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

Looking at the face beside her that was so familiar, Ye Shu's first reaction was a strong sense of disorientation.

Could I still be dreaming? I'm still sleeping on my little earthen bed at home, right? Otherwise, why would An Suxue suddenly appear beside me?

He secretly pinched his thigh. Ouch! It wasn't a dream!

But based on his understanding of An Suxue, he knew she could never be here alone.

The girl in front of me was dressed in a simple outfit with no extra frills. Her hair was tied in a high ponytail, and her face was expressionless.

She stood there quietly, her gaze fixed on Song Yunyun, calm and focused, not like she was curious, but more like she was assessing something.

Suddenly, the name of someone I had met once before, who loved to eat scrambled eggs with tomatoes, came to mind.

Ye Shu took a half step closer and asked tentatively in a low voice:

"Xiao Nuan?"

"it's me."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Nuan shifted her gaze from Song Yunyun to Ye Shu. Her voice remained unchanged, but her tone was flat, and her answer was simple.

When Ye Shu confirmed that the person in front of him was indeed Xiao Nuan, he suddenly remembered what Zhi Qiu had said: "She only appears when we can't handle things, or when the three of us are so depressed that we don't feel like paying attention to anything else."

There's definitely something wrong at home!

Ye Shu panicked a little. He wanted to ask, "What happened?", but in his haste, he misspoke and said:

"You...how did you get here?!"

Xiao Nuan blinked, as if thinking, and then said:

"I came by high-speed rail, and then transferred to a bus..."

"No, no..."

Ye Shu waved his hand, interrupting her report, steadied himself, and asked again:

"I'm not asking how you got here. I mean, why are you here? Did something happen at home?"

Xiao Nuan blinked twice more. Ye Shu noticed that when she was thinking, her blinking frequency seemed to increase. After thinking for a while, Xiao Nuan spoke, her voice still devoid of emotion:

"They missed you, so I came."

Most people wouldn't understand what this sentence means, or what it means to say "They missed you, so I came." But fortunately, Ye Shu is not an ordinary person; he understands.

Just then, Song Yunyun, who had been left standing to the side watching the two whispering for a while, finally couldn't hold back any longer. She reached out and poked Ye Shu's arm, asking:

"Ye Shu, who is this?"

Her gaze swept over Xiao Nuan's pretty yet aloof face, then glanced at Ye Shu's seemingly bewildered face.

(Please remember the website 202s.tw for the fastest chapter updates.)

Meanwhile, Xiao Nuan stared intently at the spot on Ye Shu's arm where he had been poked. Without a second thought, she reached out and touched it, smoothing out the small dent in his clothes.

"Ah! This, this is my friend!"

Ye Shu turned around and then remembered that Song Yunyun was next to her. She hurriedly introduced her:

"Her name is Xiao Nuan. Xiao Nuan, this is my high school classmate, Song Yunyun."

"friend?"

Song Yunyun raised an eyebrow, extended her hand to Xiao Nuan, and smiled brightly:

"Hello, little sister Nuan. You look younger than me, so I'll call you little sister. I'm Ye Shu's old classmate. We went to high school together."

Xiao Nuan looked at Song Yunyun's outstretched hand, then raised her own and shook it briefly. The movement was precise, a fleeting touch, devoid of any passion.

At the same time, she raised her eyes, looked directly into Song Yunyun's eyes, and said, still without any emotion:

"Hello, my name is Xiaonuan."

Although this sentence sounded a bit abrupt, it was still relatively normal. Ye Shu was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when Xiao Nuan added another sentence:

"I slept with Ye Shu."

......

......

......

For a moment, the air was eerily quiet.

Even the auntie who was haggling over the price next to her shut up, and several onlookers turned to look at her.

Song Yunyun's smile froze. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened slightly. It was obvious that her brain had overheated. This sentence seemed to contain a lot of information.

She glanced at Xiao Nuan, who had an expression that said, "I'm just stating the facts," and then looked at Ye Shu beside her.

Ye Shu's face wasn't just ugly, it was downright horrible. It was a scene of utter devastation, like a cacophony of gongs and drums, firecrackers exploding, red flags waving – a complete transformation.

Hey sis, why are you suddenly bringing this up?! Who are you comparing yourself to and what are you trying to prove?!

A strong will to survive made Ye Shu's body move. He had to do something, or he would be finished!

Without a second thought, he stretched out his arm and wrapped it around her after she warmed up, pulling her into his embrace. He also covered her mouth firmly to prevent her from saying anything shocking.

"They're roommates! We're roommates sharing an apartment!"

He held Xiao Nuan tightly, his hand firmly covering her mouth, and hurriedly explained to the petrified Song Yunyun:

"Don't misunderstand! Please, please don't misunderstand! We lived together, but we didn't sleep together. We never slept together! Not in the way you're thinking!"

The more he talked, the more confused he became, and the more he tried to explain, the worse it got. His tongue was practically tied in knots, while Xiao Nuan, whom he held tightly in his arms, remained calm.

She didn't struggle, only stiffened slightly, seemingly surprised by the sudden physical contact. But she quickly regained her composure, leaning motionless against his chest, only her soft hair gently brushing against Ye Shu's chin.

Ye Shu's body temperature, his clean scent, and the sound of his slightly rapid heartbeat due to his panic could be heard through his clothes.

A peculiar feeling, and the sound of breathing so close... Xiao Nuan's thoughts, which were always processing information at high speed, seemed to freeze for a moment.

This feeling of being held tightly and completely dependent on another person... doesn't seem uncomfortable.

On the contrary, it gave me a strange sense of stability.

...Strange, my heart rate seems to be increasing, for reasons unknown.

Ye Shu completely failed to notice the subtle reaction of the person in his arms and the analysis that might be starting to go astray. He saw that Song Yunyun still looked like she had been struck by lightning, and he was at a loss for words, so he could only repeatedly emphasize:

"In short, it's just a normal roommate relationship! Completely innocent! Please don't get the wrong idea!"

"Ah...oh, okay, okay..."

Song Yunyun finally came to her senses from the shock, her gaze sweeping back and forth between Ye Shu's "hugging and covering her mouth" and Xiao Nuan's "quietly leaning on her." This scene didn't seem to have anything to do with "ordinary roommates" at all.

But she still nodded and replied dryly:

"I understand... Sharing an apartment, yeah, sharing an apartment is pretty good..."

Although he knew his reasoning was full of holes, he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Song Yunyun seemed to believe him, and slowly loosened his grip.

He released Xiao Nuan from his arms, her expression unchanged, but a strange reluctance stirred within her. She gently wiped her lips, which had just been covered, then looked up at Ye Shu, seemingly wanting to continue her explanation that had been interrupted earlier:

"I slept with her. It was thundering that night, and then... um!"

Ye Shu didn't expect Xiao Nuan to want to continue talking, so he didn't care about anything else and pulled Xiao Nuan back. This time, he didn't lock her up, but pressed her face into his chest and used his clothes to shut her up.

I'm begging you!

He lowered his head, his voice extremely low, hovering above Xiao Nuan's head:

"Stop explaining, really! I'll explain, I'll explain everything. From now on, don't say a word, not a single syllable, okay?!"

Extreme social embarrassment caused his heart rate to spike and his body temperature to rise, completely oblivious to how intimate their position was.

He held a girl tightly to his chest, his hands protecting the back of her head, his chin almost touching the top of her head. From a distance, they looked like an intimate couple where the man was gently comforting his girlfriend after an argument.

Xiao Nuan's cheek was pressed against Ye Shu's warm chest, her nose filled with his clean scent and the smell of laundry detergent.

All sound and light seemed to be shut out, leaving only Ye Shu's slightly rapid heartbeat, which pounded on her eardrums like drumbeats.

She nodded in Ye Shu's arms, the movement was very light, but Ye Shu felt it.

He finally relaxed a little, but still didn't dare to let go, maintaining the position of holding Xiao Nuan in his arms. He raised his head and forced a smile that looked more like a grimace at Song Yunyun, who was staring at him speechlessly.

"Um... I'm really sorry about today, something urgent suddenly came up... We, we have to go now, we'll contact you later."

Song Yunyun looked at the scene before her, nodded, then, remembering something, quickly took out her phone:

"Oh...okay...hey! Let's add each other as friends!"

Ye Shu awkwardly took out his phone from his pocket. After the two added each other as friends, Ye Shu picked up Xiao Nuan's suitcase with one hand and almost half-carried her away, running towards the mall exit.

Xiao Nuan stayed in Ye Shu's arms the whole time, following his steps as they walked outside. The sound of his heartbeat grew faster and faster in her ears. What was Ye Shu so nervous about?

But as the two walked out of the mall, after Ye Shu let go of her arm, Xiao Nuan found that her heartbeat was still ringing in her ears.

It turns out... it was my own heartbeat.