Chapter 62: Hey Huanhuan Han Mo Stop right there

The two of them were dead silent, their eyes darting away nervously.

The man's face immediately turned sour: "What's the matter?! You think three people can squeeze into this piss-small room?"

Han Mo braced one hand against the doorframe, blocking the man from coming in: "Are you the landlord?"

The man shot him a look: "Who else would I be?"

Han Mo kept his expression calm: "We're just here to charge his e-bike. We're not staying the night."

The landlord eyed him suspiciously: "Really?"

Han Mo nodded: "As you said, this room is too small for three people anyway."

Only then did the landlord turn and head downstairs, but he left the first-floor door cracked open.

Seeing him leave, He Huanhuan grimaced and smacked herself: "I was just shooting my mouth off, and now we actually got ourselves kicked out of a place to sleep!"

Han Mo was about to comfort her when she added: "And why does the punishment have to be collective? It'd be fine if just Han Mo had no place to sleep!"

Forget comforting her. Might as well go wander the streets together.

Wang Qiang's rental was tiny. Against the wall sat a single bed. A nightstand beside the bed, a small wardrobe at the foot — that was it.

So small, a kid couldn't even fill the room.

Two pairs of shoes sat behind the door, and the wardrobe held maybe a dozen pieces of clothing covering all four seasons.

He Huanhuan sat on the bed and didn't even need to stand to take in the whole room.

"He's had it rough too."

Han Mo nodded: "Once this mess is over, I'll take care of him."

He Huanhuan looked up: "How exactly do you plan to do that?"

Han Mo thought for a moment: "Get him a driver's license. He can start as my driver."

Let him stick around and get used to things first, then see if there's a better path for him later.

After all, this guy helped him when he was in trouble. He couldn't just watch him keep living such a hard life.

The moment he finished speaking, a sneering voice drifted from outside the door: "Oh ho, look who we have here — a big-shot boss from the countryside! Got his own driver and everything! Just too bad he's mooching off my crummy place!"

...

How did this guy move so quietly?

Before they could react, the landlord called out again from the hall: "Big boss, is the e-bike charged yet? Want me to call your driver to pick you up?"

Well, looks like they weren't staying here tonight.

Han Mo glanced at the battery — it was over half charged, enough for Wang Qiang to ride back on.

He bent down, unplugged the charger, and hoisted the battery out.

"Let's go."

He Huanhuan shot up: "Fine."

It was just some run-down house anyway! If they didn't let them stay, so be it!

When they opened the door, sure enough, the landlord was standing right there, staring at them with pure mockery: "Big boss, battery charged? Driver called? Want me to dial someone up for you?"

Han Mo ignored him, walking off with the battery in hand.

Down on the first floor, he put the battery back into the e-bike.

He Huanhuan put on her helmet, sat on the bike, and pressed the horn.

"Beep beep!"

She shouted: "Old Geezer!"

The landlord actually poked his head out from upstairs, and He Huanhuan flipped him off into the air: "I'm his driver, you hear me?!"

With that, she gunned the throttle and sped off with Han Mo on the back.

The landlord spat angrily at their tails: "Pfft! You think I can't find someone? I just don't want to!"

He was still young — no advantage yet.

Wait until he hit sixty: pension in his pocket, rent rolling in every month.

Then the advantage kicks in!

They rode back to the sales office, and Wang Qiang was still standing outside.

Seeing them, he looked baffled: "Why are you two back?"

He Huanhuan got off the bike with a huff: "Your psycho landlord wouldn't let us stay! And he made fun of Han Mo! Who does he think he is?!"

Wang Qiang leaned in: "He's got a sharp mouth, sure. What exactly did he say?"

The corner of Han Mo's mouth twitched slightly upward: "Nothing much. He overheard us talking and got it in his head that I was pretending to be rich, so he threw a few snide remarks my way."

He parked the e-bike to the side and told Wang Qiang: "Didn't charge it much. Go straight home after work. Don't wander off."

Wang Qiang nodded: "Got it."

After parking, the two were ready to head out, and Wang Qiang couldn't help asking: "Where are you two going?"

Their hideout had cameras, and they couldn't use their phones or IDs. Where could they even go?

He Huanhuan waved at him coolly: "Just do your job. See you tomorrow!"

They had another two hundred yuan to earn tomorrow.

Watching them leave, Wang Qiang stood at the entrance, feeling miserable and with no idea what to do.

He'd worked a lot of jobs, but he never finished high school and was only nineteen years old.

A not-very-bright nineteen-year-old couldn't come up with a solid plan that fast.

A coworker saw him out there with his head down, all gloomy.

He came out and asked: "What's with the long face? Got dumped?"

Wang Qiang grimaced at him: "How do you jump straight to romance?"

The coworker widened his eyes dramatically: "What else is life for if not love? Working a job? Then I might as well be dead!"

He nudged Wang Qiang: "So what's going on? Spill."

Wang Qiang told him about the landlord refusing to let more people stay: "What are they supposed to do tonight? Really sleep under a bridge?"

The coworker stared at him like he was an idiot: "They can't use their IDs. But yours works fine, right? Just use your ID to book them a hotel room tonight."

...

"Right!"

Wang Qiang lit up: "You're so smart!"

The coworker rolled his eyes: "I can tell you've never been in a relationship. You don't even know how to book a hotel!"

Wang Qiang grinned sheepishly: "Then I'll tell them right now!"

He pulled out his phone and froze: "They don't have phones. How am I supposed to tell them?"

The coworker was speechless: "Don't tell me they're the same two con artists from yesterday. You actually made friends with them?"

Wang Qiang insisted: "Don't talk about them like that. They're really not bad people."

The coworker couldn't be bothered to argue. Whatever — the kid had no money anyway, so if he got scammed, so be it.

These days, everyone gets scammed eventually.

If not by friends, then by love.

A couple of lessons and he'd wise up.

Besides, the kid was so dense he couldn't even think of booking a hotel room. What was there to scam from him?

And even funnier — those two "con artists" hadn't thought of it either.

Clearly, they weren't very sharp con artists.

The coworker went back inside, satisfied.

He'd get a good look at those two con artists tomorrow when the homeowner showed up for a viewing.

Meanwhile, the two not-so-bright con artists had already walked past the village where they'd first crashed and reached a second village.

This one looked a lot richer than the last. From the edge of the village, all you could see were neat three-story houses or four-to-five-story villas.

As they walked down the village road, they found it was paved with asphalt, with tidy little flower beds lining both sides.

He Huanhuan sighed: "I feel like there's no house for us in this village..."

This one clearly had no run-down buildings.

Han Mo nodded: "If there's nothing here, we go to the next village. We'll find ourselves a home."

They strolled from one end of the village to the other, and sure enough, not a single broken-down house in sight.

They were about to leave when a loud, certain voice rang out from behind them: "He Huanhuan! Han Mo! Stop right there!"