Wen Jiuzhe quickly went to get a proper, conservative haircut, but paired with his face, he was still strikingly handsome.
With the hairstyle changed, he no longer looked as dispirited and gloomy as before.
A few days later, Wen Jiuzhe drove Xue Ling to the New Fourth Base once again.
Before setting out, Xue Ling thought they were going to trade items. When they arrived near the base, she saw the eye-catching couplets pasted on both sides of the base gate.
There were also many lanterns hung outside the base, and many people were moving about on the open ground in front of the gate.
Seeing the bright red couplets, Xue Ling suddenly realized and asked, “Is it almost the New Year?”
Neither she nor Wen Jiuzhe knew the exact date, but clearly, in a base where people gathered, someone still kept track of it.
On this land, no matter what happened, as long as people were still alive, they had to celebrate the New Year.
Celebrating the New Year meant that, as long as there was still a door, couplets had to be pasted.
“When I went to get my haircut last time, I heard them mention that it was almost New Year. During the New Year period, the base will hang a lot of lanterns for people to look at. When it gets darker at night, they’ll even set off fireworks on the open ground by the gate,” Wen Jiuzhe said.
So today he had deliberately brought Xue Ling to have a look. She had always liked this kind of activity.
The two of them staying in that remote house was still too quiet for her.
“Come on, let’s get out.”
Xue Ling hesitated and wrote, “There are too many people at the base gate, what if—”
Before she could finish writing, Wen Jiuzhe pulled her down.
Suddenly being dragged out of the car, with people passing nearby, Xue Ling’s movements became even stiffer and clumsier from nervousness.
But Wen Jiuzhe picked her up and carried her a few steps, passed through the crowded area, then held her hand through the thick gloves she was wearing. The two walked to a spot farther away from the base gate, avoiding everyone, and found a place to sit.
Today there really were a lot of people at the New Fourth Base gate. The New Year was special. People who usually stayed inside the base out of fear of external dangers could not resist coming out today to move around a bit, waiting to watch the fireworks later.
In fact, most of the survivors inside the base had never personally killed a zombie.
A large group of people who encountered zombies had either died or turned into new zombies, while this group had been fortunate enough to survive and be protected inside the base. They built a new home within the base and, unless necessary, would not step outside it.
Only during special holidays like this, after the surroundings of the base had been cleared in advance, would most people bring their families and step out of the base, briefly experiencing the air outside.
Scavengers who frequently left the base and dared to face zombie attacks head-on made up only one twentieth of the survivors.
The world that was once familiar had already become synonymous with danger for ordinary survivors in the base.
So even from a distance, Xue Ling could still see that some people carried tension in their expressions, often unconsciously observing their surroundings, fearing dangers that might appear at any moment.
The leaders of the New Fourth Base were very responsible. They had cleared the area around the base in advance and also arranged for patrols.
Even over by Wen Jiuzhe and Xue Ling, a base staff member came over to give a reminder, saying that being too far from the base could carry certain risks and telling them to try not to go too far alone.
Wen Jiuzhe said he understood. While speaking, the staff member glanced at Xue Ling a couple of extra times. Xue Ling lowered her head, hugged her tablet, and pretended to be very busy.
After the staff member left, Xue Ling hurriedly asked Wen Jiuzhe.
“He seemed to be looking at me just now. Is he suspecting me?”
Wen Jiuzhe said calmly, “Maybe he saw you playing on a tablet and felt envious. The base limits electricity. A lot of people don’t have electronic devices to play with.”
They did not know that the staff member who had given the reminder left the area, returned to the crowd, and complained to his colleagues:
“A young couple, hiding so far away to flirt, really not afraid a zombie might suddenly pop out and they wouldn’t even have time to run.”
As the sky darkened, fireworks were set up at the base gate. The crowd gathered around, and under guidance began lighting them, counting down together in unison.
“Bang!”
Light shot upward, suddenly exploding against the ink-blue sky, one bloom after another.
Everyone on the open ground tilted their heads up to watch.
Xue Ling was watching too. Even though the fireworks did not have many patterns, she still felt a surge of emotion and joy, and could not help but bump into Wen Jiuzhe beside her.
Wen Jiuzhe was like a big rock—she could not budge him, but he stretched out his hand for her to hold.
Base staff carried boxes and handed out small fireworks for free, the kind for children, the kind you could hold in your hand and light.
Soon, children’s laughter and noise rang out across the open ground.
The ground fireworks that suddenly lit up and then abruptly went out echoed each other with the brilliant fireworks blooming in the sky.
The large fireworks were set off in three rounds in total, and this simple celebration came to an end.
The crowd slowly began to move. Some people returned to the base, while others stayed outside, wanting to prolong the liveliness.
More than an hour later, the deep blue at the horizon had completely turned black. The crowd grew thinner and thinner, and the sounds of laughter and chatter became sparse.
A group of base staff began reminding everyone that it was late and that it would be best to return to the base and not linger outside.
“Huh, that couple over there is still sitting there?” said the staff member who had earlier gone to remind Wen Jiuzhe and Xue Ling.
“Someone go tell them again, don’t stay outside. Xiao Chu, you go.”
A short-haired staff member answered yes and jogged toward Wen Jiuzhe and Xue Ling.
Xiao Chu was a young girl. At first sight of the tall, burly man, she felt a bit nervous and stopped two or three meters away, instinctively saying:
“It’s already late. It’s best to hurry back into the base. You two shouldn’t stay outside too long.”
“Okay, got it, thanks.”
After speaking, Xiao Chu was about to leave, but upon taking a closer look at Wen Jiuzhe, she suddenly let out a surprised “eh” and stepped forward a few steps as if to confirm.
“Ah! It’s you!”
From her tone, it seemed she knew Wen Jiuzhe.
That was not surprising. Wen Jiuzhe had been to many bases, and many people knew him. Moreover, his appearance was the kind that easily left a deep impression.
Xue Ling shrank further into Wen Jiuzhe’s shadow, not wanting to draw attention, but unexpectedly, Xiao Chu soon looked at her as well, peering carefully at her partially hidden face.
Wen Jiuzhe dropped his earlier laziness and raised his hand to block Xue Ling.
Seeing his action, Xiao Chu let out another “ah” and felt a little embarrassed. “Is your girlfriend still the same one as before? Oh, you don’t know me, but I remember you.”
“It was three or four years ago—you were also traveling in Lanba City, right? Didn’t you take that Yanshan cable car? I was in the same car as you back then. That cable car broke down halfway and stopped in the middle. You remember, right?”
At the time, Xiao Chu had been traveling with her best friend. One cable car seated six people: her and her friend, a middle-aged couple, and this young couple.
Xiao Chu remembered it very clearly. When the cable car stopped in midair, she and her friend were scared to death. Her friend almost cried, grabbing her and saying, “We won’t fall down, will we?” In the next second, they saw the young couple in the cable car hugging each other.
The handsome boyfriend pulled his girlfriend into his arms. At that moment, the scene made her best friend instantly shut her mouth, then turn to exchange a complicated look with her.
Could these little couples please have some consideration for the lives of bystanders? The way they were brazenly exuding the sour stench of romance made their fear and even their lives seem not that important anymore.
At the time, the atmosphere inside the cable car became eerily quiet. Xiao Chu accidentally met that girlfriend’s gaze and saw that she was held in her boyfriend’s arms, her expression so awkward it carried a faint air of wanting to die.
But her boyfriend truly did not care at all about other people’s eyes.
Thanks to this pair of little couples, she and her best friend were not even that scared while trapped in the cable car, instead holding in a bellyful of things to say.
When they finally got off the cable car, the two exchanged a glance and laughed uncontrollably, chatting all the way down the mountain.
What was most coincidental was that later that night, when they were resting at a hotel in Lanba City, they even scrolled past a trending video.
The protagonists of the video were that very couple from the cable car. In the Ten-Thousand-People Square, the girlfriend sitting on her boyfriend’s shoulders wore an expression that looked like she wanted to die on the spot—it was just too funny.
Her best friend forwarded the video to her and said that although this guy couldn’t read the room and didn’t care whether his girlfriend lived or died, he was really too handsome.
……
When Xue Ling heard Xiao Chu mention that trip to Lanba City from a few years ago, she was first happy. Very quickly, as Xiao Chu continued her story, she could no longer sit still.
Her toes curled, her whole body uncomfortable.
Ah, hadn’t I already died? Why do I still have to sit here and be publicly executed?
Wasn’t it agreed that life doesn’t have that many spectators? Why is it that even in the apocalypse, there are still passersby who witnessed her embarrassing moments and can recognize them on the spot?!
Why is the world so small—how can this even happen?
Xue Ling gripped Wen Jiuzhe hard, wanting him to hurry up and deny it, to say she had the wrong people.
Wen Jiuzhe said, “Oh, that’s right, it was us.”
Xue Ling: “……”
Dead again. Her soul died.
Wen Jiuzhe still felt it wasn’t enough and added, “But we already broke up.”
Xiao Chu was stunned by what she heard, not understanding what he meant, her heart skipping. Could it be—did she run into a couple fighting and breaking up on the spot?
Wen Jiuzhe said, “But although we broke up, we still have feelings, and we’re living together now.”
Xiao Chu: “……” Truly impossible to guard against—so this is a new type of play, is it?
Xue Ling: “……” Enough, I said enough! You really found an opportunity to introduce it, didn’t you!
Unable to endure it any longer, she reached out and covered Wen Jiuzhe’s mouth, nearly pressing his head down to the ground.
Seeing them like this, Xiao Chu let out a laugh, but as she laughed, she also felt a bit like crying.
How nice. After the apocalypse, everything around her had changed, but there were still people who hadn’t changed.
Thinking about it now, life back then was so good—almost carefree. The little troubles encountered at school or work didn’t even count as troubles.
Also, the best friend who had traveled with her back then and witnessed this couple together had already passed away.
She had not encountered familiar faces for too long, busy just trying to survive, and she had also not thought about the time and people from before the apocalypse for far too long.
Even running into someone she had only met once in the past made her very happy, like meeting an old friend.
But in the end, they were still strangers. Xiao Chu did not actually cry. She blinked hard and said, “Sorry, I think I talked too much. Do you also live in the base? It’s very dangerous outside this late. Hurry and go into the base.”
“We don’t live in the base. We’re leaving now,” Wen Jiuzhe said, and picked Xue Ling up.
Xiao Chu froze for a moment, then saw that the girlfriend, who was bundled up thickly and had stayed silent the whole time, raised the tablet in her hands toward her. On it was written: “Happy New Year!”
Xiao Chu hurriedly replied, “Happy New Year!”
The girlfriend waved at her again, so Xiao Chu waved back as well.
She watched as the little couple, just like they had years ago, walked away intimately and got into a car parked in the distance.
So they really didn’t live in the base.
Why that was, Xiao Chu didn’t know, nor did she think to pry into other people’s privacy.
“Xiao Chu!” someone called her from afar.
Xiao Chu took one more look at the car starting up over there, then turned and ran back to the base gate, joining the other staff in cleaning up the firework paper scraps left at the entrance.
