Zhou Ke'er worried Zhang Yi would think her "too kind" — she'd given Aunt Lin supplies back when the snowstorm had just begun. Zhang Yi chuckled. "That's not the point. How would she have survived otherwise? Your stock would've run out."
Zhou Ke'er paused mid-bite. "Lin Xiaohu died ten days ago because there was no medicine."Zhang Yi nodded. "Then her gratitude makes sense. She really did keep him close." He laughed at the little prank he'd just pulled; having a woman in the apartment made life unexpectedly livelier.
Their conversation was cut by a distant, horrible sight: someone on Building 18's balcony — naked — leapt outward like a diver. Zhou Ke'er sighed, exhausted. "When will this end?" People were killing themselves in waves now, hopeless and spent. Zhang Yi only shrugged. "Nature's turned cruel. We can't fix that. We can only survive it."
His phone rang. It was Uncle You — one of the few people he still trusted, a former soldier who'd once risked his life for others and who'd kept his moral backbone in a world that had lost it. Uncle You spoke haltingly. "Zhang Yi… are you okay?"
Zhang Yi listened. Uncle You's voice trembled: Xie Limei's little girl had a fever and there was no medicine in the building. Xie Limei — young, attractive, and clingy — had attached herself to Uncle You; he'd been protecting her and her child. Now the child was burning up and they were desperate. "Do you have anything?" he asked.
Zhang Yi considered. He could have refused — supplies were precious — but this was a chance to build an alliance. "I have a few boxes," he said. "Come and get them."
Uncle You's relief was immediate. He promised loyalty on the spot. Zhou Ke'er watched, amused: "Clever. Your cold caution is just cunning." Zhang Yi smiled. "Relationships now are transactions — that's reality. But Uncle You is strong and decent. I want him to owe me, and I don't want that decency to die. It's rare now."