Page 29

How had things suddenly developed into this?

Seeing Xu Han staring at Gu Mingyuan with an unhappy expression, Gu Yanqing rubbed his nose and said, "He's my nephew, Gu Mingyuan."

Hearing that, Xu Han felt that Gu Yanqing was less introducing him than explaining that Gu Mingyuan was not his son. Unfortunately, her mind was a mess, and she had no time to grasp the deeper meaning. She merely said, "Oh."

Gu Yanqing glanced around at the belongings that had been packed up and asked flatly, "Are you planning to leave X City for good?"

Xu Han was already upset, so her words were not polite either. "What else? You won't marry me, so what's the point of me staying here?"

"..."

Xu Han had killed the conversation stone dead. Just as things grew awkward, the doorbell rang again.

Tang Yueyue went to answer it. This time, it really was the landlord. She looked around at the people in the room, and the moment she spotted Gu Yanqing holding the child, she hurriedly smiled. "You're here too."

Well, the mystery of why Gu Yanqing had appeared here out of nowhere had been solved. This landlord had obviously tipped him off.

Gu Yanqing gave a slight nod.

Xu Han had never had a good impression of this landlord. Now that she knew the woman had meddled by informing Gu Yanqing, her expression only worsened. In a cool tone, she said, "Landlord, calculate the utilities and the days I overstayed. The deposit isn't refundable, right?"

Since Xu Han had not found time to come over, she had overstayed by nearly half a month.

When Xu Han had been reborn in Qiao Wanqing's body, they had only moved in two days earlier. They had just signed a one-year lease and paid six months' rent in advance. It was a standard two-bedroom apartment with a living room, kitchen, and bathroom. The monthly rent was 2,500, with a three-month deposit and six months' rent paid upfront.

Back then, Qiao Wanqing had brought Grandma Qiao over to care for her. Her old studio apartment was no longer big enough, so she had moved here. She had just received 200,000 from Gu Yanqing, and she believed that after giving birth, she would more or less be able to marry into a wealthy family. Thus, she had spent lavishly, paying so much rent without even blinking.

Later, Xu Han returned to the countryside with Grandma Qiao. She had originally discussed terminating the lease with the landlord and getting back some of the deposit and rent, but the landlord viciously declared that she would not refund a single cent. She told Xu Han to call the police if she had the guts, claiming she was not afraid at all. She had been especially arrogant.

Unfortunately, Xu Han had just finished her confinement period then and had no energy to make a fuss. Besides, she did not know whether she would be able to settle down in the countryside, and there were still belongings here that she could not take away. So she had not pursued the matter and had merely blocked the landlord.

"Refund it, of course I'll refund it," the landlord said with an ingratiating smile. "You haven't lived here much these past six months, so I won't charge you for utilities, cleaning, or anything like that."

Xu Han was somewhat surprised that the landlord had suddenly become so reasonable. But when she thought of the woman tipping off Gu Yanqing, she guessed Gu Yanqing had something to do with it.

After hearing that, Gu Yanqing said coldly, "She didn't live here for six months, and you still charged her rent?"

"Well... but she was still using the apartment all that time," the landlord said, unable to keep smiling. "I haven't collected a cent from anyone else these past six months. You can't expect me to take a loss."

Thinking of the landlord's attitude half a year ago, Xu Han felt utterly disgusted. Now that someone had her back, she could not help borrowing his power to intimidate the woman. "When I asked to end the lease half a year ago, you refused to refund anything and even said I should call the police if I had the guts."

"..."

The landlord's expression stiffened.

She was silent for quite a while, seemingly struggling with herself. "Then... how about I refund Miss Qiao one month's rent? I'm only a sublessor. I only make 200 yuan from a place like this. I won't make anything at all, and I'll even be losing 1,500 yuan."

Xu Han did not believe for a second that she only made 200 yuan. As far as she knew, sublessors usually rented an entire unfinished floor. This area was not great; a space of over two hundred square meters probably cost only two or three thousand yuan. Then they divided it into individual units. A roughly fifty-square-meter apartment like this one had already nearly earned back the rent for the whole unfinished floor.

But she had not intended to get all her money back. She was simply unhappy with the landlord's attitude.

Gu Yanqing, however, said coldly from the side, "Three months."

"But..."

"Don't make me say it twice." Gu Yanqing shifted Koukou to his other arm and carefully pulled the hand he had put in his mouth back out, but his tone remained thoroughly impolite. "After all, I know you'd take a loss if you refunded everything."

Landlord: "..."

In the end, the landlord painfully refunded three months' rent and the deposit, totaling a full 15,000 yuan. Seeing the sudden "windfall" in her Yu'ebao balance, Xu Han actually found this robbery-like act incredibly satisfying.

She had finally vented her anger properly.

"Thanks," Xu Han said, taking Koukou back when he grew tired of being held by Gu Yanqing and began reaching for her.

She had to admit that Gu Yanqing had looked a little handsome just now.

Gu Yanqing said, "Then to show your gratitude, Miss Qiao can treat us to dinner."

Xu Han: "???"

Author's Note:

I saw everyone discussing why the male lead, despite already having a son, treated his cousin's son so well while being distant toward his own son. Since the plot has not yet developed to that point, many people had questions, so I'll explain a little here.

(1) Regarding this story's setting

The cousin's son had a rather miserable childhood. This will be explained in detail later; the poor health mentioned in this chapter was caused by that, and it was also why the male lead left in such a hurry last time. The male lead took him in, but only had him move in with him. He was his "cousin's son," not an "adopted son."

After Koukou was born, the female lead would not let Koukou acknowledge him as his father, as mentioned earlier. Nor did he intend to forcibly take Koukou away. He only visited him occasionally despite the female lead's intense rejection, which had also been clearly written earlier.

Under these circumstances, the male lead could not possibly, just because he had a child of his own, tell his cousin's son, "Go home. I have a son now, so I don't want you anymore." After all, the existence of his son did not conflict with the existence of his cousin's son.

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Transmigrated into a Book

Sweet Romance

Sweetness Is Justice