143: Are you hiding something from me?

"Ah—" A few short sentences dealt Ye Su several heavy blows from capitalism.

So it turns out he doesn't just 'live in one and leave one empty,' he has more empty apartments than lived-in ones!

Ye Su finally understood who the average housing area of over forty square meters was being balanced out from.

Not giving Ye Su another chance to refuse, Ye Kaijun got up, entered the room, rummaged around for a bit, and brought out two sets of keys.

"This one is for Unit 1301, Building 7 in Yunqi Garden, and this one is for Unit 6001, Building 9 in Yuntian Community. Which one do you want to live in? Or you can take both."

Seeing Ye Kaijun's determination to make him live in one of the apartments, and thinking that compared to that jar of aged tangerine peel, a few thousand yuan in monthly rent was nothing, Ye Su had no choice but to accept his kindness:

"I'll take the one in Yunqi Garden. It just so happens that my girlfriend and I are renting in that same complex…"

"You live in that complex too? It seems we really are fated, and we both share the surname Ye."

Seeing Ye Su accept the keys, Ye Kaijun finally smiled happily, as if he were the one who had benefited.

After the water boiled, Ye Kaijun washed the tea set, took out some tea leaves to brew, and chatted with Ye Su.

Whether it was because he was an elderly person living alone who hadn't had the chance to interact with others for a long time, or simply because Ye Kaijun was naturally talkative, the two, with an age gap of more than double, chatted for over half an hour.

"It's about time, why don't you stay for dinner?"

"I really can't. I still have to pick up my girlfriend from work and tell her about the move while I'm at it." Ye Su took the opportunity to stand up and bid Ye Kaijun farewell.

"Alright then…"

Ye Kaijun looked slightly regretful, but still got up to walk Ye Su to the door, watching him enter the elevator.

Once the elevator door closed, Ye Kaijun turned back around, looking at the desolate room, which formed a stark contrast to the slightly lively scene from just moments ago.

Only the kettle, still steaming, remained the same as before. Ye Kaijun's eyes dimmed, and he couldn't help but sigh.

He had forgotten how long it had been since the last time he had spoken so much in a single day.

"Xiao Su really is a good kid. I just don't know how long it will be before he comes to visit again."

Turning back into the room, he carefully wrapped the unfinished pastries in a sealed bag, put them away along with the powdered milk and mixed grains, then checked his phone to look at the phone number Ye Su had left behind before getting up to cook in the kitchen.

...

On the other side, Ye Su picked up Chen Xinyi from work at their usual parking spot.

"Ah—" As soon as she got into the car, Chen Xinyi stretched her body comfortably, seemingly unconcerned that Ye Su could see everything.

"It's so comfortable to have a driver pick me up after work."

"Fasten your seatbelt, let's go."

"Okay." Chen Xinyi fastened her seatbelt, then asked, "Are we eating out tonight or…?"

"Let's order takeout." Ye Su unlocked his phone and handed it to Chen Xinyi. "Just use my phone to order."

Since they had gotten together, their takeout orders never cost less than three digits. Ye Su worried that the money Chen Xinyi earned from a day's work wouldn't be enough to cover their meals, so he took the initiative to shoulder their food expenses.

"What's up? Looking down on me? Worried I can't even afford to eat?"

Chen Xinyi understood Ye Su's intention and pointed it out bluntly, without any hesitation.

"Yeah." Ye Su, without any social tact, nodded and admitted it directly.

She was working while Ye Su was still in school, yet he was worried that the cost of meals was too much of a burden for her, which made Chen Xinyi feel a bit hurt in her pride.

But looking at it from another angle, Ye Su was caring for her. Chen Xinyi immediately let it go, feeling a bit secretly pleased: "I'll let it slide."

As she said this, she pushed Ye Su's phone back: "I'm not so broke that I can't afford to feed you a few takeout meals."

Ye Su didn't insist and took his phone back: "I was just making a gesture to prevent you from saying I didn't pay for food."

"Fine, fine, you're the smartest one, okay?" Chen Xinyi opened the app and started picking out takeout: "Aren't you going to drive? If the food arrives before we do, what then?"

"Don't you trust my driving skills? We'll be there in a flash. Play some 'Deja Vu' first."

"Big brother, I was wrong!"

Seeing that Chen Xinyi had a good attitude about admitting her mistake, Ye Su didn't speed, following the traffic flow back to Yunqi Garden.

After finishing the takeout, the two curled up on opposite ends of the sofa, playing on their phones.

Ye Su was still thinking about how to tell Chen Xinyi that there was suddenly an extra rent-free apartment in the complex, when his foot was suddenly kicked by Chen Xinyi:

"Hey, honestly confess, are you hiding something from me?"

"Huh?" This random question made Ye Su's head spin for a moment.

"I already know everything, so just confess honestly."

"Confess what?" After reacting, Ye Su thought for a moment, but didn't know what Chen Xinyi was referring to: "I hide so many things from you, how would I know which one you're asking about? Why don't you be more specific?"

Chen Xinyi no longer had any obsession with winning an argument against Ye Su, so she directly handed him her phone: "Did you sneak out last night and help an old man!"

After seeing the phone screen, Ye Su realized that the incident of him saving someone in the early hours of the morning had been posted online by a passerby. The location where the video was posted must have been nearby, and Chen Xinyi just happened to come across it.

"Big brother, do you think you're Batman, driving a black car in the middle of the night to save people! Do you know how treacherous society is now? Stories of the farmer and the snake happen every day! If that old man had scammed you, who knows how much trouble you would be in!"

Although Chen Xinyi was agitated, this was a normal reaction.

Ye Su understood that she was worried because he was still a student and was too trusting of society, which could eventually lead to trouble.

"I know what you're saying, but seeing that old man lying on the ground with no one around to save him, he looked quite pitiful. And he didn't look like a bad person, so I saved him."

"How could you tell he wasn't a bad person? Did he have the words 'Good Person' carved on his forehead?"

"Just intuition. The same way I had an intuition that you're a good person. Would you say that's accurate?"

Chen Xinyi wasn't very happy after being complimented by Ye Su; she still looked worried:

"Stop with the wise-cracks, I'm talking about something serious here! You got the old man into your car, then what! After he woke up, did he try to scam you!"

"Of course not. Otherwise, I wouldn't be perfectly fine today and have time to pick you up from work."

Hearing Ye Su say he hadn't gotten into any trouble, Chen Xinyi pressed her hand to her chest and let out a long sigh of relief:

"It's a good thing you met a reasonable old man. If he were like those other old people on the internet, you wouldn't even dream of coming back without paying hundreds of thousands!"

Then, Chen Xinyi became uncharacteristically serious and gave him some earnest advice:

"Call me mean-spirited or lacking compassion, but I have to tell you this: if you encounter something like this again in the future, it's better to just not get involved. Don't wait until you actually run into a bad person one day to regret it."

"If your conscience bothers you, just blame everything on me. Just pretend that it was because of these words of mine that you turned a blind eye to the old man."