Chapter 51

Jiang Cheng called Li Jiangbing first: “Jiangbing, where are you?”

“Yeah, got something going on. Come with me to find Jingshuo.”

“Okay, see you downstairs.”

Jiang Cheng hung up and called Song Jingshuo.

“What’s up?” Song Jingshuo asked.

The two of them used to meet every morning at the clubhouse gym. After the equipment was moved to the lobby of each building, they hadn’t seen each other these past two mornings. They only met in the afternoon now.

The interim committee would gather around noon each day, mainly to oversee the operations of sanitation, repairs, and a few other matters in the compound.

That was a group meeting, not a private one.

Jiang Cheng briefly explained and said: “Jiangbing and I are heading over to you now. Let’s discuss how to handle it.”

Song Jingshuo: “Okay.”

He added: “Talk it through first before doing anything.”

Was he worried she might be too furious and lose her temper on the spot?

Jiang Cheng hung up. Before leaving, she habitually glanced at the mirror. The cracked mirror could only reflect half a face.

How could that be?

This kind of thing couldn’t even stir the slightest emotion in her.

She met Li Jiangbing downstairs. He was working out in the lobby, drenched in sweat.

He saw Jiang Cheng come down, stood up, and wiped his sweat: “What’s up?”

There were other people working out in the lobby, so Jiang Cheng said: “Let’s talk outside.”

On the way, she gave Li Jiangbing a brief rundown.

Li Jiangbing cursed: “What a damn idiot.”

Jiang Cheng observed him.

Even though Li Jiangbing cursed the guy, it was purely because he thought the man and the act were stupid, so that’s why he swore.

As for feelings of anger or disgust, the emotions Su Yu would empathize with, he had none.

He was a man.

Song Jingshuo was also a man.

Jiang Cheng was well aware of this. At Song Jingshuo’s place, she said: “When order collapses, it doesn’t collapse in just one direction.”

It wasn’t that if someone bullied a girl today, that would be the only kind of incident and nothing else would happen.

Quite the opposite: when a building manager uses whatever little privilege he has to get something he wants, the targets he faces wouldn’t be limited to just female residents.

Where there are people, there’s scheming.

Song Jingshuo had a clear head and fully understood what Jiang Cheng meant.

Actually, the meeting they’d had before was themed around “order.”

The government said they needed to rebuild the order of survival. The youth apartment didn’t need “rebuilding”; it just needed maintenance. The interim committee’s responsibility was to keep order from deteriorating to the point where “rebuilding” became necessary.

“Nie Kuizhang from Building Three, right?” Song Jingshuo took the matter off her hands. “We’ll handle it. Don’t get involved.”

Li Jiangbing nodded in agreement: “The two of us will go.”

Li Jiangbing wasn’t a college graduate like Song Jingshuo and the others, but his practical street smarts far surpassed people like Zhao Yi, a shut-in.

In fact, he’d already thought on the way over that it was best for Jiang Cheng not to show her face. Song Jingshuo had the same thought.

The reason Jiang Cheng brought Li Jiangbing to see Song Jingshuo was exactly for this reason.

She had no intention of stepping in.

“Alright,” she nodded. “I’ll leave it to you two.”

She also made no demands about what should happen to the guy. How exactly to “resolve” the matter was up to Song Jingshuo and Li Jiangbing to decide.

Song Jingshuo asked for He Tian’s phone number. Jiang Cheng gave it to him and went back to her own place.

Passing the pavilion, she didn’t see Mo Li. Mo Li was sunbathing on top of the pavilion, but people always tried to pet him, so he’d found a new spot to soak up the sun.

Jiang Cheng didn’t know where he was, but she focused and sent a telepathic signal, receiving a faint jolt of feedback in return, knowing he was nearby. That was enough.

About an hour later, Su Yu came knocking.

“He Tian asked me to come thank you,” she said.

If she were truly grateful, why didn’t she come thank Jiang Cheng herself? No one had work or school. Everyone had more time than they knew what to do with these days, all bored out of their minds.

Jiang Cheng asked: “She’s not satisfied with the outcome?”

Su Yu bit her lip slightly, eyes cast down.

Jiang Cheng asked: “How did they handle it?”

“They made the guy apologize to He Tian, admit his mistake, and promise not to do it again. Then they took half of his medicine supply.”

“But you’re still not satisfied?” Jiang Cheng said.

Su Yu kept her eyes down and didn’t deny it. Not denying was admitting it. That meant they weren’t satisfied.

Jiang Cheng asked: “What kind of resolution were you hoping for?”

Su Yu raised her eyes: “I thought you would step in.”

He Tian had received a call from Song Jingshuo asking her to come over.

The girl, still sensitive after what happened yesterday, was wary of all men now. She asked if Jiang Cheng would be there too, and Song Jingshuo said she wouldn’t.

So He Tian called Su Yu, and Su Yu went with her.

All men were at Nie Kuizhang’s place.

The interim committee had seven key members: Jiang Cheng plus six building managers. Besides Jiang Cheng, all six building managers were there.

Clearly, the outcome was agreed upon by all six men.

These guys were all tall, or heavily built.

Before last night, Su Yu and He Tian would have felt a strong sense of safety around these people. But just now, in Nie Kuizhang’s home, the feeling was completely inverted.

It felt like two little lambs wandering into a den of wolves.

Of course they were deeply unsatisfied with the outcome.

But all the men, even Nie Kuizhang himself, though his face was grim, accepted it. Everyone felt this was “good enough” and “not bad.”

Neither of them could voice their dissatisfaction out loud.

They swallowed the grievance, accepted the apology and two bottles of stomach medicine as compensation, and were told the matter ended there.

When the elevator doors closed, they both felt a sense of “we escaped.”

He Tian didn’t actually ask Su Yu to thank Jiang Cheng on her behalf. In fact, she asked: “Is that it?”

Su Yu was also very disappointed, so she said: “I’ll go ask Jiang Cheng.”

“You seem to have misunderstood,” Jiang Cheng said.

“From the zombie virus outbreak last Saturday to today, one week, I’ve done my best to keep our compound under control,” she said. “Maybe that gave you the impression that I’m capable of anything, invincible?”

Su Yu’s lips moved slightly.

“Invincible” might have been overstating it, but in Su Yu’s heart, Jiang Cheng truly could solve a lot of things.

She thought Jiang Cheng could resolve this matter effortlessly as well.

But in reality, Song Jingshuo was the one running the show. She hadn’t expected Jiang Cheng to hand this off to him. She had lost trust in all these men now.

She just wanted Jiang Cheng to deal with this, to be their anchor.

“You’re wrong about that,” Jiang Cheng said. “I’m no different from you or He Tian. I’m just an ordinary female resident of this compound.”

She cut straight to the point: “You want Nie Kuizhang removed from his position as building manager, don’t you?”

Su Yu blurted out: “Why should he get to be a building manager!”

That kind of scumbag, what right did he have!

Jiang Cheng smiled: “Exactly. Tell me, what gave him that right?”

What gave him that right?

A scene suddenly flashed in Su Yu’s mind: just now, at Nie Kuizhang’s place in Building Three.

They knocked on the door. Li Jiangbing opened it. He was exceptionally burly, with bulging muscles, and one person alone could block the entire entryway.

Inside, all six men stood up.

The pressure hit her immediately.

Both she and He Tian were unhappy with the outcome, but neither dared to challenge or question it out loud.

They even felt a sense of relief leaving the place.

Su Yu became dazed.

Jiang Cheng could see from her expression that she had probably figured it out.

"We don't have the power to revoke the building captains' status," she explained more explicitly, more thoroughly, "because the building captains are not titles or positions granted by the interim committee."

In reality, the building captains were chosen from among the people in each building who went downstairs to kill zombies—the tallest or the strongest, the toughest or the fiercest, the boldest or the most ruthless.

Li Jiangbing was an obvious case; he used to be a personal trainer.

Song Jingshuo looked refined and lean, but in reality, he was fit with obvious signs of muscle built from working out, and he was one of the earliest organizers.

The thug Nie Kuizhang was plump and burly—his muscle couldn't compare with Li Jiangbing's, but his sheer bulk made him someone you didn't want to mess with.

So standing among these men, Su Yu and He Tian felt like sheep entering a pack of wolves.

"We actually don't have that authority," Jiang Cheng said. "Can the three of us—me, you, He Tian—really stand in front of them and tell Nie Kuizhang he's no longer allowed to be building captain? Would he listen? Would anyone else support that?"

"Right now, with this outcome, aside from us, no one else is objecting, right?" she asked.

"We" and "others"—the words clearly divided people by gender.

Su Yu hesitated: "They..."

"They are all men," Jiang Cheng said. "People used to overlook my gender. Because my interests had always aligned with everyone's. Everyone seemed willing to listen to my suggestions, but in reality, they were following the suggestion itself, not me."

"But this time, if I stepped forward, the rest of the interim committee would realize that my interests don't align with theirs."

"If I had the power to remove one building captain, it would mean I could remove any building captain."

And with that, Jiang Cheng would be standing on the opposite side from the six male building captains, not on the same side.

"I'm not some irreplaceable figure. Anyone on the interim committee could replace me. Li Jiangbing could, Song Jingshuo could, even Nie Kuizhang could."

"There would definitely be someone happy to take my place, no doubt about that."

Of the seven core members of the interim committee, only Jiang Cheng was a woman.

She could easily be pushed out.

Because when it came to gender, men are especially quick to band together.

The outcome that Su Yu and He Tian were unsatisfied with was one that the other six men were all satisfied with.

They genuinely believed this matter was bad, but handling it this way was good enough. It would never occur to them to have He Tian's mindset of "I want to beat this bastard to death."

They believed Nie Kuizhang had already paid the price—admitted fault, apologized, and had half his medication confiscated.

That was good enough. Six men, or at least five of them, were very satisfied with this outcome.

Su Yu returned home and opened the female residents' group chat, finding it buzzing with discussion. They were talking about this very matter.

He Tian had posted many angry remarks.

Everyone was comforting her and expressing disappointment toward the handling of the matter and toward Jiang Cheng.

He Tian: Su Yu went to see her, she'll come back and see what she says.

Su Yu saw that message, paused for a moment, then typed: I'm back, I've finished talking with Jiang Cheng.

What did Jiang Cheng say?

Why didn't she step in and leave everything to the men?

They should throw that fat bastard out of the building! Didn't they kick out that janitor before? Kick him out too!

They men always cover for each other, didn't Jiang Cheng think of that?

That was exactly why Jiang Cheng didn't step in.

Su Yu relayed her conversation with Jiang Cheng succinctly to the group.

The chat fell silent.

After a long while, someone said: What she said... does make sense...

Su Yu continued typing: Jiang Cheng asked me why the building captains are building captains, and then I thought, what made me believe I could have Nie Kuizhang's captaincy revoked?

It was "morality" and "law."

When I figured it out, I suddenly realized that right now, in this current stage, whether it's morality or law, they seem...

They're both useless.

The chat fell silent again for a long time.

Someone said pessimistically: "Are we falling into some primitive society where the strongest devour the weak?"

Someone tried to console: "It's not that extreme."

But "not that extreme" is not an outright denial—it's a partial denial, or in other words, a partial admission.

So the screen stayed still for a long time.

No one said anything.

Su Yu sat at her computer, unable to resist biting her knuckles.

Jiang Cheng had said: "I'll do my best to maintain order and make sure our building doesn't fall apart to an irreversible degree."

"Look at me—I'm just an ordinary girl like you."

"I don't have any special ability to control anyone."

"So I have to hold on to my say in the interim committee first. I can't let them team up and kick me out."

Su Yu knew everything Jiang Cheng said was right, but she still felt terrible.

That terrible feeling started from the back of her neck and went down, all the way to the last vertebra.

It ached.