In the afternoon, a dozen or so action team members arrived on the 15th floor with brooms and mops.
No one was currently living on this floor. Room 1506 in the corner was a small apartment that had been rented out before, but had been vacant for a long time after the owner went abroad.
The moment the security door was opened, cobwebs thick with dust floated everywhere. It looked comparable to the Silken Web Cave. It took the group nearly two hours to get it barely clean.
The other residents in the building contributed some decorative items and ornaments.
After decorating, although it certainly couldn’t withstand close scrutiny, at a glance, it really did have a bit of a cozy, lived-in atmosphere.
Qian Yue organized the clothes in the entryway cabinet and even found a prominent spot for the red coat in his arms. He turned and asked, “How is it?”
“Not bad,” Yi Ke nodded, then looked at Zhuang Ningyu, as if seeking his.
In fact, under normal circumstances, Zhuang Ningyu could have given some appropriate praise at this time. After all, everyone had worked hard. But as soon as their eyes met, he felt that the other person would probably start looking forward to which kindergarten their future child would attend because of this little bit of praise. So he forcibly swallowed the words that were already on the tip of his tongue. He didn’t want to say it, not a single word.
A person who harasses another against their will is liable for civil damages, and enterprises and organizations should take reasonable measures to prevent and handle complaints. Zhuang Ningyu silently recited the legal article three times in his mind, and then during a break, he sent a message to Huo Ting, asking a soul-searching question: A perfectly good person, who couldn’t he chase? Why does he keep pestering me? What kind of taste is that?
Huo Ting: Chasing you can only show his lack of basic judgment of the situation and an erroneous overestimation of his own abilities, but there’s no problem with his taste.
Huo Ting: In terms of feelings, specifically.
Zhuang Ningyu turned off his phone screen and continued to patrol the community. Although being pursued by him indeed represented excellent taste on the other’s part, sometimes it didn’t necessarily have to be this excellent.
That night, everything was as usual. And when the sun rose again, it was already the fifth day since the rules had descended, and also the “third day” that Yi Ke had promised.
In the early morning, the person playing the role of the “wife” in 1601 was still Zhuang Ningyu. He unhurriedly brought out the food trays. A thick layer of grease floated on the surface of the large bowl of soup. Seven or eight small dishes held slices of meat and various vegetables, looking quite grand. The monster asked unhappily, “Why are we eating this?”
“The chicken soup I stewed today is very good. I wanted you to have it as soon as possible,” Zhuang Ningyu patted his shoulder, his tone gentle. It was still unknown whether these monsters had any aesthetic sense, but Yi Ke did.
The morning sun, streaming through the window, passed through the shirt of the person by the window, outlining a hazy curve of his waist and back. When he lowered his head to speak, he looked like a gentle and holy white bird.
The rest of the team members “wowed” in their hearts. As expected of the former flower of the Order Maintenance Department, truly top-tier.
As Zhuang Ningyu poured the monster a drink, he shot a warning glance over. Yi Ke raised an eyebrow, his gaze shifting slightly to the left, and then back to the monster. The delaying effect of the “crossing the bridge” noodles was very significant. The other’s eating speed was clearly much slower than before.
Seeing that it was almost eight o’clock, Zhuang Ningyu squatted at the door to put on his shoes. “You eat slowly. I’m going to the supermarket to pick up the vegetables we group-bought yesterday.”
The monster kept blowing on the soup in his bowl to cool it down and didn’t bother to answer. He drank his soup while looking at the wall clock with his cloudy eyes. Finally, he dropped his empty bowl and prepared to go to work, but he ran into Song Ran coming out of the elevator.
“Hello, you’re the owner of 1601, right? I’m the community police officer for this area.” Song Ran showed his ID. “Someone just threw something from a high place in the building. Was it you?”
“No,” the monster answered. Although his attitude was not friendly, he clearly had no intention of using violence against the police.
“Can I come in and have a look?” Song Ran asked. “It’s a normal evidence-gathering procedure. I hope you can cooperate.”
The monster impatiently stepped aside. “Hurry up, I have to go to work.”
“I know, I’ll be quick.” Song Ran walked into the room, stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window observing and taking pictures. After a full five minutes, he put away his phone, thanked him, and left.
The monster angrily locked the door and also pressed the elevator button. Yi Ke said into the intercom, “Confirmed. Under normal circumstances, even if he’s in a hurry and extremely annoyed, he will still cooperate with the police.”
The hallway was very quiet. For some reason, the elevator stayed on the 15th floor for an unusually long time this time. When it finally rose to the 16th floor, the doors opened with a “ding,” revealing a burly man standing inside.
The man looked up at the door number and asked in a harsh tone, “You’re the owner of this place? Perfect. Your wife wasn’t looking where she was going and just bumped into my kid at the supermarket entrance. Tell me, how are you going to compensate?”
The monster’s expression suddenly became savage. He asked, word by word, “What did you say?”
“What did I say? I said your wife injured my kid, and she’s at my place discussing compensation right now.” The man blocked the elevator door with his hand. “Are you coming in? If you don’t, I’m calling the police!”
The monster was pulled into the elevator by him. The elevator doors closed again. The man was still cursing. Yi Ke went down the fire escape to the 15th floor. The security door of 1506 was wide open. The small living room was crowded with people.
Besides Zhuang Ningyu, the monster, and the man from just now, there was also Zhong Mu sitting on the sofa. She had changed from her usual sharp attire. It was unknown where she had found a qipao. With black eyeliner and red lipstick, her wrists adorned with gold and jade, she exuded wealth and arrogance.
“You hit my kid and now you want to skip out on the bill?” she shrieked.
Zhuang Ningyu explained patiently, “I didn’t hit him on purpose. Your kid was on a scooter and hit me first, and then he fell down himself.”
“There are no cameras there. You think I’ll believe whatever you say?” Zhong Mu pointed her finger, her jade bracelet clinking against her gold one, the sound making one’s heart tremble. Seeing that reasoning was getting nowhere, Zhuang Ningyu simply shut his mouth. Zhong Mu didn’t make things difficult for him either, turning her attack to the monster, her palm held out. “Compensation. Eight thousand yuan.”
The monster looked into the room with a hostile expression, his yellow, cloudy eyeballs almost popping out of their sockets.
If anger had a physical form, it would probably have filled the entire stairwell by now. He raised his arm high. Zhong Mu didn’t back down at all, bending down to pick up a slipper from the floor and throwing it at him like a brick. The man also stepped forward to help her. The three of them immediately started scuffling, leaving Zhuang Ningyu to shout from the side, “Stop fighting, we’ll pay!”
The monster was provoked into even greater savagery. At this moment, Auntie Zhang and Uncle Zhang also ran out of the bedroom, joining the shouting match, determined to get justice for their “grandson” who was still lying in the hospital. The monster’s mood grew more and more agitated. His large hand grabbed the clothes and bags hanging on the entryway cabinet and threw them forcefully at the crowd, roaring, “Shut up!”
However, no one shut up. The vase was knocked over by the clothes. Zhong Mu rushed over, her two hands reaching straight for the monster’s eyes—of course, she was unsuccessful, given the huge height difference between them. The monster just waved his hand, and the clinking jade bracelet broke into five, six, seven, eight pieces, scrambling to smash onto the floor.
“Call the police!” Uncle Zhang shouted. Because he was so into his role, he even unconsciously struck a theatrical pose of a one-handed fortress bombing.
Zhuang Ningyu’s gaze had been locked on the monster the whole time. Hearing the words “call the police,” the other party did indeed flinch slightly. Yi Ke’s judgment was not wrong. Since the monster’s identity was “husband” and “office worker,” then he was an “ordinary person” in this rule. An ordinary person, unless they had reached the end of their rope, was unlikely to challenge the police in a public place.
Zhong Mu and the man blocked the door to prevent the monster from leaving and quickly dialed 110. Two minutes later, Song Ran appeared at the door of 1506 again, wearing a police uniform, and asked as soon as he opened his mouth, “What’s going on?”
The monster said gruffly, “They’re extorting me.”
“We’re extorting you? It was clearly you who started smashing things first. We have video evidence,” Zhong Mu tidied her messy hair, quickly explained the cause and effect of the matter, and pointed to the camera on the dining cabinet.
Song Ran glanced at the monster, then checked the surveillance footage, confirming that what Zhong Mu said was not wrong. The monster’s gaze was full of hatred. He looked like he wanted to throw the family of 1506 directly out the window, but in front of the police, he didn’t dare to actually do it.
Song Ran asked, “Intentionally damaging other people’s property is already an illegal act. Now, what do you want to do? Come back to the station with me for investigation, or you two can negotiate here?”
“How much?” the monster said grumpily. “I’ll pay.”
Zhong Mu threw a stack of receipts on the coffee table. “One hundred and thirteen thousand.”
The monster’s eyes widened. “How much?”
“An old-mine jadeite bracelet from Myanmar, eighty-eight thousand. A far-infrared bio-magnetic wellness negative ion energy coat, twenty-five thousand. The receipts are all here,” Zhong Mu said. “Genuine goods, reasonable and legal, custom products one of a kind. I haven’t overcharged you a single penny. Besides, if you really want to be precise, the vase and coffee table you smashed are also worth money.”
The monster snatched the receipts. Soon, fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, a completely different monster from his usual tyrannical demeanor when he returned every night. Qian Yue whispered to Zhuang Ningyu, “After all this, it turns out he’s just a bully at home.”
“Song Ran is a real policeman, and the bracelet is really worth eighty thousand. In this logic, both are invincible,” Zhuang Ningyu said. “So the monster currently has only two choices: be taken back to the police station and then pay, or pay directly.”
After some haggling, the final compensation was fifty thousand. A thick stack of Rule Coins was thrown on the sofa. The monster grabbed his briefcase, slammed the elevator open with a “bang,” and left Taoli Community, full of resentment.
It was currently unknown whether the monster returning home tonight would be affected by the emotion of losing fifty thousand. So the team member who had tried to ask for living expenses yesterday but was beaten instead, raised his hand to volunteer again. His name was Qing Gang. What can you say? This mission was humiliating, but who told him to evolve a physique as tough as a steel sandbag?
The team members offered suggestions one after another: “Since the monster is wary of the police, why not have Song Ran find an excuse to stay guard at 1601 tonight?”
“We can guard him tonight, but what about tomorrow night? Officer Song can’t stay in someone else’s living room every day, can he?”
“Captain Zhuang, in the public disputes you’ve mediated, were there any about domestic violence? We can use them as a reference.”
Zhuang Ningyu nodded. “Yes, but with domestic violence, there’s only zero times and countless times. Hoping the abuser will stop on their own is basically impossible. And the only way to make the abuse pause… is for the wife to get pregnant.”
Qing Gang was stunned by this unprecedented line of thought. He clutched his eight-pack abs with both hands. “Then let him hit me.”
But Ye Jiaoyue wouldn’t agree. She was the captain and had to be responsible for the safety of every team member. Since pretending to be pregnant could solve the problem, why get beaten? Qing Gang wanted to run, but failed. He could only hug the captain’s arm and shed tears. Physical health is important, but my mental health also needs care, boss. Can someone else get pregnant?
Ye Jiaoyue: “No.”
Qing Gang: “whimper.”
Zhong Mu sat on the side, ignoring the tough guy’s sobs, single-mindedly counting the money. “I didn’t expect the monster to actually come here this morning. I thought he would run away as soon as he heard his wife caused trouble and had to pay.”
“He wouldn’t,” Yi Ke said. “A hot-tempered husband will beat his wife, but he won’t allow outsiders to bully his wife. Because in his mind, she is his private property, and also a part of his dignity as a man, which absolutely cannot be provoked.”
Zhong Mu “tsked.” “So much for what marriage brings a woman.”
“Sister Zhong, you can’t say that. Men also come in different varieties,” Qian Yue put his arm around Zhuang Ningyu’s shoulder. “Like our boss, he’s very suitable for home life, a rare gem of a man that’s hard to find even with a lantern.”
The other team members all agreed. After all, on Zhuang Ningyu’s first day reporting to the Order Maintenance Department, someone had chased after him to deliver afternoon tea.
Eight delivery guys entered in a line, carrying bags, and filled the place with expensive coffee. Whether the beans were from Panama or Hawaii was beside the point. In short, a master-level pour-over was fundamentally different from a 9.9-yuan delicious coffee.
After drinking it, the entire department suffered from collective insomnia, tossing and turning in bed for most of the night, trying to figure out the reason.
The subject of the discussion coldly waved his hand, sending all the team members back to their posts. “No discussion of matters unrelated to work. Next time, I’ll deduct your action points.”
But Auntie Zhang and Uncle Zhang, who had been sitting on the sofa, had no action points to deduct, so they were currently sizing up Zhuang Ningyu with great satisfaction. Young and handsome, good personality, fair skin, doesn’t smoke or drink, always smiling and sweet-talking, and a civil servant to boot. Truly not to be missed.
Auntie Zhang: “Xiao Zhuang, ah.”
Zhuang Ningyu: “Auntie, about that dyed bracelet you were scammed with, I will be responsible for communicating with the travel agency for compensation in the future.”
Auntie Zhang: “…”
The operation went smoothly. Fifty thousand Rule Coins were earned just like that. Since the food problem was solved and the daily life of the public was guaranteed, the next work focus returned to breaking the rules themselves.
Yi Ke leaned against the window, looking at the gray-white sky above the community. “What’s on the rooftop terrace?”
“We’ve checked three times. There’s nothing,” Zhuang Ningyu said. “It’s just an ordinary rooftop terrace. When the weather is good, residents go up to dry clothes. We haven’t heard of any cases of falling or injury, so it’s currently unclear why the rules specifically emphasize staying away from the rooftop terrace.”
“There’s still some time before the monster comes home. I’ll go up and have a look first,” Yi Ke invited. “Together?”
“I still have a meeting to attend,” Zhuang Ningyu glanced at the time. “You can do as you please.”
This time, Yi Ke rarely continued to bother him. He went to the rooftop by himself. But this didn’t mean Zhuang Ningyu’s ears could be quiet, because Qian Yue started making small talk again. “Boss, I noticed you seem a bit cold towards Brother Yi, but he’s very concerned about you. Is there some inside story I don’t know about?”
Zhuang Ningyu looked at him. “Should I be praising your keen sense of smell?”
“I was just asking casually, definitely no other meaning,” Qian Yue raised his hand to guarantee. “Boss, don’t worry, I will definitely only be your lackey.”
“I have no problem with him. I’m just purely jealous of rich people,” Zhuang Ningyu said calmly. “Is that okay?”
“Okay!” Qian Yue nodded solemnly. “I’ll join you in being jealous right now!”
Zhuang Ningyu kicked the man out to work, and opened the online meeting himself. Ye Jiaoyue had already finished praising Yi Ke to Huo Ting, but it still wasn’t enough, so she called on Zhuang Ningyu to continue with a second wave.
A faint laugh seemed to come through the headset. Faced with a friend who enjoyed watching the drama unfold, Zhuang Ningyu chose to adjust his headset, then tapped the microphone to change the subject.
“Recently, has any person or organization from the outside been overly concerned about the Taoli Community rule incident?”
“Yes,” Huo Ting answered. “People from the president’s office of Shengsheng Group came by this morning.”
Zhuang Ningyu brewed himself a cup of tea. “Then according to the usual pattern, the villain is most likely this Shengsheng Group. What do they do?”
“Security industry,” Huo Ting said. “Last month, they just signed on as a government cooperative unit for rule-breaking. Most of their employees are our volunteers, so it’s reasonable for them to come and ask.”
Zhuang Ningyu opened the latest file and scanned it briefly. He couldn’t see anything unusual for the time being, but being too proactive was in itself an abnormality. After all, being a rule volunteer was a purely thankless job. There wasn’t much short-term benefit, and it would greatly occupy the enterprise’s human resources. So in most cases, unless the government requested it, cooperative units generally would not take the initiative.
“Normally, that’s the case,” Huo Ting explained. “But this time, Yi Ke is in the action team, and behind Yi Ke is the entire Yi Group.”
Although Yi Guodong verbally supported his son joining the Order Maintenance Department, what father wouldn’t want to protect his cub? In that case, Shengsheng Group’s initiative had a sufficient reason—starting from caring about Yi Ke was indeed the fastest way to establish a relationship with the Yi Group.
Zhuang Ningyu admitted that he hadn’t considered it thoroughly, having forgotten that there was such a bee-and-butterfly-attracting element in the team.
And just then, his phone received a new message. The sender was Yi Ke.
—[kiss] Want to come to the top floor? I have a new discovery.
