Chapter 27: Want to Strangle Her!

Among this group, there were men and women, young and old, but most were mothers, and there were even two heavily pregnant women.

After all, in such extreme heat, adults could still tough it out, but children and the elderly simply couldn’t withstand it.

Several mothers whose young children were already showing signs of heat-related illness had seen He Chunmei’s message and, in a daze, followed along.

But when everyone arrived, they realized there wasn’t a ready-made air-conditioned space waiting for them—they’d have to band together and “besiege” someone to fight for it.

Some felt this crossed a line for them, and before He Chunmei even finished explaining her plan, they turned and left.

But there were others who, even knowing this “besieging” was morally questionable, couldn’t help but think of their sickly children at home. The pain of a child is a mother’s pain. For the sake of their own kids, they decided to go along and “fight” for it.

Having learned her lesson from being shocked last time, He Chunmei didn’t go up and pound on the door this time. Instead, she kept her distance.

She held a megaphone she’d dug out from some corner, ready to lead a collective shout to force Jiang Yan out, and then use the power of the crowd to make her open the door.

“Sister Chunmei, isn’t what we’re doing illegal?” someone in the group asked after hearing He Chunmei’s plan, checking their phone for answers.

It was so hot that just a few taps made the phone burn your hand, so most people had put theirs away. But now, hearing this, they all took them out.

The speaker was a young girl, who read aloud, “Maliciously blocking someone’s door is considered a civil infringement of the right of passage. It’s illegal.”

Everyone looked at each other for a moment.

He Chunmei rolled her eyes dramatically and said loudly, “The law? Who cares about that now?! Listen up, I just found out that most of our neighborhood security guards have been pulled away by the police! Why? Because they’re short on manpower.

We’re still lucky here—some places have already had riots and looting! Haven’t you seen the videos on Douyin and Kuaishou?”

“Exactly! Things aren’t normal anymore. The internet is full of rumors about the end of the world. The police can’t even handle minor neighborhood squabbles like ours. They say fortune favors the bold and the timid starve. Besides, we’re not even doing anything that bad!”

“Right! You can’t even get an appointment to install an air conditioner now. People are out there fighting over fridges and freezers just to make ice for cooling. My husband went to buy one this morning—he was about to pay, and someone just snatched it away!”

“Yeah! We’re just saying it’s too hot inside and we want to chat here for a bit, so what? Who says we can’t gossip at our own doorsteps?”

“At the end of the day, who told her to be so selfish? All the apartments in our building are over 120 square meters, and she’s just a single girl living alone in such a big place, hogging the air conditioning. Isn’t that a waste?” said Zhang Qiqi angrily.

She had come alone.

Her family did have a cooling fan, but it just blew out hot air—better than nothing, but not by much.

Her son, Song Xiaofei, was showing signs of a fever and was lying at home.

Thinking of this, she hated Jiang Yan even more.

If it weren’t for her, Song Deming wouldn’t have died, and she wouldn’t have been forced to move out of her villa because of Song Deming’s debts.

Otherwise, she’d be lying in her villa right now, enjoying the air conditioning and eating ice cream!

Also, though she didn’t know exactly what happened, she was sure her brother’s death and Song Deming’s death were definitely connected to Jiang Yan.

The police actually said she wasn’t involved in either death—clearly, she must have bribed them!

Especially since that little bitch disappeared after leaving the police station—she stopped updating her Douyin and Weibo accounts with millions of followers. Isn’t that running away out of guilt?

If she ever found her, she’d make sure to strangle her with her own hands!

“I think Qiqi is right. You all know what this heat can do. Let me remind you, we all have kids—heatstroke has a high fatality rate! And the hospitals are overflowing; if anyone gets sick, there’s no way you’ll get in.

If something really happens to your child, as parents, you’ll regret it for the rest of your lives,” He Chunmei said, scanning the crowd, her tone heavy with meaning.

She was a junior manager at her company, after all, and knew a thing or two about manipulating people.

Those with strong principles or less urgent needs had already left after hearing her plan.

The ones who stayed were either wavering or desperate for air conditioning.

Plus, most people are susceptible to herd mentality.

As long as she highlighted what mattered most to them and appealed to their emotions and logic, she could basically talk (or trick) them into it.

Especially now, with the beautiful and charismatic Zhang Qiqi taking the lead.

Men can’t resist a pretty woman, but honestly, sometimes women can’t either.

Sure enough, after listening, the crowd fell silent.

An elderly person, who had been about to go home after hearing that blocking someone’s door was illegal, stopped in their tracks.

“Chunmei, I just remembered—I think I saw a girl leave your unit this morning. She was tall, elegant, and slim, but dressed kind of strangely. She was a new face, so I really noticed her.

Since you said that girl is a kept mistress who always covers her face, I bet it was her,” said one of the pregnant women.

Shuishui Bay had been open for years, and most residents in Building A had lived there for a long time and knew each other’s faces.

Recently, only the seventh and thirty-second floors had new people move in.

The pregnant woman supported her back with one hand and gently stroked her belly with the other, sweat beading on her forehead, her face flushed.

“No wonder! I was shouting my lungs out this morning, and she didn’t react at all, like a corpse!” He Chunmei stomped her foot in anger.

A flash of malice crossed Zhang Qiqi’s eyes as she sneered, “Ha! Sis, isn’t that even better? There are bloodsucking mosquitoes outside, and I heard all the hotels with air conditioning are full. She’ll have to come home eventually, and we’ll be waiting!

And you know what? Let’s just go all the way—if she won’t let us in, we’ll just take her key! We’ve got plenty of tricks up our sleeves here!”

She glanced meaningfully at the two pregnant women and several elderly people as she spoke.

He Chunmei looked nervously at Jiang Yan’s door and frowned. “Her place has both a code lock and a fingerprint lock—no key.”

“Isn’t that even easier?” Zhang Qiqi said slyly, giving He Chunmei a meaningful look...

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