Chapter 79 Beijing Ruins - 15 The two of them had eaten...
After lunch, the two began making their bed. Tang Bufan took out a soft measuring tape to measure the length of the booth sofa, which was indeed 1.5 meters wide. So he asked Lu Yi to cut it to 1.5 meters wide as well, so that it would be neat.
Lu Yi waited for him to draw the lines with a pencil, then picked up the chainsaw and started cutting the wood. Tang Bufan helped him by stabilizing the planks. After the planks were cut, they were stood upright against the RV.
He has become stronger now, and he can lift such heavy planks by himself.
Neither of them had ever done carpentry before, but a bed is an easy piece of furniture to make. They discussed and worked together to build the bed frame. During this process, they both found it very interesting and enjoyed the fun of doing handicrafts.
After the frame was set up, Tang Bufan took a hammer and started nailing the bed board, while Lu Yi continued to use a chainsaw to cut wood and make shelves.
The deserted city of Beijing was quiet, except for the banging noise from their place. At two o'clock in the afternoon, it started snowing again. The two of them continued to work in the snow. There was no one or any animals around them. It seemed as if they were the only two people left in the vast world.
Lu Yi enjoyed this feeling of solitude. He would occasionally look up at Tang Bufan hammering nails, his heart full. He used to live a life of luxury, lacking nothing, yet he felt very empty. Now that he was wandering, he clearly lacked nothing, yet he was very happy.
Tang Bufan filled everything.
"Teacher," Lu Yi suddenly called out to Tang Bufan.
"Hmm?" Tang Bufan knelt on the half-nailed wooden bed and looked up. His body and hair were covered with a thin layer of snow. His long black hair was draped behind him. His skin was as white as cream, but his lips were very red in the winter. Behind him was a gray and desolate city, but his eyes seemed to hold a vast starry sky.
Looking at him like this, Lu Yi sincerely said, "I can spend my whole life with you like this."
Tang Bufan was slightly taken aback, then mocked him: "Don't you find this life hard?"
Tang Bufan didn't know what kind of life Lu Yi had lived before, but for him, who came from the 21st century, surviving in the apocalypse was very difficult. Even finding food was a struggle, and washing one's face and taking a bath became a luxury.
"I feel very fulfilled." Lu Yi smiled and looked at him tenderly, "I am very satisfied with being with you."
“…Silly boy.” Tang Bufan smiled faintly, then bent down and took out a new nail from the nail box, thinking that teenagers are just so romantic.
This wasn't the first time Tang Bufan had commented on Lu Yi like this; Lu Yi could never quite figure out what Tang meant by "fool."
Seeing Tang Bufan start hammering nails again, Lu Yi lowered his eyes slightly and then continued sawing the wood.
The two made the bed before nightfall. Kai opened the door of the unloading truck, and Lu carefully carried the items in, avoiding the kitchen, and placed them against the wall next to the booth sofa.
The location was perfect; the three-meter-wide carriage was half bed and half aisle. To make the aisle space more spacious, Tang Bufan asked Lu Yi to remove the folding table and chairs nailed to the wall.
It was dark outside, but the RV lights came on, and the two of them nailed shelves to the wall together in the warm light. The RV walls were very thick, after all, it was a modified armored vehicle, and the rows of wooden boards nailed on were very sturdy.
As a result, the layout of the entire RV was completely changed, with storage area, bed, dining area with booth seating, kitchen and bathroom, and miscellaneous storage area arranged from front to back.
Looking at the brand-new RV, Tang Bufan was filled with emotion. Wolverine and Eberron were gone, and so was he himself. Now even the RV looked brand new.
"Our skills are really good." Tang Bufan stood shoulder to shoulder with Lu Yi, laughing as he gently bumped into him.
"I'll apply the wood wax oil." Lu Yi was also very satisfied. After most of the furniture was made of solid wood, the RV suddenly had a simple, rustic style.
Wood wax oil is moisture-proof and stain-resistant, and it will make the furniture look better after being applied. Tang Bufan nodded and walked outside.
"I'll cook."
There was a pile of wood scraps on the ground outside, so a fire could be started quickly. Tang Bufan skewered the wolf meat onto the grill when he suddenly noticed a gaze. He looked up and saw a wild dog staring at him in the darkness, seemingly attracted by the aroma of the meat.
The man and the dog faced off. Tang Bufan slowly retreated back into the RV. Because he felt that the dog looked a bit sick and might bite, Lu Yi keenly turned his head and looked over, then switched jobs with Tang Bufan.
"Teacher, you brush on the oil, I'll grill the meat." Lu Yi said. Because they were all outside today, Kai Ge hadn't turned on the heater in the carriage. He had originally thought of letting Tang Bufan warm himself by the fire, but it was still too dangerous outside.
Tang Bufan picked up the wood wax oil he had placed on the shelf and continued brushing the wooden boards, thinking to himself that he would check how many bullets he had left. Before he could become completely stronger, he still needed a gun for protection.
After Lu Yi left, the stray dog ran away. Tang Bufan then carefully oiled the frame and bed in the carriage. He felt the smell was a bit strong, and the oil would take at least a day or two to dry.
In that case, I still can't sleep in the bed tonight.
"How about we find somewhere else to sleep tonight?"
After the meat was roasted, Tang Bufan and Lu Yi sat around the fire and suggested to him, "Let's open the windows of the RV to let the smell dissipate."
Lu Yi thought for a moment, then looked at the furniture store not far away in the darkness: "Let's go inside? And look for what we need while we're at it."
Tang Bufan was just thinking of adding some furniture, and Anderson had thrown away a lot of the tableware in the RV, so he nodded: "Then we'll go after we finish eating."
"Xiao Tang, look for a replacement light bulb," Kai Ge suddenly interjected. "The RV's lights are about due for replacement."
The two men by the fire turned to look at the dim lights in the RV, and then they made a note of it.
After they had eaten their fill, Tang Bufan picked up a long log from the fire to use as a torch, while Lu Yi rolled up some animal hides from the cart and went with Tang Bufan to sleep in the abandoned shopping mall.
Kai drove the RV behind the two of them until it could no longer move forward.
Following the stopped elevator upwards, the two first found a shop with less dust, which seemed to be a decoration company. There was a glass wall that allowed them to see Kai Ge downstairs. Lu Yi thought it was a good place to sleep, so he put the animal skin on the ground.
The two then wandered around the dark mall and found a lighting store. They discovered that many of the lights had been taken, probably by survivors like them looking for replacement bulbs.
However, there were still many lights left, and the two even discussed the design. The RV's headlight was an old light tube, but Lu Yi said he could connect the wires to the location Tang Bufan wanted.
"Then let's move it to the dining table," Tang Bufan said. "The dining table is currently positioned in the middle of the carriage, which will make it convenient for us to sit there when we eat or discuss matters."
"As for the dining area..." Lu Yi glanced at the dusty lamps in the darkness and pointed to a beautiful and antique chandelier: "How about this? It matches the style of our RV quite well."
“The chandelier… won’t work.” Tang Bufan thought to himself that he was indeed a romantic: “If the car makes a sharp turn, the lights will swing like a pendulum.”
“…Oh right.” Lu Yi realized belatedly.
"You only care about aesthetics, not practicality." Tang Bufan pointed to a square wooden-framed ceiling light: "This one will match our RV."
"Okay." Lu Yi then happily reached out and took the lamp down.
Afterwards, the two moved two folding chairs and a set of antique tableware, all of which were unwanted items in the apocalypse.
Tang Bufan felt that was enough; too much stuff would increase the RV's fuel consumption, so there was no need to bring unnecessary items.
The two then took their belongings back to the renovation company, laid out animal skins on the floor near the glass wall, and lay down to sleep.
Having been in the apocalypse for so long, Tang Bufan rarely left the RV to sleep outdoors, while the decoration company was much larger and more spacious than the RV, so lying down there was no different from sleeping in the lobby.
Although Lu Yi closed the door, the overly spacious area still made Tang Bufan feel a little uneasy. Fortunately, Lu Yi let him sleep inside and hugged him with his body, which made him feel safe again.
Both of them lay on their sides facing the glass wall, looking outside. The vast city of Beijing was hidden in darkness, and the outlines of dilapidated buildings could be vaguely seen. Snow was falling heavily, and the world was quiet.
Both of them actually felt an eerie sense of peace in this post-apocalyptic wasteland.
A building suddenly collapsed, which was witnessed by the two of them. Tang Bufan, nestled in Lu Yi's arms, let out an "Ah!" and watched as the dark shadow of the building shrank down with a rumbling sound.
"The building collapsed!"
"The building collapsed."
"It looks really tall, it must be an office building."
"It's already quite remarkable that this altitude has been maintained for a thousand years."
Tang Bufan sighed, "I don't know how many people worked here... Now everyone is gone."
Lu Yi hugged Tang Bufan, tightening his arms around him: "It would be great if we were here."
Tang Bufan placed his hand on Lu Yi's arm from inside the animal skin blanket, feeling inexplicably melancholy.
"Um."
The two looked at the desolate night scene and slowly fell asleep.
The next morning, Lu Yi woke up first, but since they were sleeping in the mall, he didn't rush to get up. He waited until Tang Bufan woke up before getting up to pack his things.
They should head to Taicheng.
Tang Bufan was still curled up on the floor. He sat up, wrapped himself in a fluffy animal skin blanket, and continued to look at the desolate city scene. He let Lu Yi clean up without any qualms. Only after his head had cleared up did he stand up from the cold air.
The weather was nice today. Yesterday's heavy snow had thinned the clouds. After Tang Bufan returned to the car, he felt that the sun might come out, so he took a broom made of tree branches and swept the snow off the roof of the car.
Lu Yi was preparing breakfast in the carriage. Tang Bufan originally wanted him to go to the mall to find brooms and mops, but after thinking about it, he felt it wasn't necessary. The broom made of tree branches was quite useful, so he gave up on the idea.
After the snow on the car roof was cleared, the sky indeed cleared up and the clouds parted, but the beams of light did not shine on them, but rather on the distance.
Tang Bufan got off the roof of the car and, after a long time, sat in the driver's seat with Lu Yi.
The RV started, its heavy wheels grinding through the snow, slowly carrying the two of them out of Beijing.
Tang Bufan tapped the glass screen in front of him, revealing a map leading to Taicheng.
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