Chapter 6: The Landslide

Winnie Summers had bought this school district apartment in the city under Melody Summers’s name years ago.

When she bought it, the complex wasn’t very popular. Later, a new top-tier school with an excellent faculty was planned for the area, and the property value skyrocketed, multiplying several times over.

The movers helped carry all their luggage upstairs and then left.

The apartment had been vacant for a long time and was covered in a thin layer of dust.

The Summers family spent the whole afternoon giving the apartment a quick cleaning, unpacking the boxes with bedding, and making the beds in the three rooms. By the time they were done, it was already late at night.

Melody didn’t know what Silas Lancaster had told his family when he got home, but starting that afternoon, both Elaine Hughes and Simon Lancaster had called her. Busy tidying up, Melody hadn’t answered a single call.

After they finished cleaning, none of the Summers family felt sleepy, not even Grandma, who was used to going to bed early.

The entire family sat in silence around the dining table, anxiously waiting for midnight to arrive.

Shortly after midnight, her uncle opened a short-video app. Immediately, his feed was flooded with news of a mudslide on Mount Anworth.

Her uncle quickly showed the phone to the rest of the family. The videos were all drone footage from the scene. In the age of social media, news spread with incredible speed.

In the footage, mud rushed down the mountain like a flood.

The mudslide carried massive boulders with it, which tumbled down the slope, smashing countless trees in their path. For a moment, it looked like the world was ending.

"Oh, look at this video. More than half the orchard on the mountain is destroyed." Her uncle watched the destruction of the orchard he had single-handedly managed. Even though he knew it had been sold to the Lancaster family, he couldn’t help but feel a pang of regret. "I personally went out of town to select the saplings for that patch of peach trees a few years ago. I raised them for years, and they were just about to bear fruit this year. What a shame!"

"That’s terrifying. Look at this video, our house is completely buried! Thank goodness Melody told us to move out ahead of time. Otherwise, in the middle of the night, sound asleep... none of us would have escaped." Her aunt, Grace Sutton, patted her chest, her voice full of lingering fear.

Everyone’s expression was a mixture of lingering fear and sadness. If they had held on to a sliver of hope that they might one day return, that hope was now completely gone.

The home they had lived in for decades was suddenly gone. Grandma felt a tightness in her chest, a sense of being lost. The city was nice, but she always felt constrained in these high-rise buildings, and the neighbors were all strangers. The more she thought about it, the more she couldn’t hold back her tears, and they began to fall.

Miss Lowell patted Grandma’s back comfortingly. "Don’t be sad. We were lucky to escape with our lives. If fate didn’t take us, it must mean we’re meant to live on and have good days ahead. I’m all alone and I’m not afraid, so what do you have to fear? Your children and grandchildren are here. Home is wherever your family is. A house is just a house. If it’s gone, it’s gone."

"Miss Lowell is right, Mom. If you feel more comfortable in the countryside, we can go back to the village and rebuild after a while," Winnie Summers added, trying to console her.

Grace Sutton also forced herself to be cheerful and chimed in, "That’s right. A house can be rebuilt. As long as everyone is safe, that’s what matters."

Grace Sutton thought for a moment, then turned to Winnie Summers. "Winnie, this is a three-bedroom place. It’s not convenient for your brother and me to stay here. We just talked it over. I’ll go back to my factory tomorrow, and he’ll come with me. Now that there’s no orchard to take care of, he can find some work near my factory."

Colin Summers used to work in Winnie Summers’s orchard, and she paid him 40,000 yuan a year. When the orchard didn’t need tending, Colin would also work as an hourly appliance installer at the electronics market in the city.

Grace Sutton continued, "We have a few hundred thousand yuan in savings. We planned to buy a house in the city years ago, but then our Ian ran off to join the army right after graduation, so we put it on hold. We don’t have to wait anymore. We’ll start looking for a place in the next few days and make a down payment. Then we can move all this luggage out."

Before Winnie Summers could respond, Melody Summers spoke up. "Aunt Grace, don’t worry about all that for now. I contacted Ian this morning and had him request a few days of leave from the army. I bought train tickets for tomorrow for you, my mom, Uncle, and Grandma. The four of you should go see Ian together."

In her past life, the despair Ian Summers had shown at his family’s graves had been a thorn in Melody Summers’s heart.

Ian Summers had rushed back after hearing of the tragedy that befell his family, only to rush away again upon learning of the national crisis.

This life, no matter what, Melody Summers was determined to have her family see each other one last time before the disaster!

Melody continued, "I have a few old classmates who work in the meteorological department. They’ve all warned me that there might be a series of weather-related disasters across the country over the next year."

"As a soldier, my cousin will definitely be sent all over for disaster relief. It’ll be hard for him to come home then. You should go see him tomorrow, bring him some food and supplies. We can talk about moving when you get back."

Although her uncle and aunt found it a bit sudden, they hadn’t seen their son in a long time. Hearing Melody’s reasoning, they both nodded in agreement. "You’re right. We should go see Ian. The last time we spoke, he mentioned he was craving some of our homemade cured meat. This is the perfect chance to bring him some."

Winnie Summers asked, "Melody, aren’t you going with them? You haven’t seen your cousin in a long time either."

Melody wanted to go, but she couldn’t. In one month, that unprecedented tornado would hit. This school district apartment was right in the disaster’s path. She had to use this time to sell it and buy a new shelter.

"I have some other things to take care of, so I won’t go this time. It’s a good chance for Miss Lowell and me to finish unpacking everything here," Melody said, making an excuse.

"Mom, Grandma, Uncle, Aunt Grace, the tickets I bought are for tomorrow morning. Let’s all get some rest. We can deal with everything else after you get back."

"Yes, yes, let’s get some rest. It’s almost one in the morning," said Grandma.

Exhausted from the long day, the Summers family fell into a deep sleep.

*

「The Lancaster Villa.」

In the middle of the night, Simon Lancaster was woken by a phone call.

He answered with a frown. His assistant’s panicked voice came through the line. "President Lancaster, this is bad! There’s been an unprecedented, massive mudslide on Mount Anworth! Boulders are rolling everywhere, and the road up the mountain is completely blocked."

"What?!" Simon Lancaster shot upright in bed.

"Arrange for the project team to head to the site first thing tomorrow morning. And get the insurance company involved."

After making the arrangements, Simon hung up, his head throbbing.

He rubbed his temples, thinking, ’Thank goodness Silas came back yesterday and said Melody Summers’s family had already moved away from Mount Anworth. Otherwise, they probably wouldn’t have escaped this mudslide. If the daughter we just found died suddenly in a mudslide, Mom and Dad would be devastated.’

’Wait a minute.’

’Melody Summers’s family already moved away from Mount Anworth?’

An uncontrollable thought suddenly popped into Simon Lancaster’s mind: ’Melody was in such a hurry to sign the contract, so desperate for the money, and so quick to move out... Could it be that she already knew there was going to be a mudslide on Mount Anworth?’

But then he dismissed the idea as impossible. ’The Lancaster Group’s project team conducted a detailed survey before. The geology of Mount Anworth isn’t prone to mudslides. How could Melody Summers possibly have known the future?’

Yesterday, Silas Lancaster had gone to Mount Anworth to bring Melody Summers home. Elaine Hughes had been overjoyed, instructing the housekeeper to prepare a grand welcome feast for Melody. But in the end, only Silas himself returned.

Silas had angrily reported that Melody told him she would only come back if Sylvia Lancaster left the family.

Elaine Hughes couldn’t believe it. She tried calling Melody, but there was no answer.

Elaine had asked Simon to call and try to persuade Melody, but when he did, Melody didn’t pick up either.

Suddenly, Simon wasn’t sure if bringing Melody back to the Lancaster family was the right decision.

’It was Sylvia and Ethan Sutton’s engagement a while back that made me too impatient,’ he thought.

The Lancaster family had known for years that Sylvia wasn’t their biological daughter. When Sylvia was in middle school, a routine physical required a blood test. The family learned she was type AB, which meant she couldn’t possibly be biologically related to the Lancasters, who were all type O.

The Lancasters had raised Sylvia for so many years, pouring not only vast amounts of money and resources into her, but also a great deal of affection. The family truly doted on her, so this revelation didn’t change their attitude toward her.

The family kept the matter a secret while quietly searching for their biological daughter.

But Simon Lancaster had developed other ideas about this "sister."

So when Mr. and Mrs. Lancaster decided to arrange a marriage between Sylvia and Ethan Sutton, the heir to the Sutton Family, Simon panicked. He rushed to find his real sister.

The Sutton Family placed great importance on bloodlines. If they knew the Lancasters’ true biological daughter was someone else, Ethan Sutton’s intended bride would surely be changed.

At this thought, Simon pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. This wasn’t his only problem at the moment.

The Lancaster Group was deeply invested in the tourism industry, which had taken a huge hit during the pandemic a few years ago. The company had just started to recover in the last two years, but poor decisions on several projects last year had led to cash flow problems.

Now, with the Mount Anworth project in trouble, it was like pouring salt on the wound for the Lancaster Group.

All desire to sleep had vanished. Simon Lancaster got up, dressed, and prepared to have a detailed discussion with Robert Lancaster about Mount Anworth.