The Crowd 03

"What did you say? Get out of the way." The man reached out to shove Fang Zhiyi, but suddenly Fang Zhiyi grabbed his hand. With just a light twist, the man let out an agonized scream.

"Ah!! Let, let go! Let go!"

"What are you doing!" Seeing her son screaming in pain, the old woman hurriedly lunged forward. Who would have thought that this seemingly easy-to-bully young man had absolutely no sense of respecting the elderly or caring for the young. He simply raised his leg and delivered a kick, sending the old woman falling flat on her backside.

She was stunned for a few seconds before suddenly slapping her thigh and wailing, "Oh my goodness, he's hitting people! He's murdering us! Everyone, come and judge this!"

More onlookers gathered around.

"You bad man! Let go of my dad!" The chubby little boy felt emboldened seeing the crowd. He stepped forward to punch Fang Zhiyi's thigh, but Fang Zhiyi simply raised his hand and delivered a resounding slap. The chubby boy spun a full circle on the spot, covered his face in a daze for a good while, and then burst into loud tears.

"You..." The only woman who hadn't been hit was dumbfounded. "You, how could you... Hubby! Mom!... Xiaobao!" She didn't know who to tend to first.

Fang Zhiyi flung the man's arm away. The man stumbled backward, clutching his hand, and crashed right into the old woman who was just getting up to check on her grandson's injuries. The old woman fell onto her backside again, crying out, "Ouch!"

"You cursed bastard! You're shameless, I'm going to call the police to arrest you!" the old woman cursed.

The chubby boy also cried and shouted, "Arrest him! Put him in jail!"

Fang Zhiyi leaned against the door with his arms crossed, an eerie smile on his face. "Sure, go ahead. I'll wait right here."

"You! Don't be too arrogant!" The old woman also realized the reality of the situation. Who would care about their trivial matters now?

"Oh?" Fang Zhiyi suddenly stepped out the door and stared intently at the old woman's face.

Under his intense gaze, the old woman panicked a little. "What, what are you doing! There are so many people watching!"

"Even trash like you knows that forcing your way into someone else's home during this period won't be punished, so what makes you think I'm afraid of people watching?" Fang Zhiyi said, rolling his wrists.

"You, you..."

"I'll count to three. If you don't get lost, I'll throw your grandson into the water to learn how to swim, and then I'll throw you in next..."

"You'll get your retribution!" the old woman shouted, then scrambled away, practically crawling and tumbling.

Fang Zhiyi turned his head. Her son and daughter-in-law also dragged the chubby boy away, quickly disappearing down the stairwell. He scanned the probing gazes one by one, and anyone who met his eyes unnaturally looked away.

As Fang Zhiyi closed his door, the crowd breathed a sigh of relief.

"Is this young man surnamed Fang really this fierce?"

"I never noticed it before."

"I remember he used to be quite agreeable. He never refused when asked to help throw away the trash."

"Hmph, you probably don't know, but this is called revealing one's true nature. In this special period, human nature becomes clear at a glance."

"Right, the relief supplies haven't been delivered for two days."

"Speaking of relief supplies, I heard... someone has been stealing things at night."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone looked at their neighbors with some unease. The neighbors they used to chat with when they met had now become targets to guard against.

"You just hit them directly?" Little Hei was also a bit surprised.

Fang Zhiyi clapped his hands. "I feel much better now. Special times call for special measures. With so many eyes watching, if I wasn't a bit tougher, what would they do? I don't have as good a temper as the original owner."

He began to rummage through the house. As he searched, he started to admire the original owner a bit. There was nothing left in the house but some water, rice, dried noodles, and the like. The original owner had actually survived on these things.

"This is killing me..." Fang Zhiyi looked at the things in his hands. The last world was fine; he was a skeleton and didn't need to eat, but now...

The people in the stairwell who had quieted down were all preoccupied with their own thoughts. Fang Zhiyi's door suddenly opened, and several pairs of eyes quickly looked over, then immediately turned away.

"Hey, does anyone have any seasonings or something? Come, I'll trade some rice for it." Fang Zhiyi held a bowl of rice in his hand.

Someone's eyes lit up. "Me! Little Fang, it's Little Fang, right? I have some seasonings and stuff here. How much do you need?"

Fang Zhiyi looked at the person. His name was Chen Rui. The original owner had seen him a few times, so they were nodding acquaintances. The person beside him should be his girlfriend.

They were also a pair of ill-fated lovers.

"I need... just give me whatever you see fit." Fang Zhiyi didn't hesitate. He stepped forward and shoved the bowl into Chen Rui's hands. Chen Rui didn't dawdle either; he immediately dug through his bag for some seasonings, Sichuan peppercorns, chili powder, and the like, and poured a little of each for Fang Zhiyi.

"Alright..." Fang Zhiyi turned and took a few steps, then suddenly stopped. He looked at Chen Rui. "Why do you carry seasonings with you?"

Chen Rui smiled awkwardly. "I used to like camping. I'm not afraid of you laughing at me, but these seasonings are leftovers from my last camping trip. They've been in this bag ever since..."

Fang Zhiyi looked at his hiking backpack and nodded. "Can you cook?"

"Yes."

"Hmm... come cook noodles for me."

"Huh?" Chen Rui was stunned for a moment.

"I said, pack your bags and come cook noodles for me."

Chen Rui's face flushed. "Oh, okay, okay!" He grabbed his girlfriend and started packing up his things. The people around him looked at him with envy. Someone wanted to speak up, but upon seeing Fang Zhiyi's gaze, they shut their mouths.

Why did it feel like he was going to bite someone?

Fang Zhiyi, who had closed the door, watched as Chen Rui carefully pulled a portable cassette stove out of his bag. He knew he had bet right. This kid had potential!

One must know that starting a fire nowadays was a troublesome matter, extremely troublesome.

Chen Rui also knew that as long as he did a good job, he and his girlfriend could stay in Fang Zhiyi's house. He focused entirely on cooking the noodles, without any other thoughts.

However, some people were jealous that Chen Rui and his girlfriend got to move into Fang Zhiyi's house. But those who were jealous didn't dare to cause trouble at his door, so they turned around and told the Sun family, who had returned to the downstairs corridor.

Old Hag Sun had been cursing Fang Zhiyi the whole time. If anyone looked at her a second longer, she would curse them. When she suddenly heard about this, she was furious. "On what grounds? Ah? I bet he's taken a fancy to that family's slutty woman!"

Her daughter-in-law's face was full of embarrassment, and the other nearby families had strange looks in their eyes.

Cursing was one thing, but she didn't dare to go up there. After all, she had nowhere to reason after being beaten, and her own son was a coward who didn't even dare to fight back when he was hit.

However, her curses gave her chubby grandson some courage. Thinking about how he had been slapped in public by Fang Zhiyi, a plan formed in his mind.

At night, as everyone gradually fell fast asleep, the Sun family's chubby boy, Sun Jiahao, sneaked up to the floor where Fang Zhiyi lived. He raised his hand, ready to knock on the door. His method of revenge was very simple: knock on the door and run away, so Fang Zhiyi wouldn't be able to sleep well!

"If you won't let me stay, don't think you can live comfortably either!" His flat, round face was filled with excitement.