Jiang Miaomiao had never thought about being rescued. After all, her current life was comfortable enough with food, water, and electricity now that it had been fixed. However, not having seen any other people for over half a year, she couldn’t help but feel lonely.
Therefore, when she realized it was an airplane flying in the sky, almost subconsciously, she waved her hands and shouted towards the window.
The plane was already flying far away, and the people inside probably didn’t see her, as they didn’t turn around. They continued to fly into the distance until they became a small black dot and disappeared on the horizon.
She stared at the sky, feeling a sense of loss in her heart.
If she carefully calculated the timeline according to the original text, those survivors who had escaped the city had already established a base that could barely meet their life needs under the government’s leadership. They were cultivating farmland, raising chickens and ducks, and working hard to produce weapons in an attempt to restore social order.
However, disasters kept occurring later—frequent heavy rains, blizzards, hail, and the occasional attacks by zombies—making it extremely difficult to achieve their goals.
They might encounter those hardships, and she might face the same challenges too.
Moreover, due to the scarcity of companions, it was difficult for them to recover after suffering a heavy blow.
Which situation was better, being inside the besieged city or being outside like her?
Jiang Miaomiao sighed and closed the window, finished cooking the dishes, and brought the food upstairs to call Lu Qiming to eat together.
He had only taken a short nap of less than an hour but had already regained his vitality, seeming like a supercharged smartphone that could talk for two hours after five minutes of charging.
“Today’s fried noodles taste great, Miaomiao. Your cooking skills are getting better and better,” he praised, giving her a thumbs-up.
Jiang Miaomiao wasn’t fooled by his flattery. “Don’t think that if you say that, I’ll cook for you every day.”
He chuckled, “I’m being honest. Don’t make me out to be so cunning.”
“If you’re not cunning, then foxes must be naïve.”
He continued eating for a while but noticed that she seemed absent-minded, so he couldn’t help asking, “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
Now that they had electricity every day, according to her personality, she should be overjoyed if there were no problems.
Jiang Miaomiao didn’t want to hide anything and told him about the plane.
“In the past half year, it’s the first time I’ve seen a plane passing by the city. Do you think they are planning to come back? Or are they searching for survivors?”
Lu Qiming thoughtfully played with his chopsticks.
“At what altitude was that plane flying?”
“Huh?”
“Was it flying higher or lower than the planes you used to see?”
He explained it in a more accessible way.
“Lower, much lower!”
“I feel like it almost hit the rooftops over there.”
If it were flying at a normal altitude, it might have had other targets and just happened to pass by without much significance. But flying so low, it likely had the city as its target.
Whether it was for rescue or something else, it was hard to say for now.
Lu Qiming’s expression became serious, and he put down his chopsticks.
“Do you wish to be rescued?”
Jiang Miaomiao pondered for a moment and shook her head.
He couldn’t understand, “Why not?”
“If we are rescued, they will probably take us to the base to live with other survivors, right?”
She rested her chin on her hands and pouted, “I’m not good at socializing, lazy, and useless. I hate dealing with people. It’s fine with one or two people, but being surrounded by a bunch of people every day, I’m not used to it. And the resources in the base will probably be distributed based on needs, not according to my personal preferences. Besides, with everyone eating together, being idle is not an option. I’d probably have to work every day, and it won’t be as carefree as it is now.”
“Are you sure?” Lu Qiming raised an eyebrow. “We may have freedom now, but the supplies we have won’t last forever. When that time comes, our pleas won’t be answered. If we stay in the base, the government won’t just watch everyone starve.”
“If the supplies run out, we’ll find more. We managed to find them the first time, so we can find them again for sure.”
He shook his head. “The situation will be different by then. We can find supermarkets now because it’s still a short time after the outbreak, and many things are still usable. With no one producing anything for a year or two, and especially after four or five years, where will you find supplies then?”
Jiang Miaomiao looked troubled. “Um, if we really can’t find anything…”
“You’ll just commit suicide?” He had a playful smile on his face, clearly mocking her previous plan.
Jiang Miaomiao huffed and grabbed his hand. “No way! Now, even if you want me to die, I won’t die. If we can’t find anything to eat, I’ll stick to you like glue, and I won’t let go until you find food!”
Lu Qiming smiled wryly but felt sweet in his heart. “It seems like I’ve found myself a troublesome ancestor.”
She pouted and was about to eat her noodles when she suddenly remembered that he hadn’t expressed his opinion, so she asked, “What about you? Do you want to be rescued?”
If their wishes were completely opposite, that would be troublesome.
Lu Qiming shook his head. “No, I don’t.”
“Why?” He tilted his head, his pupils shining like stars.
“Because when in Rome, do as the Romans do.”
Jiang Miaomiao was stunned for a moment, then lowered her head and bit her lip, laughing.
The two of them reached a consensus, and since Jiang Rou had no way to express her opinion, they continued to stay in this supermarket.
With electricity in the room, their quality of life skyrocketed.
The air conditioner was almost always on, and it felt pleasantly cool twenty-four hours a day. The fridge was always stocked with beverages; they drank one bottle and put another one in.
There was ice cream powder in the supermarket, and Jiang Miaomiao tried making ice cream in the fridge.
The appearance wasn’t great, but the taste was excellent, adding another option to their menu.
At the same time, their phones, computers, kindles, and other electronic devices were also back in use.
For nearly ten days, they didn’t even step outside; they lay on the comfortable big round bed, each holding their phones to play games.
When they got hungry, they played rock-paper-scissors to decide who would cook.
They had been lazing around like this for a long time. One day, Lu Qiming suddenly struggled to sit up, threw his phone far away, and looked at the room filled with empty drink bottles, saying, “Enough!”
“We can’t go on like this!”
Installing solar panels was meant to make their lives healthier and more convenient.
Not to turn them into pigs!
Jiang Miaomiao lifted her head, moving her gaze from the phone screen to his face, and touched her gradually plump belly.
“What else are we supposed to do then?”
At school, there were teachers to supervise them, and at work, there were bosses to oversee them. Now, they were neither students nor office workers; they were entirely self-sufficient, without financial pressure or ambitious goals.
Lu Qiming thought for a moment, rolled out of bed, cleared a path through the stack of drink bottles, kicked away the little chubby dog by the door, and came back with pen and paper in hand.
“Come on, let’s make a written agreement.”
There was nothing more awakening than seeing words written in black and white on the wall.
They both stood around an A1-sized sheet of paper, carefully planning their future life.
To sustain their comfortable life, they had to complete certain tasks: farming, patrolling, and organizing supplies.
Farming was for satisfying their appetites and ensuring a diverse nutritional intake.
Patrolling was to promptly detect zombies and ensure personal safety.
Organizing supplies was to keep track of their inventory, replenishing them immediately if something was running low.
The last task was relatively significant, and they would do it together. Farming fell to Jiang Miaomiao, while patrolling was Lu Qiming’s responsibility.
Besides that, keeping the place clean was also an essential task.
They were both able-bodied individuals, and they couldn’t live in a garbage dump all the time.
However, neither of them wanted to do this job. They pushed it back and forth for quite a while until Jiang Miaomiao suggested, “Let the appliances do it.”
There were plenty of appliances in the supermarket, and now they could put them to use.
Dishwasher for washing dishes and robot vacuum for sweeping the floor. Why bother doing it all by themselves?
The solar power system had limited power, so they didn’t need to use these appliances every day. They could use them every three or four days, and before using them, they could turn off the fridge and air conditioner to rest for a while and then turn them on again after use.
Since they didn’t have running water, the washing machine couldn’t be used for now. It consumed too much water, and using bottled water for that purpose was quite painful.
They would continue to hand-wash their clothes and take turns cooking. Each person would be responsible for one meal, ensuring that no one would be at a disadvantage.
With the tasks assigned, Lu Qiming wrote down the terms on the white paper, and both of them signed and stamped it. They pasted it at the head of the bed so they could see it as soon as they woke up in the morning.
Jiang Miaomiao looked at the paper and felt a bit scared.
“Why does it feel like we signed an indentured servitude contract?”
If she woke up in the middle of the night and thought about all the work they had to do the next day, she might have trouble falling back asleep.
Lu Qiming rolled his eyes.
“True, you’re selling half of yourself to me, and I’m selling half of myself to you. I weigh 160 pounds, and you weigh 80 pounds, so I’m giving you 40 pounds for free.”
She pouted defiantly, putting her hands on her hips.
“I’ve gained weight; I’m over 90 pounds now.”
Lu Qiming said, “Then that’s still me giving you 40 pounds for free.”
“I, I also have a dog.”
Jiang Rou Rou had already run off with fifty pounds of weight, quite a substantial figure.
Lu Qiming sneered, “Come on, with your silly dog, it’s only good at mooching food and drink. I think its only purpose is to be stewed and eaten when we really crave meat.”
Jiang Rou Rou, who was sleeping soundly in the corner, suddenly felt a sense of danger and twisted its chubby little butt, crawling into Jiang Miaomiao’s arms, seeking comfort.
Jiang Miaomiao hugged it tightly, couldn’t help but warn Lu Qiming, “You’re joking, but don’t actually do anything to it.”
Lu Qiming raised an eyebrow, “You’ve been eating salted fish, sausages, and ham for over half a year. Aren’t you craving the taste of fresh meat?”
She pursed her lips and didn’t say anything.
He coaxed her skillfully, “Do you like braised pork? Braised dog meat is also delicious. Cut the best parts into chunks, add star anise, cinnamon, ginger, garlic, and cooking wine, and stew for two hours. Then add sugar. The soup should be thick, with a shiny layer of oil on top, and the meat should be so tender it falls apart with a gentle touch. When you take a bite…”
He smacked his lips as if he could really taste the meat.
Jiang Miaomiao’s mouth watered from his description, and she yearned for the taste he depicted.
Subconsciously, she looked down at Jiang Rou Rou and licked her lips.
Jiang Rou Rou looked frightened, carefully nudging her arm.
She had a thought, shook her head vigorously, and regained her composure.
“You’d make a fortune as a fortune teller with your persuasion skills. But I won’t fall for it. “
Lu Qiming shrugged, his expression ambiguous.
“No problem, I’m not in a hurry. There’s plenty of supplies now, and it’s normal not to crave meat. But in another year or so, we might have nothing left, and I won’t be able to stop you even if I want to.”
Imagining the future, she felt somewhat worried.
She raised Jiang Rou Rou as a companion, and she would never let it go hungry if she had food.
But what if she were starving to death herself? With so much meat right beside her, could she resist the temptation?
Thinking about it, she shuddered and hugged the dog tighter.
They must have vegetables, but they also must have meat. She absolutely did not want to face such a cruel choice.
For dinner that day, it was Lu Qiming’s turn to cook. Jiang Miaomiao finished her bath and sat in the room waiting for dinner, looking out the window idly.
A few sparse clouds floated in the sky. After what happened in the morning, she always felt that if she wasn’t careful, a plane would fly out from behind the clouds.
Since they had decided not to accept help, it was best not to attract other people’s attention to avoid unnecessary trouble.
But she worried that the solar panels on the rooftop might be too conspicuous.
However, if they covered it with something, it wouldn’t receive sunlight, and they wouldn’t be able to generate electricity.
She was struggling with the decision when suddenly, there was a tapping sound outside the window.
Thinking it was a zombie, Jiang Miaomiao reflexively reached under her pillow to find her gun. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a bird.
The bird was gray and black, slightly larger than the size of her palm. It must have been very hungry and wanted to peck open the glass to find food.
Zombies couldn’t fly, so they only decimated ground-dwelling creatures. Birds living high up were not significantly affected.
Jiang Miaomiao had grown up in the city, and her biggest interaction with birds was when the elderly people living upstairs liked to use bird repellers on their balconies.
When the ultrasonic sound was turned on, there would be a faint “sizzle.” Her parents couldn’t hear it, but her ears were sensitive, and she was almost driven crazy by the noise during the high school entrance exam period.
She didn’t recognize the bird’s species because she hadn’t come into contact with other creatures for so long, and she felt like bringing it inside to play with.
When she reached out to open the window, a thought came to her mind – if she couldn’t find chickens to raise, she could raise birds instead.
Birds were also meat, and bird eggs could be fried just like chicken eggs, equally delicious.
They had many rooms now, so they could spare a few to raise birds. They had plenty of rice and beans, more than they could eat. Feeding a dozen birds would not be a problem.
They could catch both males and females and let them breed.
Some eggs could be used to hatch baby birds, and some could be eaten. When the birds grew up, they could be used to make stew after plucking their feathers, and pigeon soup tasted no worse than chicken soup.
She was eager to try it out and immediately opened the window, eagerly welcoming the bird in.
However, the bird was very alert and flew away as soon as it noticed someone behind the glass.
Jiang Miaomiao missed her chance but wasn’t disappointed.
Now, there were no people living in the city or countryside, and there was no food in the fields. The birds must be starving and would surely search for food everywhere.
They had rice in their hands, so they didn’t worry that the birds wouldn’t fall into their trap.
During the meal, she told Lu Qiming about this idea, and he frowned.
“Are you serious or joking?”
Jiang Miaomiao replied, “… Of course, I’m serious!”
“A bird takes at least half a year from hatching to becoming an adult. After raising it, there won’t be much meat, not even enough for both of us to have a few bites. The efficiency is too low.”
“Even if it’s low, we’ll still have meat to eat. Besides, birds come in different sizes. A sparrow may not be enough to share, but if we raise an eagle, it will weigh several pounds.”
Lu Qiming couldn’t help but laugh, “With your skills, you want to catch and raise an eagle? Be careful it might carry you away.”
Jiang Miaomiao was determined, and she angrily took a big bite of the ham sausage.
“Just wait. I’ll raise a house full of birds, and we’ll have bird soup and grilled bird legs every day. Don’t come begging me then.”
He shrugged, “I’m really looking forward to that day.”
Provoked by him, Jiang Miaomiao finished her meal quickly, searched the house for tools, and began her action the next day.
She rarely got up early, but she got up before sunrise and finished her work, had breakfast, and prepared her tools: a bag of rice and a trash basket.
She waited by the bedroom window, ready to strike when the birds got engrossed in eating the rice. She would quickly cover the basket over them, capturing them unharmed.
She opened the window, sprinkled rice on the windowsill, and waited patiently.
One minute passed… two minutes passed…
The sun gradually rose higher, and the scorching air poured in from outside the window, but not a single bird feather was caught.
All the cold air had escaped, what a waste.
Jiang Miaomiao had no choice but to temporarily close the window, put on a sun hat, and continue to wait.
Lu Qiming passed by with a bottle of ice-cold cola, glancing at her.
“Hey, still trying to catch birds here.”
She turned her face away and ignored him.
Lu Qiming was being mischievous, standing next to her and opening the cola, taking several big sips.
She was thirsty and couldn’t help but stand up, wanting to get a bottle of cola too.
But after just two steps, Lu Qiming pointed outside and shouted:
“Bird!”
Jiang Miaomiao immediately turned her head, but the windowsill was still empty.
Lu Qiming chuckled, and she punched him in the chest.
“Don’t help, just messing around. Go away.”
He reached out and hugged her, handing her the unfinished cola, and looked at the trash basket.
“You think you can catch birds with this thing? Even if you try until next year, you won’t catch a single one.”
Jiang Miaomiao took a sip of cola and glared at him.
“Nonsense! If the birds had come, I would have caught them long ago.”
“Do you think birds are as slow as you? If you cover them with such a big basket, they would have flown away long ago.”
She took a few more sips, satisfied, and patted the cola can on his chest.
“Either help or get out of the way. Don’t stand here making sarcastic remarks.”
Lu Qiming pinched her nose and went to play games on the bed.
Jiang Miaomiao waited for another half an hour and began to worry that the zombies had evolved some special ability overnight, killing all the birds. But then, her prey appeared!
A small, grey bird with a tail feather less than ten centimeters long landed on the windowsill, looking around, and started pecking at the rice grains.
Jiang Miaomiao was about to make her move, but she changed her mind.
The bird was too small, raising it for half a year wouldn’t yield any meat, not worth it.
She wanted to catch a bigger one.
The beginning was always the hardest, but once she caught the first one, the second bird appeared quickly, and it perfectly met Jiang Miaomiao’s size requirements.
She held her breath, opened the window gently, and held the trash basket ready to strike…
Flap, flap.
Bird feathers fell on her face, and the bird disappeared in an instant.
Jiang Miaomiao held the feathers, feeling dejected.
Lu Qiming said without looking back, “I thought you were starting a farm, but it seems you’re only interested in processing feather shuttlecocks.”
“Come again!”
She persisted, focused, and decided that if she couldn’t catch one, she wouldn’t eat.
She made breakfast, and Lu Qiming made meigan cai (preserved mustard) and canned luncheon meat fried rice for lunch, accompanied by seaweed and dried shrimp soup. He placed the food on the table in the room and called out, “It’s time to eat.”
Jiang Miaomiao shook her head, her eyes fixed on the window.
Lu Qiming walked over, patted her shoulder, and said, “You won’t catch anything like this. Don’t waste your effort. Eat first, and after lunch, I’ll teach you a…”
“Hush!”
She made a hushing gesture. “Don’t scare the birds away.”
He looked at the windowsill with only rice grains and couldn’t help but smile. He decided to leave her be; when she got hungry, she would naturally eat.
Lu Qiming was about to turn around when he suddenly caught a glimpse of a rotting face emerging from below the windowsill. He shouted in a low voice, “There’s a zombie!”
He leaped agilely onto the bed, rolled, and took out a rifle from the wardrobe with lightning speed, aiming at the zombie’s head in the blink of an eye.
Just as Lu Qiming was about to pull the trigger, he saw Jiang Miaomiao lift the trash basket and slam it heavily on top of the zombie’s head.
The zombie let out a wild roar as it fell from the twenty-fifth floor, landing on the ground and turning into a pool of flesh.
Lu Qiming: “…”
Jiang Miaomiao calmly retrieved the trash basket and continued to wait for the birds.
She wanted to eat meat, and no one was allowed to disturb her!
She waited by the window all day and managed to catch four birds in total.
Jiang Miaomiao made three attempts, but all she got were a pile of bird feathers and an empty half bag of rice.
In the evening, she was starving, but she found that Lu Qiming had already cooked noodles.
Jiang Miaomiao was surprised. “Why are you so kind today?”
“Are you saying that I was unkind to you before?”
He was indeed good to her, but when it came to laziness, he was truly lazy. He even tried to hide his dirty clothes in her basin, hoping to trick her into washing them together. Luckily, she spotted it before starting.
Jiang Miaomiao pouted, sat down to eat, but her mind was still pondering about catching birds.
The tools were indeed problematic; they made too much noise. She needed to find a different method.
“Do we have any nets here?” she suddenly asked.
Lu Qiming looked up. “What are you planning now?”
“I read in novels before about a kind of bird-catching net, and the principle is similar to a fishing net. It is set up in mid-air, and when a bird flies over, it will collide with the net and get entangled in the lines, unable to move.”
“…Are you thinking of making one?”
“Yes.”
“You’re overestimating your skills, really, be more humble as a person.”
“…,” Jiang Miaomiao rolled her eyes, “Can’t I improve if my skills are not good enough? If it doesn’t work, can’t I just cover it with glue?”
Lu Qiming chuckled, “Why not try something simpler?”
“What’s simpler?”
He blinked, “I’ll tell you after you finish your meal.”
Jiang Miaomiao half-believed and half-doubted him, but she finished her meal anyway.
After finishing her meal, Lu Qiming told her the method, leaving her speechless.
“Don’t you think I’ve never been to elementary school?”
The method he suggested was the one from the primary school textbooks, using a frame set up in the snow during heavy snowfall, scattering food under the frame, and when the birds entered, you pulled a string to make the cage fall and trap the birds.
It was indeed effective, but where could they find snow now?
The windowsill was only ten centimeters wide, not enough space to set up a frame.
Lu Qiming shook his head when he heard her objections.
“Who said you had to set up the frame on the windowsill? Can’t you find another place? The reason they use snow is that it covers the ground, making it difficult for birds to find food. To fill their stomachs, they can only walk into the trap. Now the birds don’t have food either, so the situation is the same.”
“Really?”
She had failed too many times and was losing confidence.
Lu Qiming said, “Just wait, I’ll come to catch them tomorrow, and I guarantee success.”
Jiang Miaomiao suspected he was bragging, but upon careful thought, she realized that Lu Qiming had never failed on a promise before. This raised her expectations, and she looked forward to the next day.
Early the next morning, the two of them carried a bunch of things and went to the rooftop.
The rooftop was close to the sky, making it more likely for birds to land, and it was also convenient to move around.
Lu Qiming held his homemade sticks and frames, while Jiang Miaomiao had a sunshade umbrella and sunscreen spray. She also found a magical remedy for heatstroke in someone else’s drawer at the office – the Ten Drops of Water.
Ten Drops of Water, a small unremarkable bottle, but one drop of it could taste so awful that even the dead would come back to life.
With it, her mother no longer needed to worry about them suffering from heatstroke.
Arriving at their destination, Lu Qiming set up the frame, sprinkled some rice underneath it, and then tied the stick with a thin cotton thread, holding it far away in his hand. They both hid under the sunshade umbrella.
Jiang Miaomiao sprayed sunscreen all over them and looked at those items, frowning.
“Is it okay to set it up like this? The angle seems off. The birds can’t see the rice inside at all. And the frame is too small; you should…”
Lu Qiming became annoyed by her endless chattering and raised his head to stop her from talking.
Jiang Miaomiao: “…”
A few minutes later, with a red face, she pinched him.
“Stop messing around!”
Lu Qiming threw her a teasing glance and repressed his smile, looking ahead with full attention, waiting for the prey to arrive.
Not long after, a large black bird landed from the sky and eagerly approached the grains of rice.
The two of them held their breath, afraid of startling it.
The large black bird approached step by step and finally walked under the frame.
Lu Qiming suddenly yanked the stick, the frame fell down, and it covered the large black bird.
However, the frame was a bit small, and it couldn’t completely trap the bird.
The black bird struggled inside for a while and managed to fly up while inside the frame.
“I told you it’s too small; we need a bigger one.”
Thinking they had failed again, Jiang Miaomiao stood up and complained.
But Lu Qiming stared at the black mass closely, then with a swift jump, he surprisingly grabbed the bird that had already flown halfway up in the air!
“Squawk! Squawk!”
The large black bird flapped its wings and struggled fiercely, showing great ferocity.
Lu Qiming punched its head, knocking it unconscious.
Jiang Miaomiao ran over, looked at the unconscious bird, and couldn’t help but exclaim, “Oh my, I never expected you to be an expert at catching birds!”
An expert at catching birds…?
Why did that sound strange?
Before Lu Qiming could even boast, she grabbed his arm and ran downstairs.
“Quick, find a cage to lock it up!”
This bird weighed at least two or three catties; if they could breed it, it would be amazing! This was the path to getting rich!
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