Chapter 60

When the Youth Apartments and Lucky Gardens originally blocked off both ends of Lucky West Street with parked cars along the curb to join the two communities into one continuous safe zone, they made a point of leaving a compact hatchback near the Buyduoduo supermarket side.

That car was so small that Li Jiangbing could lift half the body by himself alone.

Placing that one small car among all the big vehicles was deliberate—easy to move when needed, effectively a movable access point.

No collective action by the Youth Apartments ever escaped the notice of Lucky Gardens.

Residents in the western-facing units of Lucky Gardens' western buildings could simply look out their windows and see exactly what was happening on Lucky West Street.

The rumbling clatter of dozens of shopping cart wheels couldn't possibly fail to alert the people of Lucky Gardens.

"Youth Apartments folks are off to scavenge Buyduoduo again?" people in Lucky Gardens muttered sourly.

Guo Jun had mobilized two forklifts. They were tiny things, looking like oversized toys, but they could carry serious weight.

Boxes stacked neatly higher than the cabs, and the two forklifts led the way.

Two forklifts, dozens of shopping carts, all heading into Lucky West Street.

Once the final cart was in, everyone worked together to push the hatchback back into place, sealing off Lucky West Street again.

They'd made a decent racket on the way out, but they made an even bigger one on the way back. People from Lucky Gardens had already come downstairs to watch the show.

When they saw the two forklifts, jaws dropped.

Once it sank in, the sourness returned: "This is just excessive."

The reason for all the envy was simple—without an organized group, just one or two individuals, nobody dared leave the safe zone.

As for Lucky Gardens, they weren't at the point of starvation overall. For households in dire straits, Zhou Wang from the neighborhood committee would figure out some internal coordination for relief.

Generally, Lucky Gardens rarely organized nonessential trips outside. The latest necessary one was yesterday's run to the Fifth Ring Road for supplies, during which several people came back bloodied, though they'd managed to grab a fair amount.

But having enough overall supplies didn't mean everyone's personal needs were met. So watching the Youth Apartments rally a group of dozens time and again to raid Buyduoduo and the nearby shops stirred up all kinds of envy and resentment.

Trying to form a team in Lucky Gardens was tough—only Zhou Wang could really pull it off.

What was even left in Buyduoduo? Essential survival items like rice and flour were long gone. What remained was everyday living goods.

Look at that—the Youth Apartments folks still had a life to live.

The east gate of the Youth Apartments opened, and even the security guard was stunned: "Damn!"

Jiang Cheng had brought back four full-size buses; Li Jiangbing had scored two forklifts.

Jiang Cheng's four buses clearly weren't going back. Those two forklifts probably weren't either.

Once they entered the gates of the Youth Apartments, there was no way they were going back.

New joint property acquired: Forklifts x2.

Per building regulations, each returning member was checked to ensure no visible wounds before being allowed in.

A crowd had gathered inside the compound to gawk: "What did you bring back? So much stuff."

Li Jiangbing: "Eh, grabbed whatever we saw."

He'd originally wanted to snag two sets of new bedding for himself, but then Jiang Cheng happened to call and asked him to get bedding too—that cracked him up. He just started hauling whole boxes straight from the warehouse.

Figured it was stuff everyone could use.

Jiang Cheng, meanwhile, had already arranged housing for the thirteen new people.

"Two per room," she said. "Find rooms with double beds so they can actually fit."

In reality, the Youth Apartments currently had over a hundred unclaimed units sitting vacant—enough to give every property staff member their own room.

When Jiang Cheng suggested two per room, several of the core members were baffled.

"Why though?" someone blurted out. "Aren't there plenty of empty rooms?"

Jiang Cheng didn't answer right away; she glanced at Song Jingshuo first.

She didn't expect everyone to grasp her reasoning immediately, but she did hold some hope for Song Jingshuo.

And Song Jingshuo didn't disappoint—he understood. But understanding wasn't the same as accepting.

In fact, Song Jingshuo couldn't even form a complete sentence at first. His knee-jerk reaction was: "You... oh, come on."

That's fine. The fact that he understood was enough for Jiang Cheng.

She could make plenty of decisions on her own, but after all, humans are social creatures. She wanted at least one person who could keep up with her thinking, share a common language, and communicate as an equal.

"They're ultimately not property owners," she said. "We need to remind them of that every step of the way. We can't have another Liu Hongwang on our hands."

Liu Hongwang—everyone remembered him. A cleaning staff member expelled from the Youth Apartments by Jiang Cheng.

He'd led a strike and started a disturbance, demanding the same treatment as the property owners.

So putting the property staff and the newcomers from Buyduoduo two to a room wasn't about logistics—it was a tactic: a way to suppress and to remind.

Make sure people clearly remember their place and know what they're supposed to do.

As it dawned on everyone what Jiang Cheng's arrangement meant, they also understood the words Song Jingshuo had swallowed.

The men all felt the weight of it.

Seeing that everyone now got it, Song Jingshuo could no longer hold back his half-spoken remark. He let it out with a heavy sigh: "Jiang Cheng... you really are a born capitalist."

Every man present was someone who could steel his heart to swing a fist or a weapon and seize supplies from others—no soft-hearted types here.

But every one of them, including Song Jingshuo, who was the archetypal elite professional, were workers at heart. They simply didn't have that capitalist mindset. Taking supplies was one thing—that was another matter entirely. But in terms of human relations, yes, there was a division of labor and different incomes, but the core principle was that people were equal.

But Jiang Cheng...

After Song Jingshuo said that, Jiang Cheng felt something flash through her mind.

She couldn't catch it.

Every so often, bits and pieces of information from the broken barrier tended to leak through—fragments from before her transmigration. She occasionally caught one or two phrases, but most flashed by, leaving her confused.

Jiang Cheng reined in her focus and said, "I thank you all for trusting me with the responsibility of making decisions for our community."

"I can't afford to play the saint."

"I hope none of you will, either."

"Of course, of course!"

"You kill the saint first in times of chaos!"—everyone chimed in with their approval.

Song Jingshuo let out a long breath and clarified: "I was just venting. Honestly, with you like this, we feel even more at ease."

Everyone could see by now that any competition between Song Jingshuo and Jiang Cheng was long gone.

To be fair, Song Jingshuo wasn't bad either.

But everyone weighed it internally: if Song Jingshuo were the one calling the shots, each of them couldn't help feeling, "I could do that too."

But when it was Jiang Cheng occupying that role, no one had that thought.

Better stick with Jiang Cheng.

The exact count of vacant units was known only to the neighborhood committee. Even Master Luo wasn't fully in the loop. The property staff hadn't participated in the door-to-door sweep last week.

None of the thirteen people that Guo Jun had brought over would have known that either. The youth apartment arranged for them to stay two per room, and they were quite pleased about it.

The dormitory at Buy Duoduo was just like the property management dormitory at the youth apartment—both had bunk beds with metal frames, where twenty or thirty people could sleep in one small room.

Now they were swapping that for a two-person apartment with its own bathroom and kitchen. The living conditions had jumped up several notches.

There was nothing to complain about.

The supplies they had brought weren't insignificant. The interim committee didn't dock them either: "Your things are yours to divide up as you see fit."

The dozen or so people split the supplies evenly and each carried their share into their new "dorm." Comparatively, each of them had a few extra bags of staple grains than most of the property owners, so they could hold out much longer.

Brother Dong had heard that yet another cartload of supplies had been wheedled away. His family supposedly had a courtyard home in a village on the outskirts of town, and given the current situation, that really did sound like the ideal refuge.

Most everyone here was from the city, and at that moment, they envied the countryside.

Master Luo's group had no complaints either.

The terms Jiang Cheng offered the property staff were identical to those given to Guo Jun and his people—two per room.

Everyone was happy about that, especially Master Luo and his wife, and Yang Xinyan.

Master Luo and his wife could finally share a room, right next door to Jiang Cheng in room 0308.

With two per room, of course people paired up freely, each choosing whoever they got along with best.

At Buy Duoduo, there was one extra woman, and on the property side, there was also one extra woman: Yang Xinyan. Because the older aunties paired off with each other, she ended up left on her own.

Yang Xinyan thought she'd have to share with some middle-aged woman from Buy Duoduo she didn't even know, but Jiang Cheng glanced over and gave her a private room instead.

Yang Xinyan was sharp. She didn't say a word or make a fuss—just shot Jiang Cheng a grin, showing her teeth, and happily moved her things.

Master Luo and his wife moved into Building 2, room 0308.

Little White had been bitten to death by his own father. The room was a horrible mess at the time. Later, when the bodies were cleaned up, Little White's remains were taken to the square and burned along with the rest. The bloodstains and scraps left behind in the room had since dried out.

It was pretty filthy, honestly.

But next door, 0306, was Jiang Cheng, and 0320 on the same floor was Li Jiangbing. Master Luo was old enough to see things clearly. When Jiang Cheng offered to put him next door, he agreed readily.

The couple were both hardworking people. Within less than an hour, they'd scrubbed and cleaned the place into shape.

"This bed's really nice. Comfortable," said Master Luo's wife, sitting on the foot of the bed and pressing down on it hard.

Her surname was Pan, and everyone called her Aunt Pan.

She tried the sofa too. The sofa was comfortable as well.

Opening the wardrobe, she was pleasantly surprised: "Quite a few clothes in here."

She pulled one out and held it up to compare: "Whoever lived here was pretty big-built. These would fit you."

Master Luo tried to stop her: "Doesn't feel right to touch other people's things."

Aunt Pan said, "When a person dies, everything's gone. They gave us this house to live in."

"Once this whole mess is over, we'll be moving out anyway."

"Then when we leave, we'll leave them behind. We'll wash them, put them back, and not take anything. That's settled."

"I'd been planning to go to that wholesale market in Yue Village that Sunday to buy you a couple of new shirts, but then the zombies showed up," Aunt Pan sighed. "Don't be so particular. Wear what's there."

"The dead are dead. Their family might not even be alive anymore."

"Put them on, put them on. Yours are so worn out they're nearly see-through. People will laugh at you."

In the end, Master Luo took off his work vest and his old clothes, and put on the clothes that belonged to the original occupant of 0308.

The quality of those clothes was much better than anything from the wholesale market—nice cut, proper shape.

"Hey, you actually look stylish now," Aunt Pan said happily.