The room was extremely messy. There was no extra furniture. There was only a simple bed. The wooden boards were damp and moldy, and it was covered with a layer of black, rotten cotton wool that was so dirty that the color could not be seen.
Everywhere you can see all kinds of picked up cardboard and empty bottles, a few ugly apples that have wilted and rotted, a few boxes of instant noodles that have long expired, a few sticky kimchi jars... There is almost no place to stand.
Room 608 and Room 2208 are of the same apartment type, but Jiang Ji found it difficult to find similarities between the two. The few windows were blocked by all kinds of waste and debris, and there was no light in the room.
The old lady didn't seem to have any other family members.
There was a small table in the middle of the living room, on which stood a white candle, with the half-burned wax forming a small slope.
There were two dishes on the table. They had long been cold. They were black, yellow, and green, and all mushy. Dead flies could be seen on them. A foul stench that could not be traced back to its source mixed with the smell of cold food.
This...the sanitary conditions are worrying.
Jiang Ji looked back at Chu Xiuning and shook his head slightly.
Great, it looks like we can’t have this meal.
Fortunately, the rules did not require them to eat the meals carefully prepared by their neighbors, and they didn't know whether they would get stomach upset after eating them.
But they didn't come here for the meal.
Jiang Ji glanced at them as usual, and handed over the beautifully packaged cookies without changing his expression, "This is a welcome gift for you."
His tone was sweet, his smile was gentle, and he exuded harmlessness from the inside out.
The old lady's eyes were fixed on them, examining them from head to toe, showing no interest in the food they prepared.
She took it perfunctorily. The sweet smell mixed with butter overwhelmed the stench in the room. The old lady exclaimed, lowered her head and re-examined the cookies in the bag, her nostrils twitching violently a few times.
His eyes sparkled, and he smiled so hard that he couldn't close his mouth, pretending to be polite: "Good boy, I'm here, what gifts do you bring..."
There were no stools, so they could only sit cross-legged in front of the small table.
During this time, the old lady kept asking them to eat the two plates of cold porridge on the table, and said in a cold tone: "Eat, why don't you eat?
I’m an old lady, I can only eat this porridge.
Is it that the food doesn’t suit your young people’s taste?
But wasting food...will be...punished."
As the old lady spoke, she used her moldy chopsticks to stir the two dishes, and turned out a lot of dead mosquitoes. Jiang Ji even saw a long broken rat tail.
“…”
Oh my god.
It was definitely impossible to eat. Jiang Ji felt a little uncomfortable sitting cross-legged. She lifted her skirt, pulled out the Scepter of Poseidon from her high boots, and slammed it on the ground.
Under the cold blue light, the old lady's expression suddenly turned ugly.
Jiang Ji was unaware of this, still with a well-behaved and innocent expression, and asked politely: "Grandma, we just moved here, and we don't know much about the rules and regulations of the apartment. I saw that the [Apartment Living Rules] on the wall of the hall are a bit old. You have lived here for so long, there must be new ones, right?"
The hand stroked back and forth on the scepter of Poseidon. Under the reflection of the deep sea-like luster, the girl's sweet face became hateful.
“…”
The old lady stood up without saying a word, turned around and walked towards the cot, and dug out a crumpled piece of paper from the rotten cotton quilt.
His tone was cold: "This is the latest one."
Jiang Ji quickly took it and unfolded it eagerly. There were slight differences between this piece of paper and the one posted.
1. For the safety of the residents, this apartment has access control. Please go home before 22:00 and go out after 6:30 in the morning.
2. Littering and throwing objects from high places are strictly prohibited. If you find anyone throwing objects from high places or littering, please contact the property management for handling.
The property telephone number is 041212.
3. The apartment advocates saving food. All opened food should be consumed on the same day and food residues should be thrown into the trash can in time.
4. This apartment does not have security or cleaning staff. If you encounter anyone claiming to be the apartment security or cleaning staff, please do not open the door at will.
5. The Guanyin statue cannot speak. If you hear the Guanyin statue speak, please leave your building immediately.
6. If you meet a neighbor in the apartment and he greets you, remember to respond promptly so as not to disappoint the neighbor. Also, please carefully identify whether the other person is an outsider or an apartment resident.
7. Before visiting your neighbor, please use the intercom next to the lobby on the first floor of the apartment to ask if the neighbor is at home. Make sure you get the neighbor's consent before visiting. The neighbor will prepare a meal at home and wait for your arrival. Please arrive on time and don't break your promise.
8. The apartment is humid all year round, which is easy to breed mosquitoes. Please do not leave the garbage at home overnight. The garbage truck will arrive on time at 23:00 every night. Please throw out the garbage when the garbage truck arrives.
9. There is no parking lot and no signal in the apartment. Don't trust any messages or calls you receive.
10. There are no pets, elderly people or children in the apartment. Please do not open the door if you hear any related noises at night.
11. Finally, please always remember that the building manager is here to protect us and he/she will never harm the residents of the apartment.
The property’s official seal is stamped on the lower right corner.
According to the audience, the predecessor of the New World Apartment was an unfinished building. The homeowners who bought the houses quietly moved in. It was completely self-governed by the residents. Later, funds were allocated from above to repair the building and the property was moved in.
And the original fifth rule is missing:
【This apartment advocates mutual help among neighbors. Please do not refuse your neighbors' requests and lend a helping hand. 】
There is one more rule regarding “building manager”.
Building manager?
Does this apartment building have a building manager?
Jiang Ji looked up at the end, pointed at the rule and asked, "Grandma, who is our building manager?"
Hearing this address, the old lady's gloomy face also revealed extreme fear, "No, you definitely don't want to see the building manager..."
The "building manager" seemed to have touched a certain mechanism. After that, Jiang Ji asked her for other information, but the old lady refused to say more. Her eyes were filled with fear, and she kept repeating numbly:
"The building manager is protecting us. He is always watching us..."
Helpless, Jiang Ji could only give up.
But it’s also nice to get the latest rules.
Since the building manager appears in the apartment rules with a positive image, he must have accumulated a lot of prestige in something.
Jiang Ji thought of the underworld photo on the floor of Elevator 03, with those smiling faces of men and women, and the building manager was probably one of them.
Night fell quickly and they didn't stay in the old lady's house for long. When they looked down at the time, it was already half past eight.
Seeing that they couldn't pry anything out of the old lady, the two men got up and said goodbye.