In the past few days, something happened in the community where I am living temporarily. A well-known female UP master on Bilibili was harassed by a male neighbor late at night and ultimately had to call the police. I heard that after the harasser was taken away by the police overnight, he was undeterred and repeated his actions the next day, eventually being taken away by his hurried family under the police's coercive request after a few days of detention. The incident caused quite a stir!
At first, I just regarded it as a piece of social news, but recalling my own experiences from the first few days after I arrived, I couldn't help but feel a bit of fear.
Here's what happened. After living in Chengdu for a while, I planned to travel light to Emei Mountain, which is an hour and a half train ride from Chengdu, to look for a place to stay. Once I settled in, I would return to Chengdu to pick up my luggage. On the day I went to find a place, it happened to rain heavily, and after having lunch at a friend's house in Chengdu, I was delayed and arrived at Emei Mountain around six or seven in the evening. I had heard from friends in Chengdu that Emei Mountain has a great environment and Leshan is a food capital, making both places suitable for a laid-back stay and not far apart. Weighing the options, I thought since I hadn't been to either place, I would choose the old-fashioned way: flipping a coin. In the end, I chose Emei Mountain.
While on the train, I casually looked at the housing options in Emei Mountain and had a basic idea in my mind. So, as soon as I got off the train, I headed straight to the current community. Following some posts online about living in Emei Mountain, I got the property management's phone number from the security guard in the community. After calling, I briefly explained my needs. However, since it was indeed a bit late, most of the property staff had already left work, leaving only a few on duty, so they naturally couldn't accompany me to view the houses. Additionally, since it was still raining, I planned to find a guesthouse in the community to stay for the night.
It should be noted that this community is an investment property. Although it is quite large, the vacancy rate is extremely high, and most homeowners entrust the property management to rent out their houses. However, such properties generally require a minimum rental period of six months, and there are rarely short-term rentals of just a month or so, which has led to the emergence of many hotels and guesthouses. Typically, during peak season, the average daily price for a one-bedroom guesthouse is around 100 yuan, and it is cheaper during the off-season. However, I was puzzled because, although it is only a ten-minute walk to the foot of Emei Mountain, it is not cool at all, so where does the peak and off-season come from? It was only after living here for a while that I heard from neighbors that this was just a sales pitch from the guesthouse owners. If it weren't for being backed by Emei Mountain, hardly anyone would know about this community. But the community itself is considered a half-finished project, and many guesthouse owners own multiple properties in the community. Now that housing prices have plummeted, they are losing money badly and have to find ways to recover their losses.
After the guesthouse owner showed me a few houses, it was already close to ten o'clock at night. Although the guesthouse owner was still very enthusiastic, I was too lazy to move. After viewing a one-bedroom unit with a small balcony, I decided to talk to the owner about a monthly rental.
Although it was called a one-bedroom, there was no partition between the living room and the bedroom, so it could be considered a large studio. If I stayed for just one night, it would be 100 yuan, while the monthly rent, including property management and internet fees, was 1000 yuan, with utilities to be paid separately. Although I thought this price was reasonable, I later heard from neighbors that it was overpriced; typically, the annual or semi-annual rent for such a place is only between 600 and 800 yuan. However, since it was a monthly rental, I could understand if it was a bit higher, so I didn't dwell on it too much.
Later, I saw a proper one-bedroom unit, which was also a hotel-style apartment with a small balcony. There was a partition wall like a screen between the living room and the bedroom, and the TV was placed within the partition wall, allowing it to rotate 360 degrees horizontally, making it convenient to watch TV whether sitting in the living room or lying in bed. However, this partition wall made the room feel smaller, and I found my large studio to be brighter, which made me feel more balanced.
After moving in, a neighbor I got to know added me to a local travel group, where most of the members were young people living in this community and the neighboring one. However, I later left the group because I was being added by boring people who harassed me. This was very similar to the experience of the female UP master I mentioned at the beginning of my article. However, my experience was relatively simpler.
Here's what happened. In the first few days after joining the group, I consulted a lot about living here, such as which stores offer economical and practical items, transportation options, which brand of mosquito repellent is more suitable for use in the room, and asking if anyone wanted to hike Emei Mountain with me... One day, I went to a vegetarian restaurant in the community for a meal based on a recommendation from a group member. As I was finishing my meal, I asked in the group if anyone wanted to take a walk after dinner. At that time, no one in the group responded, but shortly after I washed the dishes and walked out of the restaurant, a creepy guy on a bicycle stopped me on the side of the road. He asked if I was someone from the group, and after I confirmed, he enthusiastically wanted to add me as a WeChat friend, claiming he had lived here for a long time and knew everything, saying I could consult him directly if I had any questions. At that moment, my first reaction was not to find him creepy; I just thought he was a friendly group member. After walking for a while, I realized he was overflowing with negative energy, constantly complaining about various shortcomings of the community. For example, he said the sound insulation was poor and he hadn't had a good rest for several days; he mentioned that the rent was high and suggested I should go to a more remote community; he also said that the female neighbors here were very aloof and hard to approach... The tone of the conversation became increasingly inappropriate. Recalling his earlier words when he wanted to add me on WeChat, he kept saying he respected women, and almost every sentence included phrases like "could you" or "may I," which seemed polite but were actually testing boundaries, making me feel wary. So, when he offered to walk me downstairs, I decisively and politely declined. However, he still persisted, acting very enthusiastic. In the end, I said I had to go find the landlord for something to shake him off.
I didn't expect that the next day, when a few people in the group arranged to have dinner in a chain format, he showed up uninvited. To be honest, if he had signed up in the group, my first reaction upon seeing his name would have been not to go. But now, since he showed up uninvited and seemed to be chatting comfortably with a few others, I thought it was just a private arrangement by some group members and didn't pay much attention.
The original restaurant was a skewer shop near the community, but when we all reached the entrance, he suddenly said the oil here was bad and the ingredients were not fresh, strongly recommending we go to another local authentic specialty restaurant that his friend had recommended, acting like an older brother. Seeing his serious demeanor, we didn't think much of it and took a taxi a long way to that restaurant. Later, while we were all drinking and chatting, he was the only one who buried his head in eating, as if he hadn't eaten for many days. When it came time to settle the bill, wow, in a place where the average cost per person was already considered high at thirty to fifty yuan, we ended up splitting nearly a hundred yuan per person. Wasn't this just a greasy freeloader? Thinking back to his previous behavior, the word "creepy" immediately popped into my mind. I blocked and deleted him.
Later on, I occasionally encountered that creepy guy in the community. He must have sensed that I was not easy to mess with, as he would deliberately pretend not to know me, and I was happy to let it be.
Coincidentally, a few days later, at a gathering hosted by the guesthouse owner, he showed up uninvited again, empty-handed, and immediately started critiquing everything, as if he was there to give everyone face and everyone had to revolve around him. During the meal, he even recreated the scene of a beggar guarding his food. Later, I heard from the guesthouse owner that he was not one of his tenants but had previously been staying in a tenant's room. For some reason, he later moved to a more remote and cheaper community, and it was unclear whether he rented a place or continued to stay for free.
Under normal circumstances, participants in such gatherings either bring their own drinks and dishes or share the cost of buying ingredients, which is a well-known rule among everyone. However, since he was the only one violating this, the guesthouse owner, although visibly unhappy, didn't actually make a fuss about it. Since there were still plenty of ingredients left that night, the guesthouse owner suggested gathering again for lunch the next day. Unexpectedly, he showed up again. I didn't go, but later I learned from group photos and chatting with neighbors. Sure enough, people's behavioral logic is habitual. Taking advantage of others and acting as if it is a given is truly disgusting!
Now, thinking about the experience of that female UP master, I wonder if that creepy guy has ever harassed her. Personally, I suspect he probably had that intention. After these experiences, I started paying close attention to his comments in the group and found that there were quite a few people who shared his bad vibes. Additionally, there were also other unfamiliar male group members adding me as friends, so I decisively left the group. In fact, I could have chosen not to leave, but every time I saw their conversations in the group, I felt disgusted. So, it’s better to not see and not be bothered. The good thing is that before leaving the group, I had already added a few female group members I got along with on WeChat, who later became my neighbors.
In fact, this incident also serves as a reminder to many girls from another perspective. There is never any unwarranted flattery; when going out, it's best to have fewer filters about oneself. Sometimes, what one perceives as being cheerful, gentle, kind, and helpful... can be precisely the points that others exploit, and these shining traits can also hurt those with dark hearts, thus becoming their justification for violence. My personal advice is to stay vigilant and keep a distance from bad people and bad situations. If you encounter danger that you cannot avoid and the power dynamics are unequal, remember not to provoke the other party, and then, ensuring your own safety, decisively call the police!
Alright, let's stop here for today's article. What else will happen in the upcoming travel life? Let's wait and see.
The end