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

11:10 p.m.

Ye Shu lay on the slightly short, old sofa in his living room, a thin blanket draped over him, holding his phone, the screen's light reflecting on his somewhat absent-minded face.

The movie playing on my phone is the classic traditional film "The Haunted Village," which is considered a childhood nightmare.

Ye Shu wasn't really paying attention; his mind was still filled with images from the daytime. It wasn't until Chu Renmei appeared that he was startled, nearly dropping his phone in his face.

"Why are you lying here watching this thing so late at night instead of sleeping? Are you just scaring yourself?"

The old man was walking through the living room, heading to the bathroom, when he saw his son curled up on the sofa and couldn't help but mutter:

"Go to sleep. You have to catch the train early tomorrow morning. Save your energy for the journey."

"Okay, I understand."

Ye Shu gave an awkward reply, paused the movie, and the room instantly fell silent, with only the regular ticking of the old-fashioned wall clock remaining.

He lay on the sofa, gazing at the familiar yet slightly unfamiliar ceiling. From this angle, there were still remnants of star stickers he had put up as a child in the corner, and he felt a strange mix of emotions.

So, here's the question: why does Ye Shu choose to curl up on this sofa, which is already a bit too short for him, instead of sleeping on the warm kang (heated brick bed) at home?

Let's rewind a few hours.

Ye Shu and Zhi Qiu emerged from the shopping mall carrying several bags of "gifts." The setting sun cast long shadows of the two, and their tightly clasped fingers seemed to be bathed in a warm orange light.

As planned, they took a small taxi to the vicinity of the town's bus station.

"The one up ahead looks alright, and it's clean."

Ye Shu pointed to a three-story building next to the passenger station and introduced it.

This is considered one of the local historical buildings. Although it's not particularly upscale, its excellent location, right next to the bus station, is a major advantage. Another reason is that it's the only hotel in the area, making it unique to Scorpion Baba.

Zhi Qiu looked in the direction he pointed, nodded, and seemed to have no objection. She wasn't that delicate; she could manage for one night.

But the two stopped at the hotel entrance. On the fairly clean glass door, there was a printed piece of paper with several eye-catching words:

[Undergoing interior renovations, temporarily closed]

A phone number was left below, but it didn't seem like a sincere offer.

Ye Shu: "..."

Zhi Qiu: "..."

The atmosphere became somewhat tense for a moment. The evening breeze swept up the fallen leaves on the ground, swirled them, and slipped past their feet, as if silently mocking this sudden change.

"Sir, may I ask you something?"

Ye Shu, unwilling to give up, peered through the window of the nearby security booth and asked the old man inside who was watching the opera:

"This hotel... it's really getting renovations done? When will it be finished?"

The old man slowly turned his head, adjusted his reading glasses, glanced at the two of them, and especially when he saw that they were holding hands, a knowing look appeared on his face. He said slowly:

"You silly kid, you're really taking renovations to heart. You're fixing everything inside and out, it won't be finished anytime soon."

"Oh? What a coincidence..."

Ye Shu was a little dumbfounded.

"Sigh, our place is small, and only a few people come back around the Lunar New Year."

The old man is quite talkative; once he starts talking, he can't stop.

"Who would come to visit in a small place like ours? The boss is shrewd. He's taking advantage of the lack of business to quickly renovate, saving money and not causing any delays."

The old man simply leaned out the window, rested his arm on the windowsill, and assumed a posture ready for a long conversation:

"And another thing, just a couple of years ago, some guys who claimed to be tourism business owners came out of nowhere and bought up that mountain behind the mountain. Good grief, they dug a pond and built a pavilion. They even gave it a name, something like... 'Peacock Peak.' They made up all sorts of weird stories, like a colorful peacock flew down from the sky and appeared on the mountain, protecting the peace of the area and stuff... It's all bullshit."

The old man got more and more excited as he spoke, foaming at the corners of his mouth:

"I've lived here my whole life and I've never even seen what a peacock looks like. What kind of peacock would be so blind as to fly into this godforsaken place? Isn't that just bragging? And look what happened, they spent a lot of money, it was all hype for less than a year, and then it all fell apart."

The old man seemed to say he was thirsty, picked up the teacup next to him and took a sip, only then remembering the "important business" of the young couple in front of him.

He smacked his lips, then returned to the main point, speaking in a tone that suggested, "Let me show you the way."

"You two young people, if you're really in a hurry... tsk, we don't have anywhere else around here. How about you go check out the town next door? It's bigger there, maybe there are hotels. But it'll take you more than half an hour by car, and it's getting dark soon."

Ye Shu was even more worried when he heard this. Not only would it be troublesome to go to the next town, but he was also worried about letting Zhi Qiu go alone. Moreover, did this old man misunderstand something?

"No, sir, you've misunderstood. It's not that we want to stay here..."

"cough!"

Upon hearing this, the old man's smile deepened, his eyes clearly saying, "Kid, trying to act tough with me." He waved his hand, giving a "what haven't I seen?" look, and said sarcastically:

"Alright, I get it. You've been there, old man. Young people are shy, I understand. Youth is wonderful..."

After saying that, without waiting for Ye Shu to argue further, the old man turned around with satisfaction, picked up his opera box again, and started swaying his head along with the singing inside, showing a kind of "doing his job and leaving without a trace, keeping his merits and fame hidden" attitude.

Ye Shu turned to look at Zhi Qiu with some embarrassment, only to find that Zhi Qiu was tilting her head slightly, with a barely suppressed smile on her lips, and her eyes reflected his awkwardness.

Instead of offering any explanation, she seemed to find the scene quite amusing.

Ye Shu glanced at the darkening sky, then at Zhi Qiu beside her, who was calmly smiling:

"Forget it, let's not bother anymore. Let's... go home and live here."

When he said the words "go home," he felt a sense of relief.

"Okay, whatever you say."

Zhi Qiu nodded and gently scratched his palm with her fingertips, whether to comfort him or tease him, it was hard to tell.

Thinking about these things, the discomfort of the sofa beneath me seemed to be overwhelmed by my deep fatigue.

Ye Shu's vision gradually blurred and became unfocused in the darkness, eventually sinking into a restless sleep. Her dream was bizarre and fantastical, seemingly interspersed with lingering images of long hair from a movie.

He didn't know how long he had slept, perhaps it was just a fragment of light sleep, but he was abruptly pulled out of his dream by a shaking and calling.

"Ye Shu! Ye Shu! Wake up!"

The voice was low, but it wasn't a gentle whisper; it was more like a command. At the same time, someone was forcefully shoving someone's shoulder.

"Hmm...?"

Ye Shu shuddered suddenly, breaking free from the chaos, and struggled to open her heavy eyelids.

black.

Utterly black.

The living room light was off, and there was little light coming from outside. This wasn't like a big city, where once the lights were off, the darkness was thick, almost tangible, as if it could swallow everything.

He couldn't see anything clearly, only a chaotic, unsettling blackness.

And right in the center of this darkness that swallowed his vision, almost touching his face, a blurry, humanoid black shadow was leaning closer.

The dark figure seemed to have long hair, which hung down so loosely it almost touched the tip of his nose.

Ye Shu could even feel the other person's warm yet somewhat rapid breath brushing against his forehead.

!!!

The people of Chu are beautiful!

Ye Shu's hair stood on end. Just as he was about to open his mouth and scream, a warm hand quickly covered his mouth, silencing his scream that could have woken the whole family, turning it into a muffled, painful whimper.

"Ugh—!!!"

Ye Shu trembled violently and instinctively struggled on the sofa, but was restrained by the thin blanket, like a carp king constantly launching water splashes.

Extreme fear overwhelmed his thoughts, leaving only instinctive trembling and a feeling of suffocation.

"Don't move! And don't make a sound!"

The voice rang out again, very close, whispered, its timbre familiar and gentle, but its tone completely different.

Immediately afterwards, a beam of light from a cell phone shone on the person's face.

Ye Shu looked in the direction of the light and saw that it was Zhi Qiu.

Familiar eyebrows and eyes, a straight nose, soft lips. The light shone from the side, casting deep shadows on her cheeks, making her usually gentle face appear somewhat cold and aloof.

but……

Her brows furrowed slightly, her lips were pressed tightly together, and she looked as if she were facing a formidable enemy.

"Zhi... Sister Zhi Qiu?"

He finally managed to squeeze out a few breathy sounds through his teeth; his voice was still trembling slightly. He reached out to grab the hand covering his mouth, trying to remove it.

"You...you scared me to death! I thought it was Chu Renmei...What's wrong in the middle of the night?"

However, the hand he was holding did not move away.

Looking down at him, Zhi Qiu also moved her face closer, the light from her phone casting their faces together.

"What?! Look closely, I'm Xia Qing!"