Chapter 41
After successfully getting the package he wanted, Jiang Qingyu went into the space after dinner to tidy things up. Quietly, he opened several delivery boxes and checked the things inside.
These days, the packaging for these things was so flashy, and the product descriptions were even more wildly exaggerated. They dared to write all kinds of shameless, suggestive phrases on the boxes.
However, for now, he did not actually need these things. He only found them novel. These essential oils were even divided by scent and different effects, and they looked rather convincing.
There were also things like cat ears and cat tails, little bells, small leather whips, collars, and the like. They were clearly free gifts from the shop.
Wasn’t this too generous? What were they doing? At a time like this, were they not thinking about saving costs?
Jiang Qingyu truly had no energy to complain. He tossed these things into a certain corner of the space and planned to talk about them again when he truly needed them.
After a busy day, he finally had time to sit down and look online to see how things were going elsewhere, and whether the situation had been brought under control.
Meimei lazily lay across Jiang Qingyu’s lap, letting him stroke her from head to tail now and then. Her eyes were half narrowed, looking very comfortable.
Tangyuan tentatively jumped onto the sofa. Seeing that Jiang Qingyu did not chase him away, he also lay down beside him, resting his chin on his two front paws stretched forward.
He was very well behaved. Jiang Qingyu would occasionally switch the phone to his other hand and stroke his head too. Whenever he was petted, Tangyuan became very happy and quietly rolled over to expose his belly, inviting Jiang Qingyu to touch it.
At this moment, however, Jiang Qingyu was staring at his phone screen with furrowed brows, his expression slightly heavy.
Judging from the current situation, the places where order was hanging by a thread were still those major cities.
Although, ever since zombies appeared, people had been trying their best to control the zombies randomly attacking people on the streets, the problem was that there were simply too many of them. Those bitten by them would also be assimilated into zombies after some time.
Most people harbored a fluke mentality, or did not want to be defined as zombies and pushed out while their minds were still clear. So, even after being bitten by zombies, some people pretended to be normal.
The result was that these people would usually suddenly turn into zombies in taxis on their way home, or in underground parking lots where people had taken shelter, catching everyone completely off guard.
Chaos. Chaos that was difficult to describe.
Countless people drove away to flee. Some families wanted to leave even if they only had a motorcycle or an electric scooter.
Those modified elderly mobility scooters, or three-wheeled carts with covers, seemed to have become simple RVs. Carrying the family’s important supplies, they rampaged outside, desperately trying to escape.
Supermarkets were looted, ATMs were smashed, and convenience stores along the street pulled down their rolling shutters. Major shopping malls were in complete disorder. Even at a time like this, some people still rushed into jewelry stores to steal things, not caring at all about the surveillance cameras surrounding them inside.
The side of “evil” gradually began to appear in the city.
Because the population was large, it seemed that no matter what happened, it was not all that strange.
Jiang Qingyu kept browsing related information. When the entire internet was almost full of bad news, his emotions were inevitably affected.
After realizing something was wrong, he immediately locked his phone screen, adjusted his breathing, and at the same time picked up Meimei and hugged her in his arms, burying his head in her fur and sniffing fiercely.
Fu Jingqiu was repairing the cat tree. When he heard the movement from Jiang Qingyu’s side, he looked up. “What’s wrong?”
Jiang Qingyu said, “The internet is full of bad news.”
Fu Jingqiu’s movements paused slightly. “If it’s too contagious, it can’t be controlled.”
Especially during the outbreak phase. Trying to stop a surging current of water was simply wishful thinking and a fool’s dream.
Fortunately, they could spend the worst period of the situation here. When there was no way to change the world, they could only take good care of themselves.
Seeing him holding Meimei without letting go, Tangyuan seemed to also want to be held. He tentatively stretched out a paw and pawed at him twice.
Jiang Qingyu lowered his head to look at him. Tangyuan was so small. His eyes looked timid, with a trace of expectation.
All right, all right, everyone come here!
Jiang Qingyu moved Meimei into the crook of his right arm, then lifted Tangyuan with his left hand and tucked him in too. He kissed this one, then kissed that one. His main principle was that no one would be neglected.
Tonight, Tangyuan would sleep with Fu Jingqiu, while Jiang Qingyu would take Meimei. In a way, it could be considered keeping the bowl of water level.
Puppies grew very quickly. Right now, Tangyuan was still little, so he could solve eating, drinking, peeing, and pooping indoors. But border collies were naturally a breed with a huge need for exercise. If this rain kept falling, Tangyuan might get terribly bored.
It seemed that the option the system had previously offered him, expanding the second-floor space, was actually more practical. Right now, they were not yet at the point where they needed to break through a path among zombies. Instead, the puppy needed a space where he could run freely.
A miscalculation, a miscalculation.
When would the system give him a gym? Not only could Fu Jingqiu train, but the puppy could also take a small stroll on the treadmill.
It was only after climbing onto the bed that Jiang Qingyu remembered he had many things he wanted to chat with Fu Jingqiu about. But since the two of them were not sleeping together, he could not simply open his mouth and talk. He would have to get out of bed and run to the living room.
He had already burrowed under the covers. Meimei had slipped in from the side and tucked herself under the crook of his arm. Everything was warm and cozy, and he did not want to move.
So Jiang Qingyu took out his phone and called Fu Jingqiu on WeChat.
Fu Jingqiu, seeing the caller ID: ?
How many seconds did it take to get from the living room to Jiang Qingyu’s bedroom? Could this be an accidental tap after he had fallen asleep?
Suspiciously, he pressed answer and kept his voice very low. “Hello?”
Hearing this, Jiang Qingyu also fell silent for a few seconds. “Is there someone else in the living room?”
Clearly, Fu Jingqiu did not catch his deadpan joke. His voice instantly tensed. “Did someone break into the vehicle? Where? How did you see them?”
“…” Jiang Qingyu said, “I was joking.”
Fu Jingqiu: “…Oh.”
Jiang Qingyu said, “I’m too lazy to get out from under the covers. Anyway, the internet hasn’t gone out yet, so I called to chat with you.”
He lazily yawned. “And I’m too lazy to type.”
Jiang Qingyu asked, “Are we going to Minfeng tomorrow?”
“Mm.” Fu Jingqiu looked at Tangyuan, who had jumped onto the bed at some unknown time and was obediently lying by his hand. In the end, he did not chase him down.
Earlier, he had wiped him down with a hot towel and dried him. The floor inside the RV was mopped every day, so the puppy was clean now.
Jiang Qingyu asked, “Do you think this rain is going to keep falling for a month or so?”
Fu Jingqiu said, “Hard to say. It’s been at least over a week, and there’s no sign of it stopping at all. On the way here, many places had low slopes on both sides of the road, so they weren’t affected.”
Jiang Qingyu closed his eyes, clearly already sleepy. Since Fu Jingqiu was responding to him, he simply said whatever came to mind.
“Was today’s dapanji [1] mixed noodles good? I heard the boss lady introduce that the guoyourou [2] mixed noodles at her shop are also very popular. Should we pack two portions to take away tomorrow?”
Fu Jingqiu laughed softly. “You even know how to say ‘popular’ now.”
Jiang Qingyu said, “What kind of thing is that to say? I also learned a sentence today.”
After a pause, he slightly changed his tone. “Keep that up, and I won’t waste words on you. Just watch out, or this fist of mine, big as a nang bread, is going straight for your butt!”
I’ll beat your butt hard! Hmph.
Fu Jingqiu laughed out loud in the darkened living room, completely amused. “What exactly did you learn when you went out today?”
Jiang Qingyu said, “What’s wrong with it!” It was fun.
Fu Jingqiu laughed for a while on the other end of the call. At first, Jiang Qingyu did not think anything of it. But in the dozens of seconds while he quietly waited for Fu Jingqiu to finish laughing, he suddenly realized belatedly that Fu Jingqiu’s voice was actually quite nice.
“So you called,” Fu Jingqiu cleared his throat and calmed down slightly, “just to show me the playful words you learned today?”
Jiang Qingyu held Meimei’s paw under the covers and kneaded it. “No, I just wanted to casually chat before bed.”
Fu Jingqiu said, “All right, all right.” Tangyuan, who was secretly listening to his call, tentatively placed a paw on his arm. Fu Jingqiu did not avoid it and said to Jiang Qingyu, “Tangyuan is very affectionate.”
Jiang Qingyu thought that Meimei was also very affectionate, but saying that would inevitably sound like mutual comparison, so he agreed. “The two of us found a good little dog.”
“Don’t you think it’s amazing? Meimei was picked up by me, and so were you and Tangyuan. Heaven sent you all over, gathering our whole family together.”
Tangyuan was rubbing his head against Fu Jingqiu’s hand, trying to invite him to stroke his head. Just as Fu Jingqiu placed his large hand on Tangyuan, he heard Jiang Qingyu’s words and immediately stopped moving.
Our whole family?
Jiang Qingyu was still laughing foolishly on the other end: zero-yuan shopping, haha!
All right, perhaps he should not put it that way, but it really was funny.
Fu Jingqiu closed his eyes and listened to Jiang Qingyu’s suppressed laughter through the phone. Jiang Qingyu thought he was making very little noise, but in reality, Fu Jingqiu could hear it clearly.
He could even imagine Jiang Qingyu’s current expression, and the way he was probably kicking his legs under the covers from laughing.
He really was a fish that splashed everywhere when happy.
The puppy’s wet little nose rubbed against the inside of his wrist. Fu Jingqiu slowly said, “Our luck is very good.”
That again.
Jiang Qingyu had heard it so many times that his ears were about to grow calluses. He did not answer, only lightly held Meimei’s tail in his hand and joked, “Can’t sleep?”
Fu Jingqiu said, “Hm?”
Jiang Qingyu said, “If you can’t sleep, I believe you definitely won’t refuse an episode of snowy camping under the covers!”
Fu Jingqiu said, “…What are you talking about?”
Jiang Qingyu said, “Sleep-aid videos. Haven’t you watched them?”
Fu Jingqiu said, “I remember you saying your sleep quality is very good.”
Jiang Qingyu said, “Yeah. I always watched them during the day, like mealtime videos.”
Back then, he had not yet had an RV. A self-driving trip had still seemed like something far in the future to him. But that had not stopped him from putting those snowy camping and rainy-day camping sleep-aid videos into a separate favorites folder.
Although the people in those videos always had endless work whenever they appeared on camera—setting this up, arranging that, cooking, cleaning, clearing snow, going out into heavy snow to collect water, and so on—Jiang Qingyu still liked them very much.
Now, he had finally begun living a life where the RV was his home. With the system’s help, in truth, he was living quite easily and comfortably.
Many chores and troubles had been solved by the system.
Even the most basic housework was handled by Fu Jingqiu.
It was hard to say who exactly was luckier.
Fu Jingqiu could not understand every meme and joke Jiang Qingyu mentioned, but he could respond to every request and never let Jiang Qingyu’s words fall flat.
So he suggested, “You can download some in advance and watch them before sleeping.”
Jiang Qingyu said, “I used to like watching them a lot. But now, I feel like chatting with you like this is pretty nice too.”
It made him feel that he would never be alone again.
Certain traits in Fu Jingqiu’s personality, the kind that would agree to whatever Jiang Qingyu wanted, were activated at this moment. “All right. Then we’ll keep doing this from now on.”
Footnotes:
[1] Dapanji: translates literally to “Big Plate Chicken”. It is a famous, hearty halal chicken stew that originated in the Xinjiang region of northwest China.
[2] Guoyourou: directly translates to “fast stir-fried pork” or “oil-passed pork” in English. It is a classic traditional Shanxi dish where thinly sliced pork is briefly flash-fried in hot oil to make it incredibly tender, then quickly stir-fried with vegetables and a savory, slightly acidic sauce.
