Director of a Suspense Film

Ch7 – We Can’t Have Feudal Superstition 

　　“Thank you… I understand.” 

　　Zong qi didn’t say anything else, quickly picking up the black plastic bag on the floor, finding his extremely worn backpack and started packing things into it. 

　　The neighbour glanced at him pitifully before going back to fetching water. 

　　A few minutes later, Zong qi finished packing his luggage. 

　　He didn’t have much stuff in the first place, everything could fit into his bag and he could just pick it up and go. 

　　The landlord of this dorm was a kind old woman who was always very nice to him. She knew that Zong qi often ran to the school and hospital and was in trouble financially. Thus, she decided to reduce the rent for him several times. Zong qi was very embarrassed because of this, taking the initiative to move out several times but was stopped by the grandma at the bottom of the building.

　　Unfortunately, dorm grandma was the same as his grandma, both their bodies weren’t very good. She told him last week that she might go back to the countryside to recuperate for a while, so the one in charge became dorm grandma’s daughter-in-law. 

　　This daughter-in-law had a very hot temper. As soon as she took office, she started targeting him, threatening him that although dorm grandma didn’t settle accounts, she wouldn’t forget about the rent Zong qi had never paid. She even said that if he didn’t make up for the rent he didn’t pay before this Saturday, she’ll kick him out.

　　But today was only Tuesday, there were still quite a few days before Saturday. It was clearly the other party that broke the promise first. 

　　Even ignoring that the improvisational theatre would be settled at noon tomorrow, and the points obtained from the system could be converted to money. Just according to Zong qi’s original plan alone, the streaming platform would pay him the live broadcasting revenue from the past few months this Friday.

　　Because he hadn’t signed the contract with the platform for 3 months yet, the generated income couldn’t be withdrawn at will, and he could only wait for this month’s arrear to be paid.

　　Although there are quite a number of complaints about the landlord’s daughter-in-law’s reneging, the house was still theirs in the end. People in another’s house had no choice but to lower their heads. Moreover, there were several times dorm grandma had reduced or exempted the rent for him, Zong qi also felt apologetic for that.

　　Just nice, getting chased out at this time also meant that his deposit couldn’t be taken back, which conveniently helped him pay off his debt. It could be considered a win-win. 

　　What’s most important was… the mark that suddenly appeared on the door. 

　　This was a warning, and a threat. 

　　The ouroboros group might have already had their eyes on this place. Zong qi didn’t want to bring people unnecessary trouble because of himself but he still took a picture and sent it to Gao Mu, proving that he was indeed being getting targetted by this organisation. 

　　He went down with his bag on his back, getting on the public bicycle[1] he had just parked. 

　　The sky outside had completely darkened. There were only a few dim street lights and convenience store signs flickering to guide the road in the small alley. 

　　“Since it’s so late, an inn will do for the night, I can rent a room tomorrow.”

　　He rode the bicycle out of the alley and looked for cheap inns around the rows of buildings in the old city

　　Coincidentally, after riding for about a few kilometres, Zong qi saw a signboard for an inn with major discounts. It was located at the corner of the street and exuded a strong smell of cheapness.

　　Zong qi’s eyes only held the words ‘major discount’, not noticing the warning sign beside it, picking his bag up and walking in. 

　　The inn wasn’t big. There was only a narrow front desk in the middle of the first floor, and a Buddhist altar burning incense embedded into the wall. The incandescent lamp was dim, and the red candlelight shone on the back staircase, moisture that couldn’t be swept away floated in the air.

　　“Welcome welcome.” 

　　After he saw someone come, the boss was delighted, coming out to welcome the person himself. 

　　Zong qi was surprised, “Boss, do you still have a room? I’ll stay a night.” 

　　“Yes yes yes, one night for 10.” 

　　“It’s just that…” 

　　The boss secretly observed the customer’s expression, saying slowly, “The inn is renovating these two days, so it might be a little noisy at night.” 

　　“It’s fine it’s fine, just open a single room for me.” 

　　In the spirit of never spending more money than he had to, Zong qi readily agreed.

　　Although everything was cheap in the old city area, finding an inn that only cost 10 dollars a night was still rare. No matter how Zong qi looked at it, he was the one winning. 

　　“Alrighty! Costumer, please wait a moment!” 

　　The boss agreed with a huge smile. 

　　At this moment, the fortune cat at the entrance made a “Welcome” sound. 

　　The boss who was looking for the key at the counter saw this and quickly stopped doing whatever he was doing and quickly greeted him, “Sigh, Master Qi, you’ve finally come!” 

　　Master? 

　　Zong qi looked back, finding a handsome young man wearing a Taoist robe at the entrance. 

　　Wearing a Taoist robe didn’t matter much, what was the most eye-catching was that peach wood sword on his back. 

　　Zong qi was dumbfounded, staying frozen to the spot and greeting him with his eyes. (t/n: raws said 注目礼 you see but google doesnt wanna tell me the meaning so im guessing it :c) 

　　What generation is it already, there are still people wearing this kind of things on the streets, cosplaying? 

　　Qi Ningdan didn’t focus on the eyes of bystanders. In his hand was an old luopan, his expression serious while he mumbled to himself. 

　　“The crossroads already brought about ill fortune, now even the entrance is facing the Northeast Gates of Hell…” (t/n: fengshui things are the worst i can never find the english equivalent T^T) 

　　In these short few seconds, he had already made a verdict in his heart.

　　Tonight will probably be a long night, he’ll have to pay more. 

　　The boss stood at the side with a nervous expression, “How is it, Master?” 

　　“It’s fine.” 

　　Qi Ningdan put down his luopan, he nodded gracefully, giving himself enough style, “It’s just that I’ll have to adjust the price a bit.” (t/n: zq rlly doesn’t like this guy huh, keeps insulting him in the way hes getting described)

　　“Of course of course…” 

　　The boss scrambled to nod and agree, “As long as you can deal with this, all of these are small problems, there’s no need to bring it up.” 

　　Zong qi who had accidentally heard their conversation: …? 

　　He suddenly felt an ominous feeling rise in his heart, “What? Is there something wrong with this inn?” 

　　Both pairs of eyes turned to him. 

　　Qi Ningdan furrowed his brows, “Why are there customers today? Didn’t I say that no outsiders could be here when I’m practising?” (t/n: practising his fake magic eyeroll.jpg <- not a spoiler i dunno what happens next) 

　　The boss smiled amiably, “We have 3 floors. There’s something wrong with the third floor so you’ll practice on the third floor. This customer will stay on the second floor, so there won’t be a problem.” 

　　He was deathly afraid that Zong qi would regret and walk away, quickly continuing, “We hung a warning sign outside, didn’t you see it when you came in? It was right beside the special discount.” 

　　Zong qi retreated to the inn’s entrance with a wooden face. 

　　This really couldn’t be blamed on him, the words ‘Major Discount Today’ was not only in bold, brightened, and enlargened, there were also lights shining on it while the warning sign on the side was the size of his palms, with black words on a white piece of paper, what kind of person would go look at that? 

　　Heh, it’s just a merchant’s trick.

　　Two months ago, there was a murder case in this inn. 

[1] A bicycle-sharing system, bike share program, public bicycle scheme,or public bike share (PBS) scheme, is a shared transport service in which bicycles are made available for shared use to individuals on a short term basis for a price or free