Free Web NovelChapter 515: Chapter 515: Problematic Background Music
However, no matter how much Elaine Hughes pleaded, the landlord showed no signs of being moved.
’Was this a joke? He wasn’t running a charity. He needed that rent money to buy supplies and support his own family!’
’This family hadn’t paid rent for ages; there was no way he could let them stay any longer!’
The landlord looked at Elaine Hughes as if she were a beggar and said with a face full of impatience, "I’ll give you five more minutes. Get out of here right now, or else... I’m calling the police!"
Hearing the word "police," Elaine Hughes didn’t dare say another word. She could only go back inside and tell the others to pack their things so they could leave.
Seeing Elaine Hughes agree to move out, the landlord couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
’These days, it was common for tenants to squat in properties, and the police were too busy to handle it all. If Elaine Hughes’s family had stubbornly refused to leave, it would have been a real headache...’
’Good thing they’re leaving on their own.’
The landlord turned and saw Caleb Summers and his family arrive. He said, a bit sheepishly, "Oh, you’re here... Just wait a moment. Their family will be out of here soon."
Caleb Summers offered a polite smile and replied, "No problem."
The family of four waited by the door, assailed by a sour, putrid smell wafting from inside. Howard Fletcher grumbled in discontent, "It stinks in here. Can we please not live here...?"
Before he could finish, however, Zoe Kane clamped a hand over his mouth.
Hearing Howard Fletcher’s words, the landlord chuckled and said, "Well now, little master, you folks are from the South District, aren’t you? Apartments are a rare find here in the North District these days. You’re lucky to have found a place at all, so don’t be so picky!"
Although the landlord’s tone was teasing, his face held an unconcealable smugness. After all, properties in the North District were in high demand these days.
’So what if it’s low-income housing? So what if it stinks a little? It’s still better than being crammed into a hallway with a bunch of refugees!’
’You have to understand, even in the same apartment building, the level of safety between renting your own place and being put in mass housing is night and day!’
’Just yesterday, there were two murders in this very building.’
’And that’s just the murders. Thefts, robberies, brawls, assaults... it’s endless! Even the police can’t keep up!’
’Being able to rent a private apartment is a huge security guarantee.’
Caleb Summers’s family waited at the door for a while longer until the Lancasters finally finished packing and left.
Taking the keys from the landlord, Caleb Summers opened the door.
But unexpectedly, the moment they stepped inside, Chester Summers, who was in Caleb’s arms, burst into tears with a loud "WAAAH!"
Chester Summers cried until his little face turned pale, sobbing, "Boo-hoo-hoo, there’s poo-poo, there’s poo-poo on the floor! Daddy, I don’t wanna live here! Waaah!"
It wasn’t just Chester. After getting a clear look at the room’s condition, the expressions on Caleb Summers, Zoe Kane, and Howard Fletcher’s faces turned grim.
Zoe Kane turned back to the landlord and said with displeasure, "Landlord, look at this place... How can anyone live in this?"
The room was damp all over, with a puddle of stagnant water in one corner. The floor was covered in filth—the color, the shape, combined with the foul stench in the air... Zoe Kane didn’t dare to think about it too closely.
Seeing their reaction, the landlord, still at the door, said nonchalantly, "It’s just some sewage backup. The other units are like this too. It’s no big deal. Just clean it up a little..."
Before the landlord could finish, Zoe Kane cut him off with a shriek, "Clean it up?! How are we supposed to clean this? It’s disgusting!"
’She felt sick just looking at it, and he expected her to clean it?!’
’She couldn’t accept this!’
Hearing this, the landlord rolled his eyes at Zoe Kane and snorted, "Alright, take it or leave it! I’ll have no trouble renting this place out... If you don’t want it, I’ll just contact the next person on the list!"
At the landlord’s words, Zoe Kane immediately fell silent.
She knew their family’s current situation. Ever since Caleb Summers was transferred, his monthly take-home pay was just his base salary.
They had two children to raise, so their expenses were already high. Now, they had the added burden of rent...
This apartment was already the absolute limit of what they could afford. If they were to look for another place, they probably wouldn’t be able to pay the rent at all.
Thinking of this, Caleb Summers could only grit his teeth and reply, "We’ll... we’ll take it!"
After the landlord left, Caleb Summers wearily wiped his face.
He passed the sobbing Chester Summers from his arms to Zoe Kane’s and said in a muffled voice, "You clean this up. I have to get to work."
With that, Caleb Summers picked a relatively clean room for himself and prepared to start working.
But just then, his phone suddenly rang. Caleb Summers picked it up and saw it was a call from his new supervisor.
Caleb Summers hurriedly answered, his tone obsequious, "Hello, Director. What can I do for you...?"
He hadn’t even finished his sentence when a furious roar erupted from the other end of the line: "Caleb Summers! What the hell did you do? How could you put something like that in the courseware! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"
Caleb Summers was stunned by the sudden tirade.
’Put something like that in?’
’What kind of something?’
Caleb Summers couldn’t process it. He heard his supervisor on the other end continue to rage, "If you want to fucking die, go die on your own! Don’t drag me down with you! This has blown up online! The internet is calling us traitors! We’re all going to be ruined because of you!"
Caleb Summers was completely baffled. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and asked nervously, "What did I add?... Director, I really don’t understand what you mean. What exactly happened?"
Hearing this, his supervisor on the other end answered in a furious voice, "You’re still playing dumb with me?! Go look at the trending topics your damn self!"
After hanging up, Caleb Summers opened the trending topics list with a trembling hand. The first and second entries were, starkly—
"#YouthPalaceCoursewareScandal#"
"#ElementaryFloodSafetyCoursewareBGM#"
Seeing these two topics, Caleb Summers’s scalp tingled instinctively—he remembered this "Elementary Flood Safety Education" courseware. He had made it himself. It was meant to teach students about safety during floods.
’Did something go wrong with the courseware?’
With a heart full of apprehension, Caleb Summers clicked on the trending post.
He had no idea what to expect, but what he saw gave him the shock of his life.
—Netizens had discovered that there was a problem with the courseware’s background music. It used a song created by a well-known subversive group for their protests.
The lyrics were in English, the wording was extremely bold, and it was highly inflammatory.
A parent discovered the issue while watching the courseware with their child and furiously exposed the matter online.
Because it touched on a sensitive subject, the incident quickly blew up and was now the top trending story across the entire internet.
