Chapter 46
No, buddy, what are you even saying??
The two of us don’t even know each other. What do you mean, borrow or not borrow? Isn’t this just straight-up asking?
Whether I’m willing to order a lot of dishes or not has nothing to do with you. There are so many rich people on the street—why don’t you go ask them to lend you money? Do I look easy to bully?
Question marks filled Jiang Qingyu’s head. It was not his fault for being dumbfounded. This was truly the first time he had seen someone so shameless, and for a moment, he did not even know how to react.
But very quickly, the back of the man’s head was grabbed by Fu Jingqiu with one hand and forcibly twisted back. He was made to face Fu Jingqiu’s terrifyingly cold face. “I’m the one talking to you. Why do you keep asking him?”
From the side, Jiang Qingyu saw the man nervously swallow. He forced a smile and said, “I just thought he looked approachable. Brother, look, things aren’t easy for me either. I really don’t have money to eat. Since we’re all away from home, shouldn’t we help each other out?”
Since when did the person asking for help get to be the one defining “helping each other”?
Fu Jingqiu looked him up and down. “No money to eat, is that it? How many days have you been hungry?”
The man’s gaze subconsciously flicked left. “Mm… three. Three days.”
Three days? Fu Jingqiu smiled. “Fine. I’ll pay and buy you a few pieces of naan from outside. They’ll definitely fill you up. If it’s not enough, I can buy you a dozen or so as dry rations.”
Who wants to eat naan!
When the two of you were ordering earlier, weren’t you very generous? I’m asking to borrow money from you, and you’re giving me naan?
The smile on the man’s face stiffened. “No, buddy, what are you—?”
He exchanged a few seconds of eye contact with Fu Jingqiu, then resolutely turned his face away and started talking to Jiang Qingyu again. “Little brother, what do you think? Just lend me a little. I’m traveling on a budget, and now I really have no way out.”
“…” Jiang Qingyu: What does this mean? You’ve set your sights on me? Do I look easy to bully?
His eyes turned, and he lifted his chin toward Fu Jingqiu. “Ask him. He manages all our money. I don’t have any on me.”
The truth was exactly the opposite.
Fu Jingqiu froze for a second, then his expression returned to normal. He answered, “Mm, that’s right.”
Right my ass. The man could not help complaining, “Are you two a couple? Why is your money with someone else? Little brother, let me advise you—this makes you very easy to cheat, you know.”
Jiang Qingyu smiled. “Yeah. So aren’t you here trying to cheat me right now?”
In the past, when he took the subway, he had often seen those scammers who came up to borrow money for tickets. The first time Jiang Qingyu encountered one, he had really been tricked. Mainly because the other person was older, and both his tone and expression had seemed so pitiful.
Putting himself in that person’s shoes, he had thought about how desperate he would be if he had no money to buy a ticket home. So he had taken out money and lent it without hesitation.
In the end, the contact information the other person gave had naturally sunk like a stone into the sea, or it was simply an empty number.
Now this man was no different from the person at the station who had come to him asking to borrow money for a ticket.
Oh, there was still a difference. His skin was even thicker.
The man was clearly unconvinced. Just as he was about to say something more, Fu Jingqiu grabbed him by the back of the collar and lifted him up. “Enough. You’ve lingered here long enough. If you really can’t afford to eat, come with me next door and I’ll buy you a few pieces of naan. If you have other ideas, please leave.”
The man did not want to leave and still wanted to shamelessly entangle them for a bit. But when he turned his head and looked, Fu Jingqiu had somehow stood up. From his angle looking upward, Fu Jingqiu’s height and build were practically those of a giant to him, and the man immediately went quiet.
“Fine, fine…” he muttered. “If you won’t lend it, then don’t. So stingy. Sooner or later, you’ll get infected by the virus…”
He spoke while standing up to leave, but his mouth was filthy. Jiang Qingyu felt extremely displeased listening to him and also stood up. “Hey, what did you say?”
Fu Jingqiu and Jiang Qingyu stood one in front and one behind, sandwiching the man in the middle. The formation was very neat.
Only when everyone stood up did they discover that this man was actually shorter than Jiang Qingyu. He was probably only a little over 1.7 meters tall. It was just that he did not look very friendly. In reality, once compared like this, he seemed a little awkward.
Once the three of them stood up, they became quite conspicuous in the restaurant. The owner came out to settle the bill, and as soon as he saw the man’s face, he knew what was going on. He hurriedly came around the counter and went over to drive him away, shooing that man out as if chasing away cream. “What is wrong with you? This has happened several times already! If you do this again, don’t come next time. You’re affecting my business!”
The owner was a strong man over 1.8 meters tall. The young guys in the shop were clearly already used to this routine. They rolled up their sleeves, put their hands on their waists, and came over too, looking like they would start fighting if he dared make trouble.
Seeing that the situation was not right, the man immediately slipped away. Judging by his behavior, he seemed like an old hand at this.
The owner stood at the entrance and watched for several minutes. Only after confirming the man really would not come back did he bring a pot of milk tea to Jiang Qingyu’s table, smiling as he explained a few words. He said he was treating them to the milk tea; they did not need to pay.
Seeing that his reaction clearly showed he was familiar with that person just now, Jiang Qingyu’s curiosity made him ask, “Is that person often around here?”
“He comes every day,” the young man beside them cut in. “As long as he sees someone unfamiliar, he asks to borrow money. Shameless and clingy, with his face trampled on the ground and unwanted. So annoying!”
All right. As long as they had not been specifically targeted.
After this small episode, perhaps because the man had been struck by the height difference or perhaps because he had switched to another target, they did not see him again until they paid and left.
After roughly observing, the locals seemed all right. They probably had a fallback for food and lodging, so they lived however they normally lived. Aside from price increases, some small restaurants had actually closed.
There were quite a few stalls selling snacks and fruit. After all, those things had limited shelf lives and could not be stored forever. In special times like this, demand was not very high either, so the sellers were eager to get rid of them.
But Jiang Qingyu still liked eating them. Thinking it was fine to buy more anyway, since everything was quite fresh, and there were even samples, washed clean in the basket beside the stall, he tasted a little. It was very sweet and refreshing, so he paid readily and bought some.
Fu Jingqiu, meanwhile, went next door to buy pistachio glutinous rice cakes. He had heard that this shop was very famous online. The ingredients were generous, and the flavor was especially good. Jiang Qingyu wanted to try them, so Fu Jingqiu consciously went over to buy them.
While Jiang Qingyu was buying things, someone else came over to strike up a conversation. As soon as that person opened their mouth, they actually said the same thing.
Although the reason was different, they still wanted to borrow money.
Jiang Qingyu was very puzzled. Why did all of you want to reach your hands into my pocket??
Under normal circumstances, aside from scammers, people generally would not rashly ask strangers to borrow money. After all, the other party would not lend it. It was far too inexplicable.
But here, asking tourists to borrow money seemed to have become an extremely normal thing. This in itself was a little strange.
Jiang Qingyu thought this was bad. It was best not to stay here for long.
Tourists here had to spend money on food and lodging. Although there were relatively cheaper foods that could fill their stomachs, money was only going out and not coming in. The current balance would sooner or later be broken.
He did not want to stay at the center of the whirlpool. Besides, with the zombie virus, no one could say for sure what its infectiousness was like. They should hurry up and leave. Even if they needed to rest tonight, they had to leave the city.
He politely declined the other person and hurried next door to find Fu Jingqiu.
At this moment, he could no longer care about relationship, distance, or anything like that. Leaving was the best plan. Seeing that Fu Jingqiu had already bought the things, Jiang Qingyu looped his arm around Fu Jingqiu’s and pulled him out, walking toward the RV camp.
Seeing him like this, Fu Jingqiu did not ask anything unnecessary. He wrapped one arm around Jiang Qingyu’s shoulders and led him all the way back quickly. Toward the end, he even seemed about to hold him by the waist and carry him, making Jiang Qingyu wonder a little: was it really that urgent?
Fortunately, there was nothing abnormal in the RV camp for the time being. As soon as the two got into the vehicle, Fu Jingqiu first moved it to another parking spot, then asked him what had happened.
Jiang Qingyu told him everything from beginning to end. “In such a short time, two people came over to borrow money. I think they’re starting to show a bit of a ‘smash the jar after it’s already cracked’ attitude, like they’re deliberately doing it for the locals to see.”
Fu Jingqiu said, “When I was buying things next door just now, I heard someone communicating in their hometown dialect, saying they wanted to seize that shop.”
Jiang Qingyu’s brow jumped. “What? Seize?”
Fu Jingqiu nodded. “And from their tone, it didn’t sound like they were joking. It sounded like they were already planning it and had included that shop within their plan.”
Jiang Qingyu was dumbfounded. “They’re that crazy?”
This place was still relatively peaceful right now, and order had not completely collapsed. Under these circumstances, they wanted to rob directly?
They probably thought Fu Jingqiu and the owner could not understand them, or perhaps they simply did not care. When they talked about robbery, each person became more excited than the last.
They said things like, since they could not go back anyway, and since they might have to stay here forever, they might as well strike first.
They had even enthusiastically discussed which household they should rob first, saying they needed to choose somewhere comfortable to live and with enough supplies at home. Their malice was completely undisguised.
After listening to Fu Jingqiu’s “strange encounter” within just those few short minutes, Jiang Qingyu was speechless for a moment before saying, “From now on, we should try not to deal with people.”
Fu Jingqiu said, “It was bound to happen sooner or later.”
Jiang Qingyu said, “How about we change places to rest tonight? This RV camp doesn’t seem that safe either. It’s better to find some abandoned gas station square or something.”
Fu Jingqiu said all right. After moving the vehicle, he prepared to drive out. When they were nearly at the entrance, they saw several people standing outside smoking. As the vehicle drove over, those people looked over in unison with cigarettes between their lips, as if they were watching something slip out of their pockets. That gaze and expression were truly chilling.
Fortunately, no one came forward to block the vehicle. In the end, the exterior was too shabby, so they did not believe there was anything good inside and were too lazy to call people over to act. That was what allowed Jiang Qingyu and Fu Jingqiu to leave smoothly.
If they really had started fighting, Jiang Qingyu could have driven the RV to ram a path out. But to be honest, he still did not really like that kind of scene.
As they drove past the Chairman Mao Quotation Tower, Jiang Qingyu saw the person who had come over in the restaurant, asking him to borrow money out of nowhere. It seemed he had targeted someone new and was standing beside a married couple, saying something to them.
Only a few hours after the sky had cleared, wind began blowing again inside the county town. Sand and dust filled the air, and the whole sky seemed to be earthy yellow.
When they passed the nearby police station, Fu Jingqiu discussed it with Jiang Qingyu, then still got out and told the police what he had heard inside the shop. Anything beyond that was outside his control.
Tomorrow, they would set off for Yecheng. Today, they would first find a place without many people to park and rest.
If it did not rain, the drone could be taken out to patrol and confirm whether any zombies had appeared nearby. This process would also become routine.
Jiang Qingyu idly browsed online and made another post reminding people in areas where the zombie situation was not that severe to guard their doors carefully and be cautious in all matters.
After he posted it, the number of views was actually quite high. Many people ran to the comments to say things like relatives, neighbors, or friends wanted to come stay in their homes and kept asking about the situation at home.
Everyone knew they should protect themselves at a time like this. Making such requests was clearly an attempt to take advantage.
One could see that many people strongly resonated with it. Clearly, it was not only their area where such things were happening.
He carefully read some comments and discovered that everyone’s experiences were varied. Some complained that their residential compounds had already been sealed off, and no one was allowed to enter or leave.
At night, when sleeping, they heard strange noises coming from upstairs or downstairs and did not know whether someone had silently turned into a zombie…
And so on. The situations were all kinds of varied.
Seeing this, Jiang Qingyu cut off his connection with the internet at the right time. After letting Fu Jingqiu know, he took Tangyuan out of the vehicle for a walk, wanting to get some fresh air.
Of course, this was the kind of walk where he carried his “weapon” bag.
He let the leash out a little at the right time, allowing Tangyuan to run farther and frolic.
But in the current situation, completely letting go was impossible. They were currently still training the puppy’s habit of returning whenever called. This included the rule that if he made a mistake, they would not call his name to make him come back.
Online, people said this would train the puppy to understand that whenever his name was called, something good would definitely happen. That way, if there was a special situation, he could be called back immediately.
Judging from the current progress, Tangyuan had very strong learning ability and was very clever.
There was one more thing: for some unknown reason, he really liked sticking to Meimei.
Perhaps because on the night he was picked up, Meimei had once stayed beside his little nest, he was very close to this somewhat tsundere little cat.
If Meimei slept somewhere he could reach, he would definitely move over and press against her.
If Meimei slept high up on the cat climbing frame, Tangyuan would definitely guard below. Seeing this made Jiang Qingyu very gratified.
A good relationship between his son and daughter was beneficial to family harmony!
The place they had stopped today was near a lake planted full of poplar trees. When they looked up, they could see snow mountains and the moon. The reflections of both swayed slowly in the water. Jiang Qingyu stood by the lake for a while and suddenly missed his grandparents very much.
There was no particular reason. He just missed them.
Although there was a framed photo of them on the storage shelf inside the vehicle, in a place where he could see it every day, longing would still burst forth at times like this.
It was not good to always talk about these things with Fu Jingqiu either. After all, Fu Jingqiu’s family situation was different.
Cold wind blew against his face. Jiang Qingyu shrank his neck and zipped his coat all the way up, muttering, “It really is quite cold at night.”
Only a few minutes after this sentence, Jiang Qingyu, who had clearly wrapped himself tightly in his coat, once again felt a chill. Tangyuan, who had still been playing excitedly nearby just now, had returned at some unknown point and was trembling beside his leg.
Something seemed off.
Had the temperature dropped sharply? Jiang Qingyu bent down, scooped Tangyuan up, and carried him in his arms as he walked toward the RV. In just the few minutes it took, when he was almost at the vehicle, he clearly felt that the temperature had dropped several more degrees.
At the same time, something icy landed on Jiang Qingyu’s forehead.
It was snowing.
Fu Jingqiu was still not very reassured about them and had been waiting outside the RV. Naturally, he also saw the snowflakes that suddenly drifted down. Jiang Qingyu wiped his face and said blankly, “It’s snowing already?”
From the moment the first snowflake fell, it was as if the outside world had switched on fast-forward. In the short time it took Jiang Qingyu to get into the vehicle, take off his coat, and turn on the heater, the snow had already grown heavy. It fell in thick, fluttering sheets like torn cotton, looking extremely exaggerated.
Jiang Qingyu shone his flashlight into the sky. It looked as if someone were pouring snow down from above. A large sheet slapped onto his wrist, so cold that he shivered sharply.
He quickly pulled his hand back, closed the window properly, and turned to look at Fu Jingqiu. “This feels a bit wrong. I stayed outside for a while just now. At first, the temperature was pretty comfortable, but after a while, I was shivering from the cold.”
Fu Jingqiu walked toward the driver’s cabin. “I’ll go check the outdoor temperature.”
Jiang Qingyu wiped Tangyuan’s paws and fed him water. The temperature inside the vehicle quickly rose, and his hands and feet, which had been blown a little numb, felt more comfortable. He rubbed his hands. Fu Jingqiu returned with the temperature detector and said, “It’s already more than minus thirty degrees outside.”
That fast?!
Fu Jingqiu said, “And the temperature is still trending downward. This snow isn’t right.”
Jiang Qingyu thought of the upgrade reward the system had refreshed today and thought that he had really made the right bet. According to this development, wasn’t the next natural disaster extreme cold?
Just how low would the minimum temperature go?
He already knew the answer in advance, so it was not easy to show off in front of Fu Jingqiu. Scratching his cheek, he said, “This, well, look, didn’t we have more than a month of rain before? The rain stopped this morning, and now it’s snowing tonight. Do you think it could be…”
Fu Jingqiu asked, “Could be what?”
Aiya, why make me say it directly!
Jiang Qingyu was silent for two seconds and tried to throw the question back. “What do you think?”
Fu Jingqiu said, “For this month, a drop in temperature and snowfall aren’t rare. It’s just a little too fast.”
Hehe, pretending with me. I don’t believe you didn’t see anything.
Jiang Qingyu said, “Too fast proves there’s a problem.”
Fu Jingqiu said seriously, “Not necessarily. Many times, temperature drops are very sudden.”
No, are you getting into this now?
Jiang Qingyu straightened his face. “Your experience is much richer than mine. Faced with this situation, don’t you have any other more reliable guesses?”
Fu Jingqiu said, “For example?”
Jiang Qingyu stood up with a whoosh, his cat-like eyes wide and round. “For example, what for example? You clearly figured it out already, so why are you pretending to be stupid!”
Fu Jingqiu looked up at the puffed-up Jiang Qingyu. There was a trace of teasing hidden on his face, but in the end, he no longer talked in circles with Jiang Qingyu. “Then why didn’t you tell me directly?”
Jiang Qingyu had a very righteous excuse. “Wasn’t I afraid I’d be embarrassed if I guessed wrong? You’re several years older than me and experienced, so I wanted to hear your opinion. What’s wrong with that?”
“All right, all right,” Fu Jingqiu could not help smiling. “Looks like we have quite a bit of tacit understanding. We thought of the same thing.”
Jiang Qingyu pretended to be unhappy. “Then you say it first.”
This time, Fu Jingqiu cooperated very well and said directly, “Although that month of rain earlier didn’t affect us too much, strictly speaking, it had already reached the level of a natural disaster, and it lasted for many days with far-reaching effects.”
“So I have reason to suspect that this sudden snow is a warning sign. Perhaps what comes next will be extreme cold, or perhaps a blizzard. Polar night is possible too. It’s hard to say.”
“Of course, it would be better if it were just a false alarm. After all, among the possibilities I just mentioned, aside from polar night being a little better, the other two would be very troublesome.”
After saying this, he looked at Jiang Qingyu. His eyes curved slightly, and his tone was a little like he was teasing a child. “What do you think?”
Jiang Qingyu hummed. “I’m only guessing too.”
In the time it took them to say those few sentences, not only was the snow falling, the wind had also started blowing. It rolled up snowflakes and slammed them against the vehicle again and again. Originally, they had parked in a relatively open area for convenience. Now, they had instead become the first to directly withstand the snowstorm.
The chatting could be put aside for now. Moving the vehicle to a safe, wind-sheltered place was the urgent matter.
Fu Jingqiu went to the driver’s cabin to start the vehicle, while Jiang Qingyu lay by the window and peeked around.
His hometown rarely had snow. Even when it did, it was only a little snow foam mixed into the damp, cold winter rain. Before it even landed on the ground, it melted, then froze into dirty ice on the wet ground, looking very boring.
In the past, when Jiang Qingyu saw those pure white, snow-covered landscapes online, he had once imagined himself plunging headfirst into snow more than ten meters deep. It would definitely be very fun.
After many turns, they finally found a good spot and parked again.
By this time, the temperature had already dropped to more than minus forty degrees. The speed was shocking. Fu Jingqiu, however, was a little worried. “If it keeps dropping, I’m afraid the vehicle won’t even be able to start.”
There was absolutely no need to worry about that.
Jiang Qingyu laughed wildly in his heart: What had he said? The system would not randomly give him an anti-cold upgrade reward for no reason, right? Things like freezing and being unable to start the engine absolutely did not exist here!
“Ah, it’s fine.” Jiang Qingyu pretended to be calm. “I modified this vehicle. It can operate normally even at minus one hundred degrees. No need to worry. I also bought snow chains before. We can install them when the time comes.”
Fu Jingqiu raised a brow. “You prepared quite thoroughly.”
Jiang Qingyu coughed tactically twice. “It’s all right. I’m the kind of person who prepares for danger in times of peace. Before setting off, I checked a lot of guides and got everything ready.”
Fu Jingqiu praised him vigorously. “So you prepared it all long ago. You really thought everything through. Why didn’t I think of that?”
Jiang Qingyu patted his chest, his expression a little smug. “Don’t worry. Since I asked you to be my teammate, I naturally had to prepare the basic facilities properly. If you follow me, you definitely don’t need to worry about living conditions. Just guarantee our safety.”
Fu Jingqiu agreed wholeheartedly. “Of course.”
He chatted happily, completely failing to notice that Fu Jingqiu had hidden a smile in his eyes from the moment he first said what he was worried about, and was now cooperating with Teacher Little Fish by pretending to have a sudden realization. Holding back his laughter was difficult.
The moment Jiang Qingyu opened his mouth to test him, Fu Jingqiu had already sensed something. Little Fish thought he was guiding Fu Jingqiu, but in reality, the other party had coaxed information out of him.
Judging by his appearance, he should have already known before this that a new natural disaster would happen, yet he refused to say it directly. He insisted on taking a detour and pretending not to know. It was truly adorable.
At this point in the conversation, Fu Jingqiu suddenly had a whim. Pretending to be troubled, he said, “But with the weather this cold, we can’t go without heat. Still, we should save some. How about you come sleep in the living room tonight?”
“Ah?”
Jiang Qingyu shamefully felt his heart move. Then he hesitated and said, “But once in a while is one thing. You can’t keep sleeping on the floor.” That seemed a little too much.
So, because it was too cold, inviting him to sleep in the same bed should also, should also count as reasonable, right?
