It could be seen that the man had a trace of pity for Xia Tian. He "invited" Xia Tian out of the house and said to her: "There's no point in crying. Go find the agent quickly. This is their mistake. You have a contract, right? Take the contract."

Ask them to pay your rent. If you can't do it yourself, ask your parents to go with you, or discuss it with a counselor."

Xia Tian didn't know how he got to the agency. He just felt that every step he took was as heavy as being stuck in a quagmire.

Opening the door, there was a lively noise inside.

The man who looked like a supervisor was explaining to several people at the same time. They were all arguing about something, and everyone seemed to have a point.

Xia Tian came out without saying anything, because the thing the supervisor said the most was: "Go find her."

She stood at the door of the agency and kept calling the woman, but no one answered.

After a while, those people came out cursing and threatening to let it go.

"The rent was so cheap, I should have been wary at the time, but that woman..." Xia Tian walked towards the school, "She was also cheated, it should be like this, but what should I do with my loss?"

"I'm so useless, so useless. What can I do after graduation?"

She kept blaming herself and denying herself, and she couldn't tell anyone about it because of shame.

If you repay the money in installments, you will have to work for at least a year, which will definitely affect your studies.

Some dangerous thoughts that have been dormant are about to stir up. If it weren't for her reunion with Xia Xi, she might be looking for an unlucky driver on the road.

Unknowingly, I walked to the door of the cat cafe.

Xia Tian seemed to see a glimmer of hope.

Da Zhuang seemed very happy to see her coming and made coffee for her with his own hands.

"Did you have a good holiday? I heard that you traveled to Hainan and didn't get a good tan."

"Wear sunscreen."

"Stay for dinner tonight, I'll prepare something delicious for you."

Just as he was hesitating whether to stay, a girl who looked like a student walked in, and several cats meowed and ran towards her.

"The new waiter." Da Zhuang saw that she kept staring at the girl, so he said.

Xia Tian's heart sank. The road to work was blocked. Maybe she was not pushed to the end of her rope, so she didn't want to go to another unfamiliar place to apply for a job.

Strange environment and strange people are scary just thinking about it.

Why did he choose psychology in the first place? It didn't seem to help him at all, and it might not be easy to find a job in the future. Xia Tian secretly regretted it.

"Brother Da Zhuang, is there a pawn shop near here?" Xia Tian asked.

"Pawn shop?" Da Zhuang seemed to hear words belonging to a distant era that should not have appeared in her mouth, "There are no such shops now, but there are ones that specialize in recycling luxury goods."

Xia Tian tilted his head slightly, seeming to understand.

"We specialize in recycling gold, silver, jewelry, and famous watches and bags. You didn't regret buying something at a Hainan duty-free shop, so you want to sell it? Their purchase price is quite low," Da Zhuang said.

"How do I have the money to buy luxury goods? I just asked casually." Xia Tian made an excuse to leave after drinking coffee.

She thought about finding Li Lijuan and stared at the chat window for a long time, but finally gave up.

She didn't even say "Happy New Year" to her mother during the Chinese New Year. Li Lijuan also didn't ask her how she spent the Chinese New Year at school, whether she was having a good time or if she had anyone to accompany her.

With such a mother-daughter relationship, how can you be so embarrassed to talk about it?

School has already started, Xiaoqian hasn't come back yet, and Xia Tian hasn't asked again. This debt that is about to expire makes her unable to eat or sleep well, and she almost collapses.

"Drinking such a big cup of coffee, did you sleep well?" Chengze's eyes were fixed on the dark circles under Xia Tian's eyes.

"The class is too difficult and the pressure is a bit high." Xia Tian said weakly. In fact, she would often get up in the middle of the night and cry secretly for a while.

"Why are you putting so much pressure on yourself? Are you still afraid that you won't be able to graduate?" Chengze rubbed the top of Xia Tian's hair.

If there was any unpleasantness between them, Chengze would probably calm down for a few days, and then continue to shamelessly come to Xia Tian as if nothing had happened.

"Stop looking so sad, let's go, I'll take you to eat seafood." Chengze said.

"No, I have an appointment tonight." Xia Tian said.

"Have a date? With whom? Male or female?" Chengze asked three times.

"We are not a couple, you don't care so much." Xia Tian snorted.

"Ha, that tone sounds like a man." Chengze didn't get angry and poked Xia Tian on the forehead, "Go ahead, he's not my opponent anyway."

Xia Xi doesn't have much luggage, just a big backpack and two suitcases.

"I'm sorry, brother, I didn't find a suitable house." In the hotel, Xia Tian said to Xia Xi while holding back tears.

Several times, she wanted to tell the truth to her brother, but in the end she held back. She had already spent so much money on Xia Xi, and it was unjustifiable to ask him to fill a hole for her again, and she was too embarrassed to say it.

"It's okay, I'll look for it myself tomorrow." Xia Xi took off his heavy cotton clothes, "It's so hot. I haven't been back here for a long time. I feel like the flowers are about to bloom."

"Because you wore more clothes, it's still a bit cold at night." Xia Tian said.

"Do you want to live with me?" Xia Xi asked.

"How should I tell Yanyan?" Xia Tian hesitated.

"Don't tell her yet." Xia Xi said tiredly, "Don't tell her."

Xia Xi didn't want to go home. Xia Xia understood, but she didn't let Jin Yan know. She still didn't understand what her brother was thinking.

"Then you can stay in the dormitory for the time being. We will meet again on Saturday and Sunday." Xia Xi rubbed her temples and cheered up, "Let's go and eat."

The two had a hot pot meal nearby, and then Xia Xi proposed to send Xia Tian back to school.

Xia Tian held her brother's arm and walked slowly.

"The houses around here are quite expensive. In fact, it doesn't matter if it's further away. You have to be careful when renting a house. I heard that some tenants will pretend to be landlords." Xia Tian reminded carefully.

"I know, before I rent, I usually verify it on the website. Nowadays, scammers are very clever. The real estate certificates they create are just like the real ones. Some tenants will even change the layout without authorization and become the second landlord themselves, making money.

They don’t even ask for a deposit and just disappear,” Xia Xi said.

Xia Tian was extremely sad. Her brother had much more experience than her, so why should she try to be stronger?

"Why aren't you talking?" Xia Xi asked when she saw that she was quiet for a long time.

"I'm thinking that after I graduate, we will go to a small town in the north and buy a house to settle down. The houses in the community where you lived before seem to be quite cheap. You can buy one for hundreds of thousands. Didn't you always want to live in the north?

Life?" Xia Tian said.

"Okay." Xia Xi replied with a sigh.

He sent Xia Tian to the school gate without intending to go in.

"It's so impressive."

"It's just a place to study. Once you're used to it, that's it."

"Go in quickly and I'll call you when I find the house."

"You have to call me even if you don't find a house."

"I just send WeChat messages normally. I still have to find a job."

"Continue delivering food?"

"Well, no skills are needed, just go in."

"Oh, bye brother."

"Um."

A few days later, at noon, Xia Tian received a text message from a stranger.

"I'm sorry, little sister. I just started working as an agency and have little experience. I rented out all the houses that person gave me without checking the property rights and property numbers. Now the company wants me to bear the losses alone. How can I have so much money?"

Money? I don’t want to default on the debt, I will pay you back slowly, please don’t worry.”

Repay slowly, when? One year or ten years? What is the difference between this and defaulting on the debt?

Xia Tian dialed her phone again, but it was already turned off.

"What's wrong, sister?" Jin Yan asked Xia Tian worriedly, "Isn't it delicious?"

"Yeah." Xia Tian put down his chopsticks with a sad look on his face.

"Is there anything else you want to eat?" Jin Yan asked, "By the way, there is a new fried food store in the snack street. I heard that the spicy pork ribs skewers are particularly delicious. Let's go after class and invite Dafei and Chengze to join us.

"

"Where?" Xia Tian asked absently.

"It's over there at the mobile home." Jin Yan said.

"Oh, I'll go take a look." Xia Tian left without looking back.

"There will be classes later, sister -" Jin Yan asked loudly at her back, "You're not going to skip class, are you? Do you want me to ask for leave for you?"

Before Xia Tian, ​​I had never noticed that there were so many small advertisements posted outside the mobile home, for renters, for recycling gold and electronic products at high prices.

Since ancient times, gold has been the best thing to convert into cash.

Tomorrow was the final repayment day, and she was reluctant to sell any of the jewelry Xia Xi gave her. She kept stroking the gold bracelet Cheng Ze gave her.
To be continued...