This Wave of Zombies is No Good - Chapter 42

Thoughts were racing in Yu Jingtang’s mind. This child had passed the check, and the check by K Division was not a mere formality. So, it was impossible that Zou Lang didn’t have a daughter.

The little girl looked young, with a delicate figure, a natural and pretty face, her hair tied in a ponytail with a hairpin, and she was wearing a white dress. She was as cute as a doll. There was also a hint of arrogance between her brows, which was exactly like Zou Lang.

As Yu Jingtang was deep in thought, the little girl suddenly leaned in, one hand climbing up his collar, and she kissed his face very familiarly. “Handsome big brother, will you marry me when I grow up?”

Yu Jingtang’s eyes narrowed slightly. This audacity was also exactly like Zou Lang.

So the remaining question was, who was the child’s mother? Where was the mother now? A child of a few years old wouldn’t have come to K Division alone, so who brought this child?

Yu Jingtang had a thousand questions in his heart, which finally turned into one sentence, “Are you hungry? Big brother will take you to eat.”

At this time, Zou Lang, who was amusing himself with the pigs in the cooking class, sneezed, “Who’s thinking about me?”

Yu Jingtang took the little girl to the cafeteria. Along the way, Yu Jingtang didn’t know how many arrow-like gazes he had received.

There were few female guests in the barracks, let alone a little girl, let alone a little girl who was so cute?

Many comrades came up to play and tease, and then they’d be like, “Oh, I didn’t expect your daughter to be so big, Colonel Yu.”

This situation made Yu Jingtang extremely embarrassed. He explained tirelessly, “She’s from my student’s family, I’m just taking care of her temporarily.”

Finally, they arrived at the second cafeteria. The food here was lighter, suitable for children. Yu Jingtang took a tray and utensils and started to order food. The cafeteria made sesame balls today. Yu Jingtang thought that children might like to eat them, but he was afraid that eating too many would not be digestible, so he took one.

“Only one?” The little girl hugged Yu Jingtang’s leg, looking at him with teary eyes.

Yu Jingtang couldn’t bear it and took another one, “At most two, no more!”

“Why can’t I eat more?” The little girl blinked, hugging his leg tighter, “Big brother, can I have just one more, please?”

“This stuff is hard to digest if you eat too much!” Yu Jingtang said, his hand unconsciously taking another one.

Only then did the little girl happily let go of his leg.

Yu Jingtang thought resentfully, this bad habit must have been learned from Zou Lang.

The two sat down, and Yu Jingtang asked the little girl, “Little friend, what’s your name?”

The little girl clumsily held the chopsticks, insisting on eating by herself, and answered him in a babyish voice, “Daddy calls me Xiao Cheng.”

“So is your full name Zou Cheng?” Yu Jingtang guessed.

“Cheng, in ‘clarity of three drops of water’.” The little girl nodded, eating the shrimp that Yu Jingtang had peeled for her, and asked him, “Hasn’t my dad mentioned me to you?”

(TL: former 橙 “cheng”=orange, citrus; latter 橙 “cheng”= clarity, clear)

“Ugh…” Yu Jingtang was at a loss for words, not knowing how to answer. It seemed that Zou Lang had never mentioned it, so it was such a big “surprise” for him.

Seeing that he didn’t answer, the little girl pouted, “Doesn’t my dad want me anymore?”

“Where’s your mom?” Yu Jingtang didn’t want to answer this question, so he changed the subject.

It was fine not to mention it, but as soon as he did, the little girl’s tears started to fall, “My mom was bitten to death by a zombie. In this world, the only person I can rely on is Daddy Zou Lang.”

Yu Jingtang felt extremely sorry, and hurriedly took a tissue to wipe her tears.

“But, it’s all in the past! I want to live well now, so that my mom and dad can rest in peace.” Xiao Cheng said, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, turning her grief into appetite, and continued to eat. She ate three sesame balls in one breath and started to sweep the fruit.

Yu Jingtang just ate a little himself, and watched the little girl eat, thinking, so the mother was dead, no wonder Zou Lang never mentioned it.

Xiao Cheng calmed down a bit, and continued, “Daddy Zou Lang is a bad guy, he put me in the nursery. I haven’t seen him since he came to K Division, it’s been almost two months.”

Yu Jingtang nodded in agreement, his eyes full of sympathy. He thought to himself, leaving his daughter at home while he was out flirting, this man was indeed a bad guy. He turned his head and asked Xiao Cheng, “How did you come over today?”

“Uncle brought me over today.” Xiao Cheng answered crisply.

“Which uncle?” Yu Jingtang wanted to ask more.

Just as the conversation got here, Xiao Cheng suddenly put down her chopsticks, ran all the way and threw herself into someone’s arms. Yu Jingtang looked up and saw Zou Lang standing there.

The child’s father had finally arrived.

“Daddy!” Xiao Cheng continued to use the family’s leg-hugging technique.

“Don’t call me dad, call me brother!” Zou Lang scolded, but his face was full of joy. He directly lifted Xiao Cheng high, “Xiao Cheng, how did you get here? Who brought you to eat?”

Xiao Cheng pointed with her hand, “Handsome big brother brought me here!”

Only then did Zou Lang notice Yu Jingtang sitting on the side with a frosty face. Seeing Yu Jingtang’s displeased expression, Zou Lang chuckled awkwardly and quietly asked Xiao Cheng, “Did you, this little drama queen, say something you shouldn’t have and made big brother angry?”

“Big brother, don’t be angry!” Xiao Cheng said, pulling out a little chinchilla from her pocket, “Come, little field mouse, show your cuteness to big brother.”

Yu Jingtang was already familiar with the chinchilla in the little girl’s hand. Hearing Xiao Cheng’s words, the chinchilla indeed started to act cute and nibble on its fingers.

Watching the chinchilla act cute, Yu Jingtang couldn’t get angry. He just wanted to wait until there were no people around to ask Zou Lang properly. He nodded slightly and said, “This chinchilla has gained weight.”

Xiao Cheng looked smug, “Brother Zou Lang said, this is the end-of-the-world food reserve. If one day I’m trapped and have nothing to eat, I can eat it. So I thought I’d fatten it up a bit, so I can have an extra meal.”

Zou Lang quickly covered Xiao Cheng’s mouth, “I never said that!”

After finishing their meal and playing for a while, Xiao Cheng started to feel sleepy. Zou Lang skillfully carried the child back to the dormitory. Since his dormitory was shared and not suitable for children to sleep, he shamelessly followed Yu Jingtang upstairs and put the child on Yu Jingtang’s bed.

The room was bathed in brilliant sunlight. Yu Jingtang made a gesture to Zou Lang not to speak, then covered the child with a blanket and went to the window to draw the curtains. The sunlight filtered through the curtain, casting a hazy glow, as if bathing Yu Jingtang in a layer of soft golden light.

Zou Lang stared, his heart thumping uncontrollably. He unconsciously wanted to hug and kiss him, but Yu Jingtang somewhat unhappily brushed off Zou Lang’s hand, pulled him out with a cold face, and the two walked through the dormitory corridor all the way to the outside balcony. Only then did Yu Jingtang turn around, considered for a moment, and said, “The child told me, her mother is dead.”

“Hmm.” Zou Lang nodded. “She’s been dead for a while.”

Yu Jingtang became increasingly displeased. How could this man look so indifferent? Didn’t he realize his mistake? He criticized seriously, “Since you’re a parent, you should take it seriously. How can you leave the child at home and ignore her?”

Zou Lang scratched his head, “What are you thinking?”

Yu Jingtang took a deep breath, “Why haven’t you ever told me you have a daughter? If you really have any difficulties, I’m not unreasonable, I…don’t mind…”

“How have I not told you?” Zou Lang began to protest, “A few months ago… convenience store…didn’t I save a little girl? All her relatives had passed away, so I kindly filled in that I was the guardian. Her life has always been taken care of by social welfare organizations, and my family also helps a bit. You can’t really think…”

At this point, Zou Lang put on a surprised expression. In fact, he didn’t break it just now, one, he was afraid of hurting Xiao Cheng’s heart, and the other was just to see Yu Jingtang’s genuine amusement.

Although he hadn’t been so reckless as to have an illegitimate daughter pop out, but seeing Yu Jingtang’s previous confusion, jealousy, and doubt, he was very happy.

Only then did Yu Jingtang remember that after the apocalypse, because there were many orphans, the government issued a new adoption policy, relaxing the adoption standards, and most of these adoptions were in the form of guardianship. He knew he had thought wrong, and had done a lot of mental preparation in vain. His face turned red, and he just wanted to end this topic as soon as possible and turned to walk back.

But Zou Lang was unwilling to let him go, and kept asking on the side, “What situation were you thinking of? Tell me. You just said you don’t mind, what don’t you mind? Don’t mind me having lovers outside? Having children with others?”

At this point, Zou Lang paused and asked, “You weren’t really prepared to be a stepmother, were you?”

Yu Jingtang stopped at these words, turned around, and kicked Zou Lang in the waist.

Zou Lang squatted down in pain, “I said…wrong…be…a stepfather…”