Chapter 11: Taking Over the House

Wu Ma. Chu Lian forced herself to calm down, shouting: "Bring your phone over, hand over the property fee."

Upon hearing that, Chumu widened her eyes, her tone sharp: "On what basis?!"

The atmosphere stiffened for a few seconds.

Everyone wondered, feeling that Chu Lian's household servant seemed somewhat disrespectful toward her employer.

Chu Lian glared at Chumu in secret, walked over, and roughly pulled out the phone from Chumu's pocket, gritting her teeth: "Once I find my phone, I'll pay you back."

Chumu, with her back to everyone, wore a pained and reluctant expression: "You'd better remember to pay me back."

"Mm."

Anyway, we can just have Shu Lingchen make it up later.

Having gotten the phone, Chu Lian said to the property worker: "Come on, scan the code."

"Okay."

The female worker, while opening the payment QR code, said: "It's a total of forty-eight thousand yuan."

"Wait a moment!"

Chu Lian instinctively covered the phone's camera, shocked: "How much did you say? Why is it so expensive?!"

"It's like this: the monthly property fee for unit F1701 is four thousand yuan; forty-eight thousand is the annual fee, and Yujingyuan's property fee is paid yearly." After the worker finished explaining, with a tone of puzzlement: "It's always been like this; you... didn't know?"

If one were an owner of Yujingyuan, they would certainly know.

Since they know, how could they act clueless and complain about the price?

Chu Lian's scalp tingled; she regretted blurting that out, and hurriedly covered: "I, I of course know."

"Alright, you can continue scanning the code."

The worker wore a smile and again pushed the QR code forward.

At this moment, Chumu stepped forward and whispered in Chu Lian's ear: "I don't have that much money in my balance!"

Needless to say, she also knows that!

Chu Lian felt a surge of annoyance, but then she thought of something, her eyes lit up, and she said to the property worker:

"It's like this: there isn't that much money in my servant's account, so I'll first pay the overdue monthly property fee."

"Mainly, I can't find my phone; once I find it, I'll definitely pay the full amount right away, so it won't delay your work—what do you think?"

"Well..."

The property worker's tone became hesitant.

Chu Lian smiled at the corners of her mouth, relieved that she thought of such a good phrasing so quickly.

Just as she was about to slightly relax.

"Chu Lian classmate, your phone is here——"

Everyone turned their heads.

Only to see Shu Shu holding a white mobile phone in her hand.

That was precisely Chu Lian's phone.

"Sorry, I put your phone on the sofa; I didn't notice earlier and sat on it."

Shu Shu looked slightly apologetic, got up, walked over, and handed the phone to the stunned Chu Lian standing in place.

"……"

Chu Lian stared at Shu Shu holding her phone, unable to reach out to take it.

Forty-eight thousand, she simply couldn't come up with it.

But she had just told everyone in front of them that the reason she wasn't paying in full was because she couldn't find her phone.

The next second, the phone was found.

If she still couldn't pay, it would be a slap to her own face.

And under everyone's watchful eyes, she didn't feel right contacting Shu Lingchen again.

"What's wrong, Chu Lian classmate?" Seeing her unmoving for a while, Shu Shu tilted her head and asked doubtfully: "Is there some difficulty?"

Initially, Shu Shu had put nearly six hundred thousand into that card.

The Chu mother and daughter have lived for free in her house for these years, not spending a single penny.

Consequently, when they thought of taking over the house, they hadn't considered that living in a luxurious residential area also comes with a "threshold."

"Can't you speak properly? What difficulty could Xiao Lian have!" Zhang Lu stepped forward, glared at Shu Shu, and said: "Xiao Lian's monthly living expenses alone are tens of thousands; a mere less than fifty thousand is nothing—don't you think it's trivial?!"

Zhang Lu completely failed to notice that Chu Lian's face had turned pale as she spoke, speaking with an air of self-satisfaction.

As soon as her words fell, everyone showed shocked expressions.

They are all ordinary middle school students, whose pocket money from home is basically kept within three digits; upon hearing suddenly about tens of thousands in living expenses, they were deeply shocked!

Chu, the school belle, truly lives up to being the Eldest Young Lady!

"Oh~ I see, excuse me for not having seen much of the world." Shu Shu raised her eyebrows, nodded to show understanding, then nudged the phone forward: "Well, Chu Lian classmate?"

Chu Lian had no choice but to take it.

The property worker's displayed QR code was right before her eyes.

Chu Lian deeply knew that once she scanned it, the screen would surely pop up the four big characters "Insufficient balance."

She stiffly lifted the corners of her mouth, striving to appear relaxed and natural, feigning difficulty:

"I, I just remembered that I bought several new bags yesterday, spending almost all of this month's living expenses..."

"Ah, Xiao Lian, why are you buying bags again?" Zhang Lu waved her hand, saying: "It's fine; since you've found your phone, you can just call your uncle now to ask for some money—wouldn't that solve it?"

"……"

Chu Lian's fingertips gripping the phone turned white, her expression barely holding together.

For the first time, Chu Lian hated Zhang Lu's chatty mouth, wanting to take a needle and sew it shut!

Chu Lian gritted her teeth: "……At this time, my dad is definitely busy with business matters, my mom is on vacation abroad, there's a time difference, so she can't even see her phone."

Beside her, Chumu, hearing Chu Lian say that, quickly nodded and went along: "Yes, yes, sir and madam are both busy, busy."

Property staff: "Then, can you try to contact your parents' assistant or someone like that?"

Monthly living expenses are already over ten thousand; even if the parents aren't available, surely just fifty thousand to have the assistant transfer money should only take a moment.

"……" Chu Lian, nervous, instinctively swallowed, she swept the hair at her cheek behind her ear, anxiously thinking of a response: "My dad's secretary is also busy! I don't want to disturb their work; let me just pay the monthly property fee for now, I'll make up the rest later."

Immediately, her tone hardened a bit, she frowned and retorted:

"How come, I'm about to pay what I owe, I'm living right here—do you really think I'd run away? Is this how Yujingyuan's property treats its owners?"

The male and female classmates visiting nearby also chimed in, indignant: "Exactly, Chu Lian has already said that—what more do you want? If you delay her father's business, can your property afford it? Believe it or not, we'll complain about you!"

Upon hearing the two words "complaint," the property staff were genuinely intimidated; to avoid conflict, they chose to back down:

"No, no, you've misunderstood—since that's the case, just pay the monthly fee for now……"

Shu Shu watched the whole thing from the side; honestly, she began to admire Chu Lian a bit.

Her talent for making up stories is not bad; she sounded almost like it was true.

Chu Lian successfully scanned the code and entered the number 4000.

Just as she was about to input the password.

"The owner of unit 1701 is here——"

Accompanied by the elevator's ding, a steady male voice came from outside, drawing everyone's gaze.

A middle‑aged man in a suit, exuding an elite aura, walked to the doorway; behind him followed four or five men in work uniforms with white gloves, looking like some kind of moving crew.

"I'm the owner of unit 1701; I've come to pay the property fee."

He said.

Unlike Chu Lian's hemming and hawing, the middle‑aged man swiftly scanned the payment QR code the property staff held.

In less than thirty seconds, forty‑eight thousand was transferred to the property's account.

Everyone stared, dumbfounded.

"Who is this person?"

"He says he's the owner of unit 1701?!"

Their first reaction was that this must be someone from the Chu Family.

But then Chu Lian, face full of surprise, exclaimed: "……Who are you?"

The middle‑aged man walked straight in, looked at Chu Lian and Chumu, his tone stern:

I am the owner of unit 1701; you two are illegally residing in my apartment. Please move out immediately, otherwise I will sue you and seek compensation to protect my rights as the owner.