Chapter 26
Jiang Qingyu was woken by a burst of urgent knocking.
The noise only lasted about ten seconds before it was quickly blocked off. It sounded muffled and indistinct through the haze, but in the end, it still drove away Jiang Qingyu’s sleepiness and woke him from his sweet dream.
He climbed up in a daze and looked around, only to realize that he had actually fallen asleep on the sofa in the living room. Someone immediately sat down beside him. Within his line of sight was a pair of long legs, followed by Fu Jingqiu’s voice. “Awake?”
Jiang Qingyu nodded blankly and looked around.
The privacy curtains inside the vehicle had been drawn, so he could not tell whether it was night or early dawn outside. Meimei was guarding him as she slept at the other end of the sofa, curled up softly into a ball.
What had that sound just now been? Crackling and rattling. Logically speaking, even if it were raining, it should not have sounded like that.
Fu Jingqiu’s expression was as usual as he asked warmly, “Do you want water?”
Jiang Qingyu lazily yawned. “No. What’s that noise outside?”
Fu Jingqiu said, “It’s fine. It’s hailing. It probably won’t last too long. The weather here changes a lot, so it’s normal.”
Seeing Jiang Qingyu’s hand groping around beside him, he thoughtfully handed him his phone. “It’s a little past one in the morning.”
Jiang Qingyu’s eyes widened slightly. “A little past one?”
He must have fallen asleep during the massage earlier. It had been several hours. Had Fu Jingqiu just been sitting beside him the whole time?
He looked down and saw that there was also a light coffee-colored rabbit-fleece blanket covering him. It felt silky, soft, and fluffy to the touch, wrapping his entire body warmly.
Jiang Qingyu asked, “Why didn’t you wake me up?”
Fu Jingqiu said, “You were sleeping soundly. I thought you must have been quite tired these past few days, so I didn’t wake you.”
Jiang Qingyu stretched hard, humming as he said, “If you don’t wake me up, how are you supposed to sleep? Next time, just call me. You don’t have to feel embarrassed.”
He stepped into his slippers and went to the vehicle window to pull open the privacy curtain. Sure enough, hail was falling outside. What strange weather. The vehicles around the campsite were being battered with crackling sounds, though above their heads, it was not quite as noisy.
He tentatively opened the window. A cold wind suddenly poured in, and the clamorous noise was amplified in an instant. Jiang Qingyu hurriedly closed the window again.
Jiang Qingyu shrank his neck. “It was perfectly fine tonight. Why did the weather suddenly change again?”
Fu Jingqiu said, “It’s normal. As we go farther ahead, we might even encounter sandstorms.”
Many people had been woken up by the noise and came out to check whether their vehicles were safe and sound. Those who did not have such worries held umbrellas and joined the fun, taking videos and posting them on Moments.
After moving around a little, Jiang Qingyu felt that his shoulders and back were much more comfortable than before. He gave Fu Jingqiu a thumbs up. “Impressive. You really do have skills. My shoulders feel much better.”
If one were to ask whether Jiang Qingyu had ever regretted impulsively inviting Fu Jingqiu to stay afterward, he would not deny it.
But judging from the present, not only had the other party never brought him any trouble, he had also constantly helped him, bringing Jiang Qingyu quite a lot of convenience and comfort.
Most importantly, his sense of security had been greatly improved.
Waking up after a short nap and seeing someone beside him keeping him company gave him a kind of solid, grounded feeling like when he had been a child, waking from an afternoon nap to find his grandparents nearby, watching TV at low volume and chatting softly. This made Jiang Qingyu’s favorable impression of Fu Jingqiu rise quite a lot again.
Fu Jingqiu said, “If you need it next time, tell me. I’ll massage you again.”
Jiang Qingyu’s eyelid twitched. This attitude made him feel strangely embarrassed. “You’re that nice? Then I really made a profit.”
Fu Jingqiu bent down, picked up the fleece blanket, and folded it. “It’s nothing. Go shower. It’s still early, so you can continue sleeping afterward.”
Jiang Qingyu raised his face to look at him. “You go first. I’m feeling a bit lazy right now. You shower and sleep first. You stayed up late because of me.”
Fu Jingqiu said it was fine, but he could not resist Jiang Qingyu’s insistence. Jiang Qingyu sat cross-legged on the sofa and pushed him. After hesitating for a dozen seconds, Fu Jingqiu probably did not want to waste time in a stalemate, so he went to the bathroom first with a change of clothes.
Jiang Qingyu was still savoring the feeling.
He could take care of people, stayed beside him while he slept, and did not even let him help fold the blanket. Fu Jingqiu’s behavior was actually very much like that popular thing online—what was it called again? Oh, a male mom.
And he had trained his chest muscles so well too.
He wondered whether Fu Jingqiu had also taken on this kind of caretaking role when he had been in the army. After retiring and returning to look after his mother, he was probably hands-on with everything too, to the point that it had already become a habit.
Jiang Qingyu slowly climbed up, carried Meimei back to the bedroom, and searched for his own pajamas and bath towel. Later, he would take a hot shower, then comfortably sleep a nice second round. His energy tomorrow would definitely be good.
Fu Jingqiu soon finished showering and came out of the bathroom, calling Jiang Qingyu over.
The other man was damp all over. This time, he was no longer wearing only a bath towel. His lower body was honestly dressed in long pants, though his upper body was bare. The towel hanging around his neck covered the dangerous areas, making him look somewhat safer.
Not bad. Very good male virtue.
Jiang Qingyu nodded in satisfaction. “Good night.”
Fu Jingqiu said, “Mm. You should sleep early too. Don’t play with your phone later.”
…When do I ever!
Before Jiang Qingyu could protest, Fu Jingqiu had already turned around. While drying his hair, he walked toward the living room. His broad back was wet, the groove of his spine deeply sunken. The two dimples at his lower back were extremely symmetrical, connecting to the line of his lifted hips.
Jiang Qingyu instantly lost his words.
This man was terrifying indeed.
The hail only lasted for about half an hour before quickly stopping, giving the people at the campsite peace for the latter half of the night.
Sure enough, Jiang Qingyu slept until he woke naturally. His little face was still dazed as he got out of bed in slippers. As soon as he opened the door, the aroma of food rushed toward him all at once.
Jiang Qingyu sniffed. It seemed to be the smell of dough-drop soup, and sesame oil had probably been drizzled into it too. The aroma was so dominant.
There also seemed to be carbs—the fragrance of pan-fried dough? It felt like some kind of meat pie. Just smelling it made him much more awake. He happily shuffled over to find Fu Jingqiu. “What are you making? I’m so hungry, so hungry, so hungry. Can you let me taste one bite first?”
Fu Jingqiu had heard him getting up long ago and was currently setting the table. Hearing Jiang Qingyu’s coquettish tone, he smiled before speaking. “I’m not very good at making breakfast. I bought it outside. Take a look and see what you want to eat.”
There were tofu and glass noodle buns, tomato beef brisket dough-drop soup, salty milk tea, and scrambled eggs with sand onions. Knowing that Jiang Qingyu did not like lamb, Fu Jingqiu had bought beef-filled pancakes. They were probably packed directly from the campsite restaurant. Since it was close by, they were still warm, just right to eat now.
Jiang Qingyu thought about it and still went to wash up first. After drying his hands and face, he applied some fragrant moisturizing lotion before coming over in his pajamas to eat breakfast.
Inside Meimei’s small bowl was freshly cooked black tiger shrimp mixed with pumpkin. She had her head buried as she ate with great relish.
Jiang Qingyu had done nothing, yet when he woke up, there was steaming hot food to eat. The cat had been fed, the litter box had been cleaned, and the dryer was slowly turning with the clothes he had changed out of last night inside. Everything was in good order, with no need for him to intervene in anything.
He looked around and could not help sighing emotionally. He had been allowed to live the good life where clothes came to his hand and food came to his mouth.
Jiang Qingyu raised his face to look at Fu Jingqiu, who was helping him pour milk tea. “How many hours did you sleep? How is everything already done the moment I wake up?”
Fu Jingqiu said, “Eight hours of sleep. I just move a little faster. It didn’t take long.”
Jiang Qingyu sighed. “As expected of someone trained under a proper system. Looking at you, I feel like if you had the conditions in the future, you would even go out for morning runs.”
Fu Jingqiu said, “I ran this morning.”
Wait. What was he saying?
What kind of code was this? Why was there no reaction when copied into Pinduoduo or flash sale apps?
Jiang Qingyu’s movement of biting into his bun paused. After a moment, he mumbled unclearly, “You ran?”
Those three words felt so unfamiliar.
Fu Jingqiu gave an “mm.” “After I came back and showered, I went out to buy breakfast.”
Jiang Qingyu was deeply impressed. He cupped his fist toward Fu Jingqiu in admiration. “You’re amazing.”
After saying that, afraid that Fu Jingqiu would invite him to go running together in the morning, he immediately added after expressing his admiration, “But I’m not envious, okay? I can’t run. I’m still more suited to sleeping until I wake naturally.”
Fu Jingqiu smiled in understanding. “All right, I know.”
Only then did Jiang Qingyu put his heart back into his stomach and eat in peace.
After breakfast, they officially set off. The automatic driving route was set. Last night, hail had still been falling, but now that the sun had come out, the sky was clear for thousands of li. The temperature was just right, especially suitable for basking in the sun and sleeping in.
Jiang Qingyu had just eaten breakfast, and he was indeed a little drowsy. Mainly, the weather was simply too good for sleeping. The sunlight made people hazy and their bones soft. He did not want to do anything, only lie down and listen to a novel or some variety show as background noise while taking a nap.
But if he threw everything to Fu Jingqiu and simply waited for mealtimes, fun, and relaxation, that would seem a little too excessive.
Jiang Qingyu held his face in both hands and rubbed hard, forcing himself to perk up and properly organize the spoils from this period, checking whether anything needed to be supplemented or changed.
There was no need to mention the two main categories of rice and flour. They had both been stockpiled according to a thousand-ton standard. To prevent himself from wanting to change flavors, Jiang Qingyu had also divided them by type, as well as by rice, millet, and glutinous rice. After all, he still wanted to wrap zongzi during the Dragon Boat Festival in the future.
As for daily necessities, he had stockpiled them according to warehouse standards. He truly could not remember exactly how many sets there were, but piled together, these items could neatly fill several basketball-court-sized warehouses, and the kind packed so tightly there was not even a sliver of space left.
Aside from that, oil, salt, seasonings, clothing, and bedding were all calculated according to the same configuration, in the form of filling warehouses. Even if drones were used to inventory them, it would probably take a while. One could imagine how spectacular the scale was.
Jiang Qingyu had previously spent some time dividing storage warehouses within the space. He had also gone to a factory to wholesale a batch of shelves like the ones used in warehouse supermarkets, arranging the items neatly by category so everything was clear at a glance.
In addition, there were two warehouses used for backup appliances, prepared in case something suddenly broke or aged and could not be repaired. Then he could simply replace it with a new one.
The food module was divided even more finely: raw food, cold food, bread and desserts, vegetables and fruits, and also dishes that Jiang Qingyu continuously packed from restaurants, each time ordering by the hundreds of portions. Added together, the number was also extremely astonishing.
Even the coldest person would smile while doing the work of checking stockpiles, and Jiang Qingyu was no exception.
There were also those medicines, health supplements, and the nutritional products Meimei ate. They were all placed in the static space, and each similarly had its own “one-bedroom, one-living-room” setup, very friendly to someone with obsessive-compulsive tendencies.
However, these were only the basic configurations. Considering the long term, it seemed there were still many miscellaneous items that needed to be prepared.
For example, repair toolboxes, small hardware parts, and the like. Although the RV would not break, the things inside the vehicle might not necessarily be the same. There would always be times when repairs were needed.
He did not know how to do it, but Fu Jingqiu should, right?
While Jiang Qingyu wandered through the space and took inventory, Fu Jingqiu, who was tidying up the room, found a yoga mat in the lowest drawer of the storage cabinet. He carried it out and spread it open in the living room.
Seeing this action, a question mark popped up over Jiang Qingyu’s head.
What was he doing? Was morning running not enough?
Fu Jingqiu stood up and looked at him. “It’s fine if you don’t exercise, but you still need to stretch regularly. Jiang Qingyu, come here.”
