Seeing her grandmother’s worried expression, Grace Sutton quickly reassured her, "Thankfully, security in our neighborhood has always been good. Most people are law-abiding. Don’t worry, Grandma!"

Hearing this, her grandmother nodded with a sense of resignation. ’I hope so...’ she thought.

******

On the other side, Joyce Lawson was pulling a flatbed cart piled high with supplies, struggling to move forward through the snow one step at a time.

There were five people in her family, and with supplies for all of them, there were several hundred sand vine cakes alone.

Now, with all the supplies piled onto the cart, Joyce Lawson struggled to pull the heavy load all by herself.

The wheels left deep tracks in the snow, and every step she took felt like it drained all of her strength.

In the minus-twenty-degree-Celsius weather, she was panting with exhaustion. Sweat dripped from her forehead, soaking the collar of her shirt.

Finally, after a great deal of effort, she managed to drag the cartload of supplies back home.

After hauling everything into the living room, Joyce Lawson leaned back against the door and collapsed onto the floor, gasping for air.

Hearing the door open, Joyce Lawson’s family ignored the cold and hurried out of the bedroom into the living room to see what was happening.

When he saw the cart piled high with supplies, Joyce Lawson’s younger brother, Gregory Lawson, felt his eyes light up. He shot to his feet and dove right for it!

"Where’s the pumpkin?" he shouted excitedly. "Where’s the pumpkin? Where’s my pumpkin?! I want to eat pumpkin! I want to eat it now!"

Seeing this, Joyce Lawson’s father, Mason Lawson, also spoke up. "Joyce, I saw in the group chat that there was pumpkin in this batch of supplies. Did you get any? Which box has the pumpkin?"

Joyce, still gasping for breath, heard him and answered with difficulty, her voice hoarse. "The... the top box... That one... It’s the vegetable mystery box..."

Gregory Lawson’s eyes grew even brighter. He excitedly tore at the box, shouting, "I want steamed pumpkin! I want pumpkin pancakes! I want pumpkin congee! All the pumpkin in this house is mine, and none of you are allowed to fight me for it!"

Their mother, Yvonne York, saw this and smilingly patted Gregory Lawson’s head. "Alright, alright, all the pumpkin is for our Gregory. No one’s going to fight you for it. You can eat to your heart’s content this time!"

The moment Yvonne finished speaking, Gregory Lawson’s excited shouts came to an abrupt halt.

There was no pumpkin in the box, only a pile of potatoes.

Gregory’s excitement gave way to confusion. Refusing to give up, he rummaged through the box, but there was still no sign of any pumpkin.

Gregory stared blankly at the pile of potatoes in the box. Three seconds later, he let out a piercing shriek.

He whipped his head around to face Joyce Lawson and screamed, "You useless girl! Where’s the pumpkin? Where’s my pumpkin?! Where the hell is my pumpkin?!"

Joyce shakily climbed to her feet. She walked over, glanced at the potatoes in the box, and explained, "It’s a mystery box. It’s random. They can have potatoes, pumpkin, or sweet potatoes. It’s just luck of the draw what you get. Not every box has pumpkin."

Joyce explained patiently, but Gregory didn’t hear a single word.

Gregory lifted the box of potatoes and slammed it down violently on Joyce’s head, screaming incessantly, "I don’t like potatoes! I want pumpkin! You useless girl! You bitch! Why didn’t you bring me back any pumpkin?!"

The frost-covered potatoes were as hard as rocks, and the contents of the box rained down on Joyce’s head and face.

Joyce couldn’t dodge in time. A huge potato, like a cannonball, struck her squarely on the bridge of her nose.

A jolt of intense pain shot through her, and she squeezed her eyes shut.

When Joyce opened her eyes again, her vision was a blur. Tears and blood mingled, streaming down her cheeks.

She instinctively raised a hand to her nose and found her fingers covered in bright red blood.

Faced with this scene, Mason Lawson didn’t reprimand Gregory at all. Instead, he turned on Joyce. "You damn girl, don’t you know your brother likes pumpkin? Why did you bring back potatoes?! Did you do this on purpose?!"

Yvonne York also looked at Joyce with disappointment. She sighed and said, "Joyce, is it because you think your father and I favor your brother that you’re deliberately trying to spite him? How could you be so malicious? You’ve disappointed me so much!"

Joyce Lawson’s grandmother hugged Gregory dotingly, then turned to Joyce and snorted. "Hmph. I always knew you can’t raise a girl to be loyal. You’re rotten to the core! If I’d known you were so malicious, I would have thrown you in the river to drown the day you were born!"

The words of the three of them were like daggers plunging straight into Joyce’s heart.

Joyce’s face was pale, and her body trembled uncontrollably. A wave of grievance and heartbreak washed over her.

She gritted her teeth, wiped the blood from her face, and said with difficulty, "I didn’t do it on purpose... I didn’t know what was inside... You can only collect one portion of a certain weight per person. I only knew the weight before I picked it up! I didn’t know if it was potatoes or pumpkin!"

Hearing this, Gregory flew into a rage and lunged at Joyce!

He began to beat her wildly, shouting, "I don’t care, I don’t care! You useless girl! You’re a useless girl! You owe me a pumpkin! You owe me a pumpkin!"

Although Gregory was young, he had been living well-fed off Joyce’s salary since the apocalypse began. He was as sturdy as a young bull and possessed immense brute strength.

His fists rained down on Joyce, and she cried out in agony.

Joyce flailed, kicking Gregory away, and screamed at her family, "Stop it! What gives you the right to hit me! I hauled all of these supplies back by myself! If you wanted pumpkin so badly, why didn’t you go get it yourselves!"

Mason Lawson’s eyebrows shot up. He cursed at Joyce, "You damn girl! What kind of bullshit is that! It’s over twenty degrees below zero out there, and you want me to go get supplies? Are you trying to freeze me to death?! I’m your father! You... you’re an animal!"

Yvonne York added sharply from the side, "Joyce, what are you saying! You’re not even working anymore; you don’t have a salary! If you don’t want to help the family, do you expect to just freeload in your brother’s house? You’re so selfish... You’ve truly disappointed me!"

The heavy blizzard had severely disrupted transportation, so Joyce couldn’t get to the hospital and was temporarily unable to earn her salary.

At these words, Joyce’s eyes flew wide open.

She stared at Yvonne York in disbelief, her voice trembling with agitation. "Mom! What are you talking about?! This is my house! I bought it with my own money! When did it become Gregory’s house?!"

Joyce’s hands clenched into tight fists, her nails digging so deeply into her palms it was as if she were trying to hold on to her last shred of sanity.

’Every single cent used to buy this apartment was money she had painstakingly earned!’

Joyce’s grandmother saw her reaction and snorted, curling her shriveled lips into a sneer. "You little tramp, spouting nonsense. This apartment obviously belongs to our Gregory. His name is on the property deed. It has nothing to do with you!"