CH 18

Lu Qiming was four or five meters away from the refrigerator, but the smell was so fierce that even he was affected and almost fainted.

He covered his mouth and nose, dashed forward, kicked the refrigerator door, and pulled her back outside the courtyard.

The two took a big breath of fresh air. After waiting for a long time, and when they felt the smell had dissipated, before re-entering the house.

Jiang Miaomiao left the previous place, away from the refrigerator.

Lu Qiming pulled out a pack of good cigarettes from the coffee table drawer, took one out, put it on the tip of his nose, sniffed, and stuffed it into his pocket with satisfaction.

She curled her lips when she saw that. "Are you sure you don't want to quit smoking? There are no doctors these days, and if you get lung cancer, no one will be able to save you."

He shrugged his shoulders, "Didn't you say it? It's better to die early than die late and enjoy yourself before you die. You eat junk food for enjoyment, but I can’t enjoy smoking?"

“Yeah, right. You still have to take care of yourself.”*

T/N: Hard sentence to translate. It is not very accurate

Jiang Miaomiao turned away from him and searched the living room.

There were many things in the house that she could use.

U-shaped leather sofa, solid wood coffee table, 100-inch TV, air conditioning, washing machine, double bed… She couldn’t wait to move them all back.

But her physical strength was limited and she couldn't take too much stuff. She tried to move a table to no avail, then focus on daily necessities.

There was shampoo, shower gel, and skin cream in the bathroom, and quilts, pillows, and sheets in the bedroom.

There were clean clothes in the closet and shoes in the shoe closet, so she packed a few big bags and carried them back after a lot of effort.

Putting the bags in the living room of the new home, Jiang Miaomiao returned  immediately

She was thinking that Lu Qiming was strong and he should be the main worker when she saw him with a wrench and screwdriver, tapping the switch on the wall.

Jiang Miaomiao looked on in confusion.

"What are you doing?"

Lu Qiming lit a cigarette and leisurely exhaled a white mist.

"I tried it. The solar power system works, but the infrastructure in the house is not ready. Move these things over and install them and there will be lights in the evening."

Her eyes were wide open as she listened.

"Really? Can I move the other electrical appliances here too?"

Air conditioner, TV, washing machine, refrig... Uh, the refrigerator is too stinky. She was afraid of rotting her hands.

Lu Qiming patted her head.

"Go return to your work. Wait for the results."

He finished his cigarette in one breath, stomped out the cigarette with the tip of his shoe, and continued to screw.

Jiang Miaomiao thought that there would be electricity in the nighttime, so she was very motivated. In the morning, she ran back and forth between the two houses at least a dozen times, and moved all the daily necessities that she needed.

Lu Qiming dismantled dozens of switches and sockets and installed them in the new house. Then, he unscrewed all the light bulbs in that house, found a folding ladder in the utility room, carried it to the new house, and climbed the ladder to install the light bulbs one by one.

The living room had a huge crystal chandelier. He was so tired and sweaty after installing it that he straddled the ladder to rest.

Jiang Miaomiao opened the door with her shoulder, carrying a bag full of clothes in each hand, one hanging from her neck, and walked in looking like a Christmas tree.

She was about to go upstairs to put the things down when Lu Qiming suddenly called her.

"Wait."

She turned around and saw him leap lightly from the ladder. He walked a few steps and flicked the switch.

With a soft sound, the crystal chandelier lit up, and the chandelier holder slowly rotated, spreading bright light to every corner.

Jiang Miaomiao's mouth hung open as she stared blankly at the long-lost light.

Her eyes blinked, and she almost cried with joy.

With another soft sound, Lu Qiming turned off the lights and explained:

"The solar power storage system has limited power, and there is no way to generate electricity at night or on rainy days, so it is better to use it sparingly."

She nodded and wiped the corners of her wet eyes.

"It's okay. I'm already happy to have electricity."

Her cell phone and computer could finally be restarted, and in the summer there is no need to worry about being too hot without air conditioning. Compared with the people in the original book, she was very lucky.

Looking at her so happy, Lu Qiming drooped the corners of his mouth and said pitifully:

"I've been working all morning. I'm so tired. I'm starving. Is there any rice to eat?"

Jiang Miaomiao was a little disappointed when he mentioned the word "rice".

She searched all the surrounding houses, and all the fresh things in the refrigerator were rotten.

Only rice, noodles, salted fish, bacon, and other dry goods could be eaten.

The community used piped natural gas. The pipes were not maintained and broke long ago, so the kitchen had become a decoration and couldn’t be used.

Raw rice and raw noodles couldn’t be eaten, and salted fish and bacon couldn’t be eaten dry.

The only thing that could be eaten directly was the instant noodles they brought.

Lu Qiming listened to her, then thought of something he saw, instructed her to wait for a few minutes, then ran out.

Jiang Miaomiao was uncertain and put down her things to get the noodles.

Lu Qiming returned, and she saw from afar that he was holding a square black plate.

She walked over and took a good look at it. It was an induction cooker.

Lu Qiming found an outlet near the ground in the living room, put the induction cooker on the ground next to them, and plugged it in then pressed the switch.

Buzzing - a familiar sound rang out.

He turned back with the corner of his mouth raised. "You can cook now."

Jiang Miaomiao was surprised. She went to the neighbor's house to get a series of things such as oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, pots, and pans, and half a bucket of unused pure water from the water fountain, squatted on the living room floor and began to cook.

She was obviously at home, but there was a picnic-like feeling.

The meal was very simple. Just boil rice with water, cook to half-cooked and throw a few pieces of dried bacon bamboo shoots, and other things down.

The family was rich. Jiang Miaomiao found dried abalone and dried sea cucumber in the kitchen cupboard.

She had never eaten them before, let alone made them, and thought they should be more nutritious, just to replenish the body. So she rinsed them with water and threw them in to cook together.

Lu Qiming was lying next to her resting on his arm. He witnessed her magnificent cooking skills and couldn't help but worry.

"Is this really edible?"

She held the spatula with confidence.

"Have you never eaten clay pot rice? It's all made like this, and it smells good."

Lu Qiming said, "Then I'll wait and see."

Jiang Miaomiao concentrated on cooking. Because she was not skilled at cooking and it was her first time using this induction cooker, she was unsure about the heat and was afraid of burning it. She saw the rice was smoking, turned it down quickly, and when there was no movement, she turned it up again, turning it over with a spatula from time to time.

After turning for more than an hour, at about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, when Lu Qiming was dizzy with hunger, the meal was finally out of the pot.

She used a beautiful ceramic plate from a neighbor's house, which was not very sticky, so she poured some tomato sauce, sprinkled a layer of black pepper, and barely decorated it.

A large bath towel was spread out on the living room floor and the two sat cross-legged next to it.

Lu Qiming held a fork, not able to eat.

“How about I just eat the noodles..."

Jiang Miaomiao grabbed his hand. "Come back, eat!"

Lu Qiming: ....so fierce.

He sat down aggressively, scooped a spoonful into his mouth, and slowly chewed.

Jiang Miaomiao looked expectantly, "How does it taste?"

Lu Qiming didn’t speak and continued to chew.

She waited for a few minutes and couldn't help herself.

"Are you a cow? Still not finished chewing?"

He yanked a black object out of his mouth and frowned.

"Even if I have good teeth, you can't torture me like this. What are you doing stuffing rubber into rice?"

Jiang Miaomiao was also baffled and went over to look at it for a while before recognizing the object.

"What rubber? This is called sea cucumber. Very expensive. Understand? You don't know what it is."

"You can't even bite it, what's the use of being expensive."

Jiang Miaomiao did not believe it to be demonic. She picked a sea cucumber from her plate and stuffed it into her mouth, chewing it hard.

Lu Qiming was eating leisurely, waiting to see something funny.

She chewed and chewed, chewed and chewed, chewed until her cheeks were about to break, and hopelessly spit out and wiped her mouth.

"Bah, what the heck."

Lu Qiming laughed and shook his head.

Fortunately, the taste of the rice was okay, it was at least palatable.

The two ate to their hearts' content, lying on the floor and burping, no one wanting to move.

Lu Qiming said, "I have to install light bulbs this afternoon. You go wash the dishes."

Jiang Miaomiao said, "I have to tidy up my room this afternoon. You go wash the dishes."

After arguing and forth for a while, they settled on the same opinion - it's the end of the world, what's the point of washing the dishes? They could just throw them away after eating them, and next time go to the supermarket and bring back a box.

Without the chores, they laid down to rest in peace.

Jiang Miaomiao was drowsy, looking at the overhead light, she suddenly thought of something and ran upstairs to carry down a pile of things.

Lu Qiming opened his eyes and looked at her.

Phone, laptop, flashlight, kindle… and their matching chargers.

There were four sockets in the living room, Jiang Miaomiao dominated them all. Sitting next to one of the sockets, she looked at the phone screen and flexed her hands.

Lu Qiming asked, "You want to play with your phone that much?"

This was simply nonsense ah. After holding it in for a few months, who can resist? Jiang Miaomiao was baffled.

"You don't want to? Eh, how come I haven't seen your phone?"

"I don’t have"

"How is that possible"

"Really don’t have"

"Tsk, poor old man."

She wanted him to go to the cell phone store down the street and get one, but the phone was already ringing, so she didn't bother with him and concentrated on holding it up.

She hadn't used it for so long that she didn't know where to point her hand.

After opening a single-player version of Xiaoxiaole and playing for a while, she finally found the right feeling.*

T/N: 消消乐: It’s a matching game like Candy Crush but with animals. See more

Lu Qiming called her twice, but she did not respond, so he had to sleep on his own.

After sleeping for an hour or so, the first thing he did when he woke up was to look at her.

Jiang Miaomiao changed and was sitting on her back, playing the single-player version of Honor of Kings enthusiastically.*

T/N: 王者荣耀: Mobile battle arena game inspired by League of Legends. See more

Lu Qiming poured some pure water to wash his face and walked behind her.

"Hey, it's time to work."

She didn't look back.

"I plan to take down the bathroom heater from that house and install it in the bathroom here. Do you want to take a bath?"

Jiang Miaomiao desperately clicked the screen, her eyes reluctant to blink.

Lu Qiming took a deep breath. "We don't have enough water, it's better to go to the lake to get some."

"Got it, go go go, don't make noise next to me."

She was too noisy for him, so she pushed him towards the door and continued playing the game.

Lu Qiming had to leave alone.

After being in the basement for so long, now that she finally had access to electronic products, Jiang Miaomiao couldn't stop playing.

Tired of playing with the phone, she turned on the computer, double-clicked the small green diamond, concentrated on pinching the villain, building houses, and unconsciously playing for several hours.

Time flew by, when her neck was too sore to bear, she raised her head to move, she found it was getting dark, the living room was dimly lit and silent.

"Lu Qiming?"

She shouted, no one answered, so she turned off her computer and walked out.

There were a few zombies wandering around the house, not paying attention to her because the zombie blood on her body hadn't been washed.

On the small road directly opposite, a large rectangle approached this way.

Jiang Miaomiao rubbed her eyes and suspected she was hallucinating.

Holy sh*t, the mattress has become a spirit! How can you walk on the road by yourself?

As the mattress got closer and closer, Jiang Miaomiao recognized the two long legs underneath and hurriedly ran to help.

Lu Qiming tied the mattress with the cloth strips, holding the cloth strips in both hands was very laborious work, and glanced at her.

"Gave up the phone?"

She knew what he meant and was ashamed, and did not retort. She tried very hard to grasp the edge of the mattress to help him share some weight.

However, she was really not good at physical work. Not only was she unsuccessful, but she was hit by the mattress and staggered, and almost fell.

Lu Qiming gave her a hand to help her with a miserable expression on his face.

"It's not easy for you to live to such an age."

That was not something she liked to hear.

"I was living well before you came."

Yes, I want to live if I am comfortable and die immediately if I feel uncomfortable. Is that so bad?

Lu Qiming resisted the slander, and said, "Don't move this, help me open the door."

She trotted ahead to open the door, and he strenuously carried the huge double mattress, moved into the villa, moved up the stairs, and finally put it in the small room where they slept last night.

The small room had no windows, so even if another zombie wave broke out one day, it was safest to close the door and hide.

Only the area was a little smaller, after the mattress was placed it occupied half of the space.

Lu Qiming laid on it, breathing heavily, his temples were wet with sweat.

Jiang Miaomiao looked at him tired like this, her heart felt strange, and she took the initiative to go to the living room to pour him a cup of water.

"You rest, what do you want to eat tonight?"

"Hot pot."

"… how come you don't want to eat dragon meat?"*

T/N: Dragon meat is seen as the most precious meat in the world. Probably ridiculing him for being greedy.

Lu Qiming was aggrieved. "Then you still ask me what to do? What can I eat?"

Jiang Miaomiao turned to leave, from the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of his left hand, resting on the mattress, shaking visibly to the naked eye.

"What's wrong with your hand?"

He immediately retracted it. "Nothing, cook dinner."

"Let me see."

She walked over to him without saying a word, sat on the mattress, and forcibly looked at his hand.

Lu Qiming could carry a couple of hundred pounds of a large mattress, but couldn’t compete with her thin arm, so she pulled his hand with a gentle pull.

His arms were covered with zombie blood, so dirty that it was impossible to see clearly.

Jiang Miaomiao rubbed for a long time, revealing the skin tone underneath, turning on the lamp to the light to look closely, she saw the wrist was obviously swollen and cut, there were bruises on the skin.

She frowned. "You're hurt?"

Lu Qiming turned his face away and tried to pull his hand back.

"Nothing, just a little injury."

Jiang Miaomiao held it tightly and didn't let go.

"What's going on?"

He had to tell the truth. "The mattress was too big and I accidentally smashed it when I moved it."

"Why didn't you ask me to help?"

Lu Qiming was speechless. "I called, you told me to get away and not to disturb your game."

"Uh ...... you did?" Jiang Miaomiao's face flushed red.

He didn't say anything, his expression clearly saying - don't play dumb.

"Well, I really was a little too fascinated at playing, but you can wait for me to finish playing and move together ah, we’re not in a hurry."

She cheekily explained, ran downstairs, brought ointment to apply for him.

Lu Qiming shook his head. "Take a bath first, and then apply the medicine afterwards."

Jiang Miaomiao was confused, "Bath? We don't even have water."

He grunted twice, with a terrible expression, his face showed "Come and praise me".

"It's definitely not possible to rely on you. I can't count on you in this life, but there is still me. You go to the bathroom and have a look."

There were bathrooms in the villa, and more than one. But like the other rooms, they were not decorated, only plumbing and wiring. They were empty, not even a faucet installed.

When Jiang Miaomiao went to the bathroom at noon, she secretly went to the yard. After listening to his words, she walked to the nearest bathroom and opened the door to see...

A whole set of shower facilities mounted on the wall, silver metal bright enough to reflect the shadow of a person.

Large square-shaped spray head, shower, faucet.

Snow white ceramic toilet.

An extra small shelf on the wall next to it held the shower gel and shampoo she had brought back, and the snow-white towels were neatly folded.

She turned on the switch and clear water flowed.

At first, it was cold, but after a while, it turned into warm hot water.

She couldn't believe it as Lu Qiming walked in and flipped a switch by the door.

The warm yellow light fell on her with heat, and he pointed to the ceiling.

"Oh, there is also a Yuba."*

T/N: 浴霸: Roughly a bathroom/bath infrared heater

Jiang Miaomiao looked at him in surprise.

"You're too good!"

She’ll have hot water for a bath in the future!

Lu Qiming modestly waved his hand, his heart feeling sweet.

Jiang Miaomiao couldn’t wait to get naked and wash now, but seeing his swollen wrist and the faucet he installed, she consciously walked out.

"You wash first, I'm going to cook."

Lu Qiming stopped her, "You wash, I'll do it."

She looked shocked. "You… changed so much?"

Previously, he robbed her of meat, but now he took the initiative to give up the opportunity to bath first?

Lu Qiming sighed. "I don't want to eat rubber boiled in tomato sauce anymore."

Jiang Miaomiao: "…make your meal!"

Yay, she’ll wash first, she’ll wash first, and was eager to wash first.

After Lu Qiming went downstairs to cook, she took a set of clean pajamas from the bag—it belonged to the people in the next house. The size was a bit big and the style was a bit old, but it was better than nothing.

Jiang Miaomiao turned on the bath heater and hot water, paired with citrus-scented shower gel and water lily-scented shampoo, and took the most enjoyable bath so far. It lasted nearly half an hour, and after washing, the whole body was refreshed and fragrant.

At the same time, Lu Qiming's dinner was ready.

He cooked porridge, fried bacon with soaked dehydrated vegetables, fried salted duck eggs with ham sausage, and dried shrimp skin with purple cabbage for soup.

He spread out the bath towel to use it as a simple dining table. Putting these 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 the other party walking down the stairs, wearing pink silk pajamas.

Jiang Miaomiao finished her bath and was in a superb mood, leaving behind all her previous unhappiness, with only the food in her eyes.

“It smells good." She pinched a piece of bacon and threw it into her mouth, chewed it, and gave him a thumbs-up, "Your skills are getting better and better."

Lu Qiming looked at her without blinking, as if he hadn't heard her.

She reached out and waved her hand in front of his eyes.

"Silly? What are you looking at?"

"Nothing." He hurriedly withdrew his eyes, his ears slightly red. "Why are you wearing such old-fashioned clothes? You look like you're thirty or forty years old."

"You're the one who looks like you're thirty or forty, you have no taste at all. . Does this dress look good? How gorgeous."

Jiang Miaomiao pulled the hem of the dress, and the smooth fabric reflected a pearl-like luster under the light.

Lu Qiming's ears got even redder, turned around, and said, "I'm going to take a bath."

"I won't wait for you."

Jiang Miaomiao sat down cross-legged, picked up the steaming bowl of porridge, and started eating.

A few minutes later, Lu Qiming came down with a bath towel around him, his body covered in foam.

She turned her head to look at him, puzzled.

"What are you doing?"

"I ran out of water halfway through."

"Ah, no way?"

Jiang Miaomiao's cheeks heated up.

He was too lazy to care and lifted the bucket of pure water to prepare to go upstairs.

She thought of the other party's help in boiling water for her bath before, and hurriedly put down her dishes and ran over, snatching the bucket.

"It's not good to wash with cold water, you go stay in the bathroom, I'll boil the water and bring it up to you."

“You have such kindness?" Lu Qiming’s eyes were suspicious.

Jiang Miaomiao shouted, "Hey, don't feel as if you are the only one who can work, okay? I also know how to repay kindness, not a white-eyed wolf."*

T/N: 白眼狼: meaning a thankless wretch/an ingrate

He couldn't help himself and let go of the bucket.

"Okay, then I'll wait for you in the bathroom."

Jiang Miaomiao began to boil water, the capacity of the pot was limited, and the progress was slow as one pot was boiled after another.

She squatted by the induction cooker and waited for the water to boil, thinking that tomorrow she would have to find an electric kettle for boiling hot water. It would be nice to have a water dispenser with a filter, so she could go directly to the lake to get water.

After boiling water to send upstairs, she came back to eat, when Lu Qiming did not come out, looking at the phone and computer with full power, her fingers began to itch again.

It was not appropriate to play games, after all, people have smashed their wrists in order to work.

I have to find something to do myself.

Jiang Miaomiao looked around and decided to take stock of the supplies in hand.

The things in the living room were piled on the left and piled on the right. It really should be organized

She brought papers and pens, arranged the materials in different categories, and kept a note for everything she handled.

She didn’t know how long it took and Lu Qiming came downstairs.

He took off the dirty clothes and threw it away. He was still wrapped in a bath towel, his body was slender and thin, and his wheat-colored skin had hidden power.

He knew that Jiang Miaomiao had brought a lot of clothes back, and he was going to go to the bag to look through the clothes and put them on. As he passed by behind her, he couldn't help but stop.

Her pajamas were too big, the fabric was slippery, and the collar moved with the movement, revealing half of her white shoulders.

Her shoulder was beautifully contoured, thin and delicate, but the skin is densely covered with the traces left by previous glass shards.

After half a month of recuperation, the blood scab had fallen off, and the wound was pale pink.

If you didn't take a close look at it, you'd feel shocked when you fixed your eyes on it.

He still remembers how she looked like she was covered in blood at the time, so fragile she threw herself into his arms and cried as if he was her only support.

Jiang Miaomiao noticed his gaze, pulled up her  collar, and said, "Don't be a hooligan."

He averted his eyes, fished out a pair of men's plaid pajama pants from the bag put them on, untied the bath towel and threw it aside, and put on a white short-sleeved T-shirt, squatting down to help her sort it out together.

It was pitch black all around, and only the lights were on in this house.

The zombies wandered around outside the window, looking blankly through the glass, reluctant to leave.

The two quickly compiled a list.

Food (about 5~7 days):

Three strips of bacon, two strips of salted fish, half a ham. Six ham sausages, three salted duck eggs, two leather eggs.

Twelve sea cucumbers, seven dried abalone, three bags of seaweed, one bag of dried fungus, one bag of dried shiitake mushrooms, one bag of dried bamboo shoots.

600G of dehydrated vegetables, six packets of cookies, five packets of instant noodles, two packets of squash, one bottle of chili sauce.

Half a bag of rice, one bag of flour, several seasonings such as oil, salt, sauce, and vinegar.

Daily necessities:

Two bottles of shower gel, two bottles of shampoo, one bottle of conditioner, one tube of toothpaste, two toothbrushes, two mouthwash cups. One bottle of detergent, one bottle of toilet bowl cleaner, half a bottle of flower lotion.

Three bottles of skincare products, one comb, one dozen hangers, one bottle of laundry detergent.

Three sets of men's clothes, four sets of women's clothes, two pairs of shoes each, four pairs of underwear each.

Two quilts, two pillows, two sheets.

Four plates, two bowls, two pairs of chopsticks. One frying pan, one stewing pot, one spatula.

Medicine: 15 band-aids, two bottles of Yunnan Baiyao aerosol, one box of anti-inflammatory medicine, two rolls of bandages, one pack of cotton swabs.

Electric appliances: one induction cooker, one set of bath bombs. A laptop computer, a cell phone, a flashlight, a rechargeable battery, a kindle, a number of chargers.

Furniture: a mattress.

Lu Qiming shook his head at these things.

"Too little, everything is missing."

"Is it?" It was painful for Jiang Miaomiao to think of moving things. She just wanted to nestle in the house and play games. She muttered, "I think it's quite enough, let's finish that food first."

Lu Qiming picked up a salted fish and shook it.

"Do you think it looks like you?"

"...like your father!"*

T/N: 你爹: Chinese internet slang hard to translate. It's kind of like a "your momma" joke or "who's your daddy".