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

Ye Shu had already walked over. Upon hearing this, she didn't expose her, but quickly scanned her body to see if she was injured.

Sure enough, he saw Xia Qing's left hand resting on her knee, with blood seeping from the tip of her index finger, and several drops already dripping onto the ground beside her.

"Did you cut your hand? Why didn't you get it treated? Why are you just sitting here?"

As he spoke, he squatted down, reached out and grabbed Xia Qing's arm, pulling her up.

Xia Qing tried to break free, but failed, or rather, she didn't really want to.

She got up from the ground following Ye Shu's lead. Her legs were a little numb from sitting for a long time, so she swayed a bit after getting up.

Ye Shu led Xia Qing to sit on the sofa in the living room, then walked to the TV cabinet and took out a small first-aid kit.

He sat down next to Xia Qing and took out an iodine swab.

Give me your hand.

Upon hearing this, Xia Qing obediently extended her injured left hand and placed it in Ye Shu's hand.

Ye Shu used a cotton swab dipped in iodine to gently wipe the wound on her finger.

He moved very gently; although applying iodine to the wound wouldn't hurt, he was still very careful.

After disinfecting, I covered it with a band-aid.

Throughout the entire process, Xia Qing remained very quiet, didn't say a word, and cooperated obediently the whole time.

Ye Shu told her to reach out her hand, and she reached out her hand; she told her not to move, and she didn't move. She just kept her head down, occasionally sniffling, looking aggrieved.

After treating the wound and putting the first-aid kit back in its place, Ye Shu sat back down next to Xia Qing. Looking at her red eyes, he asked:

"You cooked for yourself?"

"Um……"

Xia Qing nodded, without looking at him.

"It failed?"

"Um……"

Xia Qing nodded again, without looking at him.

Ye Shu remained silent for a while, looking at Xia Qing, whose eyes and nose were red, and felt both sorry for her and a little amused.

Xia Qing, who is usually so domineering, actually cried like this because of cooking.

He reached out and touched Xia Qing's face; it was a little damp.

"What's there to cry about? Everyone makes this mistake the first time they cook. It's perfectly normal. I wasn't born knowing how to flip a wok; I just figured it out on my own, wasting so much food along the way. Practice more, watch more videos, and you'll get the hang of it eventually."

As he spoke, he wiped away Xia Qing's tears with his fingers, saying:

"If you really want to learn, I'll teach you when I'm home, okay?"

Xia Qing felt the warmth of Ye Shu's hands on her face; the warmth wasn't hot, and it gradually calmed her down.

Xia Qing sniffed, her nose still a little stuffy, and said to Ye Shu with a nasal tone:

"Then you can't complain that I'm stupid."

"How could that be? Do you think I'm that kind of person?"

Ye Shu smiled, released his hand, and raised an eyebrow at her with a slightly mischievous grin:

"You haven't eaten yet, have you?"

"no."

Xia Qing answered honestly, and looked aggrieved whenever this was mentioned:

"None of the things you make are edible."

"That's normal, that's normal. Comrades still need to work hard."

Ye Shu made a joke to help her change her mood.

Suddenly, Xia Qing seemed to remember something and asked:

"Hey, wait a minute, why are you back so early? Did your class reunion end so quickly?"

"What kind of gathering is this? I won't go to any of these kinds of parties in the future."

"What's wrong?"

Xia Qing became curious when she heard Ye Shu say that.

"It's so fake, so boring."

Ye Shu pouted and complained to Xia Qing:

"The room was full of people who addressed each other as 'old classmates,' but the moment they opened their mouths, every other sentence revolved around money. They would ask everyone they met, 'Where do you work? How much is your annual salary? Have you bought a house? What kind of nice car do you drive?' Those who drove nice cars practically had their car keys hanging on their foreheads. Those who wore watches would practically swing their wrists off. If they met someone who was doing well, they would be surrounded by people offering toasts, cigarettes, and flattering them."

Ye Shu said this with a touch of emotion:

"I just find it strange. Just a few years ago, we were all copying each other's homework in the same classroom. How come we've all become like this after only a few years in the workforce? Is that all we see?"

"Isn't this normal?"

Xia Qing pulled a tissue from the coffee table, blew her nose, and her tone returned to its usual sharpness:

"That's how it is now, isn't it? People laugh at poverty but not prostitution. If you're rich and powerful, you'll naturally have people fawning over you, so I'm not going with you. But..."

As she said this, she looked at Ye Shu with some suspicion:

"Knowing you as I do, even if it's boring, you should at least finish your meal and pay A's bill before leaving, right? Why did you come back so early? Weren't you splitting the bill?"

"Ha, what a load of crap."

Upon hearing this, Ye Shu's displeasure instantly turned into disgust:

"We agreed in the group chat that we'd split the bill. I didn't think there was a problem; we'd just go by whoever was paying. But when we got there, before all the dishes were served and the drinks had even arrived, some guy suddenly appeared out of nowhere acting all high and mighty."

As she spoke, Ye Shu mimicked the man's tone from back then, speaking in an affected manner:

"Hey, old classmates, it's rare for us to get together today. I think it's like this: the male classmates should each contribute 500, and the female classmates don't need to pay. We guys should have some manners."

"So you... just left?"

Xia Qing blinked, thinking about the scene at the time, and felt a little like laughing.

This is very much like what Ye Shu would do. It might not be obvious on the surface, but if you touch on certain points, he really will back down.

"If I don't leave, am I just waiting to be ripped off?"

Ye Shu looked completely at ease:

"I have no interest in acting like a big shot to them. Let them act like that if they want. What can't I do with that 500 yuan? I can buy you some good food, or we can go out for a trip together. Wouldn't that be better? Why should I use it to treat them to a meal? My relationship with them isn't that deep."

"So how did you leave? You just left?"

Xia Qing listened with great interest.

Ye Shu couldn't help but laugh when she thought about it, and said:

"I set an alarm, answered it, and left."

Xia Qing could imagine the various gazes that might have been cast upon Ye Shu when he left.

However, given Ye Shu's personality, he probably wouldn't care too much.

"Didn't you eat? You came all this way for nothing."

"How could that be?"

Ye Shu suddenly gave a wicked smile, stood up as he spoke, and said:

"Didn't you smell anything?"

As he spoke, he unzipped his down jacket and, as if by magic, pulled out two large handfuls of barbecued food wrapped tightly in several layers of plastic bags from his pocket.

Ye Shu waved the two large bags of barbecue in front of Xia Qing, then looked at her with a smug expression, as if to say, "Praise me!"

"I didn't act like a big shot there, but when I came back I just got some barbecue skewers near our house. Five hundred yuan, and I got so many! All of them are our favorites, and they're still hot."

As he spoke, he carried the two large bags of kebabs to the table, unwrapped the layers of plastic bags, and the aroma of cumin and chili powder wafted out.

Ye Shu went to the refrigerator, opened the door, and took out a few cans of beer.

He opened two cans, placed one near Xia Qing, then sat down in a chair, picked up a skewer of lamb, and gestured with his chin towards Xia Qing:

"Come on, Xia Qing, what are we waiting for? Let's get started!"

Looking at the table full of grilled skewers, Xia Qing's anger from cooking earlier vanished.

She got up, walked to sit opposite Ye Shu, but didn't immediately go for the skewers. Instead, she rested her arm on the table, propped her chin up, and watched Ye Shu, who was enjoying his skewers.

I just felt that he was real and vivid, and a million times more lovable than those so-called successful people.

Xia Qing watched for a while, then suddenly asked:

"Hey, Ye Shu, you just gave me five hundred yuan like that... um, it's for me, right? You bought so much barbecue, don't you feel bad about it?"

Actually, this is just a pointless statement; she already knew the answer in her heart.

But what she wanted to hear now was Ye Shu speak, to hear him give the answer she already knew in her heart.

Upon hearing this, Ye Shu glanced at her with a "does this even need asking?" look, swallowed the meat in his mouth, and said:

"What do you think? If I felt bad about it, I wouldn't buy it. Five hundred yuan isn't much, but it's not worth it to just sit there listening to those people bragging and flattering me. But this money is for the two of us."

As he spoke, he drew a circle with the stick he was holding and said:

"Buying something substantial like this, enough for the two of us to sit here and enjoy a good meal, I think it's totally worth it."

Xia Qing laughed, reached for a skewer of grilled chicken wings, and stuffed it directly into Ye Shu's mouth:

"You're good at saying nice things to coax people, hurry up and eat yours."