Pei Si: "Brother Xie is busy with Ah Weng. He hasn't had his phone with him lately, so don't worry about him. He's fine."
Upon seeing the message, Yu An couldn't resist sending one to Ruan Ke as well.
Yu An: "Uncle Ruan, did Xie Chiyuan tell you when he's coming back?"
It was already night, and Yu An wasn't sure if Ruan Ke was asleep or not.
He sat on the bed, his chin resting on the cap of a small mushroom, intently looking at his phone screen.
A few minutes later.
Ruan Ke replied to him: "I didn't ask when Chi Yuan would return. If you want to know, I'll ask his dad."
Yu An hesitated for a moment, but then boldly said, "Okay, thank you."
Ruan Ke kept video chatting with Yin Qin throughout the night. Even if they were doing their own things and not talking, the call would usually not end.
He casually propped up his phone, dried his hair in front of the screen, and talked to Yin Qin: "Qin, when is Chi Yuan coming back? An An is getting impatient waiting for him."
Yin Qin thought about Yu An and smiled: "I really didn't expect that Chi Yuan and Yu An could actually be together."
After joking around, he got back to business: "Chi Yuan won't be able to go back for a while. The zombie he brought back is said to be the zombie king, but according to him, his abilities have deteriorated somewhat."
"If humans and zombies cooperate, then the zombie king, who represents the zombies, naturally cannot be too weak."
Yin Qin never hid anything from Ruan Ke. He talked about what Xie Chiyuan had been busy with recently: "Chiyuan is training with this zombie king. He is helping us to determine the stability of this zombie king."
As the leader of the West District, Yin Qin's decision to cooperate with the Zombie King in a world where humans and zombies are locked in a stalemate carries considerable risk.
Ruan Ke could understand his pressure.
"Should I tell An'an what Chi Yuan is doing right now? Otherwise, An'an will be worried every day here."
"Okay, you can talk to him."
Yin Qin probably felt a pang of pity for his son who couldn't go back to hug his wife, since he himself had a wife: "I will arrange for Chi Yuan to go back as soon as possible. You can tell Yu An to relax."
Ruan Ke nodded, relayed Yin Qin's words to Yu An, and comforted him, "Don't worry, Chi Yuan will come back after he finishes this matter."
Hearing this, Yu An felt relieved, but still felt a little down.
He missed Xie Chiyuan.
"Big brother."
Little Eight and Little Nine snuggled up to him, while Little Chiu was playing on her phone. The two little ones looked up at him and asked, "Are you unhappy?"
Yu An didn't want to spread his bad mood in front of the kids, so he shook his head and didn't tell the truth: "I'm not unhappy, you're overthinking it."
Little Butterfly doesn't stay up late; she's already asleep.
Yu An confiscated Qiu Qiu's phone and then held Xiao Ba and Xiao Jiu, making sure they lay down obediently on the bed. He turned off the light, then opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling for what seemed like an eternity.
The next day.
The little ones held an emergency meeting, which was conducted in secret, excluding Yu An. The meeting took place in the medical room where Tang Yi had been kicked out.
Yu An was busy outside and had no idea that there was a meeting for the children here.
The meeting began.
Xiao Jiu first criticized Qiu Qiu: "Qiu Qiu, you can't use your phone during meetings!"
Chirp: "..."
Chuchu blinked and put her phone away.
Xiao Jiu glanced at the other children, then nodded with a hint of satisfaction: "Very good, I hereby declare the meeting officially open!"
"The topic of our meeting today is how to make our eldest brother happy."
Although Yu An wanted to hide his bad mood, to his clingy little ones, all his feelings were transparent to them.
The kids have all noticed how unhappy their eldest brother has been these past few days.
Xiao Jiu had just started to speak when Qiu Qiu asked in confusion, "Big Brother is happy that Xie Chiyuan is back, so why do we still need to have a meeting?"
The other kids: "..."
The children fell silent. Of course, they knew their eldest brother would be happy if Xie Chiyuan returned. But the current situation was that Xie Chiyuan wasn't coming back.
"Chirp chirp, you need to raise your hand before you speak next time!"
After pointing out Qiuqiu's faults, Xiao Jiu got back to the main point: "We need to rely on ourselves to make Big Brother happy. If you have any good suggestions, please raise your hands and tell me."
Eight-Eight Rascals raised its little tentacles, its expression serious: "Big Brother loves us the most. We can stay with Big Brother 24 hours a day, which will make Big Brother happy!"
Even Qiuqiu, who was most attached to Yu An, opened its mouth when it heard Bazai's words: "Big Brother doesn't let us follow him when he takes a bath."
Bazai remained serious: "We can squat at the bathroom door!"
The little butterfly, unable to bear it any longer, wanted to give them a swipe of its wings: "You haven't said a single useful word. What you need now, big brother, is to go outside and clear your head."
As soon as Little Butterfly said this, the clever Little Nine also had an idea: "Yes, Sixth Brother is right. Big Brother stays on the island every day, and it's easy for him to be reminded of the Xie family name when he sees things."
"Let's take our eldest brother out more often to clear his head. Maybe he'll forget about that Xie guy."
Little Butterfly and Little Nine reached a consensus, while Little Eight lost his right to vote because his previous suggestion was too stupid.
Socially awkward Chiu Chiu didn't want to go out, so she voted against it.
Xiao Jiu made the decision: "Two votes in favor, one vote against, and one abstention. I hereby declare that the proposal I made to Xiao Jiu has been passed!"
With Xiao Jiu's approval, the final result of the Zaizai meeting was: "Take Big Brother out of the house."
Chiu Chiu pinched Ba Zai's little tentacles in frustration and struggled, saying, "There are so many people outside, I'm scared."
She Niu Ba Zai let him pinch his little tentacles, and casually assured him, "From now on, you'll follow Brother Ba, and Brother Ba will protect you. You just don't want to see anyone, right? I won't let them talk to you, okay?"
Chiu Chiu hesitated for a few seconds, then nodded.
With She Niu's comfort, Qiu Qiu was finally less reluctant to go out.
The people on the island aren't here to retire; they have many tasks to complete each day, requiring the island to send people to handle them. Through repeated exposure to virtual environments, the trainees here have gained considerable experience in dealing with zombies, mutants, and even those with superpowers.
Captain Yin Feng, Vice Captain Song Jun, and Hou Ying, who trained with Yu An, would go out from time to time.
Yu An hadn't planned to go out, but Ruan Ke didn't want him to.
But the little ones were making a huge fuss. The eighth one threw a tantrum, rolling around on the ground, its little tentacles clinging to Yu An's leg, howling, "Big brother, we want to go out! We want to go out!"
Little Mushroom looked at Yu An pitifully and pleaded, "Big brother, we've been on the island for so long, can you take us out for a walk?"
The usually aloof Little Butterfly couldn't bring herself to throw a tantrum; she simply stood by and gave instructions.
Chirp received a subtle signal from the little butterfly. He looked at the rolling Eighth Chick, then at the pitiful Ninth Chick, and his little wingtips froze.
Urged on by Little Butterfly's gaze, Chiu Chiu put down her phone and dawdled over to Yu An.
Yu Anzheng was looking at the tantrum-throwing child with a headache when suddenly his gaze fell on Qiuqiu.
He swallowed hard, looking nervously at the most obedient chick, "Chick, what are you doing? You wouldn't—"
Before Yu An could finish speaking, Qiu Qiu slowly lay down on the ground right in front of him.
"Big brother, Chiu Chiu is about to throw a tantrum."
Equally nervous, Chiu Chiu lay on the ground and informed her older brother.
Yu An: "..."
Yu An's lips twitched.
He couldn't take it anymore, so he picked up all the kids, lined them up on the sofa, and began to interrogate them: "What's going on? Why do you all suddenly want to go out?"
Xiao Jiu hung her head, radiating a dejected aura.
He said dejectedly, "Brother, you never take us with you when you go out. We wait for you on the island every day, and we can't let anyone find out who we are. We're actually a little depressed."
Xiao Jiu looks so pitiful.
Yu An felt a pang of heartache. He patted Xiao Jiu's head and coaxed, "I'm sorry, it's because your older brother didn't consider your feelings."
"You just want to go out and clear your head, right? Big brother will take you out."
Anyway, Xie Chiyuan doesn't know when he'll be back, so Yu An, seeing the kids looking so sullen, decided to prioritize them.
While Xie Chiyuan was away, he could also enjoy some parent-child time with the kids.
Having received Yu An's promise, the children, who had just been feeling dejected, instantly brightened up. They pounced on Yu An and showered him with kisses.
Liu Zai thought Bo Bo was too childish and didn't participate.
Chiu Chiu still didn't really want to go out, so she just stood there in a daze and didn't go over.
It was late at night.
Yu An was so flustered by the babies that he had no mind to think about Xie Chiyuan anymore. He was holding one of the babies in his arms, and another baby dog was lying at his feet.
Surrounded by her baby, Yu An fell into a deep sleep.
He rarely dreams, but this time, he had a long dream last night.
In the dream, it was him and Xie Chiyuan.
For some reason, he ended up at the same kindergarten as Xie Chiyuan. The kindergarten children were playing house, and he was wearing a red handkerchief on his head, playing the role of the bride.
A child's voice reached my ears: "Hey, he's very handsome, but I don't want him to be my wife."
Another child chimed in, "Yeah, he's a little monster, let's just ignore him."
Amidst the voices of these children, the young Xie Chiyuan walked up to him and firmly declared, "I am willing to let Yu An be my wife."
The cub Xie Chiyuan's voice was childish, but it instantly put Yu An, who was also a cub, at ease.
"Yu An".
The red veil on his head was lifted, revealing the face of the young Xie Chiyuan. He leaned closer and loudly promised, "If you become my wife, I'll give you all the White Rabbit candies, and all the money I earn will be yours to spend!"
The absurd dream left Yu An in a daze even after waking up.
Not to mention that Xie Chiyuan wasn't even in the kindergarten he attended, the fact that he was talking about wives and children is something a child shouldn't say!
He raised his hand and rubbed his face.
"I must be crazy."
He murmured to himself, the blush on his face taking a long time to fade.