Chapter Forty-Four: Landlord and Tenant

I stood before the door of my familiar rental apartment and pulled out my keys. As I opened the door, a wave of infinite emotion washed over me. In the end, human calculations are no match for destiny. I had intended to leave Yichun for good and never return, yet here I was, walking back into this small room that had brought me both joy and sorrow, just three days later.

Through the widening gap of the door, I looked inside. To my utter surprise, the room remained exactly as I had left it. The only change was that it was far cleaner and tidier than when I had lived here.

"You cleaned up," I said, carrying my bags into the room and looking at Luo Qing, who was sprawled out on the bed like a starfish, lost in thought.

"Did you expect it to clean itself?" She looked at me with an expression that suggested I was an idiot. She slowly sat up, glanced at the bags in my hands, then hopped off the bed and ran over to me, exclaiming, "What do I see?"

"You see nothing," I said with a faint smile, tucking the bag behind my back. I added with a serious tone, "Cold drinks are for dessert after the meal. You aren't allowed to have it now. Eat your dinner properly first, and then I'll decide whether to give it to you based on your performance."

As soon as she heard this, her little face filled with resentment. A moment later, she tried to negotiate: "Let me have the cold drink first, and then I promise I'll eat my dinner properly."

"Not a chance." I wasn't about to fall for her stalling tactic. If she could actually eat a proper meal after having a cold drink, it would be a miracle.

Pouting, Luo Qing sat unhappily in the chair at the table, resting her head on the surface and staring at me with a look of deep grievance.

I ignored her gaze entirely, placed the bag containing the food on the table, and walked into the kitchen with practiced ease to retrieve two plates and bowls. I set the cold drink aside, carefully washed the utensils, and placed them in front of her.

"Let me see what kind of delicacy this is." Luo Qing seemed somewhat expectant as she opened the bag, but then her mouth turned down. "I don't like this. I'm not eating it."

Seeing that she had no interest in the food I had bought, I spread my hands helplessly. "My lady, I'm currently unemployed. If you really wanted fine dining, those rich kids would probably be lining up to treat you. This is all my current financial strength can afford. If you really don't want to eat it, there's nothing I can do."

I sighed. Even though I had boasted at the hospital that I would buy her whatever she wanted, I simply didn't have the means. All I could do was try my best.

Luo Qing looked up at me, then picked up her chopsticks and took a bite. "I never said I wanted fine dining... Actually, this food just doesn't look very appetizing, but it tastes surprisingly good." After saying this, she took a mouthful of rice, looking as if she were enjoying a gourmet meal.

I stared at her, speechless. Was this meant to comfort me? Even if it was, the performance was a bit too exaggerated.

Watching her try to eat while occasionally throwing in a dramatic, over-the-top expression, I couldn't help but smile. This girl—her occasional bouts of dazed cuteness were truly adorable.

"Have you eaten yet?"

"Not yet. Once you're done, I'll go downstairs and grab some steamed buns. Besides, I'm not hungry."

Luo Qing pushed the bag of food toward me. "Let's eat together. I can't finish all this."

"It's fine. You eat first. We'll see what's left later. Don't worry about me." In truth, these dishes were bought based on my own preferences. Having spent so much time with her, I realized I didn't actually know what she liked to eat, aside from cold drinks. She had never said, and I had never specifically asked... In a way, that was my failure. I thought I understood everything, but in reality, I knew nothing.

"If you don't eat, then I won't either." Luo Qing dropped her chopsticks in dissatisfaction and slumped over the table again, as if going on strike.

"The ice cream is going to melt."

"Are you going to eat or not?"

"I'm not eating. Just hurry up, the food is getting cold." I didn't know what bug had crawled into her head this time, making her so insistent that I eat. It wasn't that I was being pretentious; I had bought exactly enough food for one person. If I ate, the result would just be that neither of us was properly fed.

"Then I'm not eating either. Whoever wants to eat it can have it." To my shock, Luo Qing stood up and turned to leave, giving the chair a forceful kick on her way out to express her anger.

"Fine, fine. I surrender. I'll eat, okay?" Seeing her so upset, I had to back down. I thought to myself, why was I, a grown man, getting into an argument with a frail girl, especially one who was still recovering? "But don't come crying to me later if you're still hungry. I'm not covering your next meal."

"That's more like it." Luo Qing wore a triumphant smile as she sat back down. I had to get up, find another pair of chopsticks in the kitchen, rinse them off, and sit at the head of the bed, picking at the food in the bag symbolically.

"After you finish eating, you should go back to the hospital for a few more days of observation. It's incredibly irresponsible to just run off like that."

"No way." Luo Qing took a few small bites of rice, then set her chopsticks down. "I'm full. The rest is yours." She pushed her bowl toward me.

Looking at the more than half-full bowl, I frowned slightly. "Your body is already weak, and you've barely eaten anything. Lady Luo, just tell me what you want to eat, and I'll buy it for you, alright? Don't make things hard on yourself. It hurts me to watch."

"I'm really full. I don't have a big appetite to begin with." Seeing me looking displeased, she leaned closer and smiled. "You care about me so much. What are your intentions?"

"Haha, I wouldn't dare." I gave a stiff laugh. "I'm like this with all my friends. Don't go thinking I have ulterior motives. I'm just a nobody; my dream is to marry an ordinary woman and live a simple life. I don't dare to ask for anything more. Please, don't make fun of me, Lady Luo."

"Yang Chen... you're still blaming me, aren't you?" Luo Qing turned her head away, her tone filled with loneliness.

"I don't blame you. I never have." My emotions were suddenly spiraling out of control. "Who am I? What right do I have to blame you? None of this is your fault; it was always meant to be this way. An impossible story can't be made real, no matter how hard you try to write it. You and I simply belong to different worlds. You made the right choice in giving me up. Why would I have any reason to blame you?"

Luo Qing turned back, looking at me with surprise, clearly at a loss due to my sudden change in tone. Facing her gaze, I felt incredibly childish. Why bring up things that were already in the past?

"I was just rambling. Don't take it to heart, and don't feel burdened... Isn't it nice how we are now?" Being ordinary friends was actually quite good. At least we wouldn't have to suffer, struggle to make choices, or try to give things up. We didn't need to change; we could just be our truest selves.

Luo Qing nodded, then fell silent and walked into the kitchen. A moment later, a sharp scream rang out.

The sound startled me so much I jumped off the bed and rushed to the kitchen. I saw Luo Qing standing by the sink, staring in horror at the cutting board. I quickly asked, "What's wrong?"

"The cold drink melted."

Hearing her reply, my forehead creased with lines of frustration. Was it really necessary to make such a fuss over this? She’d scared me half to death, making me think she’d been electrocuted.

"My lady, can you stop being so jumpy?"

"But the cold drink melted." Luo Qing looked aggrievedly at the ice cream in the container, which had turned into a pool of milky liquid. Her tone was genuinely sad.

"I know it melted. Who told you not to eat properly? You dawdled for so long that it melted." The temperature in the room wasn't even that high; it had been nearly half an hour since I brought it in. It would have been strange if it hadn't melted.

"You have to compensate me."

"What does that have to do with me? Besides, I'm the one who bought it for you in the first place."

"I don't care. You have to compensate me." Luo Qing started being unreasonable again, pointing a small finger at me, looking as if she would punish me if I didn't comply.

"On what grounds? I don't owe you anything."

Luo Qing seemed stumped by my question. She thought for a moment before saying, "Because this room is mine now. If you're going to come in here, you have to pay rent."

"Yours?"

"That's right. I paid the rent, and my name is on the contract now. I'm the landlord." Luo Qing looked at me triumphantly. "You're my tenant now. So, do you have any questions?"

According to her logic, she wasn't wrong. Even though I had only been gone for three days, I had indeed checked out. But no matter how I looked at it, the logic didn't hold up. What did she mean, I was a tenant? Even if I had moved back in as a tenant, no one had ever heard of a tenant having to buy their landlord cold drinks.

"Fine. I'm not going to quibble over a cold drink. But after you finish it, you should go home. Since I'm a tenant, I should at least have some rights to this room." I didn't want to keep arguing with her. All I wanted now was for her to go home and rest, and for me to get some sleep. After two days of this chaos, I was at my limit.

I picked up the box of melted ice cream, opened it, poured out the liquid, and tossed the container away.

"Why should I go home?" Luo Qing walked out of the kitchen, sat on the bed, and looked at me with an amused smile. "Did I ever say I was going home?"

"If you're not going home, what are you doing?"

"None of your business." Luo Qing reached up to touch the golden braid by her ear, looked at me with a puzzled expression, and asked, "Yang Chen, what kind of hairstyle do you like on women?"

I...

"Can you not change the subject so quickly? Is this even the same conversation we were having?" Although I was used to Lady Luo's erratic trains of thought, this was a leap too far.

"Tell me."

Looking at her current pigtails, I suddenly felt it was somewhat funny. Her usually long, flowing hair was now tied up, which took some getting used to. But paired with her beautiful features and her occasionally cute personality, it actually suited her quite well.