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

Ye Shu once saw a quote online that said, "When you start reminiscing about the past, you've already grown old."

He strongly agreed with this statement because in recent years he often felt that his mentality was like that of a little old man, that is, mature beyond his years.

Or perhaps, in recent years, he felt as if his mind had been prematurely matured by hormones, directly stepping from a young man into a kind of middle-aged or elderly life.

It's not that it's matured, it's that it's ripened to the point of nostalgia.

The most obvious evidence is his playlist.

He doesn't know when it started, but he's become increasingly unable to listen to the new hits on the charts.

It's not a problem with the music, it's a personal problem; he just... can't find that feeling anymore.

He always felt that the melody was too noisy, the lyrics were too ethereal, or the way the emotions were expressed was lacking.

Moreover, his frequent use of English made it impossible for him, a patriotic youth who had believed since elementary school that "I failed English because I love my country," to understand it—it was like a duck listening to thunder, completely oblivious to the noise.

On the contrary, those labeled as "nostalgic hits" or "classic oldies" are becoming more and more to his liking.

The love, hate, and life insights sung in those songs, even just a touch of melancholy, seemed to directly touch that tender and bitter spot in his heart.

For example, in one of Dao Lang's songs, he sings:

"If I hadn't smelled the lingering scent of your perfume on my hand, I definitely wouldn't have tossed and turned, unable to sleep."

This phrase is truly fitting. Although Ye Shu didn't smell anyone's perfume, he did indeed toss and turn in bed all night.

He slept soundly during the day, oblivious to the passage of time, and had a wonderful sleep.

But at night, when I turn off the lights and lie in bed, my brain feels like it's fully charged, and I'm so energetic that I could go and box with Tyson.

As for who fights whom, don't worry about that, they can fight anyway.

At first, he didn't feel anything was wrong. He thought he would lie down for a while, relax, and then he would fall asleep naturally.

But as time passed, he became increasingly alert, as if he had been given a stimulant, and could even hear the security guards patrolling downstairs on their electric scooters.

He started trying all sorts of methods that were supposedly helpful for sleep, watching stress-relieving videos, like cleaning carpets, fixing cow hooves, washing cars...

I was engrossed in watching it, but my mind kept replaying the water gun in the video, and my sleepiness seemed to be washed away along with the dirty water on the carpet.

When watching didn't work, Ye Shu switched to listening. White noise was supposedly very effective. Jazz in a bar, sounds in a car on a rainy day, sounds by the fireplace, and even ASMR—Ye Shu felt like someone was putting their hands into his ears and scratching his head, making his whole body go numb.

Around 11 o'clock, he started to get a little anxious.

He counted sheep! From one to a thousand, until the sheep started lining up in his mind like a series of scissors, he was still staring wide-eyed at the ceiling.

Counting sheep didn't work, so I started counting dumplings. As I counted, I started thinking about "whether pork and cabbage or pork and chives tastes better," and then I went all the way to "the specific way to make braised pork," completely going off-topic.

It was midnight, and he started to feel anxious. In seven hours, the alarm would ring, and he would have to start a new day and go to work.

"Go to sleep! You have to sleep! It'll be dawn soon if you don't!"

But the more I try to command myself in this way, the less I can fall asleep.

Ye Shu started feeling uncomfortable. She didn't know how many times she'd folded herself, but no matter how she lay down, it was awkward. Either the pillow was too high, or the blanket was too hot…

He kept turning over and over on the bed, like a pancake being tossed and turned.

Along with the physical discomfort, my mind started to wander uncontrollably, with one thing after another from the day's events flooding back.

Starting with Qin Lili's words, "Let me ask for you," a series of questions were unearthed, drawing out her deep concern.

Work, future, human relationships, connections, abilities... these words swirled in his mind like a revolving lantern.

Can he handle other jobs? What if he doesn't do well? How will he repay the favors he owes? How will he bring it up with Sister Chen Xing? If he really changes jobs, will he have time to spend with them in the future?

My mind started rewinding, racing wildly from here, unstoppable.

Zhi Qiu's kiss, An Su Xue's face when she was hospitalized, the price increase of pork ribs in the supermarket a few days ago... keep going back in time.

Was I too serious once in college and offended someone?

If I had chosen A for that question in the college entrance exam, would I have been able to get into a better university?

During that fight in junior high, I could have kicked him one more time, but why did I hesitate? It seems that because of that hesitation, I got cornered again later…

Some old, trivial matters that he had long forgotten suddenly resurfaced.

The more I think about it, the more frustrated I get; the more I think about it, the clearer I become.

He suddenly grabbed his phone from beside his pillow; the screen was a bit too bright, so he squinted.

2:07 AM.

Despair, utter despair.

He tossed his phone aside, then rolled over, buried his face in the pillow, and began frantically brainwashing himself:

"I'm sleepy, I'm sleepy, I'm sleepy..."

It felt like only a short while had passed, but he still couldn't fall asleep. Then he reached for his phone again.

3:41 AM.

Ye Shu sighed, and the last string called perseverance snapped with a loud crack.

Forget it, I'm not going to sleep. Whatever.

As Ye Shu's "what's the use of trying" mentality emerged, a strange sense of relief suppressed his anxiety.

Since I can't sleep, I'll just stay awake. Instead of tossing and turning in bed, I might as well do something else.

He turned off the sleep-aid audio on his phone, opened a short video app, and started scrolling through it.

He scrolled through the videos, but didn't really absorb much of what he was watching. His eyes were a little unfocused; he just kept scrolling up, up, up...

I don't know how long I scrolled through videos, or when I was on which video, but my consciousness finally gave out and I passed out.

It felt like I had barely closed my eyes when Xia Qing's agonizing alarm clock went off.

Ye Shu felt a jolt throughout his body. Before he even opened his eyes, he felt as if someone had hit him on the head from behind.

He closed his eyes and turned off the nagging voice telling him to "get up and cook quickly, Ye Shu."

The world is quieter now, but my headache is even more pronounced.

My eyelids felt like they were filled with lead; I couldn't open them at all. I strained with all my might, and could only barely open them a crack, which was still painfully stung by the bright sunlight outside the window.

Its daybreak.

But Ye Shu felt like she hadn't slept all night.

He began to twist and contort in a dark way on the bed, as if he were about to mutate, and his mind started to wander uncontrollably.

Or... really... let Sister Zhi Qiu take care of him...

How am I going to get through today?