A Key With a Year Attached

“If you take the shop today, where am I supposed to go?”

The tenant holds the lease in both hands, its corners curled from being unfolded too many times. Behind him, the shop is narrow and bright with bolts of plain cotton stacked along one wall. Gu Shiyan stands beside the counter with the key in his palm.

“I am not asking him to leave,” I say.

The tenant looks at me, wary. Gu looks at the key, as though the metal can supply a better argument.

“This is a one-year lease,” he says. “I signed it. I cannot pretend it does not exist merely because you have decided to take the shop back.”

“Good. Then don’t pretend.” I hold out my hand. “Let me read it.”

He hesitates, then gives me the paper. The lease is plain enough. Gu’s signature sits at the bottom, with the date, the monthly rent, and the term written above it. The shop belongs to my family. Gu promised its use for a year anyway.

The tenant paid the current month’s rent to Gu. He has the receipt to prove it.

I pass the lease back. “Mr. Qiao, you may stay for the full term written here. You will not pay rent twice. Starting next month, pay the Pei household directly.”

Qiao De searches my face for the hidden condition. “And if the Gu family says the lease is invalid?”

“Then they can say it to me. You have a signed lease and a receipt. Keep both.”

Gu’s jaw tightens. “You are taking the shop while keeping the agreement I made. That is convenient.”

“For the tenant, yes.” I hold out my hand again, this time toward the key. “For you, it means you return the property without breaking the contract you chose to sign.”

A short silence follows. Pei Shuying stands beside the doorway, watching. Song Rouyi has kept close to Gu, her hands folded over one another.

Gu doesn’t give me the key. “The lease was made in good faith.”

“Then you should have no trouble signing that it remains in force.” I point to the open space on the back of the contract. “You can put in writing that I receive the shop subject to the existing term, and that the tenant’s rent after this month belongs to my household.”

“You cannot simply transfer an agreement—”

“I can accept it. You can confirm that you have no claim on the shop after today. Mr. Qiao can confirm he agrees to pay the Pei household from next month onward. Three signatures. No one has to guess what anyone meant.”

Qiao De lowers his hands. “I’ll sign that I understand the rent goes to the Pei household next month. I won’t sign away the rest of my year.”