Chapter Sixty-Three: Establishing Authority

"It's nothing," Jiang Huan said when she noticed her younger brother glancing at her in confusion. "I was just thinking how eager you are to learn. Study hard—knowledge kept in your mind is something no one can take away from you."

"Alright, I’ll study. Where should I go to learn? If it’s far, can I ride my bicycle?"

Jiang Huan replied that it was just in the building opposite. "You know Teacher Li and Brother Xiaoyi, right?"

Jiang Xi nodded.

"Teacher Gao hasn’t changed toward you, has he?"

"No, Teacher Gao really knows a lot."

"Then from next class on, you’ll all have lessons upstairs. Absolutely no third person is allowed to join you. If you ever feel something is wrong in class, or if Teacher Gao seems different from before, you must tell me."

Jiang Xi understood; just listen to his sister.

He went off to look at picture books and build with Lego.

Meanwhile, Jiang Huan contacted Xiao Fang, the person on duty in the sixth building’s group chat, to ask how a stranger had managed to get inside today.

Xiao Fang had just finished his break; someone else had been on duty at the first-floor entrance earlier. After asking around, he found out that the person had been brought in by Gao Qiang’s girlfriend, who claimed she was Jiang Huan’s brother’s little girlfriend.

Jiang Huan almost laughed in exasperation.

How disgusting. Just because she thought her brother was great didn’t mean everyone else did. Society would never accept someone so different from their norms. Jiang Xi had autism, with a mental age closer to a child under ten. To some, he was an outsider—how could they talk about little girlfriends without feeling sick?

"My brother doesn’t have a girlfriend. Next time, no matter whose relatives or friends want to enter, they must be personally met by the resident. That includes me and my brother—no exceptions."

"Understood, I’m sorry, Miss Jiang, for the trouble." Xiao Fang had only wanted to be friendly but now felt quite annoyed by the situation.

But his annoyance wasn’t aimed at Jiang Huan.

When Gao Qiang’s girlfriend later tried to bring that girl, Xue’er, downstairs, Xiao Fang stopped them both, telling them that if they wanted to fool around, they should go elsewhere and stop causing trouble for others.

This time, Xue’er got the message and hung her head the whole way down.

Gao Qiang’s girlfriend, however, was indignant and demanded an apology.

"Sorry, liar," Xiao Fang said, waving his baton menacingly. "If you’re not satisfied, feel free to argue with me."

Xue’er turned and ran.

She wouldn’t be coming back. Not ever.

Gao Qiang’s girlfriend, still fuming, went straight to Gao Qiang to demand a satisfactory answer.

Gao Qiang, just finished with a lesson, pinched the bridge of his nose. "That’s enough. I warned you when Xue’er wanted to come up. People envy the sixth building for two reasons: Jiang Huan’s leadership and the good order we’ve established. You just had to break that order—what exactly do you want?

Back at the base, things were so tough, but you stuck with me. Now we have food, water, shelter, and you can chat with people every day. If you really need it, I can even get you some snacks now and then. So, what more do you want?"

"Are you yelling at me?"

Gao Qiang slouched on the sofa, looking up at her. "Back then, was it because you had no other choice and didn’t want to risk going out, so you stayed with me and suffered at the base?"

The woman’s expression darkened. "How could you say that? Gao Qiang, we were talking about an apology, and now you’re spreading all this negativity. If I was after comfort, weren’t there other men at the base? I stayed because I cared about you…"

A few exchanged words and things seemed to calm down.

Gao Qiang assured her he would explain things to the man downstairs, and that everyone should just keep things as they were—no need for friendship, but no open hostility.

"And the apology…" Seeing Gao Qiang’s determined look and knowing this matter was settled, his girlfriend rolled her eyes.

Soon, she felt the pressure from Jiang Huan directly.

First, the generous snacks and welfare Jiang Huan used to hand out were gone. Then, in the sixth building’s group chat, Jiang Huan singled her out as the only one who hadn’t contributed at all, urging her to do something useful instead of always scheming.

"The sixth building doesn’t enforce labor, but even a five- or six-year-old knows to run errands, deliver messages, or help clean up, maybe even unwrap packages or sort things for us. I hope adults four or five times their age can reflect on themselves."

She was so angry she wanted to smash her communicator, but didn’t dare.

When her period started and she tried to go upstairs to write an IOU for supplies, she was refused and told she’d have to exchange contribution points or materials. She was completely stunned.

Quickly, she went to her boyfriend for help, and even tried to rush up to the twentieth floor to find Jiang Huan, but because of her malicious intent and emotional agitation, the alarm system stopped her.

It was the first time Liu Ling had seen the little box stuck to the wall go off—it made quite a racket.

At the time, Jiang Huan was just finishing training and eating a pancake.

Inside the pancake were a fried egg, ham, chicken strips, greens, and a crispy wafer; crispy and warm, the aroma tickled the nose, and with a warm soup on the side, it was both tasty and filling.

Hearing the commotion, she went downstairs and walked straight into the situation.

Even after all the explanations, Jiang Huan insisted Gao Qiang’s girlfriend move out of the sixth building immediately.

Gao Qiang had no choice but to leave with her. Their vacated spot was quickly eyed by others, but Jiang Huan didn’t give the go-ahead, and no one dared to release the room.

Still, it didn’t stay empty for long. Less than a week later, there were new tenants.

Jiang Huan made a trip out and brought back an old man, a middle-aged man, and a baby about seven or eight months old.

The baby was so small it drew everyone’s attention in the sixth building.

Bai Weishuang came over to check, her expression grim. "The child is very weak. Since birth, he’s barely had enough to eat. But he’s lucky."

After all, he’d survived this long.

"What are we going to do?" The middle-aged man, A Quan, shook his head. "Old Zhan only has this one grandson. His son went out to look for supplies and got knocked out by someone. The daughter-in-law didn’t make it—no medicine, no nutrition. So it’s just the old man left with a baby. Sigh."

Faced with a life so helpless, Bai Weishuang couldn’t bear it. She took some of her own hard-earned supplies and traded for a can of formula.

It was a generous gesture; those supplies could have fed a person for ten days, but she used them for a can of formula.

Even the middle-aged man was stunned, and the child’s grandfather stood frozen.

He clutched the can, tears streaming down his wrinkled face. Finally, he steeled himself, rummaged through his belongings, and produced a black bar a little longer than a lighter.

It was pitch-black, but if you looked closely, a delicate ink painting of an orchid had been painted on its surface.

Old Zhan sighed, "Miss, thank you so much. This can of formula saved my grandson’s life. Please accept this—it can’t be eaten or drunk now, but before the apocalypse, each piece was worth tens of thousands. Sadly, now it’s all worthless junk."

"Hey, isn’t that your treasured inkstick? You never go anywhere without it," A Quan exclaimed.

Jiang Huan, passing by, stopped in her tracks.

Inkstick from Huizhou?

Worth tens of thousands?

This was something valuable, wasn’t it?

(End of chapter)