Chapter 6.2

The hotel provided breakfast in the morning, and Su Ying had already told her parents which floor it would be served on. To access the dining floor, all one needed was to swipe the room card and enjoy the buffet. Since Su Ying had arranged to meet the landlord at 10 a.m. to return the keys, and the apartment also needed to be cleaned before that, she woke up at 7 a.m. without waking her parents and went down for breakfast by herself.

The hotel breakfast consisted of the usual fare—steamed buns and dim sum, soy milk and fried dough sticks, plain congee with side dishes, and a few simple stir-fries. Su Ying poured herself a bowl of soy milk, added a bit of sugar, and paired it with some already slightly soggy fried dough sticks. She also ate two boiled eggs.

Afterward, she hailed a taxi and arrived at the rental apartment building with her empty suitcase. She climbed up to the fifth floor and unlocked the door. It had been nearly a month since she last returned, and a thin layer of dust had settled inside. Besides sleeping at night, she hardly spent any time at the apartment as she was usually busy with work and relied on takeout. She hadn’t bought much furniture either and wasn’t planning to take most of her things back.

She packed the remaining clothes from the wardrobe into her suitcase and used the cleaning tools she had purchased herself to tidy up the place. It was only dusty and not very dirty, so she was done in less than half an hour.

The landlord, a local woman, arrived earlier than the agreed time and brought along a young man. Su Ying greeted her politely:
“Sis, you’re here. I’ve tidied the place. If everything looks fine, we can settle the deposit and I’ll return the keys to you.”

The landlord, speaking Mandarin with a heavy local accent and rapid pace, immediately snapped:
“Aiya, how did you mess up my apartment like this? The walls are yellowed, and the floor too—look at those footprints!”

Su Ying was momentarily speechless. She had lived there for five years, and the walls were already yellowed when she first moved in. She wasn’t the type of tenant who lived sloppily; no matter how busy she was, she made time to clean up. After cooking, she always deep-cleaned the kitchen.

As for the footprints, those were clearly left just now by the landlord and the young man when they entered. The rest of the floor was spotless, so the few mud-tracked prints stood out.

Su Ying calmly explained:
“Sis, the walls were like this before I rented the place. And the footprints on the floor—those are from the mud on your shoes just now. One swipe with a mop will clean it up.”

But the landlord didn’t let her finish and cut her off, shaking her little leather shoes as she pointed to a ceiling lamp:
“And one of the crystals from my chandelier is missing! After all these years, you’ve trashed my place like this and still expect me to return your deposit? Not a chance!”

Su Ying immediately understood—this was just an excuse not to refund the deposit. She had paid a two-month deposit plus three months’ rent when she first moved in, which was about 5,000 yuan. The landlord was now nitpicking deliberately.

Su Ying retorted one by one:
“Sis, that chandelier was already missing a crystal when I rented the apartment. I actually still have a video from when I came to view the place. I can show it to you.”

She had filmed the whole viewing process back then to reassure her parents. Even though years had passed and she’d changed phones, she had backups of all the chats and never deleted them. She never expected this would now serve as evidence to protect herself.

“Sis, I’ve always kept the apartment clean and even spent my own money to fix things. Your sofa was torn, the lamp and water heater were broken—I repaired all of it myself. I even informed you at the time, and you told me to handle it. Technically, as the landlord, you should have been responsible for these repairs. Shall we calculate those costs too? I have all the receipts.”

The landlord was momentarily stunned, not expecting this out-of-town tenant to be so articulate and even produce evidence from years ago. But she still had no intention of returning the deposit. The young man she brought, a tall 1.85m figure, stepped forward, clearly intending to intimidate Su Ying.

Seeing this, Su Ying knew she was at a disadvantage—alone against the landlord and her son—but she wasn’t about to give up her rights. The landlord, emboldened by her son’s presence, barked:
“I’m not refunding the deposit. Hand over the keys and get out now!”

Su Ying’s anger flared, but she forced herself to remain calm and quietly started operating her phone as she said:
“My rental term hasn’t ended yet. Are you forcibly terminating the lease early? Then you’ll have to pay me the deposit, the penalty for early termination, and the remaining rent.”

The landlord ignored her and told her son, “Son, throw her out.”

So the tall man closed the distance between them. Su Ying said, “My belongings are still inside.”

The landlord’s son stepped aside just enough for her to roll out her suitcase. Fortunately, all of her important items were already packed. Hard confrontation was meaningless now, so she said again:
“Regardless, I haven’t moved out voluntarily. You’re the one terminating the lease early, so you must return my deposit and remaining rent.”

“Impossible! You won’t get a penny!” the landlord shouted and even tried to shove Su Ying. Su Ying dodged, and the landlord almost fell. Without saying another word, Su Ying walked away with her suitcase, leaving the keys on the shoe cabinet by the door.

The landlord watched her leave and smirked, thinking she had once again succeeded as a “black-hearted landlord.”

Su Ying lugged the heavy suitcase downstairs, sweating both from exertion and the earlier confrontation. She hailed a taxi and returned to the hotel first before dealing with the landlord.

By the time she arrived at the hotel, it was already past 11 a.m. She dropped off her suitcase in her room and immediately called the city hotline to file a complaint about the withheld deposit.

Big cities were efficient. Less than 30 minutes after Su Ying hung up, the landlord called back, still arrogant:
“Girl, this is useless. I’m not returning the deposit no matter what. If you’re capable, go ahead and sue me.”

Su Ying sneered:
“Sis, then I’ll take it seriously. According to rental regulations, apartments must be equipped with fire safety equipment. You have none, and neither does your building. I can call the fire department right now. Do you know how much the fine for that alone could be?”

She heard the landlord inhale sharply.

“You’re unreasonable! Such a low-quality tenant. How did I end up renting to someone like you?” the landlord said, clearly rattled but still unwilling to budge.

Su Ying pressed further:
“No problem, after the fire department it’ll be the tax bureau. Your rental income counts as taxable income. I have all the payment records from these years. Either you issue me invoices now, or I’ll report your tax evasion. The fine for tax evasion can easily be tens of thousands! Your deposit and rent will look small compared to that.”

“And another thing: your apartment is a residential property using residential electricity and water rates. But you’ve been charging me 2 yuan per kilowatt-hour and 10 yuan per ton of water—completely illegal. I can report this to the city hotline too. The utility companies will come after you, and you’ll have to refund the overcharges.”

Her words were sharp and logical, directly striking the landlord’s weak spots. If the landlord wanted to pocket her deposit, Su Ying would make her pay far more.

Terrified, the landlord hung up the phone. A few minutes later, Su Ying received a WeChat transfer of 4,645.16 yuan from the landlord, with a note: Two months’ deposit and 10 days’ rent.

The landlord also sent a string of voice messages:
【Girl, I was wrong. Just take the deposit and rent back, and let’s end this here, okay?】
【If you keep this up, I won’t be able to live!】
【You’re really something, such a harsh person. Next time, don’t even think about renting from me—I wouldn’t dare!】

It was all nonsense.

Su Ying accepted the transfer and immediately blocked the landlord. After five years of living there, she had always tried to compromise when it didn’t harm her interests, but if someone tried to take advantage of her, she wouldn’t tolerate it.

After handling the matter, Su Ying knocked on her parents’ hotel room door and took them by taxi to the famous Nanjing Road pedestrian street in S City. Even on a weekday, the street was crowded with tourists and full of local delicacies.

Su Ying planned to walk slowly with her parents, snacking along the way and sharing small portions so they could taste more dishes. The city’s shengjian bao (pan-fried pork buns) were famous. She brought her parents to a popular shop that was packed during lunch. They managed to snag a table as some diners were leaving and ordered buns, pan-fried dumplings, and the restaurant’s signature mushroom and salted pork rice.

The buns were golden and crispy on the bottom, and the dumplings were thin-skinned and filled with shrimp. The mushroom rice, stir-fried with pork fat and salted greens, was irresistibly fragrant.

“Be careful, the soup inside is hot,” Su Ying reminded as she bit into a bun. The rich broth burst out immediately, steaming hot and full of flavor.

They also tried pan-fried dumplings, shrimp-filled and lighter than the buns. The rice was shared among the three, and Su Ying’s father loved it so much he couldn’t stop eating.

The portions were small, so they quickly finished and left as soon as they were done, making space for the next diners.

As they walked, Su Ying introduced her parents to more local snacks, like baojiaobu—crispy fried dough sticks wrapped in an eggy flatbread with sweet bean paste and lettuce, similar to a jianbing guozi. They also tried pork chop with sticky rice cakes, a sweet and spicy combination that was surprisingly satisfying.

For dessert, they sampled soft and chewy treats like shuangniangtuan, green bean paste cakes, and tiao tou gao. Her parents even decided to buy some as gifts for relatives back home, so Su Ying simply had the store ship everything to their village’s delivery station instead of lugging it back.

They also bought giant butterfly-shaped pastries, crispy and layered, as well as fresh meat mooncakes—a first for Su Ying too, though they still preferred the traditional sweet ones like red bean and date paste.

Finally, they stopped at the White Rabbit candy flagship store. Su Ying had fond childhood memories of her father buying her the creamy candies. She bought several new flavors—matcha, coffee, red bean—and even saw wasabi-flavored ones but avoided those after checking carefully.

They ended the day at a restaurant serving yellow croaker noodle soup, the fish broth rich and flavorful, topped with hand-pulled noodles and a large crispy-skinned croaker. They also tried the famous xiaolongbao and crab roe soup dumplings, bursting with fragrant broth.

Strolling, eating, and shopping for hours, Su Ying was tired, but her parents were still energetic. Though it was their first trip, they never complained, happily trying everything she suggested and discovering new favorites along the way.