Chapter 366: Chapter 366: Obtaining the Property Certificate, Encountering a Pickpocket Chapter 366: Chapter 366: Obtaining the Property Certificate, Encountering a Pickpocket When the staff at the Housing Authority saw the money Luo Qiao took out, they somewhat knew that she must have scraped together every bit of her family’s savings, not even having time to exchange the Mao notes for larger bills.
Soon, the property certificate was in hand, and Tiong Qingfeng and Luo Qiao exchanged a few words at the entrance of the Housing Authority and then parted ways.
Luo Qiao went to the nearest department store to buy a large lock and a smaller one, returned to the yard, took a look around, and then gathered all the furniture into one room. That way, next spring, when she hired someone to renovate the place, she would only need to lock this one room.
Some of the furniture was damaged, but most of it was just scratched paint from careless handling. She thought about having a carpenter fix it all next year and then repainting it anew.
After she had everything arranged, she used the new locks to secure the door of the room. Seeing that there was nothing else to attend to, she locked the main gate, ready to leave, when she heard someone say, “Hey, wait, young lady.”
Luo Qiao locked the door, placed the old key and the new key from the main gate into her bag, which actually went into her storage space.
Turning around, she saw it was the couple from yesterday who had come to view the house. The woman asked, “Miss, where is the owner of the house?”
Luo Qiao said, “Do you need something?”
The woman glanced at the house and said, “We’ve come to buy the house.”
Luo Qiao looked at the couple and said, “This house has already been sold, you’re too late.”
The man said, “Mr. Tiong found a buyer so quickly?”
Luo Qiao didn’t answer him, simply nodded her head, and walked past the two people towards the outer alley.
The woman said, “It’s all your fault. We should have sealed the deal yesterday, but you insisted on haggling over the price. Now look, someone actually bought it.”
The man said, “How was I to know someone could really offer such a high price? I was just trying to get the price down to save some money for renovating the yard. Alas, let’s go, this yard wasn’t meant for us.”
Luo Qiao had walked quite a distance when she still heard the woman lament, “I really loved this yard. I regret it so much now.”
Luo Qiao thought to herself that in the future, they would regret it even more.
With everything settled, Luo Qiao felt very content. In Capital City, she belonged to the homeowners’ league now. Next year, she would make time to come here again; it would be perfect to have the house renovated in advance. When she moved in for her studies, the house would be ready for her.
She had checked the location, and whether it was Beijing Foreign Studies University or Beijing Medical University, neither was too far away. The environment here was serene, and she looked forward to what the future held.
Once on the bus, she closed her eyes and entered her storage space with her mind, prepared medicine for her Big Brother and Second Brother for the next five days, and only then returned her awareness to the present. As she lifted her head, she caught sight of a pickpocket in action a bit further ahead, but with the bus full of people, it was impractical to push through the crowd now.
She took a jujube from her space and threw it, hitting the man who cried out ‘ah’ and clutched his hand. The people around all turned to look, and Luo Qiao took the chance amidst the commotion to shout, “He’s a pickpocket!”
The people nearby began checking their belongings. A woman exclaimed, “My bag’s been slashed open!”
The person next to her said, “Check if you’re missing anything.”
Another girl, who had nearly had her belongings stolen, saw her bag had been cut and slapped the thief squarely before saying, “Driver, please go to the nearest police station. We can’t let this pickpocket off easily.”
The woman with the slashed bag said, “Everyone, please help take this person to the police. People like him are too wicked.”
She had checked, nothing was missing, but her bag was slashed open, and she was determined to have him compensate for it.
The thief had just recovered when he heard this and tried to squeeze toward the door, but several helpful men subdued him. Fortunately, there was a police station nearby, so it didn’t take much time.
However, the two victims with slashed bags had to get off the bus together to give statements.
Luo Qiao got off the bus at her stop, found a secluded place to take out the prepared herbal medicines, and then headed towards her grandparents’ home.
As soon as she entered the courtyard, she heard Big Brother Luo Xuyan saying, “Grandma, sister, we’re looking for sister.”
Luo Qiao’s eyes immediately moistened. She was becoming increasingly sensitive with time, almost forgetting her brief experience of the apocalypse in her previous life, and her heart no longer seemed as cold and hard as when she had first arrived.