Three days after Cheng Ran’s call, the Xishan earthquake struck.
When the Shen family saw the news notifications on their phones, no one spoke for a long time.
The atmosphere was heavier than ever before.
Although the earthquake was not very strong, only a magnitude 5.1, and its epicenter was far from the towns, so there were almost no casualties, everyone knew this was only the beginning.
The end of the world seemed to be truly approaching.
No one discussed it, and not a single person brought it up voluntarily. The whole family instinctively began thinking about how to speed up the progress of the work they were responsible for, trying to leave as few regrets as possible.
At that time, the household renovations were proceeding in an orderly manner.
The loans for the two houses, as well as the compensation for the Gu family’s old house, had all been received, and supplies were being purchased in bulk.
Only a few major matters at home remained unresolved:
One was the price of the backyard plot, the village had yet to provide a concrete figure.
Another was that Old Master Gu had gone to Pingchuan to make purchases and had not yet returned.
And the third was that the Shen Xi family’s return date was still uncertain.
“Call Xixi and tell her to come back quickly. It doesn’t matter whether the money can be recovered or not, just have her come back! Tell her that if she still wants to see her father, she’d better return soon; otherwise, she won’t get the chance,”
Shen Jianyi said, pacing quickly in the room, clearly agitated by the earthquake news.
“I already spoke to her yesterday. She called asking for my bank account, saying she could only raise 150,000 euros and anything more would be difficult.
She was crying and it upset me, so I told her the money doesn’t matter, just have her come back.
She might have misunderstood, thinking something was wrong on your end, and immediately said she would book a plane ticket…
I figured by today we’d have a result at the latest,” Cheng Ru explained.
“Why didn’t my sister call me?” Shen Cong asked, puzzled.
She still wanted to check whether there were any unusual situations happening in Europe.
This disaster is global, who knows if it will hit there sooner?
The more Shen Cong thought about it, the more anxious she became.
“I didn’t let her call. I was afraid that if we hadn’t planned our words carefully, she might read something into it. It’s so far away, and it would be hard to explain. So I just told her you were out selling the house and not to disturb you.”
Shen Cong nodded.
To avoid worrying her parents even more, she didn’t dare reveal her own concerns.
She could only echo the urgency: “Tell my sister the house has already been sold, that Dad’s medical expenses aren’t a problem, and that she should hurry home without worrying about the money.”
“Yes, have her bring the kids back and say I want to see my grandchildren. As for Zhang Ye…”
Shen Jianyi’s expression turned cold. “Let him be.”
Zhang Ye and Shen Xi were in the construction materials business overseas, and over the years, they had made a name for themselves locally.
Even if the sudden disaster made it difficult to raise money quickly, surely he could at least call to check on his father-in-law’s condition, show a little concern, that should have been possible, right?
But since that video call that night, Zhang Ye hadn’t appeared once.
Not a single call, not even Shen Xi casually asking a question when she called.
What did that mean?
Everyone understood perfectly well.
As long as Shen Xi could return with her children before the disaster struck, whether others lived or died was left to fate.
Once the matter with her eldest aunt was mostly settled, Gu Kai spoke up: “Dad, you still need to push on the land issue. Old Zheng has already followed up several times and wants to come see the site.
Their steel-frame houses need to be measured in advance, and digging the cellar also depends on weather conditions. If it gets delayed, he’s worried the construction won’t finish on time.”
Old Zheng was the factory manager of the steel-frame housing company that could also build wine cellars, the same person Shen Cong had found online before.
Since Gu Kai was handling the home renovations, Shen Cong had directly introduced the two of them.
After a few discussions, they seemed trustworthy, and Gu Kai even entrusted Old Zheng with the rooftop greenhouse project for Fulin.
Now Old Zheng and his construction team were already in Beining, working on the greenhouse at Fulin and installing a water tower.
But how many days would that work take?
The work was almost finished.
“I’m going to call Xingxue and see what’s going on. What’s he hiding? It’s just this little scrap of land, and they still need to hold a few meetings?!”
Shen Jianyi’s irritation was evident.
What meetings? Everyone knows the truth, this is just them dragging it out to squeeze more money! If the family weren’t in a hurry, who would even care about this tiny useless plot?
“Leave it to me. I’ll get this sorted today. At worst, we don’t take the land, and we won’t let them cheat us!” Shen Jianyi’s tone made his displeasure clear.
Gu Kai and his wife exchanged a glance. After a few rounds of eye contact, it was obvious neither of them intended to respond.
Helpless, Gu Kai awkwardly tried to comfort his father-in-law: “Dad, don’t be angry. If we can get it… we should still take it.”
Gu Kai was never one for many words and certainly not the type to persuade others smoothly.
Even such a simple sentence came out with effort, making him sound strained.
It even made Shen Jianyi laugh.
“Alright, alright, stop worrying about it. Go handle your own business, I’ll take care of this side,” he said, waving his hand and effectively dismissing his son-in-law.
Xu Xingxue didn’t make the Shen family wait long, he arrived that same morning.
But the price he quoted made Shen Jianyi furious.
“100,000? You dare ask for 100,000 for this scrap of land?! How much does the village usually charge for contracted land? The best fertile fields go for 500 a year at most.
How big is this plot? And without a land-use certificate, even if we leased it for fifty or a hundred years, do we need 100,000? Unbelievable that you actually have the nerve to ask!”
Shen Jianyi’s words were harsh, but he had every reason to be, these people from Ying Shui Village were being completely unreasonable.
They were treating Old Gu like a fat sheep to be fleeced!
The land originally belonged to the community’s green space. If it weren’t for the special circumstance that the Shen family wanted it, no one would ever buy it, even if it sat idle for ten more years.
And even if someone did buy it, they certainly wouldn’t pay 100,000.
Not to mention 100,000, 50,000 would already be too much!
Shen Jianyi’s words made Xu Xingxue lose face. His smile visibly stiffened and faded.
Xu Xingxue had been a village official for many years, and he wasn’t the type to embarrass someone in public.
He forced a smile and said to Shen Jianyi, “Uncle, I don’t even know how to respond to that. I don’t decide this land deal myself, I’m just here to pass the message.
If it were up to me, not to mention 100,000, I wouldn’t accept a single cent from you! We’re family, right? Talking money between family is awkward!
But this land, doesn’t half of it still belong to the developer? Originally it was meant for joint development. Although it’s village land, the profits have to be split with them. We can’t make the decision ourselves!”
Shen Jianyi snorted coldly and didn’t respond.
He was starting to realize just how slick Xu Xingxue really was.
He had once thought this man was reasonable.
A developer, huh? Did Xu Xingxue really think Shen Jianyi didn’t know?
That developer would have gone bankrupt building this community a long time ago if they were really taking half the money!
For the village committee to give them half the payment for a tiny plot of land, only in a fairy tale.
Seeing Shen Jianyi so displeased, Xu Xingxue began to feel awkward.
He stood up, gave a sheepish smile, and said, “Uncle, if you ask me, let’s just forget it. It’s such a tiny plot of land anyway, no point in taking it! I’ll go back and tell the village it didn’t work out, and we won’t bring it up again.
Even if this deal fails, we’re still family. You’ll always be my uncle, so let’s not get upset over this.”
As he turned to leave, Shen Cong stood up and stopped him. “Brother Xingxue, 60,000. Tell the village, 60,000 for this land, we’ll take it. We’ll pay in cash when the agreement is signed.”
Xu Xingxue halted.
His eyelid twitched as he looked up at Shen Cong but didn’t speak.
Shen Cong smiled at him. “This land is what my father-in-law wants. He’s getting older and doesn’t want to run back and forth, it’s too much trouble.
The land’s location is very convenient, right by our home. The old man liked it at first sight for its practicality.
So, Brother Xingxue, to be honest with you, we genuinely want to buy this land.
Please help us explain to the village, 60,000 is our offer. If they can give it to us, that would be great.
There’s no need to set up a separate household; just merge the plot with our property and issue a new contract.
Brother, if we can settle this, I’ll go get the money right now and we can handle the village committee paperwork as soon as I get back.”
Xu Xingxue was right, the community was indeed built in cooperation with the developer.
The bank account was also shared.
Although the other party had basically given up on the community now, any extra transactions on the account could raise questions about their source.
If someone asked, should they explain or stay silent?
It’s easy to deposit the money, but withdrawing it later could be troublesome.
Shen Cong offering to pay in cash meant they didn’t have to go through the official account, so the money could stay in the village for direct use.
Even though it was still technically public funds, having cash in hand felt very different from just seeing it on the account.
With Xu Xingxue mediating, the land issue was quickly resolved.
They bought the usage rights to the plot for 60,000 yuan.
At the same time, when the Shen family explained that the medicinal herbs they wanted to grow were valuable crops and needed protection to prevent theft, the village committee generously agreed.
They even included this promise in the contract.
The committee even offered Shen family full autonomy over the land, no one would interfere, even if they decided to build a villa there.
Of course, everyone knew that was a joke.
Who in their right mind would actually build a villa on that tiny plot?
The money would be better spent buying another apartment in the community, with better lighting to boot.
With the land issue resolved, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, knowing it added another layer of security.
Perhaps because of this sense of relief, Shen Cong slept exceptionally well that night.
But in the middle of the night, she suddenly woke up—
She felt something inside her shift with a snap, and her whole body suddenly felt light and relaxed.