Chapter 12
His aunt, whom he had not contacted in ages and who could barely exchange a few words with him even when they met, had somehow dug Jiang Qingyu’s phone number out from some forgotten corner—not changing his number was indeed convenient, but it also brought plenty of trouble.
When the call came through, she acted completely differently from usual, asking after him with concern. She said she had simply been too busy before, so she had not had time to call and care about him. She also invited Jiang Qingyu to stay at her house, saying that it did not matter that his grandparents were gone. From now on, they were family.
What Jiang Qingyu thought was: Who is “we” with you?
Naturally, Jiang Qingyu remembered this branch of relatives. To put it nicely, his aunt was soft-eared and had no opinions of her own. To put it bluntly, she was a bloodsucker who willingly offered herself up.
Whatever his eldest uncle’s family needed, his aunt gave. Whatever his eldest uncle’s family wanted to do, his aunt’s family helped.
Back then, by all rights, she should have had a share of his grandparents’ house. But with one sentence about how the son needed to get married, his aunt immediately handed it over without a fight.
She had never had much affection for Jiang Qingyu. He had heard that in the past, she had never shown a good face to Jiang Qingyu’s father either—the man who was now wandering who-knew-where. Instead, she had the best relationship with the youngest brother.
It was easy to imagine that Jiang Qingyu naturally could not get anything good from her.
But he did not care either. Over all these years, he had barely exchanged more than a few words with this aunt. When they met, he would only symbolically greet her.
Even thinking with his toes, he could figure out what purpose his aunt had in suddenly contacting him at this time with a face she had never worn before.
Jiang Qingyu was also too impatient to play along with her false courtesy. After chatting only a couple of sentences, he went straight to the point.
“Auntie, I’ve been a little tight on money lately. Can you lend me some?”
His aunt fell silent for a moment. “You don’t have money now?”
Jiang Qingyu said, “No. Didn’t you know? I was kicked out of the house by Eldest Uncle. Recently, I haven’t found any suitable work either, and I’m worrying about where my next meal will come from. Auntie, your call came at just the right time. Why don’t you transfer me some money? A few thousand wouldn’t be too little, and tens of thousands wouldn’t be too much.”
His aunt fell silent again.
In her impression, Jiang Qingyu was still that obedient child who followed behind his grandparents. Although his tongue was quite sharp, whenever the elders were present, he absolutely would not talk back.
Docile, well-behaved, obedient.
Those were all the labels she had for Jiang Qingyu.
Some time ago, when the dispute over dividing the house happened, because she had not intended to fight her older brother for it in the first place, she had withdrawn early from the inheritance distribution. As for what situation Jiang Qingyu would face, she did not care at all.
If her older brother had not suddenly called to say that Jiang Qingyu had run away from home on his own, was fooling around outside with all kinds of people, and who knew what dirty money he had earned, she would probably have forgotten this nephew entirely.
Now, it seemed that sure enough, after mixing with who-knew-what kinds of people outside, he had learned badly. He even dared to speak to an elder like this.
She had just been about to speak when she heard Jiang Qingyu chuckle on the other end of the phone.
“It’s just that my memory is really bad. How could Auntie have money? Your own husband and son don’t get to enjoy any of it, since all your money is spent on Eldest Uncle’s family. You probably think Cousin is more reliable than your own son and will support you in old age. But looking at it this way, I’m afraid I’m even less close to you as your nephew. After all, I’ve never seen your money, so I definitely can’t be as thoughtful as Eldest Uncle and Cousin.”
Jiang Qingyu’s voice carried a smile, but when he said these words, his expression was rarely so cold.
In the past, out of consideration for his grandparents, he had not wanted to make the situation too ugly. Most of the time, he had pretended to be deaf and mute, acting as if he did not know about his aunt’s series of biased actions.
In any case, in his heart, his aunt did not count as his family at all. Whatever she said or did was not enough to make him sad. He had merely been unwilling to make the elderly couple upset and had been willing to take a step back to maintain superficial peace.
But now, Jiang Qingyu had nothing to worry about.
Endure?
Heh. Who lacked such a biased relative?
On the other end, this was the first time his aunt had ever been accused in such a sarcastic, roundabout way. It was practically a curse thrown in her face, so naturally she could not endure it. Her voice unconsciously became much sharper.
“Jiang Qingyu, you—!”
Before she could finish, the call was mercilessly hung up.
Holding Meimei with one arm, Jiang Qingyu poked rapidly at his phone with his fingers and swiftly put his aunt on the blacklist too.
With her personality, after the apocalypse arrived, even if her family had supplies, she would probably rush to send them to Eldest Uncle’s family, right?
But even if she did that, Eldest Uncle’s family still would not remember her kindness.
That was her own choice. Jiang Qingyu would not play the saint.
After hanging up, Jiang Qingyu calmed down for a while, then in the end still drove out to eat a bowl of steamed lamb.
If he had to compare this dish to something, it was a bit like bone broth. The lamb was incredibly tender, without any gaminess at all, and the soup was very fresh. However, Jiang Qingyu did not particularly like drinking it, so once he finished eating the meat, that was enough.
This dish did not count as one he especially liked, so he only packed a few portions for Meimei, just to let her try something new.
Aside from that, there were also thin, crispy beef pies. The outer shell was very flaky, and the sesame seeds sprinkled over the dough were extremely fragrant. Even after eating several, he still felt unsatisfied.
The spoils of this meal were not many, but Jiang Qingyu was still very satisfied. When he left, he saw an old-fashioned pastry shop across the road. Curious, he walked over to take a look and saw a row of takeaway boxes placed in the cabinet. The pastries inside were arranged neatly, and their colors were very tempting.
“…Nut, butter, cheese, and persimmon rolls?” Jiang Qingyu murmured to himself. “They sound delicious just from the name.”
The salesperson beside him heard his muttering and came over with a smile to introduce them. “Yes, this pastry sells especially well in our shop. It has walnuts and pumpkin seeds inside, so it tastes very fragrant. The old-style cream has a very special texture too. You can give it a try.”
As she spoke, she took a piece from the sample plate and used a small fork to pick the largest piece before handing it to him.
“Please have a taste.”
Jiang Qingyu felt a little embarrassed. “Thank you.”
He was somewhat shy, but he looked especially well-behaved. Even the way he ate was pleasing to look at. He looked particularly like the kind of good-tempered boy who would keep himself clean and tidy. The salesperson looked at him with a face full of auntie-like affection and hurriedly said, “It’s fine. If you like it, you can try two more pieces.”
She was just short of saying that it did not matter even if he only ate and did not buy anything.
However, Jiang Qingyu was not that kind of person. He tasted it carefully. The old-style cream was rich and thick, but not very sweet. Its texture was delicate and smooth. The persimmon wrapped around the outside was slightly sour, which balanced the cream very well. On top of that, nuts had been added inside, and the pumpkin seeds were especially fragrant.
As Jiang Qingyu ate, his eyes brightened slightly. He subconsciously looked up at the salesperson.
The moment she saw his expression, she knew he liked it. The smile on her face deepened, though she still did not forget her job. “How is it? Would you like to buy some?”
Jiang Qingyu nodded repeatedly. “Mm. Pack me more!”
The salesperson smiled. “All right. How much would you like?”
Jiang Qingyu glanced over their display case. “Can I have all of them?”
The salesperson: “Huh?”
Jiang Qingyu calmly paid, swept the shop clean of its persimmon rolls, and drove away happily.
These past few days, intentionally or otherwise, he had chatted with classmates from university whom he had gotten along with quite well, bringing up the repeated and changeable weather. Between the lines, he suggested that they could stock some things at home—water or food—so that if anything happened, it would be convenient for them.
At first, his classmates thought he had recently become poisoned by apocalypse novels. However, the recent changeable weather was indeed real. It seemed as if people in this country naturally had the thought of preparing for danger in times of peace carved into their bones. After Jiang Qingyu advised them a couple of times, they said, “All right, all right,” and in the end bought some things to stock at home.
If the climate stayed normal, they could just slowly eat through them when they had time. In any case, their shelf life was not that short.
After parking the RV at the campsite, Jiang Qingyu began thinking about what tools he should stockpile.
Since he was driving an RV, there would naturally be times when he camped. Jiang Qingyu also wanted to find a deserted place to do some outdoor barbecue, sit under an awning and drink steaming hot milk tea. All kinds of equipment, such as cassette stoves and heaters, had to be prepared.
He should also get some self-defense weapons, right? Even if there were no people around, there was no guarantee he would not encounter wolves or bears in the wild. Better to take precautions before anything happened.
In apocalypse novels, the protagonist either possessed special skills themselves or could recruit people with special skills. Could heaven please arrange that for him too? That would make him feel much safer.
Jiang Qingyu clasped his hands together and prayed twice.
“Please, please, give me a teammate who is one meter ninety, broad-shouldered, narrow-waisted, with a perky butt, long legs, eight-pack abs, and can lift me up with one arm!”
The system, which heard his wish: “…”
System: “Is this wish of yours… proper?”
Jiang Qingyu: “It is proper.”
System: “Which part of it is proper?”
Jiang Qingyu: “Because someone with that kind of physique looks very strong and reliable. Think about it. How much willpower and self-discipline would it take to build that kind of body? Being teammates with him would definitely feel very secure.”
System: “…”
That actually seemed to make a lot of sense.
Back to the main point.
The system said seriously, “Perhaps in the later stages, upgrades such as anti-zombie functions, RV defense, and active attack systems may refresh. The effect would be more or less the same.”
Jiang Qingyu raised an eyebrow. “What if I want to get out of the vehicle and go somewhere else?”
System: “According to my calculations, if you continue upgrading at the current speed, no matter how terrible the situation becomes, you will be able to remain inside the vehicle the entire time.”
Jiang Qingyu was helpless. “Occasionally, I still want to get out and see the scenery.”
System: “You can see it from inside the vehicle. Opening the window works too.”
…Forget it. There was no explaining this clearly to a system like you.
Were staying in the vehicle and personally experiencing the world the same thing? He also wanted to step on sand, touch lake water with his hands, and feel the warm wind on sunny days.
Fine. In the apocalypse, things like that were a little luxurious.
In truth, Jiang Qingyu only… only…
He only wanted someone to accompany him and talk to him.
But even if he said this to the system, the other party probably would not understand. Besides, it was powerless to help.
Before he was taken in and raised by his grandparents, there had been a very long period of time when he had managed alone. He had relied on the tiny bit of money his father left behind and the help of a kind neighbor auntie.
When he was very young, he had already been able to take care of himself well, let alone now, when he had an RV that could continuously upgrade. Even in the apocalypse, he could live well.
Perhaps living well and wanting to live together with someone else were different things.
A friend, family, or a lover—any of them would be fine.
He liked liveliness.
