He's Using All My Lines!

When she heard the word "son," the landlady's smug expression froze instantly.

Jiang Yubai held up his phone, sounding helpless. "Yeah, Mom. Didn't you tell me to come collect the rent?"

"Oh, right. I almost forgot while I was out having fun." The voice on the other end immediately relaxed. "Then you handle it. I'm hanging up first."

Unable to hold back any longer, the landlady stepped forward and anxiously called into the phone, "President Qin! We clearly agreed on a monthly rent of five thousand before!"

"That doesn't count anymore," the voice drawled lazily. "Discuss it with my son."

The landlady's face went pale, and her voice rose. "You two are clearly ganging up to mess with me! Rent doesn't get raised like this! How am I supposed to dare renew the lease?!"

"If you won't rent it, move out sooner rather than later." The voice on the phone turned impatient. "If you don't want it, plenty of people do. Discuss the details with my son. I'm hanging up."

Beep, beep, beep—

The busy tone rang out, crisp and final.

Jiang Yubai shrugged and set his phone back on the counter.

Being a villain really was kind of satisfying.

The landlady's face shifted between green and white before she finally forced out a strained smile.

"Landlord Jiang... a rent of seven thousand really is too high. I honestly can't afford it with my small business. Do you think we could...?"

Seeing this, Jiang Yubai raised an eyebrow and gave a silent huh.

Even with his attitude laid out so plainly, Boss Zhao still hadn't decided to call it quits and was trying to negotiate. It looked like this shop really did make quite a bit of money.

And Jiang Yubai was right.

Although this was practically the oldest part of the old district, and rents had never risen much, it was close to several schools. It was undeniably prime real estate.

When the landlady tossed the problem back to him, Jiang Yubai sighed and actually began complaining about his hardships.

"Boss Zhao, it's not that I'm deliberately making things difficult for you. You've seen it too—life hasn't been easy for us landlords lately."

"Bank interest keeps going up, and maintaining the shop costs a lot too. Money's needed here and there... I really can't keep things turning over."

What nonsense are you spouting? You collect rent lying down, and now you're complaining?

The landlady cursed inwardly, but she still had to keep smiling. "I know, I know. It isn't easy for landlords either. We understand."

"But... I discussed five thousand with President Qin before, and President Qin agreed. Raising my monthly rent by two thousand all at once is a little too..."

Jiang Yubai waved a hand, looking too lazy to explain.

"This shop belongs to our family. You've used it for two years. You added these bookshelves and counters yourself, didn't you? You've even scuffed up the walls in several places."

"I didn't make an issue of any of that, and I'm still willing to keep renting it to you. I'm only raising the rent a little, and you still want to pick and choose?"

He paused, as if recalling something, then added, "Besides, does the contract state a specific amount? It doesn't, does it? So I can raise it however much I want."

"If that really doesn't work for you, hurry up and pay last month's rent. Once you do, don't come back again. My shop can't accommodate a Buddha as grand as you."

Hearing such blatant troublemaking, the landlady nearly choked on the breath stuck in her chest.

But amid her anger, she vaguely felt that his tone sounded familiar, as though she had heard it somewhere before.

Without time to think it over, the landlady took a deep breath and gritted her teeth. "Landlord Jiang, we have no grudges against each other. Why are you targeting me like this... what exactly do you want?"

She truly couldn't understand how she had managed to offend such an unreasonable Buddha.

Who collected rent like this? Was he really not afraid of driving away his tenants?!

"What do I want?"

Jiang Yubai gave a short laugh but did not answer directly.

He turned his head and happened to spot a small, sneaky head poking out from outside the door, peering in.

The moment it met his gaze, the head jerked back out of sight.

"Stop hiding," Jiang Yubai said with amusement. "Get in here."

A few more seconds passed before a figure finally appeared in the doorway and hesitantly walked inside.

Following Jiang Yubai's gaze outside, the landlady finally got a clear look at the person before her, and her eyes widened at once.

"Oh, Little Lin..." She forcibly squeezed out an extremely unnatural smile, her voice dry and stiff. "Haven't seen you all day. You've been... been okay?"

The awkwardness and reluctance in her tone were practically overflowing.

Now she completely understood why the words she had just heard felt so familiar...

They were all her own lines!

Lin Jianxia lowered her head and shuffled over to Jiang Yubai's side, pressing her lips together without knowing what to say for a moment.

Seeing her again after a day apart, she could still clearly recall the landlady's arrogant manner last night, along with the lingering grievance in her heart.

"Hey," Jiang Yubai said irritably. "What's with that look like you're the one who did something wrong?"

Even with her emotions in turmoil, Lin Jianxia could not resist looking up and glaring at him.

What did he mean, acting like a punching bag?!

Seeing this, how could Boss Zhao still fail to understand why she had been targeted at every turn today?

She hurriedly said, "I was wrong. I was wrong."

Jiang Yubai turned his gaze toward her and raised an eyebrow. "What did you do wrong?"

The landlady: "..."

She took a deep breath and forced out a smile uglier than crying.

"I shouldn't have deliberately found excuses to dock Little Lin's pay just because she was young and thin-skinned."

Lin Jianxia suddenly looked up, biting her lower lip stubbornly. "Those creases in the book pages were already there when they were delivered, and I never secretly took any books!"

It was obvious she had held those words in for a long time; even her voice trembled slightly.

How could the landlady dare say anything else? She could only nod. "You really didn't take any. I knew what happened—I said it deliberately at the time."

Glancing at Lin Jianxia, who had visibly relaxed a little, Jiang Yubai's tone softened as well.

"Alright, Boss Zhao. If you're more sincere with your attitude, the rent isn't impossible to negotiate."

The landlady immediately understood. She turned around at once, counted out another six hundred-yuan bills from the cash register, and handed them to Lin Jianxia.

"Here, here, Little Lin. This is the pay I should have given you yesterday. Keep it."

Lin Jianxia looked at the money in her hand, pressed her lips together, and said nothing.

The landlady opened her mouth, then turned a hopeful gaze toward Jiang Yubai again.

"Why are you looking at me? Look at her." Jiang Yubai crossed his arms and shrugged. "If she doesn't accept it, the rent is seven thousand. If she does, then it's not like we can't discuss it further."

The landlady gritted her teeth, pulled out another five bills, and stuffed them into Lin Jianxia's arms. There was even a hint of pleading in her voice.

"Consider this compensation for your hard work. You come here after school every day and spend hours organizing books. Giving you only six hundred really was too little. Auntie Zhao was wrong."

"Little Lin, please talk to your friend... let me off this one time."