As the New Year approached, the annual opportunity for family reunions seemed just around the corner for most people.
However, in late December, the novel coronavirus discovered in Jiangcheng City began to spread silently and rapidly in less than a month…
As research into the new virus deepened, its significant dangers were gradually uncovered, quickly drawing the attention of the higher authorities. As the location where the cases were first discovered, Jiangcheng City was hit the hardest. The Jiangcheng municipal government took immediate action, announcing a city-wide lockdown to prevent personnel from flowing to other cities and expanding the impact.
Major cities began to follow suit one after another…
This struggle, named “COVID,” had officially begun.
The girl hadn’t slept well last night, leading her to wake up exceptionally early today, her mind still a messy jumble. The image of that guy occupied her thoughts; she simply couldn’t suppress it.
She could clearly feel that Qin Nanfeng had wanted to say something to her yesterday—perhaps even do something. Maybe it was…
“…”
It was just a pity that it had been so coincidentally interrupted…
Even now, whenever Lin Xinyuan thought about it, she felt so shy she didn’t know what to do with herself.
And… yesterday, in her haste to chase that guy away, she had seemingly agreed to one of the “Smelly Blondie’s” conditions on a whim… To the point that when Qin Nanfeng sent her messages yesterday, she didn’t dare reply, fearing he would bring the matter up.
Thinking of this, she wanted to give herself a slap.
However, after touching her fair, delicate face, Lin Xinyuan decided to give up on that idea. This face should still have some charm, right? Maybe it’s still useful?
I’m at least decent-looking, right?
The girl’s head was full of conflict, and then, after thinking of something else, her face instantly turned beet-red.
After washing up, Lin Xinyuan did her best to spruce herself up, tidied her clothes, and stepped out of her room. Since it was far too early, she didn’t intend to wake her two cousins.
Mother Lin had left for work early; as expected, she was nowhere to be seen downstairs. Lin Xinyuan greeted her grandparents and sat at the dining table to have breakfast with them.
Distracted, Lin Xinyuan ate her fried dough sticks while scrolling through her phone. Her grandparents’ voices drifted into her ears; they seemed to be discussing the recently emerged pneumonia virus.
The two elders had lived through the SARS era and naturally understood how terrifying such a highly contagious virus could be. While Lin Xinyuan had been too young back then to have much of a memory of it, she had frequently seen information about it on short-video platforms lately and understood that the situation was likely quite grim.
Contagious, a high fatality rate, and currently no effective treatment. Just thinking about it made her feel terrified…
“Old lady, remember Old Li from the next village who used to be in the pig slaughtering business?”
“Oh, that old fellow who used to take you out to mess around? Why mention him?”
“Cough…” Her grandfather hadn’t expected his wife to remember that. Feeling a bit embarrassed, he glanced at his granddaughter, who was quietly eating breakfast and scrolling through her phone. Seeing no reaction from the girl, he felt relieved.
“I’m talking business, listen to me…”
This old woman! Bringing up my shortcomings in front of the younger generation…
Thankfully, it’s just my quiet and well-behaved granddaughter…
If the second son’s two brats were here, they’d probably interrogate me to the end!
What he didn’t know was that the “sensible granddaughter” in his eyes currently had her heart elsewhere, worrying about the safety of a “stinky man.”
Lin Xinyuan felt a bit panicked. She had just received a notification from her class counselor in the group chat.
Tianbei City was under lockdown…
As a first-tier city that was consistently at the top of the national economy, Tianbei had very frequent foot traffic. Such a situation was expected, but she hadn’t anticipated it happening so quickly, so suddenly…
That guy… his flight was in the early morning, right?
According to the news in her class chat, this information had just been released by the Tianbei government not long ago. That meant the Smelly Blondie might have already returned there.
It’s so dangerous. Nothing will happen to him, right? If he catches that thing…
Lin Xinyuan didn’t dare think further. Her heart grew more urgent as she began sending messages to ask him.
[Are you there?] [Where are you now?] [Did you go back to Tianbei?] […]
Lin Xinyuan sent several messages in a row, but there was still no response from the other side. Her heart tightened even more. She waited for a while, but the situation remained the same.
Meanwhile, the conversation beside her continued…
“It’s that Old Li. Doesn’t he have a very successful son? He used to come over often as a kid to play with our second son.”
Her grandmother realized: “Now that you mention it, I remember. Didn’t they say he was doing very well outside? In Jiangcheng?”
“Exactly!” Her grandfather nodded and continued, “His son was originally supposed to come back to Zhannan, but then this happened and the city was locked down. The situation seems very serious; who knows how long it will last? His whole family is trapped there, unable to return even if they wanted to!”
At this point, his grandfather felt somewhat lucky: “I heard from Old Li that the virus there is terrifying. Many people have died. It’s a real tragedy. The old man is worried sick; he even came to talk to me about it last night…”
“If you ask me, it’s a good thing Old Li was stubborn and the two of them refused to move there back then, otherwise their old bones wouldn’t have been able to handle the turmoil…”
“It’s that serious!”
Her grandmother was startled, reminded of the last SARS outbreak. Zhannan had many people infected back then, and though most recovered, they were inevitably left with severe aftereffects.
“Yes, they say it’s even worse than back then.” Her grandfather’s expression clouded with doubt, feeling worried about his eldest son who hadn’t returned yet. “At this rate of spread, who knows how long the peace will last…”
The more Lin Xinyuan heard, the more nervous she became. She quickened her pace, finished the dough stick in her hand, and while still chewing, didn’t even bother finishing her soy milk. She stood up abruptly: “Um… Grandpa, Grandma, I’m full…”
With that, she left quickly, moving in a hurry.
“Hey, Xiaoyuan, you didn’t finish your soy milk!”
Before her grandmother could call her back, the girl had already vanished. She sighed: “This girl… is there an emergency? Running so fast…”
Her grandfather was also a bit puzzled but didn’t think much of it, assuming Lin Xinyuan was just in a hurry to go play. The two elders continued their conversation…
On the other side, as soon as Lin Xinyuan returned to her room, she quickly shut the door and urgently dialed the phone.
Ring—
The dial tone rang out. Lin Xinyuan felt her heart beating violently, rising and falling with the sound. She waited anxiously; ten short seconds felt like years.
“Please pick up…” She gripped the hem of her clothes, her fingers turning white from the force. “Smelly Blondie…”
Finally, the dial tone stopped. Her face lit up with joy, and she spoke first: “Where are you right now?”
But the other side was silent. No sound came through, as if it were an accident; only the call timer continued to tick.
“Hello! Smelly Blondie!”
Lin Xinyuan’s heart sank. Her mood plummeted instantly. Hearing no response made her chest ache intensely and her mouth feel dry.
“Where are you…” “Tell me quickly!” “I know you want to tease me, stop joking around…” “…”
The girl’s voice began to tremble slightly with fear, asking repeatedly. As time passed and there was still no response, her eyes involuntarily moistened, and her voice gradually took on a sob: “Qin Nanfeng, speak… okay? Please respond to me… I’ll agree to anything. I’ll agree to whatever you wanted me to do yesterday…”
“Truly…”
The girl spoke incoherently, not knowing why she was crying. Even though she knew it might just be Qin Nanfeng doing it on purpose, she simply couldn’t calm down.
“Hehehe, really?”
A voice with a mischievous tone suddenly rang out. Lin Xinyuan didn’t react for a second, responding subconsciously: “Really!”
“Ah… you…” It was only then that Lin Xinyuan realized. Her face, tear-streaked and messy, lit up with joy again—she was both crying and laughing.
Then she immediately snapped out of it, and a wave of indignation surged in her heart…
“Smelly Blondie! You jerk! You’re playing me again! I… I’m never talking to you again!”