Chapter 18
Fu Jingqiu raised an eyebrow. “A tree hole?”
Jiang Qingyu said, “It means someone who listens.”
His voice was a little weak. “I just thought that maybe you need someone to listen to you complain a little.”
Jiang Qingyu’s college roommate had once said that so-called having no desire to confide was essentially because there was no one willing to listen. Silently digesting things took too much energy. Finding someone to listen to your complaints would make things much better.
After their brief contact, Jiang Qingyu was willing to believe that Fu Jingqiu was not a bad person. From his attitude, he could also tell that apart from sadness and melancholy, when Fu Jingqiu talked about this matter, there were no signs of guilt or lying.
A look of surprise briefly appeared on Fu Jingqiu’s face. Because of his reaction, Jiang Qingyu felt embarrassed again. But the words had already been spoken, so he could only use all kinds of little movements to cover it up and say vaguely, “…It’s fine if you don’t want to talk about it.”
Fu Jingqiu sat forward a little, and his hands resting on the table moved forward with the motion, invisibly narrowing the distance between him and Jiang Qingyu.
Clearly, his expression and movements carried no aggression, but Jiang Qingyu still subconsciously tensed up. The back of his head went faintly numb, and he forcibly controlled the urge to lean backward.
Fu Jingqiu said seriously, “Your vigilance is very low.”
Jiang Qingyu: “Huh?”
Fu Jingqiu said, “You saved someone of unknown background in an uninhabited area, believed everything the other person said, and even developed sympathy because of it. This is very dangerous.”
No, brother?
Was there really a need for this?
Jiang Qingyu said blankly, “I have surveillance cameras in this vehicle. The vehicle is parked opposite the police station. I can escape and call the police at any time. I don’t really have anything to be afraid of.”
A trace of approval appeared in Fu Jingqiu’s eyes. “What you said is correct, and you considered things very thoroughly.”
Jiang Qingyu: ???
Bro, even at a time like this, how do you still have the leisure to worry about someone else’s safety awareness? Think about what happened to you!
Only, those words were a bit too cruel, and it was not suitable to say them now. So he pulled out a somewhat awkward smile. “Is that so? Haha. After all, I’m alone outside.”
“Um, if you don’t want to talk about it, then forget it. I’m not trying to pry into your privacy. I just saw that you didn’t seem to be in a very good mood, so I…”
They had eaten, and they had chatted. Should they just each rest separately and not disturb each other?
Wait. No.
Fu Jingqiu was already awake, and it was not as if he had no ability to move. Actually, there was no reason for him to keep staying here.
It was just that, as he himself had said, all the things on him that could prove his identity had been taken away, and his phone was gone too. If Jiang Qingyu drove him away at this time, Fu Jingqiu probably would not even be able to find a homestay or small hotel to sleep in for the night.
Lending him some money would also work.
After all, he was a soldier. Jiang Qingyu still had a bit of a filter toward this identity.
Getting a replacement ID card, buying a phone, then buying a plane or train ticket, eating, drinking, and staying in a hotel probably would not cost much money.
Jiang Qingyu thought secretly: He really had gotten carried away. If it had been before, he would never have said something like “it probably won’t cost much money” even if he were beaten to death.
However, before he could finish silently criticizing himself, Fu Jingqiu spoke again.
“The people in that RV were my mother and my younger brother.”
Huh?
Jiang Qingyu had thought Fu Jingqiu, like himself, had run into some bad relatives.
His mother and younger brother? He really had both an elder and a sibling involved.
Fu Jingqiu said lightly, “My mother wanted my retirement pay and savings to buy my younger brother a house for marriage, and to transfer the house under her name to guarantee her life in old age.”
Jiang Qingyu blurted out, “On what basis? It’s one thing for you to support her, but why do you have to support your younger brother too?”
Fu Jingqiu was concise. “He’s a few years younger than me. My mother dotes on him more.”
How was that doting? That was clearly favoritism, all right!
Jiang Qingyu could not believe it. “Was it because you didn’t agree that they tricked you here and wanted your life? Sorry for asking, but you shouldn’t be married, right?”
Fu Jingqiu said, “Mm. I’m single.”
So if something happened to him, his house and assets would definitely be taken over by his mother, and in the end, they would fall into his younger brother’s hands.
What kind of thing was this?
Jiang Qingyu was furious. He also forgot all about privacy or boundaries and asked him directly, “What were they originally planning? Drug you, drive the vehicle into the desert of the uninhabited area, and let you stay there forever without a sound?”
“Let me think. You must have been abandoned by them at night, right? They didn’t even leave you a coat. You were drugged and dehydrated. There are precedents of people being dried into carbon in the desert. If you hadn’t walked out, would you already have been dried out by now?”
Fu Jingqiu lowered his eyes. “I have some drug resistance. In addition, the drug was probably administered by my younger brother, and he wasn’t very precise with the dosage, so I woke up early.”
At that time, the temperature had not yet risen. It could even be said to have been very cold.
Fu Jingqiu had not dared to stop for even a moment. Considering the situation he might face after the sun rose, he had not even found a sheltered place to hide for a while. Once his body recovered a little strength, he forced himself to start searching for the correct path out of the desert.
His luck was very good. Not only had he chosen the right direction, he had also met Jiang Qingyu.
This trip had originally been planned by his mother to ease the somewhat stiff relationship between him and his younger brother recently. In the first few days after they set out, the atmosphere had been unexpectedly good. Everyone laughed and chatted, and no one mentioned anything unhappy.
In Fu Jingqiu’s memory, the last time his family had gotten along so harmoniously had been many years ago. Naturally, his heart softened, and his vigilance also lowered somewhat. Even when his younger brother insisted on driving through the uninhabited area at night, he had only advised him a few times and had not forcibly stopped him.
His younger brother drove, while his mother spoke heart-to-heart with him in the RV and poured tea for him.
Fu Jingqiu was not sure when he fell asleep, but when he woke up, his whole body was weak. Around him, as far as the eye could see, there was nothing but desert.
The moment he regained consciousness, he understood everything.
For a moment, Fu Jingqiu had wanted to fulfill their wish and sleep forever in that desert.
But later, he still stood up.
Mainly because he was unwilling.
He wanted to ask why. On what basis?
He believed that between him and his younger brother, he was the child who had given more. In some aspects, he had even reached the point of giving whatever was asked of him.
Back then, the reason he had no choice but to leave the military was also because his mother had fallen seriously ill, and his younger brother was unwilling to take care of her. The burden of supporting the family had fallen onto his shoulders.
His father had died of illness, and Fu Jingqiu did not want to lose another family member.
And now, this family member he had valued had personally handed him the tea that made him fall unconscious.
After waking up in Jiang Qingyu’s RV, Fu Jingqiu had sat alone for a very long time.
His wounds throbbed faintly, his mind was heavy and dizzy, and when he thought of everything in the past, he only felt that it was all very meaningless.
But a debt of gratitude still had to be repaid. Moreover, this was a life-saving grace.
Fu Jingqiu calmly finished speaking about his own matters, then changed the topic.
“Tomorrow, I’ll go replace my ID card. Please give me your bank card number. I’m sorry that I can only express my gratitude in this way for now. You can name an amount, and I’ll try my best to satisfy it.”
Jiang Qingyu: “Ah…”
He had not come back to himself yet.
Originally, he had thought his eldest uncle’s family was already shameless enough and lacking enough in bottom line. But now, it seemed that there were always people beyond people, heavens beyond heavens.
Sorry. That expression did not seem very suitable here.
Jiang Qingyu did not respond to his words. Instead, he asked, “Then what do you plan to do next? Will you go back? Expose their true faces and make their schemes fail?”
Fu Jingqiu paused, then said honestly, “To be honest, I haven’t thought it through yet. But I don’t really want to go back.”
There was no meaning in it anymore.
He had originally left the military for his mother. Otherwise, considering his situation at the time, actually… forget it. There was no need to mention it.
In any case, now, everything had come to nothing.
Jiang Qingyu, however, was thinking about something else.
People all said that traveling to relax could wash away sorrow and exhaustion. Fu Jingqiu’s current situation was very suitable for that. If he continued forward, the world would be broad and open. Looking at different scenery every day might dilute his emotions.
That was the first benefit.
As for the second benefit, after helping others, it was time to help himself.
Jiang Qingyu remembered what he had said to the system a few days ago.
First, he lacked a travel companion. Second, he lacked a very skilled teammate.
Fu Jingqiu was a retired soldier, so there was nothing to criticize about his physical fitness. Someone who had come out of the military would, no matter how one put it, be more reliable than Jiang Qingyu’s small frame.
He spoke appropriately and treated others politely. Uh, for now, he could count him as kind-hearted?
Even after being drugged, he could still force himself to walk out of the desert, proving that his willpower was firm and his character tenacious.
Of course, everything had two sides. Strictly speaking, Jiang Qingyu had only known him for a few hours. It could not be said that he understood him very well.
But judging solely from his overall qualities, Fu Jingqiu was a pretty good companion.
He just needed a bit of an observation period.
Thinking this, Jiang Qingyu cleared his throat and sat upright.
“In that case, do you want to hear my suggestion?”
Fu Jingqiu said, “Go ahead.”
“The fact that we met is fate.” Jiang Qingyu used a somewhat clichéd opening. “If you don’t want to go back, why not take this opportunity to travel outside and relax? You’re a pretty good person, and I just happen to be lacking a companion.”
For a few seconds, Fu Jingqiu’s expression drifted. “What?”
Jiang Qingyu touched his nose and, for two seconds, did not dare meet Fu Jingqiu’s eyes. “Um, don’t look at this RV and think it seems very small. Actually, it has an expandable cabin design. Accommodating the two of us won’t be a problem.”
The young people he had met at RV campsites had almost all been traveling with companions. To be honest, Jiang Qingyu was very envious.
“I’m actually very willing to travel with companions. Everyone can take care of one another, and if we encounter danger, we can help each other. It’s just that there wasn’t a suitable candidate before. And it just so happens that you’re now, uh, no, wait.”
Jiang Qingyu thought of a very important question. “Are you working?”
Fu Jingqiu shook his head. “My mother’s illness only recently recovered. Before this, I was taking care of her the whole time.”
So this trip to Inner Mongolia had also been agreed to with the thought of accompanying his mother to relax. Who could have imagined that what the other party had planned was to harm his life?
He wondered what his mother and younger brother had been thinking when he was helping pack the luggage.
Jiang Qingyu’s voice pulled him back to reality. The other person’s tone sounded a little more cheerful than before.
“That’s great! No, I mean, this makes things more convenient.”
Actually, it would not matter even if he did have a job. The apocalypse was about to arrive anyway. Who would still be going to work? He was just worried that Fu Jingqiu might still want to go back because of work, in which case the arrangements would have to be discussed differently.
The more Jiang Qingyu thought about it, the more he felt this was good. Although saying this was a little immoral, from the perspective of “hardware,” Fu Jingqiu was practically a heaven-chosen good teammate right now. It was really hard for Jiang Qingyu not to be tempted.
He clasped his hands together under his chin, invisibly narrowing the distance between himself and Fu Jingqiu again. His eyes shone brightly, and his expression was full of expectation.
“So, what do you think of my proposal?”
