Liu Qiming was about four or five meters away from the refrigerator, but the foul smell rushed toward him, and he was also affected, almost passing out from the stench.
He covered his mouth and nose, rushing over in a swift step, kicking the refrigerator door shut, and pulled her back outside.
The two of them took deep breaths of fresh air, waiting for a while until they felt the smell had dissipated enough, before reentering the house.
Jiang Miaomiao kept her distance from the fridge, still feeling the aftermath of the experience.
Liu Qiming found a pack of good cigarettes from the coffee table drawer, sniffed one at the tip of his nose, and then put it into his pocket contentedly.
Seeing this, she rolled her eyes and said, “Are you sure you don’t want to quit smoking? There are no doctors around, and if you get lung cancer, no one can save you.”
He shrugged, “Isn’t that what you said? Whether I die early or late, it’s still death. I’d rather enjoy myself before I die. You enjoy eating junk food, and I can’t enjoy smoking?”
“Psh, who asked you to care.”
Jiang Miaomiao turned away and ignored him, searching around in the living room.
There were many things in the house that she could use: a U-shaped genuine leather sofa, a solid wood coffee table, a 100-inch large TV, as well as air conditioning, a washing machine, and a double bed. She wished she could move everything back.
However, her physical strength was limited, and she couldn’t carry too many large items. She tried to move a table, but it was in vain. So, she shifted her focus to daily necessities.
There were shampoo, shower gel, and skin care cream in the bathroom, and the bedroom had blankets, pillows, and bed sheets.
The wardrobe had clean clothes, and the shoe cabinet had shoes. She packed several big bags and struggled to carry them back to the new home.
After placing the bags in the living room of the new house, Jiang Miaomiao hurried back again.
Just when she thought that Liu Qiming’s strength could be useful as the main force, she saw him holding a wrench and a screwdriver, knocking and tinkering with the switches on the wall.
“What are you doing?” she asked puzzledly.
Liu Qiming lit another cigarette, exhaled a puff of smoke leisurely, and said, “I tried it; the solar power system is functional, but the basic infrastructure of the house hasn’t been set up. If we move these things over and install them, we’ll have light at night.”
Her eyes sparkled upon hearing this. “Really? Can we move other electrical appliances over to use as well?”
Air conditioning, television, washing machine, refrigerator… oh wait, not the refrigerator; it was too smelly. She was afraid her hands would rot if she used it.
Liu Qiming patted her head. “Focus on your work. Wait to see the results.”
He finished the cigarette in one breath, stamped out the butt with his shoe, and continued screwing in the switches.
Jiang Miaomiao was full of energy at the thought of having electricity at night. In the morning, she ran back and forth between the two houses at least a dozen times, moving all the daily necessities they needed to the new home.
Liu Qiming dismantled dozens of switches and sockets from the old house and installed them in the new house. Then, he removed all the light bulbs from the old house and found a folding ladder from the utility room, carrying it to the new house and climbing up to replace all the light bulbs.
In the living room, there was a huge crystal chandelier. After installing it, he was sweating profusely and sat astride the ladder to take a break.
Jiang Miaomiao used her shoulder to push open the door, holding two bags of clothes in each hand and another hanging around her neck, walking in like a Christmas tree.
She was about to go upstairs to put things away when Liu Qiming suddenly called out to her.
“Wait.”
She turned around and saw him deftly leaping down from the ladder and walking a few steps to the wall, where he pressed a switch.
With a soft click, the crystal chandelier lit up, and the light fixtures slowly rotated, casting a brilliant glow in every corner.
Jiang Miaomiao’s mouth hung open as she stared at the long-lost lights.
Blinking her eyes, she was so overjoyed that she almost cried.
With another click, Liu Qiming turned off the lights and explained, “The solar power system has limited capacity, and it can’t generate electricity at night or on rainy days. We need to save energy.”
She nodded, wiping the moist corners of her eyes.
“It’s okay, having electricity already makes me happy.”
Now their phones and computers could finally restart, and they no longer had to worry about the heat in the summer without an air conditioner. Compared to those people mentioned in the original text, who were fleeing outside, she didn’t know how much luckier she was.
Seeing her so happy, Liu Qiming drooped his mouth corners and pitifully said, “I’ve been busy all morning, I’m so tired, and I’m starving. Do we have anything to eat?”
Hearing the word “food,” Jiang Miaomiao felt a little disappointed.
She had checked several houses around, and there was nothing fresh left in the refrigerators; everything had rotted.
The only things edible were dried goods like rice, noodles, salted fish, and cured meat.
Moreover, the neighborhood used natural gas from the pipeline, but since there was no maintenance, the gas had long stopped working, rendering the kitchen useless.
Raw rice and noodles couldn’t be eaten directly, and salted fish and cured meat couldn’t be gnawed on dry.
The only things they could directly eat as meals were the biscuits and instant noodles they brought.
After listening to her, Liu Qiming thought of something he had seen earlier, and he told her to wait a few minutes, then ran out.
Jiang Miaomiao didn’t understand, so she put down the things she was holding and went to get the instant noodles.
Liu Qiming came back, and from a distance, she saw him holding a square black board in his hand.
As she approached, she took a closer look and found that it was an induction cooker.
Liu Qiming found a nearby outlet in the living room, placed the induction cooker on the ground beside it, plugged it in, and turned it on.
Hummm— the familiar sound came alive.
With a smirk on his face, he turned back to her and said, “We can cook now.”
Jiang Miaomiao was thrilled, and she went to the neighbor’s house to get oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, pots, bowls, ladles, and a series of items. There was also a half-bucket of unused purified water in the water dispenser. She squatted on the living room floor and began to cook.
Even though she was in a house, she felt like she was having a picnic.
The meal was very simple, just cooking rice with water and adding some dried meat and bamboo shoots when it was half-cooked.
That household was quite wealthy, and Jiang Miaomiao found dried abalone and dried sea cucumber in the kitchen cabinet.
She had never eaten them before, let alone cooked them. She thought they should be nutritious and good for her body, so she rinsed them with water and threw them into the pot to cook.
Liu Qiming lay on the side, using his arm as a pillow to rest, witnessing her bold culinary skills, and couldn’t help but worry.
“Can we really eat this?”
She held the spatula with full confidence.
“Haven’t you eaten clay pot rice before? It’s all made like this, and it’s delicious.”
Liu Qiming replied, “Then I’ll wait and see.”
Jiang Miaomiao focused on cooking. As she was not proficient in cooking and it was her first time using this induction cooker, she was unsure of the heat and was afraid of burning the food. Whenever she saw smoke, she quickly adjusted the heat lower, and when there was no movement, she turned it up a bit, occasionally flipping the food with the spatula.
After tossing for over an hour, it was nearly 2 PM, and Liu Qiming was so hungry that he was dizzy. Finally, the rice was ready.
She served the food in a pretty ceramic plate she got from the neighbor. Although the appearance was a bit sticky and not very appealing, she poured some tomato sauce and sprinkled black pepper to try to make it look better.
They spread a large bath towel on the living room floor and sat cross-legged beside it.
Liu Qiming held the fork and hesitated.
“Maybe I should just eat instant noodles…”
Jiang Miaomiao grabbed his hand. “Come on, eat!”
Liu Qiming: …So fierce.
He sat down helplessly and took a spoonful into his mouth, chewing slowly.
Jiang Miaomiao looked expectant. “How does it taste?”
Liu Qiming didn’t say anything and continued chewing.
After waiting for a few minutes, she couldn’t bear it any longer.
“Are you a cow? You haven’t finished chewing?”
He pulled out a dark and rubbery thing from his mouth, frowning.
“Even if I have good teeth, you can’t torture me like this. Why did you put rubber in the rice?”
Jiang Miaomiao was also puzzled and leaned in to look for a while before recognizing the thing.
“What rubber? This is sea cucumber, do you know how expensive it is? You don’t know good stuff.”
“I can’t even chew it. What’s the use of being expensive?”
Jiang Miaomiao refused to give up and picked a piece of sea cucumber from her own plate and stuffed it into her mouth, chewing hard.
Liu Qiming leisurely continued eating, waiting to see the outcome.
She chewed and chewed, and her cheeks were about to break from exhaustion. She could do nothing but spit it out and wipe her mouth.
“Ugh, what is this thing?”
Liu Qiming chuckled and shook his head.
Fortunately, the rice tasted alright, at least it was edible.
Both of them ate their fill and lay on the floor, burping, not willing to move.
Liu Qiming said, “I still need to install light bulbs in the afternoon, you wash the dishes.”
Jiang Miaomiao replied, “I need to tidy up the room in the afternoon, you wash the dishes.”
After a back-and-forth struggle for quite some time, they finally reached an agreement — with the world coming to an end, why bother washing dishes? Just throw them away after eating and buy a new set next time they go to the supermarket.
With no household chores bothering them, they peacefully rested.
Feeling drowsy, Jiang Miaomiao looked at the ceiling lamp and suddenly thought of something. She ran upstairs and brought down a bunch of things.
Liu Qiming opened his eyes to watch her.
There were phones, laptops, flashlights, kindles… and their matching chargers.
There were four sockets in the living room, and Jiang Miaomiao claimed them all. She sat beside one of them, eagerly looking at her phone screen.
Liu Qiming asked, “Are you that eager to play with your phone?”
This was such an obvious question. After holding back for months, who could resist? Jiang Miaomiao found it odd.
“Don’t you want to play too? Hey, I haven’t seen your phone.”
“I don’t have one.”
“How is that possible?”
“I really don’t.”
“Tsk, poor old man.”
She wanted him to go to a phone store and get one, but the phone had already started ringing, and she had no time to bother with him. She was fully focused on her phone.
It had been so long that she didn’t even remember how to navigate the phone.
She opened a stand-alone version of a match-three game and played for a while before getting the hang of it again.
Liu Qiming called her twice, but she didn’t respond, so he went to sleep on his own.
After sleeping for over an hour, the first thing he did upon waking up was to look at her.
Jiang Miaomiao changed from sitting to lying down, playing a mobile version of the game “King of Glory” enthusiastically.
Liu Qiming washed his face with some purified water and walked behind her.
“Hey, it’s time to do some work.”
She didn’t even turn her head.
“I plan to remove the bathroom heater from that house and install it in this bathroom. Do you want to take a bath?”
Jiang Miaomiao kept tapping the screen and was reluctant to blink her eyes.
Liu Qiming took a deep breath. “We don’t have enough water, so it’s best to go to the lake and get some.”
“Okay, okay, let’s go. Just stop bothering me.”
She found him annoying and pushed him towards the door, returning to her game.
Liu Qiming had no choice but to leave alone.
After staying in the basement for so long, Jiang Miaomiao finally had access to electronic devices, and she couldn’t stop playing with them.
After getting tired of playing with her phone, she opened her computer and double-clicked the green diamond icon. She focused on playing with virtual characters and building houses, and before she knew it, several hours had passed.
Time flew by, and when her neck became so sore that she couldn’t stand it anymore, she looked up and found that it was getting dark outside. The living room was dimly lit and eerily quiet.
“Liu Qiming?”
She called out, but there was no response. She turned off the computer and went outside.
A few zombies were wandering around the house, but they didn’t pay attention to her because of the zombie blood she had on her.
On the opposite side of the small road, a large rectangular object was moving towards her.
Jiang Miaomiao rubbed her eyes, suspecting she was hallucinating.
What the heck, has the mattress come to life? How am I walking on the road?
The mattress came closer, and Jiang Miaomiao recognized the two long legs underneath. She quickly ran over to help.
Liu Qiming tied the mattress with a piece of cloth, and with both hands holding the cloth, he struggled with the weight. When he saw her coming, he gave her a blank look.
“You’ve finally put down your phone?”
Feeling guilty, she didn’t argue and tried her best to grab the edge of the mattress to help share the weight.
However, she was not good at physical work, and not only did she fail to help, but she was almost knocked over by the mattress.
Liu Qiming freed a hand to support her, looking miserable.
“It’s not easy for you to survive this long.”
She didn’t like hearing that.
“I was doing just fine before you came.”
Yes, life is only worth living if it’s comfortable. If it becomes uncomfortable, one should just die. What could be better than that?
Suppressing the urge to retort, Liu Qiming said, “Forget about moving this, help me open the door.”
She ran ahead to open the door, and he struggled to carry the large double mattress, moving it into the villa, then up the stairs, and finally placing it in the small room where they slept last night.
The small room had no windows, so even if there was a zombie outbreak someday, they could hide inside with the door closed. It was the safest place.
However, the room was a bit small, and after placing the mattress, it occupied half of the space.
Liu Qiming lay on it, breathing heavily, with his temples dampened by sweat.
Seeing him so exhausted, Jiang Miaomiao felt uneasy and went to the living room to pour him a glass of water.
“You rest now. What do you want to eat tonight?”
“Hot pot.”
“…Why don’t you want to eat dragon meat?”
Liu Qiming looked helpless. “Then why did you even ask me? We’ll eat whatever we have.”
Jiang Miaomiao turned to leave but noticed something out of the corner of her eye — his left hand resting on the mattress was visibly trembling.
“What’s wrong with your hand?”
He immediately withdrew it. “It’s nothing. I’m going to cook.”
“Let me see.”
Without hesitation, she walked over to his side, sat on the mattress, and forcefully examined his hand.
Although Liu Qiming could lift a heavy mattress weighing one or two hundred catties, he couldn’t resist her thin arms. She easily pulled his hand out.
His arm was covered in zombie blood, making it hard to see clearly.
Jiang Miaomiao wiped it for a while until his skin color was visible. She turned on the light and examined it closely. It was evident that his wrist was swollen, and there were bruises in a bluish-purple color on his skin.
She frowned, “Are you injured?”
Liu Qiming turned his face away, trying to pull his hand back.
“It’s nothing, just a minor injury.”
Jiang Miaomiao held it tightly and refused to let go.
“Tell me the truth, what happened?”
He had no choice but to tell the truth, “The mattress was too large, and when I was moving it, I accidentally hit it.”
“Why didn’t you call me to help?”
Liu Qiming was speechless. “I did call you, but you told me to get lost and not disturb you playing games.”
“Uh… did I?” Jiang Miaomiao blushed.
He didn’t say anything, but his expression clearly said, “Don’t pretend to be innocent.”
“Okay, I admit I got too immersed in the game, but you could have waited for me to finish and then we could move it together. There was no rush to use it.”
She explained with a thick-skinned face and then ran downstairs to get some ointment to apply on his hand.
Liu Qiming shook his head, “Take a shower first, and then apply the ointment.”
Jiang Miaomiao looked puzzled, “Shower? We don’t even have water.”
He snorted, feeling quite smug, with a look on his face that said, “Come on, praise me.”
“I definitely can’t rely on you for that, not in this lifetime or the next, but there’s still me. Go to the bathroom and see.”
There were bathrooms in the villa, and more than one. However, like other rooms, they were not fully furnished. They only had installed pipes and electrical wiring, empty and devoid of even a water tap.
At noon, Jiang Miaomiao would sneak into the yard to relieve herself. After hearing his words, she walked to the nearest bathroom and pushed the door open…
A complete set of shower facilities was installed on the wall, and the silver metal shone so brightly that it could reflect shadows.
There were square large showerheads, hand showers, and faucets.
A snow-white ceramic toilet.
Next to it was an additional small shelf with her brought-back shower gel and shampoo placed neatly folded white towels.
She turned on the switch, and the clear water gushed out.
At first, it was cold, but after a while, it turned into warm water.
She couldn’t believe it. Liu Qiming walked in, opened a switch on the side of the door, and warm yellow light fell on her with heat. He pointed to the ceiling.
“The bathroom also has a water heater,” Jiang Miaomiao said excitedly, looking at him.
“You’re amazing!”
Now she could take a hot shower!
Liu Qiming modestly waved his hand, feeling delighted inside.
Jiang Miaomiao couldn’t wait to take off her clothes and have a refreshing shower, but when she saw his swollen wrist and realized he had installed the water heater, she restrained herself and started to walk out.
“You go ahead and shower, I’ll prepare the meal,” Liu Qiming said, stopping her.
She looked shocked, “You… changed your mind?”
He used to compete with her for food, and now he was voluntarily giving up the chance to shower first?
Liu Qiming sighed, “I don’t want to eat rubber cooked in tomato sauce again.”
Jiang Miaomiao replied, “Fine, then you go make your meal!”
She preferred to shower first anyway.
Liu Qiming went downstairs to cook while she took a clean set of pajamas from a bag next door. They belonged to the woman who used to live in the adjacent room, and they were a bit large in size and outdated in style, but they were better than nothing.
Jiang Miaomiao turned on the water heater and the hot water, using citrus-scented body wash and water lily-scented shampoo. She had the most enjoyable shower she’d had so far since everything began. It lasted almost half an hour, and after it was over, she felt fresh and fragrant all over.
Meanwhile, Liu Qiming had finished preparing dinner.
He made porridge, stir-fried dried vegetables with preserved meat, stir-fried salted duck eggs with ham sausages, and made soup with dried seaweed and dried shrimp.
He laid out a bath towel as an improvised dining table and placed the three dishes and two bowls of white porridge on it. He was about to go upstairs to call Jiang Miaomiao to eat when he saw her coming down the stairs in a pink silk pajama set.
Jiang Miaomiao felt great after the shower, all the previous unpleasantness forgotten, and her eyes were fixed on the food.
“Smells so good.” She picked up a piece of preserved meat and put it in her mouth, chewing and giving him a thumbs up. “Your cooking skills are getting better and better.”
Ignoring her compliment, Liu Qiming just stared at her without blinking.
She waved her hand in front of his eyes. “Are you daydreaming? What are you looking at?”
“Nothing.” He hurriedly looked away, his ears turning slightly red. “Why are you wearing such old-fashioned clothes? You look like you’re in your thirties or forties.”
“You look like you’re in your thirties or forties too! No taste at all. Isn’t this outfit nice? It’s so elegant.”
Jiang Miaomiao pulled on the hem of her clothes, and the smooth fabric reflected a pearly sheen under the light.
Liu Qiming’s ears turned even redder as he turned around and said, “I’m going to shower.”
“I won’t wait for you then.”
Jiang Miaomiao sat cross-legged and picked up the steaming bowl of porridge to eat.
A few minutes later, Liu Qiming came down wrapped in a towel, covered in foam.
She turned to look at him, puzzled.
“What are you doing?” Jiang Miaomiao asked when she saw Liu Qiming halfway through washing himself.
“Ran out of water,” he replied.
“Oh, really?” Jiang Miaomiao’s cheeks turned red.
He didn’t bother to argue and picked up a bucket of purified water to refill the water heater.
She remembered how he helped her heat water earlier, so she quickly grabbed the bucket from him.
“Washing with cold water isn’t good. You stay under the bathroom heater, and I’ll heat the water for you. Once it’s ready, I’ll bring it up.”
“Are you really that kind?” Liu Qiming looked skeptical.
She called out, “Hey, don’t think you’re the only one who can work! I know how to repay kindness too; I’m not ungrateful.”
He couldn’t help but chuckle and let go of the bucket.
“Fine, I’ll wait for you in the bathroom.”
Jiang Miaomiao started to heat the water, but the pot’s capacity was limited, so she had to heat one pot after another, making the process slow.
Squatting beside the induction cooker, she thought about getting an electric kettle for tomorrow to heat water faster. If they had a water dispenser with a filter, they could fetch water directly from the lake.
After heating the water and taking it upstairs, she returned to eat, but Liu Qiming still hadn’t come out. With her phone and computer fully charged, her fingers were starting to itch for something to do.
Playing games didn’t seem appropriate since Liu Qiming was injured because of her.
She needed to find something to occupy herself.
Looking around, she decided to take stock of their supplies.
The living room was cluttered with things scattered all over. It was indeed time to tidy up.
She brought paper and a pen and started to categorize the items, making a record of each thing she handled.
After some time, Liu Qiming came downstairs.
He tossed the dirty clothes aside and was still wrapped in a bath towel, his body tall, slender, and tanned, hiding strength under his wheat-colored skin.
He noticed Jiang Miaomiao had brought back a lot of clothes and was about to go through the bag to find something to wear. When he passed behind her, he couldn’t help but stop in his tracks.
Her pajamas were too big in size, and the fabric was slippery. The collar moved with her actions, revealing a glimpse of her fair shoulder.
Her shoulder had a beautiful contour, delicate and slender, but it was covered with scars left by the broken glass fragments from before.
After nearly half a month of healing, the scabs had fallen off, and the wound had turned a faint pink color.
From afar, you couldn’t see much, but looking closely, it was still shocking.
He remembered how she was covered in blood back then, so vulnerable as she cried in his arms, as if he were her only support.
Sensing his gaze, Jiang Miaomiao raised her collar and said, “Stop being a pervert.”
He averted his gaze, grabbed a pair of plaid men’s pajamas from the bag, changed into them, and casually threw the bath towel aside. Then, he put on a white short-sleeved t-shirt and squatted down to help her tidy up.
Around them was pitch dark, with only this house illuminated.
The zombies roamed outside the windows, peering in through the glass, reluctant to leave.
The two quickly compiled a list:
Food (approximately 5-7 days):
– Three pieces of preserved pork
– Two pieces of salted fish
– Half a piece of ham
– Six sausages
– Three salted duck eggs
– Two century eggs
– Twelve sea cucumbers
– Seven dried abalones
– Three packs of seaweed
– One bag of dried wood ear mushrooms
– One bag of dried shiitake mushrooms
– One bag of dried bamboo shoots
– 600g of dehydrated vegetables
– Six packs of biscuits
– Five packs of instant noodles
– Two packs of pickled mustard greens
– One bottle of chili sauce
– Half a bag of rice
– One bag of flour
– Various condiments such as oil, salt, vinegar, and soy sauce
Daily necessities:
– Two bottles of shower gel
– Two bottles of shampoo
– One bottle of hair conditioner
– One tube of toothpaste
– Two toothbrushes
– Two mouthwash cups
– One bottle of dishwashing liquid
– One bottle of toilet cleaner
– Half a bottle of perfumed lotion
Skincare products:
– Three bottles of skincare products
– One comb
– One dozen hangers
– One bottle of laundry detergent
Clothing:
– Three sets of men’s clothing
– Four sets of women’s clothing
– Two pairs of shoes each
– Four pairs of underwear each
Bedding:
– Two comforters
– Two pillows
– Two bed sheets
Tableware:
– Four plates
– Two bowls
– Two pairs of chopsticks
– One frying pan
– One stewing pot
– One spatula
Medications:
– Fifteen adhesive bandages
– Two bottles of Yunnan Baiyao aerosol
– One box of anti-inflammatory medicine
– Two rolls of bandages
– One package of cotton swabs
Electronics:
– One induction cooker
– One bathroom heater
– One laptop
– One mobile phone
– One flashlight
– One power bank
– One Kindle
– Several chargers
Furniture:
– One mattress
Liu Qiming shook his head while looking at all these things.
“It’s too little, we’re missing everything.”
“Really?” Jiang Miaomiao, who recalled the difficulty of moving things, just wanted to stay at home and play games. She grumbled, “I think it’s enough for now. Let’s finish the food first.”
Liu Qiming picked up a piece of salted fish and shook it.
“Doesn’t it look like you?”
“…Like your old man!”
Leave a Reply