第一章 302 的新住户

On the day of viewing the apartment, the agent took Mia to see three apartments.

The first one was too small. The second one was too far. The third one was 302.

"This one is good," Mia said.

Agent Xiao Li breathed a sigh of relief. He had shown Mia around for two hours. Every time Mia entered a unit, she would take out a small notebook and check item by item: which direction the windows faced, whether the kitchen was big, whether the balcony got sunlight. Xiao Li suspected she was writing a thesis.

"The rent is 1,800 per month, the deposit is also one month's rent, and pay three months at a time," Xiao Li said. "If there are no problems, we can sign the contract today."

"No problem," Mia nodded. "I'll follow the process."

Three days later, Mia moved into 302.

She had three large pieces of luggage. When Xiao Mei helped her carry the boxes, she found that one box was especially heavy.

"What's in here?" Xiao Mei asked.

"Tableware," Mia said. "Knives, forks, placemats, candles. Eating should have a sense of ritual."

Xiao Mei carried the box in. She thought: This new roommate really likes rituals.

In the evening, Mia prepared a "meeting gift": a box of chocolate she had brought from France.

She stood in the living room, smoothed her clothes, and prepared to formally meet her new roommate the French way.

In the living room, three people were busy with their own things.

Zhou Zhou sat on the sofa, facing the computer, and said, "I'm writing my thesis, don't make noise."

A Kai held up his phone, livestreaming: "Guys, the new roommate moved in today!"

Xiao Mei stood in front of the fridge, putting labels on it: "I've put names on all my things, don't grab the wrong ones."

Mia stood in the middle of the living room, holding the chocolate, and waited for a while.

No one looked at her.

"Ahem," Mia coughed softly.

A Kai was the first to turn around: "Oh! New roommate! Guys, look!"

Mia took a deep breath and handed over the chocolate: "Hello, my name is Mia, from France. Nice to meet you. This is a gift I prepared for you."

A Kai took the chocolate, looked at it, then handed it back: "Thanks, thanks, you're too polite, keep it for yourself."

Mia was stunned. The French-style etiquette she had prepared didn't seem to work here.

"We in China aren't that formal," Xiao Mei came over. "First join the group, soon I'll send a red envelope, and everyone will get to know each other."

"Red envelope?" Mia asked.

"Yes, we grab red envelopes in the group, whoever grabs them has good luck," Zhou Zhou said without raising his head. "Last time I got two mao and three fen."

Mia looked at the chocolate in her hand, then at the three roommates who were each busy with their own things.

She thought for a moment, put down the chocolate, and said, "No. I want to formally meet you all."

"My name is Mia, from France," she said word by word. "In France, when you meet new friends, you..."

She stepped forward, and following French etiquette, she gave A Kai a bise on each cheek.

A Kai was frozen in place.

"Guys!!!" He raised his phone. "The new roommate... the new roommate kissed me!"

The bullet comments flooded the screen: "Hahaha" "Wishful thinking" "That's a cheek kiss!"

Mia corrected seriously: "This is French etiquette, not a kiss."

Zhou Zhou finally stuck his head out from behind the computer, looked at Mia, then at A Kai, and laughed: "A Kai, your livestream fans are more cultured than you."

A Kai was lectured by his fans, scratched his head embarrassedly: "Alright, I'm inexperienced."

He turned off his phone and looked at Mia seriously: "Hello, I'm A Kai, I do livestreaming. Welcome to 302."

Zhou Zhou also stood up: "Zhou Zhou, a graduate student, writing a thesis. Please take care of me in the future."

"Xiao Mei, a designer," Xiao Mei said. "I've written the house rules on the wall, take a look when you're free."

Mia smiled. Although their ways were different, this time, she listened carefully, and they also listened carefully.

"Oh, by the way," Xiao Mei suddenly remembered something. "Mia, you're a foreigner, after moving, you need to register your accommodation."

"Accommodation registration?" Mia asked. "What's that?"

"It's just telling the police officer that you live here," Zhou Zhou said. "If you don't register..."

"What would happen?" Mia was a bit nervous.

"You'll be invited by the police for tea," Zhou Zhou said solemnly.

"Don't scare her," Xiao Mei said. "You just go to the police station to register, or you can do it online. I'll teach you how tomorrow."

Mia nodded, and mentally noted the phrase "accommodation registration."

Back in her room, as soon as Mia sat down, her phone rang.

It was a message from A Kai in the group: "@Mia, look quickly! You're trending!"

Mia clicked the link—A Kai had posted a video titled "French Roommate Kissed Me on the First Day?!" The view count was already very high.

Mia watched for three seconds, stood up, picked up the box of chocolate, walked to A Kai's door, and knocked.

"A Kai," she said. "I need to explain to you, this is etiquette."

From inside the door came A Kai's voice: "I... I understand! I'll go learn French etiquette tomorrow!"

"Very good," Mia said seriously. "We French people do things with a sense of ritual."

She turned to leave, but suddenly thought of something and looked back to ask:

"By the way, I'm going to register my accommodation tomorrow. Do you want to come along?"

There was three seconds of silence from inside the door.

"... I suddenly feel that I'm very busy tomorrow."

Mia stood at the door, thinking seriously: Doesn't he have no livestream tomorrow? Why would he be busy?

She shook her head and returned to her room.

"Today I asked A Kai to come with me to register accommodation, but A Kai said he was busy." Mia took out her little notebook and wrote it down.

In order to learn Chinese better, Mia often carries a little notebook, but of course, only she knows what she writes in it.