My Cherry Will Explode in the Apocalypse – CH110

Chapter 110: The Current Situation of the Two Families — Part One

Although the dishes were far inferior to what Zhan Yun and the others usually ate, they weren’t picky. They chatted and laughed with Old Xie and Director Bai as they finished the meal together.

After hearing Director Bai mention that Cheng Qi and Cheng Jiao were children of the Cheng family, Old Xie’s expression grew even more kindly. “You two children… do you want to go home and take a look? Old Cheng is getting on in years—this winter, he’ll probably have a hard time…”

Cheng Qi and Cheng Jiao exchanged a glance, then nodded in agreement.

After the meal, Director Bai had accommodations arranged for them. All the housing in the Capital Base had been built later on—there were earth-, wood-, and metal-type ability users, along with top-tier talents and a large labor force of survivors pouring in from all directions. Knocking everything down and rebuilding from scratch was no great difficulty.

The house Director Bai arranged for them had been newly built and hadn’t been lived in yet. They could choose any unit in the entire building. Director Bai had originally wanted to assign some soldiers to protect them, but they politely declined. If they hadn’t had real ability, they wouldn’t have been able to escort supplies all the way to the capital with just a handful of people. Seeing this, Director Bai didn’t insist—he only left Yang Fan behind, in case they needed someone and couldn’t find help.

“Ah Zhan, do you want to go back and take a look too?” After everyone returned to their rooms to rest, Cheng Qi and Cheng Jiao came to find Zhan Yun and Su Ruizhe.

Zhan Yun kept a stony face and didn’t answer, but Su Ruizhe could see his hesitation. Since Zhan Yun had grown up with the Cheng siblings, he must have grown up in the capital as well—which meant his family was here. Su Ruizhe remembered Zhan Yun mentioning that he’d completely fallen out with his family, which was why he didn’t want to go back. But in their previous life, after separating from Su Ruizhe, Zhan Yun had actually returned to the capital.

“Since we’re already back, just go take a look,” Su Ruizhe advised softly. He felt that if it weren’t for him in this life, Zhan Yun would probably still have come to the Capital Base. He didn’t want Zhan Yun to regret it later, so he encouraged him to go. No matter whether Zhan Yun decided to stay or leave after seeing his family, Su Ruizhe would accompany him.

With persuasion from the Cheng siblings and Su Ruizhe, Zhan Yun finally agreed, albeit reluctantly.

The four of them went to find Yang Fan, reported the names of their elders, and said they wanted to pay a visit. Yang Fan didn’t hesitate—he immediately went to make arrangements and soon returned with slips of paper bearing doorplate numbers.

They declined Yang Fan’s offer to accompany them and headed out together.

Outside, heavy snow filled the sky and icy winds cut to the bone. Fortunately, Zhan Yun and the others were dressed warmly, with felt hats on their heads and thick snow boots on their feet, so walking wasn’t too difficult.

Their first stop was the Cheng household. The Cheng family had produced soldiers for three generations. Cheng’s father had risen to the rank of major general on the strength of his distinguished military service. He’d fought wars his entire life and didn’t have this precious pair of twins until he was forty-six, so naturally he was extremely strict with them. From childhood, he raised them according to military discipline, and as soon as they graduated from high school, he sent them straight into the army.

But living under such high pressure for so long inevitably bred some rebelliousness in Cheng Qi and Cheng Jiao. Their personalities were lively and unruly—one way in the army, another in private—which infuriated their father, who had placed great expectations on them. Cheng’s father was upright and rigid, while their mother doted on the children. The personalities Cheng Qi and Cheng Jiao developed were inseparable from their mother’s indulgence.

Standing at the door of their home, Cheng Qi and Cheng Jiao suddenly didn’t dare to knock. Before the apocalypse, they had secretly submitted applications for discharge behind their father’s back, only to be beaten and driven out of the capital by him. They never imagined they’d then encounter the apocalypse and fall into such dangerous circumstances. After reuniting with Zhan Yun, they’d thought about returning home, but guilt held them back, so they kept delaying until now.

“Are you two going in or not?” Zhan Yun was in a bad mood. Seeing them dawdling, his tone naturally wasn’t pleasant.

Cheng Qi shot him a speechless glare, then finally steeled himself and raised his hand to knock on the door.

“Who is it? Coming, coming!” A woman’s voice answered—soft and gentle. As soon as Cheng Qi and Cheng Jiao heard it, their eyes reddened.

The door quickly opened. A dignified middle-aged woman in a faded blue cotton jacket appeared in the doorway. When she saw who was standing outside, her eyes widened in shock, and then tears slowly welled up.

From an inner room came two coughs. An elderly man with graying hair but still a vigorous spirit came out, astonishingly holding a speckled hen in his arms, muttering, “Wife, come look at our chicken…”

Getting no response, he lifted his head—and froze as well.

“Xiao Qi, Jiaojiao! You’re alive!” Cheng’s mother cried out, finally finding her voice.

Seeing how much older their parents looked, Cheng Qi and Cheng Jiao felt a painful ache in their hearts. “Dad… Mom…”

Seeing his children, from whom he’d had no news for nearly half a year, return safely, Cheng’s father’s eyes also brimmed with tears.

After a long separation, no matter how great the conflict, it was time to put it aside.

The family of four hugged each other, crying and laughing for quite a while before Cheng Qi and Cheng Jiao remembered Zhan Yun and Su Ruizhe, who had come with them.

“Dad, Mom, this is Zhan Yun, who used to live in our courtyard. You should remember him, right?”

Cheng’s parents looked up—and sure enough, it was their children’s childhood friend, Zhan Yun.

“Xiao Zhan! You’re back too? That’s wonderful, wonderful!” Cheng’s mother said, then noticed the handsome young man standing beside Zhan Yun. “And this child is…?”

“This is… Ah Zhan’s… boyfriend…” Cheng Qi’s voice grew quieter and quieter.

“What? What did you say?” Cheng’s mother truly hadn’t heard clearly.

“Oh come on, Mom! The two of them are a couple!” Cheng Jiao, straightforward as ever, revealed it cleanly.

Cheng’s parents were momentarily taken aback, but they quickly came back to their senses. After all, it was someone else’s business—they couldn’t interfere—so they didn’t say much, instead pulling the two children along and fussing over them. Upon learning that the two had been doing fairly well outside and had even awakened powerful offensive abilities, both parents showed relieved expressions.

“You’re… still leaving?” But when they heard that the children had now joined the Southern Base and had come back to the capital mainly to escort supplies, Cheng’s parents both looked reluctant to part with them.

“It’s not decided yet, Dad, Mom. We’re going to accompany Ah Zhan back to his home first—we’ll be back later!” Unknowingly, they’d been chatting for so long. Zhan Yun was fairly familiar with the Cheng family and could occasionally join the conversation, but Su Ruizhe had only been listening the whole time. Cheng Qi and Cheng Jiao felt embarrassed to let him keep sitting there awkwardly, so it was better to accompany Zhan Yun to the Zhan household first.

“Alright, alright. Xiao Zhan’s been away for so many years—he should go back and take a look,” Cheng’s parents agreed. The Cheng and Zhan families had once lived in the same compound, and they knew somewhat about the falling-out between Zhan Yun and his family.

The four bade Cheng’s parents a temporary farewell and headed toward the Zhan household together.

When Zhan Yun was eight, he lost his mother. His father later remarried and had a son more than ten years younger than him. When the family of three was warm and affectionate, Zhan Yun stood out as an outsider in his own home. Adolescence was already a rebellious age, and back then the Zhan household was full of arguments—major fights every few days, minor ones every couple of days. Fed up, Zhan’s father shoved Zhan Yun into the army to temper his temperament, only for Zhan Yun to unexpectedly discover his sexual orientation. That made things even worse. Zhan’s father flew into a rage and directly drove Zhan Yun out of the house, declaring he no longer had such a son. Zhan Yun, stubborn to the end, left the army, applied to a police academy in another province, and from then on stayed far away from the capital.

If it weren’t for the apocalypse—and the fact that he’d happened to arrive at his doorstep—he wouldn’t have reluctantly agreed to go take a look at the Zhan home.

Like the Cheng family, the Zhan family also lived in housing uniformly built by the base. Zhan Yun stood hesitating in front of the door for a long while before finally knocking.

“Who is it?!” An extremely impatient shout came from inside, and then the door opened. The one who answered was Zhan Yun’s so-called younger brother, Zhan Bo—thirteen or fourteen years old, tall and skinny. His features resembled Zhan Yun’s by about thirty percent, but he wasn’t as handsome. Instead, there was an indescribable… delinquent aura about him.

When Zhan Bo opened the door, his face was full of impatience, his eyes half-lidded as he looked at the four unfamiliar people outside. Only after seeing their clean, warm clothing did his attitude soften slightly. “Who are you looking for?”

Looking at this unfamiliar younger brother, Zhan Yun didn’t know how to begin.

“Little brother, are the adults in your home around?” Su Ruizhe spoke up first.

“Looking for my mom?” Zhan Bo’s face actually showed a hint of disdain. Then he shut the door right in front of them.

The four exchanged looks, all somewhat stunned.

Before long, the door opened again. A woman with messy hair came out, wrapped in a thick military coat, but wearing an extremely thin, tight-fitting dress underneath that outlined her fine figure perfectly.

Zhan Yun recognized at a glance that she was his stepmother. Her features were still as delicate and beautiful as ever. Though one could tell she had some age if you looked closely, her good maintenance meant she still retained her charm.

Zhan Yun recognized her, but she didn’t recognize him. After all, Zhan Yun had been gone for nearly eight or nine years, and she’d never paid much attention to this stepson. At most, she felt he looked a bit familiar.

Pan Lihua gathered her long hair and pulled her coat open a bit more, revealing pale thighs and a half-exposed chest that were particularly eye-catching.

Softening her voice, she smiled coyly and asked, “Why have four of you come? I’ve only got one body—afraid I can’t serve all four of you at once…”

Something was clearly wrong with that remark, and the expressions of all four instantly turned strange.

Pan Lihua was skilled at reading people. She quickly sensed something was off and gradually withdrew her smile.

After a moment of eerie silence, Zhan Yun spoke. “Is Zhan Changfeng home?”

Pan Lihua hadn’t expected them to be looking for Zhan Changfeng. Her face darkened further. “What trouble has that old bastard gotten into now?! He doesn’t live here! Go look downstairs!”

With that, she slammed the door shut again.

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