SFTIAAB Chapter 4

With the agreement settled, Jiang Miaomiao became very curious about one thing.

“Where did you come from, and how did you find this place? Weren’t you chased and bitten by zombies along the way?”

“I came from city C,” Lu Qiming replied.

City C was not far from here, just a few dozen kilometers away. But it would still take several days and nights to walk there.

The journey was filled with zombies. How could he have made it here unscathed?

Jiang Miaomiao didn’t believe him. “Did you come with a group? I don’t believe you could make it here alone.”

Lu Qiming shrugged and continued chewing on his pork jerky, seemingly indifferent to whether she believed him or not.

Jiang Miaomiao snatched it away from him. “No more eating. You’ve exceeded the limit today.”

“You…”

She showed him the agreement, pointing at the first clause. “See? You’re not allowed to exceed 500 grams per day, and you’ve eaten at least five kilograms of food today.”

In Lu Qiming’s dark eyes, a hint of threat flashed through his voice. “You should know that if I really start, I’ll treat you like a chicken.”

Jiang Miaomiao was confident in her response. If he were the type to advocate for the survival of the fittest and kill recklessly to survive, he would have killed her when he first arrived. Why wait until now?

Unless… he wanted to imprison her and use her as a release for his desires…

A chill ran down her spine, and she covered her exposed skin.

“I warn you not to be lewd!”

Lu Qiming retorted, “You’re crazy.”

He decided not to eat, heading upstairs to sleep.

Jiang Miaomiao thought of something and followed behind him, saying, “You’re not allowed to sleep in my bed. You can only sleep in the guest room.”

“There are no blankets there.”

“Wait.”

She went to her bedroom and brought back a pillow and a summer quilt, throwing them at him.

“Here you go, see how generous I am.”

Lu Qiming took the quilt with disbelief, “It’s March now.”

Letting him sleep with a summer quilt, wouldn’t he freeze to death at night?

Jiang Miaomiao looked embarrassed. “I know, but I only prepared a few quilts for myself. I can’t just give you mine. Besides, you’re much stronger than me, so you should be able to withstand it.”

Lu Qiming had nothing to say and went into the guest room with the quilt.

Finally, Jiang Miaomiao had everything arranged. As a reward, she lay on the bed and read an e-book for half an hour. She woke up in the evening after a long day of work.

The evening sky was tinged with a warm glow, and with no lights in the villa, the dim light in the living room allowed her to see a figure sneaking towards the basement.

For a moment, Jiang Miaomiao thought a zombie had broken in and was about to run away when she remembered that she had newly adopted a “big dog.”

She turned on her flashlight and pointed it at him, asking, “What are you doing?”

The light was blinding, and Lu Qiming raised his hand to shield his eyes. “I’m going to get some things to cook.”

“You’ve used up your quota.”

He quickly changed his request, “I’ll cook for you.”

“Thanks, but I’ll do it myself.”

Jiang Miaomiao coldly refused, and she went to the basement to get some ingredients to cook noodles for herself.

Lu Qiming stood by, watching her with longing. After a while, he gave up and went to the window to smoke.

The white smoke curled up, and the evening glow bathed his skin in a golden hue. With his high nose and deep eyes, he looked quite handsome.

When the noodles were ready, Jiang Miaomiao walked over to him with a bowl in her hand.

A few zombies were wandering outside the window. She used her chopsticks to point at one of them and said, “Don’t you think it looks handsome?”

“Which one?”

“The one with the hat, dressed quite fashionably, with fair skin. It was probably either a rich second-generation or a minor celebrity before. If its face hadn’t been half-eaten, it would have been a pretty good-looking zombie.”

Lu Qiming looked at her in surprise.

She touched her face. “What’s wrong? My face hasn’t been half-eaten. Why are you staring at me like that?”

He shook his head, “No, it’s just that I feel…”

In this apocalyptic world, everyone was struggling for survival. He had witnessed numerous separations and fights for life and death, and human nature seemed worthless in such a special moment.

Food, water, weapons, medicine… in the eyes of some people, these things were more important than human life.

But when it came to her, the world seemed to change its style suddenly. It went from a dark and bloody action movie to a calm and serene documentary.

Jiang Miaomiao suddenly exclaimed, “A new one is here again.”

He looked up and indeed saw a big, fat zombie staggering into the yard, its rotten mouth making a grating sound.

“Big gold chain, big watch, either a nouveau riche or a rapper, and the shirt looks like Gucci… Hey, how did his butt get bitten like that, so cruel…”

Holding a bowl of noodles, she chatted away at the new arrival, just like a chatterbox old lady.

In less than three minutes, the zombie had a new name—Gold Half-Butt.

Lu Qiming asked, “Aren’t you afraid they will break in?”

“Of course, I am.”

“Then what have you prepared?”

Jiang Miaomiao was taken aback, she hadn’t prepared anything.

“It must be painful to be bitten to death. Should I turn on the gas and commit suicide?”

She had read online that inhaling gas would cause poisoning and unconsciousness, and if the inhalation continued after passing out, death would follow.

The state of death would not be pleasant, as it could lead to incontinence. But compared to the pain of being bitten alive, the former was obviously more acceptable.

It’s just that the timing wasn’t easy to control.

If she waited until the zombies rushed in, it would be too late to turn on the gas. If she turned it on too early, the zombies might not come in, and she would die. It would be a waste of all the supplies she had stocked up.

Lu Qiming looked at her admiringly. “It’s not easy for you to survive until now. Really, cherish it.”

He finished his last cigarette, put out the butt, and threw it out the window before heading to the guest room to sleep.

Jiang Miaomiao slept for the whole afternoon, but she couldn’t sleep at night. After dinner, she did as usual and practiced writing in front of a hanging painting using her flashlight.

It was early spring, and the night was very cold.

She was wearing thick coral fleece pajamas and became freezing after less than half an hour of practice.

Lu Qiming only had a thin summer quilt. Would he catch a cold?

She looked at her two thick quilts on the bed, hesitating whether she should give him one. After thinking about it, she decided against it; he wasn’t a block of wood, he wouldn’t be able to resist her words.

The night passed.

The next day was sunny, with golden sunlight streaming through the windows, and the tea trees in the yard were in bloom.

If there were no zombies wandering outside, she really wanted to go out for a stroll.

After washing up, Jiang Miaomiao went downstairs and found that Lu Qiming was already awake, doing push-ups on the living room floor.

It had to be said that his physique was indeed a beautiful sight.

Lu Qiming also saw her and immediately stopped, asking eagerly, “What are we having for breakfast?”

She smacked her lips twice.

“Eating noodles every day is making me sick. Let’s cook porridge.”

She had stocked up a lot of salted duck eggs.

“Okay, cook some more.”

After Lu Qiming finished speaking, he was about to go exercise, but she grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back.

“Where are you going? Wash the rice and cook the porridge.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, it’s clearly written in the agreement, all household chores are your responsibility, including cooking. We may not be close, but the food should taste good.”

Lu Qiming smiled wryly, “You are really not polite at all. Are you using me as a housekeeper?”

“You’re thinking too much. Housekeepers get paid.”

This guy Huangshiren was only responsible for providing food and shelter.

Lu Qiming started to wash the rice and cook the porridge, while Jiang Miaomiao went to the bathroom to do the laundry.

The washing machine was no longer usable, so she had to wash the clothes by hand. She was lazy, so she used some laundry detergent and scrubbed them roughly, then hung them near the window to dry.

The weather was so nice, it would be better to hang them outside, and it would be great if she could also dry the quilts, so they would be warm to sleep in at night.

However, the zombies had poor eyesight. If they mistook it for a person squatting there and climbed up to search for food, it would be more trouble than it was worth.

After finishing the laundry, she went downstairs, and the porridge was ready. Lu Qiming had added salted duck eggs and ham sausage to it, making it smell particularly delicious.

But there was one very important thing missing.

Jiang Miaomiao regretted it deeply, “I should have planted some green onions back then.”

It would be even better if there were lettuce, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, and a couple of chickens laying eggs every day, as well as a cow to milk.

Alas, since the refrigerator lost power, she hadn’t had any fresh food for a long time.

Lu Qiming drank two bowls of porridge in one go and wiped his mouth.

“You are quite particular.”

“Who knows, I might die one day, I can’t deprive my mouth, right?”

She drank a sip of porridge, tasted it carefully, nodded in satisfaction.

“You have good cooking skills. Were you a chef before?”

Lu Qiming laughed and decided to take advantage of the situation, “Yes, I was a chef.”

Jiang Miaomiao patted his shoulder.

“From now on, I’ll leave the cooking to you. Don’t disappoint my expectations, young man.”

Lu Qiming wanted to roll his eyes, but suddenly realized that this was a good opportunity and asked, “Can I have a bit more to eat? I work hard to cook for you, you can’t let me starve, right?”

Jiang Miaomiao was conflicted.

Eating was important, but eating enough was even more important. This was a problem.

After thinking for a while, she endured the pain and said, “Alright, I’ll eat an extra hundred grams every day.”

Lan Qiming picked up a piece of ham sausage and bit it slowly with his front teeth, clearly mocking her for offering something that couldn’t even fill the gap between his teeth.

Jiang Miaomiao asked, “So how much do you want?”

“To eat until I’m full and drink enough. Of course, if we run out of food one day, I’ll go outside to find some to share with you.”

“No need, when that time comes, just help me turn on the gas.”

She would rather die than go outside and suffer.

After finishing breakfast, Lan Qiming used a water bucket as a dumbbell and worked on his biceps in the living room.

Jiang Miaomiao sat beside the coffee table, arranged her papers and continued copying her “Pig Farming Encyclopedia.”

As she copied, she couldn’t help but recall that taste.

Pork, how fragrant it was.

You could make braised pork, twice-cooked pork, steamed pork with rice flour, sweet and sour pork, as well as water-boiled pork slices, fish-flavored shredded pork, spicy stir-fried pork, and braised spare ribs, garlic spare ribs, pork liver soup, sizzling pork kidney… Ah!

Lan Qiming looked at her strangely.

“You’re supposed to be copying, why are you drooling?”

She wiped her mouth and glared at him, wanting to grab a few pieces of beef jerky to satisfy her craving.

But just as she stood up, a warm flow surged from below, a familiar feeling that left her stunned, and she stood still without daring to move.

Lan Qiming became even more confused, put down the water bucket, and came to her.

“What’s wrong? Are you turning into a zombie?”

“Give, give me some paper…”

He handed her some tissues from the coffee table, and she held them in her arms as she rushed upstairs, not looking back.

Lan Qiming furrowed his brows, and when he lowered his head, he noticed two drops of red liquid on the chair.

In the bathroom, Jiang Miaomiao sat on the toilet, holding the tissues, feeling regretful, extremely regretful.

She had even prepared two bottles of toilet cleaner, but why did she forget to buy sanitary pads?!

The original text didn’t mention that the female character would have a normal menstrual cycle!