With Melody’s explanation, Crystal Lynch finally understood the whole story.

She stared in disbelief. "There’s someone like that in our building? How have I never heard about this before?"

At that moment, Grace Sutton walked over as well. After glancing at the food in the container, she looked just as surprised. She quickly grabbed Crystal’s arm and asked, "Dear, when you cook all this, can’t your neighbors smell it?"

In response, Crystal explained, "I’ve sealed all the cracks around my kitchen doors and windows with tape. I also have an air purifier running inside and I don’t use the range hood, so the smell doesn’t escape. You should give it a try!"

Then, with Crystal’s help, the Summers family sealed up their kitchen doors and windows with tape as well.

The family had just finished working on the kitchen and seen Crystal out when Colin Summers and Winnie Summers returned.

The property management office had organized a snow removal effort in the community today, which included clearing the snow piled up on the roofs of every building. Colin and Winnie had gone to help.

The snow was quite deep, so the cuffs of their pants were soaked through with black slush, leaving dark stains.

Melody and Grace quickly fetched some soft pajamas for them and told them to change out of their damp outer clothes.

Melody noticed a pair of black leather gloves among the clothes Winnie had taken off. "Mom," she asked, confused, "are these gloves yours? I don’t remember you having them."

Winnie shook her head. "They’re Officer Rhodes’s. He saw I was shoveling snow without any gloves, so he let me borrow them. I accidentally brought them home with me. I’ll have to return them next time I see him."

Colin, who was standing nearby, chimed in with a chuckle. "That Officer Rhodes is a really good man! Not only did he lend us his gloves, he even helped us shovel snow! He climbed the roofs of three buildings all by himself and did more work than two people put together!"

Melody was surprised to hear that. ’It looks like the Adler and Hayes family cases are closed,’ she thought. ’The city must be much more peaceful now. Otherwise, Officer Rhodes wouldn’t be so idle he’d have time to help shovel snow...’

The snow started falling again outside the window. Black snowflakes drifted down, as if ink were being poured from the sky. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Each snowflake was like a drop of ink, twirling and dancing through the air before finally landing gently on the ground, piling up into a thick layer of black snow.

Although the temperature outside was slowly dropping, the Summers family’s home remained pleasantly warm.

Several oil-filled radiators hummed away, steadily radiating a comfortable warmth throughout the room.

The Summers family gathered around the dining table, which was laden with tender water spinach, the braised fish and cured spare ribs from Crystal, sweet eight-treasure congee, and creamy mashed potatoes. The whole family enjoyed a wonderful, hearty meal.

...

Early the next morning, the property management office and the emergency response office for The Metropolis Residences posted a message in the group chat, telling everyone to go to the supply distribution point to pick up cold-weather supplies.

"Property Management Office: @All Residents Hello, everyone. The first batch of government-issued cold-weather supplies has arrived. Please bring your ID to the plaza in front of the supply distribution point to collect them."

"7-901 Adventurous Lawson: They’re finally handing out supplies! I’ve been freezing to death these last few days!"

"4-1209 Currently Slacking: Ugh, do we have to go pick it up ourselves? I really don’t want to go outside. I don’t want to leave my blankets. It’s just too cold out there."

"7-901 Adventurous Lawson: @Property Management Office It’s already in the negative teens! When is the heat finally coming on? Nobody can last much longer like this!"

"..."

After scrolling through the group chat, Melody hurried into the living room to tell her family the news.

Colin and Winnie had already left early that morning to help organize the distribution of the supplies, so only Melody, Grace, Grandma, and Miss Lowell were home.

After hearing what Melody said, Grandma mulled it over. "We’re not short on cold-weather supplies. Should we still go get them?"

Grace agreed. "That’s right, we have plenty. National supplies are so tight right now, we should probably leave them for those who actually need them."

Grace had also been reading the residents’ group chat recently. She’d seen many people saying they sold their down jackets and heavy quilts on the second-hand market during last summer’s heatwave. Now that the temperature had plummeted, they couldn’t buy any winter clothes and had no idea what to do.

But Melody shook her head. "We’re living in a residential complex. It’ll be too conspicuous if we never go pick up supplies. We should go, just in case."

Besides, that Mrs. Vance was always coming upstairs to check on what the Summers family was up to.

Just this morning, while they were making breakfast, she’d come knocking, saying she wanted to borrow some salt and insisting they open the door.

It took Grace a lot of talking just to get her to leave.

Under the circumstances, it was better to follow the crowd and not draw attention to themselves. They should just pick up the supplies first and figure things out later.

******

「The Lancaster Villa.」

With no money to run the central heating, the entire villa was as cold as a giant icebox.

Sylvia Lancaster was curled up under the covers, still lost in a dream.

In her dream, she had returned to her past life. She was once again the high and mighty little princess of the Lancaster family, doted on and cherished.

The Lancaster family had staged a comeback, thanks to the stream in her pocket dimension. Robert Lancaster and Simon Lancaster stood proudly on a stage, telling the media and reporters that the family’s only daughter, Sylvia Lancaster, was their greatest benefactor...

Then the scene shifted. Sylvia dreamed she was wearing a snow-white wedding dress.

Elaine Hughes and Silas Lancaster were by her side, walking her down the aisle to Flynn Adler, who waited in a black tuxedo.

She and Flynn Adler were happily married.

Just as Sylvia was lost in her sweet dream, a shrill voice pierced the air by her ear—

"Sylvia Lancaster! Why aren’t you outside shoveling snow yet?!"

The voice jolted Sylvia from her dream. Her eyes flew open, meeting the furious gaze of Elaine Hughes.

The Elaine Hughes before her was a far cry from the gentle, doting mother in her dream. Sylvia stared at her, momentarily unable to process the reality.

Seeing Sylvia’s dumbstruck expression, Elaine only grew more furious.

She ripped the blankets right off Sylvia, yanking her out of the warm cocoon and into the cold air. "You brat, didn’t you hear me?!" she roared. "Get up to the roof and shovel the snow! What are you standing there gawking for?!"

The air outside her cocoon of blankets was frigid. Sylvia let out a violent sneeze.

She quickly wrapped the blankets around herself and looked at Elaine with a pleading expression. "Mom, please, just let me rest for a little while. I’m just so tired..."

Ever since the snow started yesterday, Sylvia and Simon had been forced to climb onto the roof every two hours to shovel it off, to keep the villa from collapsing under the weight.

Both Sylvia and Simon had been pampered their entire lives and had never done such manual labor before. Sylvia felt like she was going to die from exhaustion.

The worst part was that after just two rounds of shoveling, Simon had come down with a high fever.