Mrs. Vance dropped to her knees, startling Melody Summers.

Melody quickly bent down to help Mrs. Vance up, stammering, "Don’t, don’t, don’t! There’s no need for this. Please don’t do this! Get up!"

Being knelt to by an elder made Melody feel like she was losing years off her life.

But Mrs. Vance insisted, "Miss Summers, you saved my family’s lives, but I repaid your kindness with malice... This is all my fault! I’ve wronged you!"

If Mrs. Vance’s remorse was a 90 out of 100 when her theft was exposed, right now, it had shot up to 999.

Mrs. Vance was filled with regret. She gripped Melody’s sleeve tightly and said through her tears, "Miss Summers, my family owes you two lives... No, four lives! You saved my entire family! From now on, if you ever need anything, just ask!"

Mrs. Vance was willing to give her own life just to repay Melody’s kindness.

Melody waved her hands frantically, struggling to help Mrs. Vance up. "No, no, no, you don’t need to do this. I’m begging you, please just get up first!"

Just as Melody clumsily managed to get Mrs. Vance back on her feet, Mrs. Vance’s daughter-in-law, Susan Warren, also realized what was happening.

The thought that Melody had saved her and her son, yet she had stolen and eaten pork from Melody’s home, filled Susan Warren with shame and regret.

She choked back sobs and said to Melody, "Our benefactor! Thank you for saving me and my son!"

With that, Susan Warren clutched her belly and also moved to kneel before Melody.

Seeing this, Melody was so horrified she thought her soul would leap out of her skull!

She rushed forward, grabbing Susan Warren to stop her from kneeling, and kept repeating, "Don’t! Don’t do this! Please don’t!"

Watching Mrs. Vance and Susan Warren crying their eyes out, a complete mess of tears, Melody was at a total loss. She turned and shot Officer Tate a pleading look.

’I really can’t handle this scene!’

Officer Tate cleared his throat and said, "Alright, since you recognize your mistake, we’ll be leaving now. I hope you’ll keep your promise, not repeat this offense, and not tell anyone what happened today."

Mrs. Vance and Susan Warren nodded repeatedly. Even Susan Warren’s son obediently nodded along and said in his small, childish voice, "I definitely won’t tell!"

After that, Melody didn’t dare to linger. She grabbed Officer Tate’s arm and bolted out of there.

...

After finally escaping from Mrs. Vance’s apartment, Melody let out a long sigh of relief.

She turned and gave Officer Tate a helpless look, complaining, "Officer Tate, you really threw me to the wolves back there!"

Officer Tate had been trying to hold back his laughter the entire time, the corners of his mouth twitching uncontrollably.

’Melody Summers is a few years younger than me, a college student who only graduated a little over a year ago, yet she always has such a calm demeanor. That was the first time I’d ever seen her so flustered,’ Officer Tate thought.

Hearing Melody’s complaint, he cleared his throat and replied, "I was worried about you, that’s why I told them. Now that their family is indebted to you, you’ll be a little safer in the future."

Melody was speechless. ’Why do I feel like this has only made things more complicated?’

...

******

After parting ways with Officer Tate at the elevators, Melody Summers went straight home.

Just then, a fine, dense black snow began to fall again outside the window. Melody glanced at the date. If she wasn’t mistaken, the sky should be clearing up soon.

Melody originally thought the matter with Mrs. Vance was over, but unexpectedly, Mrs. Vance came knocking on the Summers family’s door that evening.

This time, Mrs. Vance didn’t ask to come in. She just spoke through the door, "Miss Summers, these things at your doorstep are a small token of our gratitude. Please, you must accept them!"

As if worried Melody would refuse, Mrs. Vance put the items down and ran back to her apartment as soon as she finished speaking.

Melody felt helpless. She had no choice but to open the door and bring in the two large bags Mrs. Vance had left.

Seeing this, Miss Lowell and Grandma gathered around curiously, asking, "Where did these come from? What is all this?"

Melody opened the two bags and saw they were filled with various items.

There were two brand-new down jackets, a pair of new snow boots, and a thick woolen blanket that still had the tag on.

Besides that, there was a pile of candles and lighters, a pile of solid alcohol fuel, a small bag of bamboo charcoal, two chocolate bars, and a piece of pork—a piece clearly larger than the one they had stolen from Melody.

Grace Sutton looked at the pile of items, puzzled. "Where did all this come from?"

’Where else could it have come from?’ Melody thought. ’This must be the "compensation and thank-you gift" that Mrs. Vance scraped together by emptying her home.’

With a sigh, Melody had no choice but to recount the events of last night and today to her family in the living room, telling them everything from start to finish.

Grandma and the others were utterly shocked after hearing the story.

Grace Sutton asked in astonishment, "Good heavens! She really climbed up here with her bare hands?! We’re on the 16th floor! How could she be so bold? If she had fallen, she would have died!"

Miss Lowell, on the other hand, said with concern, "You said the pregnant woman’s eight-month belly only looks like it’s five months along? If that’s the case, can the fetus even develop properly? And now pregnant women can’t even go to the hospital to give birth. That’s just too dangerous..."

Grandma also sighed and lamented, "That whole family is so ill-fated. The son passed away tragically, and the daughter-in-law is carrying an unborn child. Oh, how are they supposed to survive..."

’No wonder Mrs. Vance was so persistent in scrounging for supplies from all her neighbors...’

Melody looked at the two bags of items before her, a headache brewing.

She had seen the bare walls of Mrs. Vance’s home and knew that to gather these two bags of items, the Vance family must have given everything they had.

These two bags were hardly even a luxury for the Summers family, but for Mrs. Vance, they were a lifeline.

Melody couldn’t keep these things.

So she sighed and said, "We don’t need this stuff. I’ll take it back down to her."

Grandma and the others nodded in agreement. "That’s right, we don’t need this. That family—an old woman, a young mother, and a child—is already so vulnerable, and she’s pregnant on top of it all. Life is already hard enough for them. If they give all this to us, they won’t be able to survive. Quick, take it back!"

Melody thought for a moment, then went to the kitchen to grab some sweet potatoes and regular potatoes. She also found two boxes of vitamins and calcium tablets from the storage room, along with three bags of milk powder, and stuffed them all into the two large bags.

Then, Grace Sutton and Melody carried the bags and knocked on the door of 1505.

A moment later, the door to 1505 opened.

A blast of cold air hit them the moment the door opened. The temperature inside 1505 was even lower than it had been when Melody and Officer Tate were there that morning.

The door was opened by the same little boy, who was as thin as a matchstick. He was wrapped in a thick down jacket that was too big for him, its hem dragging on the floor.

The boy was holding the listless chihuahua, the two small creatures sharing body heat to stay warm.

The little boy recognized Melody. His eyes curved into crescents as he called out happily, "It’s you! The lady who saved us!"

Melody: "..."