The following day, the weather unsurprisingly turned blisteringly hot as the sun was roasting the earth like meat on a barbecue. Temperature rose to 45°C (113°F) and although it was still tolerable in D city, in many others medium-sized towns, villages and smaller countries, power failures were already getting common. People began to loudly complain as day-to-day life was getting increasingly difficult. Inside most houses, the air conditioning was kept open nearly 24 hours a day and outside, barely anyone was walking around anymore. The sun, by his now murderous toxics UV, was shining so strongly people exposed to it for a while would faint. A dozen of those cases were already seen in hospitals, most of them followed in live on the radio and television, mostly to prevent more of those from happening.
But the strangest thing was the fact that the weather station hadn’t forecast anything of the sort. When asked, they literally had no explanation as why the temperature suddenly rose so drastically, arguing that there were no previous indications of it.
As he was walking towards the door, Bai Jing touched his pocket and, casually confirming the presence of his cellphone, went out of the house. They say that money can make the ghosts and devils turn your grind stone (meaning : money can make everything happened) and that proverb for sure was accurate. Indeed, despite the weather, the supermarket suppliers did deliver the goods as usual. Only the price was three times higher than normal, not forgetting the drivers and porters getting a 500 in tips each. Although the amount wasn’t much, it was enough to make them braver than usual.
But concretely, with the air conditioning in the car and the refrigerated warehouse, while the heat would exhaust them, in 1-2 hours everything would be done and the pay for the job was higher than what they would usually get in a day.
That morning, as Bai Jing was leaving his house, Xiao Sa left the city. Having witnessed with his own eyes what his mind had refused to believe as real, he thought more deeply about what Bai Jing had said, specifically when it came to how he didn’t know exacly when the Apocalypse would begin.
As it was now very important not to waste a single moment, he took upon himself to start right away with his preparations. As he had in mind all the details of what was to come, he truly had no intention of experiencing these on his own. The Apocalypse was approaching so Xiao Sa made some arrangements in N City for his brothers-in-arms whom he wouldn’t leave out no matter what.
The next morning, Bai Jing sent Wang Xuebing and Cao Lei to pick up the old couple and their son. Originally, he thought of waiting for Lin Zhifeng’s summer vacation to call them over. But looking outside, he couldn’t tell with certitude when the virus outbreak will start, so for his peace of mind he had sent for them earlier. After all the time they spend together, Bai Jing felt a lot of affection for that family.
And a that point, he truly didn’t want them falling like they did in their last life, stupidly dying protecting unrelated people who would end up abusing of their generosity.
As for Qin Yi, Bai Jing made him into some sort of spokesman, mostly to spread the word that the young master of the Bai family was truly fond of jade. In D city, his family name held a lot of power and therefore a lot of eyes and ears were constantly on him. Should he say the word and all the crimes committed by a family would come to light in an instant. But this time, the intention was a bit different as he only wanted the world to know about his particular interest in jade.
Qin Yi was at first puzzled, but after a talk with Wang Xuebing and Cao Lei where Bai Jing’s character was dwelled upon, he could roughly figure out what was expected of him. As long as he handled this affair properly and efficiently, there was no ‘privilege path’. That morning he therefore immediately left the house after Bai Jing.
Xu Lei and Qin Hao were to stay at home like usual, having for only mission to store up some fresh vegetables and food.
Qin Yi must have worked hard, for as soon as the next day some people had braved the sun to come and visit him in his residence. It was faster than expected as new and old acquaintance came at his door, including deputy Mayor Zhu who came in, but without his beloved daughter.
Bai Jing knew that the day he threw Zhu Ting out, adding with the drama related with the bodyguards and Ms.Chen, the story had unmistakably reached his father’s ears. And biased as he was, the man was sure Bai Jing always knew best and therefore his heart regarded with displeasure this little daughter of a Vice Mayor, daring to give pain to his one and only son. Vice Mayor Zhu, feeling deeply the consequences of displeasing such a man, was determined to make his daughter apologies but Zhu Ting was unwilling and frightened, and she cried as if her life depended on it.
He felt helpless and could only hate his spoiled own daughter. But looking at her unfading reluctance, he got afraid things would only get worst if she was forced to go.
Originally, he thought an opportunity to redeem themselves would be a question of days but time passed and no such thing revealed itself. It was only half a month later that he had the good fortune to learn an important piece of information. And the very next day, two white jade Ming Dynasty bottles were delivered at Bai Jing’s doors.
Bai Jing appreciated the gift and therefore, received the Vice Mayor very politely. He exchanged greetings for a short while and soon enough, had him send on his merry way. Relieved by his meeting with the young Bai, the old man soon afterwards had a phone conference with Bai Jingcheng and, as he hanged up, was smiling from ear to ear.
Less than two days later, the same kind of jade as before were delivered to the young master, as an expression of gratitude. Bai Jing gracefully accepted the second gift, thinking about how with his position, the Vice Mayor Zhu must have digged deep into his pocket as the pieces offered may have been small in size, but not many could casually afford it.
The following days, people desirous to meet him kept dropping by incessantly, sometimes regardless of any prior acquaintance. In any case, as long as they brought jade Bai Jing would meet them, as it had now turned into a smooth business. Wielding his power in order to take advantage of people, he kept receiving a large variety of high-priced handcrafts as this unrestrained display of the power of his position had for consequence, the slow but uninterrupted growth of his space. He could feel it gradually evolving and was very pleased how with so little effort, he got so much done in so little time. Only in his mind he was secretly cursing Xiao Sa.
That man was truly sinful.
Actually, this whole idea came from him. Buying jades by himself wasn’t a problem as he certainly had enough to spend.
But gifts were still different. Not only the quality was assuredly surprisingly high, but they were also given to him for free. Bai Jing was enraged with himself for not having thought of that before. He regretted wasting those tens of millions in T City.
He has also found out that the older the jade, the greater was its effect on his ability. Indeed, the changes in his space nowadays were tremendous, particularly when compared to the time he was buying in T City. He could feel his spirit growing stronger each day, although it was a pity he still couldn’t physically enter his space. But he didn’t worry as he firmly believed it was but a matter of time.
Bai Jing kept receiving bribes with such efficiency, even his father had to called to warn him that he was doing too much, to the point that some B City’s officials had been alerted. They notified his father who was now fearing that his son would get into trouble.
Bai Jing told him he would be good and, hanging up, everything said naturally entered an ear and left by the other as things kept going the same as before. Bai’s father was feeling helpless as the sun was up and the emperor far away (meaning : the central government is powerless in front of the local power).
Why was his son so restless nowadays? He had at the time gave his consent to the removal of the bodyguards as he felt that, if he had he said otherwise, Bai Jing would have stopped at nothing to drive them out. However, thinking for a moment of his son’s temper, Bai Jingcheng could only sigh as he was now convinced that, had they stayed, nothing would have changed.
Bai Jing naturally had no idea what was going through his father’s mind as what he was feeling at the moment was a bit more complex. Since his rebirth, his father had granted him each of his requests with the exception of seen him or letting him go to B City in order to meet. Anything else was as good as done.
But the scar left by his father in his past life was too deep. He might be wrong, but Bai Jing’s heart did understood that if everything was to happen again, his father would still make the same choice. Bai Jingcheng may love him, but the extend of that love was very limited.
Still, Young Bai was somehow puzzled as there has been no repercussion from his father. It was an unspoken rule that old Bai would provide him comfort and plenty of money but now, as if a bit sorry for his son, he had turned disinterested of his future.
Bai Jing thought about it for a moment and took his phone to make a call. His father on the line, he decided to not reveal anything at all to the man and since he already knew about the supermarket anyways, he told his father his wish to also open a mall in B City and would need a lot of supplies, the faster the better.
Bai Jing made his willful request but as long he asked, Bai Jingcheng would listen. No matter what kind the future awaits them, the son knew that his father, in order to show his fondness, would store as much material as possible as it would prove his great attachment and kindness to him. On the other side, less material would lead to the father indirectly telling to his child that his was not important. that been settled, Bai Jing threw his father off his heart and was left without any more attachment.
But, It didn’t mean the young man wasn’t holding on some resentment. If he had a father who could hand him large quantities of material, whether or not it was to compensate for his absence or to control him through his economical dependency, everything would always be below military-grade….
Although he didn’t want to get involved, in his last life Bai Jing ate so much agony, how could he possibly not have any desire of revenge? In the face of an imminent Apocalypse, those feelings were put on the side but now, he felt that if he could create some sort of chaos for that woman, he absolutely wouldn’t mind handling the business.
The weather had gotten hotter as the temperature was maintained around the 49℃ (120℉). It was nearly unbearable but in a blink of an eye, nearly two weeks passed by.
Everyday, Xiao Sa would call, and each time BaI Jing’s heart would feel slightly safer.
From Wang Xuebing and Cao Lei he had no news, which started to worry him. The elderly couple lived in the mountain, mobile phone therefore got no signals but even if the two bodyguards settled in their home first, fifteen days should have been enough for them to be back already so he couldn’t understand why they were delayed.
If Wang Xuebing and Cao Lei were to hear, they would certainly feel wronged as in fact their only wish was to hurry up and go. Even in the mountains the hot days were especially unendurable. As for the old Lin couple, while they painfully planted their rice, raised in distress their pigs and as they kept worrying about all their troubles, they were still reluctant to leave. Adding the fact that they were old, they also wouldn’t take the plane. (HappySheep: because of blood clot? Selwyna: or because they simply dislike flying with a plane? ‘Cause not everyone likes taking a plane)
But after seven days of endless and oppressive birds chirping, Cao Lei truly couldn’t deal with it anymore and, looking around at the land which was now yellow and enduring the anger in his heart said
“You also want to see Zhefeng no? The weather is so hot, don’t you fear that he might had some accident? The land cannot be worked on as it is and, come on, are the pigs really that important? People keep dropping like flies because of the heat, there must be at least a dozen of patients in each hospital. The young master lives in D City, not too far from H City. We can pass through H City to have a look and see.”
Thinking of their son and hearing they had no need to take the plane, the couple loosened up and, acknowledging the withered and yellowish crops, gave their pigs to the folks in the neighborhood, packed for three days and leisurely left their house with Wang Xuebing and Cao Lei.
Back in a town, Wang Xuebing gave the young master a call.
Bai Jing mood wasn’t good as the high temperature had lasted thirteen days already and if he remembered correctly it would very soon drop, and what would follow would be devastation, bones and… No, probably no bones as there will only be zombies roaming around.
Receiving the phone call, Bai Jing directly began to scold
“What did you do? How can picking up some people can take so long? Come back fast, don’t you dare spare a minute.”
Wang Xuebing felt frustrated from the undeserved admonish. Since he started working for him, this was the first time Bai Jing got mad at him. Cao Lei, seeing his lover in distress and not seen what could have been his wrongdoing, took the phone and asked what was the matter.
Bai Jing was depressed. The old couple knew a lot about a lot of things, which was the initial reason why he wished to save them. But at the time was also hesitating because of his fear of this exact situation happening. Not that he was ruthless; he still deeply respect the Lin couple but even for them, he wouldn’t have willingly put Wang Xuebing and Cao Lei in harm’s way.
Furthermore, the important was that in this timeline, Xiao Sa would be by his side. So if the old couple still felt the need to act like national heroes again, at that moment he would seek an adequate shoulder to cry on. Luckily, he was given the chance to teach them a thing or two and with that enlightenment, they might survive by themselves.
However, suddenly stupefied, Bai Jing realised his reluctance to part with this family in any way. Deep down he didn’t want to act unconcerned as if them playing hero was completely unrelated to him. Somehow, it was like the moment the subject was the Lin’s elders, his mind would get crooked. He decided, this time he would make it right in the name of their past self who left him with this most profound impression.
Anyways at this point, there was no turning back. Bai Jing therefore immediately ordered them to drive as fast as possible to pick up Lin Zhefeng and come back to D City.
In his mind Cao Lei wondered but choose not to ask anything. These days the young master has been acting increasingly weird but sincerely, he didn’t feel like figuring that one out.
The old Lin couple were in fact, another strange mystery. Probably because of their long history of cultivating internal strength, the sun of the last days was insufficient to injure them. How could it be that although the air conditioning at their house as crap, they still felt very comfortable? Even now in the car, they look perfectly alright.
Not needing Bai Jing to reminds him of it, Cao Lei speeded up along the road.
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