My Virtual Girlfriend-Chapter 37: The Family of Swindlers

Half an hour later.

Yu Qiao Qiao followed Chen Yan into a real estate rental store called Beike, almost getting a sore back from Chen Yan’s slick moves.

Chen Yan continued to explain, "You see, when it comes to renting, you’ve got to go professional."

"Don’t be afraid to spend a bit more. Safety and convenience are what matter most."

"This is precious experience from a guy who has twelve rental properties at home."

Yu Qiao Qiao: ....

Yu Qiao Qiao felt there were too many holes to poke in his story that she didn’t even know where to start.

As they entered the store, several real estate agents were sitting around playing with their phones.

Seeing Chen Yan and Qiao Qiao walk in, the agents put down their phones and asked, "Hello. Do you have an appointment with a specific agent?"

Chen Yan replied, "Yes, with Miss Dai."

Hearing Chen Yan, an older-looking agent yelled towards the back, "Xiao Dai, your clients are here."

Following that call, a chubby girl came running out.

"Here I come!"

Once she appeared, she looked at Chen Yan and cheerily said, "You must be Mr. Chen, right? Are you here to look at office spaces?"

Chen Yan nodded.

The girl said, "Then please follow me inside, let’s look online first and then visit the site."

Saying so, she led Chen Yan and Yu Qiao Qiao to an inner room.

While the girl went to get water, Yu Qiao Qiao quietly asked Chen Yan, "Is this your secret to renting?"

Chen Yan looked at her, "Yeah. Isn’t this a skill?"

"I’m telling you, going with a reputable large agency saves you a lot of detours."

Yu Qiao Qiao, "Like what?"

After thinking a bit, Chen Yan responded, "Like... Let me ask you this."

"If you see a listing online saying ’direct rental from the landlord, no agency fees, cheaper than market rate,’ would you be interested?"

Yu Qiao Qiao blinked, "Of course, I’d be interested."

Chen Yan, "Then you call that person, and they say the property is in high demand, and to view it you need to pay a deposit of 50. If you like it, you rent it, if not, the deposit is fully refundable. Would you pay the deposit to view it?"

With limited real-world experience, Yu Qiao Qiao hesitated a bit and said, "If it’s refundable, then... I might pay."

"Snap," Chen Yan clapped his hands, "See. You got scammed."

Yu Qiao Qiao looked puzzled, "Huh? I got scammed? Why?"

Chen Yan earnestly said, "Let me tell you. No matter what, anyone who asks for money before even meeting, 90% of them are scammers."

Yu Qiao Qiao, still not convinced, asked, "What about the other 10%?"

Chen Yan said, "The remaining 10%, even if they aren’t scammers, it’ll be tough to get your deposit back."

"They’ll use all kinds of excuses not to refund you."

After finishing, Chen Yan added, "Also, all that ’direct rental from landlord,’ ’no agency fees,’ ’cheaper than market rate’ stuff, it’s all just gimmicks."

"If there really were such a great property, do you think it would be your turn?"

"So, in this case, the landlord is 99% likely to be a scammer."

"Your money, gone."

Yu Qiao Qiao’s mouth hung wide open, not able to snap back to reality for a while.

Could it really... be like this?

Seeing that Yu Qiao Qiao was getting it, Chen Yan asked again, "Let’s say you found a great apartment, beautifully decorated, conveniently located, the landlord didn’t lie to you, and agreed to a favorable rent arrangement."

"But... when signing the contract, you notice some blank spaces, what do you do?"

Yu Qiao Qiao, a bit wiser now, timidly said, "Then I won’t sign the contract?"

Chen Yan said, "The landlord claims you’re too paranoid, it’s just a formatting issue. If you don’t sign, he’ll rent it to someone else, and the great apartment won’t be yours."

With little decisiveness, Yu Qiao Qiao hesitated, "Then I sign?"

Chen Yan with another snap of his hands, "After you sign, one day you find out the landlord has added terms in those blank spaces, a one-month deposit and a two-year lease."

"During these two years, you can’t break the lease."

"If you break the lease, you lose your deposit."

"See. You got scammed again."

"Huh? It can be like that?" Yu Qiao Qiao was completely stunned. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ

Chen Yan shrugged, "Why not. These are the common issues you encounter with private transactions or smaller agencies."

"After all, you never really know who your landlord or that small agency really is."

Yu Qiao Qiao mulled it over and nodded, "I see now..."

Chen Yan saw that Yu Qiao Qiao was absorbing the lesson, showing a hint of ’a student worthy of teaching.’

Just then, Yu Qiao Qiao suddenly exclaimed, "Wait?"

Looking up at Chen Yan curiously, she asked, "But... Chen Yan."

"How do you know so many tricks?"

"Is it because your family owns so many properties?"

After saying this, she paused, and then self-denyingly added, "That doesn’t make sense. If your family has many properties, you wouldn’t need to rent. And you shouldn’t know so much about scams..."

"Could it be that your family...?" She covered her mouth in shock, staring at Chen Yan.

Chen Yan: ...

Stop making wild guesses, will you?

Can I tell you that I, the heir to these twelve properties, had a falling out with my parents and got scammed numerous times renting from others, because I didn’t go through a major agency, and eventually had to come back and rent out our own properties?

No. I’d never admit that...

...

While Chen Yan was edifying Yu Qiao Qiao about scam tactics, and Yu Qiao Qiao mistakenly thought Chen Yan’s family were professional scammers, the real estate agent finally came back with two cups of water.

As soon as she entered she said, "Sorry about that. Our water dispenser broke down. Took a while."

Chen Yan smoothly changed the subject, "No problem. Perfect timing for your return."

"Let’s take a look at the properties now."

"Sure," the agent said with a nod.

Following that, Chen Yan and Yu Qiao Qiao looked at nearby office buildings on the agent’s computer.

With professional services, it was easy to search for properties.

In just half an hour, Chen Yan and Yu Qiao Qiao identified five or six office buildings of interest.

These office buildings were all near Qin Island University, no more than a 10-minute walk away, convenient for commuting.

The area’s transportation was also decent; if staff lived far away, they could commute by subway.

Having set preliminary targets, they of course had to go sightsee the actual places.

Of these five office buildings, four had their keys entrusted with the agency and could be visited directly. The key to one was with the landlord.

So, after "scheduling the last office viewing for an hour later," Chen Yan, Yu Qiao Qiao, and the real estate agent began exploring the other four buildings...

...

Meanwhile, in Lao Hai District, a run-of-the-mill tea house, a chubby middle-aged man who was playing cards laughed as he put down the phone.

As he tossed two "8" cards aside, he said, "I’m done after this game."

"The agent called, saying someone’s interested in my office space; I’ve got to go open it."

Saying so, he gestured to the man next to him, "Lao Chen, play for me for a bit."

The man sitting next to him, who looked a bit like Chen Yan, snorted, "You give me your spot as ’last place,’ why didn’t you give it to me when you were winning?"

The middle-aged man retorted with a laugh, "Come on, be glad there’s still a spot for you to play when you arrived late. Stop whining. Honestly."