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

While Ye Shu was talking with his father in the bedroom, in the bedroom at the other end of the corridor...

An Jianxing was supported by Shen Jingwan and An Suxue, who dragged and pulled him back to the bedroom. An Jianxing was so drunk that his legs were weak and he couldn't put any strength in his feet. He was almost entirely supported by the mother and daughter.

Fortunately, An Jianxing wasn't very tall, and they managed to carry him to the bedside with great difficulty. Shen Jingwan and An Suxue exchanged a glance, then, disregarding everything else, they unloaded An Jianxing onto the bed like they were throwing cement bags at a construction site.

"Hmm!"

An Jianxing groaned as he was thrown, bouncing on the bed. He mumbled something under his breath, his eyes still closed, but he just frowned, twisted around on the bed a couple of times, and then fell asleep again.

Shen Jingwan was slightly out of breath from exhaustion. She bent down to take off An Jianxing's shoes, straightened his legs, and pulled the blanket over him. After doing all this, she straightened up, let out a long sigh, and tidied her slightly messy hair at her temples.

She turned around, looked at her daughter beside her, whose little face was also flushed with exhaustion, and smiled:

"Alright, Xiaoxue, it's nothing. Your dad just drank too much, he'll be fine after a nap. I can watch over things here, you go find Xiaoshu."

"mom……"

Upon hearing this, An Suxue glanced at the doorway, her fingers gently twisting together. She was indeed thinking about Ye Shu; for some reason, ever since she woke up in his arms, she hadn't wanted to leave him.

But with her mother directly pointing out her thoughts, a wave of girlish shyness washed over her, and two red clouds rose to her cheeks.

Shen Jingwan saw her daughter's reaction and her smile deepened. She stepped forward, smoothed An Suxue's hair, and said with a smile:

"Go ahead, you two talk."

An Suxue looked up at her mother, bit her lip, and softly hummed in agreement. The blush on her face had not faded, but she did not hesitate any longer. She turned around like a fawn that had been suddenly discovered in the forest, and quickly left the bedroom, not forgetting to gently close the door behind her.

Watching her daughter leave, Shen Jingwan's smile slowly faded. She sat back down on the edge of the bed, looking at her husband who was lying on the bed snoring and fast asleep.

An Jianxing's face was still flushed, and his eyebrows were furrowed from the discomfort of being drunk. He would occasionally click his tongue, and it was impossible to tell what he was saying.

Shen Jingwan reached out and gently rubbed his brow with her fingertips, her movements very light.

"Look at you, all drunk."

She muttered to herself, but it didn't sound like a reproach; rather, it gave the impression that she knew it all along.

"You always brag about how high your alcohol tolerance is, saying you can drink a thousand cups without getting drunk. You've met your match today, haven't you?"

She recalled the scene at the dinner table earlier. Shen Jingwan had noticed it when An Jianxing started pulling Ye Guoqiang to drink one glass after another, saying things like "Brother, you have a huge capacity for alcohol" and "Let's have another one."

Although Ye Guoqiang wasn't a talkative man, he drank with gusto. Whenever An Jianxing raised his glass, he would join in; whenever An Jianxing downed his drink, he would drink just as much, never missing a drop.

But the more An Jianxing drank, the more his eyes glazed over, the bigger his tongue became, the more he talked, and the more excited he became.

Brother Ye's eyes grew brighter the more he drank. Although his face turned red and his movements slowed, his mind seemed to become clearer. He still didn't say much, just listened and kept him company.

At that point, Shen Jingwan roughly understood what was going on. Her husband was holding something in his heart, feeling both happy and guilty, and wanted to express himself through alcohol, while also trying to find out about his in-laws. As a result, she ended up drinking too much first.

That brother-in-law is probably a man of few words; his drinking capacity and temperament are much more composed and mature than he appears.

In the end, this outcome wasn't entirely unexpected.

Shen Jingwan watched her husband snoring and sighed softly, as if a burden had been lifted from her shoulders.

"That's good... I've said everything that needed to be said, and things that shouldn't have been said, thanks to the alcohol. Brother Ye is a wise and kind man. Just look at Xiao Shu, and you can tell his family is good. From now on, our daughter will have someone to love her more."

On the bed, An Jianxing seemed to have heard those words, mumbling something, but he didn't open his mouth; the words stuck in his throat. He turned over and rolled the blanket away.

Shen Jingwan reached out and pulled the blanket out from under him again, covering him up properly, and then sat on the edge of the bed watching him.

The corridor was quiet in the afternoon, with only the faint sound of dishes being cleared downstairs.

An Suxue gently closed the bedroom door, and as soon as she turned around, she saw Ye Shu pushing open the door to the guest room.

Their eyes met in mid-air.

Without saying a word, they started walking towards each other.

Ye Shu looked at her slightly upturned, still slightly flushed smiling face and spoke first:

"Uncle... are you alright?"

"Okay, I'm going to sleep."

An Suxue answered softly, looking Ye Shu's face over and over again, before she spoke:

"Shall we go to my room?"

The two returned to the bedroom that was exactly the same as the one in Yun Duan Yuan, where sunlight streamed through the curtains and cast a strip of light on the carpet.

The two walked to the bedside and sat down side by side. This time, An Suxue did not sit shyly a little further away from Ye Shu as usual. Instead, she gently squeezed closer to Ye Shu and rested her head on his shoulder.

Ye Shu didn't move, nor did he reach out to embrace her. He simply sat quietly, feeling the warmth emanating from her shoulder.

The strip of light on the carpet slowly climbed up the wall. The room was quiet except for the sound of the two people breathing.

After leaning against her for a while, just when Ye Shu thought she had fallen asleep again like before, An Suxue finally stirred.

She didn't look up, but simply sniffed lightly and asked:

"Aren't you...aren't you going to say something?"

Ye Shu turned his head to the side, his chin brushing against her hair. It turned out that she had been waiting for him to speak first.

"I want to tell you something. My dad agrees to us being together; he doesn't object."

After saying that, he raised his hand to hold An Suxue's hand. But before his hand could move, An Suxue moved first. She loosened her grip on her skirt and took Ye Shu's hand. Then, she tentatively inserted her fingers one by one into the gaps between Ye Shu's fingers and held them tightly.

An Suxue's hands were a little cold, but very soft.

Ye Shu held her tightly, wrapping her small hand in his own palm.

After a while, An Suxue spoke again:

"Ye Shu... I have something I want to tell you... Is that alright?"

"Okay, go ahead, I'm listening."

An Suxue seemed to gain some courage from this response. She remained leaning on Ye Shu's shoulder, motionless, as if this posture gave her a great sense of security and gave her the courage to say what she wanted to say to Ye Shu.

The room fell silent again, and the rhythm of their conversation was like that of a radio with a poor signal, intermittent and broken.

The strip of light on the carpet seemed to have moved forward a little more before An Suxue slowly spoke, her voice very soft:

"Ye Shu... do you... do you know when I started liking you?"