120: Chapter 120 A Unique Way of Thinking

It turns out that money can soothe inner frustration; if it can't, it's simply because there isn't enough money.

Case in point: the slight gloom Min Hao felt from being called "Little Min" was instantly smoothed away by the phrases "Give me two sets" and "I'll take three."

With a sincere smile on his face, Min Hao spoke to the eager crowd, "Everyone, don't worry. Our shop has plenty of stock; there's enough for everyone."

On the other side, Chen Sheng, his gaze gradually regaining its clarity, slowly backed out of the crowd.

He admitted this was an excellent promotional strategy, but unfortunately, it still couldn't escape his sharp, insightful gaze; he had already seen through it all.

Three hundred and eighty-eight for a bone conduction speaker...

Heh~

Chen Sheng got back into his car, thought for a moment, and then floored the accelerator toward the Maybach 4S dealership in the south of the city.

Although he didn't have the money to buy the Maybach mentioned in the intelligence, that didn't stop him from getting familiar with the place in advance.

So...

After checking out the location, Chen Sheng opened his ride-hailing app and began today's journey of collecting material.

Unfortunately, he didn't encounter a single eccentric customer all the way until the afternoon. "Sigh! Another routine day of searching for material."

Before Mei Xue got off work, he made a trip to the commercial street. After Chen Sheng finished balancing the accounts for the retail store today, he "clocked out" on the spot, went to the market to buy ingredients for a few signature dishes, and headed straight home.

He had been busy earning hard-earned money based on the intelligence these past few days and hadn't been able to have a proper dinner with An Xiaonuan. Returning home early today was a rare treat, a perfect chance to reward them both.

Dinner was cozy, but just as they were halfway through, that familiar "thump, thump, thump" sounded again from overhead... no, from the ceiling.

"WTF! Is this ever going to end!" An Xiaonuan slammed down her chopsticks in frustration, picked up her phone, opened the homeowners' group chat, and typed: "To the people living in Building 2, 17th Floor, Unit 3, could you please keep it down? It's late at night..."

As An Xiaonuan shared her experience from the previous night in the group, it was like a drop of water falling into a pan of boiling oil; the previously quiet homeowners' group instantly exploded.

"What happened? What's going on?"

"Is the owner of Unit 3 throwing a party?"

At that moment, someone who most likely lived next door to Unit 3 on the 17th floor @-mentioned An Xiaonuan: "It's useless to talk in the group. The people in Unit 3 are tenants who just moved in two days ago; they probably haven't joined the group yet."

When An Xiaonuan read that sentence aloud, Chen Sheng felt that all the irrationalities finally had an explanation. "I'll go up and take a look."

Chen Sheng put down his chopsticks and took half of the fruit the neighbor had brought yesterday. Seeing An Xiaonuan about to follow, he shook his head. "Don't go. I'll go up and scout the situation myself first."

"Then be careful," An Xiaonuan urged.

Chen Sheng nodded, opened the door, and walked out. He glanced at the elevator's position, then turned and headed straight up the fire escape to the 17th floor.

"Knock, knock, knock~" Soon, Chen Sheng knocked on the door of Unit 3.

"Who is it? Knocking on the door in the middle of the night instead of sleeping!"

Although the voice was through the door, Chen Sheng was in the quiet hallway, and his ears clearly and completely received the words.

He couldn't help but frown.

"Probably a difficult person to talk to," Chen Sheng couldn't help but think.

With a creak, the door opened, and a middle-aged woman appeared before him.

The woman was slightly plump... actually, the word "slightly" could probably be removed. Looking down from his height, he estimated the plump woman's height to be around 150-155 cm.

As for her facial features...

It had to be said, some people just look sharp and mean at first glance.

And this plump woman was exactly that type.

Her fat face couldn't hide her protruding cheekbones; she had single eyelids with the corners of her eyes tilted slightly upward, sparse and messy eyebrows, and disheveled hair. When she looked at Chen Sheng, he felt a sense of déjà vu, as if he were being stared at by a "matron" from a period drama.

A chill ran down his back.

Chen Sheng secretly swallowed and forced out a smile he thought was very friendly. He held the bag of fruit out to the plump woman and, under her unfriendly gaze, explained with a smile, "Hello, I'm your downstairs neighbor. I'm sorry to intrude, but I was hoping you could keep the noise down a bit. We can hear a 'thump, thump, thump' sound coming from the ceiling all the time downstairs."

"Local apples, huh!" Seeing the green local apples in the bag, the plump woman said with a hint of disdain and perfunctoriness, "Got it, got it. We'll be careful."

As she spoke, the plump woman snatched the bag, and then with a "bang," the door was slammed shut.

"Damn..." Chen Sheng stood before the door with his mouth agape for several minutes.

In short, he was cursing quite filthily in his head.

He returned home via the stairs. As soon as he walked in, An Xiaonuan asked urgently, "What did they say?"

"Not an easy person to get along with. She looked at me like I was a thief when she opened the door, and she shut it right after I said one sentence. But she did take the stuff, so it should..."

Before Chen Sheng could finish his sentence, the familiar "thump, thump, thump" sounded from overhead again.

This sound was like a slap to his left cheek, followed by another to his right.

"F*ck, that's not how you do things." Chen Sheng's face instantly flushed with anger.

At the very least, after taking someone's things, even if it was just for show, they should have pretended a little. As it turned out, the people upstairs couldn't even be bothered to pretend.

Chen Sheng even felt that after taking his things, the people upstairs were calling him an idiot behind his back.

Giving fruit to someone you don't even know—if that's not an idiot, what is?

"I'm going up again." Seeing An Xiaonuan wanting to follow again, Chen Sheng quickly stopped her. "You're pregnant, don't go. In case a conflict breaks out..."

"Then be careful. If they really won't listen, just forget it. We'll call the police and let the officers handle it."

"Don't worry, I'm not stupid!" Chen Sheng changed his shoes again and walked out the door.

He took the stairs up to the 17th floor again and knocked on the door of Unit 3.

But this time, the one who opened the door wasn't the plump woman, but an Old Woman with white hair and a slightly hunched back.

The Old Woman's frame was very thin and gaunt, especially her face, which felt like skin stretched over bone. Chen Sheng's first impression was that she was very, very difficult to talk to.

Chen Sheng still managed to squeeze out a slight smile. "Ma'am, could you please keep the noise down? My wife is pregnant, and she can't really handle this constant 'thump, thump, thump.'"

The Old Woman looked Chen Sheng up and down with a sidelong glance and said impatiently, "I know, I know. It'll be over once my grandson finishes the homework assigned by his teacher."

Seeing the Old Woman about to close the door again after dropping those words, Chen Sheng quickly blocked it with his hand and asked with a smile, "Um, if I may ask, even for homework assigned by a teacher, there shouldn't be a need to make such a loud noise, right?"

Is he doing his homework with his feet?

"Dribbling a basketball, jumping rope—how can there not be? He has to film a video every day to send to the teacher." The Old Woman looked at Chen Sheng with a gaze that suggested he was being ignorant.

"Dribbling a basketball? And jumping rope?" Chen Sheng's voice suddenly rose an octave. "Wait, aren't dribbling and jumping rope supposed to be done downstairs in the community area? You're doing them inside the house?"

The Old Woman looked at Chen Sheng with an unfriendly gaze and snapped, "What community area? There are so many mosquitoes in the community. If my grandson gets bitten, will you be responsible?"

"No, but you still can't do it inside the house. Besides, even if it's for a video, you don't have to do it so late at night. Yesterday..."

"Yesterday what? A video has to be filmed properly! If it's not filmed well and he doesn't get a little red flower, will you be responsible? After finishing homework, shouldn't he take a break? Don't you understand the concept of balancing work and rest?"

Chen Sheng didn't know which of his words had touched a nerve with the Old Woman, but at this moment, she was being completely unreasonable.

"No, Ma'am, you're being a bit..."

Before Chen Sheng could finish, there was another "bang," and the door was slammed shut again.

Chen Sheng: "..."

He stood silently in front of the door for about three minutes. During those three minutes, he used "mother" as the center and eighteen generations of ancestors as the radius to cordially greet the family behind the door, finally ending this silent greeting with a "To hell with them."

Returning home, before An Xiaonuan could speak, Chen Sheng poured out everything he had just experienced upstairs like a torrent of bitter water.

"So what do we do now? How about we get the property management involved?" An Xiaonuan suggested with a frown.

Chen Sheng said with a hint of disdain, "property management? Forget it. Remember at the beginning of the year when the light in our hallway broke? We asked them to fix it, and we ended up waiting nearly a month."

It wasn't that he looked down on property management; it was just that they were truly incompetent.

Chen Sheng sighed helplessly. "If they still don't restrain themselves, I plan to just call the police."

As long as things could be discussed, he really didn't want to go as far as calling the police.

Once the police arrived, it would mean the two families had completely fallen out, but the people upstairs were truly unreasonable!

...