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

Ye Shu slumped on the sofa. The sofa was wide enough that it could no longer be called a sofa; it was more like a small bed.

He lay sprawled out, his eyes fixed on the crystal chandelier above him. This was the first time in a long time that Ye Shulai had observed the chandelier so closely; it looked a bit old-fashioned, the kind with a ring of crystal balls hanging around it.

Sunlight streamed in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, casting a somewhat blurry halo around the light. When he reached the seventeenth star, his eyes blurred, he lost his bearings, and had to start counting again from the beginning.

These people are all despicable.

For some reason, this sentence suddenly popped into Ye Shu's mind.

He's usually so busy at the shop that he never has a moment to rest, and he dreams of lying down and taking a vacation. Now that he's actually had two days off, he's so bored that he's starting to miss the feeling of being at work.

"well......"

He sighed deeply, sat up from the sofa, scratched his head, and looked toward the bedroom.

The relationship has taken a big step forward, but this step... Ye Shu scratched his face, feeling a bit unsteady on his feet.

But when I think of Xia Qing calling me her little boyfriend, when I think of Zhi Qiu leaning on my shoulder listening to the recording, and that fragrant "I don't like being a freebie"...

My heart started bubbling up again, like little bubbles in a pot of milk, sweet and gentle.

He quickly raised his hand to rub his face, pressing down the corners of his mouth that had unconsciously turned up.

Restrain yourself, Ye Shu! Be more reserved! You're now a potential scumbag with four souls in your heart and one foot in the sand... uh, a scumbag with four souls in your heart. Be more composed!

The safest approach right now is... don't just lie around, go out for a walk. The second day of your holiday shouldn't be wasted counting crystal balls.

He got up, walked to the bedroom door, and gently knocked twice. His heart raced a little at the thought of Sister Zhi Qiu behind the door.

I guess you could say I'm dating Zhi Qiu now... even though she hasn't said it outright, but...

He composed himself and began to speak:

"Sister Zhi Qiu? Um... I want to go out for a walk, would you... want to go out together?"

Footsteps approached from inside the bedroom, followed by Zhi Qiu's hushed voice, as if she were on the phone with someone.

"Okay, I know... Don't worry, it's really not... Yes, I understand..."

With a click, the door opened.

Zhi Qiu stood at the door, her phone still pressed to her ear. She raised her other hand, gently placing her index finger to her lips, and made a "shh" gesture to Ye Shu.

Then she turned slightly to the side, covered the microphone with her hand, lowered her voice, and spoke gently to Ye Shu:

"Little Shu, I have something to do right now. Why don't you go out and play by yourself for a bit, okay?"

As she spoke, her gaze fell on Ye Shu's face, and her usually squinty eyes were now slightly open. Ye Shu could see a hint of helplessness in her eyes, as if she wanted to say something but hesitated. In the end, she simply reached out and ruffled his hair.

"Go on, okay?"

After saying that, Zhi Qiu turned around and closed the door, continuing to talk to the person on the phone.

Ye Shu stood at the door, his head being rubbed and a child-soothing "good boy" being used to coax him. The subtle feeling of inviting his girlfriend out on a date that had just popped into his mind was suddenly replaced by the illusion that he had been coaxed by his mother.

"...Okay, Sister Zhi Qiu, you're busy."

Ye Shu said something to the door, changed her shoes, grabbed her keys and phone, and left home.

The streets weren't too busy this morning. It wasn't a day off, so people were either at work or at school.

Ye Shu walked aimlessly with his hands in his pockets, enjoying the feeling of passing the time without any goal.

This behavior is called "City Walk" in a fancy way, but it's just strolling around town in a more down-to-earth way.

But as I walked, that feeling of emptiness and aimlessness that I had just suppressed resurfaced.

What should we do? We can't just wander around, can we? No way. Should we go find Han Yang?

He just pulled out his phone, then gave up. That old guy is probably at home right now figuring out how to shoot short videos; he doesn't want to see that face making faces at his phone.

He sighed, put his phone back in his pocket, and glanced at the shops on both sides of the street, the cars rushing by, and the cats dozing in front of the shops...

After several twists and turns, Ye Shu arrived at a relatively quiet section of the road, next to a hardware store that looked quite old.

crunch...

A slightly harsh screech of brakes sounded beside him.

Ye Shu subconsciously moved to the sidewalk, assuming a car was about to pull over.

Parked next to me was a silver-gray van. It was quite large, and the windows were covered with GG film that read "XX Moving" and "Professional Cargo Transport," making it impossible to see inside the van.

Ye Shu assumed it was a delivery to the hardware store next door, so he didn't pay much attention and was about to walk around it.

However, just as he passed the bread cart door, with a whoosh, the bread cart door was pulled open from the inside. Before Ye Shu could see what was inside, he felt his arm being suddenly pulled, and he was pulled directly into the bread cart.

"Why?!"

What's going on?! Robbery?! Kidnapping?!

Ye Shu's mind went blank for a fraction of a second, and he blurted out:

"save!......"

Before the second word could be uttered, the bread truck door was closed, the engine started, and it sped away.

Ye Shu sat in the car seat, flanked by two men in black suits. He struggled desperately, even kicking and punching them, but they could only grab his arms and hold down his legs to prevent him from moving.

Ye Shu, who was being held down, was breathing rapidly. Who were these people? Why were they tying him up? Who had he offended?

The bread truck turned corners on the street, accelerated, turned again, accelerated again, as if it were deliberately avoiding something.

After driving for more than forty minutes, we stopped in front of the gate of a villa.

The hand that had been holding Ye Shu loosened, and the man in the black suit opened the car door and got out first, tilting his head to gesture for him to get out as well.

"arrive."

Ye Shu's heart was still pounding. Looking at these people, he swallowed hard.

There's an old saying: "Those who are 'fake' are like pseudo-bacteria." A wise man doesn't fight a losing battle; for now, it's safest to listen to others.

Ye Shu got out of the car, and the electric door in front of him slowly opened. Ye Shu followed the two people inside and looked around.

This is a rather grand villa. The stone path underfoot leads to the main entrance of the villa. Next to it is a well-maintained lawn, as well as some ornamental shrubs and a few trees. Ye Shu doesn't quite recognize them; they seem to be Podocarpus macrophyllus.

The further Ye Shu went, the more uneasy she felt. There was an artificial hill and a small farmland where vegetables were grown.

This...this doesn't look like a place for holding hostages at all.

Two men in black walked to the villa's door, pushed it open, and then stepped aside. One of them pointed to the marble staircase inside and said to Ye Shu:

"Go up from here, to the room on the second floor directly opposite the stairs."

Ye Shu nodded and stepped inside. As I said before, obeying is the safest option right now.

The interior decoration is a relatively luxurious new Chinese style, with mahogany furniture, ink paintings and calligraphy hanging on the walls, and bottles and jars on the shelves, which look like antiques or something.

But Ye Shu wasn't in the mood to investigate whether these things were open or not. As he passed the corner of the stairs, he looked at the various strange stones and wood carvings displayed on the decorative wall next to him, and casually picked up a stone about the size of a walnut, not knowing what it was, and held it in his hand for future use.

As Ye Shu approached the door directly opposite the stairs, his heart raced, but the stone in his hand gave him some confidence.

Pushing open the door, you enter a fairly spacious study. Two walls are lined with bookshelves filled with books, and a fairly wide desk sits in the middle.

In front of the floor-to-ceiling window, a figure dressed in what appeared to be pajamas stood with their back to him, seemingly gazing at the scenery outside. The person was short and stocky, with a receding hairline.

That back view... why does it look so familiar?

The person by the window also heard the door open, and slowly turned around to look at Ye Shu, who was standing at the door in a daze.

"dad?"