June 12, 2017.
The rain had been falling for a long time.
Cheng Yun held an umbrella as he walked under the gloomy sky. A tall young girl walked beside him in silence.
The streets were so noisy with the patter of the rain, the continuous honking of horns, the promotional loudspeakers of shopping malls, and the friction of tires against the ground when vehicles braked, yet none of it stirred the slightest ripple in their hearts.
The two walked through the bustling, crowded avenue, passed through a narrow alley where only the sound of rain remained, and finally entered a rather old residential compound, stopping at the entrance of a building unit.
"You go on back. I'm not going back yet," Cheng Yun held up the umbrella to let her step inside, while he stopped in his steps. "There's still a bit of cargo to deliver to the hotel today, and the people have been waiting for two days."
Not a shred of emotion could be seen on the girl's cold and pretty face, except that her eyes were a bit red and swollen. She stared at him, nodded, and then calmly spat out a single word, her voice somewhat hoarse—
"Okay."
"Did you bring your keys?"
"I brought them."
"Mhm." Cheng Yun held the umbrella and turned to leave.
"Get back early too." The girl stood inside the doorway and watched his back, still expressionless, until he walked far away before turning back to enter the building.
A small umbrella could not shield two people, let alone with the fierce wind howling. To let Cheng Yan get a little less wet from the rain, Cheng Yun's body was soaked on one major side, but in this June weather, it was at most just a bit chilly and not cold at all.
On June 8, seventeen-year-old Cheng Yan finished the college entrance examination, which was good news for the whole family—
With her heaven-defying scores, getting into Tsinghua or Peking University was not a very difficult matter. Failing that, she could at least, like Cheng Yun back then, be admitted to Yizhou University in Jinguan City, which was the university where Cheng Yun and Cheng Yan's parents worked.
Extreme joy begets sorrow.
On June 9, Cheng Yun and Cheng Yan's parents got into a car accident while out buying bay window cushions. The perpetrator was a large freight truck whose driver was driving fatigued and failed to brake in the rain, resulting in four deaths on the spot. Cheng Yun's parents were not hit head-on, but they were struck solidly, their bodies almost flattened.
A bolt from the blue!
Yet facts do not change according to anyone's will. The matter had already happened and could never be reversed. From the initial disbelief to extreme grief, Cheng Yun and Cheng Yan eventually slowly accepted it, and with the help of their relatives and their parents' colleagues, they completed the initial procedures of the traffic accident, along with the cremation and funeral.
Walking to the entrance of the residential compound, Cheng Yun hailed a taxi, closed and shook the water off his umbrella, got in, and then fiercely rubbed his stiff face. His eyes were aching immensely and were covered in bloodshot veins.
Soon, the taxi stopped below a three-story building on the edge of Yizhou University. From the car window, a brand-new hotel sign hanging on the building was faintly visible—
Anju Hotel.
Cheng Yun's mother was named An Lan, and the hotel was named after her surname. Their father was named Cheng Jianye, the ye of peace and contentment.
The hotel was a recent investment by Cheng Yun's parents. The renovation of most rooms had already been finished, and the supporting facilities were also in place, lacking only some scattered decorative ornaments and the like. It could be said that it could open for business immediately. The remaining few rooms had not been renovated, and Cheng Yun and Cheng Yan's parents' plan was to turn those remaining rooms into dorm-style bed spaces, targeting travelers with limited financial conditions who needed to stay near the university town for a period of time because of exams or official business, competing with the daily-rental housing around the university.
Yet this dreadful news came at this time.
A van was parked in front of the hotel, its back seats removed and crammed full of goods. A young man sat in each of the driver and passenger seats, waiting boredly, holding cigarettes between their fingers and puffing away.
Drenched to the bone, Cheng Yun apologized to the taxi driver before getting out to walk toward the van and greeting the two men.
The accident involving Cheng Yun's parents had caused this batch of goods to be delivered two days late. Both men knew about the matter, so there was no impatience in their tone. They stubbed out their cigarettes, offered Cheng Yun a couple of words of comfort, and even helped him move all the goods upstairs along the way. When Cheng Yun settled the payment for the goods, the two of them went back downstairs, got into their car, and drove off into the rain.
Standing at the stairwell, surveying the small coffee table, bed sheets and quilt covers, and a bookcase that took up quite a bit of space, Cheng Yun took a deep breath before finally starting to move.
He hadn't properly closed his eyes to sleep in three days, but quite a few more goods would be successively delivered over the next two days, leaving him no room to rest.
The helplessness of life lies in the fact that no matter what, you must carry on, unless you are cowardly enough to choose an end. Therefore, Cheng Yun chose to take over the unfinished hotel, continue finishing the renovation, and then, as Cheng Jianye and An Lan had intended, open for business before the college entrance examination scores came out, taking advantage of the many high school graduates who would be led by their parents to look at future schools around Yizhou University to make a quick buck first.
Right on time, he had also graduated and needed to figure out his path.
By the afternoon, he had placed everything in its proper position, hailed a cab back, and finally managed to catch a wink of sleep.
Waking up early the next morning, he would have to start dealing with the matters of the at-fault party and insurance compensation.
Cheng Yan was not yet an adult, but she also woke up very early. After washing up, she kept following behind him expressionlessly, putting on a brave and mature front.
There was nothing about the site conditions that needed investigating; the traffic management department quickly issued a road traffic accident determination form, and the other party naturally bore full liability. The death compensation, funeral expenses, Cheng Yan's maintenance allowance and emotional distress damages, plus many odds and ends of compensation, totaled less than 1.5 million.
Large truck drivers usually do not skimp on insurance, and combined with his lifetime savings, he could afford this sum. Moreover, the perpetrator's family even sold their house and proactively offered to increase the compensation in hopes of obtaining a letter of forgiveness from Cheng Yun and Cheng Yan. This bargaining chip was raised from one hundred thousand to two hundred thousand, purely hoping to increase the probability of a sentence reduction for that bastard in court.
Cheng Yan wore a cold expression, and Cheng Yun did not agree either.
Cheng Yun's parents had always bought personal accident insurance, and the payout for both of them added up to over one million as well.
Their lives were exchanged for less than three million.
Actually, being a university professor was a leisurely job. From Cheng Yun's parents initially taking on private gigs, to later openly having a secondary sideline business, from the once-sweeping cram schools back then to the newly invested hotel just now, their average annual income over the past decade had been close to one million. And obviously, no amount of money could make up for the pain in Cheng Yun and Cheng Yan's hearts, especially for Cheng Yan, who had lost both parents before reaching adulthood.
On the 15th.
The perpetrator driver's wife had worn down the brother and sister for three days. Cheng Yan remained cold as ever and hardly ever left the house.
However, Cheng Yun was somewhat shaken after seeing that woman, as haggard as they were, painstakingly coaxing two crying children. This car accident had already destroyed two families, and this woman along with the two children she held by the hand made a third.
This car accident was of course that bastard's fault, and in Cheng Yun's eyes he was a murderer, but was there any need for these two children to add yet another sacrifice to this disaster?
On the evening of the 16th, he wrote the letter of forgiveness after all.
The division of the inheritance was also very calm. Cheng Yun's maternal grandparents had died early, though he still had a paternal grandfather, but the old man waved his hand to indicate he wanted nothing, leaving all the property to the siblings for them to discuss among themselves.
Because Cheng Yan was still a minor and still studying, both houses belonging to the family were left to her—one with a market value close to three million, and another with a market value of around one million. The hotel, in which nearly three million had been invested, and the funds of over one million deposited by Cheng Yun's parents in the bank were inherited by Cheng Yun, while he also had to act as Cheng Yan's guardian, providing all tuition and living expenses during her university years.
When they had sorted everything out, the court judgments had pretty much come down, and the compensations arrived successively. As part of the inheritance, the siblings split them evenly, but Cheng Yan's portion was held in custody by Cheng Yun.
At their home near the university town, Cheng Yun and Cheng Yan ate dinner in silence. No one spoke, and the atmosphere was somewhat gloomy.
Twelve days had passed since that upheaval, and the siblings' complexions were much better than when they had just finished handling the funeral, but the blows they had suffered inwardly could not be shaken off for the time being.
Cheng Yun finished his meal, put down his chopsticks, and broke the silence: "The college entrance exam scores should be out tomorrow, right?"
Cheng Yan raised her eyelids to glance at him, uttered an unenthusiastic "mhm," and lowered her head to continue eating.
Cheng Yun was somewhat at a loss for words, not knowing how to reply.
At this moment, Cheng Yan raised her head again and asked with a cold attitude: "That hotel of yours should be about ready to open too, right?"
"Pretty much. It officially opens the day after tomorrow," Cheng Yun said. "I'll go over there again tonight to take care of some final matters and check things over. If there are any problems, tomorrow will give me all day to resolve them."
"Mhm. I'll order a flower basket for you and send it over then."
"..." Cheng Yun fished two hundred yuan out of his pocket and handed it over. "Money for buying the flower basket."
While lowering her head to shovel rice into her mouth, Cheng Yan reached out and took the money unassumingly, ignoring Cheng Yun.
"Then I'm leaving. Wash the dishes after you finish eating. Use less dish soap." Saying this, Cheng Yun stood up and walked toward the outside. He didn't get a response from Cheng Yan until he walked out and closed the door behind him.
Expected.
The hotel was very close to the North Small Gate of Yizhou University, a walk of ten-odd minutes. At this time, except for the rooms prepared as a youth hostel that had not yet been officially decorated, the rest of the hotel's rooms were completely ready. The storefront located on the first floor was also brand new and fully equipped.
Cheng Yun first inspected the equipment at the front desk, booted up the computer, and opened the backend pages of various online group-buying and travel platforms to check whether the store opening review had passed.
Afterward, he went upstairs to inspect the rooms one by one, including all electrical equipment, sofas, beds, and cabinets, meticulously and without daring to be sloppy.
He had achieved financial independence through entrepreneurship in his freshman year, knowing the value of caution better than anyone else.
Suddenly, he heard a sound coming from the storage room at the stairwell—
Rip...
The sound was very faint, resembling someone tearing paper.
Cheng Yun immediately frowned.
Although this building had some age to it, it had just been renovated; it couldn't possibly have mice this quickly, could it?
Cheng Yun shook his head, feeling it was not a good omen, and turned to walk toward the adjacent storage room.
With a click, he pushed the door open and casually pressed the light switch.
Inside the storage room were neatly folded bed sheets, quilt covers, and towels, with boxes of disposable toiletries placed on the other side. In this kind of environment, if mice really did get in, it would be quite difficult to find them, but they still had to be found.
The lighting in the storage room was not as bright as the guest rooms and was somewhat dim. At least Cheng Yun didn't spot any abnormalities and didn't see things like mice.
Quite tricky.
Just as he was preparing to carefully rummage around and look, he suddenly heard another sound—
Rip—!!
This sound was much louder than the one he had heard earlier next wall, sounding as if a wall had been torn apart by someone.
Cheng Yun turned his head and suddenly opened his eyes wide.
The wall had split!
One month and two days away, and I am back.
Before you continue