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

What?

Ye Shu blinked, looking completely bewildered.

Cloud Garden? Wasn't that a rental he found himself on a rental app? It's like... a discus fell from the sky...

"Auntie... I don't understand what you mean."

Shen Jingwan had anticipated his reaction, and the smile on her face slowly faded, replaced by a more complex expression.

"Well... this is a long story, and it involves a lot of people."

She paused, then looked at Ye Shu opposite her and slowly spoke:

"How about we talk about... why Xiaoxue has become like this? Once you know this, you might understand why the arrangements Lao An and I made before, although they might not have been appropriate, were... something we had no other choice."

Ye Shu nodded. This was indeed what he most wanted to know, but he knew it couldn't be anything good, so he couldn't bear to reopen An Suxue's wounds and didn't ask.

"Okay, Auntie, please go ahead."

Shen Jingwan slowly exhaled and began to recount her past.

Let's turn back time to more than twenty years ago.

Back then, An Jianxing and Shen Jingwan were a couple who sold trinkets on the street, working from dawn till dusk, barely making ends meet.

Later, An Jianxing, with his keen eye, seized an opportunity and used all the money the two of them had saved up over the years from running a stall to buy stocks.

At that time, the stock market was booming, and An Jianxing caught the wave of the times, soaring to great heights.

With capital in hand, the two gradually started a legitimate business from their small stall, and their lives gradually improved day by day.

Later, Shen Jingwan became pregnant, and the child was An Suxue.

When An Suxue was little, she was very well-behaved and loved to laugh. Her parents cherished her and planned together how to give their daughter a better future.

However, as the saying goes, "Man fears becoming famous, just as pigs fear growing fat." If you become rich, you will naturally attract attention.

That was an era when even communication wasn't so advanced. Back then, An Jianxing was still using a mobile phone that couldn't be dialed with his right hand, so he would switch hands with his left.

One afternoon, An Jianxing received a phone call. The person on the other end said that Xiaoxue was in their hands. The conditions were simple: money, call the police to kill her, and left a bank account number before hanging up.

Overwhelmed with love for their daughter, the couple didn't think things through and immediately transferred the money they were owed. They figured it was better to lose money than risk a disaster, as long as their child returned safely.

But they were too naive. The other side was a bottomless pit that could never be filled. They kept making calls, one after another, from different numbers, with each call being larger than the last, just trying to squeeze every last penny out of them.

After transferring all the money, the two realized that even if they lost everything, the other party probably had no intention of releasing them. With no other options, they secretly called the police.

As it turned out, asking Uncle for help when in trouble was quite reliable. Within a few days, An Jianxing and his wife received a call telling them to go to the hospital because their child had been found.

Including the time they had paid the kidnappers, it had been more than a week.

When the two arrived at the hospital, An Suxue was lying on the hospital bed. She was a small person, her whole body was so dirty that you couldn't tell the original color of her clothes, her hair was messy and stuck together, and her face and arms were covered with bruises, some of which had already scabbed over.

The doctor said that most of the injuries were just superficial, and there was some malnutrition and dehydration, but nothing serious.

The couple was heartbroken to see this. Shen Jingwan rushed into the ward to hug her daughter, but when An Suxue saw her, her first reaction was to sit up and shrink back. Her eyes were not filled with fear or grievance, but with a fierce and cold gaze.

It was as if he didn't know her at all.

Shen Jingwan felt as if her heart was being gripped and squeezed tightly by a hand, the pain almost making her faint. Tears streamed uncontrollably down her face, blurring the image of her daughter before her.

"Xiaoxue...it's Mommy, Xiaoxue, look at Mommy..."

She took a step forward, wanting to hug her daughter.

But in response, an enamel cup flew towards her. The cup hit her on the head, and Shen Jingwan swayed, but she didn't feel any pain, because this slight pain was insignificant compared to the pain of her heart being torn apart.

After completing the initial communication, An Jianxing entered accompanied by a police officer. He immediately saw the mother and daughter locked in a stalemate, and upon seeing the injuries on his daughter, he felt a wave of dizziness. Had it not been for the quick reflexes of the police officer beside him, he would have collapsed.

An Jianxing leaned against the police officer, panting heavily, and was helped by the officer to rest on a bench outside the ward before being taken to give a statement.

In the ward, Shen Jingwan tried again to slowly approach the trembling little figure, her movements very gentle.

"Xiaoxue, don't be afraid... Mommy's here... Mommy will never leave you again... Don't be afraid..."

An Suxue remained wary of her, her body tense, as if ready to attack at any moment.

Shen Jingwan didn't stop, but walked to the bedside and gently pulled An Suxue into her arms.

At first, An Suxue struggled violently, grabbing Shen Jingwan's clothes and arms while screaming.

Shen Jingwan did not let go, letting An Suxue hold her tightly in her arms no matter how she grabbed her.

"Mommy's here... Mommy's here... My little Xue... We're home... It's alright... It's alright..."

Perhaps it was because that embrace was so familiar that even though the memory was temporarily forgotten, certain parts of the body still remembered it clearly.

Perhaps it was that cry, full of heartache and love, that finally pierced through the wall called fear and touched a soft corner.

An Suxue's struggles gradually weakened, and her scratching turned into gripping.

My tense body gradually relaxed in that warm and familiar embrace.

Then, at a certain moment, a cry filled with too much grievance, fear and pain came from Shen Jingwan's arms.

An Suxue cried so hard her whole body was convulsing, gasping for breath. Her two little hands clung tightly to Shen Jingwan's clothes, as if afraid that she would leave.

Shen Jingwan hugged her daughter tightly, and her own tears flowed even more profusely.

At this moment, there was no ecstatic joy of surviving a disaster, only heavy heartache and lingering fear.

The time spent in the hospital afterwards was another form of physical and mental torment for An Jianxing and Shen Jingwan.

With careful care, the daughter's physical wounds slowly healed. But the emotional trauma remained like a deep, dark trench, impossible to touch.

An Suxue began to show extreme unease. She refused to leave the ward and spent most of the day huddled in Shen Jingwan's arms, her body often trembling without warning.

During the day, the sound of footsteps in the corridor and nurses pushing carts would frighten her so much that she would cover her ears.

I would often wake up at night screaming.

She only recognized Shen Jingwan. Only her mother's embrace and scent could give her a fleeting sense of security.

Even when An Jianxing tried to get close, she would clearly resist him. An Jianxing could only stand a few steps away with red eyes, his heart breaking.

Finally, the physical injuries are no longer serious, and I can go home to recuperate. However, psychological recovery will require a longer period of time and patient, loving care.

However, even home, which was originally the safest and warmest haven, seems to be no longer working.

An Suxue refused to leave her room, spending all her time huddled in a corner, tightly wrapped in a blanket, with the curtains blocking out the sunlight, completely isolating herself from the outside world.

The food that is brought in is often only eaten a few times before the person retreats back into their shell.

She didn't speak, and when her parents offered their cautious comfort, she would just stare at them with somewhat vacant eyes for a while before silently looking away.

An Jianxing and Shen Jingwan prepared delicious meals for him every day, bought him all sorts of toys, clothes, and storybooks, and patiently tried to get closer to him, even if they only received the slightest response.

They consulted countless doctors, and the advice they received was nothing more than "patience," "companionship," "providing a sense of security," and "avoiding stimulation."

The days flowed slowly in a suffocating sadness until one day, things seemed to take a turn for the better, but in a bizarre way, the couple's newly ignited hope was instantly extinguished by a bucket of ice water.

One afternoon, An Jianxing was flipping through books on treating psychological trauma that he had bought from the bookstore in the living room, while Shen Jingwan leaned against her daughter's closed bedroom door, whispering something.

Suddenly, she heard a sound coming from inside the door—footsteps? Footsteps approaching the door!

"Old An!"

Shen Jingwan widened her eyes and whispered something to An Jianxing.

As An Jianxing turned around, the door that had been tightly closed for who knows how long was opened from the inside.

An Jianxing and Shen Jingwan's hearts nearly jumped out of their chests. Overwhelmed with joy, they were speechless for a moment, only able to watch their daughter walk out of the door.

An Suxue was wearing pajamas, her hair was still a little messy, but she had clearly combed it with her hands. Her small face no longer had the emptiness and panic of the past, and she looked rather... too calm.

Her gaze no longer darted away, but went straight to the two people standing at the door, trembling slightly with excitement.

However, under the excited gazes of An Jianxing and Shen Jingwan, the corners of her mouth curved slightly, revealing a smile just like Shen Jingwan's usual.

The couple froze. That wasn't the smile a child of a few years old should have when seeing their parents. The smile was polite, clear, but carried a hint of scrutinizing distance. Appearing on that young face, it had an inexplicable eeriness.

Then she spoke, uttering the words that plunged the couple into an icy abyss:

"Hello, uncles and aunties, may I ask... who are you?"