My wife and I are both time travelers.

Chapter 45 Falling out
"Aunt Wang, are you talking about the rent?" Lin Ying asked.

Seeing that Lin Ying had finally "remembered" the matter, Aunt Wang's expression softened slightly, and she nodded, saying, "Yes, that's it. Didn't you promise to give me an answer today? Tomorrow is Wednesday."

"Yes, yes, yes." Lin Ying nodded repeatedly, feeling embarrassed. "I was so busy that I completely forgot about this. I'm so sorry."

"Alright, alright, let's not talk about anything else. What do you all think it is?" Aunt Wang waved her hand and pressed for an answer.

Lin Ying sighed, looking conflicted. "Logically speaking, we should really thank you, Aunt Wang, because we wouldn't be able to live here without you, right? But your rent increase is just too high. We're a young couple, and we don't have it easy. We just make a little money by doing small business, and now the monthly rent is beyond our means. We really can't afford it. Aunt Wang, could you please be kind and stick to the price we agreed on before?"

"How can this be!" Aunt Wang shook her head vigorously, insisting, "Didn't I tell you last week? This rent increase isn't something I wanted to do; it's to help you find connections to get the road! Your business is doing so well; you make a lot of money just by selling a few tea eggs. Twenty-four yuan a month isn't expensive at all. How could you not afford the rent?"

"We really can't afford it!" Lin Ying kept complaining about being poor, counting on her fingers, "Selling tea eggs doesn't earn us much money at all. We save every penny we have. We work so hard every day, getting up before dawn and not coming back until dark. We only earn a few hard-earned coins a month. And now the rent is so much. We won't even be able to afford food. Aunt Wang, please have pity on us since we've been living here for so long. Please make an exception for us."

"No, no." Aunt Wang refused to budge. "I pity you? Who pities me? I've made myself perfectly clear. Why are you still haggling? This is something you can haggle over. Besides, helping you means taking a risk. This little bit of money isn't even worth it for me. If it weren't for the fact that you've stayed here for a few months, I wouldn't have done this for anyone else."

"Ah! You're going to take risks?" Lin Ying's eyes widened in surprise.

"Of course! You think it's that easy? This is no small matter!" Aunt Wang said seriously.

"This..." Lin Ying hesitated. Zhou Jiye remained silent, standing to the side. After a moment, Lin Ying sighed and said sincerely to Aunt Wang, "Aunt Wang, you are such a good person. You not only helped us but also took such a risk. We are so grateful..."

Hearing Lin Ying's words, Aunt Wang showed a smug expression. Just when she thought Lin Ying would agree to raise the rent, Lin Ying suddenly changed the subject: "You're so kind to help us like this, we really can't bear it. You can't always think about yourself, you have to think about others too. Aunt Wang, after getting to know you these days, you're as close to me as my own mother. How can I bear to let you take the risk because of my own affairs?"

At this point, Lin Ying seemed to have made up her mind: "In that case, we won't trouble you any further. Let's not rent this place anymore, and we'll move out tomorrow. Is that alright? That way, you won't have to take the risk for us, and you can find someone else to rent it and collect the rent peacefully, isn't that better?"

"What? What did you say?" Aunt Wang was stunned for a moment, her smile instantly freezing on her face. She could hardly believe her ears.

“If your ears aren’t working well, go to the hospital to get them checked out, Aunt Wang, what do you think?” At this moment, Zhou Jiye, who had been silent all along, suddenly said this.

"Xiao Zhou, what do you mean?" Aunt Wang asked blankly, still not having recovered her senses.

"I told you if you can't hear, go see a doctor. Are you deaf?" Zhou Jiye's face darkened completely at this point, and he said stiffly, "Didn't you hear what my wife said so clearly? We're not renting this lousy pigeon coop anymore. You can rent it to whoever you want. Don't even mention 24 yuan a month, you can rent it for 240 if you dare. Anyway, I'm not renting it anymore, and I'm moving out tomorrow! Oh, and remember to return our deposit, not a penny less!"

"You...you guys..." Aunt Wang finally reacted this time, instantly trembling with anger, pointing her finger at Zhou Jiye and Lin Ying: "How dare you talk to me like that? Aren't you afraid I'll report you?"

"Go ahead, go ahead! Report me? Report my ass!" Zhou Jiye didn't give her any face at all, his tone as sharp as if he had swallowed gunpowder: "I'll see who's in trouble then. You're illegally renting a place and using this method to extort money. If this gets out of hand, you won't be any better off!"

"Aunt Wang, wouldn't it be better to part amicably? Renting a place is a two-way street, why make it so ugly? Your rent is so expensive, we really can't afford it, and we don't want to trouble you with any more risks. If we take the initiative to terminate the lease, it's better for both of us, don't you think?"

With one playing the good cop and the other the bad cop, Zhou Jiye and Lin Ying worked together seamlessly.

"What the hell do I think!" Aunt Wang instantly lost her composure. She never expected that these two people, whom she thought she had completely under control, could easily raise the rent again. Who would have thought that the snail she had firmly in her grasp was about to run away? How could she let this go?
Let alone her original plan to raise the price to twenty-four yuan, even the previous rent of eighteen yuan was considered high in Shanghai. Her dilapidated attic? It would be lucky to rent it out for five yuan. Now, everything's gone. If Zhou Jiye and his family decide not to rent it and leave, where will Aunt Wang find tenants like that?

Eighteen yuan! A full eighteen yuan! In an era when thirty-six yuan was all you needed, that was half a month's wages for an ordinary worker, and it's all gone just like that? This is more painful than stabbing Aunt Wang in the chest.

That's not all. You see, because Lin Ying sells tea eggs, her family eats them for free every few days. Over the course of a month, that adds up to quite a bit. Now that they're leaving, all of that is gone.

"No! Absolutely not! You can't leave!" Aunt Wang was so anxious that her mind went blank, and she blurted out the answer.

"What a joke!" Zhou Jiye sneered. "We can't even move out? What kind of logic is that? Do you want to be a bandit or a robber? Or maybe you should just become a kidnapper? Are you planning to take us hostage?"

"You...you all...I...I..." Aunt Wang's mind went blank for a moment, and she didn't know what to say.

Just then, Aunt Wang's son and daughter-in-law came down from the second floor. Perhaps because the voices downstairs were a bit loud, they came over to see what was wrong. "Mom! What's wrong?" Aunt Wang's son, Xiao Jiang, asked as he came down the stairs.

"Jianguo, you've come at the right time! Your mother has been bullied!"

Aunt Wang suddenly burst into tears, sobbing and sniffling, "These two country bumpkins are bullying your mother! They're trying to kill me, waaaah..."

"Damn it! They're rebelling!"

Xiao Jiang was furious when he heard this. He rushed down the stairs in a few strides, and when he got down, he angrily pointed at Zhou Jiye and Lin Ying and started cursing wildly, spitting all over their faces.

Zhou Jiye frowned, shielding Lin Ying as she took a step back, and said sternly, "Aunt Wang, you should speak with a clear conscience. When have we ever bullied you? Does not renting your house mean we're bullying you? Where in the world is there such a logic?"

"What? You're not renting the house anymore?" At this moment, Xiao Jiang's eyes widened in surprise. He looked at his mother with a questioning look in his eyes. When he saw Aunt Wang nod slightly, Xiao Jiang broke down.

"Damn it! You think you can just rent it and not rent it whenever you want? Do you think my house is a public toilet that I can come and go as I please? Let me tell you, you're renting this house whether you like it or not! Otherwise, don't blame me for being impolite!"

Xiao Jiang's anger was not without reason. Although Aunt Wang's family owned a house, their financial situation was not good. Aunt Wang and her husband did not earn much, and their son was not promising. Although he had a temporary job, he was always late or left early, just coasting through his days at work.

As for his wife, she didn't have a proper job either. The two of them barely made ends meet, and with a baby who was still breastfeeding, and being used to spending money lavishly, their daily expenses were quite high.

To help her son, Aunt Wang cleaned up the attic and rented it out. In the past two months, after raising the rent for Zhou Jiye and his family, she had more money in her pocket. Aunt Wang gave most of the rent to her son every month. With money, the boy's smoking and drinking habits improved a lot, and he lived a much more comfortable life.

Now that Zhou Jiye and his family have suddenly stopped renting, it's like losing a huge amount of rent all at once. How can they tolerate that? Not to mention that their attic is in poor condition and is not easy to rent out, even if they were to rent it out again, it would never be as high as it was when they rented it to Zhou Jiye and his family.

Without this source of income, there would be no extra monthly earnings. How could Xiao Jiang be willing to go back to smoking Peony cigarettes when he used to smoke Glory and Labor cigarettes?

In a moment of desperation, Xiao Jiang, who had drunk a little alcohol earlier, became so drunk that he didn't care about anything else. He rolled up his sleeves, ready to teach Zhou Jiye and his men a lesson, looking like he was about to start a fight.

"What? You want to fight? I'm warning you! Don't you dare lay a hand on me, or I won't be polite!" Zhou Jiye protected Lin Ying without fear, speaking sternly.

"You little bastard! Today I'll show you what it means to have such red flowers..." Drunk and oblivious to Zhou Jiye, Xiao Jiang threw a punch at him menacingly.

When it comes to fighting, who has Zhou Jiye ever been afraid of? He gets into fights every few days in his hometown in Northwest China, and most people are no match for him.

Moreover, in terms of height and build, Zhou Jiye is much better than Xiao Jiang. Zhou Jiye is 1.85 meters tall and has a strong build, while Xiao Jiang is less than 1.7 meters tall and it's hard to say whether he weighs more than 50 kilograms. He looks like a bamboo pole.

Seeing his fist swing lightly towards him, Zhou Jiye calmly reached out and grabbed it. Startled, Xiao Jiang tried to pull his fist back, but it was as if it were welded to Zhou Jiye's hand.

"You started this!" Zhou Jiye sneered, tightening his grip on Xiao Jiang's fist. Before he could even exert a fraction of his strength, Xiao Jiang couldn't take it anymore and cried out in pain, bending over like a shrimp.

"It hurts...it hurts so much...let go...let go quickly..."

"Humph!"

Zhou Jiye sneered at Xiao Jiang's distorted face and his constant pleading, and felt even more contempt for the guy.

He didn't go too far; a slight lesson was enough. He pushed Xiao Jiang's fist forward and then let go. Xiao Jiang was pushed back several steps by the force and almost fell to the ground. His wife quickly helped him up. Xiao Jiang held his aching wrist with his left hand and looked up at the relaxed Zhou Jiye, feeling a little scared.

(End of this chapter)