The landlord has multiple personalities and wants everyone to pay him.

The closing time for Corner Tea House was about ten minutes later than usual.

The last group of guests left, and Chen San San took the bus home.

Ye Shu locked the shop door by herself. When the night wind blew outside, Ye Shu felt as if all the bones in her body were falling apart.

He walked towards Yunduanyuan, took out his phone and glanced at it. The pinned profile picture had been quiet all day, without a single message.

Looks like he's really exhausted.

Ye Shu smiled and agreed. "That's true. They've been working non-stop these past few days. They've never worked this intensely before, so they definitely can't handle it."

As he walked, he pondered what delicious food he could make for Sister Xia Qing when he got home, to treat them well.

Thinking as I walked, I soon arrived at my doorstep.

When Ye Shu opened the door, she saw that the living room was dark, with only a faint light coming in from the window. Potato Chips was still lying on the slippers by the door, wagging its tail at her when it saw her.

Ye Shu was stunned. He reached out and touched the light switch in the living room, turning on the lights.

Is no one home?

He didn't have time to pay attention to the potato chips whining at his feet. He changed his shoes, went inside, and looked through every room. He was indeed not home.

What's going on?

He took out his phone, opened the pinned chat window, and typed a message:

Xia Qing, where are you? Aren't you coming back today?

Ye Shu sat on the sofa, placed the potato chips on her lap, and stroked its head repeatedly to ease her tension.

Five minutes passed, but the phone still hadn't received a reply, not even the message "typing is in progress".

Ye Shu dialed the number directly this time, but no one answered after several rings.

He called Shen Jingwan again, and this time the call went through. He quickly said:

"Hello, Auntie, is Sister Xia Qing home? I can't get in touch with her at all."

On the other end of the phone, Shen Jingwan's voice was still so gentle:

"Ah, Xiao Shu, um, Xiao Qing is home."

Upon hearing that he was home, Ye Shu breathed a sigh of relief and said into the phone:

"Oh, it's fine as long as you're home. I've been busy all day, and when I got home I found no one there and couldn't reach them. I thought something had happened."

He thought everything was fine, but unexpectedly, Shen Jingwan remained silent for two seconds on the other end of the phone before slowly speaking:

"Xiao Shu, you should come over here."

"What's wrong?"

Ye Shu's heart, which had just relaxed, immediately jumped into suspense again:

"Did something happen to Xia Qing? What's wrong? Is she sick?"

"No, no, I'm not sick."

Shen Jingwan's voice was steady, but to Ye Shu, this steadiness sounded like an impending storm.

"It's hard to explain over the phone, let's talk about it when you get here. Come on over, and be careful on the way."

"Okay, Auntie, I'm coming right now."

Ye Shu hung up the phone, put the potato chips on the ground, grabbed her phone, and rushed out.

……

Let's go back to this morning. In the dining room of Anjia Villa, Xia Qing had just gotten over the grievance of missing going to work with Ye Shu and was sitting at the table eating breakfast.

Although she got up late, Shen Jingwan and An Jianxing had already finished breakfast, but the two of them spoiled the child, so the nanny, Sister Liu, specially went to the kitchen to cook a special meal for her.

Xia Qing ate quickly; she needed to hurry. Although she had missed the chance to go to work together in the morning, she still had the chance to leave work!

She needed to finish eating quickly so she could go find Ye Shu; he'd be exhausted working alone in the shop.

After wolfing down her breakfast, Xia Qing grabbed a napkin, wiped her mouth hastily, and got up to leave.

As she passed the sofa, she bent down and gave Shen Jingwan a big hug, nuzzling her face against Shen Jingwan's shoulder.

"Mom, I'm leaving."

Shen Jingwan smiled and patted her back:

"Okay, be careful on the road."

Xia Qing let go of his hand and turned to leave, when she heard An Jianxing, who was sitting next to her, cough very loudly while staring at the TV:

"Cough! Hmm... Hmm!"

The commotion was so loud it almost made me cough up my lungs.

Xia Qing paused, rolled her eyes in exasperation, but still turned back, walked to An Jianxing's side, gave him a hug, and kissed him on the forehead, saying somewhat perfunctorily:

"Okay, okay, I love you, I'm leaving now."

After saying that, he let go of her hand and headed towards the door.

An Jianxing was overjoyed when his daughter kissed him, as happy as if he had won the lottery.

"Happy now?"

Shen Jingwan sat on the sofa, looking at her husband's barely suppressed smile.

An Jianxing turned around and showed off to Shen Jingwan:

"Look, our daughter said she loves me, but she didn't say she loves you."

Shen Jingwan was amused by her husband's childish competitive spirit:

"Alright, alright, look how vain you are."

Xia Qing had just reached the door and her hand was already on the doorknob, ready to push it out.

Suddenly, she stopped standing.

She held the doorknob with one hand and her phone in the other, the screen lit up.

She stood there motionless, her back to the living room, her eyes fixed on her phone screen.

Shen Jingwan, sitting on the sofa, didn't hear the door open. She turned to look towards the doorway and saw her daughter standing motionless. She then asked:

"Xiao Qing, what's wrong?"

Upon hearing the question, An Jianxing turned to look at the doorway.

Xia Qing didn't answer. She stood at the door for a while, then suddenly turned around and ran upstairs without looking back.

Hearing the bedroom door slam shut, the two people on the sofa were confused about what was going on.

Shen Jingwan got up and went to her daughter's bedroom door, gently knocked, and asked:

"Xiao Qing, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

"It's alright."

Xia Qing's voice came from inside the room.

Shen Jingwan tried pressing the doorknob, but it wouldn't budge; the door was locked from the inside. She asked again:

"Xiao Qing, aren't you going to find Xiao Shu? Tell Mom what's wrong."

"I'm really fine!"

Xia Qing's voice seemed to suddenly break down, but after speaking, she realized that her reaction was too extreme, and her voice softened again:

"Mom, let me be by myself for a while..."

Shen Jingwan listened to her daughter's voice at the door, withdrew her hand, turned around and went downstairs.

An Jianxing sat on the sofa, craning his neck to look towards the stairwell.

He was anxious, but after all, she was his daughter, and there were some things he, as her father, couldn't ask, nor was it appropriate for him to ask.

He saw Shen Jingwan come down with a frown on her face and knew something was wrong.

"What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

Shen Jingwan shook her head and sat down on the sofa:

"I don't know, the child locked the door and said he wanted to be alone."

"It was fine just a moment ago, how did it suddenly become like this..."

An Jianxing also frowned and said:

"Why don't we call Xiao Shu back? Xiao Qing likes being with him."

"Don't rush."

Shen Jingwan turned her head and glanced at the stairwell, saying:

"Xiao Qing is in a bad mood right now, even if we call Xiao Shu back, it might not help. Let's wait and see tonight, let her process it herself."

An Jianxing nodded, agreeing that this was the only way to proceed for now.

What happened all of a sudden...?

Meanwhile, in the bedroom on the second floor, Xia Qing lay on the bed, her face buried in the pillow, her shoulders heaving, with only muffled sounds coming from the pillow.

The phone lay on the ground, its screen lit up, displaying the chat history between Xiaoxue and Qin Lili from the previous night.

Sister Lili, Ye Shu and I are... getting our marriage certificate...