Bai Yang was led into the house by Bai Dad. When she saw Bai Mom and her younger sister, Bai Suisui, both alive and standing right in front of her, her heart ached with emotion.
In her previous life, she had gone through countless hardships just to make it back home. She had searched all over Q City, only to find the three of them after they had already turned into zombies. Unable to bear it, yet with no other choice, Bai Yang had killed her own family after they became zombies.
Now that she had been reborn, she was determined to protect her family.
“Dad, Mom, it’s been so long since I’ve seen you. Suisui, you’ve grown so tall!”
Bai Heyu, who had just entered the house, froze when he heard this. He finally realized what was wrong with Qingqing. Her emotions were fluctuating far too much. She had only been away from home for three months, so how could she say it had been such a long time since they last saw each other?
However, Bai Dad and Bai Mom were too focused on how much they had missed their daughter after she had been away for so long to notice anything strange about what Bai Yang had said.
After crying, Bai Yang, whose actual mental age was already twenty two, finally realized how embarrassing her behavior had been. Under the amused gazes of Bai Dad and Bai Mom, she took her suitcase from Bai Heyu and hurried back to her room.
Bai Dad looked at Bai Heyu, who was still standing by the door, and sighed.
“Heyu, come to my room for a moment.”
Bai Heyu felt a bitter taste in his mouth. As he passed Bai Yang’s room, he glanced inside before following Bai Dad into his room and closing the door behind him. No one knew what the two of them talked about.
After returning to her room, Bai Yang looked at herself in the mirror. Her eyes were swollen like walnuts, and she could not help but despise herself for crying so miserably. It was simply too embarrassing.
She quickly washed her face. Worried that the hickeys on her neck might be discovered, she applied another layer of concealer. Once she had tidied herself up, she sat down at her desk, picked up a pen, and began making a list of everything she would need for the apocalypse. She continued until it was almost time for dinner.
Bai Yang wrote down everything she could think of. Aside from food, bedding was also indispensable, and she even added a generator to the list. The problem was that the money she had on hand was nowhere near enough.
Bai Yang sighed. When she noticed that the hands of the clock on her desk had reached seven, and dinner was about to be served, she decided not to worry about it for now and go eat first. Nothing was more important than food.
When Bai Yang left her room, she saw Bai Dad and Bai Mom sitting on the sofa watching television, while Bai Suisui was sitting nearby, playing on her phone by herself. Bai Heyu was the only one in the kitchen.
Bai Yang suddenly remembered the two hundred thousand Bai Heyu had transferred to her the day before. She quietly slipped into the kitchen and even closed the door behind her.
Bai Heyu had rolled up his sleeves and was cutting vegetables. Hearing someone enter, he turned his head slightly. When he saw that it was Bai Yang, the knife in his hand paused for a moment before he calmly continued cutting.
“Qingqing, what are you doing here? There’s a lot of smoke and oil in the kitchen. Be careful not to choke.”
Bai Yang moved closer to Bai Heyu and cleared her throat. After glancing at the closed kitchen door, she finally spoke.
“Brother, do you have any money left? Can you lend me some?”
Even Bai Yang felt embarrassed after saying it, but when she thought about the apocalypse, she gritted her teeth and decided to throw away her dignity. Embarrassing or not, she needed the money.
“Borrow some money?”
Bai Heyu finished cutting the vegetables. With a loud clang, he planted the kitchen knife upright on the cutting board, then turned his face toward Bai Yang and leaned down closer to her.
“Qingqing, didn’t I just give you some spending money yesterday? Now you’re asking me for money again. Don’t tell me you’ve got yourself some shady boyfriend outside?”
Bai Heyu was not wearing his glasses at the moment, making him look much sharper than usual. His eyes were especially intense as he stared at Bai Yang, filled with scrutiny, as if the moment she nodded, he would suddenly lose control and bite her to death.
Where Bai Yang could not see, the veins on Bai Heyu’s arm had bulged as he clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles had turned pale.
Bai Yang quickly shook her head in denial. What kind of joke was that? She could barely support herself, so how could she possibly have a boyfriend? But she could not reveal the real reason either. All she could do was keep her mouth shut and look at the man in front of her with pleading eyes.
Only after receiving Bai Yang’s denial did Bai Heyu silently relax. Qingqing had never been someone who lied.
“How much do you need?”
The moment Bai Yang heard him agree, she blurted out,
“As much as possible!”
The kitchen fell silent for a moment. Bai Yang immediately realized that she had said the wrong thing, but the words had already left her mouth and could not be taken back. All she could do was awkwardly curl her toes against the floor.
Just when Bai Yang thought Bai Heyu might change his mind, a hand gently landed on top of her head and ruffled her hair. There was unmistakable affection in Bai Heyu’s eyes.
“Don’t worry. Go outside and wait for me. Once dinner is ready, we’ll eat first, then talk about it properly.”
And so, Bai Yang was coaxed out of the kitchen while staring at the affection in Bai Heyu’s eyes. She remained troubled even after dinner, wondering how she had somehow been seduced by his good looks.
After dinner, Bai Yang returned to her room. Just as she was wondering how to bring up borrowing money from Bai Heyu, someone knocked on her door.
Bai Yang opened it and saw Bai Heyu standing outside. Her eyes immediately lit up.
“Brother! Come in quickly.”
She opened the door all the way and stepped aside to let Bai Heyu enter.
After walking into the room, Bai Heyu appeared to casually look around, but in reality, he was carefully checking whether there was anything that should not be there. After all, he had not been home for two years.
There were very few things in Bai Yang’s room. Aside from the bed, there was only a wardrobe, a desk, and a chair, making the room seem rather empty.
Yet after Bai Heyu entered, Bai Yang suddenly felt that the room, which had originally seemed so spacious, had somehow become a little cramped.
Ever since Bai Yang returned, Bai Heyu had not had the chance to properly look at her. Now, under the light, he finally took a good look at his Qingqing.
After two years apart, Qingqing had grown up. Her features had fully matured, looking exactly as he had imagined. She was especially pretty and adorable. Those large almond shaped eyes were particularly striking. Whenever she looked at him, there was an innocent expression in them that made him unable to resist the urge to tease her.
“Brother?”
Seeing Bai Heyu standing in front of her and simply staring without saying anything, Bai Yang could not help feeling confused. Wasn’t her brother here to give her money? Why was he not saying anything?
Seeing the confusion on Bai Yang’s face, along with the worry in her eyes that he might change his mind, Bai Heyu could not help laughing softly.
“Are you really that short of money?”
As he spoke, he took a card from his pocket, bent down, and placed it in Bai Yang’s hand.
“I came back in a hurry this time, so I only brought this one card with me. Use it for now. If it’s not enough, I’ll have someone send you more.”
Bai Yang stared blankly at the black card with a gold trim in her hand. She was so stunned that she did not even hear what Bai Heyu was saying.
A black card!
Anyone who could afford to have a black card had to be a seriously wealthy man. How had she never realized that her brother was this rich? Her family was clearly only middle class.
Bai Yang looked at Bai Heyu meaningfully. The more she looked at him, the more she felt that her brother resembled some kind of seductive fox spirit, especially when he wore his glasses. It made him look even more like one.
Bai Heyu assumed that Bai Yang was staring at him because she did not know how much money was on the card, so he calmly explained,
“There’s only one hundred million on it for now. I’m not sure if that will be enough for you.”
After saying this, Bai Heyu noticed that the look Bai Yang was giving him had become even stranger. Then he heard the teasing and playful tone in her voice.
“Brother, tell me the truth. Did some rich woman take care of you? And I mean the kind of rich woman who is unbelievably wealthy!”
“Cough, what are you thinking about, you little brat?”
Bai Heyu choked on his saliva and instinctively raised his hand to lightly tap Bai Yang on the forehead.
Both of them paused at the same time because of his familiar gesture. Then, little by little, the unfamiliarity between them began to disappear.
To Bai Yang, even though an entire century separated them, the person standing before her was still her brother. Even if they had never been particularly close, they had still lived together for nearly ten years.
As for Bai Heyu, there was even less to say. He had watched Bai Yang grow up little by little, until she had become exactly the person he had always imagined her to be.