Cheng Jing had originally thought Jiang Nian would behave, rest, and relax. He would wait for him to return from his business trip. Then they would deal with both the new and old issues between them.
However, the next afternoon, while Cheng Jing was attending an online meeting at home, he received a message from the hotel.
Jiang Nian had checked out, but had left his belongings at the hotel for safekeeping. They said he would come back to pick them up that night.
That rebellious kid!
Cheng Jing couldn’t help but grit his teeth quietly. After the meeting, he called Jiang Nian. The brat vaguely said he would contact him when everything was settled, then hung up.
Cheng Jing was so frustrated that he punched the desk in his study. They had agreed to wait for him to return from his trip. What a damn bastard!
“What’s up, Brother Cheng?”
The door opened, and Yang Kai stood there. He wore a white shirt and black trousers. Tall, with long legs and a handsome face, he looked gentle and classy in a pair of gold-rimmed, non-prescription glasses. As a professional undercover agent, Yang Kai played the roles of secretary and boyfriend perfectly.
“It’s fine. Let’s go. Finish the remaining work, and you can come back tomorrow.”
Cheng Jing calmed down, put down his phone, and left the study.
He planned to settle his debt with that little bastard that afternoon, so he told Yang Kai to hurry up and finish his work.
“Actually, I want to delay my return for a few days.”
Yang Kai smiled, his eyes full of meaning.
Cheng Jing glanced at him and cut him off.
“If you’re not busy, then I am. Your presence here means my mission isn’t finished, and it’s going to delay my work.”
“Okay.”
Yang Kai shrugged helplessly. Forget it. There’s still time. He would wait until Cheng Jing returned to Taipei to report, and then he would come here personally.
Cheng Jing suppressed his low mood and went to the underground garage with Yang Kai. As soon as they stepped out of the elevator, he saw Jiang Nian and a middle-aged man getting out of a nearby taxi.
The two men faced them, chatting as they walked.
Just as Cheng Jing was thinking about how to avoid them, Jiang Nian spotted them. He paused briefly, then greeted Cheng Jing with a smile.
“Brother Jing, cough, cough, cough… Cheng Jing!”
His tone and expression were just right, but Cheng Jing was extremely annoyed.
When Yang Kai heard Jiang Nian’s voice, he instinctively grabbed Cheng Jing’s arm and quietly asked,
“Is this an acquaintance of yours, Brother Cheng?”
“Yes.”
Cheng Jing suppressed the urge to pull his arm away and nodded, trying to stay calm.
“What a coincidence, you live here too?”
The middle-aged man waited nearby. Jiang Nian quickly walked over and casually greeted Yang Kai.
“Hello, I’m Jiang Nian, an acquaintance of Cheng Jing.”
Hearing this, Yang Kai also extended his hand.
“Hello, I’m Yang Kai, Cheng Jing’s boyfriend.”
“Good guy, you hide it well…”
Jiang Nian smiled and patted Cheng Jing on the shoulder. Cheng Jing suppressed his emotions and feigned calm as he asked,
“Why are you here?”
It seems like fate is drawing them together with a red thread, allowing them to meet like this.
Jiang Nian pointed to the waiting middle-aged man.
“I’m planning to rent a place here. If I’d known you lived here too, I would have asked you.”
You little bastard! You didn’t tell me when he asked, and now he’s caught you! They used to rent a place in this neighborhood when they fell in love and lived together. That’s why he chose to look for a home here.
Of course, the most important thing was that it was an old residential area. The homeowners were basically the original residents. With new districts developing, most had moved away, leaving houses empty or for rent. Mostly elderly people lived alone.
The property managers and security guards were older men and women. They prioritized community welfare and had little free time. Besides opening and closing doors and cleaning in the morning and evening, they would go to a nearby distance learning center when they had nothing else to do. They had to call someone for help and didn’t have any real service experience.
Also, rents here weren’t cheap, so few people rented. It was so quiet that you might not see anyone for long periods of time. Clearly, it was a retirement community, making unusual activities hard to notice.
The building he rented had 22 floors, two elevators, and three units per floor, but no floor was fully occupied. The tenth floor he chose was empty and waiting for tenants. His only neighbors above and below were elderly singles and migrant workers. The street lamps and one elevator surveillance camera were broken, but no one cared.
Still, Jiang Nian thought it was a good idea despite the high rent, and the landlord agreed to let him renovate the place himself.
The location near the main road leading to the old town, coupled with the fact that few people lived there and it was not conspicuous, made it a suitable refuge when the apocalypse came.
You should know that areas infested with zombies were usually dense places like new urban districts, schools, hospitals, hotels, and large factory dormitories.
He just didn’t expect his famous ex to be here, too. Maybe he worked in security and kept a low profile, or perhaps that was a job requirement.
Jiang Nian thought to himself:
Could Cheng Jing actually be living with Yang Kai in the old rental? Could this alternate reality actually be real?
But Yang Kai was nothing like him.
In his mind, he pretended, while Cheng Jing coldly replied, “Oh,” without saying much.
“All right, you guys keep working. I’m going to look around the house. We’ll talk later.”
Jiang Nian was unhappy and didn’t want to continue pretending, so he said goodbye, pretending to check out the house.
Only after seeing him and his uncle enter the elevator did Cheng Jing pull his gaze away and get into the car. Though he tried to hide it, Yang Kai noticed, but didn’t ask further.
…
The rental process went smoothly. The three-bedroom apartment was nearly 150 square meters. It was so clean that it almost felt empty. Besides the complete kitchen and bathroom appliances, only the master bedroom had a bed and a built-in wardrobe. Jiang Nian had to buy everything else himself.
Others might not like that, but Jiang Nian thought it was perfect. Without any clutter, it was easier for him to rearrange and store his gear.
The apocalypse came suddenly, with severe weather and bitter cold. The chaos of the first few months was uncontrollable. Many were infected or died. Everything depended on basic self-sufficiency, local officials, and the implementation of rescue plans.
If local governments acted quickly, the situation could be managed better. If they were slow, the initial groups would perish, leaving the rest to fend for themselves.
After a chaotic adaptation period and extreme cold, rescue teams from apocalypse bases went to different places. They went to save survivors based on distress signals. From then on, humanity entered a long period of wandering and hardship.
After much persuasion and with the help of a struggling student, Jiang Nian signed a one-month lease with the landlord, agreeing to pay one month’s deposit and one month’s rent monthly. However, that no longer mattered since his money would run out in half a month, and perhaps the landlord would vanish, too.
After the landlord handed over the keys, Jiang Nian immediately hired cleaning staff through the property management company. After one professional cleaning, it became much easier for him to maintain.
At the same time, he scheduled an appointment with a door and window specialist who lived far away. The specialist lived so far away that even if others wanted to come, they couldn’t.
All the windows were reinforced, and a super-thick, stainless steel, modified door was installed in the corridor outside the entrance, providing earthquake and burglary prevention.
Despite his somewhat odd requests, the workers guaranteed overtime to finish within three days because he paid well and talked sweetly.
However, after paying rent and half the renovation deposit, Jiang Nian’s bank balance was mostly gone. After paying the final installment for the renovation, he had basically no money left for furnishings.
After the cleaning was finished, the cleaners and the door and window measurer left. Staring at his empty “apocalypse-safe home,” Jiang Nian gritted his teeth and called Cheng Jing.
It was six in the evening, and the sun was still bright. He didn’t know if his ex had finished work yet or if they could talk about the loan project.