Chapter 3: Busy Farming in the Last Days

Ji Cha was thinking if he had received this very heart-warming text message when he lost his mobile phone when he rushed to the train station ten years ago. He only knew that this time after he hung up Wang Qin’s phone call, he had made two completely different paths from his previous life.

Although he knew he still had to go through this all over again, he was grateful to the Ji Cha who managed to survive for ten years and able to come back for the second chance.

Ji Cha let out a long sigh of relief, then slipped his mobile phone into his trouser pocket, found the dusty suitcase he had placed under the bed and began to pack his things.

If the end of the world comes as expected this time, then there are only two months left, and every minute and every second is a countdown. Putting aside many tedious preparations in the middle, Ji Cha knows that the first step she should do is to leave his current city G and return to his hometown S city, so as not to get stuck in this dead city after the virus outbreak. It’s been four or five years since he left S city.

In addition, there is one very crucial factor that influenced his decision to return to S city. Even after the initial outbreak, the city was able to withstand the sudden blow and remain standing with the characteristics of a modern society. For example, original residents who never fled after the outbreak were able to keep their homes, and real estate was not severely deprived under the orders of the army.

Ji Cha and Wang Qinxue returned to the base in S City because Ji Cha had an opportunity to meet an old neighbor, who let his basement to Ji Cha for a much lower price than the base rent, and it was also close to the army base. The old neighbor, Mr. Zhong, assured him that he and Wang Qinxue could stay there comfortably, settle down, and fill their belly.

Ji Cha’s family was in S city, and he grew up in the suburbs of S city with his grandmother. Although his father is an adulterer, he has a very good relationship with his mother, and the two have worked hard to accumulate some assets over the years. It’s a pity that his father and mother died so young; they passed away one after another when Ji Cha was fifteen and eighteen respectively.

The two left a set of more than one hundred square meters of real estate, five hundred thousand yuan in deposits, and a small factory in the suburbs of S City. The factory is a small workshop. It has been built for more than ten years. It makes textile products and employs some local village and town workers. The land it is on is not large, and the workshop is not as big as the open space in the yard. The factory building is a two-story building with an area barely reaching 1,000 square meters. The open space, which is encircled on all sides by walls, is approximately 1,500 square meters.

He wasn’t sure how the factory was used after the end of the world, but he did know that it was within the sphere of S city base center, and if he could return home on the right time and make good use of the factory area, he would have a place to stay, as well as a source of income.

In addition, Ji Cha’s only remaining family, his grandmother, is 67 years old this year. She is still alive and well. She has been living in her home village, about ten kilometers away from the factory. After the last apocalyptic outbreak, Ji Cha was unable to return home and missed the reunion with his grandmother. He heard from Mr. Zhong that his grandmother did not get infected after the outbreak of the virus. She lived for two years before she died accidentally. She waited for Ji Cha to return home until her death.

Thinking of his grandmother, Ji Cha suddenly came back to his senses. He took out his mobile phone and dialed a bunch of numbers that were already vague in his memory.

After waiting for a long time, there was a click from the other side, and the handle of the landline was picked up.

“Hello?” A warm female voice reached his ear, “who is it?”

Grandma didn’t have good eyesight and couldn’t see the number displayed on the old landline.

Ji Cha squeezed the phone tightly, resisted the sore nose and the emotions in his heart, and called out, “Grandma, it’s me.”

“Chacha,” Grandma replied happily, but feeling a little strange, “Didn’t you just call yesterday and say you are going for an internship? Why are you calling again? Did something happen over there?”

Apart from Grandma Ji Cha’s voice, there was also indistinct noises from others on the other end of the phone in the background.

Ji Cha sniffed and asked as he vaguely heard curses, “grandma, what’s going on?”

Grandma laughed and thought the current situation was interesting. She said in dialect-flavored Mandarin, “It’s nothing, your Aunt Fengxian’s house had two chickens dead yesterday. If it was me, I would just throw it away. Who knows how they died, isn’t that right? But she just refused, and the chicken that had just been plugged and boiled suddenly jumped up and pecked at her, almost hitting her eyes. She became so angry and chopped off the chicken’s head, but the heads still moved. This is something you could only see on TV.”

In the eyes of the elderly and the villagers, this is just an interesting and thrilling event, but Ji Cha’s heart was slightly choked.

This is a terrible omen.

“Grandma, don’t care about these things. Watch the TV at home. I’m coming home tomorrow night.” Ji Cha tried to use a calm tone as much as possible.

Grandma on the phone was startled, “Aren’t you going for an internship?”

“Well, I’m not going anymore.”

Ji Cha didn’t explain the reason, and grandma didn’t ask. It didn’t bother her at all. Instead, she was happy that her grandson was coming home. “That’s the best. When will you arrive? By train or by plane?”

“I don’t know yet. Don’t wait for me. Close the doors and windows tightly at night. I will open the door myself; I have the key.”

“I see. Be careful on your way.”

Ji Cha hung up the phone, but before he could exhale a sigh of relief, he heard an unexpected knock on the entry door without warning, breaking the tranquility of the room.

“Classmate Ji Cha?” The knock on the door was patient and polite, as was the voice.

The whole floor is almost empty, who would come to him suddenly?

Ji Cha approached the door with caution and asked, “who is it?”

“At the music building just now, you walked in a hurry and forgot the snacks.” The behavior that made Ji Cha feel embarrassed in retrospect turned out to be very natural in his mouth when the outsider spoke in a calm tone.

Ji Cha opened the door slightly from the inside, creating a small gap. The light in the corridor was dim. The natural light from the gap fell on Liang Jincheng’s face, reflecting his indifference with a sense of isolation, and the corners of his tightly pressed lips also indicate that he is in a tense mood.

From Liang Jincheng’s perspective, Ji Cha’s eyes exposed in the crack of the door looked up and down at him, and when they fell on his shoulders, Liang Jincheng couldn’t help but wonder if he was standing straight. When they fell on his eyes, he was worried whether he had properly concealed the hot emotions inside.

After all, more than one friend told him: The look in your eyes peeking at Ji Cha is outrageous!

Finally, when Ji Cha’s gaze swept his neck inadvertently, Liang Jincheng only prayed in his heart that he would not notice his inability to suppress his dry mouth and swallowing saliva.

Ji Cha’s mood is much calmer now than when he was under the music building. He was relieved of his initial uneasiness and anxiety after thinking about it clearly. He moved to the side to let Liang Jincheng pass, and he thanked him politely, “Thank you.” He originally wanted to call him a classmate, but looking at Liang Jincheng’s attire, he couldn’t be a student still in school.

Ji Cha had no idea how Liang Jincheng knew his name or which dormitory he was in. Even if he thought about it, he’d probably only think it was because of the less dedicated auntie downstairs, and not because Liang Jincheng had been secretly spying on him for a long time.

Liang Jincheng happily entered the dormitory with Ji Cha’s permission, and his gaze quickly swept across the four beds in the dormitory. Only one of the higher bunks in the corner is still piled with quilts, since three of the four beds have folded up the quilts, it’s clear that someone has recently slept on it.

Ji Cha slept in this bed … Liang Jincheng clenched his fists and barely held back the trembling as he felt compelled to throw everything he had in his hands on the ground and roll around on Ji Cha’s bed, embrace the quilt he used, breathe in his scent, and simply succumb to the illusion he’d lived out so many times: he slept on Ji Cha’s bed. (T/N: ML, you’re being a little scary there.)

Ji Cha didn’t know what was on Liang Jincheng’s mind. When he turned around and saw that Liang Jincheng was frowning and looking at his bed, Ji Cha thought that the other party liked cleanliness and despised his messiness. After all, Liang Jincheng’s whole body exudes an excessively clean and self-disciplined breath of abstinence.

But, at the moment, Jicha is too lazy to make his bed for the sake of giving a good impression to outsiders. Compared to Liang Jincheng, what he values more is the four bags of snacks that Liang Jincheng is holding in his hands.

“Sorry to trouble you.” Seeing that Liang Jincheng had no intention of handing things over, Ji Cha took the initiative to reach out and grab them, inevitably encountering Liang Jincheng’s hand in the middle.

Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com.

Liang Jincheng’s hand shrank suddenly, looking back at Ji Cha almost astonished.

Ji Cha, “???”

Realizing that his reaction was too strange, Liang Jincheng immediately converged and turned the topic away naturally, “My name is Liang Jincheng, and I also graduated from the Chinese Department.”

Ji Cha was taken aback, as if shocked, his hand subconsciously grabbed Liang Jincheng’s arm. He couldn’t believe it, “Liang Jincheng, class of 2009 Liang Jincheng?”

Ji Cha’s reaction was beyond Liang Jincheng’s expectation; his heart felt as if a big pot of honey had been poured from the sky, and the feeling was so sweet that he was almost speechless.

“I am.” Liang Jincheng’s face did not change, but the depths of his eyes were turbulent.

Ji Cha’s surprise does not come from the enviable reputation of Liang Jincheng that has been circulating for a long time in school or after graduation. To be honest, he had forgotten about a lot of people from his college days after ten years.

The reason why he still remembers Liang Jincheng at this moment is because of his fame after the end of the world of being a leader of half of S city base.

After spending the last few years in the S city base, the only thing he knew about the man was that Liang Jincheng had also lived in G city and they both studied the same major in different grades at the same university. He didn’t know why Liang Jincheng came to S city base half a year after the end of the world and hasn’t left since. But it wasn’t something someone like Ji Cha could find out.

Wang Qinxue sighed in agreement with him about life’s uncertainties.

Their seniors may have appeared to be average students at school, but their final fate was very different.

Ji Cha had not expected the big shot to be here at this moment and had the chance to meet him with this seemingly nonsensical opportunity.

Liang Jincheng felt the palm of Ji Cha’s hand on his arm through the thin fabric. His whole body was as through it was going through an electric shock. He almost passed out from excitement on the spot, leaving only a thought: Oh my god, I really want to sleep with him.

🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺

Translator has something to say: didn’t I warn y’all ahead that ML is creepy? Lol he’ll get better I promise.