Chapter 50: The Liang Family Dinner
The Liang family house was visible from three streets away.
Zhiyi leaned closer to the window as Hanchuan’s car passed between two stone pillars and entered the property.
The driveway curved through several hectares of landscaped grounds before dividing around a circular fountain. Water rose from its center in four illuminated streams, crossed in the air and fell into a basin wide enough to require its own filtration system. Smaller jets formed a second ring beneath them, sending mist across the surrounding flower beds.
The water consumption was unnecessary.
That was the first problem.
The house beyond it contained too many others to count immediately.
It rose three stories above the ground, although the height of each floor suggested that the total interior elevation was closer to that of a five-story residential building. White stone divided the exterior into long geometric sections interrupted by expanses of glass.
There were glass walls around the entrance.
Glass walls across the upper floor.
Two projecting wings appeared to contain nothing but glass, steel and furniture positioned for maximum visibility from outside.
Zhiyi stared at it.
At least forty percent of the front exterior was transparent.
Possibly more.
Decorative lighting had been installed beneath the roofline, along the drive and under the broad stone ledges extending over both wings. Hundreds of warm lights reflected against the windows. From a distance, the house appeared to glow.
It also appeared structurally incapable of surviving any of the coming disasters.
The car moved forward with the line of vehicles approaching the entrance. Every few seconds, another luxury sedan stopped beneath the covered portico. Uniformed valets opened the doors, greeted the occupants and drove their vehicles away.
A red carpet had been laid from the edge of the circular driveway to the front entrance. It climbed seven shallow stairs before disappearing between two open glass doors.
Zhiyi looked from the house to Hanchuan. "You said this was a family dinner," she said after a moment.
"It is," he assured her.
"There are forty-six vehicles visible from this side of the fountain."
Hanchuan glanced through the window. "Some of the family invited guests."
Across from them, Zeyu adjusted the front of his tuxedo jacket. His mouth had been threatening to curve since they passed the first security post.
To the five of them, this was what a Liang family dinner meant, but to her... he could see how it might be overwhelming. That was fine. He wasn’t going to let her out of his eyesight long enough for Zhiyi to have any issues.
Zhiyi returned her attention to the house.
The vehicle moved another five meters before stopping behind a black sedan. Two women in evening gowns stepped out ahead of them, accepted numbered cards from the valet and began ascending the carpeted stairs.
Neither appeared related to Liang Shichen.
Zhiyi could not confirm that without access to the Liang family registry, but the probability was low.
The car advanced again.
She looked past the fountain toward the mansion’s eastern wing. Light poured through the glass, revealing clusters of people standing inside. The space appeared large enough to contain several hundred occupants.
The definition of family dinner had been applied incorrectly, but that somehow mattered less than the windows.
"The glass will fail during the first heat," she said softly, shifting her weight just a bit.
Zeyu followed her gaze. "It’s reinforced."
"That affects impact resistance. It doesn’t correct the thermal transfer."
"It’s expensive glass."
"Heat does not account for the purchase price before entering a structure."
A short laugh escaped Zeyu, but the smile on his face assured Zhiyi that he wasn’t laughing at her.
Zhiyi continued examining the mansion. The roof was nearly flat, with broad sections interrupted only by decorative variations in height.
"The roof won’t support the accumulated ice."
Hanchuan looked away from his phone.
"The central section might," Zhiyi amended. "The cantilevered portions won’t. The projected load exceeds the likely support capacity, particularly over the western wing."
"You haven’t seen the structural plans," Zeyu pointed out, although the smile spreading across his face suggested that he was less interested in defending the house than in keeping Zhiyi talking. Who knew discussing unsupported spans could be this entertaining?
Zhiyi continued studying the western wing through the window. "I don’t need the complete plans to identify unsupported sections."
"Shichen designed part of the renovation." Zeyu leaned forward to follow her line of sight, searching the roof for whatever flaw she had already found.
"That doesn’t make the spans shorter."
Zeyu considered the house with exaggerated seriousness, as though he might be able to see the future collapse if he looked long enough. "We probably shouldn’t tell Shichen that his home is going to fall down before dinner."
"It won’t collapse before dinner." Zhiyi shifted her attention to the nearly flat roof and the decorative sections projecting beyond the main structure. The immediate weather presented no danger to it.
Zeyu relaxed against the seat. "That’s reassuring."
"The heat comes first."
His smile disappeared as he seemed to remember that there was an upcoming apocalypse between family dinners, business decisions, and building new cars.
When he didn’t reply, Zhiyi returned her attention back to the house and all the things that could go wrong with it.
This was the first time, she considered the coming years from Liang Shichen’s perspective.
She had studied the safe-house plans with him. He preferred open spaces, long sight lines and natural light. He drew windows into every structure until she removed them. When they discussed the bunker, he repeatedly attempted to improve the underground sections by adding light wells.
Zhiyi had rejected all of them.
Now she understood why he kept trying.
"Will Shichen be able to live in the bunker?" she asked, hesitantly.
Hanchuan’s attention settled fully on her. "He will," he assured her.
"But he lives here," she countered, waving her hand in the direction of the house.
"He doesn’t spend much time here," assured Zeyu.
"That isn’t relevant. His preferred architectural features are incompatible with a bunker. There will be no windows, limited ceiling height and insufficient natural light for an extended period."
"We can make adjustments."
"Not enough to replicate this."