Found a new apartment

While Ling Ling was away to Zhuhai for a few days, I talked to the owner of the Absinthe bar one evening, and she pointed out a post on one of China's most popular blogging sites douban.com. The post was a few days old and about an apartment in Zeng Cuo An available for sublet. Not that I'm interested so much in a sublet, but I called the blogger the next morning to inquire. He told me the address, and just advised me to go and take a look, the landlord should be there, he said.
I found it after some effort (house numbers have very little relation to geographical location in this village) and talked to the landlord. My Chinese worked out remarkably well, and I could understand that the landlord was not so happy with the plans of his tenant, and had basically kicked him out already. The guy had left town for work somewhere else, but he didn't need to come back as far as the landlord was concerned, unless to pick up some personal belongings. He had broken the terms of his contract.
The landlord showed me the place. It's a 50 square meter apartment, with two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen and a bathroom, and a adjacent terrace. It's build on top of a single storey building holding a multitude of rather small rooms, all rented out to a variety of people. The building is in the yard of a old village house, itself two storeys high, where the landlord lives with his family. The atmosphere is very rural, situated at the road to Shangli, all the way in the back of Zeng Cu An, at the foot of the hills rising behind the village. It's actually not far from my present home, but the feeling is quite different. Because of the slight elevation, you actually have some nice views, even from the second floor.
The apartment has windows on all sides, eight in total, with each of the three rooms having two windows on adjacent walls, and also a window for both kitchen and bathroom. Very breezy and light.
The terrace is the best part. It's adjacent to the living room, and reached from the top of the stairs leading to the second floor, a.k.a. rooftop. At the front of the apartment is a small balcony, from which you enter the place. All in all a very interesting place, and I had to persuade the landlord to wait five days until Ling Ling returns, before we can make a decision. I want her to see it before I sign a contract. To enforce the agreement, I gave the landlord 100 RMB, just to make sure he doesn't forget his promise, and gives it away to someone else. That's how much of a Chinese I already have become...