Countdown: Humanity's struggle to survive against yesterday

"Knock knock knock..."

"Knock knock knock..."

Jiang Ning couldn't stand the constant knocking at the door any longer, so she finally left the guest room, walked barefoot through the living room, and opened the bedroom door.

"dad……"

When the door opened, he was instantly dumbfounded.

There were four people standing at the door. Jiang Hua was at the front, Sun Fumin and Jiang Yuan were on the left and right, and Zhang Jimin was at the back.

"Woof woof woof..."

"Woof woof woof..."

Lu Xue was standing at the elevator door, secretly watching this side, but unexpectedly, "Milk," who had just quieted down, suddenly started barking wildly after Jiang Ning opened the door.

"Shut up, you damn dog!"

Lu Xue hurriedly grabbed the dog's leash and pulled it towards home, but the Bichon Frise kept rushing forward and barking wildly at the door of 2102.

This sight caused the five people at the door to look over simultaneously.

Lu Xue blushed, shrank back, and quickly raised her hand to her forehead and bowed. "I'm so sorry, Brother Jiang, I'm really sorry. I'll take it downstairs right away. What a damn dog...hehe."

Sun Fumin shrugged and chuckled, "Even dogs are shy around strangers, probably because we're complete strangers!"

After saying that, he looked at Jiang Ning with excitement: "Ha, Xiao Ning, you didn't expect this, did you? We've come to see you!"

Distracted, Jiang Ning snapped out of his reverie and met Jiang Hua's eyes again, only to find that the other man had a calm expression and showed little emotion.

"elder brother……"

Jiang Yuan's eyes reddened, and he quickly squeezed in front of Jiang Hua, complaining, "Brother, why didn't you contact the family! Do you know how much Mom and Dad miss you? And who cut your hair? It's awful!"

"I……"

Faced with this question, Jiang Ning suddenly didn't know how to answer.

"Alright, Ningzi, let's go inside and talk about what the work is!"

As Zhang Jimin spoke, he gently pushed the group from behind into the house. After they entered, he looked back at Lu Xue, who was still standing in the aisle, and the Bichon Frise that was still barking wildly. He waved and then closed the door.

"Wow, Xiao Ning, is this a doghouse?"

As Sun Fumin stepped into the room, he felt that the air was particularly foul and a damp smell hit him.

When the lights were turned on, three bags of trash were found piled up in the entryway. Further into the living room, the coffee table, the most conspicuous spot in the room, was covered with all sorts of leftover food.

There was a shoe on one side of the living room floor and a pile of books on the other, with clothes also scattered haphazardly on the books and sofa.

"Oh my god, Ningzi, you really don't tidy up! Even if you don't tidy up, you should at least ventilate the room regularly!"

Zhang Jimin was stunned by what he saw. He remembered that the last time he came, the house was exquisite and cozy. How come it had turned into a doghouse after half a year?

As Zhang Jimin was speaking, he went to the balcony to unzip the sliding door, but he was stunned when he opened the curtains.

The balcony was piled with clutter: cabinets, chairs, boxes of odds and ends, a dining table, and mostly bulging black plastic bags, the contents of which were unknown.

"Oh my god, Ningzi, are you trying to cultivate immortality?!"

Sun Fumin remained dumbfounded upon seeing this scene. "Ningzi, the toilet is over there. I'll go open the window."

When Jiang Ning heard Sun Fumin's question, his face turned red, and he quickly said, "You guys sit down and rest first, I'll go open the windows to let some fresh air in."

But after saying that, her eyes caught sight of the pile of dirty clothes on the sofa, and her face turned even redder. She quickly went over to tidy up the clothes.

"Brother, let me help you..."

Seeing this, Jiang Yuan's eyes reddened even more, and he quickly choked up as he stepped forward to help.

Jiang Ning noticed that Jiang Yuan had grown taller and was only wearing a thin sweatshirt, and wanted to ask him with concern, "Are you cold?"

But the words that were about to come out of his mouth changed to, "Okay!"

"Let us help!"

Sun Fumin and Zhang Jimin exchanged a glance, and then the two began to help tidy up the rest of the house.

Jiang Hua remained silent. After lighting a cigarette and taking a deep drag, he held it behind his back and paced back and forth in the room. His eyes showed little emotion, as if he had expected this all along, but his hands behind his back trembled occasionally.

Jiang Hua strolled into the restaurant and saw a clean little altar in the corner. He walked over slowly and quietly looked at the black and white photos displayed on the altar.

The photo shows a young girl holding a paintbrush, turning her head and smiling brightly. In the foreground is a drawing board, and further away, because the photo is black and white, it is impossible to tell whether it is sunrise or sunset.

It was a long time before Jiang Hua finally came to his senses, when the fireworks were so hot they burned his hands.

He stubbed out his cigarette, looked around, then turned back to look at the four people who were busy tidying up, and finally put the cigarette butt into his coat pocket.

At the same time, he casually took out a lighter from his pocket, pulled out three incense sticks from the incense box next to the altar, lit them quickly, and without bowing, neatly inserted them into the incense burner.

An hour later, the house was finally cleaned up.

Jiang Yuan volunteered to go downstairs to throw out the trash, and Sun Fumin offered to help him. Zhang Jimin glanced at Jiang Hua, slapped his forehead, and quickly added, "Let's go downstairs together and buy some groceries to show off our cooking skills."

After the three left, only Jiang Ning and Jiang Hua remained in the room.

Jiang Ning saw the three of them leave. Jiang Hua, who was sitting on the sofa, hurriedly rummaged through the coffee table drawer and pulled out a box of tea leaves. He wanted to brew a cup of tea for his father, but when he saw that the tea leaves were expired, he hurriedly went to find other tea leaves.

"Don't bother, I'll just have some plain water."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Ning froze for a moment. He could only take out a clean bowl, pour a bowl of plain water for his father, and then sit down on the sofa to the side.

Neither of them spoke for a moment, and the atmosphere became awkward.

After a long silence, Jiang Ning spoke first: "How is my mother?"

"That's good... Oh, by the way, your mom also asked me to bring you a bottle of sesame oil!"

As he spoke, Jiang Hua quickly got up to find his bag, rummaged through it and pulled out a large bottle of sesame oil, which he then placed on the coffee table.

Jiang Ning looked at the bottle of sesame oil packaged in a large Coke bottle and felt a pang of sadness for no apparent reason.

"This sesame oil was pressed after the Lantern Festival, and it smells amazing. It'll be perfect for making a cucumber salad when summer comes."

After Jiang Hua finished speaking, seeing that Jiang Ning didn't respond, he quickly added, "Hehe, we might not be able to wait until this summer, but it doesn't matter, summer will always come."

"Dad, how did you get to Shanghai? The roads must have been difficult to navigate!"

Jiang Ning suddenly interrupted her father, unable to bear their awkward conversation any longer, and asked the question that had been nagging at her.

"you do not know?"

As Jiang Hua spoke, he looked up at his son intently, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

"I……"

Jiang Ning was taken aback by the question. She looked around and, finding no phone, apologized, "I really don't know."

He paused, then continued, "To be honest, when the world first started regressing, I was quite excited and did go out for a few days. But then I felt completely bored and never wanted to go out again..."

"Why?" Jiang Hua lit a cigarette for himself and asked.

Jiang Ning hadn't expected her father to ask such a direct question.

After indulging in his thoughts for a while, he chuckled to himself, reached for his father's cheap cigarettes on the table, and, completely unconcerned about Jiang Hua's surprise, lit one for himself as well.

After lighting his cigarette, he followed his father's example and took a deep drag.

After finishing his cigarette, he still didn't say anything.

Jiang Hua looked at him quietly without asking any questions, and the two fell silent again.

After a long silence, until he was almost finished with his cigarette, Jiang Ning still didn't answer the question. Instead, he suddenly said, "Dad, I have a secret to tell you..."