Chapter 50
“?”
Jiang Qingyu was bewildered for a few seconds. “What else?”
It was not like the last time, when they had briefly “borrowed” the living room for a night. They had already discussed it last night. From now on, they were going to sleep together.
Originally, when Jiang Qingyu woke up in the morning, he had still worried that the atmosphere between them had become a little strange and wondered what they should do at night.
But since Fu Jingqiu had figured it out on his own, that worry was naturally dispelled. Even if they were just trying things out, they were still an intern couple. What was wrong with sleeping together?
It had only been a few hours since the two of them had more or less reached an agreement, yet Fu Jingqiu suddenly asked this. Jiang Qingyu was still very alert. “Do you have something you want to say?”
Fu Jingqiu answered honestly, “I just don’t know whether we should follow the process and proceed step by step.”
Jiang Qingyu asked, “What process?”
Looking at Fu Jingqiu’s serious expression, a flash of inspiration crossed his mind. “Are you talking about the process of dating?”
Fu Jingqiu nodded. “Mm.”
Jiang Qingyu thought briefly and understood. Holding back a laugh, he said, “Did you search online for some kind of process or guide?”
Fu Jingqiu was stunned. “How did you know?”
He guessed.
Fu Jingqiu was the kind of person who, once he decided to do something, had to do it to the best of his ability. The moment the word “process” came out of his mouth, Jiang Qingyu guessed he must have read something.
Jiang Qingyu propped his face with one hand and stared at him with a smile. “Those guides and processes don’t apply to us at all. Our first step has to begin with confirming that you really can like men.”
“Oh.” Fu Jingqiu humbly asked for advice. “How do we prove it?”
Jiang Qingyu said, “Don’t rush! This isn’t something that can be fully proven just by hugging and kissing. Meals have to be eaten one bite at a time, and relationships also have to be slowly dated.”
Just like when Fu Jingqiu suddenly did that in the morning. It had actually been quite frightening.
Of course, that did not mean Jiang Qingyu disliked it. To be honest, when Fu Jingqiu expressionlessly came over and pinched his chin back then… cough, cough, cough. All right, stop.
In ordinary times, Hotan had very serious sandstorms. There could be three or four in a week, with yellow sand often filling the sky and the entire city looking gray and dusty.
If one lived here, there was no point in washing the car. The car might be washed in the morning, but it would become dirty ten minutes after hitting the road.
Now, there was no windblown sand, but the wind and snow were heavy. As soon as they entered the Hotan area, the wind increased by at least three or four levels compared with before. Fog descended together with the night, and visibility was extremely low.
Fu Jingqiu stood in the driver’s seat for a few minutes, then went to the living room to discuss with Jiang Qingyu. “We may not be able to keep moving forward now.”
Originally, they had planned to park in the city, eat, and rest. But now the wind outside was frighteningly strong. Even if the vehicle had automatic driving and would not be affected, visibility was so poor that if another vehicle crashed into them, it would still be useless.
At a time like this, safety naturally came first. Jiang Qingyu asked, “Then where nearby can we stop?”
Fu Jingqiu said, “The map shows that there’s a checkpoint one kilometer ahead. We should be able to park there.”
In just that short one-kilometer stretch, the whole sky seemed to have turned white. The wind and snow were unbelievably intense. There were lights on at the checkpoint. They did not know whether there were still staff inside. The vehicle drove over and found a relatively sheltered spot to park.
The RV itself was not affected much. After being upgraded, the vehicle was naturally very stable. It was just that the sound of the wind outside was truly terrifying, as if it had gathered all its strength and was trying to slam into the vehicle.
Jiang Qingyu listened for a while, then said, “What an exaggerated noise.”
Fu Jingqiu said, “Judging from this trend, it probably won’t stop tonight.”
Jiang Qingyu said, “It’s fine. Anyway, our vehicle won’t be blown over, so we can relax a little. Let’s just treat it as resting early.”
It was just that no matter what happened now, they probably would not be able to go outside.
No matter how thickly they dressed or how windproof their clothes were, there was no way to handle this kind of situation. They might even be blown into dried human jerky.
The lights inside the RV were warm and bright. It was Jiang Qingyu’s first time encountering weather like this, so he stood by the window and looked for a while longer. Although everything around them was a vast stretch of white, the direction of the checkpoint was lit up just like they were.
Amid the raging wind and snow, that bit of light warmed the heart.
Jiang Qingyu said he wanted hot pot for dinner, but he was too lazy to move.
Fu Jingqiu understood his hint and smiled slightly. “Are all the ingredients in the refrigerator?”
“Mm…” Jiang Qingyu used the moment of thinking to frantically make little movements, transferring all the things he wanted to eat into the refrigerator’s fresh-keeping drawer. He said vaguely, “They should be.”
Fu Jingqiu said, “Do you want to think about where exactly they are, so I can take them all out together?”
Seafood, meat, vegetables, and tofu, plus seasonings, cilantro, and the like also had to be put in. It would be best to add some fried foods too. If they were fried in the air fryer for ten or so minutes, with little oil and a fragrant aroma, they would be perfect with hot pot on such a snowy night.
Jiang Qingyu quickly arranged everything in place. Only then did he leisurely rest his hand behind his head and begin swinging his legs comfortably, humming like a grand old master. “I already thought we could eat hot pot tonight. Everything is in the fresh-keeping drawer. The rest is on the door shelf. Take it yourself.”
Fu Jingqiu said all right and opened the refrigerator. Sure enough, all the things Jiang Qingyu had named were placed exactly where he said, and there was no small amount of meat and vegetables.
He took them out one by one, washed the vegetables, peeled the prawns, removed the veins, and arranged them in the hot pot serving tray the way Jiang Qingyu had done before, each compartment clearly separated.
There were also fruits, cheese cod strips, crispy pork, and even a small bag of corn pancakes.
He carefully prepared the ingredients, took out the divided hot pot, washed it, placed it properly, and separately added the hot pot base and frozen beef bone broth cubes before turning on the heat.
Fu Jingqiu worked in a very orderly manner and cleaned things up efficiently. Jiang Qingyu lay there under this background noise while playing on his phone.
After lying dryly for a few minutes, he felt a bit cold wearing only a single layer. So he pulled over the blanket Fu Jingqiu had folded into a neat little tofu block at some unknown time, shook it out, and covered himself with it. It was soft and extremely comfortable.
Fu Jingqiu occasionally came over, holding a plate to feed him a strawberry or a strip of crispy pork.
The first time he was fed, Jiang Qingyu felt a little unused to it.
But he could not withstand how calm and natural Fu Jingqiu’s expression was, so natural it was as if he had already done this countless times before. Jiang Qingyu obediently opened his mouth and accepted it.
After being fed several times, coupled with how comfortably and softly he was wrapped in the blanket, he felt as if he were living a good life where clothes came when he reached out and food came when he opened his mouth. He could not help becoming a little lightheaded with pleasure.
He even wanted to take a tiny nap before Fu Jingqiu called him up to eat.
Fu Jingqiu said, “Get up and eat.”
…All right.
Jiang Qingyu reluctantly left his temporary little nest. A thin knitted jacket was draped over his shoulders. When he looked up, Fu Jingqiu said, “You’ll feel cold right after getting up. Wear it.”
The hot pot steamed, its fragrance spreading. Jiang Qingyu sat down at the dining table. When he turned his head, Fu Jingqiu was adding food for Meimei and Tangyuan.
Fine. He really was living like a local emperor now.
The small snacks from earlier seemed to have been digested quickly. Looking at the table full of meat and vegetables, Jiang Qingyu only felt his appetite stirring. He took the serving chopsticks and started blanching meat.
The dipping sauce was Jiang Qingyu’s favorite combination. Aside from cilantro, sesame, peanut sauce, and vinegar, there was also beef sauce and chopped pickled mustard tuber. No matter what was dipped in it, it was especially delicious.
The high-quality beef shoulder had almost no fatty parts. Jiang Qingyu did not like eating fat and loved pure lean meat. After it was blanched, he rolled it in a bowl full of sauce and took a bite, so satisfied that he stomped his feet.
The tofu was black tofu. After being boiled in the tomato soup, it did not need dipping sauce to taste good. It had a different kind of flavor.
The shrimp were fresh and sweet, each one very large. Occasionally, he could stuff one to Tangyuan, who was squatting under the table and was clearly already full but still extremely eager. But fried foods and the like could only be eaten by Jiang Qingyu himself.
At this moment, the wind outside was blowing so hard that, aside from a vast whiteness, nothing could be seen. Occasionally, some shadow swept past quickly, or something crashed with a clanging sound. It sounded a bit like the metal sheet of a sign rolling along the road.
The RV did not move an inch, and not even a trace of wind leaked in through the windows. So although the situation outside was terrifying, sitting inside the vehicle and eating hot pot instead gave quite a sense of security.
For now, this was still an extreme cold disaster. The snow itself was not that exaggerated. It was just that the amount of snow here in winter was already large to begin with. Apart from that, many cities were only dry-cold, or damp-cold mixed with threads of rain. When the temperature dropped to dozens of degrees below zero, air conditioners worked desperately, but the effect was still not very obvious.
He did not know what would happen when the blizzard disaster came. If the snow could not be cleared in time, it would still be very troublesome.
This hot pot meal lasted more than an hour. At first, Jiang Qingyu was full of enthusiasm. After becoming sixty or seventy percent full, he began eating fruit and fried foods. Later, who knew what he was thinking, but he even went to the refrigerator and took out a fruit-flavored ice cream to eat. Under Fu Jingqiu’s slightly worried gaze, he said, “It’s fine. I used to eat cold drinks in winter all the time.”
Fu Jingqiu said, “It’s not good for your stomach. Eat less.”
Jiang Qingyu smiled. “Only occasionally.”
After the meal, Fu Jingqiu still cleaned up. Jiang Qingyu belatedly realized that he seemed to have eaten a bit too much, so he took the initiative to bring out the yoga mat and found a video on the platform to follow along with.
After ten minutes full of enthusiasm, Jiang Qingyu began lying on the yoga mat and playing with his phone.
Fu Jingqiu, who passed by: “…”
Jiang Qingyu raised his eyes upside down to look at him without the slightest guilt. “What?”
Fu Jingqiu said, “It seems like you only seriously exercised for a few minutes.”
Jiang Qingyu said shamelessly, “Because the effect was achieved, so I’m resting for a bit.”
Fu Jingqiu asked, “Do you need me to help you?”
Jiang Qingyu sat up with a whoosh. Fu Jingqiu thought he was going to obediently exercise for a while longer, but unexpectedly, Jiang Qingyu swiftly put on his shoes, tidied up, and rolled the yoga mat back up.
Fu Jingqiu: “…”
Jiang Qingyu said solemnly, “I’m going to shower, so we don’t all end up free later and have to line up to wash. Rest for a bit after you’re done. If you really can’t, you can exercise too.”
He patted Fu Jingqiu’s arm. “Your need is a little greater than mine.”
After saying that, he slipped away in a flash to the bedroom to get his pajamas.
Fu Jingqiu did not know whether to laugh or cry. But in the end, after he had completely tidied the living room, he took out the yoga mat and seriously completed an entire set according to his previous training routine.
Speaking of which, Jiang Qingyu’s vehicle even had dumbbells.
These were things Jiang Qingyu had somehow dug out from some forgotten corner after seeing Fu Jingqiu exercise. He said that when he first bought them, he had been full of ambition, but after less than two days, he had tossed them aside.
Throwing them away felt a little wasteful, but keeping them was useless.
So he pretended he had never bought them, placed them in a corner, and secretly looked forward to the day he might remember them and experience the feeling of having found money.
Facts proved that he truly had no opportunity to use them, but they also had not truly gone to waste.
Fu Jingqiu used them very smoothly.
After Fu Jingqiu finished a set of physical training, Jiang Qingyu had already washed up and rolled onto the bed, crazily fighting in a game.
When Fu Jingqiu came in to get his clothes, he glanced at him. Jiang Qingyu had only met his gaze briefly from the corner of his eye, but for some reason, his nerves instantly tightened, and he felt a slight chill at the back of his head.
So he silently shifted a little and did not look at him.
Fu Jingqiu soon went out. The sound of water rang through the bathroom door. Jiang Qingyu controlled the character on the screen, his mind wandering for a moment: speaking of which, this should be the first night after their relationship changed, right?
And they were still sleeping together.
There was a bit of mutually understood ambiguity, and also a bit of awkward restraint.
This was not hard to imagine. They could not really just cover themselves with blankets and chat purely, could they? The previous night might have been possible, but tonight… thinking with his toes, he knew that even if Fu Jingqiu only wanted to prove that he did not resist developing an intimate relationship with him, he would symbolically do something.
If he thought deeper about this, the purity level would not be very high. Whether or not things later would develop as he imagined, it was better for him to do something else now to distract himself.
Jiang Qingyu had still been in contact with his university roommates during this period. Their hometowns were all places with heating, and they had stockpiled supplies in advance. Because the prices had still been relatively cheap when they bought them, and with Jiang Qingyu’s financial support, they thought winter supplies could be stored at home, so the quantity of goods far exceeded what they usually stockpiled for New Year.
Rice, flour, cabbage, scallions, coal, fruits, vegetables, pastries—whatever there was, they bought it. In any case, it would not spoil from freezing.
Now, the temperature over there had already reached minus sixty or seventy degrees. Zombies had caused trouble for a while before, and they still existed now. But ever since everyone started freezing zombies into ice sculptures, that danger had decreased a lot, so they began madly stockpiling things.
It was just that the prices were no longer the same as before.
Those roommates now stayed on the heated brick beds every day and did not go out. Because they had stockpiled supplies in advance, they had already become great contributors in their families.
Their families were all tight-lipped. Even relatives did not dare tell anyone that they had stockpiled so many things. After all, when the zombies first broke out, forget snatching supplies—there were even people who used the opportunity to kill. If they were not low-key now, they would sooner or later be targeted.
Jiang Qingyu greatly praised this behavior.
When he greeted them in the group, he received several photos his roommates had just taken to share their current state. He did not know whether it was because they did not go out or exercise, and had not suffered much in terms of food, but their faces seemed to have become a little rounder.
In winter, their side often reached dozens of degrees below zero, so they had experience resisting cold. Everyone was not so at a loss, and relatively speaking, their situation was still acceptable.
Jiang Qingyu chatted with them for a couple sentences and also told them not to let down their guard. Since they could still stock up now, they should try to stockpile more, even if the prices had risen.
The roommates had just experienced the torrential rain, and now the global extreme cold had arrived. How could they still cling to luck? As soon as Jiang Qingyu mentioned it, they all responded one after another, saying they would tell their families to buy more things later and store them.
Seeing that the serious business was done, they could talk about private matters.
At first, Jiang Qingyu was still a little coy. But thinking that he was only casually chatting and asking, he did not use the excuse of “I have a friend.” As if curious, he began probing into his roommates’ relationship histories.
He had been completely uninterested in this before and did not like prying. Suddenly doing this now, even fools would know something was definitely going on.
The already lively group immediately exploded. Everyone talked over one another, and they even started frantically sending him voice calls. After Jiang Qingyu rejected them with the excuse that it was inconvenient, messages practically scrolled upward nonstop.
They asked things like whether he had someone he liked, whether it was a man or a woman, whether there were photos to look at, what stage things had progressed to, whether he needed them to give some reference, and so on.
Jiang Qingyu was dazzled and dizzy from reading it all.
He had never seen them so chatty usually.
Who knew how many messages were sent, but the useful ones could be counted on one hand. Helpless, Jiang Qingyu could only send a chain of puppy stickers to push down their gossip questions, then exit WeChat and slip away.
Thinking about it, their partners were not the same type as his anyway. The reference value was really too low.
With no other way, Jiang Qingyu switched back, turned on Do Not Disturb mode, and started another game.
When Fu Jingqiu returned while wiping his hair, this round had just begun.
Jiang Qingyu had two pillows pressed in his arms, biting his lip as he stared at the screen with an extremely focused expression. Seeing Fu Jingqiu come in, he only quickly lifted his eyelids once before his attention returned to the game.
Fu Jingqiu sat at the edge of the bed and very naturally reached out to touch his head, checking whether Jiang Qingyu’s hair had been dried.
Jiang Qingyu instinctively shrank his neck and still did not dare look at him. His hands rapidly performed some completely useless operations, pretending he was very busy as he kept his head lowered and asked, “What are you doing?”
Fu Jingqiu said, “The ends of your hair aren’t dry. You play your game. I’ll help you.”
As he spoke, he went to get the hair dryer. In order not to disturb Jiang Qingyu’s game, he set it to a low mode, letting warm air continuously brush over the ends of his hair. His fingers kept stirring through it, combing the ends every now and then.
Jiang Qingyu looked even busier.
His thumbs kept sliding, making him look like a gaming expert. On the surface, he seemed to have his head buried and was not looking at Fu Jingqiu, but in reality, he had already secretly glanced at him several times.
Once the ends of his hair were dry, that round head looked even fluffier. Fu Jingqiu rubbed it twice. The faint fragrance of shampoo surged gently like a tide. He asked in a low voice, “Are you teaming up with someone?”
Jiang Qingyu quickly looked at him. “You even know about teaming up?”
“…” Fu Jingqiu said, “I’m only four years older than you, not forty.”
Jiang Qingyu asked, “Then what games do you usually play?”
Fu Jingqiu said, “I don’t play.”
Heh. Theoretical knowledge.
Jiang Qingyu said, “I’m not teaming up. I’m solo queuing.”
Fu Jingqiu asked, “If you’re solo queuing, why aren’t you talking?”
Jiang Qingyu found this question a little strange and asked in confusion, “Who would I talk to in solo queue? I just play by myself.”
Fu Jingqiu slowed his speaking pace. “I mean, why aren’t you talking to me?”
“….” Jiang Qingyu said seriously, “I’m afraid of getting distracted.”
Fu Jingqiu seemed to smile. “All right. Then I’ll wait until you finish.”
No.
You’re being a little strange, bro.
That sentence was like some kind of announcement: go ahead and play, and after you finish, the two of us will do something else. Don’t rush. I’ll wait for you.
The instant Jiang Qingyu’s thoughts scattered, his operations slowed as well. By accident, he was killed by the opposing side and had to wait to respawn.
During those several dozen seconds, he pulled up the equipment interface and settings interface countless times. Only after his character respawned at the fountain did his tense body relax slightly. As he operated the game, he pretended not to care and asked, “Um, do you have something you want to say to me?”
Fu Jingqiu raised his brows slightly. “Why do you ask?”
Jiang Qingyu said, “Didn’t you say you’d wait until I finished?”
Fu Jingqiu said, “Oh. I just wanted to spend some time with you before sleeping.”
Help! Help!
Jiang Qingyu closed his eyes for a moment. When a literal-minded person said strange things, the destructive power was truly strong.
Seeing that he did not answer and that he was slightly wrinkling his nose with an expression that looked a little oddly twisted, Fu Jingqiu thought he had said something wrong and explained, “I didn’t mean that kind of spending time together. Don’t misunderstand.”
Jiang Qingyu felt the veins at his forehead throb and could not help saying, “When you say it like that, even if I didn’t misunderstand at first, it starts to sound like that.”
Fu Jingqiu had not intended to laugh, but Jiang Qingyu’s expression and his seemingly gritted-teeth tone were truly too cute. He could not help curving his lips slightly and said sorry in a not particularly obvious way.
The teammates in this round were really capable. Although Jiang Qingyu had not displayed his full true strength, they still smoothly destroyed the crystal and won the game.
It would be a little impolite to start another round in front of Fu Jingqiu, so Jiang Qingyu somewhat stiffly locked his phone screen and placed it beside the pillow. “I finished.”
“All right.” Fu Jingqiu asked, “Do you want to chat?”
Huh? Such a proper tone.
Jiang Qingyu hesitated. “Chat about what?”
Fu Jingqiu said, “Anything is fine. About you, or about me. I think we should understand each other more deeply.”
It was not the development he had imagined, but it made Jiang Qingyu instinctively breathe a sigh of relief. Sitting cross-legged, he said, “Let me think… Actually, we’ve already spent some time together. Living habits, preferences, and things like that—we already understand most of them.”
As for family circumstances, Jiang Qingyu remembered that he had also mentioned them to Fu Jingqiu before. If they went any deeper, there did not seem to be anything else to talk about.
As for Fu Jingqiu’s side… In this kind of situation, it was better not to bring up people who ruined the mood.
The two of them stared at each other for a moment. It was unclear who laughed first. Jiang Qingyu leaned against the pillow, his expression clearly much more relaxed. “This kind of exchanging-everything-about-ourselves behavior doesn’t seem very suitable for us.”
Indeed.
As expected, online guides could not apply to everyone. Jiang Qingyu himself was also very simple. He liked sleeping in, loved thinking about food, and was a very kind-hearted child.
This stage was considered impossible to continue. Fu Jingqiu was thinking about whether to try something else when the hand he had braced beside himself was suddenly hooked by Jiang Qingyu’s fingers.
Fu Jingqiu raised his eyes and looked over. He saw Jiang Qingyu lowering his eyes, not quite daring to look at him. Yet the movements of his hand did not stop. After hooking two of Fu Jingqiu’s fingers, he seemed not to know what to do, so he gently squeezed them.
Fu Jingqiu’s voice sounded above his head. “Why don’t you dare look at me?”
Because I’m flirting, Jiang Qingyu thought.
He cleared his throat. His posture looked quite impressive, but his voice was not high. “I’m embarrassed. Is that not allowed?”
Fu Jingqiu laughed silently and turned his hand over to hold Jiang Qingyu’s tightly. His fingers pressed somewhat forcefully between Jiang Qingyu’s, very cheesily interlacing all ten fingers.
Jiang Qingyu felt that his scalp was also working very hard. These past two days, it kept going numb at every turn, just like now. It was as if his entire arm had stiffened along with it, and he did not know what the next step should be.
Thank heaven and earth, Fu Jingqiu was a man of action.
Half a minute? Or one minute? After they quietly held hands like this for a while, Fu Jingqiu suddenly exerted force without warning. Using their clasped hands, he pulled the completely unprepared Jiang Qingyu over.
As expected, Jiang Qingyu toppled entirely into his arms.
Hey!
Jiang Qingyu lifted his head, wanting to protest. But the moment their gazes met, he realized that the distance between him and the other person was absurdly close. If he moved forward just a little more, the tips of their noses would brush together.
More than ten seconds later, Jiang Qingyu silently buried his head again.
Mm. So soft.
His breaths were full of the faint scent of body wash. Jiang Qingyu had smelled this scent for several months now and was so familiar with it that he could not be more familiar.
Solid arms wrapped around him from behind, easily holding Jiang Qingyu’s entire body in his embrace. There was a bit of a size difference between them. If they lay on their sides, from the outside, Jiang Qingyu’s body would be completely hidden.
The sense of security was absurdly strong.
Through a layer of fabric, Jiang Qingyu’s nose felt the warmth of the other person’s skin. A slightly hurried heartbeat was transmitted to him in sync.
It was very warm.
Aside from family, this was the first embrace that made Jiang Qingyu feel at ease.
