Chapter 3: The Scumbag's Ability

Chen Nuo said generously, "It's me. Sorry about just now, I didn't know anyone was inside. Hmm~ The landlord here is surnamed Zhang, right? He's my uncle, and when he told me to come stay here, he didn't mention you were living here. May I ask what your relationship is to him?"

The other person was quiet for a moment, then said, "I'm renting his apartment. The landlord did tell me to move out before, but I haven't had the chance to..."

Chen Nuo could tell the girl behind the door wasn't very old. Moreover, she seemed a bit flustered, leaving her sentence unfinished.

Chen Nuo asked, "Can I come in and talk face-to-face? Regardless of anything else, we have to meet, right?"

The woman was silent for a long while before saying, "...Alright."

Creak.

The security door opened.

Chen Nuo politely greeted her first, "Sorry to bother you, hello... Eh???" He rarely lost his composure in front of women, unless he truly couldn't control himself.

He was surprised to find the girl before him looked very familiar, extremely familiar, much like a raw, youthful version of someone he knew.

It was just that her chin wasn't as sharp, and her face wasn't as stiff yet. She couldn't be called stunning, but she certainly couldn't be called ugly; she was just like people from this era, as if she had stepped out of an old, outdated photograph.

The girl first stared at Chen Nuo's face in a daze, then was startled by his strange reaction. She subconsciously looked down to check her outfit before asking in confusion, "What's wrong?"

"Ah, nothing, nothing." Chen Nuo quickly returned to normal, smiled, and said, "You look a lot like a friend of mine."

"Really?" The girl stared at him, half-believing.

Chen Nuo nodded affirmatively, "Yes, her surname is Yang."

The girl was a bit surprised, "Ah, what a coincidence, my surname is Yang too."

Chen Nuo said, "My name is Chen Nuo, what's your name?"

"My name is Yang Mi. 'Mi' as in 'seductive music'."

Chen Nuo wasn't too familiar with the entertainment industry, but this person's fame was too high. The key was that he had a girlfriend who was a huge anti-fan of hers, constantly pouring unverified gossip into his ears, making it impossible for Chen Nuo not to be familiar with her.

Yang Mi's gaze roamed over Chen Nuo's face.

Chen Nuo wasn't afraid of her looking, but this wasn't a solution either, so he asked politely, "Can we go in and talk? I have no ill intentions, and the key was given to me by the landlord. I didn't know you were here."

Yang Mi blushed, glanced at him again, stepped aside, and said, "Then come in."

The living room was spacious and bright; sunlight spilled in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, adding a warm luster to the pale green wallpaper.

In front of the white leather sofa, a simple fruit plate sat on a transparent glass coffee table, containing one banana and two apples.

On the balcony, the greenery was lush, and a pot of white-variegated Monstera looked exceptionally vibrant in the sunlight.

Chen Nuo placed his suitcase at the entrance and sat down generously on the sofa, catching a glimpse of water stains on the floor out of the corner of his eye, extending from the bathroom to the bedroom door.

Everything just now had happened too fast; he barely had time to see anything clearly. He only saw two words: white, big. No wonder those anti-fans either attacked her face or her feet, but no one ever attacked her chest.

However, where was Yang Mi from? Why was she renting here too?

He didn't speak for a moment, and Yang Mi, sitting on the single sofa to the side, was clearly uncomfortable, making small talk, "Do you want an apple? I'll wash one for you."

"No need to trouble yourself." Chen Nuo smiled at her very politely, "Thanks. Let's talk; do you still plan on living here?"

Yang Mi was stunned, "What do you mean?"

Chen Nuo said, "If you want to stay and aren't worried about me, then just stay. Anyway, it's such a big apartment, I can't occupy it all by myself. If you don't want to stay, just find a time to move. I won't rush you anyway. After all, we're all people from out of town; arriving in the great Jingcheng, it's only right to help each other."

Yang Mi said, "I'm not from out of town, I'm from Jingcheng. It's just that this place is close to my training school, so I've been renting it. The landlord told me someone was coming to rent it a couple of days ago and even refunded my rent. But I've been quite busy these past two days and get out of class late, so I got lazy and didn't move. I didn't expect... you to come today."

Chen Nuo realized, so that was it. He immediately said, "I didn't expect it either. If I had known I could meet such a great beauty like you, I would have come sooner, haha."

Yang Mi shot him a look, but she wasn't angry, just saying, "Not at all, I'm not that pretty."

Chen Nuo laughed, "Who says? Even if you aren't pretty now, you definitely will be later. Girls change eighteen times as they grow up, you know; I feel like you'll keep changing. Hahaha, just a joke, don't mind it." With that said, the atmosphere suddenly became a bit awkward.

But Chen Nuo did that on purpose.

This belonged to the advanced techniques of a scumbag.

Because if you only say nice things, a girl won't necessarily think you're a good person. Instead, she might think you're glib. If you deliberately use one or two silly, awkward, cold jokes, sometimes people will have a better impression of you.

However, the sense of proportion is very important, and you must know how to make up for it in time and change the subject.

It is not recommended for beginners.

Chen Nuo was an old hand; he deliberately let the silence hang for a few seconds, felt the timing was about right, then gave a shy, awkward laugh, touched his head, and broke the silence, "So, you're renting here because you're taking training classes nearby, preparing to apply to the Film Academy?"

Yang Mi's guard indeed lowered a few notches, and she nodded naturally, "Yeah, eh... you asking like that, are you one too?"

Chen Nuo smiled, "Yeah, I am. Wow, what a coincidence, so we're both fellow applicants. Hey, do you think the Film Academy is really that hard to get into?"

This was more entry-level: finding a topic the other person is bound to be interested in and playing the role of the supportive listener.

Twenty minutes later, scumbag skill master Chen Nuo was organizing his things in the secondary bedroom.

Yang Mi stood at the door, saying somewhat embarrassedly, "Are you really okay staying in the secondary bedroom?"

"Of course, the master bedroom is too big, and I feel cold even with the heater on. I'm from the south, you know, I'm afraid of the cold."

Yang Mi laughed, "How is that possible? Hey, well, thank you then. Consider it me renting your place. I'll give you the rent in a bit."

"OK." Chen Nuo didn't stand on ceremony.

After a while, Chen Nuo finished tidying up and went out to the living room, seeing Yang Mi watching TV on the sofa, gnawing on an apple.

Hearing Chen Nuo come out, she turned her head and asked, "All finished? Here, this is the rent, for you." As she spoke, she took a few bright red bills from her pocket and handed them to Chen Nuo.

Chen Nuo counted them slightly: 4 bills.

He didn't ask how this amount was determined and took it directly.

Yang Mi seemed a bit more relaxed, making small talk, "Have you seen this TV series? The third season of Ji Xiaolan."

Chen Nuo glanced at the TV; it was a must-watch show from his summer vacations, which he had watched back and forth n times. Later, a fourth season came out, but that was just a case of gilding the lily.

"Seen a bit, what do you think of it?"

"It's good. The show is mainly good because the actors are great; they're all veteran actors, old seniors. Our teacher told us to watch it carefully and study how they act."

Chen Nuo didn't expect Yang Mi to be so passionate about acting at this time, not at all like the way she would later chase after traffic, looking like she wanted to eat the whole pot.

Although he was very interested in acting now, he was a bit hungry, so he didn't follow up, saying, "I'm going to get something to eat now, are you eating? Want to go together?"

Yang Mi said with a giggle, "No, I don't eat at night, you go ahead."

So Chen Nuo went out alone, ate at a small restaurant outside the residential complex, and didn't rush back afterward. Instead, following the habit of middle-aged people to digest after a meal, he wandered aimlessly through the streets.

In his later life, he had been to Jingcheng many times, but he had never seen Jingcheng at this point in time.

The scenery here was completely different from other places in the country. Towering modern skyscrapers and hutongs and sihe academies full of life coexisted harmoniously in this city. On the same street, this side still retained the style of the sixties, while when you crossed to the other side, you might have already stepped into the threshold of the new century.

At this moment, he noticed the street sign on the side of the road; he had walked near the Film Academy.

Since he was here, he might as well go take a look.

(End of chapter)