The previous plan was quite good but in the end, Hao Ren still could not find it in him to just chase Vivian away.
As mentioned before, he was a good guy. He never meddled in matters he could not help with. However, if he was able to help, he would not turn people away. If he had chased Vivian away, what would have happened to her? The vampire girl appeared to have lived a tough life. She would have either had to stay overnight on the streets or go to the wild or the graveyard like she said without any food, water, home and job. If she had gone to a train station, she would have alerted the police and be facing force adoption or worse, forced deportation. It was quite pitiful.
Looking at the pretty girl trapped in such a situation, any normal person would not have been able to see her suffer.
Even though Hao Ren felt that a vampire had capabilities and would likely not face such dilemmas, he could not be sure. As the vampire he met was not a conventional one. If one was to refer to all the novels and movies available, there would be no reference of a vampire being that naive. She was poor, different and so fond of human beings.
In spite of that, he did not ask Vivian to stay without paying. There had to be a limit to his generosity and he was not a saint. He also had to take into account Lily’s feelings as she paid her rental as usual. He could only allow Vivian to owe him the rental. He decided to wait until she found her purse, though very unlikely. Another option was for her to find a job and earn money, which was more likely. Only then, would he ask her to pay him back.
"Could this really work?" Vivian was not convinced that she had any good luck. She stared at Hao Ren unbelievably. "It might take me a really long time to pay you back. My financial luck has not been any good…"
Hao Ren raised his eyebrows and observed the vampire girl’s facial expression as he listened to her defeated speech.
"How bad had her life been?"
"You don’t have to overthink it. Just stay here." Hao Ren waved his hand. He noticed Lily discontented expression and said, "The decision has been made! This is my home. I can at least make a call on the rental."
He then turned to Vivian, "An empty room is available upstairs. Let me show you the room. But, where is your luggage?"
He should have asked the question earlier. When Lily moved from the other city, she brought over huge boxes of belongings. He wondered if the vampire girl was so poor that she only had a set of clothing with her.
"Oh, it’s outside!" Vivian remembered her luggage and rushed outdoors. She then brought in her old rugged luggage case. Fortunately, her lack of luck with money did not affect her belongings. Although the huge case was left outdoors for so long, it was not lost.
When Hao Ren noticed Vivian’s luggage, he could not help but sigh. He vaguely remembered his late father who used to carry a case of similar style for work. It was then passed down by his grandfather…
He swore that he would never watch movies about vampires in his lifetime anymore.
Right when he decided to go upstairs to help Vivian tidy her room, he heard a strange sound nearby. Lily embarrassingly caressed her stomach, stood up and said, "Landlord, shall we have some food?"
Hao Ren turned to the clock in the living room and the hands pointed to 10 in the morning. There was so much hassle that morning, he almost forgot about breakfast. The only one at home with a full stomach was Rollie!
"Damn! Our lives are worse than a cat’s these days." He mocked himself and Vivian exclaimed in surprise, "Ah, do you offer breakfast? Do I need to pay extra?"
The vampire girl was delighted but Hao Ren really wanted to tell her that truthfully they did not cook for tenants. Though they were on special terms, he saw her look of contentment and did not want to disappoint her. He thought the vampire had been through a pretty pitiful life.
Breakfast was already delayed so they might as well had lunch. Hao Ren decided to make his best dish, noodles. Lily was an omnivorous werewolf who was not picky and Vivian was already so poor so he was quite sure that she would not care about the food that much. A simple meal would do. When he went into the kitchen, he turned around and asked the vampire girl a question, "Vivian, do you eat normal human dishes? I heard vampires can only drink blood and can’t digest normal food."
He felt a cold breeze around his neck right after he said that.
"I belong to the Blood Clan. I’m not some low-level vampire," Vivian corrected the statement but she embarrassingly covered her face. "Other Blood Clan members can only digest blood but I can eat normal food. It can’t be helped because nowadays, whether it’s human or animal, they are all infected with all sorts of strange diseases. If I drink unclean blood, I might suffer from stomachache for a few days. I have to check if the subject has a health certificate before I drink its blood. But sometimes, even the health certificate can be falsified. I can’t bear that risk so, I haven’t been drinking blood for quite some years."
Hao Ren was speechless.
When he was about to enter the kitchen, the cell phone on his sofa rang. Lily rushed over and peeped. She handed the old Nokia phone over to Hao Ren and said, " Landlord! The phone! The call’s coming from a strange set of numbers!"
Hao Ren walked over to pick up the call. He wondered what kind of phone number could be strange. He was stunned when he saw the set of numbers on his phone screen; 00000012345!
"Is there anyone in the world using such a number?"
The monotonous sound of the ringing phone kept urging him to answer. The screen displayed the creepy set of numbers clearly and Hao Ren could not help but pinch his face to make sure he was not imagining things. He was not sure if it was an illusion. The ringing seemed to grow louder as if it came from every direction. He felt heat emanating from the phone and the ringing becoming faster and faster… The sixth sense he had developed since he was young was activated. His intuition told him that the call would be extraordinary.
As though he was possessed, he pressed the button to pick up the call and placed the phone to his ear. "Hello?"
A sweet voice was heard through the phone, "Hello? Hello? Is this Hao Ren?"
"Er, yes, this is." Hao Ren tried to recall if he ever disclosed his mobile number or met a woman with such a voice. However, he could not. "Who are you?"
"You don’t have to worry about that," the stranger claimed. Judging from the background sounds, the call seemed to be made from a rather noisy place. Some odd whistling could vaguely be heard. It could have been some construction site. "I am at… Oh, an import and export company. A few days ago, you sent out your resume. You were looking for a job right? I would like to inform you that an interview will take place this afternoon."
"An import and export company?"
Hao Ren was stunned. He then remembered his decision to look for a job and the time he sent out his resume. He was just trying his luck as he did not have any working experience and was not a professional graduate from any reputable school. He faced obstacles looking for jobs on-site and did have high hopes for the resume he sent out. He did not expect to be invited for an interview. It sounded like a good company; it was some sort of import and export company.
He thought that he just got lucky.
However, he looked at the two new tenants in his living room. He initially thought that he would not be able to rent out the apartment when he was first looking for a job. A that time, he lacked cash flow from the rental but since then, he had already obtained tenants…
The tenants were not reliable though. One was a dumb werewolf while the other was a poor, starved and naive vampire. He would be surprised if both of them could pay their rental on time so, he figured that he should not fully rely on his rental business.
The woman started to sound impatient over the phone. "Hey, are you still listening? I am telling you to come over in the afternoon for an interview!"
Hao Ren reconsidered and he nodded. "Sure, I’ll be there in the afternoon."
The stranger gave him an address which was not too far from his place. Then she hung up.
Hao Ren was taken aback again when he looked at the phone screen. It showed, "Calling time: 0 minutes 0 seconds." When he opened the log, there was nothing. It was like the number, 00000012345 had never appeared.