The programmer and his woman

I stood at the door of Xiaoxia's room, watching her busy packing her luggage. I walked into the room and saw that her suitcase was almost full, but she was still adding clothes to it.

I smiled and said to her, "Xiao Xia, you should bring fewer clothes. You don't need to wear some old clothes. They don't look good. You can buy new ones later. The suitcase is too heavy and it's hard to pull. You see, I only brought a laptop and a school bag with two sets of clothes in it."

Xiaoxia turned around and glared at me, with a slight smile on her face. "How can you men be the same as us women? Besides, how can I sleep at night without bed sheets and quilt covers? These are necessities. It's not like you men who can just find a place to sleep."

"There are also towels and toiletries. Can you not take them?" Xiaoxia continued to ask, stuffing another package into the suitcase as she spoke.

I shook my head: "Of course I have to bring these, otherwise what should I do when I get there?"

Xiaoxia nodded with satisfaction and began to check her suitcase again.

After a while, she suddenly stopped what she was doing, looked at me, and said, "Do you think I can still put more stuff in this box?"

I looked at her already packed suitcase and said, "I think the zipper of your suitcase will get tight if you stuff it any more."

Xiaoxia sighed: "What should we do with these clothes?" She pointed at the clothes she had picked out and put aside.

I hesitated for a moment, then said, "Let's not get rid of these clothes. We can buy new ones when we get there anyway."

Xiao Xia thought about it, then nodded: "Oh, forget it, it seems like there's really no room for it, so let's just throw these away."

I breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Then let's meet in the waiting hall tomorrow morning at the same time as last time."

Xiaoxia nodded, and then started to get busy again. I looked at her and couldn't help but feel touched. It is really a very happy thing to have such a girlfriend who knows how to live.

This was the first time in my life that I was leaving my hometown to go far away, and I was full of anticipation and nervousness. My parents accompanied me to the train station. Along the way, we talked and laughed, but when we actually arrived at the station, the atmosphere became a little solemn. After all, this meant that I was about to embark on an unknown journey, away from the protection of my family.

After entering the train station, my parents accompanied me all the way to the ticket gate. They held my hand tightly, repeatedly told me to take good care of myself, and told me to contact my family in time no matter what difficulties I encountered. Finally, we said take care to each other and said goodbye.

After passing the security check, I dragged my luggage and walked into the waiting hall alone. Looking around, the crowd was bustling, and everyone had their own destinations and stories. Just then, I saw a familiar figure, Xiaoxia. It turned out that she had already arrived here and was sitting quietly waiting for me. Xiaoxia waved to me: "Wang Dong, come here, I'm here."

I noticed that Xiaoxia looked a little tired along the way. Her little face was covered with sweat, and her bright eyes looked a little dull. Seeing her pulling the heavy suitcase, I said distressedly, "You must be tired from pulling such a heavy suitcase. Please give it to me."

I gently took the handle of the suitcase so that she could relax. Xiaoxia seemed relieved, she smiled slightly, and then gently put her arm around me. At this moment, I felt her dependence and trust in me.

We walked side by side, and Xiaoxia suddenly said, "Wang Dong, we can be together every day from now on." Her voice was full of expectations and longings for the future.

I smiled and responded to her: "Yes, we will spend a lot of good time together."

At this time, the announcement of ticket inspection came over the radio. I turned to Xiaoxia and said, "Wang Dong, the tickets have been inspected. Let's go. Give me your bag and I'll help you carry it."

Xiaoxia nodded and handed me her backpack. I took the backpack and felt that it was not light, but I didn't complain at all. Because I knew that this was our common journey and I was willing to share everything with her.

We walked into the station, and the scene in front of us was quite similar to the green train in my memory. This train was different from the white train, and it was full of traces of time and a heavy sense of history. The carriage was crowded with people coming and going. I held Xiaoxia's hand tightly, fearing that she would get lost in the crowd.

We found our seats. Although they were hard seats, the journey was not long. The train started slowly, and the scenery outside the window began to recede rapidly. I noticed that Xiaoxia's face was filled with a happy smile, and her eyes were shining with expectations and longings for the future.

Finally, we arrived at our destination. When we walked out of the station, we saw a busy scene outside. Taxi drivers who were calling for passengers and hotel ladies came up to us, trying to attract our attention.

"Wang Dong, should we rent a house and find a place to live first?" Xiaoxia looked at me and said, her eyes revealing an expectation and plan for the future life.

"Yeah, but where can I find one?" I thought to myself, and I knew in my heart that this was a problem we had to face. After all, having a stable place to live is the foundation for starting a new life.

"Then let's take the bus for a few stops and leave the train station first." Xiaoxia suggested, her voice full of determination.

"Ah? Why?" I asked somewhat puzzled.

"Think about it, there are a lot of people around the train station, and the rent is relatively high." Xiaoxia explained patiently, her face filled with confidence and calmness.

"Oh, that's right. Xiaoxia, you are smart." I suddenly realized and agreed with Xiaoxia's suggestion.

"Of course, just follow me this time." Xiaoxia raised her head proudly, looking full of confidence.

"Oh, that's right." I nodded in agreement. I feel lucky to have a partner like Xiaoxia. Not only is she smart and capable, but she also always thinks of problems that I haven't thought of.

So, we just got on a bus. The car was noisy, but Xiaoxia and I were immersed in our own thoughts. At this time, we heard the conductor shout: "Get on the bus, there are still people on the top, the hot ones get on the master, and the next station is the auxiliary police."

"Oh my God! Why is the ticket seller speaking so unclearly, as if she has a piece of hot tofu in her mouth. Xiaoxia, did you understand what the ticket seller just said?" I asked Xiaoxia beside me with a puzzled look on my face.

Xiaoxia just shook her head slightly, with a hint of smile on her lips: "Haha, I didn't hear it clearly either."

"If you don't understand, do you know which stop to get off?" I asked Xiaoxia with some concern. After all, we had just arrived in this strange city and were not familiar with the bus routes and stops.

Xiaoxia smiled at me and consoled me, "It's okay. It's just a few stops ahead. We don't need to remember which stop it is. We just need to pay attention to the scenery and landmarks outside and roughly estimate the distance."

I nodded, although I was still a little unsure, but since Xiaoxia said so, I could only believe her. So I asked again: "Oh, that's right, then how many stops do we take?"

"It's eight stops." Xiaoxia replied. She seemed to have some understanding of the traffic conditions here.

"Okay, then I'll go buy the ticket." I stood up and prepared to walk towards the ticket seller.

Hello, please give me two tickets. I looked up, fixed my eyes on the station sign above, and carefully counted eight stations. Then, I stared at the station name and reported it accurately to the conductor.

I thought to myself: I wonder if this conductor can understand what I am saying? If she is still as incomprehensible as before, I am afraid that I will be confused about the exact amount of money I need to pay for the two tickets! Fortunately, the conductor's tone is completely different from before. She speaks to me in standard Mandarin with a slight Beijing accent. This makes me feel a little relieved.

At each subsequent stop, the conductor still maintained her unique and fast way of announcing the stops, as if she was holding hot tofu in her mouth. It was almost impossible to hear the station names clearly! Helplessly, we could only count the number of stops in our minds, and finally we were able to reach our destination and get off the bus.

After getting off the bus, we first went to an agency to check the rental price. When I saw the rent, I was shocked - the whole house was rented out for more than 5,000 yuan per month! My God, the staff here are too careless! I thought I should go in and remind them.

Hello, is the price wrong? You wrote "renting a house", but did you mark the price as the selling price per square meter? Please change it quickly. If you write it like this again, you will scare away people who want to rent a house.

"Let me see where the mark is wrong?" The agent came over to take a look and said with a puzzled look on his face: "The mark is correct."

"Ah? No way?" I asked in surprise, "Shouldn't the monthly rent be several hundred yuan? Why did you write several thousand?"

The agent seemed to understand something and said with a smile: "Dude, the price you see is for the entire apartment. It would cost several thousand yuan to rent the entire apartment, and a few thousand yuan is already very cheap. In some good communities, the monthly rent alone would be over ten thousand yuan! The several hundred yuan you mentioned is for shared accommodation."

"What does it mean to rent the entire house and what does it mean to share a house?" I asked.

The agent patiently explained: "To put it simply, renting the entire house means renting it to you in its entirety. For example, if you rent the entire one-bedroom house by yourself, that's called renting the entire house."

I thought to myself, it’s not like I haven’t rented a house before. The first house I rented for Xiaoxia was a one-bedroom, one-living room apartment, and the one next to the school at the back was also a one-bedroom, one-living room apartment. Didn’t they both cost a few hundred dollars?

So I asked him, "Isn't this how renting a house is supposed to be? Is there any other way to rent a house?"

"That's a must. In addition to renting the entire house, there is also a shared rental method. A shared rental means renting a house to several people at the same time, some renting the living room, and some renting the bedroom. It seems that you two have just arrived in City A, and this is the rental market here."

"As expected, the rent in City A is so expensive. How do we pay for it?" I asked.

Well, let me explain it to you in detail: "If the landlord doesn't leave anything valuable in the house you rent, you have to pay a deposit of one month's rent and pay three months' rent. If you have a lot of stuff, you have to pay a deposit of two months' rent and pay three months' rent. The agency fee is one month's rent. If you renew the lease after the contract expires, no agency fee will be charged."

Wow, I couldn't help thinking to myself, this is really a shady deal! Just by introducing a house, I can earn thousands of yuan for nothing. It's a huge profit! I quickly calculated in my mind that if I wanted to rent a house of about the same size as our previous one, I would have to pay nearly 30,000 yuan at one time! After calculating this number, I couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat. How could I afford this? I had to invest half a year's salary before I even started making money. It was obviously unrealistic to rent the whole house. After all, my salary was limited, and there was not much left after paying the rent. Every month was like working for nothing. Who could bear this kind of life? Besides, I only had 10,000 yuan in my card, and I couldn't afford such a high cost. Therefore, I made a decision without hesitation: I had to choose to share the house.

However, the price difference of shared housing is also very large. Some houses rent for more than 2,000 yuan, while others only cost more than 500 yuan. The more I looked at the prices, the more puzzled I became, so I asked again: "Excuse me, why is the rent of shared housing so different?"

"The ones that cost more than 1,000 or 2,000 yuan are regular bedrooms, and the ones that cost a few hundred to more than 1,000 yuan are partition rooms." The agent said expressionlessly. I was confused when I heard the new term "partition room", but I knew in my heart that it should be a relatively cheap room. After all, with my current meager salary, I am afraid that I can only afford such a low-priced residence.

After much hesitation, we decided to sign a one-year lease contract with the real estate agency and chose one of the partitioned rooms as our residence. Afterwards, the agency took us to the residential area where we were going to live. As soon as we entered the residential area, I couldn't help but be amazed - the environment here is quite pleasant. Obviously, this is a newly built residential area, the greening work is done very well, and the buildings look brand new and fashionable, full of modern atmosphere.

We followed the agent into the elevator, and our destination was the room on the second floor. Not long after, the elevator stopped steadily. The agent pointed to a door in front of us and said, "We are here. This is the key to the front door. The other key is the key to the partition room. It has the house number on it, which corresponds to the number on the door. If you have no other questions, I will take my leave now." After that, he turned and left, leaving us alone to face this strange residence.