"Knock, knock, knock... Knock, knock, knock... Knock, knock, knock..."
The increasingly heavy knocking sounds echoed through the living room and reached the master bedroom. Jiang Yuan was woken up. The first thought that flashed through her mind was how noisy the people upstairs were. What time was it? They were already making such a racket.
The sound insulation was so poor. She must rent a different place next month.
It took her a while to come to her senses and realize that someone was knocking on the door.
She squinted at the time.
It was 10:21.
Who could be knocking at this time?
There were no messages on her phone from anyone saying they were coming.
Jiang Yuan forced herself to get up despite the drowsiness, changed her clothes, and opened the door.
There were three people standing at the door: an old woman, her grandson, and the landlady.
They looked menacing.
These four words popped into her mind first. She tightened her grip on the doorknob and took a step back, trying to close the door.
But the three of them were quicker. With a "bang", the door was completely pushed open, making Jiang Yuan's wrist go numb.
The last bit of drowsiness was completely driven away.
Jiang Yuan shook her wrist and frowned, demanding, "Auntie, what do you mean by this?"
She had just rented the place yesterday, and today they came to cause trouble?
And they were old acquaintances?
"Little girl, we lost a valuable item and couldn't find it," the landlady explained briefly.
"Mom, why are you still wasting your breath on her? She must have taken it and hidden it!" The brat, obviously still holding a grudge, shouted impatiently.
Mom?
Jiang Yuan was confused by this "mom". She looked at the landlady and then at the brat, and suddenly it dawned on her.
She was so angry that she laughed. Crossing her arms in front of her chest, she stared sharply at the brat and said, "You can eat whatever you want, but you can't talk nonsense. I just moved in yesterday, and today you say you lost a valuable item and insist that I took it. Do you have any evidence?"
The brat was momentarily intimidated by Jiang Yuan's aura, but soon he stiffened his neck and said, "I don't care. You took it. My mom had contact with you at noon yesterday. When she came back, she found it was missing and has been looking for it for a long time."
"Yes, I've looked everywhere and couldn't find it. And you were the only outsider I had contact with yesterday," the landlady lied without batting an eyelid. "Little girl, just hand over the thing. Let's not make things too ugly."
Jiang Yuan sneered, "I didn't take it. What can I give you?"
"I knew it. Today's female college students are not good people. You rented the place to her out of kindness, but she stole your stuff," the old woman sized Jiang Yuan up and down as if she were an item, making Jiang Yuan feel extremely uncomfortable.
Jiang Yuan endured her anger with difficulty, stared firmly at the landlady and the old woman, and said word by word, "First of all, you have no evidence to prove that I took the thing. Secondly, I, Jiang Yuan, have a clear conscience and would never do such a sneaky thing. If you have the guts, call the police."
The brat curled his lips and said sarcastically, "Oh, you still won't admit it. Maybe you saw my mom had such a valuable thing and got greedy."
"Fine, since you don't believe me, I'll call the police and let them check the surveillance cameras," Jiang Yuan tried to calm her emotions as much as possible. She took out her phone, unlocked it, and was about to dial 110.
The old woman and the grandson exchanged a look. Suddenly, the old woman went crazy and snatched Jiang Yuan's phone. Jiang Yuan bumped into the entrance cabinet beside her, and her waist hurt like it was on fire.
Jiang Yuan frowned in pain. Ignoring the pain in her waist, she immediately reached out to grab her phone back. "What are you doing! Give me my phone back!"
Seeing this, the brat actually stepped forward, hugged Jiang Yuan's arm, and pulled it back forcefully, shouting at the same time, "You're a thief. You want to call the police? No way!"
Jiang Yuan was so angry that she trembled all over because of their overbearing actions. She struggled hard to break free from the brat's pull, glared angrily at the old woman and the landlady, and shouted, "This is robbery. Do you still want to do business?"
The landlady might have felt a bit guilty. She stepped forward and called out "Mom", but was immediately glared back by the old woman and shrank to one side without saying a word.
The old woman gave her grandson a look. The brat understood and let go of Jiang Yuan's arm. Then he quickly slipped into the room and rummaged around everywhere.
Jiang Yuan was both anxious and angry. She immediately chased into the room and shouted, "This is breaking into someone's house without permission and rummaging through other people's things. Do you know this is illegal?"
The brat turned a deaf ear and continued rummaging in every corner, making the originally tidy room in a complete mess. Clothes were thrown all over the floor, drawers were pulled open, and the things inside were scattered on the ground.
"What on earth do you want?" Jiang Yuan turned her head. Her voice was hoarse after shouting, and all her strength seemed to be exhausted.
Anger was burning inside her, but she was helpless.
One against three, she had no chance of winning at all. They clearly wanted to pick on her.
"The thing I lost was a gold bracelet worth 30,000 yuan," the landlady finally spoke, her eyes flickering, not daring to look Jiang Yuan in the eye.
30,000 yuan?
Jiang Yuan laughed again. Had she offended the god of bad luck these days? How could these people dare to ask a college student for 30,000 yuan?
"30,000 yuan? Do you think I can afford 30,000 yuan? Are you overestimating me too much?" Jiang Yuan pointed at herself and laughed out of anger.
"I remember there was more than 50,000 yuan in your bank card. It's easy for you to take out 30,000 yuan," the landlady closed her eyes and said stubbornly.
Jiang Yuan was stunned. She remembered that she had logged into her bank card before the transfer at noon yesterday. Maybe the landlady had seen it at that time and had an idea.
"That's right. It's only 30,000 yuan. You should be content that we didn't ask you for 50,000 yuan," the old woman put her hands on her hips and looked extremely arrogant.
The more than 50,000 yuan in the bank card was the red envelopes from her parents and relatives and friends when she was admitted to Jing University.
Until today, Jiang Yuan finally understood the meaning of the saying "Don't show off your wealth".
The true faces of these three people were completely exposed. Seeing that she was a girl living alone with a little money, and having had a feud with the old woman and the brat, they came straight for her.
Did they think that if she gave them the money, she would still continue to live here and wouldn't call the police?
"Fine, I'll give it to you. Aren't you afraid that I'll call the police later?"
The old woman seemed to be so proud and complacent when she heard this. "Call the police? Aren't you afraid that I'll find someone to block you? If you have the guts, never go out. Let's see if it's useful to call the police."
Jiang Yuan had never heard such a shameless remark. She suddenly raised her voice, "Don't you care about this house anymore?"
"Actually, this house doesn't belong to us. We just sublet it. You can do whatever you want. It won't be our problem," the landlady kindly reminded.
Jiang Yuan was stunned again.
"What if I say this house now belongs to me and I insist on holding you accountable?"