Chapter 322: Just Blocking a Keyhole (Seeking Monthly Votes)

Watching the two people in front of him start to bicker, Zhou Yi's brain reminded him to go back and continue packing, but his feet remained motionless, rooted to the spot.

A bride price of three hundred thousand, plus who knows how many gold items and the like, not to mention the house and the car; in any case, Zhou Yi estimated that for Comrade Xiao Wang to get married, his parents had likely poured in the savings of half a lifetime.

But there is no other way; if you have no car, no house, and no bride price, it is truly very difficult to get married.

As a result, now that they are getting a divorce, it is likely that this money will have to be haggled over quite a bit.

Of course, as for how exactly to handle this portion of money, Zhou Mouren is not very clear.

He decided to find a time to go and learn about it from Lawyer Fang, but as a single, unmarried young man, to be looking into the issue of returning bride price before anything has even happened seems a bit wrong...

The topic of the two people's bickering had already shifted from "You were raised by your parents with such hardship, don't you think I was too?" to "I want this bride price, it's not for the money, it's to see your attitude!"

Sorry, Zhou Mouren felt a bit like laughing when he heard this; they say a gentleman is judged by his actions, not his heart, for if one judges by the heart, there is no perfect person in the world.

If the intention was purely to see an attitude, there would be no need to accept the bride price.

"In any case, I'm telling you, Wang Wucheng, I won't give you a single cent of the bride price, and as for this house, my name is on the deed too, so half of this house is mine!"

"Half? My parents paid for this entire house, and you just open your mouth and want half?"

"What do you mean 'open my mouth'? My name is on the deed anyway. If you don't give it to me, I'll go to the Court and sue you. I checked online back then; as long as you added my name, it's equivalent to gifting half the property to me!"

Zhou Mouren, who was watching the drama, was also stunned. It is true that checking these things before marriage doesn't seem like much—it's equivalent to giving oneself a guarantee—but no matter how you look at it, it feels a bit uncomfortable... regardless of gender.

Once things reached this point, the masks were completely torn off. The house, the car, the bride price, the dowry, and everything else could be brought out for negotiation; it seemed that, suddenly, a loving couple had completely split apart.

Of course, Zhou Yi is quite clear that for such a situation to arise, on one hand, everyone is quite agitated right now, and on the other hand, ice three feet thick is not the result of a single day's cold. Reaching this point today, Xia Ziyan's remark, "You are less like a man than other men," was merely the fuse.

Fortunately, there is now a divorce cooling-off period, so the two can still slow down a bit.

Liu Nainai and other neighbors kept helping to persuade them, and soon people from the Community Office also arrived. With everyone persuading them together, they finally managed to calm the two down slightly.

But Wang Wucheng has now completely decided that no matter what Xia Ziyan says, he must get a divorce.

How should one put it? The kind of Old Honest Man you think you see on a daily basis, the so-called Old Honest Man who "can't fart even after being beaten with a stick," is actually, in many cases, that legendary stubborn mule.

Once they decide on something, even nine oxen cannot pull them back.

At the very least, Wang Wucheng feels he has thought it through very clearly: getting a divorce is good for both sides; otherwise, if they just keep living like this, he will definitely go crazy.

Moreover, what he is paying more attention to now is the situation regarding the bride price and the house he gave away, because he is certainly unwilling to split half of it with the other party. It is a house bought in full, and Xia Ziyan's family didn't pay a single cent.

Having talked to this point today, Wang Wucheng feels that Xia Ziyan will absolutely not return the money, so he is thinking about whether to find a Lawyer to consult.

Before marriage, he didn't consider these things at all; he treated Xia Ziyan with nothing but kindness and agreed to whatever she said. Sigh.

The drama could no longer be watched; Zhou Yi has decided to treat the topic of married life as the subject for his next chat with Lawyer Fang at the coffee shop.

Zhou Yi's side has already gotten on the right track; Manager Zhang is constantly helping to run the paperwork. The deposit has been paid, and as soon as the paperwork is finished, the rest of the money will be in place immediately.

At the same time, in another agency shop, Manager Ge soon learned about this matter.

Many things might take a lot of effort for an outsider to find out, but within the industry, it is actually impossible to hide.

"So you found another agency to buy a house, fine, Skipping the Agent!" Manager Ge sat in the shop, trembling with rage.

If you find him, you must buy the house through him; otherwise, it is Skipping the Agent. This is his perception.

What does it matter if you find another agency? This housing lead was obtained from him, and other agencies are just reaping the rewards directly—this is absolutely Skipping the Agent!

And for dealing with people who are Skipping the Agent, agencies have many methods.

However, Manager Ge still thought about communicating with the other party first; if he could get his agency fee, that would also be fine.

"I told you before, didn't I? If you want to buy this house, you can only buy it through me. At the very least, it should be like that until the end of this year, otherwise you are Skipping the Agent. And yet you still bought it, right? From another agency, cutting me out completely?"

On the other end, Chu Lan, who was in the process of finding her own house through Manager Zhang, frowned and said, "Manager Ge, let me tell you again: if you can't negotiate the price, and others can, then I will definitely choose others."

"Why is it that now that I'm buying a house through an agency, even if I know you are selling it at a high price, I must still go through you? Are you forcing a sale?"

Manager Ge roared directly: "Don't say those useless things. Did I take you to see the house or not? Did you find out about this house from me, and then go find someone else to buy it, cutting me out? Do you think you did the right thing?"

"I have never seen someone as shameless as you. I'm telling you, this is Skipping the Agent. Give me the agency fee, or else, just wait!"

Slap! Chu Lan didn't even want to talk and hung up the phone directly. With an attitude like that, she wouldn't even give him the tea money for taking her to see the house!

The house is right there; what an agency should do is fulfill an Intermediate Contract through their service, rather than thinking about earning this agency fee solely by relying on a monopoly of housing information. This is not normal.

Inside the agency company, listening to the busy signal on the phone, Manager Ge was truly furious. Watching such a large agency fee being earned by someone else, and without even getting the price difference, it would be strange if he weren't furious.

Chu Lan, is it? Fine, you just wait!

Why are agencies criticized so much? It is not only because unscrupulous agencies are rampant, but also because they often miraculously know your personal information.

For example, where you live, your contact number, and your needs—whether you are selling a house or buying one.

Then suddenly a call comes in, making you feel very confused: "Eh, how did they know my phone number and name?"

This makes people extremely disgusted...

Why did Chu Lan first look for Manager Ge? The reason is very simple: she originally rented a house through Manager Ge's agency company, and that process went quite smoothly.

So later, when she wanted to buy a house, she definitely looked for someone she knew first, and that person recommended this Manager Ge.

Thus, now, Manager Ge didn't even have to exert much effort to find Chu Lan's address within the agency company, which was the location of the house she had previously rented.

The methods agencies use to find people to cause trouble are nothing more than those few; they are not presentable, but they will make you feel very disgusted.

As for suing, Manager Ge did indeed have such thoughts, but they were only thoughts. Normally, except for a certain handsome guy, very few people go to the Court at the drop of a hat.

Taking the legal route is, for many people, basically the last common sense to use after other paths have failed.

Then one can only use unpresentable means to find people to cause trouble, such as setting up a "call bomber," which is done when the address is unknown.

If the address is known, one can go to the door and use glue to block a keyhole or something similar.

In any case, the core point is one thing: if I can't make money, you shouldn't have an easy time either!

He had done this before, and it was said the other party even called the police, but it was useless.

So Manager Ge didn't think there was anything to it. Although he is called Manager Ge, he is actually very young, only twenty years old; by normal standards, he should still be in university at this time.

The agents in the shop are all "Managers"...

After two days, Chu Lan finally found her own house, in the same Small Residential District as Zhou Yi, both in Guangming Peak Residential Quarter, only hers belonged to a small-sized unit.

But it was also quite good. For Chu Lan, the Imperial Capital is a place she will eventually have to flee from, because she knows very clearly that she cannot possibly buy a house in the Imperial Capital based on her own abilities; that is too unrealistic.

And now, if she were to buy this apartment, it would be the first nest of her own life!

She wasn't like some handsome guy who was rich; she could only afford a down payment, and all her savings combined weren't enough for the property price, not to mention that a person always has to leave themselves a way out.

As for money, never listen to those investment and wealth management people blathering on about taking it all to invest or whatever; you must always keep some on hand.

In case something urgent happens, this is the thing that will save your life; you must remember that!

Manager Zhang handled all the paperwork, and Chu Lan returned to work.

Another day of work ended; she stood up and stretched. Compared to the fast pace of the Imperial Capital, Jingzhou, or rather Tengda Company, felt very comfortable.

After greeting her colleagues, Chu Lan walked home; she was used to walking alone.

As a result, when she got home and took out her key to open the door, she found that nothing worked, which made her lament that the quality of door locks these days is truly good—she couldn't even open her own door with her own key...

There was no other way, so Chu Lan took out her phone and started contacting the landlord. The landlord was an auntie with a sharp tongue who lived quite nearby; after she arrived, she started shouting.

"What's wrong with you? So many people lived here before and were just fine, how come you're so special that the lock broke just a few days after you moved in!"

Chu Lan was so scolded that she couldn't even lift her head, and she replied reluctantly: "Auntie, I don't know what happened either, it was perfectly fine when I left..."

"Alright, stop saying so much, it has to be replaced. We agreed beforehand that you have to fix small things in this house yourself, and you have to change the lock yourself too. I have a master from a locksmith company here, I'll call him over."

Chu Lan didn't speak, just sighed. As a young girl working hard in the Imperial Capital, she had reached the position of a senior PR Manager and had encountered all kinds of people and all sorts of things; this, that was nothing.

Soon the locksmith arrived. To replace it with a new lock, the cheaper one would cost two hundred yuan. Chu Lan agreed and told him to change it quickly.

"Two hundred yuan? Why don't you just go rob someone? Lao Fan, one hundred yuan, change it for the girl, can you do that?"

"One hundred yuan isn't even enough for my costs..."

"Then one hundred and fifty, no more than that. And after you take it off, check it and see what's actually wrong with this lock, how it could suddenly stop opening!" the landlord auntie said with her hands on her hips.

The locksmith rolled his eyes and could only nod in agreement.

His movements were fast, and before long the lock was replaced.

He took the removed lock to the side and began to examine it carefully, but as he looked, his brow furrowed.

"Someone poured glue inside this lock, that's why it wouldn't open," the locksmith said to the landlord auntie.

The landlord auntie's expression changed, and she immediately looked at Chu Lan: "Little girl, you must have offended someone, pouring glue into the keyhole—who the hell did this!"

Chu Lan was full of confusion. Who did I offend? Wait, it couldn't be that agent, could it!

But she couldn't say that, so she just said vaguely: "I did offend someone, but this is also..."

"Hey, what would a little girl like you know? People these days are wicked!" The landlord auntie glanced at the locksmith, then pulled Chu Lan to the side.

"Let me tell you, you have to be careful!"

"Come back early at night, usually put a pair of men's slippers outside, buy some cheap cigarettes, and throw a few finished cigarette butts at the door, you know!"

Chu Lan smiled upon hearing this. She had been living alone outside for so many years and was well-versed in similar tricks, but she still had a very good impression of this sharp-tongued but soft-hearted landlord auntie.

Seeing Chu Lan smile, the auntie seemed to want to make up for it, still acting very fierce: "Alright, go back. I'm telling you, my house is a good place, I don't want to hear one day that something happened in my house..."

The landlord auntie and the locksmith both left. Chu Lan checked carefully and then locked the door from the inside, placing a ceramic cup at the door; as long as someone turned the door lock from the outside, the cup would fall.

The effect wasn't great, but it could serve as an early warning.

She didn't need to think to know it was that Manager Ge who did it, but she didn't expect the agents in Jingzhou to be so wild, actually daring to come to her door to retaliate!

Although it was just glue in the keyhole for now, there is no such thing as guarding against thieves for a thousand days; heaven knows what the other party might do.

What to do... Chu Lan took out her phone; she prepared to call Zhou Yi.

When she joined the company before, that HR, He Zongjian, touted the company's benefits in every way, saying that as long as an employee encountered a problem that was very difficult to solve personally, they could find General Manager Zhou to solve it.

Then this of mine counts as very difficult to solve, right? She could report it to the police, but she had no evidence right now, so it would be useless to report it.

Thinking this, Chu Lan dialed Zhou Yi's phone number.

Meanwhile, at the home in Yuefu Residential Quarter, Zhou Yi looked at the man at the door with a look of confusion.

"Mr. Wang, is there something you need from me?"

That line, "I really have nothing to do with Miss Xia," almost slipped out; eating melons is fun in itself, but it's very unpleasant when it happens to oneself.

If he said that, he reckoned that only one person would be able to walk out of this room tonight.

Wang Wucheng smiled reluctantly and said: "General Manager Zhou, actually I wanted to ask for your help. You sued the family of Xu Yufeng before; I wanted to ask what lawyer you found, and if you could recommend one."

Recommend a lawyer, huh? Zhou Mouren immediately breathed a sigh of relief. I'm familiar with this; not to brag, but you found the right person!

"Mr. Wang, a lawyer is easy, but are you sure you really intend to divorce, and you also want to file a lawsuit, right? The litigation fees and such are not cheap!"

This has to be made clear beforehand, to avoid being blamed later.

It's not like there haven't been similar cases; two people divorce, all sorts of lawsuits, and when they finish and divide the assets, they find that the assets have shrunk quite a bit.

But it seems it doesn't matter if he doesn't say it; the one charging is the lawyer, not him, Zhou Mouren.

"I'm sure!"

"Alright then, I have a beautiful lawyer here..."

Just as he said this, his phone rang. Zhou Yi smiled apologetically and said: "Mr. Wang, why don't you go back and sit down first, I'm going to take a call."

Wang Wucheng had no objections and walked into the living room to sit on the sofa.

Zhou Yi walked to the balcony and answered the phone; he was a bit curious why Manager Chu, who had a big conscience, was calling him at this time.

"Hello, Little Chu, what's wrong? What? You were blocked by the previous agent with glue in your lock?"

The update is here. I want to say sorry to the book friends who waited until now; everyone has worked hard. It is dead silent outside right now, and Lao Jiu is sitting in front of the computer alone, feeling like I am the only person between heaven and earth.

Thanks to Chunnuan Jiuzhou and Book Friend 2022, the two big brothers for their tips, thank you, good night everyone. Lao Jiu is also someone pushing thirty, I don't dare to stay up too late, and I'm fat, afraid my heart can't take it, everyone sleep early too.

(End of this chapter)