With lody’s explanation, Crystal Lynch finally understood the whole story.
She stared in disbelief. "There’s soone like that in our building? How have I never heard about this before?"
At that mont, Grace Sutton walked over as well. After glancing at the food in the container, she looked just as surprised. She quickly grabbed Crystal’s arm and asked, "Dear, when you cook all this, can’t your neighbors sll it?"
In response, Crystal explained, "I’ve sealed all the cracks around my kitchen doors and windows with tape. I also have an air purifier running inside and I don’t use the range hood, so the sll doesn’t escape. You should give it a try!"
Then, with Crystal’s help, the Sumrs family sealed up their kitchen doors and windows with tape as well.
The family had just finished working on the kitchen and seen Crystal out when Colin Sumrs and Winnie Sumrs returned.
The property managent office had organized a snow removal effort in the community today, which included clearing the snow piled up on the roofs of every building. Colin and Winnie had gone to help.
The snow was quite deep, so the cuffs of their pants were soaked through with black slush, leaving dark stains.
lody and Grace quickly fetched so soft pajamas for them and told them to change out of their damp outer clothes.
lody noticed a pair of black leather gloves among the clothes Winnie had taken off. "Mom," she asked, confused, "are these gloves yours? I don’t rember you having them."
Winnie shook her head. "They’re Officer Rhodes’s. He saw I was shoveling snow without any gloves, so he let borrow them. I accidentally brought them ho with . I’ll have to return them next ti I see him."
Colin, who was standing nearby, chid in with a chuckle. "That Officer Rhodes is a really good man! Not only did he lend us his gloves, he even helped us shovel snow! He climbed the roofs of three buildings all by himself and did more work than two people put together!"
lody was surprised to hear that. ’It looks like the Adler and Hayes family cases are closed,’ she thought. ’The city must be much more peaceful now. Otherwise, Officer Rhodes wouldn’t be so idle he’d have ti to help shovel snow...’
The snow started falling again outside the window. Black snowflakes drifted down, as if ink were being poured from the sky.
Each snowflake was like a drop of ink, twirling and dancing through the air before finally landing gently on the ground, piling up into a thick layer of black snow.
Although the temperature outside was slowly dropping, the Sumrs family’s ho remained pleasantly warm.
Several oil-filled radiators humd away, steadily radiating a comfortable warmth throughout the room.
The Sumrs family gathered around the dining table, which was laden with tender water spinach, the braised fish and cured spare ribs from Crystal, sweet eight-treasure congee, and creamy mashed potatoes. The whole family enjoyed a wonderful, hearty al.
...
Early the next morning, the property managent office and the ergency response office for The tropolis Residences posted a ssage in the group chat, telling everyone to go to the supply distribution point to pick up cold-weather supplies.
"Property Managent Office: @All Residents Hello, everyone. The first batch of governnt-issued cold-weather supplies has arrived. Please bring your ID to the plaza in front of the supply distribution point to collect them."
"7-901 Adventurous Lawson: They’re finally handing out supplies! I’ve been freezing to death these last few days!"
"4-1209 Currently Slacking: Ugh, do we have to go pick it up ourselves? I really don’t want to go outside. I don’t want to leave my blankets. It’s just too cold out there."
"7-901 Adventurous Lawson: @Property Managent Office It’s already in the negative teens! When is the heat finally coming on? Nobody can last much longer like this!"
"..."
After scrolling through the group chat, lody hurried into the living room to tell her family the news.
Colin and Winnie had already left early that morning to help organize the distribution of the supplies, so only lody, Grace, Grandma, and Miss Lowell were ho.
After hearing what lody said, Grandma mulled it over. "We’re not short on cold-weather supplies. Should we still go get them?"
Grace agreed. "That’s right, we have plenty. National supplies are so tight right now, we should probably leave them for those who actually need them."
Grace had also been reading the residents’ group chat recently. She’d seen many people saying they sold their down jackets and heavy quilts on the second-hand market during last sumr’s heatwave. Now that the temperature had plumted, they couldn’t buy any winter clothes and had no idea what to do.
But lody shook her head. "We’re living in a residential complex. It’ll be too conspicuous if we never go pick up supplies. We should go, just in case."
Besides, that Mrs. Vance was always coming upstairs to check on what the Sumrs family was up to.
Just this morning, while they were making breakfast, she’d co knocking, saying she wanted to borrow so salt and insisting they open the door.
It took Grace a lot of talking just to get her to leave.
Under the circumstances, it was better to follow the crowd and not draw attention to themselves. They should just pick up the supplies first and figure things out later.
******
「The Lancaster Villa.」
With no money to run the central heating, the entire villa was as cold as a giant icebox.
Sylvia Lancaster was curled up under the covers, still lost in a dream.
In her dream, she had returned to her past life. She was once again the high and mighty little princess of the Lancaster family, doted on and cherished.
The Lancaster family had staged a coback, thanks to the stream in her pocket dinsion. Robert Lancaster and Simon Lancaster stood proudly on a stage, telling the dia and reporters that the family’s only daughter, Sylvia Lancaster, was their greatest benefactor...
Then the scene shifted. Sylvia dread she was wearing a snow-white wedding dress.
Elaine Hughes and Silas Lancaster were by her side, walking her down the aisle to Flynn Adler, who waited in a black tuxedo.
She and Flynn Adler were happily married.
Just as Sylvia was lost in her sweet dream, a shrill voice pierced the air by her ear—
"Sylvia Lancaster! Why aren’t you outside shoveling snow yet?!"
The voice jolted Sylvia from her dream. Her eyes flew open, eting the furious gaze of Elaine Hughes.
The Elaine Hughes before her was a far cry from the gentle, doting mother in her dream. Sylvia stared at her, montarily unable to process the reality.
Seeing Sylvia’s dumbstruck expression, Elaine only grew more furious.
She ripped the blankets right off Sylvia, yanking her out of the warm cocoon and into the cold air. "You brat, didn’t you hear ?!" she roared. "Get up to the roof and shovel the snow! What are you standing there gawking for?!"
The air outside her cocoon of blankets was frigid. Sylvia let out a violent sneeze.
She quickly wrapped the blankets around herself and looked at Elaine with a pleading expression. "Mom, please, just let rest for a little while. I’m just so tired..."
Ever since the snow started yesterday, Sylvia and Simon had been forced to climb onto the roof every two hours to shovel it off, to keep the villa from collapsing under the weight.
Both Sylvia and Simon had been pampered their entire lives and had never done such manual labor before. Sylvia felt like she was going to die from exhaustion.
The worst part was that after just two rounds of shoveling, Simon had co down with a high fever.
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