The apartment in Fulin Community was the marital home Gu Kai’s parents had bought for them, a top-floor duplex on the nineteenth level.
When they had just gotten married, the young couple lived there for a while.
But because it was far too far from the advertising company where Shen Cong worked, over an hour each way, Gu Kai later applied for a single-occupancy dormitory at the ancient books publishing house where he worked, and the two of them moved there instead.
They ended up living there for three years, and rarely came back to the place in Fulin.
The apartment had an interior area of 160 square meters. On the first floor, aside from the kitchen and bathrooms, there were two bedrooms and an exceptionally large living room.
On the south-facing, sunlit side of the living room was a large fully enclosed glass balcony. The lighting was excellent, making the entire apartment bright and airy.
The second floor also had two bedrooms, plus a bathroom at the end of the hallway.
Other than that, there were two large balconies, one facing south and one facing north.
According to Gu Kai, his parents had chosen this apartment back then precisely because they liked these two large balconies and thought they would be perfect to turn into a garden.
The north-facing balcony was about nine square meters, neat and square, with two sides against walls and the other two enclosed by stainless-steel railings.
The south-facing balcony was even larger, close to fifteen square meters.
Near the door, a sunshade had been built during renovation, while the rest of the balcony was open to the sky.
Because the apartment had been purchased relatively early, right when the government was promoting rooftop greening, a stainless-steel staircase had been added along the balcony wall, leading directly up to the roof.
For the convenience of residents who wanted to green the rooftop, the developer had installed double waterproofing and even designated areas for building planter beds.
Such a good apartment, yet in her previous life, after the two of them divorced, Gu Kai still ended up selling it.
A property worth at least five million yuan had to be sold off in a hurry, and in the end he only got 3.7 million for it.
And just after receiving the money, the great earthquake struck. He didn’t even have time to give any of it to Shen Cong.
At that time, Shen Cong still hadn’t gone abroad.
There was still a long time before the semester began, so after divorcing Gu Kai she went to Nan’an City, where her university was located, to attend the school’s anniversary celebration and take a break.
It was there that she encountered such a once-in-a-century catastrophe.
The earthquake had started in the coastal cities, and Nan’an happened to be one of them.
The earthquake and the tsunami that followed almost instantly swallowed that garden city whole…
Fortunately, at the time Shen Cong and several old classmates had happened to travel to a mountainside sanatorium more than a hundred kilometers away from Nan’an to visit a mentor who was recuperating there. That stroke of luck allowed them to narrowly escape the disaster.
But her family didn’t know any of this.
Back then, all communication networks were down. When news came that Nan’an had been hit by an earthquake and tsunami and that the entire city was gone, Shen Cong’s parents nearly lost their minds.
At the same time, Beining was also hit by torrential rain due to aftershocks, and the city descended into chaos.
It was because of that heavy rain that Gu Kai called to check on the situation, and learned that Shen Cong was missing.
Without a second word, he sent his widowed father to his former in-laws’ home, then got into his car and drove toward Nan’an to search for Shen Cong.
At that time, Beining had only been affected by aftershocks and heavy rain, and some highways were still passable.
Who could have imagined that he would run into another wave of earthquakes on the road? Gu Kai and his car were directly buried beneath collapsing mountains of rock…
Meanwhile, Shen Cong, because of this sudden natural catastrophe, was stranded at the mountainside sanatorium on the outskirts of Nan’an.
That stay lasted nearly two years.
This was a global-scale catastrophe.
As disasters struck one after another, transportation and communication between countries and between cities were completely severed.
In many places, entire countries or entire cities simply ceased to exist.
The former Nan’an City where Shen Cong was stranded and Beining City, where her home was, were over two thousand kilometers apart, normally just a few hours by plane.
But in the apocalypse, that distance became an unbridgeable chasm.
In order to return home, Shen Cong endured untold hardships.
When she finally made it back, she discovered that everything had changed.
Gu Kai was dead.
Her father-in-law and her own parents, three elderly people, were clinging to one another for survival in the house in her parents’ village.
Having lost a son in his old age and then lived through the apocalypse, her once-robust father-in-law, who had been strong and booming-voiced, wasted away until he was nothing but skin and bones.
Not long after Shen Cong returned, he succumbed to exhaustion and passed away.
She and her parents supported one another and struggled on for another two years. Then the insect disaster arrived.
Plagues, famine, and disease took the two elderly people one after another.
And Shen Cong herself didn’t hold out for much longer. During one trip to collect relief grain, she was attacked by insects and lost her life.
ᘻᘿᓍᘺ
Thinking of this, Shen Cong reached out and touched the balcony railing, endless sorrow welling up in her eyes.
Gu Kai stood to the side, quietly watching his wife.
After not seeing her for more than two months, he felt as though Shen Cong had become a completely different person, changed in a way that made her seem a little… unreachable.
He wanted to ask his wife whether, during the time he hadn’t been by her side, she had run into something, something that had happened to her.
But before Gu Kai could figure out how to bring it up, the doorbell rang downstairs, and the two of them went down together.
Shen Cong opened the door, greeted Gu Jiashu standing outside, then stepped aside to let him in.
Seeing the cousin-in-law he hadn’t seen for a long time, Gu Jiashu was clearly taken aback.
He subconsciously looked toward his older cousin following behind her, his eyes full of confusion.
Seeing his reaction, Shen Cong spoke first. “Jiashu, I asked your brother to call you today. Besides letting you know the apartment isn’t for sale anymore, there’s something else I’d like to ask for your help with, if that’s alright?”
“What is it? Sister-in-law, listen to you, you’re being way too polite with me. You don’t need to be like that. If there’s anything, just say it.”
Although he said that, Gu Jiashu’s posture had visibly stiffened. He stubbornly stayed planted at the doorway, not daring to take a single step inside.
How could he not be nervous?
His cousin and cousin-in-law had been fighting over a divorce for half a year.
Not just him, even his mother, an old lady who usually hardly ever went out, knew about it.
And his cousin had already been preparing to sell the apartment.
Yet in the blink of an eye, his cousin-in-law was suddenly standing together with his cousin again, speaking to him gently, even asking him for help…
As Gu Jiashu talked to Shen Cong, he secretly darted glances at Gu Kai behind her, hoping his cousin would give him some kind of hint—
What on earth were this couple up to now?
“Don’t look at your brother, and there’s no need to be nervous. I’m not asking you for anything major.
It’s just that I want to redo this apartment, enclose the balconies, and also replace all the windows in the place. I remember you just renovated your own home. Are you familiar with the building materials market? Do you have any craftsmen you can recommend?”
“I am!” Gu Jiashu replied.
At that point, there was no way to keep pretending to be clueless.
He rubbed his nose and could only steel himself to ask, “Sister-in-law, don’t get mad at me for asking this, but you and my brother… aren’t getting divorced anymore?”
“Divorce? What divorce? Don’t listen to his nonsense. We did have some disagreements before, but we’ve already made up. We’re renovating the place so we can bring Dad over to live with us, his neighborhood is about to be demolished, isn’t it?
Jiashu, please help us find a reliable crew. The price doesn’t have to be rock-bottom; I want it done fast! At the same time, the quality has to be excellent. If possible, have the workers come over to take measurements. If everything’s fine, start construction tomorrow.”
“So urgent?!” Gu Jiashu was startled.
But after thinking it over, he felt it made sense.
He’d heard that Uncle’s neighborhood was about to be torn down. Better to renovate early and move early, instead of staying over there amid all the chaos.
Learning that his cousin and cousin-in-law weren’t divorcing, and that they even planned to bring his uncle over to live with them, Gu Jiashu was instantly delighted.
He’d always been close to his uncle’s family. Although Gu Kai was technically his cousin, they were practically brothers.
Now, hearing that his cousin’s family was reconciling and that they would all live together, Gu Jiashu was happier than anyone.
Once he’d figured it out, he immediately promised, “Sister-in-law, don’t worry. Leave this to me. I’ll drop everything else and head to the market right now.
Send me a message with everything you want done, and I’ll take care of it all in one go. Just wait for my update!”
ᘻᘿᓍᘺ
After seeing Gu Jiashu off, Shen Cong closed the door and turned around, only to meet Gu Kai’s complicated gaze.
She knew her husband had far too many questions; he was waiting for her to explain.
And from the moment she came back, she had never planned to hide anything from him.
Shen Cong walked over, took Gu Kai’s hand, and led him back to the sofa to sit down together. She forced a small smile and said, “Gu Kai, let me show you a little magic trick.”
As she spoke, she placed her hand on the coffee table, which was still covered with a dust cloth.
Then, right before their eyes, the coffee table vanished.
Gu Kai jolted in shock!
He lifted his head in disbelief and stared at his wife’s face.
He reached out and felt around in empty air, only to feel as if he were dreaming.
If he hadn’t still been sitting on the sofa, he would have thought he was hallucinating—
Such a big piece of furniture, just like that… gone?!
“Where’s the coffee table?” He tried hard to steady himself, but his voice was clearly taut.
“Look again.”
Shen Cong stood up and walked around the room.
Wherever her hand swept past, the dining table, dining chairs, small appliances, the TV cabinet…
Every single one of them disappeared without a trace.
When her hand reached toward the sofa she had been sitting on, Gu Kai suddenly sprang up and grabbed her, demanding urgently, “Congcong, what on earth is going on? Explain it to me clearly!”
Gu Kai was usually a very even-tempered person. He normally spoke in an unhurried, understated, and gentle manner.
But now he couldn’t help raising his voice, gripping Shen Cong’s hand tightly.
He was clearly truly panicking.
Shen Cong let him hold her. Tears suddenly spilled down her face. “Gu Kai, if I tell you that I already died, and then suddenly came back to life, would you believe me?”