Xu Wei’s gaze fell upon Ning Ran, who was playing with the kids: “What’s the use of being pretty and proud? She’s still just an idiot. Huaiye is only after the novelty; once he gets tired of her, she’ll naturally be cast aside.”
She was Xu Sui’s cousin and possessed medical skills, making her far more valuable than a fool. Why lower her own status to be jealous?
Even if Pei Huaiye actually slept with her, so what? Surviving for a long time in the apocalypse was the real accomplishment.
Ning Ran played with the two kids until past ten o’clock. If Pei Huaiye hadn’t forcibly dragged her upstairs, she probably would still be playing happily right now.
“Be good. Did you forget how you played until midnight yesterday and couldn’t wake up during the day today?” Pei Huaiye spoke with a cold face, leaving Ning Ran looking aggrieved.
“Then can I still play tomorrow?” she asked.
“I can’t raise them for a lifetime; they need to be sent to the base to survive,” Pei Huaiye soothed the bristling girl, smoothing down her ruffled temper.
“Base? What kind of place is a base? Can I play there?” Ning Ran’s eyes widened roundly.
No wonder she was curious; she was naturally a curious baby to begin with.
“A base is a place where people live. I’ll take you to see it if there’s a chance.” Pei Huaiye felt as though he had given her all the patience he possessed across two lifetimes combined.
“Now, sleep properly.”
Ning Ran held onto his arm, refusing to let go: “Brother, sleep!”
After saying that, she even obediently cleared out half of the bed space for him.
“This was my bed in the first place. Ning Ran, who taught you to invite a man into bed?” Pei Huaiye addressed her by her name for the first time.
Ning Ran looked at him without understanding, her eyes filled with pure silliness, opening her mouth to let out a “hehe” giggle: “Brother looks good.”
Pei Huaiye: “…” Do I not know whether I look good or not?
After tossing and turning with the little idiot for half the night, she finally got her wish, wriggling into Pei Huaiye’s arms to sleep soundly.
Meanwhile, the person being held by her remained completely stiff in a single posture, so much so that by the time he woke up the next morning, his arm was entirely numb.
As Pei Huaiye moved slightly, Ning Ran opened her eyes hazily and gave the handsome face in front of her a kiss: “Brother smells good!”
Damn it, Pei Huaiye was completely numb, genuinely wanting to press her down and do something about it. Yet the moment he saw her silly expression, all such thoughts fizzled out.
When going downstairs, everyone was present. Ning Ran was hanging on him like a koala, refusing to walk on the ground no matter what was said.
“Wild-ge, eat breakfast!” Han Chao called out.
Yawning, Pei Huaiye sat at the dining table and placed the “pendant” in his hands onto another chair: “Arrange the people staying behind. The rest of us will follow to make a trip to Hope Base.”
Xu Sui said: “Same old rules—Lichuan and Xu Wei stay behind to guard the home. As for those few…”
“We’ll follow along to gain experience…” Ji Hengyuan spoke up hurriedly: “Boss, as long as you let us follow and hang out with you, we’re willing to do anything.”
“That’s right, we’re willing to do anything.” Xiao Jinyang and Wu Ci also chimed in right away.
Xu Wei glanced at Pei Huaiye and bit her lip: “Can you let me follow this time? We can leave Lin Yao at the villa…”
“Both of you stay behind. We don’t bring hindrances in the team,” Pei Huaiye’s voice was cold and indifferent.
“Then what about her?” Xu Wei suddenly picked a fight over Ning Ran: “She’s just a fool! Huaiye-ge, why do you take her along wherever you go?”
Ning Ran: You’re the fool, your whole family is fools.
“Xu Wei, you’re meddling a bit too much. Do you think my temper has been too good lately?” Pei Huaiye’s expression suddenly turned cold, his voice sounding as if it were frozen over.
“Weiwei, stay out of Wild-ge’s business and just stay peacefully in the villa,” Xu Sui reprimanded his cousin.
Xu Wei stood up abruptly, turned around, and left the dining table. The others didn’t mind at all, continuing to eat and drink as usual, seemingly regarding her as an irrelevant person.
After breakfast, three vehicles drove out of the villa one after another, heading toward Hope Base.
Xu Wei stood in front of the second-floor French window, watching the convoy drive off in a cloud of dust, her fingernails digging deep into her palms.
“The idiot better die outside,” she muttered through gritted teeth as she stared at the departing convoy.
Lin Yao walked in cautiously, looking at Xu Wei’s back: “Sister Wei, the thing you wanted?”
Xu Wei turned around, took the item from Lin Yao’s hand, and sneered: “Raising a fool in the apocalypse is the stupidest thing to do. Soon everyone will understand that only valuable people can survive longer.”
The convoy navigated through city roads, where shattered walls and ruins lay everywhere.
Pei Huaiye rested his eyes with them closed, while Han Chao drove the vehicle at the very front.
In the back seat, Ning Ran pressed against the car window, exclaiming in wonder at the ruins outside: “Brother, that building is crooked!”
Pei Huaiye opened his eyes and spoke plainly: “Shaken crooked by the earthquake.”
“Why isn’t anyone fixing it?” There were “people” everywhere in the city, yet not a single “person” was doing proper work.
Ning Ran turned back to look at him, her eyes filled with complete confusion.
Han Chao, who was driving, couldn’t hold back a laugh: “Fuck, Wild-ge, the little idiot really is stupid.”
“Who are you swearing at?” Pei Huaiye shot a glance at him: “Am I blind?”
Han Chao tactfully shut his mouth, but couldn’t help adding another line: “Still, Wild-ge, your patience with her is way too good. You were never even this patient with Shen Shuhe…”
“I wasn’t good to Shen Shuhe?” Pei Huaiye’s voice turned chilly. He didn’t possess hundreds of millions in net worth; at most, he had just run a small-time company, which was hardly worth mentioning in front of big asset moguls.
His only advantage was his superpowers and carrying the memories of his past life. Were it not for that, he would have been just another member of the zombie horde.
“No, no, I just feel you’re a bit too kindhearted now.” Especially toward the little idiot, exhausting practically all his patience.
Han Chao hadn’t known Pei Huaiye for just a day or two and understood him fairly well. Especially regarding Shen Shuhe, everyone believed Shen Shuhe didn’t deserve Pei Huaiye, yet he had protected her wholeheartedly.
Now, a little idiot had successfully broken that dynamic, which made his brothers even more puzzled.
What a truly good person, Han Chao genuinely felt like awarding him a certificate.
Ning Ran pulled her gaze back from outside and threw herself onto Pei Huaiye: “Brother, hungry!”
“Serves you right for not eating proper breakfast this morning,” he said, though his hand was already pulling a piece of bread from his bag, tearing open the wrapper and shoving it into her hand: “Eat!”
Ning Ran took it happily, took a bite, and said indistinctly: “Brother is the best.”
“My god, goosebumps are falling all over the floor,” Xu Sui cracked a joke from the side.
Pei Huaiye laughed and swore playfully, the atmosphere being exceptionally harmonious.
The car crawled along the road with difficulty. Whenever encountering roads destroyed by the earthquake, they had to get out and walk on foot for a stretch.
When the car was stored away into his spatial storage, Li Hongying and her two children stared with wide eyes, their faces full of disbelief.
“Boss has immense skills,” Han Chao said arrogantly as he carried the two little ones across a fissure cracked open by the earthquake: “He usually doesn’t show his hand easily…”
He was practically praising him to high heaven.
Pei Huaiye called out to Han Chao, and only then did he stop blabbering.
The group walked and paused intermittently, failing to cover even a hundred li by evening.
Not far away, hazy figures flickered under the setting sun—if not zombies, what else could they be?
Pei Huaiye surveyed the surrounding buildings and pointed at a large building with a relatively good exterior: “Let’s take shelter over there first, and set off again tomorrow morning.”