Chapter 78
After returning to the RV, everyone, including the puppy, unanimously spaced out for a while.
So cold. So tired.
After a long while, Fu Jingqiu came over and helped Jiang Qingyu take off all his protective gear. Then he helped Tangyuan clean up too, using a dry towel to wipe the snow from its fur. In any case, the floor heating was on, so even if it lay on the ground, it could still be dried off. There was no need to worry too much about it catching a cold.
After they finished tidying up, they all changed into home clothes. The living room heater was turned up high. Jiang Qingyu leaned against the sofa bed, drowsy. Later, he simply took off his shoes, climbed onto the sofa bed, and burrowed under the thick blanket. He had barely closed his eyes for two minutes when he opened them again and tilted his head to look for Fu Jingqiu. “You come sleep for a while too. You were exhausted just now. Let’s rest a bit.”
Fu Jingqiu hesitated for only two seconds before accepting Jiang Qingyu’s suggestion and lying down on the sofa bed as well.
The blanket had been warmed by Jiang Qingyu until it was toasty. The moment Fu Jingqiu lay inside, sleepiness covered him tightly like the blanket itself. Jiang Qingyu turned over, eyes closed, and burrowed into his arms. His fluffy head rested on Fu Jingqiu’s shoulder. After finding a suitable position, he fell asleep peacefully.
Holding this soft little fish, Fu Jingqiu also fell asleep very quickly. The living room was quiet. Meimei ate some of the cat food Fu Jingqiu had made for it that morning, drank some warm water, and lazily stretched on the scratching board.
When Meimei passed Tangyuan, it stopped and sniffed it. But the puppy was sleeping very deeply at the moment, unwilling even to lift its eyelids. So Meimei lightly jumped onto the long table by the car window and unhurriedly began washing its face.
This nap lasted until the afternoon, when the sky had darkened again. Kiwi Head and Exploded Mushroom Head sat up from the bed in a daze. Seeing the room completely dark, Fu Jingqiu got up first to turn on the lights. Turning back and seeing Jiang Qingyu’s sleepy, confused face, he subconsciously smiled. “How did you even sleep marks onto your face?”
It was even a button mark.
Fu Jingqiu flipped his own collar and instantly solved the case.
This nap had been truly satisfying. He had woken up early just this once, and in the afternoon he had made it all back. He really could not suffer even the tiniest loss.
Even Jiang Qingyu found it funny, but he did feel refreshed after sleeping. He climbed up from the bed in one smooth motion and stretched, loosening his body. “We won’t cook today. I used to pack lots of dishes and noodles from restaurants. We’ll just wash our hands and eat those.”
Fu Jingqiu said all right and went to tidy the living room table. He also added food for Meimei and Tangyuan. When he turned back, Jiang Qingyu had already filled the table with dishes and soup. They were steaming hot, and the aroma suddenly spread out, like magic. He even provided his own “ta-da-da-da” sound effect.
Fu Jingqiu smiled as he got bowls and chopsticks. Although they were all previously packed dishes, Jiang Qingyu still chose things Fu Jingqiu liked. He had originally been worrying over who would eat those servings of steamed mutton. Now this was perfect—they would all go into Fu Jingqiu’s stomach.
Jiang Qingyu had still been a little wilted when he first woke up, but now he had completely recovered. As he ate, he reminisced about skating that morning. Barring any accidents, he would remember this morning for the next ten years. It was truly wonderful, without a single flaw he could pick out.
Seeing that he liked it so much, Fu Jingqiu suggested, “Then before we leave tomorrow, we can go play one more time.”
Jiang Qingyu immediately refused. “No.”
Fu Jingqiu asked, “Why?”
Jiang Qingyu said, “There has to be that tiny feeling of not having enough. That way, I’ll look forward even more to the next time.”
Fu Jingqiu said, “What if there’s no chance later?” After all, Jiang Qingyu had said there were other disasters to come.
Jiang Qingyu said, “That’s fine too. I already had a lot of fun this morning. I have no regrets.”
A fish had a fish’s logic. He had always been very good at making sense of things for himself.
Fu Jingqiu did not insist. After all, for Jiang Qingyu, perhaps more fun places and more worthwhile scenery would always be ahead.
They had spent quite a lot of energy this time. Fu Jingqiu was fine. After sleeping and eating a full meal, he recovered very quickly. After dinner, he carefully tidied the house, and in the end, he still went to the gym for a light workout.
Jiang Qingyu was messaging Duan Cheng. If nothing unexpected happened, they would arrive in Altay tomorrow. The weather was so cold, yet Duan Cheng, that guy with a missing screw, actually said he wanted to come out and wait for them, even holding a sign.
Jiang Qingyu knew there was no reasoning with him, so he turned around and “reported” him to Duan Yu, promptly stopping Duan Cheng’s courting-death behavior.
This pair of siblings could be considered the first true friends they had made on their journey. On top of that, they had stayed at their uncle’s house for more than a week, during which everyone had played together and become familiar. They had eaten many meals together and stayed up playing games until dawn. Naturally, their relationship was not ordinary. Since he was going to see his friends again, Jiang Qingyu was rather happy. After finishing the chat, he hummed a tune and went to the bathroom. Before bed, he expressed that they could do that a little.
Please, he was a normal man too, all right? After tasting meat, and later finding some pleasure in it, it was only normal to have thoughts.
However, this time, Jiang Qingyu made a request first: they could leave the lights on, but absolutely not the everyday kind of light that shone bright overhead and exposed everything clearly!
Fu Jingqiu understood. His imagination had never been as rich as it was at this moment. Almost the instant Jiang Qingyu finished speaking, many things appeared in his mind at the same time. He swallowed subconsciously, his Adam’s apple moving with it.
He suddenly thought of something. “So the thing you had me install in the bedroom before was…?”
Jiang Qingyu did not quite dare to look at him. His voice was as soft as a mosquito’s hum as he grabbed the ends of his hair. “Mm… that. An atmosphere light.”
For fun, he could understand. Neither of them looked bad. What was wrong with looking at each other’s faces while doing it and enjoying the view a little? Besides, Fu Jingqiu had trained so well. He could not only be touched; the eyes should enjoy themselves too.
This was also something the shop owner had given him when he bought the tools. The quality was very good. The colors and brightness could both be adjusted. Thanks again.
Fu Jingqiu truly had not come into much contact with things in this area. It could even be said he was a little pure. He could only imagine what Jiang Qingyu would look like under hazy light, but he could not imagine atmosphere lights, movable lighting, purple lights, red lights, and so on.
Jiang Qingyu was slightly conservative and did not try everything at once. First, they properly and traditionally did missionary once.
How should his first-person perspective be described… It was very hard to put into words.
Fu Jingqiu’s face and body looked incomparably erotic under that hazy, ambiguous light. When tears blurred Jiang Qingyu’s vision and everything kept swaying, he could not tell whether Fu Jingqiu was staring at him the whole time. But just thinking of that possibility made his whole body heat up. He only wanted to stuff himself under the blanket to avoid the other man’s gaze.
His waist was gripped. The shape of that thing, and the way it disappeared and reappeared, every detail was perfectly clear. He did not quite dare to look down. He only felt his scalp go numb, and he found it a little unbelievable.
How exactly had he taken it in?
And there was so much water.
His legs slid down from Fu Jingqiu’s shoulders, strength leaking out of his body. Jiang Qingyu did not react for a long while, his dazed state lasting for some time. Fu Jingqiu did not rush to go for a second round either. He first helped clean him up. The feeling of being wiped with a warm towel was very comfortable. The afterglow still lingered in his body. Jiang Qingyu lazily looked at Fu Jingqiu, clearly very satisfied with the round that had just ended.
Speed, strength, depth—along with the atmosphere light and music, he had been incredibly relaxed and had enjoyed himself thoroughly.
Fu Jingqiu put the towel aside and leaned down to kiss him. “Do you still have strength?”
Jiang Qingyu said, “A little.”
Fu Jingqiu said, “I’m ready.”
Jiang Qingyu did not understand. “Ready for what?”
Fu Jingqiu shifted slightly aside to let him see. Jiang Qingyu’s eyes widened. “So fast?!”
“Mm.” Fu Jingqiu rubbed the tender skin on the inside of his wrist. “This time, you be on top, all right?”
Jiang Qingyu said, “Sitting?! No, I don’t want to. That’s so tiring.”
And to take it all in—with Fu Jingqiu’s assets—was very frightening.
Fu Jingqiu coaxed him. “You can just lie on me.”
“Ah…” Jiang Qingyu thought about it. He was very willing to lie on Fu Jingqiu. After all, it was comfortable, and he could use him as a human cushion. He did not need to use much effort himself, and it would not even be as tiring as just now. He would not need a pillow under his waist either.
So he agreed.
But a few minutes later, Jiang Qingyu regretted it again.
Whether lying down or on his side, at least there was something that could support him. Pressed against the bed, his heart had some foundation. Even if he supported himself with both hands on the mattress, at least he could touch the bed. How could it be like now, as if he were lying on a lotus leaf in a pond, truly becoming a human-shaped body pillow, letting the other man do whatever he wanted?
Yet this state of rubbing temples and ears together was also something he liked. He could clingily bury himself against Fu Jingqiu’s shoulder. The other man’s breath brushed his neck, their chests pressed tightly together, and his lower back was held. The inward curve there was just right for a palm to rest, fitting closely.
Before they had the gym, Jiang Qingyu had seen Fu Jingqiu do sit-ups. He did not need any equipment or Jiang Qingyu to help press him down. With that good waist alone, he could lift himself up. At the time, Jiang Qingyu had been beside him scrolling on his phone, but in reality, he had secretly counted. Fu Jingqiu could do more than a hundred with ease, barely even panting.
Back then, Jiang Qingyu had watched in astonishment. In the blink of an eye, it was being tested on him, and the difficulty was even lower.
This round lasted even longer. Jiang Qingyu lay weakly on top of him, his whole body damp with sweat. “Today… let’s stop here. If we do it again, I really won’t make it.”
Fu Jingqiu stroked his soft hair again and again. Below, they were unconsciously rubbing against each other, still interacting intimately. His mouth said all right, and he cupped Jiang Qingyu’s face, kissing him again and again before carrying him to the bathroom to bathe and tidying the bedroom.
With the experience of the previous two times, changing the bedding was now familiar and easy. Once Jiang Qingyu finished bathing, he could burrow straight into the blanket. At this point, he was truly sleepy. Before Fu Jingqiu even returned, he had already fallen deeply asleep, half his little face buried in the blanket, looking very obedient.
Fu Jingqiu lifted the blanket and saw that Jiang Qingyu had actually dried himself and burrowed straight in to sleep, without even putting on pajamas.
He was silent for a few seconds. In the end, he did not wake Jiang Qingyu. After finishing the cleanup, he turned off the light and pulled the other man into his arms.
It was Jiang Qingyu’s first time in his life sleeping naked. He could not say whether it felt good or bad, but when he woke up and found himself a bare little fish, he was still a little dazed.
Later, his memories returned. He remembered coming back wrapped in a bathrobe, so sleepy it felt like his eyelids had been glued shut. He had yawned, tossed the clothes aside, and burrowed into the blanket. What state he had been in at the time, he could no longer remember clearly at all.
Fu Jingqiu. He must have seen.
At least put something on him!
Jiang Qingyu muttered as he got out of bed and put on clothes. In broad daylight, he was still a little embarrassed. The full-length mirror by the wardrobe swayed and reflected his long, firm body. As expected, there were new marks left on him again.
Jiang Qingyu pretended not to see them, his ears hot as he wrapped himself up and shuffled in slippers to the living room. “I’m awake! Is it time to set off?”
He was this proactive today. It seemed he really could not wait to go find Duan Cheng to play games.
Before, he had said he wanted to play with Fu Jingqiu, but now that he had a new playmate, he did not call his boyfriend to play co-op games anymore.
But this eager, ready-to-do-something-big appearance was too cute. Fu Jingqiu still answered him, first coming over to hold him and kiss him before going to the driver’s seat to start the vehicle.
Jiang Qingyu’s evaluation of this was: clingy.
Today, they would just casually deal with lunch and have a feast once they arrived in Altay later.
There was really too much snow along this road. This year, there was no longer any tourist demand. Aside from transport teams coming once every week, no one else would go out. Everyone was holed up inside, praying this winter would end sooner. Because of that, the snow piled higher and higher on both sides of the road. They were now driving in heavy truck mode, and the snow was almost as tall as their vehicle.
It was too exaggerated, but also very dreamlike.
They also saw vehicles overturned in shallow ditches by the road. Because there were no conditions for towing, they could only quietly lie there. For the time being, they had not been completely buried by snow, with only scattered parts exposed. It made one feel as if they had barged into an unmanned village buried under snow for years. It felt extremely unreal.
Duan Cheng kept messaging to keep track of their progress. Every half hour, he asked where they were. He even wanted shared location updates, and from time to time, he sent photos and videos of the food they were preparing. The last photo was of a little local spitz that had come to the homestay restaurant to freeload warmth. The puppy was chubby, and even when Duan Cheng held its face to take photos, it obediently cooperated. It looked adorable enough to kill.
Jiang Qingyu stroked Tangyuan, who was lying beside him chewing a dental stick. “You’re about to have a friend.”
Fu Jingqiu also touched his head. “You’re about to play with your friend too. Are you very happy?”
“?” Jiang Qingyu turned and glared at him, warily asking, “What are you doing? Treating me like a puppy?”
Fu Jingqiu naturally denied it. From behind, he pinched Jiang Qingyu’s chin and turned his face forward, kissing his cheek with a soft smack. Clearly, he had grown more and more practiced in these intimate gestures. After kissing his cheek, he pressed his lips to Jiang Qingyu’s. “If you were a puppy, you’d be an extremely obedient one.”
What was he saying! Jiang Qingyu rubbed his ears hard. Had Fu Jingqiu deliberately lowered his voice just now? That was a little too much!
His two red ears could not be hidden at all. The more Fu Jingqiu looked, the deeper the smile on his face became. It made Jiang Qingyu feel very baffled, yet strangely embarrassed. Later, he simply buried his upper body under the thick blanket and played dead, forgetting that his butt was still outside.
Fu Jingqiu held it and kneaded it twice, then gave it a casual pat. “All right. Come teach Tangyuan. Today we’ll teach him something else.”
Jiang Qingyu covered his butt. “Hey!”
Altay undoubtedly had the most tourists out of the several villages. Looking down from a slightly higher area, the little wooden houses below were arranged in a staggered pattern. Most of them were lit, shining with warm light in the deep night, like a fairy-tale town below the mountain. The snow mountain looked slightly oppressive at night. Jiang Qingyu leaned against the car window and looked for a while, feeling very excited.
Their destination had finally arrived.
It had to be said that Duan Cheng’s pure, brain-off way of making friends was very suitable for Jiang Qingyu. As the vehicle drove toward the location he had sent, the map showed they would arrive in a few minutes. Jiang Qingyu called him through voice chat, and the other side answered instantly, tone excited. “Where are you!”
Jiang Qingyu imitated his tone. “A few minutes away!”
Duan Cheng howled on the phone. “Okay, I’m coming out to receive you right now!”
Jiang Qingyu said, “Don’t rush! Wait until you see our vehicle before coming out!”
From the sounds on Duan Cheng’s side, he seemed to be putting on shoes. “It’s fine, it’s fine. I want you to see me the moment you get out!”
Their conversation sounded like two very close children chatting. Fu Jingqiu listened and laughed, also infected by the atmosphere. He could not help touching the steering wheel, driving a stretch himself, and steadily drove the RV into the cluster of little wooden house homestays run by Duan Cheng’s family.
As if afraid they would not know where to park, Duan Cheng had even made several guide signs in advance. The red arrows on them were especially conspicuous in the snowy night. The RV smoothly parked there.
The moment the RV stopped, a certain person wrapped up like a bear rushed out from the homestay restaurant, raising both arms while running and shouting, “Xiao Yu-ge! Xiao Yu—ge!!”
Jiang Qingyu exclaimed, “Whoa!”
His little friend was too enthusiastic. When Duan Cheng pounced over, Jiang Qingyu did not refuse and accepted this solid hug. But when Duan Cheng turned to Fu Jingqiu, the other man’s height pressed down on him a little. The two looked at each other, and Duan Cheng pulled his hands back, turned around, and hugged Jiang Qingyu again. “I missed you so much!”
After the hug ended, before Jiang Qingyu could speak, Duan Cheng wrapped an arm around him and led him toward the restaurant. “Quick, quick, quick, come to the restaurant. It’s warm inside!”
Without even looking back, he added, “Fu-ge, I’m too embarrassed to hold your arm. Hurry over too!”
Jiang Qingyu ran while laughing, still having to purse his lips so the cold wind would not enter his stomach. Thinking of how Duan Cheng had wanted to hug Fu Jingqiu but did not dare, he found it hilarious. Tangyuan happily chased after them from behind and also received Duan Cheng’s warm welcome. As he ran, Duan Cheng shouted, “Tangyuan! You look like you’ve gotten a whole circle fatter!”
The restaurant’s exterior looked a little like a large Mongolian yurt, except the top was all glass. The inside was not small either. When there was sun in winter, it should be very comfortable. Drinking milk tea, eating snacks, and watching the stars at night would be even more romantic. The interior décor was elegant and comfortable, and the layout was open and bright.
Duan Yu had long been waiting inside. Seeing Jiang Qingyu, she also came over and gave him a hug. With Fu Jingqiu, she shook hands instead, smiling. “Xiao Cheng has been talking about this for so many days. We finally meet again.”
Fu Jingqiu nodded at her. “Hello.”
Jiang Qingyu smiled and said, “We’re benefiting from you again.”
He had checked online. The little wooden house rooms here were now being inflated to sky-high prices. After all, transporting the houses and modifying them cost a large sum of money.
Even so, people still wanted to come here to “play,” as if for certain people, the extreme cold right now had no effect. It was only a brief natural disaster. They still had the capital to enjoy themselves.
Duan Yu said, “Don’t say that. Your room has already been prepared. The heating here has all been redone. We’ve stayed here for half a month, and when the heating is turned on at night, it’s still very comfortable. There’s no air leakage or poor heating.”
There was an old saying: since they had come all this way, it would be unreasonable not to stay a couple nights in a little wooden house. Jiang Qingyu readily agreed. The restaurant was filled with the buttery aroma of baked bread. Clearly, some desserts had been made in the afternoon. The back kitchen door was not closed, and at this moment, it was bustling inside as dishes were being stir-fried.
Duan Yu introduced, “Not only are our restaurant chefs still here, one of the guests staying at our homestay is a chef who came forward to offer his services. He used to work at the Peace Hotel restaurant. His Shanghai cuisine is very good. Give it a try.”
Jiang Qingyu said, “That impressive? Then we really have good fortune with food.”
Fu Jingqiu followed with, “Thank you for hosting us.”
Duan Cheng waved his hand. “Don’t say such distant things. We had so much fun together before. We’re friends who went through life and death together. Don’t be polite! Xiao Yu-ge, Fu-ge, whatever you like to eat, we have a menu. Order whatever you want!”
The few of them arrived by the dining table. Today, to welcome them, the restaurant had put up a temporarily closed sign to outsiders. However, in the afternoon, people could still come here to pack food. At this hour, there really would not be anyone going out anymore, so it gave them plenty of private space.
Hot tea was served once they sat down. The restaurant was very warm, so they all took off their coats and sat in single layers, looking at the menu. Jiang Qingyu scanned it and first asked, “Do you have yuanbao shrimp?”
Duan Yu glanced at Fu Jingqiu and smiled first. “Yes. There’s also drunken shrimp among the cold dishes. You can try it.”
Jiang Qingyu said, “Then I like everything else. See what ingredients you have. Whatever is convenient is fine.”
As long as it was not offal dishes, loofah, or green peppers, Jiang Qingyu could eat anything else.
Duan Yu said all right and went to the back kitchen to give instructions, leaving Duan Cheng to pull Jiang Qingyu into endless chatter. His tongue was so quick no one could even cut in. Jiang Qingyu laughed. “Why do I feel like you haven’t had anyone to chat with in a long time? You’ve been holding it in.”
“Don’t even mention it.” Duan Cheng did not hide his eye roll at all. “You’ll know after staying here a few days. Almost everyone staying in our homestay is a young master. Even at a time like this, they won’t settle down. They’re so annoying.”
Jiang Qingyu turned and exchanged a look with Fu Jingqiu before asking, “What do you mean?”
Duan Cheng said, “I don’t know if you’ve heard, but everyone knows there aren’t many zombies here. Some people deliberately come here to hide from the disaster. But I don’t need to say it—you understand too. People who can still run around everywhere at a time like this must have some strength at home. They’ve never suffered hardship, can’t recognize the current situation, have big tempers, and make tons of demands. If my sister hadn’t stopped me, I wouldn’t want to do their business.”
This… all right, Jiang Qingyu had indeed heard of this.
When people were trapped at home by the extreme cold, they had to find ways to pass the time. Recently, daily activity on all kinds of apps was ridiculously high. Some games even required queues to enter. All sorts of complaints online appeared endlessly. Yet at this time, some rich young masters still insisted on jumping out to show off.
Some posted about holding indoor pool parties in their family mansions, with whole-house heating in villas, keeping the heat running even if no one was around.
Some had people personally deliver groceries to their doors. Even luxury store staff could still deliver products as scheduled for them to wear, photograph, and show off online. It made everything smoky and chaotic. Platforms had to ban many accounts every day, clearly discouraging this behavior.
But those people could not withstand their desire to perform. If they could not go out to seek fun, they had to find a sense of presence online.
Among them were also posts about rich families sending their children to sparsely populated places like this to avoid the disaster.
There was nothing wrong with the act itself. After all, there had also been many tourists who came here immediately after the zombie outbreak. But they were truly too high-profile, always showing off what privileges they had, as if they were important figures, above others.
If this continued, who knew how many new regulations online management would issue.
“All right, all right, let’s not talk about this.” Seeing that his sister was about to come out, Duan Cheng quickly stopped the topic and whispered, “Anyway, you’ll know when you see those people tomorrow.”
After saying that, as if by telepathy, he immediately sat up straight with a solemn expression.
The next second, Duan Yu appeared, followed by several people carrying dishes, wine, bowls, and chopsticks. Fragrance drifted over.
As expected, the dishes were mainly Shanghai cuisine. Forget the usual dishes for now: braised pork, squirrel-shaped mandarin fish, sizzling eel strips in oil, salted pork bamboo shoot soup, clam steamed egg, and so on. What surprised Jiang Qingyu was that there was even wine-scented clover and crab roe rice. The latter was a golden pot placed in the very center, its fragrance almost knocking Jiang Qingyu over.
Where on earth had this crab roe come from!!
The Apocalypse of Natural Disasters Descends During an RV Trip
