Four supercars drove into the front yard and parked before the mansion.
The muscular butler guided the guests into the living room and offered them seats while saying, “Young Master is in the gym. I’ll go and tell him to come down here. Please have a seat!”
Deng Chenfei nodded at him politely while Luo Yuanjun asked curiously, “He’s working out? Now? What’s he been up to lately?”
Hearing the butler say that Dong Lijia was in the gym, the others all wore a confused look.
The butler smiled as he shook his head and said, “I don’t know what Young Master is thinking about. Maybe you can ask him about it later.”
After saying that, he turned and went up upstairs, sending a few servants to serve those young boys and girls with coffee and tea.
Dong Lijia heard the door knocks when the trainers were training him pretty hard. The smiling trainer who was standing near the door turned and opened the door. He saw the butler and let him in.
“Young Master, Chenfei, Miss. Qin and some other friends of yours are here visiting you.”
Dong Lijia, who was lying on the ground, got up and wiped off the sweat on his face with a towel, then gasped for air as he said, “What are they doing here? Why didn’t they warn me before coming?”
“They’re waiting for you in the living room,” the butler smiled and said.
Dong Lijia nodded and said, “Okay. Tell them that I’ll take a shower and then go downstairs to meet them. Alright, this is it.”
The last few words were said to the trainers. They nodded in response and found their shirts, putting them on before leaving. The air conditioner was on, but the vigorous exercise still caused heavy sweating. No girls were on the scene, so they had taken off their shirts.
In fact, Dong Lijia had been working out all the time. He had even learned a few types of martial arts. He rarely practiced though. After all, he only learned the martial arts to protect himself from being kidnapped. He wasn’t paying much attention to that.
So now, even though he had a little experience practicing martial arts, he would have to rely on his speed of reaction if he ever needed to fight an actual battle.
He hired four trainers because he wanted to achieve the best results within a limited time. Anyhow, more skills meant a greater chance of survival. That was about his life after all.
Lin Wenwen spent another while running, then returned to the pavilion and asked the two guards, “I heard cars. Who are they?”
“A few friends of Young Master, and Miss. Qin and Miss. Lin,” one of the guards answered her question.
Hearing the names of the two girls, Lin Wenwen felt extremely annoyed. She turned her mouth down but didn’t say anything. After wiping her face, taking a tip of the water, and resting for a short while, she said to one of the two guards, “Go and see if the gym is empty now. I’ll use it if it is.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
Dong Lijia wouldn’t keep training as his friends were here. Hopefully, those two girls wouldn’t land their eyes on her again.
Dong Lijia took a shower and came downstairs refreshed. Seeing the group of people in the living room, he said, “Why are you all here? Don’t you have anything to do?”
Deng Chenfei leaned on the back of the couch and looked at him silently. Luo Yuanjun wasn’t as quiet as Deng Chenfei was. Instead, he sprung up and walked up to Dong Lijia with big steps, then put an arm around the latter’s neck and said, “Do you have new friends lately? You haven’t talked to us in days. We had agreed to go to the beach for a few days. Have you forgotten about that?”
Being reminded by him, Dong Lijia instantly recalled planning that trip with his friends before the summer vacation began. Driving on a beautiful beachside road on a summer night, how exciting and refreshing would that be?
That would be something very enjoyable before. But now, Dong Lijia had no mood for travel at all. The world would end in only about seventy days after all.
Lin Wenwen, who had heard from the guard that the gym was empty, came in from the back door and was prepared to go upstairs. But on her way, she heard what Luo Yuanjun said.
She stopped short, because Dong Xinxin called her in her head.
‘Let’s go to the beach too,’ said Dong Xinxin to her.
Lin Wenwen glanced at the living room and asked her, ‘Are you sure?’
Dong Xinxin said, ‘Think about it! The life in the post-apocalyptic era had been putting us under pressure, making us nervous and desperate for survival. How could we ever come back to such a relaxed and joyful time? We’ve both spent seven years in the post-apocalyptic era. Why don’t we just forget about it and relax for a few days now…?’
Lin Wenwen sensed her expectant tone. ‘Do you really love the sea?’ She couldn’t help but ask Dong Xinxin.
Dong Xinxin stayed silent for a while, then said with regret, ‘I’ve never seen the sea with my own eyes. I saw it on TV, or on computers. I was going to make a trip to the seaside at my eighteenth birthday, but I didn’t have the chance to do that…’
The apocalypse happened before she turned eighteen.
‘You never saw the sea?’ Lin Wenwen was surprised, ‘Your family is so rich. I thought you would’ve traveled all over the world since you were a kid.’
‘I was a shy kid,’ said Dong Xinxin*, ‘I didn’t like to travel back then. When I got older, my brother and I were both busy studying. My parents were busy too. So, I never had a chance to go.’*
Lin Wenwen thought for a moment, and then agreed. ‘Since you want to go and see the sea, we’ll go. After the apocalypse, you won’t be able to see the blue ocean and sky with white clouds anymore.’
In the post-apocalyptic era, the ocean was black and the sky was gray. The seaside was occupied by all kinds of mutated plants, and countless mutated beasts lived in the sea.
Some people soon noticed Lin Wenwen standing in a corner of the living room.
“Eh? Xinxin, you’re here too!” seeing Dong Xinxin standing there, Qin Jiao narrowed her eyes slightly, then greeted Dong Xinxin with laughter. Following her voice, the others all turned and found Dong Xinxin wearing a loose-fitting sports suit. The hair near her temples were moist and her cheeks were red. Obviously, she had just done some heavy sports.
“Eh? You didn’t just finish working out like your brother, did you?” Qin Jiao looked at her and asked with surprise.
“Wow! Fat Ball, I can’t believe that you’d exercise! Are you trying to lose weight again? Tell me, how is it going? How many pounds have you lost?” Luo Yuanjun immediately let go of Dong Lijia and walked up to Lin Wenwen. While looking at her from head to toe, he said to her with surprise.
It sounded like he was teasing her, but he actually said those words in a friendly joking way. His voice also contained disbelief and confusion.
He observed the girl and somehow felt that Dong Xinxin had actually lost some weight. Was that true? Did his eyes fool him?
