Chapter 47 Trial
"So you're saying that whoever deliberately stirs up trouble should be arrested and then kicked out, right?"
"Of course," Xu Zhen said solemnly.
Bai Xiao raised her flashlight, shining it on everyone's faces, and asked, "Do you all think so too?"
"That's right. Don't think that just because you're a woman, you can get everyone's sympathy by bowing your head after doing something wrong. The wicked deserve to be punished," someone said righteously.
His righteous words made the surrounding people nod in agreement and cheer, each of them acting like an envoy of justice.
"In that case, everyone come over and take a look."
Her expression was calm, and there wasn't a hint of panic in her voice. She simply held up her phone and opened a video.
The crowd gathered around, confused. In the video, the couple from 1301 was clearly seen hacking at her front door with a kitchen knife!
The timestamp on the video was 4:35 AM today.
Seeing the stunned looks on everyone's faces, Bai Xiao leisurely pointed at the couple.
"Did you see that clearly? My honorable lords of justice, now that you've seen it, don't just stand there. Arrest them."
"That's impossible!" the woman from 1301 screamed like she was going crazy.
She pointed at the phone, her face full of confusion. "There's no power right now, and without power, there's no internet. How could the camera still be recording?!"
Bai Xiao stared at her and sneered, "Are you brainless? Don't you know cameras can have backup power? Don't you know they can use SIM cards? Did you think you could really do whatever you wanted just because it was a dark and windy night?"
After saying that, she tilted her head and met the gaze of Xu Zhen's group again. "What are you waiting for? Great building manager Xu, take action."
For a long while, no one moved. Someone whispered, "He's already been beaten like this, and his door is broken. Your door only has a couple of nicks on it; it's no big deal. Just let it go."
Zhao Fangzhe had long been dissatisfied with Xu Zhen. Seeing this, he countered, "building manager, as the head of this building, are you also going to fail to distinguish right from wrong and show favoritism?"
The hallway slowly went quiet as everyone waited to hear what Xu Zhen would say.
Xu Zhen's face was extremely pale. He knew about Liu Hui sneaking out to smash Bai Xiao's door that night. He knew Liu Hui's family was about to run out of food. As soon as the patrol list came out, he had casually mentioned to Liu Hui that he had seen Bai Xiao's place stocked with plenty of supplies. He secretly cursed Liu Hui for being such a useless waste, unable to handle even this small task.
"What everyone said just now makes sense. It was wrong of him to hack at your door first, but you've already retaliated. Not only did you break his door, but you also beat him up. You should be more forgiving when possible."
"Heh." Bai Xiao sneered. If her door had been an ordinary one, it would have been hacked to pieces by now. These people were all in cahoots, and she couldn't be bothered to get angry at this pack of double-standard dogs.
She held up her phone and gave it a shake. "Then let everyone else have a fair say."
Seeing her action, the crowd couldn't help but look down and open their phones, only to find that two files and a message had just been uploaded to the group chat.
One file was the surveillance video, and the other was an audio recording.
Someone accidentally turned on the speaker. The recording started from the moment the door of 1301 was smashed, through the couple feigning innocence and the crowd backing them up, all the way until Xu Zhen finished speaking just now.
【5#-1-1201】: At 4:35 AM, the residents of 1301 smashed my front door with the intent of home invasion and robbery. They have now been caught red-handed by the Patrol Team with solid evidence. Despite such a heinous act, building manager Xu Zhen has failed to distinguish right from wrong, ignoring the safety of all owners in Building 5. Please unite to resist crime and remove Xu Zhen from his position as building manager.
Xu Zhen's face twisted after reading it. He glared at Bai Xiao as if he wanted to kill her.
Bai Xiao raised an eyebrow, her eyes full of defiance. She then ignored the mess, turned around, and leisurely headed downstairs to wait for the situation to ferment as dawn broke.
With the matter concluded, the people gathered on the third floor slowly dispersed. The commotion had lasted nearly an hour, and the patrol work was mostly finished. The three men also returned to the 12th floor.
In the dim stairwell, Bai Xiao walked ahead, her figure appearing solitary and slender. Zhao Fangzhe and the other two stared at her back, their thoughts unknown. In just a few hours, their impression of her had undergone a complete transformation, and they felt the last trace of hidden gender prejudice in their hearts vanish.
...
It was nearly six o'clock by the time she got home. The sky was beginning to brighten, and the dim light turned the darkness inside the house into a deep blue. Bai Xiao turned off her flashlight and, instead of going to the bedroom, lay on the beanbag chair to rest with her eyes closed.
At nine o'clock, she finished her daily training session. This was also the time for the scheduled daily power supply, and most people had moved their wake-up and breakfast times to this hour.
Unexpectedly, as soon as people woke up, they were hit with such explosive news. The group chat was in an uproar over the two files and the message.
First, Xu Zhen posted two photos in the group: one of the male owner of 1301 after being badly beaten, and another of the smashed door lock. These photos stood in stark contrast to Bai Xiao's slightly damaged door.
【5#1-801】: Everyone, as the building manager, I am not being partial. Although the Liu Hui couple from 1301 were at fault first, 1201 has already retaliated against them. Furthermore, they have suffered significant losses and injuries. The heavy fog has isolated our communities one by one. In the face of such a disaster, we should support each other and prioritize unity. We must not drive people to a dead end. [Image] [Image] [Image]
【5#2-1303】: Yeah, I was there. 1301 was beaten pretty badly. He's already learned his lesson, so let's not take it too far.
【5#1-1301】: We apologize to 1201. We really didn't intend to rob anyone. It's just that we ran out of food last time, and we wanted to go downstairs to borrow some. She pretended not to be home, so we just smashed the door on purpose to try and scare her.
【5#1-802】: The building manager is just kind-hearted; he can't bear to see them punished when they're already injured.
【5#1-1602】: building manager Xu, no wonder the owner of 1201 said you can't distinguish right from wrong. These two clearly smashed the door with the intent of home invasion and robbery first. If it weren't for the heavy fog, they would have been reported to the police long ago. Robbery is a serious crime, yet you're trying to cover it up with a few words. Have you considered us owners? What if these two try to rob someone else one day? Can you take responsibility for that?
【5#2-1004】: 1602 is right. It's obvious that the owner of 1201 only avoided violent entry because her door is sturdy. If we let these robbers off easy, those of us who haven't installed security doors won't be able to sleep at night!
...
After all, Xu Zhen had been the building manager for several years, and half the people in the building were familiar with him. Even after this happened, his supporters labeled him as being merely kind-hearted rather than truly unable to distinguish right from wrong.
The other half were genuinely terrified by the home invasion and robbery. When something like this happened in Building 3 yesterday, people in other buildings didn't feel it as strongly since it wasn't happening to them. But just a day later, it was happening right next to them—how could they not be afraid?
In the end, everyone agreed to punish the Liu Hui couple from 1301 by making them join the community Patrol Team for a week as Security Personnel. building manager Xu Zhen was demoted to Deputy Building Manager, and a new building manager was appointed from among the other highly respected owners.
Bai Xiao stopped following the subsequent developments. She knew she couldn't kick out or punish Liu Hui, Xu Zhen, and the others; doing so would surely throw the building into chaos. Moreover, even if they were kicked out, she didn't have the time to monitor the hallways every day to see if anyone was secretly letting them back in.
She understood the principle that while a thief can plot for a thousand days, one cannot guard against a thief for a thousand days.
Her original plan was simply to establish her dominance. If true chaos ever broke out, a woman living alone would be too easy a target for greed. With this incident, people would at least be somewhat wary of her and wouldn't dare to easily come knocking on her door.