Hearing the doorbell, lody Sumrs, Miss Lowell, and her grandmother all ca over as well.
Grace Sutton was standing at the door with a speechless expression, clearly having no intention of opening it.
Seeing this, lody asked, confused, "Aunt Grace, what’s wrong? Why aren’t you opening the door?"
Grace Sutton shushed lody, pointed at the intercom screen by the door, and whispered, "It’s that Vance woman we just ran into!"
lody froze when she heard this. ’Mrs. Vance again?!’
Seeing Mrs. Vance’s face displayed so clearly on the screen, lody felt a headache coming on.
’Why won’t this woman just leave us alone?’
’And now she’s co knocking on our door?’
While the four of them were looking at each other in dismay, Mrs. Vance, outside, started ringing the doorbell incessantly again.
She rang the bell and pounded on the door, all while shouting, "Open up! I know you’re in there! Please open the door!"
lody sighed. Judging by Mrs. Vance’s deanor, she most likely wouldn’t leave if they didn’t open the door.
So, lody called out loudly, "Can I help you with sothing?"
Hearing lody’s voice, Mrs. Vance imdiately replied with a laugh, "Young lady, open the door for . I’m here to bring your family so supplies!"
After speaking, Mrs. Vance even held up a red plastic bag to the cara, which contained the supplies she had prepared for the Sumrs family.
’Bringing supplies?’
’Mrs. Vance is actually this kind?’
lody couldn’t believe it. She felt there had to be a catch.
So, she decisively refused, "Mrs. Vance, we don’t need them. Supplies are so precious right now, you should keep them for yourself!"
But Mrs. Vance ignored lody’s refusal and insisted, "Oh, we’re all neighbors, don’t be so polite with ! I brought these over especially for you, so don’t make take them back! Hurry up and open the door!"
Listening to Mrs. Vance, the entire Sumrs family felt a headache coming on.
They couldn’t possibly open the door and let Mrs. Vance in.
Once she was inside, there would be no hiding the stacks of bottled water and foam planter boxes in the living room!
Outside, Mrs. Vance kept pounding on the door, making it clear she wouldn’t leave unless the Sumrs family opened up.
Grace Sutton had been holding back her anger in the elevator earlier, and now with Mrs. Vance showing up to harass them, the fury she had just managed to suppress was reignited!
She shouted at the door, "We’re not related and we’re not close, so it’s not right for us to take your things! Just take them back!"
But Mrs. Vance acted as if she couldn’t understand Grace Sutton’s rejection and continued knocking. "Don’t be so polite with ! We’re neighbors! As the saying goes, a close neighbor is better than a distant relative. We should help each other out and look after one another in the future!"
Grace Sutton found this unbearable. She took a deep breath and roared at the door, "I said we don’t want them, are you deaf?! If you don’t leave, I’m calling the police!"
Mrs. Vance paused for a mont, then shouted at the door, unwilling to give up, "I’m kind enough to bring you supplies, and you want to call the police? You really don’t know how to appreciate a kind heart!"
Despite her words, Mrs. Vance was afraid they would actually call the police.
After all, these were chaotic tis, and the authorities had begun to impose harsh penalties. If her actions were deed to be harassnt, she could lose her eligibility to receive supplies.
So, no matter how reluctant she was, Mrs. Vance could only retreat resentfully, heading back down to 1505.
...
The mont Mrs. Vance opened the door to 1505, a little boy rushed toward her.
The little boy hugged Mrs. Vance’s leg and shouted with a smile, "Grandma! You’re back!"
Mrs. Vance bent down, scooped up her grandson with a chuckle, and planted two kisses on his thin little face.
Just then, Mrs. Vance’s daughter-in-law ca over holding a hot water bottle. "Mom," she said, "I just dozed off for a mont, and you ran out again? It’s too cold outside. Here, take this hot water bottle to warm your hands."
This was a trick Mrs. Vance’s daughter-in-law had just learned from a group chat: filter the black snow, boil it, and then pour it into a hot water bottle to warm your hands.
Mrs. Vance didn’t take the hot water bottle. Instead, she pushed it back to her daughter-in-law, saying, "You use it. I’m sturdy, I don’t feel the cold."
Then, Mrs. Vance silently opened the red plastic bag in her hand. Inside were a lighter and a candle.
She carefully put the lighter and candle away, sighed, and said, "I was planning to use these supplies to trade for so food with the people in 1606, but I didn’t expect them to be so stingy. They wouldn’t even open the door for ..."
Then, Mrs. Vance added thoughtfully, "But... for their whole family to be that cautious, so cautious they wouldn’t even open the door... they must have a lot of supplies stockpiled in there!"
At this thought, Mrs. Vance’s eyes lit up with excitent. She said, her voice tinged with agitation, "No matter what, I have to find a way to get so food from them!"
Bartering was Mrs. Vance’s usual trick.
She had been wandering around the residential complex lately, inquiring about the circumstances of the various hoowners.
If she heard that a hoowner’s family still had a working mber, savings, or a stockpile, she would go to their door and try to build a relationship.
She liked to use her own surplus supplies to trade for food from these well-stocked hoowners.
Although most hoowners ignored her, there were always so who were too thin-skinned or couldn’t bring themselves to refuse, and they would share so food with her.
When the Sumrs family first moved in, Mrs. Vance had noticed that their clothes and appearance were out of the ordinary, and they seed to be in better shape than the other residents.
She had keenly sensed that the Sumrs family was a fat sheep waiting to be fleeced!
Hearing this, Mrs. Vance’s daughter-in-law looked disapproving. She said hesitantly, "Mom, please don’t think about these things. Even if they have food, it’s theirs. It has nothing to do with us. We’re doing just fine eating sand vine cakes!"
Mrs. Vance sighed silently at her words. She took her daughter-in-law’s hand with a loving expression and said, "Susan, you’re pregnant. You can’t just keep eating sand vine cakes! You need to eat sothing better!"
Mrs. Vance patted her daughter-in-law’s hand, which was so thin it was almost just bone, and continued soothingly, "Don’t you worry. Even though Alex isn’t here anymore, Mom is still here! As long as I’m around, I’ll definitely take good care of the three of you."
******
anwhile, the Sumrs family, having finally gotten rid of Mrs. Vance, began to discuss what to do with the things in their living room.
With so many foam planter boxes and cases of mineral water in their living room, visible the mont the door opened, it was all far too conspicuous.
After so discussion, the Sumrs family found several bedsheets.
First, they used the sheets to cover the cases of mineral water stacked against the wall. Then, they placed a few more sheets next to the foam planter boxes.
If anyone ca over, they could cover the planter boxes with the sheets at a mont’s notice.
Just as they were finishing up, the doorbell of 1606 rang again.
As lody ran to check the monitor, she muttered to herself, ’Don’t tell that Mrs. Vance is back for round two?’
To lody’s surprise, it wasn’t Mrs. Vance this ti, but Crystal Lynch.
Seeing Crystal Lynch’s fair-skinned face on the screen, lody was pleasantly surprised and quickly opened the door to let her in.
Crystal Lynch’s family lived on the floor above the Sumrs, in 1806.
After learning that lody’s family had moved over from the villa district, Crystal had been overjoyed and ca over to visit right away.
Crystal held a food container, grinning as she told lody, "My dad made braised fish and cured spare ribs. Try so and see if you like it!"
lody looked at the two dishes in the container, sowhat shocked. She quickly grabbed Crystal and asked, "Crystal! How did you get this past Mrs. Vance’s nose?!"
Crystal was taken aback. "Huh? What about Mrs. Vance’s nose?"
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