56 During That Time (1/2)
Lu Shen walked into the room and opened the French doors that led to the balcony.
He leaned on his elbows against the wrought-iron railing, admiring the miniature Eden below.
He had bought the villa because of its impressive layout, and its stately European design. From the view on her balcony, one could easily see the patio, the swimming pool, the tennis court, and the greenhouse—all of which Lu Shen had not even visited once.
He had so many estates inside and outside the country that he couldn't be bothered to tour them all. He had mainly purchased them for future investment. It had the characteristics of an inflation hedge, after all.
”One week left,” he murmured, a smile playing on his lips.
He sipped his coffee, his gaze not anymore on the view below, but on somewhere distant that only he could see.
Lu Shen remembered the accident clearly.
The smell of burning metal, the airbags knocking him back, and what looked like a spreading spiderweb on the cracked windshield. The car had flipped several times into the central barrier before it came to an absolute stop, the seatbelt tugging on his skin with every lurch.
He had lost consciousness, and when he next woke up, Lu Shen hadn't been aware of where he was. He had dragged his body out of the wreck, stumbling into the pouring rain without a distinctive idea of where to go.
Time flew by like a whirling praxinoscope. Lu Shen didn't know how many days had passed, only that when he next woke up, he found himself sleeping behind a dumpster.
His clothes had been reduced to tatters, his whole body covered in dirt and bruises. At first he had been hungry, ravenously eating scraps of food given by generous strangers.
Then the hunger went away, and although he still wanted food, the hunger pangs had disappeared. He continued lying there, closing his eyes and staying motionless as if he had already become a corpse.
And then a piercing shriek woke him up.
It was the first time he had met her, when he was at the lowest point of his life.