Sheng Tang picked up the phone.
"Tangtang, I’m back!" There was a hint of a smile in Gu Shiting’s voice, "I’m coming to your house now."
During the summer, Gu Shiting found a part-time job. He was following a professor and two graduate students to a secret base to conduct pre-tests for a new type of weapon.
This task was relatively simple but very tedious, so they found a professor to lead students to do it rather than experts in physics.
He didn’t know the location before he went; once he arrived, he couldn’t communicate with the outside world.
After Sheng Tang’s high school exam scores came out, Gu Shiting also set off, and Sheng Tang completely lost contact with him.
They were together every day; suddenly losing contact, she was unaccustomed to it for several days.
Hearing he was back, she was also very happy: "Sure, I’m at home."
Sheng Tang thought Gu Shiting was coming from the airport by taxi or with his family’s driver picking him up, so she didn’t take it seriously.
What she never imagined was that Gu Shiting drove over himself.
His family’s driver did indeed pick him up.
Gu Shiting handed his luggage to the driver, let him take a taxi home, and then drove off with the driver’s car.
The main reason: he needed to buy something.
He earned twenty thousand this time.
Gu Shiting had inquired, if it was a ring constructed of broken diamonds put together, some only cost a little over twenty thousand. Only whole diamonds were comparatively expensive, a carat might cost seventy to eighty thousand, and above that, even more.
He always wanted to buy Sheng Tang a diamond ring.
Song Chen had bought one for his sister with the money he earned himself. Gu Shiting wanted to do the same.
Why else would he have fought for this project?
The Gu Family, though not rich, had more than twenty thousand just lying around.
However, before his university graduation, and even for some time after starting work, Gu Shiting might not be able to afford a three-carat diamond ring with his own earnings.
This was his intention, to give Sheng Tang a big one later.
He wanted to buy one for her with the money he earned with his own hands.
He took a trip to the mall.
As expected, the platinum ring with broken diamonds looked quite sparkling and cost only twenty-one thousand.
He had over a thousand in pocket money, just enough to make up the amount.
With this slight delay, Gu Shiting reached the Sheng Family District, and it was almost three o’clock.
Sheng Tang didn’t know exactly where he was coming from, which airport or train station, so she couldn’t estimate his exact arrival time.
She wasn’t anxious about it either.
Even if they encountered a solar eclipse, the car’s overhead light could be turned on, and the driver would take care of him.
Sheng Tang changed the bed sheets.
Her sheets, from her rolling around all day on them, were wrinkled like pickled vegetables.
Since Gu Shiting was coming over, he’d definitely stay the night.
Sheng Tang took out clean sheets and went to check on her grandmother, only to find she wasn’t back yet.
"It’s pretty hot outside, where did grandma go?" she muttered.
Then she remembered, her grandma had mentioned that an old lady in the next building was having mobility issues, and her daughter had an urgent business trip, asking her grandma to take care of her and make her lunch for a day or two.
While changing the sheets, Sheng Tang hummed a little tune, but still felt inexplicably agitated.
The outside sky gradually darkened.
The solar eclipse was about to begin.
The streetlights on the road came on, but the facilities in Sheng Tang’s community were quite old, and the property management didn’t bother turning on the lights within the district since it was only a minute or two.
When the solar eclipse just started, Gu Shiting’s car drove into Sheng Tang’s community.
The surroundings suddenly went dark inexplicably.
Gu Shiting instinctively felt uncomfortable, his mind buzzing, and he subconsciously wanted to turn on the car’s overhead light.
However, he was suddenly enveloped in darkness, and he heard a girl’s laughter in his ear, so clear and delightful, yet with a few eerily strange notes.
Gu Shiting felt something was wrong, and he was on the verge of fainting.
He wanted to hit the brakes.
He had to hit the brakes.
Before he could hit the brakes, the car suddenly jolted as if it hit something and flung something away.
With all his strength, he managed to press the brake, but then he fell into a short moment of unconsciousness.