Chapter 84 - Foster Parents
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nIn Xu Qiuyu’s mind, Nie Yi was still completely unaware that currently, he and Qi Jingchen had just arrived at the village where Qi Jingchen’s foster parents lived.
nThis village was close to a mountain, and the bottom of the mountain had several rows of tall and short buildings of various shapes. Surrounding these buildings were large farmland.
nQi Jingchen remembered that in the past, even if it was winter, the field would have crops like winter wheat. But now, under the greyish snow, there were various plants that had long rotted since no one had harvested them.
n“Nie shao, Qi shao, we’ve already cleared out the zombies in the village; there are still survivors here!” someone ran over; it was the person who had been dispatched in advance.
nQi Yaoyao, Qi Weiguo, and the others rushed out almost immediately, but Qi Jingchen did not move. Not long after, he heard Qi Yaoyao’s pained sobs from outside.
nQi Jingchen got out of his car and entered the two-storey building he had lived in for several years, then went up the stairs.
nOn the second floor of this building, in Qi Jingchen’s foster parents’ room, Qi Yaoyao was crying, and weren’t the two killed zombies lying on the floor precisely his foster parents?
nThe Qi parents’ bedroom had a very sturdy door; the two did not turn into level two zombies, and therefore were unable to leave the room. But even so, the walls and door inside were covered in scratch marks.
nIn his last life, Qi Jingchen had seen too many zombies and didn’t even want to look any more, so he did not pay attention to the zombies after his rebirth. But now, he was looking at the two zombies on the ground.
nThese two zombies looked intact because they were both killed in one shot. Their appearance did not change much from when they were alive, but their bodies were a little blackened, and their nails were very long…
n“Ge!” Qi Yaoyao turned around and suddenly embraced Qi Jingchen.
nFor many years, Qi Jingchen did not have any intimacy with anyone aside from Nie Yi and he was somewhat unused to this. But in the end, he did not push her away, and instead hugged her back.
nBeing embraced by Qi Jingchen, Qi Yaoyao’s crying became even louder. Though she knew her parents most likely would not survive, she still had some hope in her heart. But now, she couldn’t even hypnotise herself into thinking her parents were alive even if she wanted to.
nQi Yaoyao was crying very loudly, and Qi Jingchen felt a little upset when he heard her cries. But he could no longer cry…
nRaising his head, Qi Jingchen looked at Nie Yi who was at the door.
nNie Yi had followed Qi Jingchen in, and was currently standing by the door. He had always hated seeing Qi Jingchen being intimate with other people, and so his expression right now was very ugly, but he did not drag Qi Yaoyao away from Qi Jingchen like usual.
nQi Jingchen looked at him and suddenly showed a smile.
nNie Yi was just about to be unable to restrain himself from chasing Qi Yaoyao away when he saw Qi Jingchen’s smile. He immediately suppressed this intention.
nFor the sake of this smile, he’ll endure a little longer!
nNie Yi then endured for a while more but when he noticed Qi Yaoyao was unexpectedly rubbing nonstop against Qi Jingchen’s shoulder, he finally reached the end of his patience. “Qi Yaoyao! Have you hugged enough?!”
nNie Yi’s words barely fell when he saw Qi Jingchen frown slightly, and he immediately softened his tone. “Cough cough… I mean, let’s not cry anymore, and hurry up and have father-in-law… uncle and auntie buried ba.”
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nWhen Nie Yi spoke, he was looking at Qi Jingchen, and had even purposely said the words k2018;father-in-law’, wanting Qi Jingchen to question him. Yet, Qi Jingchen did not even frown; on the contrary, he was extremely calm, and Nie Yi was unable to grasp Qi Jingchen’s thoughts.
nIt was instead Qi Yaoyao who was unhappy, wiping her tears as she said, “What father-in-law, this is your husband’s parents!”
nIf Qi Jingchen agreed, he wouldn’t have a single problem with calling them his husband’s parents! Nie Yi stared at Qi Jingchen closely, but in the end, Qi Jingchen merely said, “You go make an ice coffin ba.”
nSimply condensing his ice to create items did not use much of Nie Yi’s ability as he was now. He very quickly created a spacious ice coffin with his ability, and, in passing, placed the two corpses inside with an ice shovel, then formed a lid.
n“My parents left a grave space beside our grandparents’ graves. Let’s go there,” Qi Jingchen said.
nZombies should be burnt, but these were the people who had raised him and he couldn’t bring himself to say it.
nIn reality, he had ordered people to come to clear out the zombies in advance also because he was afraid he would be unable to bring himself to dispose of these two zombies.
nThe two zombies were buried in the land the Qi family had specially left as a grave. Qi Jingchen stood there for a long time before he slowly returned, then asked the bodyguard beside him, “How many survivors are there in the village?”
n“Five,” Gan Shuo replied.
nTheir village had many people, but there were only five left in the end… However, many villages had been completely annihilated… For a time, Qi Jingchen didn’t know whether he should be delighted or broken-hearted.
nThe surviving five was a family. Qi Jingchen wasn’t very familiar with them, and only knew that when he got into university, the husband and wife of that family just had their son marry a young woman.
nTheir family was very rich and had constructed a perimeter wall, and even a metal door. This helped to stop the zombies at the beginning, and simultaneously, their luck was very good, as the daughter-in-law had unexpectedly awakened to an earth ability.
nShe did not leave the house at all, and every time she had a surplus of ability, she would add another perimeter wall outside their house, directly making it impenetrable. Later when there was no more water at home, she dug out a well with her ability so that they could survive.
nAccording to their statement, at the start, the village still had several living people, but as they had many relatives, some people ran to save their close relatives when they heard them scream. In the end, they suffered a loss. Many of the remaining people had killed themselves.
nIf it weren’t because their family of five were all alive and mutually encouraging each other, perhaps they would not have persevered for this long.
nQi Jingchen chatted with these five people, and by the time Qi Weiguo and the others were done burying their families, the sky had turned dark.
nBecause of the snowfall, even when it got dark, this world still had light, but the snowed ground reflected cold light, causing onlookers to feel cold in their hearts.
n“Shall we stay here for the night or go back?” Nie Yi asked.
n“Stay here,” Qi Jingchen said.
nThis village had already been cleared out, and zombies that were further away would not come over either. It was safe for them to stay here. After Qi Jingchen decided to stay, he had a few earth ability users construct fortifications while he brought Nie Yi for a walk around the village.
nHe could no longer remember many matters, but there were also some he couldn’t forget in his life. “When I was young, I often came to this pond for a swim. My parents were worried I would have an accident so there would always be someone watching at the side. At that time I was especially happy, because in the past, no one would watch me… But I was afraid that my parents would be unhappy if I always wanted to swim and make them too busy to work, so I no longer swam…”
nListening to Qi Jingchen, Nie Yi couldn’t help feeling sad. Although he and Nie Boyuan had an irreconcilable falling out, his childhood was very blessed and he had never lacked in love— His grandparents had practically treated him like a treasure…
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nIn the end, Qi Jingchen did not speak too much and the two returned early.
nThe building they were using to rest in was Qi Jingchen’s foster parents’ home. Qi Jingchen brought Nie Yi into the room where he used to sleep.
nThe houses in the countryside were generally built very well; two to three-storey villas could be seen everywhere, but everyone wouldn’t really renovate it.
nQi Jingchen’s home was a two-storey building; the roof tiles were red and ceramic tiles were stuck to the walls. It looked very beautiful, but inside… The room upon entry had marble flooring, but the other places were just smooth cement, and whitewashed walls.
n“My parents said that when I find my partner, my room would be renovated.” Qi Jingchen brought Nie Yi into his room. The room was facing south and was extremely spacious, but the interior only had a bed, two old cupboards, and two stools, with nothing else.
n“At first my foster parents put a TV in my room, but I don’t usually come back so they moved it back to their room, and I didn’t let them set up air conditioning in here either… In my house, only their room has air conditioning. When I was in high school, I would make my bed in their room during summer vacation. But I had to work during university and I usually wouldn’t come home during summer vacation,” Qi Jingchen slowly said.
nNie Yi cleaned the room with his ability, then spread the bedding they usually used on the bed, then hugged Qi Jingchen. “Let’s sleep.”
nQi Jingchen was next to Nie Yi and soon felt a little hot. But he did not push Nie Yi away, instead came even closer, then began to listen to Nie Yi’s heartbeat.
nUnder the steady and powerful heartbeat, he slowly fell asleep. His final thought before his sleep was that no matter what, he had to die in front of Nie Yi in this life. It would be best if, like how Nie Yi previously died in his embrace, he died in Nie Yi’s.
nBeing alive alone was truly too lonely.Nie Yi, Qi Jingchen, and the others returned to Z County town the next day.
nThey searched out all the food available in the village’s houses and wasted a bit of time, so it was already noon when they returned to camp, where they were already buzzing with activity as they prepared lunch.
nQi Jingchen didn’t eat anything last night or this morning, so once they reached this place, Nie Yi took out the stove and pulled out a sunshade from inside the RV before he started cooking for Qi Jingchen.
nThere would be soot when cooking and Qi Jingchen didn’t like it, so Nie Yi usually wouldn’t cook in the car.
nSomething like cooking with fire ability was unheard of to this small community, so just as Nie Yi took out the stove, they watched from afar, their eyes filled with reverence and a little disbelief.
nNie Yi was already amazing when killing zombies, but he unexpectedly could even cook!
nNie Yi made a few simple dishes, then carried them back to the RV. After Qi Jingchen ate, he even put away the bowl and chopsticks, washing them clean with his water ability.
nOther people couldn’t help sighing and saying a few sentences when they saw this, but Xu Qiuyu couldn’t help feeling excited.
nIf she were to give birth to a child for Nie Yi, would she live a life like Qi Jingchen?
nHer current appearance truly was incomparable to Qi Jingchen, but this was because her recent days were too bitter. After she followed Nie Yi for long and was raised to eat and drink well, perhaps she would be even more attractive than Qi Jingchen! After all, she was several years younger than Qi Jingchen, and would only turn eighteen in a few months.
nAt the start, she truly could not fight against Qi Jingchen, but once her belly was with Nie Yi’s child, she would be invincible. When her child was born and they were raised… Would this child be closer to her, their birth mother, or Qi Jingchen?
nBy that time, Qi Jingchen would be getting older, and maybe he wouldn’t even have a place by Nie Yi’s side by then! And her? Even if Nie Yi did not like her, she was Nie Yi’s child’s biological mother!
nOf course, the development of matters might not be as good as she envisioned, but as long as she could follow Nie Yi, it wouldn’t be any worse than now, right? At least she could eat beef, eat those good things, and not have nothing but congee— Although they had eaten their fill for breakfast and lunch today, it was just congee and salted vegetables; don’t even mention anything else!
nXu Qiuyu’s thoughts could not be any clearer. She just wanted to live a life where she did not have to go hungry and cold. Xu Yehui looked at his daughter and made a decision.
nHis daughter had no ability, nor did she have any skills. If she wanted to survive a little longer, the best way was to find a good man. But right now, all women wanted to marry strong men, and perhaps it would never be his daughter’s turn…
nNie Yi truly was a pretty good option… If this team did not take them along, perhaps they would be left with no choice but to starve to death here!
nThinking of this, Xu Yehui began paying attention to Qi Jingchen and Nie Yi’s interaction with even more diligence.
nXu Qiuyu only saw that Qi Jingchen was living very well, but Xu Yehui saw even more. For example, Nie Yi’s treatment towards Qi Jingchen could truly be said to be totally submissive…
nHis doting was a little excessive, even conversely giving off a sense of… Nie Yi pampering a pet.
nMany people personally took care of their pets personally and treated their pets extremely well, but once they were at a critical juncture, pets would be the first to be abandoned…
nQi Jingchen would make faces at Nie Yi and would display a high and mighty attitude when he was the weaker one; it could be estimated that he also knew this— Pets that acted tsundere would sometimes be even more doted on as long as they did not hurt their owner.
nXu Yehui recalled that he used to know a rich person who liked to keep a few youths that were like kittens. Yet when they turned docile, he would grow bored and discard them like a pair of old shoes.
nXu Yehui did not believe that Nie Yi and Qi Jingchen were mutually in love. If it were so, these two would not be interacting like this. As such, he had more confidence in his daughter’s plan.
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nRuru: urghh the Xu father and daughter are so annoying (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻
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