Ling Jiang glanced at Lan Jin and burst out laughing, though she didn't say anything. Adults didn't need to spell things out—they understood when to switch topics. So she smoothly followed Lan Jin's lead.
"What caught me off guard was finding out you're younger than me. And you already have a kid who's almost three? But come to think of it, I don't think I've ever heard a child in your apartment before," Ling Jiang said, puzzled.
Lan Jin didn't think much of it. Her child and Nana, the dog, spent most of their time inside the spatial realm. It made sense that there wasn't much noise. But they had been outside before, and whenever they were, they always made some sound. Ling Jiang mentioned she worked outside the home, so their schedules probably never overlapped. Lan Jin offered a simple explanation.
"I've been teaching my kid how to behave. She's not the noisy type. And I've got a dog too. I bet you haven't heard it bark either, right?"
Ling Jiang shook her head. "Not once. You've got an angel kid and an angel dog."
"They're alright," Lan Jin said with a faint smile.
When they were well-behaved, they really were angels. But when they were naughty, they could cause all kinds of trouble.
The two of them kept chatting, but their pace was anything but casual. They practically bolted all the way back to Building 12. Now, finally about to head upstairs, Ling Jiang noticed the awkward combination of battery and cart Lan Jin was hauling.
While Lan Jin was packing up, Ling Jiang offered, "Let me carry the cart. That battery's not going to be easy with both."
"That's not a problem for me," Lan Jin replied. "I'm strong. I can handle it myself."
She slung the handle of the cart over her left shoulder and tucked the two heavy batteries under her right arm. Without pausing, she powered up the stairs, going from the first floor straight to the thirty-second in one go. When she reached the top, she wasn't even winded.
Ling Jiang was genuinely surprised. "Your body's really something else."
"Of course. I don't have a job, so I stay home all day. I've been doing yoga."
Her health needed some kind of explanation. She couldn't very well say it was thanks to drinking spiritual spring water. And most other exercises made noise. Yoga was the perfect excuse. It was quiet, good for the body, and something she genuinely knew how to do.
But the real surprise was Ling Jiang herself. Just like Lan Jin, she climbed the thirty-two floors in one shot. Now she was only a little out of breath.
Lan Jin gave her an impressed look. "Actually, your stamina's pretty good too. I thought you'd need to stop and rest halfway, but you kept up with me just fine."
Ling Jiang laughed. "Of course. I work at a boxing gym. I'm a coach. Stamina's part of the job."
A boxing gym coach? Lan Jin really hadn't pegged her for that. But if Ling Jiang had mentioned having a job, could it be that—
"Wait, is the boxing gym still open? I thought most businesses had shut down or were doing material recycling because of the shortages."
"That's true for a lot of companies, but not ours," Ling Jiang explained. "We don't need many supplies to stay open. The only issue is transportation hasn't fully recovered yet, so there aren't many coaches or students. If you're interested, we can even do one-on-one lessons."
One-on-one? That actually sounded pretty tempting.
"Where's your gym? How do you charge? I've got a kid and a dog. It's fine for short trips, but if I'm gone too long, I'd have to bring them with me. Would that be okay? Do you have somewhere to settle them while I'm in class?"
Lan Jin's string of questions made it sound like she was seriously considering it.
"Absolutely," Ling Jiang replied. "Like I said, we hardly have any students right now. There's definitely space to settle them, and the gym's not far. Just across the way on the second floor of the office building next door. It's only a ten-minute walk."
Lan Jin gave it some thought, then asked, "How do you charge?"
Seeing Lan Jin get into specifics, Ling Jiang explained, "We accept contribution points using residential permits. Businesses that haven't gone under yet can apply for point-deduction machines. Our boss got one, so everything's legal. Usually it's twenty contribution points for a two-hour session. If you want to extend, just keep adding points based on time. We also accept trade-ins. For example, two hours for five packs of instant noodles."
One pack of noodles was worth four contribution points, so the trade value matched. It was a fair system.
But Lan Jin didn't care much about the price. She had plenty of both—resources and points. Thinking about going and actually committing were two different things, though.
"I'll think about it. You live right across the hall anyway," she said casually.
"Alright. I get one day off a week. Right now, we only have daytime classes. If you want to come at night, just knock on my door. I'm usually home. Oh, and our boss lives upstairs. We were neighbors before the old neighborhood got demolished. After we both bought units here, we ended up as neighbors again."
"Well, that's a real coincidence," Lan Jin said. "I'll give it some serious thought. I've got something to do upstairs, so I'll let you know once I've decided."
"No wonder you were just standing around. Alright then, I'll head back."
They split up after that. When Lan Jin got to unit 3303, she handed the two batteries to Huang Jinghe.
"I figure you probably don't have any gold lying around. You're still young, and your parents don't live here. Even if you wanted to trade for this, it'd be hard. So just use it," she said.
Huang Jinghe was stunned. "Sister Lan, you didn't take the ones from your own place, did you? You better take those back."
He had been to Lan Jin's place when he delivered her invitation. He had seen those two massive batteries on her balcony. Of course he'd noticed. He might have been envious, but he never had any greedy thoughts. He had looked into buying some later on, but gold was the one thing he couldn't get his hands on.
"They're not from my place. I just bought them from the co-op."
Now that she said she bought them, he felt even more uncomfortable. Batteries were expensive these days, especially in this heat. He couldn't just accept them like that.
"Sister Lan, these must've cost a fortune. I can't just take them."
"Why not? You gave me an invitation, didn't you? If you don't take this, then I'll feel weird accepting your invite. Enough already. You know how to install it, right? I won't help you with that part. I'll see you in the afternoon when it's time to get water."
Just as she was about to leave, Lan Jin suddenly turned back and asked, "One more thing. Do you know if there's anyone on your floor who looks like they've been trained in martial arts or something?"