Chapter 31
His conditioned reflex made him instinctively want to dodge close contact with Fu Jingqiu again, but Fu Jingqiu reacted even faster. Seeing that Jiang Qingyu was about to repeat his old trick, he grabbed Jiang Qingyu’s hand and pulled him back.
Jiang Qingyu was completely unprepared and, following the momentum, toppled straight into Fu Jingqiu’s arms.
So soft—no, what he meant was, uh, so… fine. It really was soft.
The two of them were not using the same body wash either, so the scents would not become mixed because of that.
For example, Jiang Qingyu liked fresher, fruitier scents, while what Fu Jingqiu used was a faint, clean fragrance like old-fashioned laundry powder, a watery cologne scent like clothes warmed by the sun after being washed.
Jiang Qingyu accepted this scent very well, and because it gave him an inexplicable sense of security, he liked it very much.
Now, he was pressed into Fu Jingqiu’s broad embrace, his breaths full of that scent, his head just right between… mm. Yes.
A little embarrassing.
The person whose chest he had buried his face in, however, was as calm as could be. Fu Jingqiu supported Jiang Qingyu’s shoulders and helped him sit up, considerate and concerned. “Did you hit your nose? Does it hurt?”
It was soft. How could it hurt?
Jiang Qingyu shook his head, his cheeks slightly warm. “Sorry. I’m a little too easily startled.”
“It’s fine,” Fu Jingqiu said. “I saw that your state seemed off. Is something on your mind?”
Jiang Qingyu: What’s on my mind is that my sexual orientation seems a little abnormal.
But just a few hours ago, he had “educated” Fu Jingqiu about what kind of intentions that passerby man with impure eyes toward him was harboring. If he now exposed his own not-so-normal romantic thoughts, then what would that make him?
Jiang Qingyu truly felt this teammate was good. In every aspect, he was excellent and considerate.
If they split up halfway, he was afraid it would really be hard to go from luxury back to frugality. It would take him a very long time to adjust.
Jiang Qingyu came up with an explanation that did not sound too suspicious. “It’s nothing. I’ve just been seeing some not-so-good things online lately, so I’m a bit worried.”
Fu Jingqiu thought for a moment and understood. “Are you talking about the new type of flu?”
Jiang Qingyu nodded.
Fu Jingqiu comforted him. “It’s all right. Didn’t you want to go to Xinjiang? We’re driving an RV, so we don’t have to deal with people frequently. Besides, that area is vast and sparsely populated. Even if it really is a new type of flu, the spread won’t be that fast.”
Jiang Qingyu pretended to brighten up. “…All right. Thank you.”
A mischievous thought suddenly popped up in him, and he deliberately acted a little awkward and green-tea-ish. “If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t even know what to do.”
“…” Fu Jingqiu said, “That sentence sounds a little fake.”
Too ruthless!
Jiang Qingyu snorted coldly and got up, about to get off the bed and return to his bedroom. But just as he took one step, Fu Jingqiu wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled him back.
Holy crap!
Fu Jingqiu could actually, with just one arm, so easily pull him back like that???
Jiang Qingyu was held in front of Fu Jingqiu and turned his head in disbelief to look at him: No, brother, did you have to use such an ambiguous posture to stop me?
Fu Jingqiu frowned, but his expression looked rather serious. “Even if you just came out to pour water, you should have worn shoes. Also, don’t drink cold water next time.”
Jiang Qingyu mumbled, “…Got it.”
Fu Jingqiu told him to stay on the bed, then went to his bedroom and brought over his fluffy slippers. He bent down and placed them neatly in front of him. “Put them on. When you go back to your room later, change your pajamas. Don’t sleep in wet clothes.”
When he put on a stern face, he really did look quite fierce.
Jiang Qingyu muttered, “It’s not like I’m stupid.”
He stepped into his slippers and returned to his room, while Fu Jingqiu stood where he was, watching his back.
Jiang Qingyu only felt the back of his head go numb, but he did not dare turn around to look. Obediently, he slipped back into his bedroom and closed the door properly.
Only after he had changed into a clean, soft set of clothes and burrowed back under the blankets did he suddenly remember: Huh? Actually, he could have taken water directly from his space to drink. Why did he insist on going outside to pour some?
Jiang Qingyu woke up to the sound of pattering rain.
Usually, the rain here came in showers. At worst, it would rain for half a day, and that would be about it. Even the locals had rarely seen this kind of continuous rain, and many of them were rather confused.
Jiang Qingyu had also asked the system the reason, but its answer was especially official. Since the apocalypse was coming, did it still need to give him a reasonable scientific explanation?
Natural disasters were natural disasters. Just like no one could know why zombies appeared.
The abnormal weather came before the appearance of zombies. Starting from around this time, there would probably be several months of continuous heavy rain, and everyone’s travel and daily life would be affected.
Crawling out from the warm bed made him a little reluctant. But once he looked at the time, if he dragged it out any longer, he might only be able to pick up a pile of food that had already gone cold in takeaway boxes. He absolutely would not allow such a thing to happen.
He wanted to eat it fresh from the pot!
Fu Jingqiu had gotten up earlier than him and had gone out with an umbrella to buy breakfast, packed from nearby.
When Jiang Qingyu came out, he happened to run into him carrying breakfast onto the vehicle. His brows and eyes were damp with a little moisture, making him look even colder.
Fu Jingqiu had bought Populus euphratica braised flatbread, and rose milk egg fermented rice.
The braised flatbread was called flatbread, but it actually looked a bit like belt noodles. Thick sheets of dough were piled on top, somewhat like guokui, while the bottom was full of meat. The taste was very good.
This was Jiang Qingyu’s first time trying the fermented rice drink. It tasted better than he had imagined. It contained black and white sesame seeds, Kushui roses, raisins, peanuts, and snow fungus.
He especially liked the texture of the egg. It did not taste that sweet, but the ingredients inside were very rich.
It reminded him a little of the eight-treasure tea he had drunk before.
Fu Jingqiu had also bought several sand-roasted eggs. After being peeled, the whites had an amber-like color and texture, very pretty, and the taste had a slightly charred fragrance.
Rain struck the windows and the body of the vehicle. Inside, the room was warm. Jiang Qingyu wore his pajamas and slowly enjoyed this breakfast, looking so satisfied that he was a little like Meimei, who was licking her paws nearby after finishing her own breakfast.
Jiang Qingyu had already thrown everything that happened last night to the back of his mind. Although the outside was gloomy now, because it was daytime, there was no ambiguous atmosphere or lighting, so he felt very calm.
He took the initiative to tell Fu Jingqiu that he was going out to buy some things and did not need him to accompany him.
Captain Jiang had other instructions: Comrade Fu Jingqiu was to go out and purchase other items. After the task was completed, they would regroup.
Fortunately, this was still peacetime. It was only raining heavily, making travel slightly troublesome. It was not enough to make Fu Jingqiu insist on accompanying him out of concern for his safety.
Originally, Fu Jingqiu had wanted to leave the vehicle with Jiang Qingyu, but there were too many things on the list Jiang Qingyu had made. In order not to affect efficiency, Fu Jingqiu had no choice but to drive the vehicle away.
Jiang Qingyu happily put on a raincoat and went out.
After going out, he rented a long van nearby, the kind specially used for hauling goods. Following the delivery times agreed upon with each restaurant owner last night, he went to pick up the orders one by one.
Because it was raining, although the orders were large, the restaurants had no mind to investigate how much his vehicle could hold or whether there was anything suspicious about it. Once they handed over the goods, they went back inside.
To express their apologies, they even gave him some extra dishes.
With rain falling, even tourists were unwilling to go out. For delivery orders, it also depended on whether riders were willing to accept them. Business in the shops was somewhat quiet.
But Jiang Qingyu was different.
His orders were large, and he came to pick them up himself, so the bosses were all willing to make them.
Jiang Qingyu had thought very clearly: Food was something no one would ever think they had too much of, and he and Fu Jingqiu were, at least, two grown men.
When extreme cold arrived, their food consumption would definitely increase. They would have to take in more calories to resist the cold—although he might not necessarily get out of the vehicle.
But making more preparations was never wrong.
When placing orders, he had already increased the quantities crazily to seven or eight hundred portions.
He also liked drinking milk tea, coffee, and fruit juice. No matter how long it would take to finish them, he would buy them first.
He kept making calls, adding people on WeChat, transferring money, and was so busy he could barely stop.
With the system covering for him, there was no such thing as being monitored for large cash flows.
Jiang Qingyu shopped madly, converted points, then exchanged them again. After doing this for so long, he was already thoroughly familiar with these processes, and his hand speed was astonishingly fast.
While he was at it, he also contacted some coal mining companies in the area, planning to drive the vehicle away tomorrow, change it into the “skin” of a large truck, and haul goods.
The place where Jiang Qingyu had lived since childhood only reached a dozen degrees below zero in winter. There was not even heating; turning on the air conditioner was enough to handle it.
He had never been to the Northeast and could not imagine what temperatures of minus forty or fifty degrees were like. But since the system said there would be extreme cold weather later, he might as well prepare more. Better safe than sorry.
He would first stockpile by the tens of thousands of tons. If it was not enough, he could add more later.
As for Fu Jingqiu’s side, he was buying the items on the list one by one and adding things as appropriate.
Things like fire axes, saws, and entrenching tools went without saying. As for sharpened straight knives and the like, Fu Jingqiu had his own channels. He could also obtain some self-defense weapons that were slightly more difficult to get.
He knew Jiang Qingyu was somewhat worried about safety. If these items were bought and supervised by him, and only used for self-defense, then there would be no problem. So he satisfied Jiang Qingyu’s needs.
He had originally wanted to find someone to install solar panels on the roof of the RV, but when he parked the vehicle in an underground parking lot and climbed up to check, he discovered that Jiang Qingyu had already equipped it.
It was just that Jiang Qingyu had forgotten to mention it to him before. The equipment was also the most advanced kind, with a conversion rate that was practically top-level.
In addition, Fu Jingqiu also fully prepared the large repair tool sets that Jiang Qingyu had mentioned to him before.
Things that normally did not seem very useful, such as rapid-fire nail guns, welding tools, full sets of electric screwdrivers, and so on, were all bought in the best quality for emergencies.
It was merely spending a little money to buy peace of mind. Fu Jingqiu was willing to prepare for a rainy day like this.
After being busy for most of the day, the WeChat message he sent finally received a reply. Jiang Qingyu said there was still a little over an hour left, and then his side should be finished.
He also sent a crying dog sticker, saying in a spoiled tone that he was so tired.
Fu Jingqiu was in the middle of buying a batch of replacement parts from the owner of an auto shop. Only after paying did he see Jiang Qingyu’s message.
Thinking of the other person’s expression, a faint smile unconsciously appeared on his face. He replied: Where are you now? Send me your location. I’ll come pick you up.
This child must be exhausted.
This time, Jiang Qingyu did not refuse. He straightforwardly sent him an address and said that he would be done in about an hour there, and would wait for him to come pick him up.
Fu Jingqiu looked outside the shop. The rain showed no sign of easing, as if it intended to keep falling for several days and nights. Water on the road rushed fiercely toward the drains, only to be blocked from time to time by fallen leaves drifting over.
Even a massage probably would not ease much of his fatigue.
Fu Jingqiu switched from the chat interface and searched nearby hot spring hotels, resorts, and similar places on a review app.
Jiang Qingyu had only mentioned it last night. Today, they might as well go properly relax.
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