noveltune Chapter 2 My Home Became a Portable Space
Chapter 2 My Home Became a Portable Space
After some searching, Lin Zhou discovered four things: First, there was still electricity. Second, there was still running water. Third, there was still gas. Fourth, there was no internet—what a pity!
Who knows when this three-have-four-nothing situation will stop? Let's just make do for now! It would be even better if it could stay the same forever. Feeling his stomach growling, Lin Zhou devoured all the leftover dishes from the banquet and ate until he was stuffed.
After eating and drinking his fill, and washing the plates and bowls, Lin Zhou's first thought was how he got in. Could he go out and come back in? Thinking it, he stood up, walked to the middle of the living room, and silently asked himself.
"I want to get out!"
Lin Zhou felt a sudden darkness before his eyes and found himself beside a bed in the cowshed. He wasn't sitting on the bed; he remembered entering sitting down and remaining seated inside, and leaving standing up and standing up again. So, if I were lying down, would I be lying down after entering?
She hurriedly lay down on the bed, shouting, "I want to go home!"
Lin Zhou's eyes lit up, and he quickly looked around. He was lying on the living room floor. It seemed that this house had become his personal space, and he could freely enter and leave without even having to say it out loud; he could just think about it.
Lin Zhou stood up and stepped onto the bright, light gray tiles in the living room. As he moved, his footsteps echoed familiarly in the quiet environment.
Looking around, he saw familiar things everywhere. The off-white leather sofa was covered with cushions with light blue patterns. On the background wall behind the sofa, there was a framed picture of persimmons that he had carefully selected. The robot vacuum cleaner in the corner was quietly waiting to be woken up and start working again.
The air was filled with the distinctive woody scent of new furniture. This was a home he had painstakingly built over ten years, from buying the house to designing, decorating, and constructing it. (Of course, he had to hire people for the construction.) But now, this three-bedroom, two-living-room apartment on the eighth floor had become a portable space that he could take with him from half a century ago.
Lin Zhou strode to the balcony, raised his hand to touch the cold aluminum alloy window frame, and then suddenly turned on the tap next to it. "Whoosh..." The cold water flowed out instantly, falling into the brand-new ceramic sink and splashing up tiny water droplets.
He stared at the flowing water for a full half minute, then reached out and touched the cabinet door under the sink. When he opened it, the pipes inside were clean and brand new, with no signs of leakage. The automatic washing machine next to him was not plugged in, and the plug had fallen out.
He turned and walked to the electrical panel in the living room, opened the cover, and found the circuit breakers neatly arranged inside, with red indicator lights glowing faintly. Lin Zhou counted them; the switches in the living room, dining room, three bedrooms, kitchen, and bathroom were all in the closed position. He tried to turn off the main switch in the living room, and the ceiling light above his head went out instantly. He turned it back on, and the warm yellow light immediately enveloped the room again.
What made his heart race the most were the electric meter and the water meter. Yesterday was the first day of his move, so he had made a point of noting down the numbers. Now, looking at them again, the numbers on the electric meter were exactly the same as before, but the water meter's pointer, which was always spinning rapidly, was now completely still.
"Is the water and electricity supply unlimited? Or is time frozen here?" Lin Zhou muttered to himself, his fingertips tracing the cool casing of the electricity meter box. Regardless of the reason, an indescribable sense of security welled up from the bottom of his heart.
After turning off the tap, his gaze quickly fell on the kitchen, where he had prepared supplies for the moving party and his future life. The custom-made kitchen cabinets were light gray, echoing the floor tiles in the living room. Lin Zhou opened the bottom cabinet door, and two bulging bags immediately came into view. One was a 50-kilogram bag of rice, and the other was a bag of high-gluten flour of the same weight. The bags were sealed tightly with blue clips.
On the shelf next to him, a five-liter bottle of sunflower oil sat quietly, next to a row of condiment bottles: glass bottles of light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and white vinegar, all brands he usually used for cooking; packets of salt, sugar, and pepper, each individually packaged in a sealed bag; even the star anise, cinnamon, and bay leaves for stewing meat were in a transparent glass jar, emitting a faint aroma of spices. Lin Zhou reached for a bottle of white vinegar, unscrewed the cap, and smelled it. The familiar sour smell instantly relaxed him—at least here, he could cook as usual.
What surprised him most was the four-door refrigerator. He had specifically chosen the large-capacity model because he didn't like going to the supermarket so often and wanted it to hold all his food in one go. Now it was indeed packed full.
Opening the refrigerator door, a blast of cool air rushed out, dispelling the stuffiness of the kitchen. In the upper shelf, apples and oranges were neatly arranged, each apple wrapped in a transparent protective bag; bananas hung on special hooks, their skins still a fresh yellow, without a single black spot; next to them, a food storage container held grapes, each plump and still glistening with moisture.
The lower drawer was crammed with various green vegetables: spinach, lettuce, and romaine lettuce, all with fresh, vibrant green leaves; celery, carrots, and white radishes were neatly arranged beside them, and even the perishable mushrooms were wrapped in kitchen paper to keep them moist. Lin Zhou reached out and touched a head of lettuce; the leaves were cool to the touch, and the texture was as fresh as if it had just been bought from the market.
Opening the freezer compartment door revealed an even more reassuring sight. The three drawers were clearly divided: the first drawer contained frozen dumplings in two flavors—pork and cabbage, and egg and chives—both his favorite brands; the second drawer was crammed with various hot pot meatballs, including fish balls, shrimp balls, and beef balls.
The third drawer contained meat. The pork, cut into chunks, was divided into small portions in plastic bags, and the chopped ribs were piled up next to it. At the very back were two vacuum-packed lamb slices and a whole beef tenderloin, which he had specially stocked up on at the supermarket a few days ago, thinking he could have hot pot with lamb in the winter. He never expected it would come in handy now.
Lin Zhou closed the refrigerator door and turned to look at the living room. His "electronic equipment library" was on the TV cabinet. The newly installed projector screen hadn't been raised yet and was still covered with a transparent plastic film. Next to it, the laptop was charging and the screen was always lit up, still showing the interior design drawings. It was the page where he had looked at his masterpiece with a friend yesterday. The tablet was next to the computer, the charging cable still plugged in, and the screen showed a full charge indicator. The old cell phone was casually placed aside. Although it had been used for three years, the battery was still very durable. He had originally planned to keep it as a backup phone.
In the corner of the TV cabinet, a 5 mAh power bank sat quietly; it was a special purchase he made specifically for power outages. A rechargeable flashlight hung on a hook within easy reach. Even the USB handheld fan that came with the air conditioner was unpacked and placed on the coffee table, its blades still brand new. Lin Zhou picked up the power bank, pressed the power button, and all four indicator lights lit up—fully charged, enough to charge his phone several times over.
Lin Zhou walked slowly to the bedroom, pushed open the master bedroom door, and saw that the beige curtains were drawn, blocking out the light. The sliding doors of the wardrobe in the bedroom slid smoothly and silently; on the bedside table was the air conditioner remote control, and next to it was a book he planned to read when he was bored.
Lin Zhou left the bedroom and went to the balcony. He pushed open a glass window, but the familiar view of the neighborhood was gone. Instead, there was a thick, swirling fog, and he couldn't see anything. He reached out and touched the layer of "white fog." His fingertips felt a soft sensation, similar to touching a sponge, but he couldn't penetrate it. It was as if this space was an isolated island in the thick fog.
Lin Zhou leaned against the French windows of the balcony, looking back at the house full of life, every detail imbued with his expectations for "home". He had originally decorated this house to have a stable place of his own, but he never imagined that this house would become his most solid support in such a bizarre way.
He reached out and touched the cool glass of the floor-to-ceiling window, a sense of peace he had never felt before washing over him. No matter what happened outside, as long as he silently said "I want to go home," he could return to this place with running water, electricity, food, and warmth. Lin Zhou took a deep breath; the woody scent in the air brought him immense comfort—perhaps this bizarre time travel wasn't such a bad thing after all.