Can we just take a moment to appreciate how perfectly Sister Li sounds? Like, every line she says is so distinctly HER. The way she goes from fake smile to full-on aggression in one breath—"Refund? What wishful thinking!"—that's not someone who's negotiating, that's someone who's already decided she's going to win and just needs to perform the victory. And her logic is so delightfully twisted. The bed leg was cracked BEFORE Nianxi arrived, there's DUST in the crack, and she still claims Nianxi broke it? "You say it was broken, so it was broken? Where's your proof?" This woman is a natural-born scammer and the dialogue makes it feel completely authentic. She doesn't sound like a cartoon villain; she sounds like every predatory landlord I've ever heard about in real life. Meanwhile Nianxi's dialogue is this whole other vibe—she's polite, she apologizes, she tries to reason. "I'm sorry, Sister Li. Something unexpected happened at home..." Even when she's being wronged she's still saying sorry. But then that one line: "Try touching me again." That's it. That's the entire turning point of the scene and it's four words. Short, simple, and absolutely lethal in context. And Huo Jingmo's dialogue? The man says almost nothing and every word lands. "Be good. I'll be right there." That's all we get from him in this entire chapter and he's already established as the most formidable person in the room. The author really knows how to use silence as a character tool.