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Chapter 585: Chapter 585: The Filthy Room
Generally, only two types of people know how to do this; one kind makes a living from it legally, and the other one eats off it surreptitiously.
Clearly, Tong Yao doesn’t fall into either category, so where did she learn to pick a lock?
Under their stunned gazes, the lock clicked open.
Guo Jinnian’s mouth hung open in disbelief. Rubbing his eyes to make sure he wasn’t seeing things, he asked incredulously, "Yaoyao, where did you pick up this skill? How come you know how to do everything? I’d really like for you to teach me!"
Gu Hongwei was also quite taken aback, totally unprepared for Tong Yao to jab a hairpin into a lock a few times and have it actually open.
Tong Yao was also quite thrilled inside. She was just trying her luck; she had never actually practiced lock picking before. Not expecting it to be so easy to pick a lock these days, she of course couldn’t tell the truth and calmly lied, "A college classmate of mine taught me. His family runs a lock-making business, so I learned out of curiosity, never expecting it would actually come in handy one day."
In her previous life, when she was watching videos to learn about this, Tong Yao did find it interesting and learned for fun. She never got to apply what she learned all these years and almost forgot she had it.
Guo Jinnian bought Tong Yao’s explanation hook, line and sinker, placing her on a pedestal as he worshiped her as his top idol. After gushing for a while, he took down the key hanging by the door and pushed the door open, "Let’s go in and talk first!"
As the door was opened, a nauseating stench wafted out. Tong Yao gagged, almost throwing up the food she’d just eaten. She quickly covered her mouth and nose, and Gu Hongwei also frowned.
Guo Jinnian was also stunned, how had her home gotten so repugnant?
The room was quite dark, Guo Jinnian groped for the light switch. When the lights were on, they revealed the sordid state of her house. Guo Jinnian flew into a rage. Unwashed bowls and chopsticks from an unknown mealtime were left on the dining table. Dirty clothes were scattered all over the floor, and her two rooms were in utter disarray.
Loads of litter were discarded on the floor, and nobody had bothered to clean up.
The nauseating smell originated from the bathroom. Guo Jinnian took a peek and almost threw up. The squat toilet was filled to the brim with excrement. It was so full; it hadn’t been flushed for a while. Not just Tong Yao, even she felt nauseous seeing it.
Luckily, it was winter now and the weather was cold. If this was summer, maggots would be crawling everywhere, the house would be beyond salvation.
Guo Jinnian pulled the flush chain. However, due to the large amount of excrement and some hard pieces of paper, the squat toilet got clogged, but the disgusting dirty water overflowed instead. The stench became even more unbearable.
Tong Yao couldn’t hold back any longer, she covered her mouth and nose and ran outside to breathe the fresh air. Gu Hongwei also told Guo Jinnian to leave, "We should find a hotel to spend the night! We can come back and clean the house tomorrow."
After visually seeing and smelling the mess, Guo Jinnian started retching as well. She gagged once they were outside.
"They went too far this time. They are intentionally trashing my place."
Tong Yao and Gu Hongwei exchanged glances, both were at a loss for words, unable to comfort Guo Jinnian.
The three of them were already thoroughly exhausted by the trip, so they decided to find a small local hotel for the night. Thankfully, as a small town, even though smaller than Li City, there was still a small hotel.
Bearing in mind that this county town didn’t have a large number of people, there were free rooms available. Guo Jinnian immediately booked two rooms. Once they were upstairs, the three of them sat in the room discussing further plans.
The current issue wasn’t simply getting the house title deed, but how to stop Guo Jinnian’s parents from ruining the house. Guo Jinnian would mainly be staying in Kyoto in the future and wouldn’t be returning home regularly. Even if they changed the door lock this time, they would still likely try picking the lock again.
Hence, changing the door lock was not a long-term solution.
Guo Jinnian, feeling that Tong Yao was the smartest one there, instinctively hoped Tong Yao would have an idea., "Yaoyao, do you have a solution to prevent my parents from coming over to stay?"
Tong Yao shook her head, "I can’t think of any solution at the moment."
Guo Jinnian then turned to Gu Hongwei, "Do you have a solution?"
Gu Hongwei also shook his head. Seeing that neither of them had any solutions, Guo Jinnian’s morale plummeted, "I’ll go crazy if they wreck my house again."
After contemplating, Tong Yao said, "Jinnian, in situations where it’s impossible to stop your family from taking over your house, there are two best possible solutions available at the moment."
Guo Jinnian’s face brightened up, "Yaoyao, just as I thought, you’re so clever. There’s got to be something you can come up with. Tell me what it is."
Tong Yao laughed softly, "The first solution is to sell the house and buy another one elsewhere without letting your family know where it is."
Guo Jinnian felt that this solution seemed okay. The only problem was that she didn’t know whether it would be possible to sell the house. Even if she could, it would also be difficult finding another house for sale in their small county, since, as Tong Yao had mentioned before, there weren’t any commercial properties here and very few people would sell their homes.
Guo Jinnian could only pin her hopes on the second solution, "So what’s the second solution?"
Tong Yao replied, "The second option is a backup plan – take the property deed off its hands. Let anyone trash the house. You simply wait for the arrival of new city constructions and claim the demolition expenses. However, this option is risky because your family may resort to some method to change the property owners."
In this era, the internet wasn’t developed enough, and the requirements for handling many procedures weren’t stringent. Maybe Guo’s father could pull some strings or throw some money around, and the house would no longer belong to Guo Jinnian.
Guo Jinnian couldn’t bear accepting this, "Yaoyao, to be completely honest with you, I’d rather donate the house than let my parents live there. I despise them now."
Guo Jinnian had reached her breaking point with today’s incident.
Remembering past incidents, Guo Jinnian’s eyes welled up with tears, "Do you remember what I’d told you earlier about when I injured my arm? Before that, all the money I earned went to my parents. When I got injured and needed money for treatment, my father claimed they had none and didn’t care whether I lived or died. The money for my hospitalization was loaned to me by my friends. Even though my mother claimed to be a housewife, she didn’t actually do anything to support me. Even if she had no money, she should have come to take care of me, or at least shown some concern."
Guo Jinnian wasn’t stupid. Even though she came across as carefree like a boy, it was an act to protect herself, right?
There wasn’t anyone at home who cared for her. Even if she died outside, the only thing that her family would think about would be to inherit her properties. It was then that she saw clearly; it wasn’t just a matter of her parents favoring sons over daughters. They simply just didn’t care about her.
Hence, she didn’t want her family to reap any benefits from her anymore.
Did Tong Yao not realize that Guo Jinnian had kept so many things to herself? Tong Yao hugged her, gently patting her on the shoulder, "Don’t be sad. If you’re willing, consider me your real sister from now on, and my parents are your parents."
Gu Hongwei didn’t expect Guo Jinnian’s parents to be so cruel. Seeing her in such a vulnerable state for the first time, he felt a pang of sympathy.
