My wife and I are both time travelers.

Chapter 35 Troubles
"I've temporarily agreed to her terms; the rent will be eighteen yuan a month from now on," Lin Ying said at that moment.

"How could you...?"

Just as Zhou Jiye was about to say something anxiously, Lin Ying interrupted him, saying, "I know you're not convinced, but do you think I am? But when you're under someone else's roof, you still have to bow your head. If it comes to a fight to the death, she'll only lose a few yuan in rent, but our losses will be much greater than hers."

"Don't forget that if we break off relations, we'll suffer even more. What will we do if we can't continue living here, or even stop setting up our stall?"

"Even so, what if she pushes her luck again? This woman is so greedy, can raising the rent really satisfy her?" Zhou Jiye retorted angrily.

"Heh, feed them? How is that possible!" Lin Ying gritted her teeth: "Once is enough, then twice. Human greed is insatiable. If she can raise the rent so much today, she can continue to raise it in a few days. In the future, she will use other methods to gradually control us and keep getting benefits from us."

"You knew that, yet you still agreed?"

"What can we do if she doesn't agree? We should try to keep her calm first." Lin Ying said confidently, "She shouldn't have any other ideas for a while after the rent increase. It should be fine to keep her calm for a month or two. So we still need to find a way to move as soon as possible and leave as soon as we find a place."

Zhou Jiye frowned, thought for a moment, and shook his head: "Even if we move, we probably can't avoid it. You have a stall at the movie theater, and I sell old hens at the vegetable market. She knows all of this. If we move, do you think she'll just let it go? She'll come back and threaten us with similar reasons."

“Yes! It’s only treating the symptoms, not the root cause, and it’s definitely a big problem.” Lin Ying agreed, and both of them looked troubled.

The root of the problem is still the same issue: their household registration.

Without Shanghai residency, and as outsiders with no relatives or friends here, if this problem isn't solved, let alone people like Aunt Wang, who might appear as well as Aunt Liu or Aunt Zhang if they move to a different place. Are they just going to be manipulated forever?
Just as Lin Ying and Zhou Jiye were discussing this matter, at the entrance of the alley, Aunt Wang's son and daughter-in-law were also quietly discussing the matter with Aunt Wang.

"Did they really agree?" Aunt Wang's son, Xiao Jiang, asked anxiously.

"How dare she refuse!" Aunt Wang said smugly, crossing her legs. "After I said that, the little girl didn't dare to utter a word and obediently agreed. Didn't she realize that if she didn't agree, she wouldn't be able to stay in Shanghai, let alone sell tea eggs?"

"That's great!" Instantly, Xiao Jiang and his wife both showed joy, their expressions full of excitement.

"Mom, you're amazing!" the daughter-in-law exclaimed sincerely, and Xiao Jiang was overjoyed.

"If I had known you would agree so readily, I should have asked for more," Xiao Jiang said greedily.

"What's the rush!" Aunt Wang said confidently. "We can't push this too hard all at once. What if they run away if we push them too hard?"

Xiao Jiang sneered: "Run? Where to run? You can run away, but you can't hide. Don't forget that one of them sells tea eggs at the movie theater and the other sells old hens at the market. Unless they want to quit their businesses."

"Do you think everyone else is stupid?" Aunt Wang rolled her eyes at him. Her son was a complete idiot. He had accomplished nothing all these years and hadn't amounted to anything. He was too naive. Even though he was married, he was still as innocent as a child.

“Shanghai is so big, what if they set up stalls elsewhere? Are you going to search all over Shanghai for them? As long as they are still living in our house, they are like Sun Wukong, unable to cause any trouble in the Buddha’s palm.”

Aunt Wang specifically instructed her son, Xiao Jiang: "Too much of a good thing can be bad. This time, raise the rent first. Eighteen yuan a month isn't a small amount. Wait until you get the money before making any further decisions. Pushing too hard could lead to a complete loss. People shouldn't be too greedy. You need to understand this principle!"

"Yes, yes, Mom is right. She's so thoughtful!" The daughter-in-law nodded repeatedly, as if pondering something, and quietly nudged her husband with her elbow.

Xiao Jiang thought about it and realized that what his mother said made sense, but in his heart he still felt that it would be good to make more money. He was not satisfied with the fact that the price had only increased by so little and felt unwilling to accept it.

"Slow and steady wins the race, one step at a time." No one knows a son better than his mother, and Aunt Wang saw right through his little scheme: "Don't rush, in a few months I'll give them another raise, and the money will come in."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Jiang's brows instantly relaxed, and he chuckled incessantly.

With a shameless grin, he asked his mother if she could get a bigger subsidy this month since Zhou Jiye and his family had raised their rent. Aunt Wang glanced at her good-for-nothing son and finally nodded. Sigh, what could she do? Her son was so useless; he was already in his mid-twenties and still like this, driving her crazy. If it weren't for him, she wouldn't have stooped to such a shameless act!
That night, Zhou Jiye and Lin Ying didn't sleep well, partly because it was too hot, and partly because of the unpleasant things that Aunt Wang had brought.

The two tossed and turned, unable to sleep, until midnight when they finally managed to close their eyes for a few moments. They were then awakened by their biological clocks in the early hours of the morning, and a new day began.

No matter what, life goes on day by day. Some problems can't be solved for the time being, so we can only grit our teeth and get through them first.

The rent increase was unavoidable; after all, they had leverage over the other party. Besides, problems that could be solved with money weren't major issues for the time being. At least Aunt Wang had benefited and wouldn't cause any more trouble. But who knew what would happen in the long run? Just as they had discussed, it would ultimately be a problem. In the following days, Zhou Jiye and Lin Ying kept trying to find other suitable accommodations while also figuring out how to resolve the issue of their Shanghai residency permits. Especially the latter; without resolving this issue, even moving wouldn't eliminate the trouble.

But getting a Shanghai hukou (household registration) isn't that easy. Even for native Shanghainese, let alone those from other places, once their hukou is moved out, it's not so simple to move it back. Moreover, they have no connections or influence here, making obtaining a hukou extremely difficult.

Zhou Jiye and Lin Ying had made numerous inquiries about this, but the results were always disappointing. As time went by, Zhou Jiye and Lin Ying became somewhat disheartened. Were they really going to continue being manipulated by Aunt Wang?

"Brother Zhou, are you sick? You don't look too well."

That day, Zhou Jiye finished setting up his stall at the market and was cleaning it as usual when Lao Wen noticed his listless appearance and couldn't help but ask him something.

"I'm not sick, it's just that this damn weather is so hot. I don't have much of an appetite every day, and I can barely eat a few bites of food," Zhou Jiye said. Old Wen nodded in agreement. Summers in Shanghai are indeed unbearable. When it's hot, people lose their appetite and can't sleep well at night, so their energy levels naturally suffer.

Old Wen, who had long been familiar with Zhou Jiye, handed him a cigarette and advised him not to work too hard. Money can never be earned enough, but health is the foundation of everything. If he really couldn't take it, he could rest for a couple of days. He said that if he got up at dawn every day, went to the suburbs to collect old hens, and then came back to set up his stall, even an iron man would not be able to keep up for long!

Zhou Jiye smiled and said he would think about it, but did not continue on the topic.

Didn't he know how hard things were for him and Lin Ying? But there was nothing he could do! Life in Shanghai was already difficult enough, and now, because of the household registration issue, their landlady, Aunt Wang, was holding them hostage. This matter weighed on them like a mountain, becoming a source of great anxiety.

Although Zhou Jiye and Lin Ying had discussed the issue several times, they still couldn't find a solution. Helpless, they could only maintain the status quo for now and try to earn more money. They had also considered that if things really came to a head and they had to completely break off relations, they would simply walk away.

But starting over in a different place is, frankly, just as difficult.

Shanghai is the largest and most prosperous city on the mainland, offering many opportunities. In addition, Lin Ying herself is from Shanghai, and Zhou Jiye spent several years there after graduating from university, so he is quite familiar with Shanghai. It's hard to say what the situation would be like if they went to other cities.

This is a last resort, so they've been working hard these days, hoping to earn more money to prepare more capital for themselves, so that they'll be more confident if they start over elsewhere.

While they were chatting, Zhou Jiye suddenly saw the old woman picking up vegetable leaves slowly walking over.

"Let's talk later."

After saying that, Zhou Jiye bent down, took a net from under the stall, and strode towards the old woman.

"Grandma!"

"Oh, it's you, young man. What's the matter?" The old woman looked up slightly and responded when she saw it was Zhou Jiye.

Zhou Jiye would run into the old woman almost every day when he set up his stall, and over time he became familiar with her. Sometimes when he packed up and went home, Zhou Jiye would greet the old woman, and several times he even offered to give her a ride on his bicycle.

But the old woman refused all his offers of help; she never accepted anything, and Zhou Jiye didn't press the matter. He could tell that although the old woman was not well-off, she had a strong sense of self-respect and never asked for favors despite her disability. However, as time went on, the two gradually became familiar with each other. Sometimes when Zhou Jiye ran into the old woman, he would greet her, chat for a few words, and casually help her walk a short distance.

"Grandma, please take this."

Zhou Jiye smiled and handed over the net bag in his hand, and the old woman was stunned.

"Young man, what's going on...?"

"These are some vegetables I picked up while collecting chickens in the countryside. It's so hot, and you're not feeling well, so please don't come out every day. Besides, the leaves rot easily in this heat, and it would be troublesome if something happened to you at your age. These vegetables aren't worth much; they're very cheap in the countryside. You can take them back and they'll last you two or three days. Just take them."

As he spoke, Zhou Jiye stuffed the net bag containing tomatoes, cucumbers, and other vegetables into the old woman's vegetable basket, and then, without waiting for her to speak, waved his hand, turned around, and left.

The old woman stood there, looking up slightly at Zhou Jiye's figure walking towards her stall. She seemed lost in thought. After a moment, she didn't continue towards the place where she usually picked up vegetable leaves. Instead, she turned around and slowly walked back as usual.

(End of this chapter)