Lu Qiming began a solo game marathon. After finishing Minesweeper, he played cards, and after cards, he played Solitaire. He didn’t go out all afternoon.
Jiang Miaomiao didn’t come in either. She was probably downstairs, happily hugging that dog.
Thinking of this, he pressed the keyboard keys harder, as if he wanted to pierce through the keyboard.
He wasn’t in a hurry. In the evening, she would come in to sleep. She couldn’t ignore him then.
Unfortunately, reality always surprises people.
After finishing dinner, taking a shower, and completing today’s exercise routine, he returned to his room, holding his computer, seemingly playing games but actually waiting for her to come in. Jiang Miaomiao pushed open the door and walked in quietly, holding a pillow and a blanket, preparing to leave.
Lu Qiming couldn’t pretend to be calm anymore.
“Where are you going?”
“To sleep in the next room.”
“Why do you want to sleep in the next room?”
They had been sleeping in this small room since they moved in, and the next room didn’t even have a mattress. Did she prefer to sleep on the floor?
Jiang Miaomiao explained, “Rou Rou doesn’t want to leave me. It keeps barking if I leave it outside alone. But you don’t like it if I bring it in to sleep. So I’ll accompany it for a couple of days until it gets used to it, then move back here.”
Lu Qiming’s face turned black.
“Move back here for what? Just stay there. It seems like all you care about now is the dog.”
She cautiously asked, “Are you angry?”
“No.”
“I won’t go then. I’ll get a cardboard box and use it as its bed, placing it behind the door. How’s that?”
“Leave if you want to, don’t talk so much.”
Lu Qiming issued a dismissal order, put on his earphones, and angrily pounded on the keyboard, as if he wanted to hit someone.
Jiang Miaomiao didn’t dare to provoke him, so she quietly carried her pillow and blanket, and exited while closing the door behind her.
Lu Qiming didn’t have the mood to focus on the game anymore. When she left, he turned off the computer and lay in bed, attempting to find some comfort in sleep.
However, the sound of zombies’ howls kept coming from outside the window, and it disturbed his sleep.
Not long after, he also heard laughter and cheerful voices coming from the next room.
“Hehehe, it’s so itchy, don’t lick my hand… Oops, it’s dirty on the floor…”
So happy, something he had never experienced when she was with him.
Lu Qiming’s heart felt sour, as if he had knocked over a jar of vinegar. He covered his head with the blanket, pretending not to hear anything.
A very difficult night came to an end.
At 6:30 in the morning, he went downstairs to cook with dark circles under his eyes.
When he passed by the door of the next room, he deliberately stopped and listened.
Inside, it was quiet, no sound at all. She should still be asleep.
Lu Qiming went to the kitchen and looked at the pots and pans on the shelf, then lit a cigarette.
In the midst of the drifting smoke, he was contemplating.
What should they eat this morning?
There’s preserved meat, sausage, salted duck eggs, dehydrated vegetables at home. As for the staple food, they had rice, flour, vermicelli, and instant noodles, enough to make a hearty meal.
But considering her performance yesterday, he just wanted to give her plain boiled water.
After finishing the cigarette, Lu Qiming shrugged and started to clean the pot and wash the rice, deciding to make plain congee with pickled vegetables.
He knew she must have grown tired of it, but… who let her have only the dog in her eyes?
Dogs wouldn’t cook for her.
As he washed, he felt more and more relieved. After finishing, he put the pot on the induction cooker, turned it on, and didn’t pay any further attention. He went to the living room and started doing push-ups on the floor.
There were no fitness equipment in the villa, but that wasn’t a problem for him.
As long as he was willing, the water bucket, induction cooker, and any heavy object were his props.
Lu Qiming practiced until he was sweating profusely, and his mood was somewhat relieved.
Just as he was about to put on his protective suit and go out for a run, a white figure came down the stairs and quickly darted into the kitchen.
He was stunned for a moment, thinking he might be seeing things, but he walked in to check.
There, the silly dog they had picked up yesterday was happily rummaging through the trash can with its nose.
“Stop!”
Lu Qiming sternly commanded.
Jiang Rou Rou froze, cautiously turned around when she saw it was him, and quickly retreated to a corner.
Lu Qiming picked up the trash it had scattered and put it back in the bin. He squatted in front of it, pointed to its nose, and said fiercely, “This is not your home. If you don’t want to be kicked out, behave yourself, understand?”
Jiang Rou Rou stuck out its pink little tongue and gently licked his fingertip.
He thought it was showing submission, so he was about to let it go.
But in the next second, it bared its sharp teeth and snapped at his finger. While he was surprised, it quickly escaped from under him and ran off.
Lu Qiming: “…”
The puppy’s bite was not strong, and it didn’t break the skin, so the pain was bearable.
But how could he tolerate such a cunning little thing?
He picked up a frying pan and chased after it. Jiang Rou Rou had already dashed up the stairs using its four short little legs.
Lu Qiming was fast, and in no time, he caught up with it and grabbed it by the back of its neck. He lifted it up and used the frying pan to tap its round head.
“Running, you dare run!”
Jiang Rou Rou struggled fiercely and tried to bite him again.
This made Lu Qiming even angrier. “Don’t think you can play the victim here. Do you believe I will throw you out right now?”
Jiang Rou Rou snarled at him, clearly showing its refusal to admit defeat.
“What are you two doing?”
A voice came from above the stairs. Jiang Miaomiao stood there in her pajamas, looking surprised.
Jiang Rou Rou reacted extremely quickly. The moment it heard the voice, it closed its mouth and lowered its head, putting on a pitiful appearance.
Lu Qiming was so angry he could die.
“This silly dog rummaged through the trash can, and the trash is everywhere.”
Jiang Miaomiao walked over, feeling sorry for it, and took it away, gently stroking its head as she said, “Really? Oh dear, it’s all my fault for waking up so late and not preparing breakfast for it in advance. It must be very hungry.”
“…And it bit me.”
“Where did it bite you?”
Lu Qiming extended his hand, and she looked left and right but couldn’t see any marks.
“Where is it?”
He took another look and couldn’t find any marks either, so he withdrew his finger, coldly saying, “It can’t stay here.”
Jiang Miaomiao’s expression immediately changed.
“Why? Wasn’t everything fine last night?”
Lu Qiming had a bunch of reasons.
“Things are different now; our survival resources are very limited, and we can’t afford to keep another dog.”
“Is that so? How many duck necks did you chew on last night?”
“…That’s irrelevant.”
Jiang Rou Rou couldn’t understand their words, but it could sense the atmosphere around them.
It tried its best to squeeze into Jiang Miaomiao’s arms, nudging her arm with its nose. Its round, black eyes were moist, and it kept whimpering, looking like a child about to be abandoned.
Jiang Miaomiao saw its pitiful appearance and became even more reluctant to drive it away.
Outside was full of zombies, and they not only ate humans but also dogs.
With its small and weak size, how long could it survive out there? It might not even last a day before being devoured by the zombies.
Even if it was lucky enough not to be eaten, it couldn’t survive for long. There was no one to protect it, no food to eat, and it was too small to even catch mice.
“Let it stay, okay?”
Jiang Miaomiao held it tightly in her arms, her voice soft.
“I promise to train it well, so it won’t rummage through the trash or bite people. It doesn’t eat much, so it won’t be a problem.”
Lu Qiming had nothing more to say, and he said angrily, “Do as you like.”
He was about to leave, but she grabbed his arm.
“Then promise me that you won’t bully it anymore.”
Who was really bullying whom?
Lu Qiming glared at Jiang Rou Rou, grunted heavily, and pulled his hand away before leaving.
The porridge was ready, and he casually had two bowls before returning to his room.
Neither of them had the mood to go out and work; one stayed upstairs, and the other stayed downstairs.
Jiang Miaomiao knew that he was definitely sulking, so she specially picked out some snacks from the pile that she rarely ate and put them on a plate to bring it to him.
He stared at the computer and completely ignored her.
Feeling awkward, she had to leave with the plate and went downstairs to accompany Jiang Rou Rou.
Lu Qiming didn’t give up completely; while playing games, he was also thinking of ways to deal with it.
What was the big deal about being cunning? He couldn’t be outsmarted by a dog.
In the afternoon, Jiang Miaomiao was taking a nap, and Jiang Rou Rou was lying beside her, curled up like a little white fluffy ball.
Lu Qiming tiptoed into the room, put his phone on the windowsill, opened a pack of pork jerky, and placed it on the phone. Then he opened the window, left the room, and watched through the crack in the door.
Jiang Rou Rou was awakened by the aroma and looked up at the windowsill. It ran over excitedly.
The windowsill was too high, and it couldn’t reach even when standing up, so it jumped up and down.
In the end, it made a desperate leap, and its nose bumped into the phone. The phone, along with the pork jerky, flew out of the window and fell into the yard, with the screen shattered by the impact.
Jiang Miaomiao woke up with a start, sat up, and looked towards the source of the sound.
Jiang Rou Rou realized that something was wrong and immediately lay flat on the ground, wagging its tail pitifully at her.
Satisfied, Lu Qiming returned to his room and leisurely played cards.
Half an hour later, he went downstairs to pour some water and saw Jiang Miaomiao sitting on the living room floor, holding her phone with a cracked screen, looking distressed.
“What happened?” he asked, pretending not to know.
Feeling embarrassed to say that it was caused by the dog, she just said, “I won’t have a phone to play with from now on.”
“It’s okay, we can get a few new ones from the electronics store.”
But what she needed was not just a phone; it was the games inside the phone.
Even if she got a new phone, where could she download the games?
Sigh, since she brought the dog back herself, she could only bear the consequences.
Jiang Miaomiao decided to turn her grief into appetite and went to the food storage room to get something to eat.
As soon as she entered, she felt even more miserable.
“Who did this?”
All the packaging bags were torn open, and the floor was full of crushed chips and biscuits.
The packaging of her favorite fruit candies was missing, and the candies were covered in dust and crumbs.
Lu Qiming walked in, looked around, and picked up a piece of biscuit, saying, “Take a look.”
She leaned over and saw several distinct teeth marks.
Those unique imprints could not have been made by human teeth, so the culprit must be…
“Jiang Rou Rou!”
The sleeping silly dog trembled, tucked its tail, and hurriedly came over.
Jiang Miaomiao grabbed its nape and locked it in a room.
“For the next few days, you are not allowed to come out!”
“Woo woo woo–“
It scratched the door vigorously, but she was too angry to hear anything. She huffed back to her room and buried herself under the covers.
Lu Qiming achieved his wish, feeling relaxed and in a good mood. He cooked a bowl of noodles and brought it upstairs to comfort her wounded heart.
The quilt bulged into a small bundle, and she huddled inside, not moving.
He patted the little bundle.
“Don’t be angry, why bother arguing with a dog? Get up, I made noodles for you.”
After waiting for a few minutes without a response, he sighed and continued to console her in a softer tone.
“If the phone is broken, we’ll get a new one. We can bring a high-performance computer back, fill it with offline games, and watch DVDs on the TV. We won’t be bored. And food is easy; the supermarket has everything we need. When this supermarket is exhausted, we’ll find another one.”
“All we need to do now is to throw that dog out, then we can return to our previous life, right?”
She remained silent, and he picked up the bowl, blowing on the noodles, letting the aroma spread in the room.
“Come on, eat. Otherwise, the noodles will get cold. You were too busy feeding that ungrateful dog at lunch, and you didn’t eat much yourself.”
Jiang Miaomiao finally poked her head out, her eyes red, and her spirits very low.
“I don’t want to eat. Just leave, stop bothering me.”
Seeing her like this, Lu Qiming frowned.
“Do you like that dog so much? What’s so good about it?”
“I don’t like it.”
“Then what is it?”
She hesitated but had no choice but to say truthfully, “You have friends, and sooner or later, they will come looking for you. But it’s different for a dog. In its world, there’s nothing else. As long as I raise it, it will never leave me.”
After that zombie wave passed, when he left her to find his friends, she was alone in the dark and dirty basement, feeling like she was about to die.
Loneliness was not scary, but what was terrifying was to experience loneliness after getting used to companionship.
Quietness was no longer enjoyment but torture. The overwhelming attacks left her breathless, making her feel even smaller and more helpless in the pain.
If Lu Qiming left, then she would be like a dog hiding in a corner.
Unable to resist and withstand the world, day after day of wasting away, growing weaker until she vanished.
Living was painful, but suicide was also painful.
If there was a companion who shared the same predicament, she might not feel so desperate.
As she thought about it, tears fell onto the quilt. She bit her lip hard, not wanting to show weakness in front of him.
Lu Qiming looked at her in a daze, never realizing that she was so fragile.
Her indifferent attitude towards life was just a facade, hiding her deep fear of the world behind it.
His emotions were complicated, not knowing what to say. He quietly held her hand.
“I won’t leave you.”
Jiang Miaomiao threw herself into his arms, her body trembling non-stop, sobbing intermittently.
He held her frail body tightly, gently patting her back.
“I won’t leave you, I promise. Even if I ever have to leave one day, I will take you with me.”
“What about the dog…” She asked, sobbing.
“Let it stay,” Lu Qiming said, “Isn’t that what you said? It doesn’t eat much, and we can save a little extra for it.”
“But it’s disobedient, it rummages through things, and it even broke my phone.”
“…Actually, I’m the one who unpacked those things, and I deliberately left the phone on the windowsill. Your phone isn’t broken; it’s the same model we brought back from the electronics store. The original one is under my pillow. As for it, it only rummaged through the garbage bin.”
Jiang Miaomiao stopped crying, looking puzzled. “But the teeth marks weren’t yours.”
“I made those with a fork.”
Seeing that she finally stopped crying, Lu Qiming breathed a sigh of relief.
“It’s a good dog, very obedient. Let’s continue to keep it, and you don’t have to be upset.”
Of course, she wasn’t upset; she was just…
“Lu Qiming! You’re shameless!”
A nearly two-meter-tall man, falsely accusing a little puppy! Have some shame!
Jiang Miaomiao picked up a broom nearby and chased after him, trying to hit him.
Lu Qiming fled, looking embarrassed.
Due to his despicable behavior, Jiang Miaomiao unilaterally announced that she would handle all three meals for the month.
Lu Qiming complained endlessly, but he had no room to resist and had to accept this punishment.
As the weather got hotter, they, along with the dog, had to take showers every day, increasing their water consumption.
Lu Qiming had to spend almost an hour every day to fetch water from the lake. Although he had enough strength, it was still troublesome.
During an outing to collect supplies, they accidentally found an electric water pump.
It was powerful, just plug it in, connect one end to the water source and the other to a water container, and it could pump water for three days.
The two immediately brought this treasure back home. Lu Qiming modified a plug board with wires and tape, allowing it to reach from the villa to the artificial lake, providing power for the water pump.
Then he connected both ends of the water pump, put one end of the water pipe into the lake, and the other into a water tank on the roof. He added a filter removed from a water dispenser in the middle and stood with Jiang Miaomiao behind the window of the villa, pressing the switch on the plug board.
Rumble, rumble, rumble—
The water pump roared like a tractor.
Due to the loud noise, many zombies gathered, but when they arrived at the lake, they couldn’t smell any human scent and wandered around.
Jiang Miaomiao went to the bathroom to check the water storage level on the wall. A few minutes later, she came out excitedly and said, “Enough, it’s full!”
Lu Qiming turned off the switch, and the water pump quieted down, and the zombies gradually dispersed.
That night, when Jiang Miaomiao took a shower, she enjoyed the warm water flow and looked at Lu Qiming with newfound admiration.
Was there anything this man couldn’t do?
Who exactly was he? A plumber or electrician?
Lu Qiming didn’t explain and before going to sleep that night, he proposed an idea: the villa was still empty and messy, like a slum, without a single decent piece of furniture.
Why not find a way to lure the zombies away and go to the neighboring houses to bring back some usable furniture?
Jiang Miaomiao had wanted to decorate the rooms for a long time. She slept on a mattress every day and had no table to eat on, living like a homeless person.
Not long after, an opportunity presented itself, and she bravely offered… her sanitary napkins.
Lu Qiming wore protective gear and rode his bicycle out. He left a full bag of sanitary napkins in the city center and then quickly rode back.
When he returned to the villa, most of the zombies in the neighborhood had left. They immediately rushed to the neighbor’s house, selecting the furniture and appliances they needed and brought them back.
Jiang Miaomiao had already made a list before starting.
For the bedroom: bed, air conditioner, wardrobe.
For the living room: sofa, coffee table, TV.
And a refrigerator and washing machine.
There were also many other miscellaneous items; they didn’t have a plan for them. They would take whatever they found, and it didn’t matter if they didn’t have them.
The zombies would return in a maximum of two hours, and both of them exerted all their strength, never daring to slack off, frantically moving things.
Jiang Rou Rou wasn’t idle either. She followed them around, helping to carry cushions and slippers. She was panting heavily from exhaustion.
With the joint efforts of the three of them, the living room was filled with various pieces of furniture and appliances after an hour and a half.
As the zombies started to appear, the two closed the door and collapsed on the floor, drenched in sweat.
Jiang Rou Rou wagged her tail and ran over, bringing a piece of chocolate to Jiang Miaomiao.
Jiang Miaomiao patted its head, split the chocolate in half, ate one half herself, and stuffed the other half into Lu Qiming’s mouth.
The rich and sweet flavor melted between their lips, and they slowly regained their energy.
With the bed on her left and the air conditioner on her right, Jiang Miaomiao was extremely happy.
“We finally don’t have to sleep on the floor tonight.”
Lu Qiming wasn’t as optimistic.
“To install all these things properly, it will still take quite some time.”
She smirked, getting up and looking at him coquettishly.
“That’s where I need your help.”
She wasn’t trying to shirk responsibility, but she genuinely didn’t know how to do these things. At best, she could hand him a hammer or a nail, but her ability to help was very limited.
She thought Lu Qiming would complain, but to her surprise, he raised an eyebrow and smiled mysteriously.
“No problem.”
“…Are you really willing to do it?”
“Otherwise, what else can we do? We can’t just leave them as they are.”
He straightened his clothes, leisurely saying, “But since I’ll be in charge of installing, you have to do one thing as well.”
“No problem, what is it?”
He smirked, got up, and walked to an appliance that was a few dozen centimeters shorter than him and patted it.
“You have to clean this.”
Jiang Miaomiao: “…”
It was a refrigerator.
After comparing, they selected one from the neighboring houses that was relatively less horrifying, but the smell inside was still enough to make people recoil.
Seeing her speechless, Lu Qiming asked, “Don’t want to do it? Then I won’t help you install the air conditioner either.”
“…I’ll do it.”
Jiang Miaomiao gritted her teeth, displaying a heroic spirit of great sacrifice.
It was just cleaning a refrigerator, what was the big deal?
She’d pretend that she didn’t have a nose!
That afternoon, Lu Qiming started installing the air conditioner while Jiang Miaomiao, with his help, moved the refrigerator to a vacant bathroom that had never been used. She pulled a water pipe inside and closed the door.
She wore a mask, gloves, and protective clothing, treating it with more caution than facing the zombies.
After some thought, she added an extra layer of gloves, afraid that the thin layer of rubber wouldn’t withstand the corrosion.
Taking a deep breath, she opened the upper door of the refrigerator.
Several tomatoes and cucumbers, with blackened skin and rotten insides, were soft and mushy, oozing blackish juice.
There were more than a dozen eggs on the refrigerator door; some were broken during transportation, and the egg white had rotted into dark green, emitting a nauseating smell.
Trembling, Jiang Miaomiao raised the water pipe and flushed the inside.
The foul odor was flushed out by the water, hitting her face.
She resisted for a few seconds, but couldn’t hold it any longer, dropped the water pipe, and ran out, retching.
Lu Qiming sat on the ladder, holding an electric drill, leisurely drilling holes.
He took out two cement nails from his pocket, and seeing Jiang Miaomiao sprinting past the ladder, he smiled and said, “Go on, I believe you can do it.”
Jiang Miaomiao didn’t even look back but gestured to him with a middle finger as she ran to the window to take several breaths of fresh air before recovering.
She didn’t dare to flush water inside so openly again and adopted a more cautious approach.
Outside the door, a person stood with a water hose, spraying from a distance. By pinching the nozzle, the water flow increased, reaching far distances.
Carefully spraying for half an hour, the refrigerator finally became presentable. Once the dirty water drained, she put on rain boots, carried disinfectant in her left hand and dish soap in her right, and used a scouring pad to scrub the refrigerator vigorously, restoring its cleanliness.
After washing, she used a cloth and tissue to dry it thoroughly, then opened the windows for ventilation.
Exhausted, she collapsed on the sofa, with no strength left in her fingers.
Lu Qiming had finished installing the air conditioner and was now working on the TV.
Plugging in the last plug, he walked over to Jiang Miaomiao and helped her remove her mask and gloves.
“Tired, huh? Go take a shower, I’ll cook dinner.”
“But there’s still so much stuff to move.”
“Why rush? We have plenty of time.”
Indeed, they had already lived without a bed for so long; another day or two wouldn’t make a difference.
Jiang Miaomiao took off the protective suit and went upstairs to take a shower.
Lu Qiming took a smoke break and put on an apron to cook.
Jiang Rou Rou hadn’t been taken care of all afternoon and followed him closely.
He turned around, and it immediately retreated, its round black eyes filled with caution.
Lu Qiming chuckled, peeled a piece of ham sausage, and threw it to Jiang Rou Rou.
Still afraid, it carried the sausage to a corner, confirmed that the other wouldn’t take it away, and then started eating.
In the following days, neither of them went out, staying at the villa, fully focused on decorating their home.
They placed the furniture and appliances in their designated spots. However, Jiang Miaomiao still felt that something was missing, as if the space lacked something.
So she made several trips to the neighboring houses and brought back various miscellaneous items such as curtains, carpets, tablecloths, and wall paintings.
People who could live here before the apocalypse were either wealthy or influential. Even these small decorative items were of excellent quality.
Jiang Miaomiao especially liked a pair of curtains. They were double-layered with exquisite lace sewn on top. The color was a soft smoky pink, and when backlit, delicate patterns could be seen.
She took a ladder, single-handedly installed them in her room.
Opening the window, a gentle breeze flowed in.
The curtains swayed with the wind, and the thin fabric allowed a soft pink hue to fill the entire room, temporarily making her forget the thousands of zombies outside the city.
Sitting on the ladder, she closed her eyes, enjoying the moment.
Lu Qiming walked in, munching on melon seeds, and surveyed her newly refreshed room, smacking his lips.
“What kind of taste is this? Tut, tut.”
Jiang Miaomiao opened her eyes. “Don’t you like it? I think it’s beautiful.”
“More lace and pink, it’s tacky.”
“…It’s still better than your dog’s den. Go away!”
He shrugged, playfully rolled away, and went back to his den to play on the computer.
Half an hour later, Jiang Miaomiao intruded without an invitation, holding a bunch of stuff in her arms. She didn’t say a word, just stuck a small adhesive hook on his wall and hung up a landscape painting.
Lu Qiming looked up. “Hey, hey, what are you doing? This is my room.”
Since the night she took the dog and slept next door, she hadn’t come to his room much.
Jiang Miaomiao’s hands didn’t stop moving.
“There were too many paintings, so I’m hanging some for you. I’ll help cultivate your sense of aesthetics.”
“…Well, thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.”
After hanging the painting, she put down a lot of other things.
Tissue box, trash can, hangers, and a bottle of lemon-scented air freshener.
“You should consider changing to a room with a window, really.”
She left a sincere suggestion and exited the room.
Lu Qiming looked at the things on the table, feeling both amused and exasperated.
In the evening, after Jiang Miaomiao finished her shower and returned to her room, she discovered something new.
Next to the wardrobe, a pink freestanding full-length mirror stood quietly.
The mirror was bright, reflecting every strand of her hair clearly, much better than the broken steel plate in the living room.
Mirrors don’t move by themselves, and Jiang Rou Rou couldn’t move it either, so the only possibility was…
During dinner, she casually said, “Is our house haunted?”
“Hmm?”
“There’s suddenly a mirror in my room, and no one else has been inside. It must be haunted.”
“That ghost must be quite handsome.”
Jiang Miaomiao looked at his dark eyebrows and eyes, smiling so much that her eyes turned into two small moons.
“Yeah, quite handsome.”
He’s so conceited.
Lu Qiming raised an eyebrow, then scooped a spoonful of food into her bowl.
It had been a long time since they went out, and their food supplies were running low.
Lu Qiming cleared out a room and placed some shelves in it, turning it into a storage pantry.
As the weather got hotter, the food began to spoil faster.
They should stock up a bit more, enough to last at least a month.
The next day, Lu Qiming was getting ready to go out, but Jiang Miaomiao, feeling too comfortable on her new bed, felt lazy and pleaded with him.
“My stomach hurts, maybe I caught a cold. I don’t want to go out. Can’t you go by yourself?”
Seeing right through her act, Lu Qiming rolled his eyes.
“Then I’ll just get what I like to eat.”
“No problem, I’ll eat anything.”
He rode his bicycle to the supermarket, while Jiang Miaomiao blissfully rolled around on the big bed.
Having food and drinks, not having to work, what a comfortable life it was.
Oh, and she also had a dog to pet!
She put on her slippers and went downstairs, scooping up Jiang Rou Rou, who was napping in the corner, and sat on the sofa, turning on the TV with the remote.
The TV had no internet, so they couldn’t watch regular programs.
But Lu Qiming had set up a media player and somehow obtained a bunch of old discs, so they could watch movies and TV shows.
She randomly picked one and put it in, and the familiar theme song began to play.
“Wait for a thousand years… wait for a while…”
Jiang Miaomiao held the dog with her left hand, holding a spicy snack in her right, lying on the expensive leather sofa, watching a classic old drama, feeling incredibly satisfied.
However, after an hour or so, she began to feel uneasy.
The sun was scorching outside today, and the temperature was high. Lu Qiming was wearing a protective suit from head to toe, riding a bike for so long, and carrying so many things. Would he get heatstroke?
He was the one who brought back the sofa, installed the TV, and got the discs.
He hardly used them himself, but she enjoyed them every day. She felt a little guilty.
What time was it now? Why hasn’t he returned?
Jiang Miaomiao let go of the dog, turned off the TV, and went to the window on the second floor, trying to catch a glimpse of his figure.
Outside the villa, there were only zombies wandering around, and no sign of that silly figure riding a bicycle.
Could he be in danger?
She thought of this possibility, and her heart suddenly clenched. She hesitated whether to wear a protective suit and take an electric saw to go out and find him.
But the city was too big, and there were too many supermarkets. She didn’t even know which one he went to. Going out to find him recklessly would be like finding a needle in a haystack, and she might not even be able to find her way back.
If only their phones were working, she could call him and find out easily.
Jiang Miaomiao was so worried that she didn’t feel like doing anything. She sat by the window, waiting for him to come back.
At noon, twelve o’clock, Lu Qiming still hadn’t returned. She prepared lunch for both of them, but she didn’t feel like eating at all. She anxiously looked at her watch.
Jiang Rou Rou circled around her feet, hoping for some food.
She gently touched its head. “Be good, wait a bit more, let’s eat together when he comes back.”
Jiang Rou Rou tried for a while to get some food, but when it didn’t succeed, it ran to the corner to sleep.
Feeling tired herself, she unknowingly fell asleep, but in her sleep, she felt her face was itchy. When she scratched it, she touched a hand.
Opening her eyes, she was met with Lu Qiming’s smile.
“You had bugs on your face,” he said, retracting his hand.
“Ah?”
“It’s okay. I already flicked them away.”
Jiang Miaomiao breathed a sigh of relief and then asked, “Why were you out for so long?”
“I went a bit far riding alone.”
“Where did you go?”
“To a flower and bird market. Take a look.”
He brought out a big bag from behind, and Jiang Miaomiao looked inside and found several bulbs of garlic.
“Why did you take so much garlic? We still have garlic.”
“It’s not garlic. These are narcissus bulbs, you silly.”
“Narcissus?”
He introduced them one by one.
“Eight narcissus, six tulips, a packet of African daisy seeds, five rose stems. Just stick them in the soil, and they’ll grow. And these…”
He took out a small plastic bag containing a dozen or so packets of vegetable seeds.
“Chinese cabbage, bok choy, lettuce, spinach… I’ve read the planting guide, and these leafy vegetables are easy to grow. They can be harvested in about a month after sprouting. Tomorrow, we’ll dig some soil in the yard and use the planting shelves and the space on the balcony.”
Jiang Miaomiao looked up at him with sparkling eyes.
He touched his nose, puzzled. “What are you looking at?”
“I found you more and more likable.”
Before, she couldn’t stand looking at him, but now, just looking at him made her happy.
Lu Qiming was speechless and tapped her head. “Am I your male pet or what? Finding me likable… Anyway, I’m hungry, let’s cook.”
The meal was already in the pot, ready to be served.
Jiang Miaomiao served him a bowl of rice with great care, placed the chopsticks neatly, and presented it with both hands.
“Mr. Lu, please enjoy your meal.”
Lu Qiming sighed, feeling utterly helpless with her.
“Rou Rou, it’s mealtime.”
Jiang Miaomiao sat opposite him and called out.
Jiang Rou Rou wagged its tail happily and ran over, sitting obediently next to its designated bowl under the table, waiting for them to feed it.
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