Chapter 98
In late autumn, weeds grew wild around the gas station.
Rose Garden Base had arrived in a black seven-seater Alphard.
Teacher Xiao Mei was wearing a black overcoat. She slipped off her leather gloves and pinched Guanguan’s increasingly plump little cheek. “Baby, are you cold?”
Like a happy puppy, Guanguan shook his head. “Not cold at all! Teacher Xiao Mei, Guanguan missed you so much!”
“The teacher missed you too. I was just wondering whether you’d come with your brother.” Teacher Xiao Mei smiled, then turned to Wei Cheng. “Chengcheng, did Director Wang and the others stay back at the farm?”
“Yeah. Uncle Yi said the trip was too long, and bringing an elderly person and too many children would be inconvenient.”
“And Mount Wengming is full of all kinds of people. If anything happens, bringing too many children would be dangerous.”
Teacher Xiao Mei glanced back, then lowered her voice. “Tell your two uncles to keep their guns on them at all times. I’ll be watching out for you in secret too.”
Wei Cheng had always heard that Teacher Xiao Mei wanted to head north to look for Yuanyuan, yet she had never left. It seemed she still could not stop worrying about them.
He felt a warmth in his heart. “Got it, teacher.”
Teacher Xiao Mei said no more and got back into the black Alphard.
The black van led the way, with Wei Cheng and the others following closely behind in their little white car.
They ran into quite a few aimless zombies on the road. With the weather turning colder, the zombies were sluggish and dull, and there was no need for Wei Cheng’s group to make a move—Rose Garden’s people dealt with them swiftly.
At dusk, the group stopped at an abandoned lumber mill.
The women of Rose Garden instinctively kept their distance from the men and boys from the farm.
Inside one of the factory buildings, each side occupied half the space, the boundary between them clear as day.
Yi Qi got a fire going, laid four clean iron rods across it, and set a small iron pot on top. Mineral water was boiling inside.
It was for making instant noodles and drinking.
Guanguan sat obediently on his sleeping bag, rubbing his little hands together just like Uncle Yi, his dark eyes reflecting the warm firelight.
“Uncle, Guanguan wants roast chicken.”
Yi Qi poked at the firewood and laughed. “I’ll roast some for you tomorrow. It’s too late tonight. We’ll cook instant noodles for you in a bit, alright?”
Guanguan was very easy to please. “Okay!”
Just then, Wei Cheng came over carrying a thermos cup, while Shen Zheng came over with several cups of instant noodles.
The moment Guanguan spotted his cup, he perked up. “Doggy cup!”
“Here, drink.” Wei Cheng opened the lid, and a thin wisp of steam drifted from the straw.
Guanguan hugged the cup and gulped down two mouthfuls. It was warm, sweet milk.
Patting his little belly, he declared, “Full!”
“You’re full just from drinking?” Wei Cheng sat down beside him.
Shen Zheng glanced toward the other side and lowered his voice. “Should we bring them some mineral water and instant noodles too?”
“No need.” Wei Cheng handed out the cups of noodles. “Even if we brought them over, they wouldn’t dare eat them. And if they brought us food, we wouldn’t dare eat it either. Better not waste each other’s supplies, and there’s no point making things awkward for Teacher Xiao Mei.”
Shen Zheng nodded in agreement. “Good point.”
“They’ve been the ones killing zombies all day. You’re feeling a little bad about it.” Yi Qi knew Shen Zheng well. He ladled some hot water into Shen Zheng’s noodle cup. “Tomorrow we’ll take point. We won’t let them waste their bullets.”
Shen Zheng nodded. “Alright.”
Wei Cheng and the two uncles had large cups of braised beef noodles, while Guanguan had a small cup of tomato tonkotsu noodles.
As the hot water soaked the noodle cakes, the rich aroma of the seasoning burst out. Then Wei Cheng added two pieces of the braised beef Director Wang had made.
Guanguan crouched obediently in front of the four cups of noodles, wiped his drool with the back of his hand, and said eagerly, “Uncle, when is five minutes coming?”
Yi Qi checked his watch. “Three minutes left.”
Guanguan pouted and gave an “oh,” then hugged his brother’s arm and whispered, “Brother, when are five minutes and three minutes coming?”
Wei Cheng had just taken a sip of the warming tea from his thermos and nearly sprayed it out laughing. After swallowing, he said, “If we want to eat the noodles, we have to wait for the noodle cake to soften and for the seasoning to melt. It happens very fast. It only takes five minutes. Uncle Yi says there are three minutes left, so let’s count to one hundred and eighty. When we finish counting, we’ll be able to eat.”
The second he heard that, Guanguan started waving his little hands anxiously. “But Guanguan hasn’t learned that many numbers yet.”
“It’s okay, brother will count with you.” Wei Cheng put an arm around him and patted his little palm. “Ready?”
Guanguan lit up. “Ready!”
Seeing the two uncles joining in too, Guanguan got even more excited.
“Your noodles are ready!”
Yi Qi opened Guanguan’s little cup and deliberately asked, “Whose noodles are these? Why do they smell so good?”
Mine! They’re mine!” Guanguan shot up his hand, his eyes sparkling.
Yi Qi stirred the noodles a few times with a fork. “Good boy, take your noodles.”
Guanguan carefully carried his noodles away and inhaled deeply. “They smell so good, so good!”
Wei Cheng smiled and gently stroked his cheek.
The family of four sat around the crackling fire, eating noodles, eating soft braised beef soaked with broth, and when they felt thirsty, taking a sip from the sweet tea in their thermoses. Before long, they were warm from head to toe.
Their side was lively, and so was Rose Garden’s. Judging from the girls’ laughter, they seemed to be talking about which male and female celebrities they had liked before the apocalypse.
Deep into the night, the voices in the factory gradually died down, leaving only the sound of firewood burning.
Little Guanguan, his belly full, leaned against Uncle Shen while his little feet rested in his brother’s lap. Rubbing his eyes, he yawned. “Uncle, tell Guanguan another story.”
Shen Zheng gently touched the little boy’s brows and eyes. “Baby, your eyes are tearing up from sleepiness. You still want a story?”
“I do.” Fighting to keep his eyes open, Guanguan stubbornly mumbled, “Tomorrow is for tomorrow’s story. This is this story.”
Such a stubborn little thing.
Shen Zheng chuckled, took the sleep mask from Wei Cheng’s hand, and put it over the child’s eyes so sparks from the fire would not accidentally hurt him.
He had only gotten through the opening when the little head in his arms was already softly snoring.
Yi Qi walked over to take a look and mouthed, “He’s asleep.”
In a low voice, Shen Zheng replied, “The kid’s been riding in the car all day. He’s tired.”
Once Guanguan was sound asleep, Wei Cheng lifted him out of Shen Zheng’s arms and tucked him into a sleeping bag lined with several hot-water bags.
“I’ll take first watch. You and Chengcheng get some sleep.” Yi Qi stood up. “One of you can switch with me in the second half of the night. I’m driving tomorrow morning.”
Taking turns driving would help preserve everyone’s energy.
The stars shifted, the night sky faded, and only two piles of ashes remained in the old factory.
Two sets of tire tracks stretched westward.
The next day, the white car took the lead.
Wei Cheng had caught up on sleep for half the day. He had not let Uncle Shen take the second half of the night watch.
When he woke up, his face felt tight. The second he opened his eyes, he saw Guanguan, a lollipop in his mouth, sticking stickers all over him.
The chubby little boy looked so solid and healthy, white and lovely, grinning with his neat little teeth and letting out triumphant little cackles from time to time.
“Wei Guanguan, what are you doing?”
Guanguan looked up, tossed aside an Ultraman sticker, and scrambled toward the front passenger seat. “My brother’s awake!”
Wei Cheng laughed and grabbed one of his chubby feet. “And where do you think you’re going?”
Shen Zheng glanced back and laughed. “Not gonna lie, Guanguan’s got taste. He’s turned our cold-faced Chengcheng into Princess Elsa.”
Yi Qi looked through the rearview mirror and burst out laughing too. “Hahaha, looks great, really great.”
Hearing the uncles say it looked good, Guanguan immediately stood proud with his hands on his hips. “Wei Chengcheng, you look pretty!”
Wei Cheng glanced at the remaining stickers and realized that this time Guanguan had not used Ultraman stickers at all, but little blue flowers and vines.
Pretending to scowl, he huffed, “Messing with your brother again.”
Guanguan flopped back against him, his fluffy head burying itself against his brother’s neck. “Don’t get mad. If you get mad, you won’t be a little princess anymore.”
“Brother wasn’t a little princess to begin with.” Wei Cheng pinched the pom-pom on Guanguan’s sweatshirt. “I’m a big bad wolf. I specialize in eating fat little kids.”
“No eating fat little kids!” Sitting up in his brother’s arms, Guanguan spoke with perfect seriousness. “If you eat fat little kids, you’ll turn into a big fat wolf!”
Wei Cheng curled his fingers like claws. “Then a big fat wolf can eat even more fat little kids.”
And with that, he started tickling Guanguan’s soft double chin.
Guanguan tucked his chin and laughed until his little teeth showed. “Hahaha, a big fat wolf, a big fat wolf is so scary!”
Once the brothers had had their fill of goofing around, Guanguan helped peel the flowers and vines off Wei Cheng’s face too.
Yi Qi glanced at the roadside village houses that had long since collapsed and suddenly thought of something. “By the way, Guanguan still doesn’t have a proper full name, does he?”
Guanguan blinked. “What’s a full name?”
Yi Qi explained, “Guanguan is your little name. You can’t keep being called Guanguan after you grow up. You need a real full name.”
Shen Zheng paused, then after a moment of hesitation, said, “Back when I was handling Guanguan’s adoption paperwork for the Qiao family, I paid someone to calculate a name for him. Cost me eight hundred and eighty-eight.”
Yi Qi looked stunned. “You never mentioned that.”
Even Wei Cheng was surprised. “What was it?”
“To Guanguan, the Qiao family wasn’t exactly a good memory. And after that the apocalypse came not long after, so if you hadn’t mentioned it, I’d have almost forgotten too.” Shen Zheng turned to Wei Cheng. “Also, the guy at the fortune-telling stall was kind of strange. He’d set up right outside the government office. He was a young guy wearing big sunglasses and talking all mystically. At the time everything was urgent, everyone was rushing me, and he didn’t even ask for Guanguan’s birth date before giving me a single character. I thought it was a good character, so I used it to register Guanguan’s household record. But by the time I came back out, both the stall and the fortune teller were gone.”
“He only gave one character—Yu. The Yu in ‘faithful till death.’”
“Wei Yu?” Yi Qi exclaimed. “Wei Cheng, Wei Yu. Not bad at all. Both brothers’ names are good.”
For some reason, when he heard that name, Wei Cheng felt a faint numb ache in his chest.
It vanished in an instant.
It was as if, long ago, he had already known that this name belonged to Guanguan.
Guanguan wedged himself between the two front seats, his little fleshy face tilted up to the sky, a pineapple-flavored lollipop in his mouth. “Where’s the fish? Who feeds the fish?”
Yi Qi laughed. “You feed the fish.”
Guanguan puffed out his cheeks. “No. Guanguan wants to feed dogs.”
Then he flopped back against his brother. “Brother, Guanguan misses Little Apricot and Gray Cub.”
Wei Cheng let out a quiet breath. “The little dogs are still at the farm. If they miss you, they’ll go into the safe house on their own, and then you can see them.”
The two dogs were recognized by the system as companion pets and could enter the safe house at any time.
“Little Yu.” Wei Cheng repeated the name once, then looked at the child in his arms. “Guanguan, do you like this name?”
Guanguan looked up at the sky. “Can it be puppy?”
“No.”
“Kitty then?”
“Wei Kitty? That doesn’t sound quite right either.”
“How about baa-baa?”
Wei Cheng laughed. “If the super big corncob Guanguan were called Wei Baa-Baa, wouldn’t that be a little too cute?”
Guanguan crossed one leg over the other and waved his pineapple lollipop. “What about Chengcheng?”
“That’s brother’s name.”
Guanguan tilted his head. “You can be Big Cheng, and Guanguan can be Little Cheng. Is that okay?”
“It’s not impossible, but brother still hopes you’ll have a name that belongs only to you.”
Guanguan huffed and turned his head away. “Then call me Feeding Fish!”
Wei Cheng kneaded his cheek. “Don’t be unhappy. Actually, brother, the uncles, and grandpa will still only call you Guanguan, because in our hearts, you’ll always be our baby. This full name is only for telling outsiders. For example, when you grow up and own Full-Belly Farm, if outsiders ask who the owner is, we’ll need to give them your proper name, not Guanguan, which is your loving and adorable nickname.”
Guanguan finally understood and started clapping happily. “Then what kind of fish is the baby?”
Wei Cheng smiled. “A little shark?”
The second Guanguan caught the word shark, he bounced upright and began singing in his baby English, “Baby shark doo doo!”
His mushy Guanguan-style English had returned.
It was from the Baby Shark dance Teacher Xiao Mei had taught the children at the orphanage.
Shen Zheng laughed. “Wow, Guanguan even knows English songs now?”
Guanguan nodded eagerly. “Baby can dance too!”
“Alright then, give us a performance!”
Swinging his little fists and wiggling his chubby butt, Guanguan threw himself wholeheartedly into his Baby Shark dance, already having forgotten all about his new name.
For the first few days they mostly took mountain roads and ran into only scattered zombies.
On the fifth day they had to take a stretch of highway, and both groups were on high alert.
Compared to zombie hordes, they feared road bandits more.
And of course, what they feared came true. Yi Qi, peering through binoculars from the white car, was the first to spot a row of vicious steel caltrops laid across the road.
The white car braked sharply, and the black one behind it came to an emergency stop as well.
The men lying in ambush in the grass saw that neither vehicle had hit the trap, so they rushed out with axes and sickles, hacking at the cars and threatening them to get out.
Yi Qi rolled down the window and fired a single shot into the sky.
The men, all sallow-faced and underfed, were so terrified they stumbled backward and crouched with their heads in their arms.
Yi Qi’s voice went cold. “Move the spikes.”
The men immediately scrambled to obey.
Only when the two vehicles had long disappeared into the distance did they dare stand up again.
“Were those police?”
“Bullshit. There are no police anymore.”
“Then where did they get guns?”
“You’re asking the wrong question.” The young man stared hatefully at the trail of exhaust. “The real question is why, in the apocalypse, we still can’t get our hands on guns!”
Over just two days, Wei Cheng’s group ran into four groups trying to rob the road.
The last group even had an old hunting rifle. If the farm and Rose Garden combined had not had enough people, they really might have been done for.
Two women from Rose Garden suffered light arm injuries, and both the black van and the white car took bullet damage and were effectively totaled.
Out in the wilderness, there was no chance of finding vehicles, so everyone had no choice but to continue on foot.
Wei Cheng carried Guanguan on his back, bouncing him slightly. “Thirsty?”
In just six days, his Guanguan already seemed a little thinner.
Guanguan shook his head. “Not thirsty.”
To be honest, if not for Teacher Xiao Mei, they could have simply left Rose Garden behind and ridden the Twisty Car straight to their destination.
Aside from Teacher Xiao Mei, they had no deep friendship with the others from Rose Garden, only a relationship of mutual benefit.
And except for Teacher Xiao Mei, the members of Rose Garden were very guarded around them.
“Brother, little siren wants to go home.”
The child on his back was wrapped up in a little ball, his voice soft and a bit wronged.
Wei Cheng was startled. “What’s wrong?”
Guanguan rested his face on his brother’s shoulder, speaking very quietly. “Brother, little siren misses home.”
They were nearing Mount Wengming now.
With the road ahead looking far from peaceful, he really should not have let Guanguan come.
“We’re almost there.” Teacher Xiao Mei came over. “Let brother rest for a bit. Shall teacher carry you?”
Guanguan looked a little embarrassed, his plump face squishing against Wei Cheng’s shoulder into a soft pink crease. “Guanguan’s clothes are very heavy.”
Teacher Xiao Mei took him over. “It’s fine. Teacher’s strong.”
Wei Cheng could tell Teacher Xiao Mei had something she wanted to say, so he did not refuse.
“Teacher, how far are we from Mount Wengming?”
Uncle Yi had already asked Zhou Qing, but he asked Teacher Xiao Mei too.
While straightening Guanguan’s hat, Teacher Xiao Mei said, “Once we get over the mountain ahead, we’ll be there. It’s already four in the afternoon, so we’ll probably have to camp in the mountains tonight.”
Wei Cheng made a mental note.
Teacher Xiao Mei glanced at the gloomy sky, worry in her voice. “I just hope it doesn’t rain tonight.”
“Sister Mei?”
Xiao Qiu, walking at the front, ran back. “Sister Mei, Sister Qing says it may rain tonight, so we should find a place to set up camp early.”
She looked at Yi Qi and Shen Zheng. “Sister Qing also said the mountains are full of unknown dangers. It’d be best if our two groups camped close together.”
Wei Cheng thought for a moment. “Uncle Shen, I think that’s fine.”
Since Chengcheng had spoken, Shen Zheng and Yi Qi had no objections.
After another half hour through the forest, they finally found a stretch of high ground, with a dense bamboo grove not far away.
Expecting trouble on the road, both sides had brought plenty of camping gear and tools in their vehicles.
They had barely begun pitching their tents when a muffled clap of thunder rolled across the sky.
No one dared waste another second. They hurriedly got the tents up.
Wei Cheng’s group was using a military tent large enough for four to six people. With two grown men and the capable Wei Cheng, they had the large dark-green tent standing in no time.
Afraid the storm and mountain wind might rip it away, they hammered the pegs deep into the ground with camp hammers.
Yi Qi and Shen Zheng even hauled over several large rocks to pin the sides down.
“Chengcheng, take Guanguan into the tent and get things arranged.”
Shen Zheng dropped their two heavy bags by the entrance.
Then, glancing at Rose Garden’s side, he said, “We’ll go help your Teacher Xiao Mei.”
Wei Cheng nodded. “Thanks, Uncle Shen.”
Counting Zhou Qing and Teacher Xiao Mei, Rose Garden had brought six people in total. Two of them had arm injuries and could not help much, so the two tents on their side still were not fully up.
Thunder kept rumbling, making everyone even more uneasy.
Zhou Qing lit a cigarette, clearly irritated. Seeing Shen Zheng and Yi Qi come over to help, she hesitated before saying, “Thanks.”
Yi Qi gave a short nod and said nothing more.
Inside the tent, Guanguan unzipped a bag and immediately pulled out the little pot. “Brother, what are we cooking tonight?”
Wei Cheng spread out the sleeping bags and smiled. “Let’s take out some vegetables and beef from the safe house. How about sukiyaki?”
Author’s Note:
Guanguan: Loves it, so tasty!
