Going home for Chinese New Year, I squeezed onto a bus with three energetic young women.

"What the hell?"

Li Jiaxin looked on in disbelief:

"Pay next year's rent in advance?"

Grandma sat on the edge of the bed, nervously rubbing the quilt with her hands, and said with a troubled expression:

"Didn't we agree that the rent would be paid annually?"

The old man counted on his fingers:

"It's only been four months this year, summer has just begun, and you're already asking for next year's money?"

"That's right." Li Jiaxin took a step forward, standing between her grandmother and the landlord.

"How can you do things like this? If you don't give it to me now, we'll talk about it again when the New Year is coming up."

She got angry at the landlord's greasy appearance and waved him away.

"Get out of the way, don't get in my way. My grandma and I still have something to talk about."

The landlord, who had been leaning back in his chair pretending to be a big shot, couldn't stand Li Jiaxin's attitude anymore.

He stopped playing with the walnuts in his hand and slammed them heavily on the table.

He changed his tune, removing his mask of hypocrisy and reverting to his usual scoundrel-like self:

"What are you babbling about?"

The landlord stood up, her large pregnant belly protruding, and looked Li Jiaxin up and down.

When his gaze fell upon Li Jiaxin's dazzling purple hair and well-tailored clothes:

"Tsk." The landlord snorted through his nose. "They're dressed like proper adults, aren't they?"

"You can't possibly not even afford this little bit of money?"

He deliberately raised his voice and shouted at the old lady on the bed:

"Grandma, look at the wonderful granddaughter you've raised."

"She dresses all fancy outside, but won't even pay rent for her own grandmother's room. She really doesn't know how to be filial!"

These words touched a nerve with Li Jiaxin.

She can't stand it when people talk about her and her grandmother.

Moreover, with the dividends Bai Li gave him in his pocket, he was quite confident.

Li Jiaxin's temper flared up instantly, revealing her wild side:

"Fuck your mother, Thunder Gangsai!"

"What landlord collects rent six months in advance? Are you in such a hurry to get the money to go on a singing tour?"

Grandma had never heard such foul language before, and she was startled.

The old man quickly stood up, holding onto the edge of the bed, and reached out to tug at Li Jiaxin's clothes.

"Jiaxin, be quiet..."

He hadn't finished speaking.

Li Jiaxin took her grandmother's hand in return, patted it gently twice to comfort her, and interrupted the old woman's words.

"Grandma, don't worry about this."

Should I avoid his sharp edge?

She glanced at Bai Li standing beside her, and straightened her back even more.

"I work tirelessly from dawn till dusk, filming to earn money, not to put up with his jerk attitude!"

Li Jiaxin's words came out like a machine gun firing off a barrage.

What was originally just a casual outburst of anger had an unexpected effect on the landlord.

The landlord stood there, eyes wide, his face showing a look of utter disbelief.

How did you know that my mom and I were both going to go...?

Without thinking, the landlord blurted out those words, just going along with Li Jiaxin's train of thought.

These words were spoken.

Li Jiaxin's prepared string of profanities got stuck.

She stared blankly for two or three seconds, her brain processing the information at lightning speed.

After realizing what was happening, Li Jiaxin's eyes changed from anger to disgust.

She took a half step back, as if avoiding a plague.

"It really is, fucking true?"

Li Jiaxin pointed at the landlord and launched into a full-blown tirade of sarcasm:

"He's almost fifty years old and still so obsessed with women, and even the old lady in his family is so wild."

"What's wrong? Did something go wrong with your family's ancestral graves? Is the whole family in heat?"

The landlord then realized he had let something slip.

But he'd spent his whole life in this old town, and his skin was thicker than a city wall.

When exposed, they might as well give up and do nothing.

"What do you know, you little brat!"

The landlord, with his neck stiff and unabashedly boasting:

"That's what it means to be young at heart even when old!"

He patted his beer belly, looking completely self-righteous:

"I'm collecting my rent, my family can spend it as we please, what's the problem?!"

At this moment, Bai Li, who had been standing silently to the side, moved.

He walked over to Li Jiaxin and reached out to pull the little wildcat that was about to scratch him behind him.

"You going out to find Clucka, that's no problem."

Bai Li looked at the landlord, her tone calm.

The landlord thought Bai Li was trying to smooth things over and was about to go along with it.

Bai Li slowly and deliberately continued with the second half of the sentence:

"But besides being handcuffed, there's something else you need to be careful about."

The landlord was taken aback by these words, and subconsciously replied:

"What should I be careful about? Looking for young girls?"

Bai Li shook his head.

He leaned forward slightly, looking at the landlord's greasy face.

The output begins solemnly:

"Be careful not to catch any diseases."

"If your father infects your wife and harms your son, that's not a big deal. But if your father infects your aunt and uncle, and your mother gets sick, then the whole old town will be doomed."