When Zhou Jiayue had returned to the old house just now, apart from taking Grandma’s memorial portrait, she had also collected the medicinal herbs Zhou Guoan had dried and his medical books.
Zhou Guoan had once been a barefoot doctor. Besides growing vegetables in the countryside, he also cultivated some common medicinal herbs.
Zhou Jiayue had chosen to study medicine because of Zhou Guoan’s influence.
Unfortunately, the medicinal herbs Zhou Guoan had planted in the courtyard had mostly been scorched to death by the high temperatures some time ago, leaving only a few that had been preserved from earlier.
At night, the temperature was much lower than during the day.
Even after the daytime temperature had suddenly dropped by fifteen degrees, it was still around twenty seven or twenty eight degrees.
Now, however, it had already fallen to around seventeen or eighteen degrees.
Even sitting inside the car, they could feel the chill.
Xingshui County was surrounded by mountains on all sides. As they drove at night, the mountains on both sides of the highway appeared as dark masses, resembling beasts lying in wait.
The drive from Xingshui County to Fushi City took three hours.
At 23:55, one hour had already passed since Zhou Jiayue and the others had set off.
Thick clouds continued to gather and churn overhead, their grayish black color blending into the night sky.
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning streaked across the darkness like an arrow of light.
Zhou Jiayue’s expression changed. The light bright enough to turn night into day illuminated the shock and unease in her eyes.
The thunder that followed seemed to explode right beside their ears. Aside from Zhou Guoan, who was sleeping soundly, everyone in the car felt an inexplicable heaviness and oppression.
Even Xiao Hei became so nervous that it kept stepping around restlessly, letting out low whimpers.
Zhou Jiayue took a deep breath, an unreadable darkness gathering in her eyes.
With another rumble of thunder, Zhou Jiayue clenched her teeth and pressed the accelerator all the way down.
They had to get back as quickly as possible.
The two hour journey was shortened to an hour and a half. The moment Zhou Jiayue and the others entered Fushi City, torrential rain suddenly poured down.
The effects of the sleeping smoke were simply too effective. If it was supposed to last three hours, then it really did last three hours.
There was nothing they could do. Zhou Lihua and Zhou Jiajun could only carry Zhou Guoan again and follow Zhou Jiayue through the pouring rain into the apartment building.
Everyone was soaked by the torrential rain, and when the cold wind blew over them, they all shivered.
Zhou Jiayue brought everyone into Room 2701 and quickly took out clothes, towels, and a hair dryer, telling those who had been drenched to change and dry their hair.
After everything was taken care of, Zhou Jiayue looked at the heavy rain outside the window, and a strange feeling rose in her heart.
The torrential rain had come early?
In her previous life, the torrential rain had clearly not arrived until another week later.
Just as Zhou Jiayue was thinking about the reason with a solemn expression, a furious and powerful voice suddenly came from behind her.
“Zhou Lihua, you get your ass over here!”
Zhou Jiayue froze for a moment. Remembering that the sleeping smoke had worn off, she immediately cast a sympathetic look toward her father.
Ahem, Dad, good luck. I believe in you. You can definitely calm Grandpa down.
Zhou Lihua wiped his face. What could he do? He was in a difficult position too.
At this moment, all the authority he had accumulated after working for so many years had vanished without a trace. Zhou Lihua looked miserable and did not dare to meet his father’s eyes.
“Dad, listen to me…”
A shoe sole came flying toward him. Fortunately, Zhou Lihua had been prepared. He bent his leg and dodged it.
“Don’t call me Dad. Where the hell is this place? You really brought me all the way to Fushi City!”
Zhou Guoan sat firmly on the sofa, his fists resting on his knees as his sharp eyes swept across the surroundings.
The people standing in the middle of the room exchanged glances and stayed as quiet as frightened quails.
The siblings hid at the very back. Zhou Jiajun secretly tugged at Zhou Jiayue’s sleeve, and the two communicated through their eyes.
Sis, what do we do? Grandpa is really angry.
Zhou Jiayue shook her head and pursed her lips, replying with her eyes.
It’s fine. Dad is taking the heat. It won’t reach us.
Zhou Lihua: … What a wonderful daughter I have.
Sure enough, after Zhou Guoan looked around, he glared at Zhou Lihua and bellowed in a voice like a thunderclap.
“Why are you still standing there? Go pick up my shoe!”
“Yes, yes, I’m going to get it right now!”
After nearly half an hour of struggling, everyone finally managed to calm the irritable old man down. They told him that as soon as the rain stopped, they would immediately send him back.
Well, as soon as the rain stopped.
Who knew when that would be?
The sudden arrival of the torrential rain made Zhou Jiayue feel vaguely uneasy.
But when she thought about the entire room of supplies next door, her unsettled heart became calm again.
No matter what happened, things could not possibly become worse than they had been in her previous life.
Besides, she still had her Golden House.
Room 2701 had three bedrooms, two large ones and one small one.
In the end, it was decided that Zhou Lihua and Wang Yumei would share one room, the stubborn old man Zhou Guoan and Zhou Jiajun would share another, and Zhou Jiayue would sleep alone in the small room.
As for Xiao Hei, they could simply make a little nest for him in a corner of the living room using some cardboard and cushions.
Thunder roared outside.
In Xingshui County, Meng Hong’an was awakened by the thunder. Unable to fall asleep again, he got up and went to the study, intending to organize his recent work arrangements.
While looking through some documents, he suddenly remembered the confidential file Zhou Lihua had handed to him when he requested leave.
Meng Hong’an frowned and took the brown file folder out of the drawer.
Remembering what Zhou Lihua had said before leaving, he thought for a few seconds before putting the file folder back.
Brother Zhou had told him that he should only open the contents if he truly had no other choice. Otherwise, it would only give him unnecessary worry.
Zhou Lihua was several years older than Meng Hong’an. Ever since Zhou Lihua had saved him in the incident at the quarry, Meng Hong’an had privately addressed him as Brother Zhou.
Although he did not understand the deeper meaning behind Brother Zhou’s words, since Zhou Lihua had said so, there was no need for him to worry about something unnecessarily.
Meng Hong’an looked at the rain outside the window, feeling slightly relieved as he thought that at least the weather had finally cooled down.
The heavens seemed to have sprung a leak, and the celestial river had overturned.
The torrential rain continued throughout the entire night.
The next morning, while Zhou Jiayue was eating breakfast, she received a call from the owner of the doors and windows shop. He told her that one window in Room 2703 had not been installed yet.
However, it was pouring rain, making travel and installation inconvenient. They could only wait until the rain stopped before sending a worker over to finish the installation.
Zhou Jiayue drank her millet porridge and nodded in understanding, a faint smile still lingering at the corners of her lips.
“That’s fine. There’s no rush.”
Since the installation was not finished yet, it would naturally be inconvenient to bring up the matter of settling the bill.
After hanging up, the smile disappeared from Zhou Jiayue’s lips. She finished her porridge in one gulp, took the keys, and went to Room 2703.
The main door of Room 2703 had already been installed before the workers left yesterday. Zhou Jiayue unlocked it and discovered that the materials and installation tools for the final window were still piled on the floor.
Apart from the materials and tools, the floor near the wall where the window had yet to be installed was already soaked from the rain that had blown inside.
Zhou Jiayue frowned. At that moment, Zhou Lihua and the others followed her inside out of curiosity.
“Sis, don’t tell me you rented this place too?”
Zhou Jiajun looked around in amazement before asking in confusion, “But it hasn’t even been renovated. How are we supposed to live here?”
He had been eagerly looking forward to having a room of his own.
Heaven knew that his grandfather’s snoring last night had been loud enough to compete with the thunder outside.
“I’m not planning to use this place for living.”
“Huh? We’re not living here?”
Zhou Jiajun immediately gave her a resentful look.
Zhou Jiayue laughed at him and shook her head before looking at Zhou Lihua.
“Dad, help me with something. I’m planning to install this window myself.”
As she spoke, she had already picked up the things on the floor and begun arranging them.
According to the original plan, all the doors and windows in the room should have been installed before the torrential rain arrived, but who could have known…