The food at both restaurants on the fifth floor was empty, and the people were gone. They were probably tricked downstairs by Ma Teng earlier.
Upon reaching the top floor, Chen Zhou discovered an iron gate between the fifth and sixth floors. Looking through the gate, he saw that the doors of the western unit in the two apartments had been replaced by walls. Clearly, these two units were purchased by the same family who then broke down the wall in between, leaving only one entrance door. Chen Zhou examined the lock on the iron gate and said to Su Xinran, "This lock is too sturdy; our tools can't open it. Let's give up."
Su Xinran, however, did not want to leave just like that.
This household is occupied by Old Li, a major beneficiary of the demolition compensation. Su Xinran's house is rented from Old Li.
Old Li's wife was in poor health and had a light sleep. To help his wife get a good night's sleep, Old Li specially chose to live on the sixth floor, the top floor. Because his wife had difficulty walking, they would only buy enough supplies for one or two years at a time. Before the accident, Su Xinran saw Old Li asking the supermarket to deliver things to him. The two of them definitely couldn't finish all these things, so it would be better to let them share some with each other.
Su Xinran told Chen Zhou she had a plan, then pounded on the iron gate: "Open the door! Uncle Li, I know you're home, open the door now!!!"
The person inside opened the door, trembling.
It was a lean old man in his sixties or seventies. Behind him was an old woman in a wheelchair. The old woman looked unwell and was staring at the two people outside the door in terror: "What...do you want?"
Su Xinran said, "Uncle Li, don't you recognize me? I'm Xiao Su. The person next to me is a staff member from the relevant department. We're here to rebuild the shelter in the community..."
Old Li was one of the first to go downstairs to get his supply pack.
He wanted to go downstairs, but his wife wouldn't let him, saying that there was enough food at home and he shouldn't get involved in that mess. But he said that Aunt Wang and the others had already gone downstairs, and why not take advantage of the cheap deal? As a result, he witnessed the man with glasses being shot in the head downstairs. Fortunately, he didn't go with Ma Teng to rob Building No. 3, otherwise he would have died.
Although he was not fooled downstairs by the people who claimed to be from relevant departments brought by Ma Teng.
But he witnessed firsthand how people claiming to be from relevant departments killed elderly people, men, and children, and how they abused women. When he heard Su Xinran say they were from relevant departments, he immediately waved his hands in fear and said, "You can take all our belongings, just please don't kill us!!!"
Shen Zhou was somewhat bewildered by Old Li's attitude.
Su Xinran spoke up: "We didn't intend to kill anyone. How much food do you have at home?"
Upon hearing this, Shen Zhou frowned, pulled Su Xinran behind him, and then gestured for Old Li to close the door: "It's alright, we were just passing by, you can go back now, we're about to leave too."
Old Li and his wife could hardly believe that the other party had let them off so easily.
But the other party told them to close the door.
They're just standing there like idiots, they must be crazy.
Without a second thought, Old Li slammed the door shut and then cautiously peered through the peephole at the two people outside.
Su Xinran couldn't understand Shen Zhou's actions: "Old Li's wife is in poor health, and he himself is old and doesn't like to crawl around much. Every time, the family buys a year or two's worth of daily necessities and food. They had food at home, and he told us to come in and take whatever we wanted. Why did you let them in and close the door?"
Shen Zhou frowned and looked at Su Xinran: "Can't you tell that they only let us in because they're afraid we'll kill them?"
Su Xinran disagreed: "Old Li and his wife are already so old, and Old Li's wife is sick. Even if we don't kill them, they won't be around for long. So why don't we give their food to us, who are older and need food more?"
Shen Zhou had only known Su Xinran for about half a month.
It all started when Su Xinran was being bullied by thugs and he came to her rescue.
Later, Su Xinran noticed that they had no food, so she took the initiative to give them food and even lent them her car.
In Shen Zhou's mind, Su Xinran was a kind, generous, and understanding girl, but today's incident surprised him greatly. He asked with great dissatisfaction, "Can you deprive others of their right to live just to save your own life?"
Su Xinran realized the displeasure in Shen Zhou's tone and, not wanting to leave a bad impression, tried her best to smooth things over, saying, "What I mean is that they're old and can't eat much. We'll only take a portion, leaving them enough to survive..."
However, Shen Zhou was not satisfied with Su Xinran's explanation.
He just went to other buildings with a gloomy face to meet up with the other people sweeping the buildings.
The haul from this door-to-door visit was meager, consisting only of some rice, noodles, biscuits, and a small amount of bottled water.
They ultimately decided to stay on the top floor of the middle doorway because both houses were very luxuriously decorated. There were twelve of them in total: eight men and four women. The two houses were just right, with one for men and one for women.
They planned to use the furniture from other rooms to start a fire on the rooftop to cook, putting the scavenged rice and flour to good use.
All of their actions were witnessed by Qiao An'an and others living across the street from the residential complex.
Qiao An'an said to everyone, "It seems we won't be able to stay in the yard during the day anymore."
Grandpa Gu suggested, "Our little courtyard is too close to the opposite residential area. What if they suddenly decide to use binoculars to look over one day? Even if we don't go out, they can still see the crops and livestock in the yard. It would be best to harvest the corn, soybeans, and vegetables in the front yard in advance, and then move these chickens to the back yard."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com