Since then, they knew that even if they were in trouble, even if they cried out loud for help, the neighbors around wouldn't assist.
The old saying goes that distant relatives are less helpful than close neighbors, but that only applied in old rural areas or long ago; nowadays, society is indifferent, and this saying hardly holds ground.
Many people live face to face without knowing each other's names; they don't even greet each other when leaving in the morning, acting as if they are totally invisible, complete strangers.
Moreover, if this situation happened in the tongzi building, these people wouldn't just not help them; they might even gather the next day to gossip about them.
Although being talked about wouldn't physically harm them, the tongzi building has complex social dynamics, and nobody knows if these words would reach their workplaces.
