My 26-Year-Old Female Tenant

It was a rainy evening. Cold winds swept through the city, carrying fallen leaves in their wake. Le Yao and I stood under an umbrella at the entrance of the City Maternity and Child Hospital. Amidst the bustling crowd, she looked at me, her face slightly pale. "Zhaoyang, I'm pregnant." I froze for a moment before glaring at her and saying, "Go find the person who got you pregnant. Why are you calling me out for this?" "You're the only man I've slept with this past year. Who else should I find?" "If I told you that you're the only woman I've slept with this year, would you believe me?" "Zhaoyang, do you even count as a man?" "We were both just having fun. Don't pin this on me just because you're in trouble. If you want me to take responsibility, bring me some real proof. Don’t expect me to be some fool who suddenly finds out he's a dad." Le Yao was silent for a moment before saying, "The child is already gone. There’s no proof left." I was furious. "Do I look like an easy mark to you? You get rid of the baby, then come to me and say it was mine? Are you pretending to be naïve, or am I just that stupid? Le Yao, we're both adults. Can we handle this with some dignity?" Le Yao bit her lip, looking at me for a long time before finally saying, "So you refuse to take responsibility? Fine. Tomorrow, I'll go to your office..." "What the hell… You’re serious about this?" I snapped. Le Yao bit her lip even harder, watching me closely. But I thought she was just a great actress. I had met her in a bar, and we had a one-night stand. A woman who frequented bars telling me that she had only slept with me this past year? If I believed that, I'd be an absolute i***t. I didn’t want to argue with her anymore. I pulled out my wallet, took out all the hundred-yuan bills, and handed them to her. "You just want money, don’t you? Take it and stop bothering me." Le Yao didn’t say a word. She nodded, turned around, and walked into the hospital. It seemed like she still had some medical bills to pay... Watching her lonely figure in the rain, an indescribable emotion surfaced in my heart. I didn’t believe that the child was mine, and I was annoyed with her, yet I couldn't shake the feeling that she was struggling. If things were going well for her, she wouldn’t have needed to pull this stunt. After a moment of hesitation, I finally called out, "Wait!" Le Yao turned back to look at me. I took out a bank card from my wallet and handed it to her. "This card has some credit left. You just had surgery—buy something to take care of yourself." But Le Yao didn’t take it. "No need. Just seeing you willing to take responsibility was my goal. I came to you because I didn’t want to be slept with and impregnated without knowing who was responsible." Drowning My Sorrows At the bar, I sipped my drink, waiting for my only real friend in this city—my colleague, Fang Yuan. Since my first time coming to this bar, I had seen countless lonely women and empty-hearted men drinking all kinds of alcohol, some in silence, others with eyes full of desire, searching for something called "drunken oblivion." In truth, the moment we shed our daytime personas and let our souls lose themselves in this neon-lit abyss, we had already succumbed to that oblivion. I had long forgotten when I started treating this place as my refuge. I liked the women swaying their hips, the flashing lights, the colorful drinks, and the intoxicating mix of perfume and tobacco. I liked losing myself in this decadent world, using it to carve my chaotic past into a gravestone of memories. Lighting a cigarette, I peeled off the thin plastic wrap from the cigarette pack and held it up to my eyes. Through its distorted lens, I watched the lights flicker and my body swayed in sync. In that hazy, refracted glow, I seemed to see a kind of self-indulgent decay. I lost myself in thought. Fang Yuan plucked the plastic film from my hand, and my world suddenly became clear again. "What’s so urgent that you had to call me out?" Fang Yuan placed his briefcase down and took a cigarette from my pack, lighting it up. "Lend me some money. I got scammed." "Got another girl pregnant?" Fang Yuan asked, utterly unfazed. "Not this time, damn it! I actually got set up..." "Who got you this time?" "Why do you ask so many pointless questions?" "I lend you money every damn time, at least let me know who’s scamming me through you." "Le Yao." I spat the name out in frustration. "That model?" "Yeah, her. The industry is full of shady dealings, and she says I’m the only guy she’s slept with in a year. Would you believe that? If this happened to you, would you believe it?" I was so frustrated that I slammed my fingers against the table. Fang Yuan leaned in and asked in a low voice, "Did you use protection?" I tried to recall, but I had been too drunk that night to remember. After a moment, I answered hesitantly, "I think so... That’s why I’m saying I got scammed!" Fang Yuan looked at me suspiciously but then sighed and said, "Zhaoyang, we've been friends for nearly ten years. I really want to talk some sense into you. I know your breakup with Jian Wei hit you hard, but that was two years ago. You don’t need to keep punishing yourself like this… Youth doesn’t wait. Just find a real girlfriend and settle down, okay?" Hearing Jian Wei’s name again, I hesitated for a moment before replying, "Don’t worry about me, man. I’m doing fine." "Yeah, you’re ‘fine’—just drowning in troubles." Fang Yuan spent half the night trying to talk sense into me. I brushed him off impatiently. In the end, he left in frustration, muttering, "You’re hopeless." He was so annoyed that he even forgot about the money I had asked to borrow. Fortunately, after two years of frequenting this bar and bringing friends along, I had built a good relationship with the owner. My drinks for the night went on my tab. Returning Home to an Unexpected Guest Stepping out of the bar, I walked through the rain-soaked streets, feeling truly alone. I had spent two years working in this city, yet all I had gained was endless emptiness and solitude. To escape this poisonous loneliness, I had to wear a mask of shameless indulgence. With that mask, I could justify losing myself in hedonism. But no matter how much I indulged, she was never coming back. After wandering aimlessly for several blocks, I finally arrived at my apartment complex. It was an old neighborhood, so run-down that it didn’t even have a property management office. The first year I moved in, the neighborhood grannies told me that this place had been built in the early ‘90s. Over time, the buildings had become worn and dilapidated, yet they stood close together, as if afraid of being alone. Walking to my building, I was surprised to see a red Audi Q7 parked downstairs. In the two years I had lived here, I had never seen a car worth over 500,000 yuan in this neighborhood. I didn’t think much of it and whistled as I climbed the stairs to my apartment. When I reached the top floor, I was shocked to find my door slightly ajar. Had a thief broken in? Then I remembered—I hadn’t paid rent in two months. It was probably my landlord, Old Li, coming to collect. Pushing the door open, I saw Old Li sitting on my couch, but what surprised me was the presence of a refined, elegant woman beside him. On the table lay a set of Audi Q7 keys. So the car downstairs belonged to her. A question popped into my mind—how did a shrewd old landlord like Li manage to bring such a high-class woman into this shabby apartment?