Chapter 168 Extreme Cold. Collecting Protection Fees?
After leaving Xinhu Bridge, the sky suddenly brightened, and the morning light shone through the car window onto the faces of the two people, showing both the youthfulness of youth and the determination honed by suffering.
The way home did not rely on a map. With Chu An's command, the journey was smooth.
There is no wind today and the snow has stopped. There are obviously more people traveling. Some people look at them with admiration, some with gloomy eyes, but more people are confused. They don’t know when the government will come to help them, nor do they know how long they can hold on.
What Chu An fears most is this kind of look, which is submissive, refusing to fight back, and always relying on others.
Suddenly, she noticed three men with shovels standing right in front of her, and their positions were obviously intended to force them to stop.
You are really overestimating your own abilities. There is no need to slow down. There is no traffic police anyway, so you can drive as you want.
The three people jumped away the moment the car approached, and then chased after them. How could two legs catch up with four legs? In the end, they could only curse a few times to vent their anger.
"Three fools."
Gu Ye's high-pitched voice came from the intercom, and finally there was some shadow of the heroic young master before the end of the world.
"Drive carefully." Chu An stopped him from getting too proud of himself in time.
The two men did not encounter any more criminals and soon drove to the vicinity of Qingrun Apartment.
After some thought, the two decided to park in the unfinished building behind the apartment. Chu An watched in the car while he carried the oil drums and flower pots upstairs by himself.
The first time he went up, he didn't meet anyone. The second time he went up, he met Ouyang and Yao Jiayu. Ouyang asked if he needed help, but he refused.
Yao Jiayu was unhappy, "Brother Ouyang, let's not try to please others. Aren't we living well without them now?"
Ouyang sighed. There were always gangs of people hanging around these days. He had heard that many residential areas and apartments were robbed by evil forces before. He was glad that Qingrun Apartment was safe. At the moment, it seemed that they just didn't get here.
He sent Yao Jiayu home and notified the building committee members to attend a meeting. This time, Liu Cheng and Li Yan were both late, but they were laughing when they arrived and were not in a hurry at all.
The current building committee has expanded to 9 members, with two new members joining, Gao Chenghe from the eighth floor and carpenter Lao Li, and Liu Qin's wish has not been fulfilled.
Ouyang waited patiently for everyone to sit down before talking about the purpose of the meeting. "There are more and more gangs outside recently, and some have already set their sights on Qingrun Apartment. We must take precautions early."
Li Yan snorted coldly, "Isn't the 11th floor very powerful? Let them send people to guard the door."
Snow retorted, "Who do you think you are? You can control the 11th floor?"
Li Yan was speechless, and Liu Cheng continued, "Aren't they most afraid of being robbed? They block the anti-theft door and send people to guard it every day. I think they are the most suitable."
Ouyang said with a stern face, "I didn't ask you to come here to listen to your angry words, but to think of some practical solutions."
He changed his usual good-natured style and actually managed to scare several people present. He also realized that if he wanted to achieve his goal, he had to be a little ruthless.
"Tell me, what do you think?"
Lao Li has been going out to exchange things recently, of course, he always sneaks out when there are few people around. He found that the surrounding communities have been robbed by outsiders, "Um... Building Manager, there is one thing I can't figure out, why is our building the only one that has not been robbed? Even the neighboring building B has been robbed several times."
Luoyang nodded, "I've heard about that too, and now they're collecting protection money every month."
Snow was surprised, "How much?"
"Every building is different. No one has said exactly how much to give. It's all shared equally. About 2-3 kilograms per family."
Liu Cheng smacked his lips. "I analyzed it and it can be divided into two reasons."
His words immediately attracted everyone's attention and they all looked at him.
"What's the reason?"
He glanced around and deliberately kept everyone in suspense, "Think about it, what's the difference between now and before?"
Li Yan was the best at flattering him, and really thought about it, "Different? Everyone is short of food and drink, it's the same."
Ouyang said coldly, "In the past, the government distributed food and suppressed people, but now it doesn't happen anymore."
Liu Cheng rolled his eyes at him and said, "You are only seeing the surface."
Snow was impatient and urged, "Then tell me quickly."
"Why are you in such a hurry? It's not like the situation is urgent today." Liu Cheng rolled his eyes at him and slowly explained, "First, someone offended them recently, so they came to pick a fight. Second, there used to be someone living here that they were afraid of, but now there's no one."
Li Yan, a lackey, immediately thought of Chu An and the others, "If we have offended someone, it must be the 11th floor. If we are afraid, there are no powerful people in our building, right?"
Liu Cheng cleared his throat and asked, "Who in our building is missing now?"
Li Yan: "That's a lot of deaths."
"Don't count those old men and women, think about Zhang Wen Ge recently, too."
"Zhang Wen Ge?" Li Yan answered with a guilty conscience. He was also afraid of these people. It would be better if they died.
Liu Chengtou gave him an approving look and nodded in agreement, "Yes, Zhang Wen'ge was also a gangster before, and he was a well-known figure in the underworld. They didn't dare to come because he was here. Now that he is dead, they have nothing to fear."
If Li Qing were here, he would definitely be given a big bag.
The others looked at each other in bewilderment. He was the only gangster in the building. They thought what he said made some sense, but they also felt something was wrong.
Snow scratched his head. "I believe that the 11th floor has offended people, but it's a bit far-fetched that Zhang Wen'ge can intimidate the people outside. If he is powerful, can he die at the hands of the 11th floor?"
"That's right. If he's that powerful, why would he live here?" Luoyang added, "I think he's just a street thug, not presentable enough."
Liu Cheng sneered, "That's why I say you guys look at things too superficially. Zhang Wen'ge was the one who dared to go up there after knowing the strength of the 11th floor. This proves that he is not afraid of them and is capable of dealing with them."
Snow, "So he's still dead?"
"If it's a one-on-one fight, Floor 11 would definitely not be Zhang Wen'ge's opponent. I heard from people who came down that Floor 11 was well prepared and used dirty tricks, even using fishing nets."
Snow, "Even if you are right, they are dead and of no use to us."
Li Yan curled his lips and said, "It's all the fault of the 11th floor."
Seeing that they had brought the topic to the 11th floor again and were creating conflicts, Ouyang hurriedly pulled it back, "I think the most urgent task is not to find the cause, but to find a solution."
Old Li said, "I agree with the building manager. We'd better send more people out to find out which organization is in charge of this area."
Snow said, "I think it's feasible. Once we get the information, we can use our connections to smooth things over. We can give as little as possible."
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