Chapter 4242
There are too many abandoned and vacant houses in the world today.
In a big city where zombies roam the streets and alleys, even if there are few zombies, you cannot live there for a long time, because you never know when a zombie will suddenly pop out from the corner. No matter how powerful a person is, he cannot stay vigilant all the time.
So we can only look outside the big cities.
Wen Jiuze first proposed: "How about taking you to live in a big villa?"
Xue Ling firmly refused. The big villa looks good but is not practical!
She has lived there before. During the three years she was wandering on the road, she lived in many different houses. When she first saw a beautiful house, she would go in and take a look around, staying there for a few days to experience it.
She remembered a big villa that was built like a palace. It was extremely large, had countless rooms, and was equipped with a pool and a garden.
But it's not comfortable to live in, it's flashy!
The stairs in the house made it inconvenient for the zombies to move around, and the ceiling was high, so the whole place was empty. Except for the areas where they often moved around, the rest of the house was covered in dust.
It's quite impressive, but the comfort is zero.
At this time, if you want to live there for a long time, it is best to choose a roadside county town or small village where the zombies have been cleaned up and there are few people.
It is best to have an open terrain around so that if a person or a zombie appears, they can be spotted immediately.
There must be a base within half a day's drive from the residence so that Wen Jiuze can go there regularly to exchange for human necessities. In the other direction, it can also lead to a big city where not many people dare to scavenge, making it convenient for Xue Ling to go there to purchase goods.
It would be best if there is a ready-made vegetable patch around the house so that you can grow your own vegetables.
It would be better if there is a river nearby so that we can fish.
It would be best if we still had running water, but now running water is no longer available in many places.
On the contrary, in some remote rural areas, because the water pipes are connected to mountain spring water, it can be used as long as the water tower built on the mountain is not dry.
The house doesn't need to be too big but it's better to be newer. The house can't be too dirty or messy, and it just needs to have basically all the furniture.
It would be best to have an independent kitchen with a clay stove, because there is not enough electricity to boil water and cook now, and there is no gas either. It seems that we can only burn wood, and a clay stove is more convenient.
Then there must be a forest nearby to cut firewood...
Wen Jiuze didn't let her continue. If she continued, they wouldn't be able to find a suitable place when the snow started to fall.
In the end, the two of them spent ten days carefully selecting a place.
It almost perfectly met Xue Ling's requirements, except that there was no running water. However, the pressurized water well in the yard made up for this.
Wen Jiuze thought that they had only found a temporary place to stay, but Xue Ling was as excited as if he had moved to a new home.
She urged Wen Jiuze to clean the house, move all the debris from the car, and put it into the house and the kitchen.
Xue Ling stayed in the car for several months. There were more and more things in the car. There was only a narrow space left in the car to lie down, and there was almost no room on the roof.
Before that, Wen Jiuze had been driving around for three years, and he didn’t have much in his car.
Now that we have packed up, the two of us have moved several times together.
Wen Jiuze helped Xue Ling carry her books and clothes, while Xue Ling followed him happily, carrying her daily necessities, a flat comb and a small mirror.
They lived in a bedroom on the first floor, which had been cleared out by Wen Jiuze, leaving only a bedside wardrobe and a table.
They put all the stuff that filled the car in here, and it made the room look a little empty.
Xue Ling looked around and felt that something was missing.
First of all, there was a lack of quilts. Wen Jiuze had previously used a blanket and a large cotton jacket together to survive in the car. It would be very cold when winter came, so a quilt was of course necessary.
There was a shortage of bedding and clothes, especially Wen Jiuze.
Not only did he lack clothes, he also lacked shoes.
Wen Jiuze wore shoes very hard. His sturdy leather boots and high-quality sports shoes were quickly worn out after wearing them for a while.
Wen Jiuze walked into the room carrying a battery box, and Xue Ling looked down at his shoes.
He has been wearing this pair of shoes for two months, and they are inevitably covered with dust and stains. The creases on the uppers are just a little unsightly, but the soles are about to crack.
This pair is relatively good. His last pair of shoes had the soles completely fall off when he wore them, and one of the shoelaces was even made of rope.
Wen Jiuze still wears clothes with holes and shoes with holes. If no one reminds him, he would be too lazy to pay attention to them. If he doesn't pay attention, he really looks like a homeless person.
So, how can someone live such a rough life and still be so handsome?
Men who are often exposed to the wind and sun outside will have rough skin and will easily look old.
Wen Jiuze is also a bit rough, but the rougher he is, the more attractive he is, the kind of "capable" look that you can tell at first glance.
Like rough tree scars, hard loess, or like his car that has many dents and scratches on its surface but can still drive into the wilderness and wade through the river.
Wen Jiuze saw her staring at his shoes and put the things down casually: "Are you dissatisfied with my old shoes again? If you don't like them, then don't look at them anymore."
He wears big shoes, so it's a bit difficult to find shoes for him.
Xue Ling suddenly clenched her fist. Wen Jiuze subconsciously dodged to the side, thinking that she was going to beat someone up again. Who would have thought that Xue Ling clenched her fist this time just to encourage herself and prepare to roll up her sleeves and get into action.
She quickly announced that she was going to go scavenging, to do a big zero-dollar shopping spree in the city, and bring back lots of stuff to fill her new home!
Everything can be put together on the road, but if you really stop to live your life, then you will lack everything.
At night, a small lamp was on above the bed.
Xue Ling lay on the hardwood bed, thinking about what she needed. She wrote one thing on the writing board, and Wen Jiuze recorded it on the paper with a pen.
"I forgot, we also need laundry detergent for washing clothes." Xue Ling added, "But laundry detergent is too heavy and used up quickly, so soap is more economical."
Wen Jiuze leaned against the bed and added soap to the shopping list.
This kind of scene seemed to have happened before when we were living together. We were discussing what to add to the home and making a memo.
"By the way, we also need solar lamps, which don't require electricity!" Xue Ling said whatever came to his mind.
Wen Jiuze wrote on the shopping list, "Do you know where to find solar lights?"
"No supermarket?" Xue Ling asked.
"Supermarket? I haven't seen it in a supermarket. You may have to go to a hardware store. If you go to a hardware store, bring me some tools so I can fix it."
"What tool? A screwdriver?"
…
They chatted until midnight, Wen Jiuze fell asleep, and Xue Ling was still wondering what he was missing.
To make it convenient for her, the small lamp on the bed was not turned off. Wen Jiuze could fall asleep with the light on anyway.
After Xue Ling checked the shopping list and made up for any omissions, she turned over boredly, casually grabbed Wen Jiuze's hand at her side, and held it up to the light.
His palms were broad, his fingers were long and thick, and his knuckles were thick. His fingers were a little crooked and deformed from often using a knife to apply force. There were scars and thick calluses on the palms, which were much rougher than before, and the nail on his index finger was a little split.
After studying his hands for a while, Xue Ling opened the shopping list again and decided to add a hand cream.
Only when white skylight appeared outside the window did Xue Ling turn off the small light.
After getting up early and cleaning the house, Wen Jiuze drove Xue Ling to the city full of zombies to get something.
This was not the first time Xue Ling had done this kind of activity, and Wen Jiuze was also familiar with it. He found a place to hide and wait for her.
Holding the shopping list, Xue Ling set out.
Wen Jiuze sat on the roof of the car, the cold wind blew the coat he was forced to wear by Xue Ling.
Feeling a little hot, Wen Jiuze took off the hat on his head.
This blue woolen hat was originally worn by Xue Ling, but after Wen Jiuze fell ill last time, Xue Ling forced the hat to be given to him.
Holding a book that Xue Ling had casually placed on the car, Wen Jiuze occasionally flipped through the pages to kill time. From time to time, he would use a telescope to look for Xue Ling, and then see if there were any other scavenging teams approaching.
He had his gun and knife with him, but it had been some time since he had fiddled with the knife in a distracted way while waiting.
He was not as anxious as he was a few months ago because he knew Xue Ling would be back soon.
Xue Ling came back pushing an oversized shopping cart from the supermarket, which was full of things.
Wen Jiu put his hat back on and stood up to receive it. Xue Ling said there was more, turned around and left again, pushing three large shopping carts full of things and several bags of brand new down quilts.
Wen Jiuze also saw two fishing rods, which were not on their list.
There were many other things that were not on the list but that Xue Ling also took, such as a hot water kettle, a vegetable basket, a mop, and some condiments such as oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, etc., all of which were daily necessities.
"Although it's expired, it might still have flavor. Let's try it!" Xue Ling gets particularly excited every time she buys something for free.
What else is there to say about Wen Jiuze? Just move everything back.
The things belonging to Wen Jiuze filled up an entire shopping cart.
His clothes, shoes, scarves, socks, shaving gel and razor... everything was available, and there was also the repair tool box he wanted.
I have a strong feeling that I'm living off my girlfriend.
But Wen Jiu didn't care, he had a good appetite.
While sorting out those miscellaneous things, Wen Jiuze saw more than a dozen bags of cabbage seeds.
I thought she was just talking about growing vegetables, but I didn't expect she was serious about it.
That night, the hard wooden bed was covered with a mattress and quilt, and on top of that a down duvet.
The temperature outside had just dropped, and the wind blew through the window at night. Even though Xue Ling wasn't cold at the moment, she felt psychologically comfortable wrapped in the soft quilt.
Even if it's hot, he feels hot all the time, with most of his body exposed.
On the bedside table there was a thermos cup filled with hot water and an old tea cake next to it.
Xue Ling loves to drink all kinds of drinks, including scented tea and fruit tea. She drinks different teas in different seasons. In winter, she always puts chrysanthemum and red dates in her thermos. Refreshing strong tea is a must before every exam.
But Wen Jiu is more accustomed to drinking plain water, preferably without adding anything to the water.
So, rather than bringing this old tea cake for Wen Jiuze, it would be more accurate to say that it was brought for Xue Ling to look at because Xue Ling wanted to drink it but couldn't.
In the early morning, the nearby mountains and the distant roads were shrouded in a thin layer of mist, and there was also a faint cool atmosphere in the bedroom.
Wen Jiuze was awakened by Xue Ling getting out of bed and putting on his shoes, and he sat up, grabbing his hair.
His hair was a little long, messy and slightly curly, covering his eyes so he pushed it back.
"What are you doing, getting up so early?"
Xue Ling suggested with great interest: "Let's do some farming today!"
Wen Jiuzhe: "..."
She quickly came back with the vegetable seeds and asked Wen Jiuze which one he wanted to plant.
Wen Jiuze said nothing, but took the packets of seeds and looked at them carefully.
"Although I have no experience in growing vegetables, it says here that the planting season is May, and it seems to be winter now?"
Xue Ling just remembered this. She had no experience in farming and couldn't even tell the difference between many vegetables. She once made a joke, thinking that peanuts grew on branches.
But today's young people who are lazy and ignorant of farming, living in a concrete jungle, all have a pastoral dream.
There was a time when short videos about returning to rural life were particularly popular on the Internet. Many bloggers built houses and grew vegetables in the countryside. Regardless of whether it was true or not, the life presented in front of the camera was particularly peaceful and beautiful.
There happened to be a seed station next to the hardware store that Xue Ling found. She immediately remembered those vegetable-growing videos and happily took the seeds back.
"Can't we plant anything?" She lay on the edge of the bed in disappointment.
Wen Jiuze picked out a bag of cabbage seeds and said, "It says winter cabbage on this one, so this should be okay to plant."
"Okay, that kind and this one, and the others will come later."
Wen Jiuze felt that she seemed to be planning to live here not just for one winter, but for eight or ten years, and had even planned what to plant next year.
Two people who had no idea about farming and the zombie simply dug out a piece of non-standard land behind the house and planted cabbage seeds casually, as if they were playing house.
Xue Ling was satisfied with just satisfying her farming urge, while Wen Jiuze just wanted to exercise and didn't expect the vegetables to really grow.
Compared to the vegetables that may take an unknown amount of time to grow, the bigger problem in front of us is the earthen stove.
One was that he couldn't control the heat well, and the second was that the pot was too big. When Wen Jiuze poured one person's worth of food into the pot, it quickly soaked the bottom of the pot and couldn't be scooped up with a shovel.
Xue Ling poked her head out of the stove where a fire was burning fiercely, while Wen Jiu stood by the pot, shoveling the food and chewing it with a crunching sound without changing his expression.
It would be better to roast it slowly on a small stove as before.
The base half a day's drive away from them was the New Fourth Base, and Wen Jiuze also drove there.
I went there and brought back a truckload of beehive coal.
Now the bases are all experiencing power restrictions, the electricity bills are high, and it is not cost-effective to use electricity for everything, so many people are using other methods to keep warm and cook.
There happened to be a coal mine nearby, so some smart people made some honeycomb coal to sell, and it became a hot commodity in the base.
Xue Ling walked around the pile of black honeycomb coal. She remembered that when she was very young, some families would burn honeycomb coal, but she basically no longer saw it after she grew up.
"So, we'll use coal stoves to cook instead of earthen stoves?" Xue Ling asked, a little disappointed. "Then we won't have to chop wood."
She also wanted to go to the mountains to chop wood, but she had never done that before.
Wen Jiuze: "Do you still want to go to the mountains to pick mushrooms?"
She used to watch mushroom picking videos with a longing look on her face, and Wen Jiuze had watched it many times, so she wanted to do whatever she saw others doing.
Xue Ling's thoughts were exposed, so she stopped pretending: "When are we going? But it seems there are no mushrooms here, and we don't know which mushrooms are edible."
Wen Jiuze: "What are you afraid of? Just pick up whatever comes your way. I'll eat until I die."
Xue Ling: “…”
Is it okay if you don't go?
In the past few months, they were on the road, driving and finding the way every day, and stopping to sleep and eat.
Now that I've settled down in one place, there's not much to do every day.
Wen Jiuze was sitting on a chair in the main room with nothing to do. Xue Ling came over with a basketball and hit him on the back.
Come play ball!
Xue Ling picked up the basketball at the supermarket without even removing the label.
Wen Jiu grabbed the basketball and went out with her to find a place to play.
There is an open-air activity center in a nearby village, which is equipped with some fitness equipment for the elderly and a basketball rack that is broken and the frame is crooked.
"Want to play here? Can you shoot a basketball?"
Who said that you have to shoot to play basketball? Xue Ling took the ball and threw it far away.
Wen Jiuze strolled over with his long legs, kicked the ball lightly with the tip of his toes and caught it in his hands.
As soon as he walked back, Xue Ling snatched the ball from his arms and threw it out again.
Wen Jiuze responded with a half-smile: "You're playing a fetching game with me like a dog, right?"
Xue Ling: He was discovered so quickly. He is so hard to fool.
She picked up the ball again, but Wen Jiuze didn't give it to her and hit the ball himself. Xue Ling went over to grab it, but Wen Jiuze turned around and the ball went into his other hand and he continued hitting the ball.
It becomes a game of grabbing the ball.
Then it turned into a ball tossing game.
It ended up being a football game.
The ball fell into a mud ditch far away. Wen Jiu jumped down to pick it up, and the ball became dirty.
Xue Ling stopped playing and sat on a piece of fitness equipment for the elderly and shook it.
"What's so fun about that slow pace? Do you dare to hang on the parallel bars?" Wen Jiuze said.
Don't underestimate the zombie's arm strength and grip. She can hang on the parallel bars easily, but she can't jump up.
Wen Jiuze lifted her up onto the parallel bars and said, "Reach out and grab them."
As soon as Xue Ling grabbed him, he let go, sat on the equipment that Xue Ling had just sat on, and looked at her with a smile.
Xue Ling, who was hanging on the parallel bars and couldn't get down, said: "..."
If I let go, I will fall. The parallel bars are a bit high.
"Ah!" Are you sick? Come and put me down!
In the end, Xue Ling chased after Wen Jiuze and chased him back. The scene was very much like the chase between humans and zombies in the movies.
However, the humans chased by zombies were not bitten, but just beaten.
Go fishing in the river in the afternoon.
She went to dig for earthworms first and saw Wen Jiuze digging out a tangled bunch of earthworms from the dirty fertile soil. Xue Ling walked away a little, fearing that he would be mean and scare her with the earthworms again.
Wen Jiuze carried the bucket and fishing rod, and Xue Ling took a small folding stool. They found a place by the river and sat down to fish.
Wen Jiuze helped to string the fish bait. When he was stringing the earthworms, Xue Ling was far away and only came closer after he finished stringing.
Xue Ling held the fishing rod stiffly and swung it with all his strength, hooking it on a dead branch on the shore.
After untying it, he tried to throw the hook a second time and almost hooked Wen Jiuze's head.
Wen Jiuze applauded and said, "What a great shot."
Xue Ling: She couldn’t get rid of the hook because the zombie’s movements were stiff. You can’t blame her!
After much difficulty, they succeeded in throwing the hook into the river. Wen Jiuze also threw the hook easily, and the two sat down and waited.
After a long time without catching any fish, Wen Jiu stuck his fishing rod on the side, got up and walked behind the bushes nearby.
Xue Ling thought he was going to the toilet and was still concentrating on looking at the float of her fishing rod.
After a while, Wen Jiuze came back with something long in his hand.
"Look, what is this?"
Xue Ling turned around and saw something long and thin. He thought it was a snake at first sight. He was so scared that he dropped the fishing rod in his hand and sat down on the ground.
"It's a snake. Look, it's such a big snake. It must be a big snake, as thick as an arm." Wen Jiuze shook the snake.
Xue Ling climbed up with great momentum. Wen Jiuze dodged her attack by leaning his body and ran away quickly along the river bank: "I didn't mean to scare you. You frightened yourself and you blame me?"
Xue Ling just chased him for fun, the road by the river was hard to walk on and she was too lazy to run. She looked back at her pole and let out a loud cry.
Her rod! The fish is going to take it away!
The rod was dragged into the river, and Xue Ling wanted to chase after it immediately, but Wen Jiuze took two steps ahead of her, stepped into the river, grabbed the rod that was dragged away by the fish, and walked back to the shore.
Xue Ling couldn't wait to stretch out her hand: Give it to me, give it to me, let me do it!
After getting the fishing rod back as he wished, Xue Ling stood on the shore and pulled with the big fish for a while, and finally caught the fish.
An ordinary-looking but stubborn fish struggled hard in the bucket, splashing a circle of water around the edge of the bucket.
She watched happily for a while, then sat on a small stool to fish.
Wen Jiuze rolled up his wet trouser legs. His hook had been hooking but no fish came up for a long time, but Xue Ling quickly caught the second one.
She proudly showed him the bucket: two fish, one big and one small, both caught by me.
Wen Jiuze: "I eat all the fish you catch."
The wind was strong by the river, and Wen Jiuze's hair was blown into a mess, and Xue Ling's hair was also a mess.
The cold wind hurt people's faces, but Wen Jiuze was thick-skinned, so he insisted on sitting there with Xue Ling for the whole afternoon.
In the end, Xue Ling caught four fish, but Wen Jiuze caught no fish.
"This is a benefit for newbies, you know, you won't be able to catch fish tomorrow." Wen Jiuze said while holding the bucket.
Yes, yes, I am a newbie, I am just lucky. Xue Ling generously tolerated the jealous man.
On this day, Xue Ling caught fish and Wen Jiuze ate fish, and they both had a gain.
Before going to bed, Xue Ling dragged out a bucket and asked Wen Jiuze to soak his feet in it for ten minutes.
I wiped myself casually and nestled comfortably on the bed, took out an elegant literary book, and began to marinate my soul.
There is one advantage of being a zombie. Now, even the most hypnotic things can't hypnotize her. That knowledge is forced into her head.
Whether you can keep it or not is another matter, but at least you won’t feel sleepy after watching it, so just watch it.
Wen Jiuze finished soaking her feet and asked her, "You don't want to soak?"
Why should I, a zombie, soak my feet? I won’t.
Xue Ling turned the page and felt some of the words she had just read forced into her brain and flowed out of her ears.
Wen Jiuze reached out and pinched Xue Ling's arm: "You've been outside in the cold wind all day, and your arm is frozen. Can I give it to you?"
Xue Ling thought about it and decided to do it. He put down the book and lay down.
Wen Jiuze's hands were very hot. He grabbed her arm, first kneading the joints, then moving them, and then kneading the arm muscles.
Xue Ling couldn't help but think of the process of beating beef and chicken when she used to cook, loosening the dead meat so that it would taste chewier.
When Wen Jiuze pinched her leg, Xue Ling recalled another scene.
Wen Jiuze had given her this massage before.
At that time, they were still in the ambiguous stage, and she decided to go for a night run for exercise, but her legs were sore from running.
People who didn't exercise much before suddenly started exercising and their legs became numb the next day and it was painful to even lift their legs.
Seeing that she was limping, Wen Jiuze was happy enough and offered to give her a massage.
They were in the rented house, in Xue Ling's bedroom. The curtains on the windows were drawn but not closed tightly, and they could hear the sound of people playing basketball at the nearby Normal University Stadium downstairs.
Wen Jiuze pinched her sore legs very experiencedly, but he was too heavy-handed. Xue Ling felt numb and sore from being pinched that she stepped on his stomach unable to bear it.
I accidentally stepped off the track and bumped into it several times. It felt soft and was vibrating in the center of my foot.
Wen Jiu was sitting cross-legged on the bed. He suddenly stopped and looked at her. Xue Ling realized what she had bumped into and raised her feet awkwardly, but he held them up again.
In that case, looking into each other's eyes is a sticky pull.
Xue Ling met his gaze like a magnet, the warm gaze moving from her eyes to her lips. She also looked at his lips, which slightly opened because of the remnant of a smile just now.
Her mind was blank, her fever was rising, and her breathing became particularly obvious. After she subconsciously shifted her sight, she saw his arm, pressed against the quilt, with obvious blue veins bulging.
She didn't react to why she raised her hand to touch the pulse there, and as soon as she touched it, Wen Jiuze came closer.
Kissing naturally.
Wen Jiuze grabbed her calf in his hand, and he pulled her over. Then, neither of them could control themselves. They stopped and rested, mainly Xue Ling. They kept making noise until late at night. The next day, Xue Ling was forced to take a leave and didn't go to class. She didn't participate in the student union activities. Of course, Wen Jiuze couldn't go to class either...
…
Okay, let’s stop reminiscing and continue thinking about the process of cooking and beating chicken in the kitchen.
Chicken, chicken...the muscles, the undulating muscle shapes are really beautiful.
Xue Ling, feeling guilty because of some adult memories, glanced at Wen Jiuze who was concentrating on patting his muscles, and suddenly grabbed the down quilt to wrap his head.
The next moment, Wen Jiuze suddenly pulled the quilt aside, and along with it the gradually changing memories were blown away.
"I've finished massaging you. It's your turn to massage me." He said, "Don't try to be lazy. Get up quickly."
Xue Ling: “…”
Xue Ling stood up and punched Wen Jiuze on the back.
It really ruins the atmosphere :)
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