Chapter 27 Dispute over Materials
Gao Yun and Bian An frowned when they heard You Xi's words, but after a moment's hesitation, they said nothing.
Chen Ya was surprised: "Xiao Xi?"
Chen Ya was not surprised because she had not mentioned this matter just now, but because he felt sorry for her being forced by everyone to distribute materials.
Although he also wanted materials, he could put himself in her shoes. If it was his family that opened the store, and materials were more important than anything else, and everyone in the community forced him to share all their things, he would probably be furious.
You Xi was still saying: "It's just that there are many people in the community, so it must be very troublesome to distribute. Since Aunt Tan has mentioned it now, and this garage originally belonged to your family, then I will leave the distribution of materials to you!"
"Me?" Tan Qian was stunned.
Youxi suddenly changed her attitude and words, and everyone was a little dumbfounded, and then they felt embarrassed, feeling that they had just ganged up on a little girl.
However, everyone wanted supplies, and this shame was fleeting. In order to make up for it, some people offered to give Youxi money, so that even if they were using money to buy things from her family, it would not be considered free.
"Forget it. I have money but I don't know where to spend it. Money is nothing. Forget about the waste paper that can't be eaten or drunk. Food is the most precious thing."
She combed the hair on her cheeks. "Okay, I have handed this matter over to Aunt Tan. She should have the key. After all, it is her garage. But my parents don't know about this yet. They are not in good health. I am afraid they will be upset. I will go home to accompany them first. You can do whatever you want."
After saying that, You Xi turned and walked towards the third floor of her home.
Someone was talking quietly behind her.
"What do you mean?
It's just sharing some things, why are you so upset?" "Are you trying to be disrespectful?"
"Forget it, they are willing to share the things, so just give it away. Let's go, hurry up, we are also members of the community, everyone who sees it should get a share."
"Yeah, although the grocery store has a lot of things, there are even more people in the community. Don't go too late or you won't get anything..." "Ah
, then I have to go back and call my parents to come along. The more people there are, the more shares we can get!"
...
You Xi sneered, turned the corner and entered the unit door.
Chen Ya couldn't help it and finally chased after him: "Xiaoxi, don't be impulsive. I know you are angry, but those are your family's things. As long as you don't want to, I will find a way with Bian An and Xiao Gao."
Youxi smiled at Chen Ya: "Thank you, but I'm afraid you can't stop this alone."
Chen Ya remembered Gao Yun and the others' non-stop and non-persuasive look just now, and was silent for a while.
***
When Youxi entered the door, You's mother had already prepared lunch, and You's father winked at her.
She understood, and under the pretext of going to the toilet, she quietly ran to the small room facing north and put all the hot dishes, soups and cakes that You's father had packed in the takeaway box on the food shelf of the Xingwu warehouse.
Afterwards, she put most of the food in the storage room into the warehouse, because she had collected half of it before, and the three of them had been making rice balls, flatbreads, steamed buns, dumplings, pancakes, fried rice and other cooked food in the past few days, so the rice and flour were consumed quickly, but there were still a lot of canned food, instant noodles, sausages and various biscuits and snacks, less rice and flour, adding up to two or three bags.
After collecting the things, she came to the dining table and told Tan Qian about the "distribution of things".
You's father knew the inside story and knew that his daughter had put all the things in the grocery store into her space on the day she returned home.
But Yu's mother didn't know. She felt very distressed when she heard it. The Yu family was poor. The things in the grocery store were not only food and daily necessities, but also all their belongings. If they were to be divided up, it would be like emptying the family's wealth.
But the problem was that there were so many people in the community, and everyone wanted something. If she didn't agree and they came to rob directly, who could she beat? You
can't think too much about this. It hurts to think about it.
Yu's father looked at Yu's mother's distressed look and wanted to speak several times, but he held back several times.
No, the matter of his daughter's space was too important. It was the foundation for the survival of their family of three. It wasn't that he didn't trust Yu's mother, but he was afraid that once she knew that her daughter had such a big baby, she would start to sympathize with this and be soft-hearted to that.
It's okay to help others, but in this situation, I'm afraid that I'll get into trouble while helping.
Compared to the distressed look of Yu's mother, it's obvious that her daughter's safety is more important, and he can't say it!
Yu Xi watched Yu's father go from frowning to determined to keep the secret, and laughed in his heart.
Although the appearance and even personality are somewhat different, the father in this alien world is the same as the father in the native world in some aspects.
When the three members of the Yu family were having lunch, a lot of people had gathered in the garage of Building 8, all of whom wanted to come and get things.
Tan Qian was not willing to let so much food and daily necessities be divided from her hands, not to mention who knew whether the people who came to get things were really short of food or just wanted to take advantage?
She just couldn't believe it. It had only been four or five days, and so many families had run out of food and had nothing to eat!
In the end, Tan Qian found two excuses. One was that she forgot where she put her key and had to go back to look for it. The other was that the people who came to collect the things were too chaotic. She thought she should make a list first, count how many people wanted to collect the things, and then decide how much to give to each household.
The second excuse made sense. Long Ge was not afraid that she would run away, so he agreed and took the initiative to take on the task of counting the names.
After this delay, the distribution of the things was scheduled for the evening.
That afternoon, after the crowd dispersed, Tan Qian brought her son down from the fourth floor quietly, prepared to open the small door of the garage, and move some things to her home first.
After the incident that day, someone in a house on the third floor of their unit became abnormal, and the screams, cries for help, and banging noises continued all night.
Later, the zombie somehow wandered into the corridor, and even though there was a door panel between them, Tan Qian and the other two were still scared.
Later, Gao Yun organized the people in the community to clean up the zombies, and the crisis was resolved.
She was still upset about this incident for several days, so she didn't think about moving the materials in the garage. After all, in her opinion, the distance from the fourth floor to the garage was only three and a half floors, and she didn't know that this would happen today.
As the mother and son went downstairs, the son was still complaining to her in a low voice, saying that it was all her fault for being greedy and taking things. Now, there were so many things to share, and how much could she move now?
"Okay, keep your voice down. Remember to take the canned meat and instant noodles, and take a few more boxes of milk."
However, when Tan Qian tiptoed to open the locked garage door, both mother and son were surprised by the empty garage.
What's going on?
Where's the food and drinks?
Tan Qian's son's eyes were red with anxiety: "Fuck! Where are the things! Where are the things!"
**
During the hottest time in the afternoon, there was a commotion next to the garage of Building 8 in the community.
Although Brother Long agreed to distribute supplies in the evening, he was not stupid. He was afraid that Tan Qian would do something weird, so he quietly sent a younger brother to guard not far from the garage shutter door and keep an eye on the movements inside.
As a result, Tan Qian and her son were too shocked to hold back their voices, which attracted the attention of the people outside. The person knocked on the shutter door and asked the people inside to open the door, but Tan Qian naturally did not open it.
Later, the person asked another younger brother to call Brother Long, who came with a cigarette in his mouth and an axe he had obtained from a supermarket at the intersection. With two blows of the axe, the lock under the shutter door was broken. Several people manually lifted the shutter door, but they only saw empty shelves.
As soon as Tan Qian saw Brother Long and the others, she subconsciously wanted to leave through the small door at the back, but was grabbed by someone: "Where is the food!"
"Hey, let go, why are you holding me, how would I know where the food is!"
"You don't know? Don't you know what you are doing here at this time! Do you think we are fools?"
"Let go! Why are you holding me! Hey, someone come quickly, these outside hooligans are going to kill people!"
...
The matter soon came to Youxi, because the You family was the owner of the grocery store.
Although Tan Qian was caught, she insisted that there was nothing in the garage, saying that it must be the You family's doing! They deliberately took her to the ditch, but in fact they had already moved the food away and hidden it.
But the problem is that Building 8 where the garage is located and Building 3 where the You family is located are separated by a small park, and there is an empty area in between.
On the day of the accident, someone passing by the garage saw shelves full of food items. Later, infected people appeared in the community, and everyone hid back home.
In the following days, almost everyone was trapped at home. At night, Gao Yun organized a team to patrol the entire community. If the You family really came to move things, so many things would definitely make a lot of noise. How could they be emptied without any news?
"The garage was locked on the day of the accident. I haven't been to the garage since then. There are surveillance cameras in the community. If you don't believe it, just check the surveillance and you will know."
You Xi still did not let anyone disturb You's father and mother, and followed the person who came to notify her to the garage.
"No need to check, Xiaoxi, I definitely believe you!"
Chen Ya was originally angry about this matter. Now seeing that they lost their things and blamed Youxi, she immediately got angry, "Tan Qian has the key to the garage and lives in the same building. Why don't you ask her clearly? Why are you dragging Xiaoxi to deal with it! Let's go back with big brother. Let them deal with the things here by themselves. Anyway, I don't want those things, so don't come to our place to make trouble!"
Chen Ya had a protective mentality and was really angry.
Seeing this, Gao Yun ordered the crowd to disperse and let Youxi leave.
After the two left, everyone's anger turned to Tan Qian again. There was no surveillance in the corridor, and she had the key, so no matter what she said, she was powerless. Finally, Gao Yun, Bian An, Wu Di and Long Ge discussed and decided to stop the fruitless dispute and let the facts speak for themselves.
The way to let the facts speak for themselves was to send a few people to Tan Qian's house to check if there were a lot of food supplies.
Youxi and Chen Ya listened to the situation as they walked.
Chen Ya cursed and said she deserved it, and she shook her head and said nothing.
It was not until after dinner that day that she heard that those people found a lot of rice and flour food supplies under the waterproof cloth in a utility room in Tan Qian's house.
There were several boxes of instant noodles, more than ten bags of rice, flour, noodles, grains and seasonings piled up in one corner, and several boxes of vacuum-packed sausages, luncheon meat and salt. There were also a lot of daily necessities, not to mention other drinks and snacks.
No matter how much Tan Qian cried and cried that those were her family's own things, no one believed it. Someone found that those things were exactly the same as those in the grocery store before, no matter the type or brand. Anyone with a discerning eye could tell that they were from the You family grocery store.
So, those people immediately moved all the boxes of supplies away.
When You's father found out, he sighed and shook his head, and told You Xi that those things should have been from the grocery store.
The You family has opened the store for two years, but every week something would go missing, sometimes a few packets of instant noodles, sometimes a few cans of luncheon meat, sometimes a bucket of oil, sometimes a large bag of toilet paper, sometimes two bottles of soy sauce...
He knew in his heart who took it, but he didn't expose it because he thought it was better to have less trouble than more. Anyway, they were all small things and not worth much.
"But I didn't expect that a little bit would add up to a lot. She actually took so many things from the grocery store. Alas, now those people take all the things away and divide them up as if they belong to our store. What will she do in the future..." What
You's father couldn't understand the most was that when there were so many foods hidden at home and his son was at home, he followed those widows and orphans to take the food that others risked their lives to get from outside. He was too greedy.
"Those were originally things from our store."
You Xi had no sympathy for Tan Qian. If the other party hadn't been so black-hearted and inexplicably pushed You's grocery store out, who would have the right to search her house for things?
If she had been less greedy, she would have opened the garage right away and didn't make up all kinds of excuses to delay until the evening, and others wouldn't have blamed her for everything.
Now that she had been found to have stolen things accumulated over the past two years, it was all her own fault.
**
Tan Qian cried and threw tantrums, but it was no use. Seeing that all the things hidden in the utility room had been moved away, she felt as if her flesh was being cut out.
There were not only things she had stolen from the grocery store, but also things she had bought herself!
Her son blamed her for being greedy, saying that she had stolen so many things and had not told her that there were so many things hidden at home. If he had known, he would never have let her go downstairs to get the food.
Her daughter-in-law was adding fuel to the fire and making a fuss about going back to her own home.
"If you want to go back, go back by yourself! Don't drag my son out to die!"
Tan Qian transferred all her anger to her daughter-in-law. The latter was naturally unwilling, and she grabbed her husband and used the baby in her belly as an excuse to make trouble.
The three quarreled all night, and finally the neighbors upstairs and downstairs came to knock on the door and asked her to be quiet. What if the noise attracted the zombies outside to the community?
The wall of the community was more than two meters high and made of cement bricks. If a large number of zombies were attracted and the wall was pushed down, no one would survive.
"If you keep quarreling, we will ask Brother Long and others to come and drag you out. If you don't want to live, leave the community and don't drag others down!"
After that, the Tan family finally calmed down, but how could Tan Qian swallow this? The things in her house were divided and eaten by the gang of robbers in the community. If she was not happy, others would not be happy either.
So the next morning, Tan Qian rushed downstairs to You Xi's house and said that the things in the grocery store were gone. She and the You family both had the keys. If they wanted to investigate, they couldn't just investigate her family, they had to investigate the You family as well!
She also said that the You family pretended to be good people on the surface and distributed the things in the grocery store to everyone, but in fact they had already moved all the things back home privately. They wanted to be good people but couldn't bear to give up the things. They were shameless!
I don't know if the things taken from Tan's house yesterday were not enough to be distributed, or if it was obviously less than the goods in the grocery store, and soon a lot of people gathered downstairs.
No one spoke out to stop them, and many people even whispered that what Tan Qian said made sense, wondering if they could get another share.
You Xi held down You's father and mother who wanted to go downstairs, and asked You's father to keep an eye on You's mother and not to go down to cause trouble. Then he took the baton from the shoe cabinet, changed his shoes and went out.
Twenty or thirty people gathered outside the anti-theft door in the corridor, and Tan Qian was the center. She stood there with her hands on her hips and cursed, with a fierceness that was quite fierce.
You Xi understood this kind of people. In their eyes, there is no right or wrong. They only look at whether it is beneficial to them. No matter how much you say, they will not reason with you. They know that they should pick the soft persimmons and occasionally rely on their age to morally blackmail people.
This kind of people are good at talking, and they can say any crooked logic, and they can also swear at will.
For such people, You Xi has only one word: beat.
She had just gotten up today. She was wearing a pair of white sports pants, a black T-shirt, and her hair was tied into a ponytail, revealing her slender arms and neck.
The girl had fair skin and an expressionless face. She strode out of the corridor, swung her right hand hard, and the three sections of the metal stick in her hand were fully opened.
She didn't say a word, and walked directly to Tan Qian and hit her with the stick.
The metal stick hit her face accurately, like a slap in the face, and instantly shut her up.
Tan Qian was still threatening "you, you, you, you dare" in the last second, and the next second she had fallen to the ground.
Her hands hit the rough cement on the ground. Because she landed quickly and with great force, the skin on the palm of her hand was directly scratched, and blood oozed out. She gasped in pain.
But she soon found that the wound on her palm was not the most painful, but her left face. The place where she was hit was swollen like a steamed bun, and it hurt when she touched it lightly.
"You said you would investigate? What qualifications do you have?" You Xi looked down at her, "You are old but you don't behave well. You just want to take advantage of others all day long."
She raised the baton in her hand, "This is my answer to you, are you still making trouble?"
Tan Qian obviously didn't understand yet. When she saw the baton in You Xi's hand, she screamed like a pig being killed: "You hit the old man, the damn girl of the You family beat and killed people——"
"Pa——" Another blow, this time on the right face.
You Xi actually held back most of her strength, otherwise with her current full strength, one blow from the stick would tear Tan Qian's face like the zombies before.
Tan Qian didn't dare to scream anymore, she covered her swollen face and sobbed, saying that she would call the police to arrest her and put her in jail...
"Call the police, the situation outside has changed a long time ago. Zombies are transformed from humans, I can kill zombies, so I can kill humans." You Xi turned the baton in her hand.
Someone recognized the metal stick in her hand, and remembered that when they hid behind the window at home, they saw that one of the first people in the community who cleaned up the zombies was holding this stick.
That day, several people were wearing masks and wrapped themselves up tightly. Most people who didn't go downstairs didn't see their faces clearly. They only knew Gao Yun, Chen Ya, Bian An and a few others.
That's because they were the ones who later reinforced the South Gate, organized meetings and training for night shifts, convened people for training and then went out to find food, so almost everyone ignored Youxi.
Now that someone recognized the baton, they realized that she was telling the truth and took a big step back involuntarily.
Many of them still don't dare to face zombies directly, let alone fight and kill zombies at close range. They can't imagine how this fair and beautiful girl did it.
When everyone retreated, Gao Yun, Bian An and Long Ge came over. Someone had notified them when Tan Qian came to cause trouble.
But they were still a step too late. You Xi had already beaten the people and was preparing to go upstairs.
When everyone saw Long Ge coming, they were eager to surround him. They got the food from Long Ge yesterday. It was said that it was hidden by Tan Qian, and they found it in her house.
So will they go to You's house to look for it today? Before
the residents in the community could speak, You Xi stopped: "Are you going to my house to search for food and supplies?"
Long Ge held a cigarette in his mouth and looked at the girl in front of him without saying a word.
He knew it very well in his heart. If Tan Qian had moved the things away and hidden them before, there was no reason for her to take the initiative to bring up the matter of the grocery store. So this matter was probably related to the little girl in front of him.
How could Gao Yun not understand what Brother Long could guess? He frowned and looked at You Xi: "What if we want to go up?"
You Xi's expression did not change: "Our family runs a grocery store. Even if there are extra things, they are the inventory we purchased before. Are you going to move them all away?"
"Xiao Gao!" Chen Ya disagreed.
Gao Yun was actually in a dilemma. He knew that You Xi was right. How could a family that runs a store not have some inventory?
But now there are so many people in the community and food is in short supply. Is he really going to take people to rob those small supermarkets outside? Or is he going to take the risk and go to the large supermarket from another road?
What if there are also zombies on the other road?
Gao Yun hesitated for a moment, and finally said: "I'm sorry, but for the sake of fairness, we still have to go up and take a look."
"Fair? What's fair?"
You Xi didn't say anything, but Chen Ya couldn't help it, "No matter how much material resources the You family has, it still belongs to the You family. Don't you think what you are doing now is robbery?"
However, with Brother Long and a few others blocking them, Chen Ya's anger was useless.
You Xi didn't stop them and gently made way.
**
There were suddenly seven or eight grown men in the house, which was not spacious to begin with. Mother You sat on the sofa and looked at them from a distance, her fingers trembling.
Father You sat beside her and held her hand tightly, trying to comfort her and at the same time to make sure Mother You didn't say anything that would expose them.
Now there was only an opened bag of rice, half a bag of flour, a few scattered packs of instant noodles and drinks in the storage room, and the rest were some inedible daily necessities.
The young men walked around the house a few times and found that except for a little more frozen meat in the freezer of the refrigerator, there was no other food.
Gao Yun looked very bad when he left, and he said sorry to You Xi, Father You and Mother You with guilt in his eyes.
You Xi really didn't need him to say sorry, she did hide the food, and they would never be able to find it.
If they hadn't chosen to go upstairs and search around like a robber this time, but discussed with her how to get the food, she might have thought of a way to go with them to the large supermarket at the intersection and help them get enough food and water.
But now, it's impossible.
She is not the Virgin Mary.
After a group of people left, You's mother got up and looked around the storage room. Her expression looked wrong. Even if she was confused, she knew that there was definitely more food in the house.
You's father came up to cover for her again, "Come with me to make breakfast first, my daughter will succeed."
"Then...those, were they hidden in other people's homes in advance?"
"Isn't there anyone next door..." You's father was vague.
But You's mother thought she understood, and immediately waved her hand to signal You's father not to say any more, fearing that someone on the other side of the wall might be listening.
Today she had truly witnessed how arrogant and unreasonable Tan Qian was. Gao Yun, who had always had a good impression of her, could turn around and bring people to search for food.
And the neighbors gathered downstairs, who were usually polite and well-behaved, had no idea that they had set their eyes on her family's things just a few days after the incident. Not satisfied with the distribution yesterday, they came again today.
If the food had not been hidden, it would have all been lost by now. Fortunately,
she did not speak just now, otherwise she would have been exposed. She had originally seen her daughter beating someone downstairs from upstairs, and she thought it was not a good thing. Neighbors in the same community should talk it out. Beating someone was too much.
But now she thinks that she should not care about these important matters in the future, and let the father and daughter do it. She only needs to be responsible for cooking and make sure that Youxi and You's father can eat well every day.
You's mother went into the kitchen to prepare breakfast, but when she turned on the faucet, only some turbid yellow water flowed out. After a while, even the yellow water disappeared.
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