"Renting?"
"Yeah. Dorms are kind of inconvenient, so I'm planning to rent a place near campus."
Scarlet nodded in understanding. Pennbrook's management was pretty relaxed overall, and lots of students rented off-campus. As a senior, she knew all about it.
"I'm a senior now, and almost half my class is renting off-campus. We have internships, and some workplaces are pretty far—or even in other cities—so renting makes things way more convenient. Of course, some people also rent those on-campus apartments, usually for grad school prep."
"I see..."
"Wait, let me ask first—when you say 'renting,' do you mean the same thing most people mean by renting?"
Scarlet had a feeling that since Arden was so loaded, his standards for renting would definitely be higher than the average person's.
Ordinary students rented for privacy and freedom.
Beyond that, they didn't really care much about decor, space, or living conditions.
Or even if they did care, they didn't have the budget to be picky.
But Arden was different.
He was drowning in money.
"Yeah, there's a slight difference," Arden admitted frankly. "My requirement is to live in the best possible place—preferably with professional housekeeping so I don't have to deal with cleaning up after myself."
It would be way too much hassle to rent some half-furnished place—or worse, a total dump like most student rentals—and then decorate it himself.
If he really had to decorate a place himself, Arden would rather wait until his wealth hit the tens of millions, buy a luxury penthouse outright, and furnish it slowly.
For now, he'd rent somewhere nice. And the rent would get rebated anyway.
After all, the whole point was indulgence—indulgence meant enjoying the present.
Scarlet said, "Then you should just live in a hotel. Hotel rooms can be booked long-term with monthly discounts—usually 20% or even 30% off, depending on the brand and location."
"A hotel... that's not a bad idea." Arden mused thoughtfully.
He'd seen online posts about newly rich people who loved staying in five-star hotels.
Arden hadn't experienced it yet, but he figured he could give it a try.
Book a room for a few days, stay a few nights, see how it felt.
He opened the hotel booking app on his phone and searched for luxury hotels near campus.
After browsing around, he decided the JW Marriott looked pretty solid.
Following the room descriptions sorted by price, Arden scrolled straight to the bottom to check out the most expensive options.
River View Executive Suite.
A spacious 1,000 square feet, with a gorgeous living room, bedroom, and bathroom.
Included access to the hotel pool, gym, and executive lounge.
At $240 per night, it was currently off-season for tourism—the price would spike during fall break.
This rate already exceeded the monthly living expenses of most students.
Arden, however, immediately placed an order for a full week.
The reason for a week was that anything longer wouldn't trigger the indulgence cashback.
According to the system's current assessment of Arden, he could book for a maximum of one week at a time.
As Arden's lifestyle became more luxurious, the system would upgrade accordingly, and the cashback limits would increase too.
[Ding! Detected host booking luxury hotel accommodations. Indulgent spending of $1,680. Triggering 10x cashback. Reward: +$16,800!]
Arden paid right in front of Scarlet, openly and without hiding anything.
Scarlet watched, her heart pounding.
Just now, Arden said he'd try staying at a hotel first, then decide whether to rent long-term.
That meant he was planning to live long-term in the River View Executive Suite??
This was absolutely insane...
Even at the off-season rate, negotiating a 30% discount, it would still be almost $5,000 a month.
Scarlet's sharp mind quickly calculated the rough figure.
Her breathing quickened.
This was literally burning through money—basically the perfect boyfriend of her dreams.
Plenty of trust fund kids who claimed their families had nine-figure net worths didn't spend money this lavishly.
When they were in college, students were still... students, and parents often didn't hand over that much cash.
Not to mention the economy had been sluggish the past couple years, and a lot of rich guys had gotten their budgets slashed.
Take renting, for example—spending a few thousand a month to rent a decent three-bedroom in a nice neighborhood near campus was already top-tier among students, and some girls who liked the high life would move in with those guys.
Arden, however, had just quadrupled that budget.
There was a numerical elegance to it.
Imagine being his girlfriend—she could stay with him at the JW Marriott's River View Suite every night, sip wine in the executive lounge overlooking Bayside City's skyline.
Then go play in the pool for a while, and come back to soak in the huge bathtub.
The only cost would be sleeping with Arden... No, that couldn't even be called a cost—after all, Arden's looks and build were on point. He wasn't some celebrity or idol, but he was still a seriously hot guy, the class heartthrob.
Usually, rich people at this level either looked unappealing or were middle-aged with beer guts and greasy vibes, which was just gross to think about.
Dating Arden, though? Zero concerns like that.
For a moment, Scarlet almost gave in completely, thinking she should just throw herself at him right now!
But she still had some reservations.
It wasn't that she didn't want to give herself to him—it was more that she hoped Arden would feel her charm, get so captivated by her that he couldn't resist, and make the first move himself.
In her heart, she'd already decided Arden was the man she'd been saving herself for all these years.
From now on, she didn't need to waste her natural allure on anyone else—she just needed to focus all her firepower on seducing Arden!
"Hey, are you free after lunch?"
"Why, don't want me to leave?" Scarlet licked her lips and blinked.
"Come with me to check out the hotel. Honestly, it's my first time staying somewhere this nice," Arden said honestly.
"Wait, your first time?" Scarlet was genuinely surprised.
"Yeah. Before this, because of family stuff, I was always raised super frugally—hardship, discipline, work ethic, ambition, all that. Now that I'm in college, I can finally enjoy myself."
"Ohh, that makes sense."
Scarlet suddenly understood. No wonder Arden seemed so low-key—it was because of his solid upbringing.
Rich kids who lived extravagantly from a young age usually turned into useless adults, totally incapable of taking over the family business.
But if they'd experienced ordinary life and endured hardship, they'd be more empathetic to employees and more reliable when running a company.
Yes, that's exactly how it goes in CEO novels!
Instantly, Scarlet conjured a magnificent backstory for Arden in her mind.
The affection surging in her chest grew even hotter.
She was already a senior and had been interning for a while now—she'd shed her naive student mentality and gained a basic understanding of how society worked.
Girls at this stage often became realistic fast.
Money really could change your destiny. And it was so hard to earn.
If she could become Arden's girlfriend, it would absolutely be a shortcut in life.
Who wouldn't want to take a shortcut? Everyone's lazy at heart.