured all the details in the footage. Shi Li smiled gently, showing six teeth, "Okay, you can start moving now. Thank you for your trouble."
The mover felt as if he had suffered a pointless grievance but had nowhere to vent his frustration.
He couldn't take it out on the client's belongings either, as they had just recorded everything. These two young girls were quick to complain to the platform, and he couldn't afford to provoke them.
Suppressing his anger, the mover hoisted up two large boxes and got to work.
Shi Li handed Fu Huixing a small, lightweight box, gave him a meaningful look, and followed the mover.
Fu Huixing caught on quickly, immediately understanding Shi Li's intention. He followed the mover down the stairs.
Rongrong didn't have many personal belongings. In less than half an hour, the living room that was once filled with cardboard boxes became empty.
She called the landlady who lived upstairs, asking her to come down and inspect the apartment.
The landlady was a middle-aged woman with instant noodle-like permed hair, wearing an apron with vegetable leaves stuck to it.
Rongrong took her through each room. After confirming that the furniture and appliances were in order, she took out her phone and refunded the deposit to Rongrong.
"I'm really sorry about this. My son is getting married and needs money urgently, so I had to inconvenience you," the landlady explained.
Rongrong didn't say it was okay. The landlady's sudden request for her to move out had forced her to find a new place on short notice, hire a moving company, and take time out to move, which was very inconvenient for her.
After returning the keys to the landlady, she no longer had any connection to this apartment.
Arriving downstairs, Rongrong hailed a taxi, told the driver the destination, asked about the fare, and was about to pay when she turned to her three classmates and said, "The moving truck in front can't fit four people. You three can follow behind, we'll be there soon."
Fu Huixing said, "The passenger seat of the moving truck can fit two people. Qiao Jingjia and I will go with the truck. You two girls should take the taxi." It would be safer that way.
Qiao Jingjia nodded belatedly, "Oh, oh, right, right."
As Rongrong hesitated, Shi Li opened the back door of the taxi and pushed her onto the back seat.
"We'll go together, in case the driver didn't understand the address you gave and takes us to the wrong place," Shi Li explained.
The taxi driver wasn't pleased to hear this. "Little sister, I've been driving a taxi for over ten years. I'm like a mini GPS of Blue City. There's no place I can't find, only places I don't want to find."
He was about to demonstrate a GPS-free taxi ride, which terrified Shi Li enough. She repeatedly expressed her absolute trust in him but insisted that not using GPS was not okay.
The two vehicles arrived one after another at Rongrong's new home. Compared to the previous old neighborhood, this community was newer with more complete facilities.
Although the new apartment had an elevator, the mover used the excuse of not being able to enter the community to dump the boxes and people by the roadside before driving away.
When Shi Li and Rongrong got out of the taxi, they saw the two boys standing by the road with several huge cardboard boxes at their feet.
Shi Li and Rongrong were stunned.
Shi Li turned and asked, "What happened?"
Rongrong pulled Shi Li, "Just help us carry these up. I didn't expect that mover to be so unprincipled."
At this point, they couldn't blame the two boys for not stopping the driver, nor could they expect them to start a fight over this.
Fortunately, they were almost there.
But they couldn't just let it go like this. Rongrong took photos of the boxes and filed a complaint on the platform.
This time, before Fu Huixing could speak, Qiao Jingjia spoke up first. He couldn't always let this guy be the good guy.
"You two stay here and watch the luggage. Leave the moving to us men," he said, flexing his non-existent muscles.
Rongrong objected first, "You don't know where it is, I need to go with you."
In the end, the task of staying behind was left to Shi Li. Before the three left with the boxes, they reminded Shi Li: don't talk to strangers, don't accept snacks from strangers, and if she encounters any bad people, remember to call them.
Shi Li listened with a blank expression. She was sixteen now, not six.
There were surveillance cameras everywhere on the street, and a security booth nearby. It was very safe.
They made two trips in total, with Shi Li joining the last trip to carry things upstairs.
Rongrong had already viewed the apartment and, satisfied with it, received the keys from the new landlady.
The new place was still a one-bedroom apartment, which was just right for Rongrong as a single girl.
"Please sit down and rest for a bit. The new place is simple and doesn't have much yet. I'll treat you all to a meal later to thank you for helping me move," she said.
Shi Li took out her phone and opened a map app. "I said I'd treat you to a meal, so of course I'll be the one paying."
Qiao Jingjia didn't mind; he had only come out to get a free meal anyway.
He figured that since he had pitched in to help with the move, he was certainly entitled to a free meal.
The Thai restaurant Shi Li had her heart set on was quite far from Rongrong's new place, over 20 kilometers away, but Shi Li only liked the Thai food from that particular restaurant.
Seeing her face fall, Rongrong said, "I can cook all the basic Thai dishes. Why don't I cook instead? It's tradition to use the stove on the first day after moving in. How about you try my cooking?"
"That sounds great!" The others had no objections.
"The new place doesn't have any ingredients or cookware yet. You all rest for a bit while I go to the supermarket to buy some things."
Shi Li protested, "That's too much trouble. Let's just find somewhere nearby to eat."
"It's no problem. I normally cook for myself anyway. If you don't mind the trouble, you can come with me to the supermarket and I can buy a bit more."
That was certainly no issue for them.
There were many residential communities around Rongrong's new home, with well-established primary and secondary schools nearby. Just fifty meters from the complex was a supermarket.
Not only did Rongrong need to buy things for her new home, but she also put a lot of snacks in the shopping cart to prevent her friends from getting hungry while she was cooking.
Rongrong had so many things to buy that one shopping cart was filled to the brim. Shi Li volunteered, "I'll go get another cart."
As Shi Li turned around, she saw an unbelievable sight.
Shi Ruan, who had once made earnest promises to her, was tugging on Ji Chunsheng's sleeve as they stood side by side in front of the refrigerated shelves, selecting ingredients.
"Sis?"
The other three, following behind Shi Li, just caught sight of the shock in her eyes.
Neither Rongrong nor Qiao Jingjia had attended the wedding of Ji Feiyu's brother, so they weren't aware of the complicated situation.
Their expressions were somewhat confused. What had happened? Why did Shi Li react that way?
Fu Huixing mouthed silently: The man next to her cousin is Ji Feiyu's sister-in-law's new husband.
The two who had heard about the gossip in their small chat group thought: Oh boy!
