CHAPTER 125: CHAPTER 116 HOW DO YOU WANT ME TO APOLOGIZE?_2

If it was Class C, they could try to repair it and carry out overall reinforcement.

But if it was Class D...

The whole building would be declared hazardous, and it wouldn’t be long before it collapsed.

It would have to be torn down and rebuilt!

In short, the severity of the consequences for the property management now entirely depended on the classification from the building’s safety assessment report.

...

「That evening.」

「At the Yuefu Jiangnan District property management center.」

After all the property staff had left for the day, the property manager, Zhang Jiayi, was still sitting in his office.

His face was livid.

Just a moment ago, a tenant had messaged him privately, saying that the owners of Building 7 had already formed a rights protection group. They planned to use legal measures to sanction the property management and had even found the charges. The most critical part was that these owners weren’t even planning to let the property management off the hook; they intended to report them all to the police to be arrested!

"Arrest me?"

"A bunch of legal ignoramuses!"

"Why would the police arrest me?"

"The load-bearing walls weren’t smashed by us, the property managers!"

"At most, we’re responsible for inadequate supervision, but the owners can’t expect the property management to watch over their renovations constantly, can they?"

He sneered a few times. Always firm in his belief that he was not at fault. However, after calming down, he still picked up his phone and called his cousin, Ouyang Qian, the owner of Unit 401.

"Hello? Cousin, how’s the situation with your apartment? When will the construction team restore the load-bearing wall?"

Since this incident started, the reason he had been dragging his feet and trying to smooth things over was largely because the one who removed the load-bearing wall was his relative.

"Why on earth did you smash the load-bearing wall?"

"When you renovated, I showed you the structural blueprint of the house; the black areas are the load-bearing walls, yet you insisted on smashing them..."

Before he could say much, he couldn’t help but complain again, "Do you realize these owners are all planning to call the police now? Your actions have put me in a very awkward position!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than a sharp female voice came from the other end of the line, "What? They want to call the police? Didn’t I transfer you 5,000 yuan to offer as compensation to them?! I’m already in touch with the construction team. They said they’ll rebuild the load-bearing wall tomorrow!"

The sharp voice carried a hint of anger and incomprehension. She didn’t feel that she’d done anything wrong at all. She knew perfectly well that load-bearing walls shouldn’t be demolished, but during the renovations, she had wanted to make her living room a bit bigger, which was why she entertained the idea of knocking down the load-bearing wall. At that time, her thought was that since it was just her own apartment she was altering, it shouldn’t affect others. After all, she had paid for the apartment herself; how she managed it was her personal decision. But who could have foreseen... Just a few days after the demolition, the entire building developed problems.

On the phone, Ouyang Qian continued to whine defensively, "I just knocked down a load-bearing wall; how could that cause such a major problem? Every day these owners curse me in the group chat, blaming everything on me without looking for other reasons. I’m telling you, maybe the quality of the building itself was substandard from the developer!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Jiayi’s face darkened, and the corners of his mouth twitched. But, still patiently, he advised, "Cousin, you should at least show your face in the group chat and apologize properly. Try to convince the owners; otherwise, they’ll be heading to the police tomorrow." Matters like calling the police... No matter what, once word got out, the implications for both the property management and the developer would be enormous. If the higher-ups found out... his job as property manager would probably be over.

...

「Zizhou.」

「In a temporary rental apartment.」

Ouyang Qian ended the call, seething with anger, her face full of grievance.

She had finally bought an apartment in Zizhou, just wanting to renovate it nicely since she was going to live there for the rest of her life. It was just one wall in her own apartment that she had knocked down. She hadn’t touched any public areas. But the owners of the entire building... they condemned her relentlessly, constantly cursing her in the owners’ chat, calling her reckless with human life, uncultured, and shameless. There were even nastier insults. Now they had even secretly formed another group and were planning to have her arrested!

For a moment, all she wanted to ask was what she had done wrong. Why did it feel like the whole world was against her?

After being silent for half an hour, she picked up her phone and opened the owners’ group chat.

The 99+ messages were all accusations against her, the owner of Unit 401.

She gritted her teeth and, very unwillingly, typed out a message and sent it.

"I apologize to everyone for the inconvenience caused by the renovation of my home this month. The construction team will rebuild the load-bearing wall tomorrow, and everyone should be able to return home safely."

However, as soon as she sent the message, a flurry of question marks appeared in the owners’ group chat.

"Go back to live? You haven’t seen what the building looks like from the outside, have you?"

"The cracks in my apartment’s ceiling are like spider webs. Are you telling me I can live there?"

"You think rebuilding a load-bearing wall is something you can just say and do? Do you know how costly it is to repair a building and rebuild a load-bearing wall?"

"Are you asking us to go back and live, or go back and die?"

"You’re too malicious! Do you want all of us in the building to die in our sleep?"

"..."

In the owners’ group chat, the relentless barrage of angry messages continued to pop up. After seeing her apology, not only did they not accept it, but it seemed to enrage them even more.