Before the supply center closed for the day, Lan Jin and Huang Jinghe managed to pack the entire vehicle full of goods. After that, they headed to the cafeteria to buy some boxed meals.
Once they had their food, Huang Jinghe offered to stay in the vehicle and keep watch over their supplies. Lan Jin, on the other hand, took her meal upstairs to eat with her child. Lan Jin understood this was Huang Jinghe's way of looking after her. While she didn't find it necessary—thanks to her storage space—if she hadn't had that advantage, his offer would have been very important.
Lan Jin made a mental note of his kindness and decided she would repay him in a small way later.
Carrying the meal box, Lan Jin went upstairs. But just as she reached the stairwell, she spotted a man lurking suspiciously outside her front door.
Lan Jin didn't bother to be polite. "What are you doing there?"
The man turned at the sound of her voice and explained, "I'm looking for the owner of this place. I've been knocking forever, but no one answered."
Lan Jin responded with a neutral tone, "I'm the owner. What do you want?"
The man paused for a moment, looking a little stunned, then smiled sheepishly. "This is a bit awkward, but earlier I saw you using a small trolley to move things. Could I borrow it? I live in 3204. We're neighbors, so I promise I won't lose it. I'll return it right away once I'm done."
As it turned out, this man was the husband of the woman who had been knocking on Lan Jin's door earlier. He'd knocked for quite a while too, but had assumed Lan Jin was home and ignoring them. Who could have guessed that this time, she really hadn't been there?
Still, had these neighbors really not gone to buy supplies yet?
Either way, it wasn't that Lan Jin refused to lend it to him. The truth was that she had left the trolley inside the camping vehicle. She had nothing to lend. Shaking her head, she said, "It's not that I won't lend it to you. If you'd asked earlier, maybe. But I already lent it to someone else."
Just as she finished speaking, the woman from 3204 burst out of their apartment and shouted, "Liar! You just don't want to lend it. Stop making excuses."
The woman came storming out like a gust of wind. Lan Jin instinctively stepped back a couple of steps. The woman's voice was shrill and grating, and Lan Jin frowned.
"I really did lend it out. If you find it useful, don't you think someone else might too?" she replied calmly.
Lan Jin glanced at the woman, her tone light and almost lazy. "If you had asked earlier, I would have lent it to you first, just because we're on the same floor."
With that, Lan Jin pulled out her key, unlocked the door, and walked inside. During the moment the door was open, the couple could clearly see into the living room. The small trolley truly wasn't there.
Lan Jin went home, but the man—who hadn't experienced his wife being shut out earlier—couldn't help but blame her now. "She's clearly reasonable. If you hadn't picked a fight with her before, she would've lent it to us. We're all neighbors."
The woman looked offended. "What? How is this my fault? That woman's obviously doing it on purpose."
Lan Jin was doing it on purpose. The woman could tell, but the man couldn't. The two of them started bickering loudly.
Meanwhile, inside her apartment, Lan Jin and Qiao Qiao were quietly enjoying dinner.
The boxed meals from the cafeteria were surprisingly good. Lan Jin and Qiao Qiao both liked them. But when Qiao Qiao heard the shouting outside, she looked up and said, "Mama, noisy."
Lan Jin smiled softly. "Nothing we can do. We have neighbors now. It really was nice when no one else lived here. Qiao Qiao, after we finish dinner, let's go into our secret place. It's quiet in there. Mama still has things to do tonight. You'll need to stay in the space for a while these next few days."
Qiao Qiao didn't know exactly what Lan Jin was busy with, but she noticed more and more supplies showing up in the space. She understood that these things were important to them. So she nodded earnestly and said, "Okay, Mama. Qiao Qiao play."
"Good girl."
Seeing how well-behaved both the child and Nana were, Lan Jin couldn't help but reward them each with a big chicken drumstick. Especially Nana—Lan Jin knew keeping a child entertained was exhausting. Even with all of Nana's energy, playing with Qiao Qiao all day could wear anyone out.
…
Night fell.
Lan Jin took the stairs down to the underground parking garage. After meeting up with Huang Jinghe, the two of them started unloading the supplies.
As soon as the vehicle door opened, the two small trolleys they had used earlier tumbled out. Lan Jin quickly caught them before they hit the ground and made noise. Then, they quietly began transferring the supplies onto the trolleys, one bit at a time.
Since it was late and quiet, they could use the elevator. But they couldn't just ride it straight to the 30th floor—that would be too obvious. Lan Jin said, "We'll need to take a few trips. Going all the way to the 30th floor is too suspicious. Let's stop at the 25th floor and walk the rest of the way. It's only a few extra flights."
This way, even if anyone noticed them, no one could be certain where the supplies were going. Unless they followed them all the way, they'd never know for sure.
Huang Jinghe understood immediately and nodded. "Got it."
That night, the two of them worked nonstop, hauling supplies back and forth. After five full trips, they finally emptied the vehicle.
But that wasn't the end.
After getting a good night's rest, they went through the same routine the next day—refilling the vehicle and moving everything upstairs again once night came.
This continued for four days straight.
Since they had to carry everything manually and sneak around without drawing attention, progress was slow. If they could have used the storage space directly, things would've gone much faster. But there was no use thinking about that now.
By the fourth night, after several more rounds of hauling, they finally finished moving all the supplies.
Lan Jin stored her goods in the space, then locked the spare bedroom, making it look like everything was kept in there.
As for Huang Jinghe, who didn't have access to any storage ability, he really did stack everything inside his spare room. Looking at the tightly packed supplies, he thought to himself that this would last him four or five years easily—assuming none of it spoiled, of course.
Once everything was done, they finally got to enjoy a full, restful sleep.
The next day.
Lan Jin woke up early and hurried to the underground garage to put the camping vehicle away into her storage space. She had considered doing it the night before but was worried the noise might alert someone.
With the vehicle stored away, a weight lifted from her mind. She returned home, packed a bag of fresh fruit, and went upstairs to give it to Huang Jinghe.
Fresh fruit was still available for purchase, and the price hadn't changed much—though it required contribution points now. It wasn't considered rare.
Lan Jin felt that giving him some fruit was an appropriate way to thank him for all the help he'd given her. Over the past few days, Huang Jinghe had clearly worn himself out trying to lighten her workload. Lan Jin wasn't blind to his efforts. She had already told herself she'd repay him somehow. This small gesture felt right.
When Huang Jinghe saw the bag of fruit, he immediately tried to return it. "Sister Lan, fruit isn't too expensive right now, but it's not cheap either. You should save it for Qiao Qiao. Why give it to me?"