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

"Mei, our son is getting married. I've taken care of the things you asked me to do before you left. Don't worry."

Ye Guoqiang sat on the edge of the bed, staring out the window, motionless, but muttering to himself.

His voice was very soft, not even as loud as the air conditioner when it's cooling. It was unclear whether he was speaking to his wife or to himself.

"The woman's family is really good, really good. They're rich. Xiao Shu's father-in-law is a big boss who owns a company, and his mother-in-law looks like an intellectual. The way she talks is completely different from what we hear."

As he spoke, the corners of his mouth twitched upwards as if he were about to laugh, but he didn't, and the smile immediately faded.

"The two of them are really good to our son. They never mistreat him because of their good family background. That's really commendable. Our two families are so different in terms of financial situation, but they didn't look down on us. That's better than anything else."

Ye Guoqiang's right hand was resting on his thigh with his palm facing up. At this moment, he bent his thumb and rubbed it lightly on the rose petal in his palm, as if afraid of crushing the petal or rubbing away the memory.

Ye Guoqiang brushed the petals away, his eyes still fixed on the view outside the window, and continued talking to himself:

"Our son... is quite decent. He found a good wife too. Although the girl is a bit weak and seems to have suffered some kind of trauma, leaving her with some health issues... but it doesn't matter. The boy is quite sensible and doesn't interfere with their daily life. Most importantly, the two of them really like each other, so I have nothing to say. However, even if I did say something, it probably wouldn't make a difference."

He smiled again, this time a genuine laugh:

"Don't let our son's obedience fool you. Remember what I told you? Our son is usually quiet, but once he has an idea in his mind, it's a very serious one. If there's anything in his life that would make him turn against us, it's probably when it comes to getting married. If I say no, he could get married without me knowing, and they'd have kids by then, and I wouldn't even know."

At this point, Ye Guoqiang stopped talking, as if he was thinking about what to say next.

The temperature inside the room rose considerably, and the air conditioner on the wall suddenly hummed and started working, making the petal in his hand sway back and forth.

Ye Guoqiang looked down at the petal and said:

"You really shouldn't disbelieve me, that brat... he's really capable of doing something like this. Don't you know your son well enough?"

After saying that, he didn't say anything more, and the only sound in the room was the hum of the air conditioner cooling the room.

His back slowly bent, and under the light from the window, his frame looked rather thin.

He lowered his head, his eyes fixed on the petal in his palm that was still swaying in the wind, and just stared at it, doing nothing else.

But suddenly, with a "poof" sound.

It wasn't a laugh; the sound was muffled, as if it were being forced out of the mouth.

Immediately afterwards, Ye Guoqiang's face, which seemed to be born with a serious expression, suddenly broke into a wide grin, but not upwards, but downwards. Then, tears started falling like hail, streaming down his nose.

It hit my arm, it hit my pants, it hit the petals in my palm.

He finally couldn't hold back and cried out, but unlike others, he didn't wail or kick and hit.

He lay there hunched over, his back trembling, his mouth agape, making a low, whimpering sound, louder than the air conditioning could produce, as tears streamed down his face.

She cried for only three to five minutes, as if she had released all the pent-up emotions she had accumulated over the years in those few minutes.

Ye Guoqiang raised his left hand and slapped his face hard.

As his hand swept across, the expression on his face returned to its previous serious look.

Even when no one was around, he adhered to the rule that a man does not easily shed tears.

He closed his eyes, straightened his back again, took a deep breath, and after inhaling until he couldn't inhale any more, he exhaled a long breath, expelling the weakness he had just felt along with the carbon dioxide.

That's just Ye Guoqiang's personality—strong-willed, extremely strong-willed.

Even if he was the only one in the room, even if no one else in the world knew that he had just shed tears, he still felt ashamed of it.

Sadness was like a sealed glass bottle to him, with water being poured into it day by day.

When the bottle is full and his chest aches, he allows himself to let out a breath or two, cry it out, and pour the water out.

But you will never be able to empty the water completely, nor will you be able to empty it all.

He would pour until he felt less heavy-hearted, until there was room in the bottle and he could breathe again, then he would immediately put the bottle back, even if it was still nine-tenths full of bitterness, he would force himself to hold it in.

Ye Guoqiang opened his eyes. Although his eyes were still red, he had hidden the tears in them and returned to his usual calm demeanor.

He glanced again at the petals in his palm, damp with tears, then gently wiped away the moisture with his thumb before slowly releasing his grip, letting the petals rest quietly in his hand once more.

Ye Guoqiang suddenly felt a bitter taste in his throat and needed to use something to soothe it.

He instinctively reached into his shirt pocket, but stopped as soon as he touched the cigarette pack.

Oh, I forgot, smoking is not allowed in this house.

He felt incredibly suffocated inside, and without smoking a cigarette, he couldn't find any other way to release this pent-up frustration.

He looked down at the petal in his hand, gently smoothed it out with his fingers, then took out his wallet and tucked the petal behind a slightly yellowed photograph inside.

The photo shows his wife when she was young, smiling at him.

Ye Guoqiang glanced at it twice, closed the wallet, put it back in his pocket, placed it close to his heart, and then got up and walked to the door of the room.

As luck would have it, just as he opened the door, Ye Shu came out of his grandmother's room and was carrying his suit jacket toward his own room.

The father and son met briefly. Ye Guoqiang noticed Ye Shu's soaked shirt but didn't say anything. It was Ye Shu who asked first:

"Dad, where are you going?"

Ye Guoqiang didn't turn his head or give Ye Shu a proper look; he simply turned and walked towards the elevator, saying as he did so:

"Let's go out for a smoke."

After saying that, he turned and left without looking back.

Ye Shu watched his father get on the elevator without giving it much thought.

His father is a heavy smoker; he gets itchy all over if he doesn't smoke for a while, so it's normal for him to go out for a smoke this time.

But just a moment ago, Ye Shu felt that his father gave him a different feeling than usual.

But he couldn't quite put his finger on why it was different.

He yawned, feeling tired. After thinking about it, he decided not to think about it anymore and pushed open the door to his room.