Chapter 65: Cutting Ties

The Chen family was the largest clan in the group under the bridge.

The Qu family was one of their affiliates.

This time, except for Qu Zhongshun, all the men from the Qu family had followed the Chen family men and moved over to another powerful team.

It seemed they were doing quite well over there, so the rest of the Qu family men hadn’t come back.

Zhang Xueyao’s plan was to unite the other women in the group to collectively ostracize the Shi family.

!!!

Shi Yuebai was completely oblivious.

Who was ostracizing her, who wasn’t friendly with her—Shi Yuebai had no concept of these things.

In her previous life among the Wu tribe, she had stood at the very top.

As the saying goes, “It’s lonely at the top”—people at the pinnacle rarely have friends.

So when it came to collective exclusion, not only could Shi Yuebai not sense it, even if she did, she wouldn’t care.

It was Nóng Yasi and Ah Hong who were truly upset.

Their intelligence was normal, their eyesight was fine, and their social skills were perfectly adequate.

So when faced with the pointed looks and subtle atmosphere of unity among the other women in the group, they felt it keenly.

“Every time I go outside, those women standing there chatting just stop talking,” Ah Hong said with a stony face as she built a wall, speaking to Nóng Yasi.

Nóng Yasi was in charge of making the automatic irrigation tool, so she was always near Pang Ziyuan, discussing things with him while mixing cement for Ah Hong.

“I feel it too. It’s really uncomfortable,” she said.

It was a kind of malice that was perceptible but not overt.

Before the apocalypse, this would have been called group bullying or social exclusion—deliberate, at that.

Now, the women in the group were using this collective ostracism, banding together to exclude the Shi and Pang families.

The Shi and Pang families would never know what the others were whispering about. If they tried to join the conversation, all they’d get were secretive glances and knowing smiles that only the others understood.

It was enough to make anyone paranoid.

Were they talking behind their backs? Badmouthing the Shi and Pang families?

It left Nóng Yasi and Ah Hong constantly guessing.

What were they saying when their backs were turned?

Humans are social creatures; when excluded by the group, you start to doubt yourself.

To fit in, you try to conform.

It feels as if only by gaining the group’s approval can you prove you’re not a failure.

Nóng Yasi and Ah Hong were both in low spirits, realizing the whole group was gossiping about them.

Just then, Shi Yuebai rolled over in her wheelchair.

Ah Hong hurriedly asked, “Yuebai, what should we do?”

“I think they’re talking bad about us.”

Shi Yuebai stopped her wheelchair, but before she could speak, Second Sister-in-law Shi, who had followed her, said,

“It’s not ‘I think’—they definitely are talking bad about us.”

Shi Yuebai didn’t even frown. “So what? Let them talk. Is it going to make me lose a pound of flesh?”

If gossip could make her lose weight, she’d let them curse her out all day long.

Ah Hong asked Second Sister-in-law curiously, “How do you know?”

Second Sister-in-law’s eyes were hollow as she touched her ear.

“I heard them.”

Her hearing had always been good.

And ever since her headaches had become less frequent, her hearing had gotten even better.

As long as she focused, even sitting in the courtyard, she could hear the whispers of those outside.

Ah Hong pressed on, “So what exactly are they saying?”

Second Sister-in-law’s face darkened. Her lips moved, but she didn’t want to repeat it.

Obviously, what was being said behind the Shi and Pang families’ backs wasn’t pleasant.

Second Sister-in-law was angry, too.

Ah Hong’s face fell. “Aren’t they going too far? We haven’t done anything to them.”

Second Sister-in-law added, “They’re planning to move their tarps further away from ours—to avoid catching our ‘bad luck’…”

There was more, but Second Sister-in-law refused to repeat it.

But even just those two sentences were enough to make Ah Hong and Nóng Yasi’s faces turn ugly.

Pang Ziyuan, sitting on a pile of rocks, was young and couldn’t hold back.

He shouted angrily, “How are we unlucky? We’re actually really lucky!”

Take Pang Ziyuan himself—if he hadn’t stuck close to the Shi family, he would have starved to death long ago.

This wasn’t bad luck; it was good fortune.

It was this luck that let Pang Ziyuan meet Shi Yuebai before he died.

And because he got close to the Shi family, he was noticed by mercenary Yi Zhe.

Now he ate rations provided by the Xiangcheng mercenary team.

Before the apocalypse, that was like landing a secure government job.

Others could only envy him.

Pang Ziyuan felt he had to say something; he couldn’t let the Shi family be slandered like this.

Just then, Shi Yuebai turned her wheelchair to look at the area in front of the Shi family.

“Great! If they don’t want to associate with us, I don’t want to associate with them either.”

The Shi family had always been heavily ostracized by the group.

Otherwise, why would all the other families live together, while the Shi family and Guai Guai were forced to pitch their tarp under the bridge?

Since they’d already been excluded, there was no point trying to fit in.

Now, the women’s behavior was nothing more than psychological warfare against the Shi and Pang families.

Shi Yuebai pointed to the riverbank ahead.

“Let’s dig a trench here. Draw a clear line. Best if we never interact again.”

The trench would be right in front of the “Tong” (shared) area where the Pang, Shi, Guai Guai families, and three mercenaries lived.

It was exactly where the riverbank met the riverbed.

Nóng Yasi and Ah Hong were stunned.

They never expected that, when it came to interpersonal relations, Shi Yuebai not only had no intention of reconciling with the group—she was ready to cut ties completely.

Cutting ties…

“What are you standing around for? Get to work!” Shi Yuebai urged Nóng Yasi and Ah Hong to start digging.

She turned and went behind the Shi family’s tarp, up the slope behind their enclosure.

A cold smile appeared on her face.

They want to ostracize her? Fine.

She’d set up a fog array around the public toilet.

No one would be able to see what her family was up to.

From a distance, their home would be hidden among the rocks.

The weather was getting colder."