Chapter 124: Causing Trouble? Then Compensate the Goods!
“Impossible… This can’t be true…” Ji Lin couldn’t accept that her mother might actually be that kind of person. But deep down, she had a nagging feeling it might be true.
“Antique jewelry worth over a billion — could your maternal grandfather’s family possibly afford that? That’s a Lu family heirloom. A brain is a good thing — take it with you when you leave the house next time,” Lu Xi said this not only to Ji Lin but also to the surrounding soldiers. It was to emphasize that Lu Weiyi’s space was an awakened ability, and to clear his name — to prevent them from assuming he had stolen someone else’s belongings.
Zhuang Mingxu let her finish before looking at the soldiers. “Excuse me, there’s a patrol car I drove here — please go fetch someone in charge from the Ji family. Just tell them their daughter damaged someone else’s property and needs to provide compensation.”
“If they don’t come… I’ll have to put these two girls up for auction. In the apocalypse, supplies are life. If you ruin someone’s survival chances, I’ll have to see who can provide the supplies — and they’ll get the girls.”
The soldiers weren’t sure if he was serious or not, but this group clearly had connections with the higher-ups, and they didn’t want trouble. They agreed and drove off to fetch the family.
“You… You can’t do this…” Ji Lin had never endured such hardship before. With so many shocking revelations, all she could do was cry and protest.
Fang Wan, standing nearby, was terrified. Her usual days were spent following Ji Lin around trying to hook up with someone wealthy. Now that the plan had failed and Ji Lin was dragging her down, she immediately distanced herself. “All this was Ji Lin’s doing! It has nothing to do with me. I didn’t even touch anything.”
Zhuang Mingxu looked at Lu Xi, who nodded. “Then you can leave. Go tell your aunt to bring supplies to trade for her daughter. If the supplies don’t arrive by 5 p.m., her daughter will be sold.”
“Un…understood,” Fang Wan didn’t even glance at Ji Lin as she ran off.
Zhuang Mingxu’s words were harsh. Though the soldiers didn’t comment, they still reported the situation to higher-ups. Not long after, a captain arrived — a familiar face, Zhang Peng — one of the seven who had been with Li Qing, and the one who had been unconscious.
“I heard you’re trafficking people, so I came to take a look,” Zhang Peng joked with Zhuang Mingxu.
Li Qing and the others were out scavenging. Zhang Peng, still recovering, had been ordered to stay at the base. When he heard someone report this incident to Li Mu, he took over himself.
Zhuang Mingxu handed him a cigarette, and the two moved to a small office converted from a bedroom. “Of course not — just using your name to scare them a bit, so they don’t keep trying to scam others.”
Zhang Peng took a drag and said, “I watched a ridiculous scene the other day at the Longmen neighborhood gate. You really can’t do anything with people like that.”
Zhuang Mingxu knew he was referring to the Ji Heng incident and didn’t comment. “It’s not that we want their supplies — it’s just a lesson. When they bring compensation, it’s all yours.”
“I can’t accept that,” Zhang Peng had taken on this matter to repay an old favor. Hearing he was getting the goods made him feel awkward.
“No need to be polite. I may be retired, but I wore the uniform once. I don’t have much to give now — this is all I’ve got,” Zhuang Mingxu said, thinking of the three villas he hadn’t rented out. Some people wanted them — the Li or Gu families — but Wu Yue didn’t want to deal with them, so it had dragged on until now.
The entire building outside had been directly sold by Wu Yue, and in exchange, he got four old, small buildings in the Greenland Residential Area, which was a bit farther from Longmen. Before the apocalypse, it was a half-demolished neighborhood, and it didn’t look much better than the collapsed areas elsewhere. Since the base had only been recently established, no one had time to clean it up, so the place remained a mess.
However, beneath the parts of the neighborhood that had already been demolished was a sizable open area. If it could be cleaned out and layered with soil, it could be used for farming directly.
If they could tidy up the surrounding areas too, the whole team could move there. Supplies dug up from the dirt piles could be sorted and picked over there, which would save the trouble of constant comings and goings at the Longmen villas.
And if the military personnel lived there…
“I’ve got a few empty houses—want to stay there?” Zhuang Mingxu asked.
“Houses? Where at?” With so many people in the military and limited supplies, housing was always tight, and everyone crammed in wherever they could. Any spare housing was certainly welcome.
“Two units near Longmen Villas, one on either side of my place. And four six-story buildings in the northern part of the Greenland neighborhood—each floor has three units, all two-bedroom layouts. Not sure if the plumbing still works though,” Zhuang Mingxu said. The sudden cold snap had caused many water pipes at the base to burst. While water for washing was still available, not every location could get it piped directly to the home.
“What’s the rent?” Zhang Peng asked.
“No rent,” Zhuang Mingxu said.
Zhang Peng raised his eyebrows.
Zhuang Mingxu continued, “I’m planning to clean up that area to grow things. You can just help keep an eye on it so no one steals from it. There might be some noise and bustle during the day from the workers. Ask your captain. As for the Longmen Villas—we don’t have many people in our team, and we’d appreciate your help keeping an eye out. The houses are just sitting empty otherwise.”
“Alright, I’ll ask the captain and get back to you,” Zhang Peng replied.
While they were talking, the people sent to fetch Ji Lin’s family arrived.
It was Ji Zhong and Jiang Fu.
Since they hadn’t been able to get any supplies from Lu Weiyi, both Ji Heng and Ji Jin had gone out to look for supplies by this time and weren’t home.
“I’ll go take a look?” Zhang Peng motioned toward Ji Zhong, who was outside getting the situation.
“Thanks,” said Zhuang Mingxu.
Ji Zhong didn’t know the exact reason Ji Lin had been detained, just that she’d caused some trouble. At the moment, he was trying to get the full picture. Jiang Fu, meanwhile, knew perfectly well in her heart but relied on the men to get the supplies. So she just stood in front of Ji Lin, softly comforting her.
After getting the details, Ji Zhong realized that Ji Lin had gone to stir up trouble with Lu Weiyi. “Xiao Yi… when did he come back?”
“When you didn’t care enough to find out,” Lu Xi replied coldly. “And keep your shameless family in check. Trying to take advantage of people again? Before the apocalypse, you schemed to steal someone else’s inheritance, and after the apocalypse, you’re still eyeing other people’s supplies. You’ve truly made shamelessness a family tradition—is that your proud ‘legacy’?”
Lu Xi’s words were sharp as knives. He glanced disdainfully at Jiang Fu and Ji Lin. “Pay up. I’ve got things to do.”
Ji Zhong had lived in harmony with his wife all his life and only had Ji Heng as a son. Although he knew his son was no good, he was still his blood. Now being scolded by a child to his face, he felt humiliated but couldn’t say anything. He lowered his voice and said, “We really don’t have over 150kg of food. Young man, I’m Lu Weiyi’s biological grandfather—can you possibly…”
An old man in his seventies, humbling himself like this, made the surrounding soldiers feel some sympathy. Even Zhang Peng started to think the matter might be hard to settle. But Lu Xi remained cold and unyielding.
“No. You want leniency just because you say you can’t afford it? Have you thought about how my brother would hold up in his team? How his teammates would see him? Who’s supposed to take the hit for the damage?”
“Your whole family is disgusting from top to bottom. Always throwing around the title of ‘grandfather’. A real grandfather would put himself in his grandson’s shoes. When did you ever do that? When his dad cheated and moved in a mistress, where were you as a grandfather? When his dad stole his mom’s inheritance to support his mistress and illegitimate son, where were you?”
“And when his stepmother and her bastard son tormented him into sickness for years, where were you? Always calling yourself a grandfather while doing revolting things—how does your son even have the nerve to ask other people for supplies? Shamelessness must run in your bloodline.”
“Who… who are you?” Ji Zhong’s face flushed red with shame at Lu Xi’s words.
“I’m Lu Xi. Lu Xiao is my dad. Lu Weiyi is my brother. And let me make it clear right now: either you quickly pay up and take her home, or I’ll find whichever local gangster in the base has supplies and sell her off. If that doesn’t work, there’s still the red-light district—any woman will be accepted there.” Lu Xi’s words were vicious, but given the truth that had just been laid out, none of the soldiers objected.
“…Lu Xiao’s son…” Ji Zhong, upon hearing that name, seemed to grow even older. He spoke softly and then turned to look at Ji Lin.
“Grandpa, no, I don’t want to be sold… Grandpa…” Ji Lin cried, her eyes red and swollen. Even Jiang Fu’s eyes were filled with tears as she looked pleadingly at Ji Zhong.
“Go get the supplies Ji Heng had hidden away and use them to pay,” Ji Zhong finally said.
“Dad, that’s all we have left!” Jiang Fu said urgently.
“Then go ahead and let Ji Lin get sold,” Ji Zhong replied, looking at her once before slowly walking out.
“You could go to Lu Weiyi…”
“I don’t have the face for that—do you?” Ji Zhong looked at Jiang Fu, his expression unreadable. But his gaze was so piercing that Jiang Fu swallowed the rest of her words.
Ji Zhong left. Jiang Fu could only take the supplies and exchange them for her daughter. They ended up handing over a little over twenty crystal cores to cover part of the debt. As agreed, Zhuang Mingxu took the cores and left the remaining grain with the military.
Thinking of his earlier plan, Zhuang Mingxu asked Lu Xi to take him to the Greenland neighborhood.
The place had only six buildings left standing. Of those, four belonged to Zhuang Mingxu, and the remaining two to the Gu family. A bunch of random tenants lived in them. Underneath was a large garden area and lawn that had been part of the complex, but the demolition and earthquake had collapsed and buried large portions of it.
Zhuang Mingxu had Lu Xi drive the patrol vehicle around for a wide circuit, taking mental notes as they went.
That same afternoon upon returning, he arranged to trade the usage rights of a villa in the Longmen villa district for the remaining two small buildings and the surrounding land from the Gu family. Originally, his plan had been to move the entire team over there, but after considering the relative safety of the Longmen district, he gave up on that idea.
Thank you for the chapter