Apocalypse Chapter 4: Hometown 

Chapter 4: Hometown 

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

Idealism is beautiful, reality is cruel. Jiang Rong was busy building houses and stocking up goods at the moment. Where could he find the time to exercise? Over the next two days, he was busy confirming drawings with Li Bin, contacting the construction team with Chu Qiang, wishing for 48 hours in a day.

After two crazy busy days, on Saturday, March 9th, just as dawn broke, Jiang Rong set off towards his hometown. In many people’s hearts, their hometown is a warm place, with familiar relatives and friends, and familiar landscapes… Hometown is great in every aspect, except that it’s poor. Therefore, many people have to leave their hometowns and work in big cities.

However, Jiang Rong’s hometown was not poor. In fact, his hometown was in the scenic area on the outskirts of City D. The scenic area was famous for its artificial reservoir, and Jiang Rong’s hometown was on the mountain around the reservoir. His family also has seventy mu of hilltop land. Before he went to elementary school, he and his grandparents lived in a house on the mountain.

The car snaked along the cement road on the edge of the reservoir. March was a time of infinite spring, and the magnolia trees along the road were in full bloom. Seeing the familiar scenery, Jiang Rong couldn’t help but slow down.

There were some inconspicuous cement side roads on both sides of the highway. When the vehicle approached one of the side roads, Jiang Rong turned into it. The side road was only over two meters wide, just enough for one car to pass through.

After driving for four to five hundred meters along the winding cement road into the mountains, a quiet small mountain hollow appeared in front of him. There were scattered houses in the hollow, and most of the houses in the mountains were not dilapidated. At least most of the houses in the same hollow were beautifully renovated villas.

Jiang Rong’s hometown was halfway up the mountain in the northeast. Although it was not a three or four-story mansion, it was a very stylish courtyard. The house was square, and amidst the clusters of flowers, one could see the green tiles and black tiles of the roof.

The closer he got to his hometown, the faster Jiang Rong’s heart beat. After hesitating for a while, he opened the car door and walked towards the direction of the courtyard gate.

There was a large jujube tree at the southeast corner outside the courtyard gate. This jujube tree was carefully selected by his grandfather from the orchard for its good variety. Unfortunately, the jujube tree had not yet borne fruit when he was taken to City C by his parents. Since then, whenever the jujube was ripe, he was always entangled in various matters and couldn’t come back. Therefore, he had never tasted the jujube on the tree in his life.

However, he knew that the jujube on the tree was big, crispy, and sweet, with a better taste than the winter jujube on the market.

Touching the rough bark, Jiang Rong sighed, “We meet again.” This time rebuilding the house, he would instruct the workers to avoid the jujube tree and prepare enough fertilizer and insect repellent for it.

After reminiscing for a moment in front of the jujube tree, Jiang Rong’s gaze turned to the courtyard gate. The house had been renovated by his parents in recent years, as they had planned to retire and live in their hometown after retirement. However, after the house was renovated, his parents never spent a day living there.

When he came here in his past life, the courtyard gate had already been opened by someone. And now, the courtyard gate was still tightly closed, maintaining the appearance when the owners left.

Jiang Rong took a deep breath and took out the key from his pocket. After several attempts, the key finally entered the lock. With a click, the tightly closed gate could easily be pushed inward.

Standing inside the courtyard wall again, Jiang Rong felt a moment of trance. Looking around at the dry vines on the courtyard wall and listening to the sound of the wind passing through the gate, familiar voices echoed in his mind, “Rong Rong, come home——”

That was the voice of his grandparents calling him. When he was a child, he often played outside and didn’t return home. His grandparents would always stand outside the gate and call him loudly. In his most desperate moments in his past life, this call echoed in his mind, giving him a goal and direction to move forward. Although he couldn’t escape the gnawing of mutant rats in his past life, he was grateful to be able to die in a familiar place.

Passing through the shadow wall, Jiang Rong walked towards the main hall. The last time he came back was early last year, and the house had been uninhabited for a long time. Upon opening the door, a dusty smell greeted him.

There were only a few simple pieces of furniture inside the house, nothing much to tidy up. After searching around, Jiang Rong found an album in the cabinet. Opening it, the first picture inside was of a child laughing while holding a dog.

The child in the photo bore some resemblance to Jiang Xiaoheng. He was holding the neck of a small dog with one hand and waving to the camera with the other. This child was none other than himself as a child.

Seeing this picture, Jiang Rong couldn’t help but smile slightly. He didn’t even know they had taken such a cute photo of him. As he flipped through it, most of the photos inside were of his childhood, and the rest were photos of him with his grandparents. Each photo was carefully sealed, and after many years, the colors of the photos were still vibrant.

Modern people rely on electronic products, and most prefer to keep photos in computers or phones, taking them out to look at when they want. Albums, which are time-consuming and laborious, seem to have long been obsolete, but they are the most precious memories left by deceased elders. As he flipped through the album, Jiang Rong vaguely recalled the fun of his childhood, and the smile on his lips grew deeper and deeper.

Just as Jiang Rong was reminiscing about the past with the album in his arms, the sound of a car horn came from outside. He closed the album in surprise and checked the time, not expecting that it was already time for him to meet with the construction team.

The first to arrive were three excavators. After confirming the positions that needed to be excavated, the excavator masters entered work mode.

The shadow wall collapsed with a bang, and Jiang Rong’s heart was filled with mixed feelings. In his past life, he had destroyed their house like this, and he truly felt reluctant. But thinking that a stronger house would soon be built here, his reluctance quickly faded away.

The quiet little mountain hollow became noisy with the arrival of the excavators, but apart from startling a few birds and beasts, it did not attract any human onlookers. There were no people in the nearby beautiful houses. Although the scenery here was beautiful, life was inconvenient. Compared to living here, everyone preferred to live in more convenient places with better transportation for work and school.

Jiang Rong didn’t know how long it took to build this house, but he knew that an hour later, the house no longer looked the same. Just as he was admiring the efficiency of the excavators, he heard Chu Qiang’s voice behind him, “Xiao Jiang!”

Jiang Rong turned his head and looked at Chu Qiang with surprise, “Qiang? Why are you here?”

Chu Qiang glanced at the construction site and said, “I brought my parents back. It’s my second uncle’s seventh day today. I thought since I’m back, I’d come and see how things are going on your side. The progress is quite fast. I thought we wouldn’t start until tomorrow.” 

Jiang Rong remembered that at the end of last year, Chu Qiang’s second uncle passed away, so their whole family didn’t have a good New Year. He didn’t expect the seventh day to come so quickly. Time really flies.

Just as they had chatted for a few moments, Jiang Rong’s phone rang. Opening it, Jiang Xiaoheng’s teary, chubby face appeared on the screen. Jiang Xiaoheng’s watery eyes were brimming with tears, his chubby baby face flushed, tears streaming down his cheeks as he spoke, “Daddy…”

At the same time, a strange female voice came from the phone, “Mr. Jiang, your baby is crying and looking for you. I don’t know what to do. Could you please help comfort him?”

Chu Qiang perked up his ears, “What’s going on?”

Jiang Rong whispered, “I’m a bit busy, there’s no one to take care of Xiaoheng, so I asked a nanny for help…”

Jiang Rong’s hometown, where he was stocking up and building houses, was hundreds of miles away, a three-hour one-way trip from City C. If he commuted every day, he would spend six hours on the road alone. It wasn’t practical to travel back and forth every day. When things piled up, he simply didn’t have the time to take care of Jiang Xiaoheng.

So, after much thought, he hired a nanny a couple of days ago to take care of Xiaoheng. Seeing how happy Xiaoheng was with the nanny these past two days, he felt at ease leaving. But before half a day had passed, his son was already looking for him.

Seeing the tears on his son’s cheeks, Jiang Rong felt helpless and heartbroken, “Xiaoheng, how did you promise Daddy this morning? Who said Xiaoheng was a brave boy who would take good care of Lele and the nanny?”

Jiang Xiaoheng sobbed pitifully, “Daddy, I did want to. But you’re not home, and I’m so scared. When are you coming back? I miss you so much.”

Jiang Rong rubbed his temples in frustration, “Daddy won’t be back until tonight.”

Jiang Xiaoheng pouted, tears falling like broken beads again, “But it’s still a long time until tonight. Daddy, can you come back now?”

Facing others, Jiang Rong could be cold-hearted. But when it came to his child on the screen, he couldn’t even scold him loudly. It took him a lot of effort to comfort his son.

Just as he hung up the phone, he saw Chu Qiang laughing so hard he was shaking, hiding to the side. He mimicked Jiang Rong’s tone, “Good boy, Daddy will come back and make you delicious food~ Good boy~”

Jiang Rong raised his foot to kick, but Chu Qiang agilely dodged. After a bout of teasing, Chu Qiang became serious, “Xiao Jiang, I have an idea. Why don’t I ask my parents to help take care of Xiaoheng?” Chu Qiang was confident, “You see, my parents are both retired and have nothing to do at home all day. Taking care of a child is nothing for them. Besides, my house isn’t far from yours. My parents can pick up Xiaoheng on a little donkey.”

Chu Qiang’s uncle was a senior engineer, and Chu Qiang was following in his father’s footsteps. Chu Qiang’s aunt used to be an accountant but took early retirement. These two old folks were careful and kind, making them the perfect choice to take care of Jiang Xiaoheng.

But Jiang Rong hesitated, “Wouldn’t it be too much trouble for your uncle and aunt?”

Although Chu Qiang’s parents and his own parents were old friends, he hadn’t seen the two old folks for a long time since his parents had had trouble. He couldn’t even visit them during holidays. Now he was going to hand his child over to them… He felt quite embarrassed.

Chu Qiang waved his hand, “You don’t know, my parents are bored at home. I’m afraid they’ll get sick from being too idle. Xiaoheng is a good child. With him around, he can bring some joy to my parents.”

As he spoke, Chu Qiang called his dad directly. After a few words, he hung up with a big smile, “What did I say? My mom is about to go to City C to pick up Xiaoheng.”

In his past life, after struggling through a crisis, Jiang Rong had become accustomed to people calculating against each other. It had been a long time since he had felt such pure kindness. For a moment, his heart was filled with mixed feelings, and all sorts of emotions gathered in his chest, converging into the simplest words, “Thank you.”

Chu Qiang waved it off, “What’s there to thank? Don’t be so polite. You’ve helped me a lot before, and I haven’t said thank you to you.”

After joking around for a while, Jiang Rong remembered something, “By the way, do you have a reliable fitness trainer to recommend to me? I want to work on my muscles.”

As soon as the words fell, Chu Qiang’s eyes lit up, “Xiao Jiang, are you finally going to rise up?! You’ve found the right person for this. I know everything about the gyms from the south to the north of City C. Why do you need a fitness trainer? Just come to me. Follow my lead, and I guarantee you’ll have a perfect body in less than a year.”

As he spoke, Chu Qiang rolled up his sleeves to show off his strong muscles to Jiang Rong, “See that? My muscles are top-notch!”

Jiang Rong chuckled, “Stop kidding, I’m serious. Besides, don’t you have to go to work?”

At the mention of work, Chu Qiang wilted like a frostbitten eggplant, his whole person drooping, “Yeah, I have to go to work.” Although his job was relatively easy, and he could sometimes take on some side gigs, he couldn’t ignore it when his boss called.

After some thought, Chu Qiang patted Jiang Rong’s shoulder, “It’s okay. I’ll recommend a few reliable gyms to you later. But let me make it clear in advance, when you go to the gym, you can’t be seduced by anyone. Especially the fitness trainers, their personal lives are messy, they like young literary youths like you who are not worldly-wise.”

Jiang Rong:… At this point, how could he have the leisure to think about romantic affairs?

 

 

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