As more and more of the women in the building heard the activity outside and trickled out of their apartments to greet Bai Xiulan, she knew this part of her mother-in-law's advice had worked out.
Since time was short and people had to get to work, Bai Xiulan didn't want to hold anyone up. She promised they'd chat again another day and rushed to finish visiting the upstairs floors with her daughter.
If she found no one home at an apartment, she'd let the neighbors on either side know, wrap the gift in newspaper, and leave it right at their doorway or on the cooktop outside their door.
According to her husband, who had told her last night, no one would touch things left outside a door. Even toddlers who had just learned to walk knew not to mess with things by someone else's doorway.
Regardless of whether her husband was pulling her leg about that, this one round of visits proved that the neighbors in the building were actually very decent. They reciprocated quickly and generously.
