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

As soon as Ye Shu opened the door, he smelled the aroma of stew.

"Xiao Shu is back? Quickly wash your hands and eat."

Mom's voice came from the kitchen, while Ye Shu's father was helping Grandma to sit down at the dining table.

Ye Shu responded and returned to her small room. She took off her schoolbag and tossed it onto the wooden chair. She also took off her school uniform jacket, which was now covered in sweat from playing basketball that afternoon, and draped it over the back of the chair.

He left the room and went straight into the bathroom.

This is the newly renovated bathroom in his house. It was created by building a wall in the west room and making a small partition, which was then tiled with white ceramic tiles.

Although it's a squat toilet, at least we're finally rid of the dry toilet in the yard that used to freeze our bottoms in winter and sting our bottoms in summer.

In the summer, as soon as you squat down, you can get at least three to five red envelopes on your butt when you stand up again, which is more than what Ye Shu received from her relatives during the Chinese New Year.

In winter, it was even worse. Besides the freezing cold, it was also slippery. There were only two wooden planks on the toilet, and the walls around the toilet were also made of wooden planks, which were barely enough to keep people out. The top was still exposed, and snow would drift in. When people stepped on it, the snow would accumulate and freeze into ice. Several times, Ye Shu almost fell in when he went to the toilet in the middle of the night.

Now it's all good. I can finally use the toilet indoors and take a shower at home. I don't have to go to that public bathhouse anymore.

He turned on the tap and splashed cold water on his face, then he heard his mother shouting from the kitchen:

"His dad, go and bring those potted plants from the yard inside; it'll get chilly soon."

Ye Shu's father had just placed a pot of stewed green beans on the table when he muttered something and stomped the pot a little harder:

"I don't have to do anything else all day but take care of your few potted plants. They're not that precious, why do I need to fuss over them every day?"

Despite his reluctance, he still walked towards the door.

Ye Shu had just finished washing his face and came out when his father passed by and simply reached out to brush it off for him.

"Go away, get out of the way."

Ye Shu was used to it. Every day after school, he would see his father carrying flowers. It was the same routine every day. He would grumble, but he still had to carry them.

Ye Shu wiped her hands clean, put down the towel, and went into the kitchen.

My mother was ladling the stewed eggplant into a small bowl with a spatula, wearing a blue apron. Seeing Ye Shu enter, she asked:

"Did you wash your hands?"

"I washed it, I just washed it."

Only then did Mom let Ye Shu carry the small basin. This small basin was quite old, and it was enamel, but the enamel on the edges and corners had been chipped off, revealing the black rim underneath.

The family of four sat around the dining table, on which were a pot of stewed green beans, a pot of stewed eggplant and potatoes, a bowl of fried egg sauce from a few days ago, and a plate of sliced ​​cucumber strips and scallions for dipping.

Ye Shu's father carried the white ten-pound plastic bucket and poured a cup into his small glass.

He didn't rush to eat the food. First, he took a sip from his cup, winced at the spiciness, and then picked up a piece of green bean with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth.

My mom, as usual, muttered something from the side:

"Drink less."

"Just this one cup, not much."

Ye Shu's father mumbled a reply while eating.

This has been their fixed line when they eat together for so many years; it's become a habit, just like the salt in the dish—if there's not a little bit, it just doesn't taste right.

Ye Shu sat down next to him with a rice bowl in her hand, but didn't touch her chopsticks.

He was extremely familiar with all the dishes on the table; they were dishes his mother used to make.

It wasn't particularly delicious, but it wasn't bad either; Ye Shu had gotten used to it.

But he's not hungry right now, he doesn't want to eat, and he feels like something's not right, but what exactly is wrong... it's just a feeling.

Although he is now also sitting at the dinner table eating, he always feels as if he is not at the dinner table, but an observer, like watching a movie.

The way Dad was drinking, Mom was nagging, and Grandma was laughing beside him all seemed to be separated by a screen, while Ye Shu was the one squatting next to the TV watching.

Moreover, Ye Shu seemed to have forgotten something, it was on the tip of her tongue, but she just couldn't remember what it was.

"Eat your food, what are you thinking about?"

Mom reached out and tapped Ye Shu's chopsticks with her own, calling Ye Shu back.

Ye Shu turned around and shook her head:

"It's nothing."

I quickly bent down and shoveled some rice into my mouth. My mom must have added too little water when steaming the rice today; it was a bit hard.

"How's the food at your school's new cafeteria? Is it filling enough for lunch?"

His mother put a piece of stewed meat, which was very tender, into his bowl. Ye Shu didn't think much of it and put the meat in his mouth. It was fatty but not greasy, and it tasted really good.

"It's not very good. The persimmon scrambled eggs are all persimmons, and the stir-fried pork with chili peppers is all chili peppers. The person in charge of the cafeteria seems to be a relative of our principal. Anyway, it's not very good."

Ye Shu said, took another bite of food, and continued to complain:

"And each serving only has a small spoonful, and it's all soup and water, with no dry food at all, and it costs eight dollars. I didn't even get enough to eat for lunch today."

"If one serving isn't enough, give it a few more points. You can't go hungry even if you spend a little more money. How can you concentrate on the lesson if you're hungry?"

His mother grumbled from the side, and Ye Shu shrugged:

"The main problem is that their prices are outrageous. They charge two yuan for just a small bowl of rice. How much would it cost me to eat my fill? I'd rather buy a jianbing guozi (Chinese crepe) at the store and add a sausage for only five yuan."

"It's not clean outside, at least the school cafeteria is clean."

It seemed like every parent thought so, to which Ye Shu simply snorted:

"That's not entirely true..."

He muttered to himself, picked up a piece of potato with his chopsticks, and thought, "Hey, this potato stew is so tender, it falls apart with just a little effort."

Before I could even put the old-fashioned potato in my mouth, I heard someone banging on the door from the outside.

"Who is it? And why are you here during mealtime?"

Ye Shu muttered something under his breath, slammed his rice bowl on the table, and got up to walk towards the door.

The front door of his house is at most ten meters away, but Ye Shu walked for a long time. The door was indeed getting closer to him, but it was moving too slowly, like he was standing still.

However, Ye Shu didn't notice this, because he heard other sounds besides the knocking at the door, as if someone was talking.

Moreover, the closer one got to the door, the clearer the voice became; it sounded like a woman's.

Who is this? A classmate?

No, Ye Shufang basically doesn't interact with his classmates after school, and he doesn't go out to play or anything...

Who could it be? And they seem quite familiar.

Ye Shu was still walking towards the door when he gradually heard the voice outside clearly. It was indeed a woman, and it sounded very familiar; she was calling his name.

"Little Shu, little brother... Little Shu, little brother..."

Ye Shu walked to the door and smelled a fishy, ​​salty smell, like the smell of the sea breeze. He didn't pay attention to it and then opened the door.

"Little Shu, you're awake!"

When Ye Shu opened his eyes, he saw Zhi Qiu's anxious face looking at him, with Tang Xiaotao and Qin Lili beside him, and a group of strangers watching.

What... what's going on?