Jhiang Yuan looked at the time on her cellphone, September 1st, 14:27.
Although it seemed absurd, she had truly been reborn.
Unless there was an unexpected change, in three minutes, Xia Chaoyang would come over again to talk to her about divorce.
Looking at her daughter sleeping soundly beside her, Jhiang Yuan switched on her phone and stared motionlessly at the screen. If he really came, it would prove she wasn't dreaming!
Those three minutes felt incredibly long. As the numbers on her phone changed, the bedroom door creaked open.
As expected, he had come!
"Jhiang Yuan, don't be so stubborn anymore. Continuing this way is bad for everyone!"
"Fine, I agree to the divorce, but I have my conditions!"
Xia Chaoyang hadn't expected it to be so easy, but his mother was right after all. Jhiang Yuan, all alone here, had caved after going hungry for a meal or two.
"What conditions? Tell me..."
"This house can be yours, and the shop too. I want the apartment on Lushan as compensation, and the ten million in the bank account is mine."
"No problem, you can take the car too!"
Jhiang Yuan didn't waste her breath. This large apartment was three hundred square meters—just the house itself was worth five million, and the shop could easily make three to five million a year. With such a division, she was at a loss!
"Additionally, give me another five million as a lump sum for child support. If you agree, sign the agreement!"
She knew there was a transaction in the shop that had been settled the night before, amounting to five million.
Sure enough, Xia Chaoyang gritted his teeth but ultimately agreed.
Jhiang Yuan let out a sigh of relief. When she had seen him just now, she really wanted to split him in two!
Together with Xia Chaoyang, she had started a home construction materials store from scratch. He had cheated during their marriage with his ex-girlfriend and fathered a son who was three months younger than Xiao Nuan.
In her previous life, because she couldn't accept it, she insisted on leaving him with nothing, but then the disaster struck, and everyone was trapped together.
First came the extreme heat, then the torrential rain and endless cold.
After they had finished eating all the food at home, Xia Chaoyang and his family set their sights on her.
Jhiang Yuan vividly remembered that night; she endured four hours of inhumane torture. When she returned home, she was still bleeding down there!
Xia Chaoyang had promised to take good care of Xiao Nuan, but what awaited her was her daughter's tiny corpse, lying there silently, with icicles hanging from her long eyelashes.
She cried her heart out, while his family was still scavenging the packet of instant noodles they had obtained by exploiting her body.
Amidst the apocalypse, order collapsed, and medical facilities were nonexistent. Jhiang Yuan, still holding Xiao Nuan, ran towards the hospital, ultimately freezing to death on the road.
As her consciousness faded, she could clearly sense somebody stripping off her clothes!
Heh, that was the apocalypse, where darkness and gloom descended together.
It didn't matter anymore. Xiao Nuan was gone. What was the point of her struggling to survive?
Perhaps the heavens thought her plight too pitiable and sent her back to half a month before the apocalypse. This time, she was determined to survive properly.
Xia Chaoyang, Bai Mengmeng, without me, I wonder what end you'll meet this time!
Jhiang Yuan suppressed her hatred and began to pack up. She had lived in this house for three years, and she wasn't going to leave any of her belongings for them.
In the end, she even took the garbage bags she had bought.
Bai Mengmeng, watching the moving company Jhiang Yuan had called, couldn't help snickering to herself, accusing her of being blinded by greed.
Jhiang Yuan didn't want to bother with her, thinking, "Just wait, she'll have her time to cry!"
The Lushan Residence is located in the East Suburb of West City, where the terrain is lofty. When the torrential rains come, some low-lying floors will be submerged, but this location has a natural advantage!
The apartment Jhiang Yuan bought was on the top floor of Building 13, with a layout of four bedrooms, two living rooms, and two bathrooms, covering 180 square meters. It had a huge balcony and even a utility room and a walk-in closet were partitioned off!
She was given an additional 90 square meters of attic space as a bonus, as well as a 90-square-meter terrace.
At that time, she even thought about remodeling the attic into a toy room for Xiao Nuan.
This was her first apartment and also the first home with Xia Chaoyang; she had put a lot of effort into the furnishing, choosing only the best materials, which saved her hassle now.
Watching the movers go in and out, Jhiang Yuan started to order takeout on her phone.
It had been so long since she had eaten normal food, and her cravings couldn't wait any longer.
Fried chicken, duck neck with unique flavor, stir-fried vegetables with rice, she ordered five hundred yuan's worth before she stopped.
By the time the movers were done, Jhiang Yuan was at the dining table, feeding Xiao Nuan porridge with preserved egg and lean meat.
Looking at her daughter's face, filled with smiles, Jhiang Yuan's determination grew even stronger, "This time around, we will be just fine."
To protect herself and her family, no one would dare to bully them.
At nine o'clock in the evening, after coaxing Xiao Nuan to sleep, Jhiang Yuan sat alone in front of the dressing table.
She wasn't someone who made decisions on a whim. Her long-term sales job had taught her the importance of being methodical.
If she remembered correctly, on September 15th, the temperature in West City would hit 45°C, with social media full of complaints about the lingering heat of late summer!
But that was just the beginning; by October 1st, it would reach 50°C.
By mid-October, there would be a month of continuous rain, rivers would rise, and the entire city's drainage system would fail!
Then the ground would start to freeze as the temperature suddenly dropped, ultimately reaching minus 30°C. Whether it would drop further, she didn't know, because she hadn't survived that long!
It was at this time that society became altogether different. All traces of humanity disappeared.
The law of the jungle once again proved to be an unchanging truth.
So, Jhiang Yuan had, at most, 14 days, two weeks, to do too many things. She had to plan efficiently.
At nine-thirty, she made a video call to her mother, asking her to come to West City with her father first thing tomorrow.
"What's wrong, my child, what happened?"
There was trouble indeed, but Jhiang Yuan didn't know how to explain.
"Xia Chaoyang and I got divorced!"
"What? Divorced? Why? Did he bully you? Don't be scared, honey. I'll come over and support you tomorrow..."
After hanging up, she booked bus and high-speed train tickets for her parents for early the next morning.
In the previous life, her parents had come to West City, but that was on the fifth day of the apocalypse. They never arrived; the electric and network systems collapsed, and Jhiang Yuan never got to see them again—it was likely they had met with misfortune.
Her hometown was in a small county in Ji Province, without a direct route. They had to take a bus to Jing City first and then transfer to the high-speed train!
Having arranged all that, she opened her video software again and started searching for movies and videos about the apocalypse and survival.
In the apocalypse, there were too many unknowns—shortages of food, lack of drinking water, the distortion of humanity. Even going to the bathroom became a problem after the water and electricity were cut.
She had to plan everything in the shortest time possible.