The landlady looked as though she'd just heard something bizarre, sticking a finger in her ear as if she'd misheard:
"What did you say? A whole month?"
Even Chen Tingting and the other two stared at Bai Li in stunned disbelief.
A whole month! That had to be several hundred yuan!
Bai Li had no interest in wasting words on her.
He quickly ran the numbers in his head — twenty-five a day, thirty days in a month, that came to seven hundred and fifty. Add the four days they already owed, another hundred. Eight hundred and fifty in total.
Exactly the full amount he had left to invest today.
He pulled out his phone, brought up the payment QR code, and tilted his chin toward the code stand on the counter.
"Can you scan this?"
The landlady studied Bai Li's perfectly serious expression, then glanced at the three wild girls.
【This young man doesn't look stupid at all.】
【And yet he wants to pay a full month's rent for a bunch of wild girls — money he'll almost certainly never see again.】
She muttered under her breath, but still fished out her own phone and pulled up the payment collection code.
A second later, the electronic chime rang out.
"WeChat payment received — eight hundred and fifty yuan."
The landlady visibly flinched. She stared at the notification on her screen, checking it over and over before she could bring herself to believe it was real.
Bai Li pocketed his phone. His gaze swept across the landlady's face — which had shifted from shock to outright bewilderment — and he spoke calmly.
His voice was as unhurried as ever, yet it carried clearly to every person in the room.
"This room is mine for a month."
"For that month, I don't want anyone coming in to disturb them — anyone except these three."
"Understood?"
The expression on the landlady's face was truly a sight to behold.
From the contempt and disdain of moments ago to the shock and fawning of right now — the transformation was breathtakingly fast.
The flesh on her cheeks strained into an ingratiating smile, her voice dripping with saccharine sweetness:
"Of course, of course! Don't you worry, sir! I'll get you the key to our very best room right away — the biggest one we have!"
As she spoke, she moved with practiced efficiency, unhooked a key, and held it out to Bai Li with both hands.
Behind him, the three girls had been struck completely dumb.
They stood there, mouths agape, staring at his back.
Chen Tingting in particular — those eyes of hers, always carrying a hint of defiance — were now wide with pure disbelief.
Being humiliated, owing money, having nowhere to go…
All the problems that had left them mortified and cornered — in front of this man, it had amounted to nothing more than scanning a code and making a payment.
Eight hundred and fifty yuan!
Handed over without so much as a second thought!
That was enough to buy them over two hundred cups of lemonade at the cafés in Nuancheng!
The way he'd solved the problem was blunt and straightforward, yet it carried an irresistible kind of magnetism.
So it was true — having money really did mean you could do whatever you wanted.
In their eyes, Bai Li's image had just been elevated to an entirely new height.
He wasn't just a "big bro" — he was practically a god.
Bai Li took the key, feeling three burning gazes on his back — a mixture of admiration and dependence — and the corner of his mouth curved up without him even noticing.
He turned around and gave the key a little shake in front of the three still-dazed girls:
"Come on, let's go. Let's see what the room looks like."
"Huh? Oh — right!"
Chen Tingting and the others snapped out of their daze, and all the pent-up emotion burst out at once.
"Big bro, you're the best!" Chen Tingting was the first to shriek, lunging forward and grabbing Bai Li's arm from the side.
She tilted her head back, her heavily lined eyes blazing with excitement:
"Big bro, you're so cool! God, did you see that old hag's face? It went green! That felt so damn good!"
Li Jiaxin followed right behind. She didn't say a word, but her actions spoke for her.
She wrapped herself around his other arm from the opposite side, pressing her cheek against his shoulder, her purple hair tickling his neck.
Seeing both of Bai Li's arms already claimed, Lin Xiaoshuang spun around in a panic.
Then, steeling herself, she simply threw her arms around his waist from the front.
The girl barely reached his chest; she buried herself entirely in his coat, and her muffled voice drifted up from somewhere inside:
"Big bro… you're so kind…"
Bai Li — all six foot two of him — stood there with three very different girls hanging off him.
On his left, Li Jiaxin's cool, aloof elegance. On his right, Chen Tingting's fiery, full-figured warmth. And nestled against his chest, Lin Xiaoshuang's soft, petite sweetness.
Three different perfumes mingled with each girl's own natural scent, weaving together into a singular, intoxicating fragrance that enveloped him.
It was a bit much for any red-blooded young man to handle.
"Ahem." Bai Li cleared his throat twice and shifted slightly, a little uncomfortable.
He gently nudged them away:
"Alright, I've done what I can. Lead the way — let's see this room."
At that, the three girls reluctantly let go.
Chen Tingting snatched the key and charged up the stairs first, her whole stride radiating triumphant glee.
The best room was at the far end of the third-floor corridor, and it really was the largest one.
When the door swung open, Bai Li was pleasantly surprised.
It wasn't the grimy mess he'd imagined. The room was actually fairly clean.
The floor was covered in dark-red vinyl, and while the walls had yellowed a bit, there was at least no mold.
Three single beds were arranged inside, all made up with white sheets — a little stiff from washing, but tidy enough.
A Wi-Fi router was mounted on the wall.
What surprised Bai Li most was that the room even had its own private bathroom — tiny, barely worth the name, but enough to take a hot shower.
For twenty-five yuan a night, this setup was practically luxurious.
The girls had almost no luggage — just a small crossbody bag each — which they tossed onto the table the moment they walked in.
Chen Tingting and Li Jiaxin moved with practiced ease, heading straight for the beds. Together, with a series of grunts and heaves, they shoved all three single beds together into one wide sleeping platform that could fit four or five people.
Once that was done, they drifted back over like three little cats circling him.
Chen Tingting leaned against the edge of the bed, one leg stretched out, the other bent, the curve of her jeans pulled taut.
She pressed her tongue stud against the inside of her cheek, her gaze carrying a mix of curiosity and playfulness:
"Big bro, I'm asking you one more time — be straight with me."
"Did you take a liking to one of us? You've been so good to us, we'd go home with you right now if you wanted — no need to waste money like this."
Li Jiaxin sat beside her, silently nodding. She twirled the purple tips of her hair between her fingers, her voice quiet but clear:
"I don't mind."
Lin Xiaoshuang's face flushed red. She nervously pinched the hem of her shirt and added in a small voice:
"Mm…"
Bai Li blinked.
He looked at the three young, pretty faces in front of him — each so different from the others — and didn't know whether to laugh or sigh.
He realized he'd still underestimated how their minds worked.
"You're overthinking it." Bai Li leaned against the doorframe, hands tucked into his coat pockets.
"I just thought you were interesting. Helping out was easy enough — consider it a little taste of real life for me."
The more casually unbothered he acted, the more the light in the girls' eyes blazed.
That kind of effortless strength and mystery, asking for nothing in return — to them, it was a deadly poison.
Then Bai Li noticed the sun had fully risen outside.
He checked his phone — it was almost noon.
A WeChat message from his mother had just popped up:
[Sweetie, where are you? Your cousin Bai Jian is here visiting!]