The snow was still falling outside. At a glance, you could hardly see any other colors. You could only see a vast expanse of white.
Guo Gang and his companions trudged along the road. One of the young men complained, "Brother Guo, we've already been to three houses, and they won't open their doors, so there's nothing we can do about them. This neighborhood is wealthy, and the doors are all sturdy. Even a knife can't break them open."
"Don't talk nonsense. If we can't knock on a door today, I won't be able to explain to the president when I get back! Do you still want to eat?" Guo Gang was a little dissatisfied.
These people are very cunning. As soon as they hear that they are from the self-help group, they hide and don't come out.
"Brother Guo, how about we break down the window? We can't break down the door, but the window should be fine!"
"You're really quick-witted, kid!" Guo Gang glanced at the people around him who were making suggestions and slapped his head. "Not during the day. Don't forget we're still a self-help group. Don't let those people see us and start nagging us. So, I'll talk to the president and we'll quietly visit these people at night."
"Brother Guo is awesome!" Several brothers applauded.
Lu Qin's guess was correct. This time, the Self-Help Association was determined to confront them.
What she didn't know was that Zhang Jintao could no longer tolerate this. These families were like nail households, staying there. This not only prevented him from completely ruling the community, but also caused him to lose some prestige among the members who had already joined the self-help association.
At the beginning, he promised that all residents in the community would join the self-help association, so that everyone would be fair and there would be no "special" things.
As the saying goes, what is worrying is not the lack of wealth but the inequality of distribution. Since he does not have the absolute strength and prestige to suppress the people, he has to rely on this kind of pie-in-the-sky approach to win over the hearts of the people.
It was not a big deal for those families who had no food to begin with, as their daily needs were originally provided by the self-help association. But those families who joined later and voluntarily contributed their home food reserves felt that it was unfair.
If I had known that I could live well at home even if I didn't hand over the food, why did I join in the first place?
Zhang Jintao knew that unifying the neighborhood with the Self-Help Association was urgent. As long as he established prestige among the people... he would have the final say in this area! So, he had already acquiesced. Since soft tactics weren't working, he would resort to hard tactics. Once he got through the door and detained those who disobeyed, there would be no one to oppose him.
......
As for Lu Qin, his eyes were dark because he had been worried for several nights in a row.
But she still didn't dare to take it lightly.
As long as the army does not arrive and the Rongcheng base is not established, she will not be able to rest easy.
In comparison, ordinary people still have an inexplicable sense of trust in the military.
She suddenly thought of his amiable and respectable neighbor.
If he were here now, there wouldn't be so much trouble. I don't know when their troops will arrive.
At night, Lu Qin took shifts with her mother. Seeing that her mother was sleeping peacefully, she drank some water to wake herself up, and then took a stick to stir the sparks in the stove to make the fire burn more vigorously.
Suddenly, there was a rustling sound coming from outside the balcony.
"Bang, bang, bang."
The harsh sound was particularly jarring in the silent night.
It was obvious that someone was smashing their windows.
For aesthetic reasons, the second-floor balcony does not have anti-theft windows, but only a layer of anti-theft netting. It is enough for daily anti-theft, but it is hard to say if you encounter someone who is well prepared.
Lu Qin jumped up with a jerk. His palms were sweaty and the baseball bat in his hand felt a little slippery.
But she forced herself to calm down.
Lu Qin took off her shoes. Even though the ground was very cold, she didn't care and moved towards the balcony step by step.
She could already hear the voices of people outside speaking in deliberately low voices.
“Crash—”
"Brother Guo! The window is open, but there is a burglar-proof net inside!" the person who smashed the window asked in a low voice.
"You pig-head! Are the wire cutters you were given for breaking windows? Hurry up! Don't alarm anyone!"
Lu Qin had already moved behind the curtains, gripped the baseball bat tightly, and listened to the conversation between the visitors.
Hearing that the person who climbed up and knocked on the window had already started to cut the security net with wire cutters, Lu Qin calmed himself down, and with a "swish", he suddenly pulled open the curtains and smashed towards the figure without even looking at the situation.
"Ouch!"
With a wail, the figure in front of her shook for a moment and then fell from the window sill of her house.
This fall must have been quite severe, and curses were immediately heard from downstairs.
"***,I***"
After succeeding in one go, Lu Qin was no longer afraid, but instead regained some of his feeling.
In her previous life, when she was on the run, if a single woman didn't have some courage, she'd be bullied to death. She had fought back desperately when threatened. In a serious situation, she'd escaped from three adult men all on her own, even biting one of them on the arm. While everyone was starving back then, and her strength wasn't as strong as before, it was still quite remarkable.
With this fighting spirit, she escaped nearly a thousand kilometers from her hometown and finally arrived in Rongcheng.
Lu Qin’s nickname “Desperate Woman” in her previous life was not for nothing.
Later, under the protection of Rongcheng Base, although life was hard, it was also peaceful. She no longer had to live such a precarious life, which made her gradually forget how desperately she had fought in the past.
Looking at the baseball bat in his hand, Lu Qin chuckled. He was no longer afraid and simply turned on the flashlight. The bright light illuminated the entire snowy ground, making it blinding. "You guys really played the trick of crying thief well, didn't you? You dare to climb onto my balcony again?"
"You little girl are quite stubborn. I want to see how long you can hide at home?" Guo Gang's temper flared up all of a sudden. He was quite surprised to find that the person who spoke was just a girl. He originally thought that the person who could knock down his men with a club was a big shot, but she was just a little girl. He also looked down on her a little bit.
"Xiao Qin..." Because of the huge noise, Liang Shuyu was finally woken up. She hadn't put on her clothes yet and was looking at Lu Qin worriedly: "What should we do? What if we let them in..."
Lu Qin sneered, "They're in the open, and we're in the dark, guarding the doors and windows. We're easy to defend but hard to attack. It's so cold, it won't be easy for them to force their way into the house. They won't dare to make such a big move until daybreak."
Liang Shuyu also hurriedly grabbed a kitchen knife and held it across her body. Mother and daughter depended on each other for survival, so any danger would naturally require them to face together. "Mom isn't afraid. What if, I mean, what if they break in? If Mom stops them, you can find a chance to rush out and ask your sister Xu for help."
"Mom!" Lu Qin knew her mother was worried about her, but she still disagreed. "I can't abandon you. There's no such thing as a 'what if'. It'll be fine. Trust me."
Liang Shuyu suddenly felt some courage after hearing his daughter's firm words.
The mother and daughter stood in front of the broken glass window.
The people below have gathered, and the rest of them have put up the ladder. In order to sneak into Lu Qin's house at night, they prepared the ladder early, just to climb up the stairs and climb over her balcony. Guo Gang planned to go up by himself. He didn't believe how powerful a little girl could be.
But before he could climb up completely, a gunshot was suddenly heard from a distance.
"Bang--"
The sound of a bullet passing through the gun barrel pierced the clouds and passed in front of Guo Gang who was half hanging on the ladder. It was unknown which wall it hit, and a few sparks flew out.
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