Chapter Sixty-Two: You snatch from me, I snatch from you—back and forth with cheerful grins

A group of nine people all chose to ignore Chen Lin. They threw a gun out the window, and then two of them came out with their hands raised. Jiang Huan stayed in the car, making no move to get out or do anything else.

That eased the tension among the others, who quickly left in the direction Jiang Huan had pointed out. Even Lin, the one who had been shouting at the start, was dragged away. Though Jiang Huan knew they certainly had more than one gun, she had no intention of checking them one by one. Her only goal from the beginning was to ensure her belongings didn’t fall into the hands of others.

Two minutes later, everyone from the little house had come out, tossing another gun and some sticks onto the ground. Their car tires had been destroyed, so they couldn’t drive away. Prompted by Jiang Huan, one after another, they ran off into the distance.

Jiang Huan walked around the small house twice, confirming no one remained. She finally got out of the car and began collecting supplies from the two vehicles.

She discovered not only the snowfield rats they had stolen, but also a considerable amount of food and drink, and in the house itself, cooking utensils they had prepared for daily living. She didn’t mind; she gathered everything up to enrich her "tower warehouse."

Well, if you think about it, isn’t this just a cycle of you robbing me, me robbing you, and robbing back and forth in sweet succession?

There were over five hundred snowfield rats, and after this counterattack, the numbers had tripled or quadrupled. Disliking the mess, she transferred them to a different section of the cargo hold.

It wasn’t that she liked trouble; rather, she simply didn’t plan to show this vehicle in the city again any time soon.

On the drive back, the sheer number of snowfield rats left Wu Gang and the others astonished. Most people would be pleased to have caught five hundred in a day, but she and her brother went out for one night and brought back two thousand.

What kind of progress was this!

“We’ll hand them over with the community’s share. I want all of them exchanged for food, with ten percent given to the property management as a hardship fee.”

Wu Gang accepted with a smile, sorting and packing the snowfield rats. Jiang Huan and her brother were blocked on the first floor by Bai Weishuang, who sprayed them with a shower of disinfectant, even though neither had come into close contact with the rats.

Disinfectant seemed to be running out.

Bai Weishuang said, “There are medicinal powders and herbs in the warehouse for mixing. Once brewed, they’re no worse than the finished products sold outside.”

Jiang Huan vaguely remembered that she had collected a full container of medicinal herbs, worried that the supplies she brought back were too comprehensive, so she had stored all sorts of miscellaneous items in the warehouse.

After nearly a whole night of hunting snowfield rats, neither could eat much. They gnawed on bread and each went to rest.

When Jiang Huan awoke at three in the afternoon, her stomach growled, reminding her it was time for a proper meal.

She knocked on her brother’s door, woke him up, and took out a roasted fish, a roasted pig’s trotter, and some rice, savoring warm milk tea as they ate their fill.

Gao Qiang had stopped by earlier but found the door locked, so he left. When Jiang Xi woke up, he went to find Gao Qiang for his lesson.

He returned in low spirits.

“What’s wrong?” Jiang Huan asked, flipping through a drama suitable for mealtime, with a bowl of washed fruit beside her.

If anyone else saw it, they would be stunned—how could such fresh, flawless fruit be available in this weather?

“Sister, have many people outside starved to death? Do they have nothing to eat?”

Jiang Huan put down her fork. “Survivors all find their own ways to live.”

Who had spoken to him?

Or was it—

“You and I went out and saw other survivors, didn’t we? They have their own ways to find food.”

Jiang Xi fiddled with his fingers. “I don’t like it.”

Jiang Huan’s back stiffened.

Had her brother’s compassion been stirred now that he’d learned about the hardship outside?

Did he think that, despite having so many good things, she’d never thought to help others, forcing so many to struggle for survival—and so he didn’t like her?

Just as the feeling of disappointment surfaced, Jiang Xi spoke. “Sister is my sister, not theirs. If there’s delicious food, why shouldn’t we close the door and keep it for ourselves?”

Hmm? Jiang Huan blinked.

Jiang Xi, whose speech had improved greatly, continued, “If we don’t close the door and keep it for ourselves, and instead open it for others to see, what if they come to rob us? Sister goes out to find things for me to eat, and we hunt rats—not as if meals rain down from the sky. We work hard, and I study and exercise too, right, sister?”

“Yes, yes!” Jiang Huan’s eyes sparkled.

Her brother was truly clever, but she still needed to ask, “Did someone say something to you that made you unhappy?”

Jiang Xi didn’t hide what happened today. “Teacher’s girlfriend brought a girl along, said she’d join my lessons. That girl wasn’t very smart, kept asking questions. Teacher Gao sent her to the side, and the girlfriend started arguing, saying he didn’t love her anymore…”

Jiang Huan was at a loss for words—no need to be so detailed.

“That girl said everyone was starving and miserable, and she was thin and pitiable. I told her to go find something to eat, and she cried. Teacher’s girlfriend accused me of bullying her, said I shouldn’t think I’m special just because I have food.

I said it is special, because sister always brings food home for me. She said I live off women, and I told her I can sometimes eat the hard stuff too. She called me lazy, living off a woman. Teacher Gao argued with her and didn’t hear what I said. I also went out to hunt rats.”

After hearing this, Jiang Huan leaned back on the sofa.

She remembered that Gao Qiang’s girlfriend had once joked about getting a monthly welfare of several hundred pounds of rice from her for Gao Qiang.

Of course, Jiang Huan had seen through her real intentions, but for Gao Qiang’s sake she hadn’t made a fuss.

It seemed she’d been too soft, letting others treat her brother this way behind her back.

Jiang Huan stayed silent. Jiang Xi edged closer, asking, “Was I wrong to speak to a woman that way? Was I disrespectful?”

Jiang Huan shook her head. “Standing your ground isn’t wrong. On your sister’s turf, there’s even less reason to call it a mistake. Xiao Xi, switch to another teacher for this lesson, but you’ll need to walk there every day to study. They might not teach you as attentively, might ask you to help with chores. Are you willing?”

Jiang Xi thought it over. “Sister, are you letting me intern?”

Jiang Huan smiled. “You know about interning?”

“Yes, sister used to intern, carrying cameras for others and helping with makeup. I remember, but sister learned live streaming, made money so we could eat and buy a house, and Jiang Xi could go to school.”

So, he was going to intern as well—wonderful. “Once I learn, I’ll work and earn money for sister to spend.”

Jiang Huan sat up abruptly, moved.

Touched as she was, the word “work” inspired her.

School, work—those are steps everyone must take in life. Though she felt she had the power to let her brother live in comfort forever, what if that disappeared one day? The apocalypse had lasted only two months, and her brother’s speech had improved so much. If he could go further, he’d become even more independent in thought.

When that day came, stepping into society, mingling with the crowd—could she really let him remain a princess of the ivory tower?

“Sister?” Jiang Xi called when Jiang Huan fell silent.

(End of this chapter)