Familiar Yet Not Quite

Next door at Xing Feng's.

"Won't you have breakfast in Che's house, chief?" Asked Yang Huaien.

He and other guys were wiping the sweat after the morning running. Yao said that they could drop by anytime for meals in the future. Chief and Che were in love, shouldn't he go there first thing in the morning? How come he was sitting in the living room, drinking coffee and browsing through web pages on his pad?

"Shush. Chief forbids anyone of us from eating over there today. He said, it's the first day of Che's official relocation, they must have their own stuff to deal with but we don't know how long it'll take. Hopefully, we can have dinner with them. I'm already used to Yao and Auntie Wang's cooking, it's killing me that I don't get to eat. Ugh!"

Chu Haoling had come home a bit earlier. He walked up to Yang and made a hush gesture while he himself kept rattling on and on.

"Since chief said so, we'll get something to eat from the dining hall."

Yang huaien and the guys looked at each other with doubts. But since their chief didn't say anything, they chose not to discuss it.

"Sure."

Shen Rui nodded. "What do you want for breakfast, chief? We'll bring it back for you." He then asked Xing Feng with a spirited tone.

Chaoyang didn't lack the food that could store for a relatively long period of time. The dining hall would serve porridge, steam buns, dumplings and pancakes in the morning. But things like soy milk or deep-fried dough stick were considered luxuries in the doomsday because soy milk would easily spoil and the fried dough required a huge amount of oil, only Yun Che's family would have those.

"Porridge, and a plate of pickles. I want pickles with oily chilies."

Raising his head, Xing Feng said. He had gotten used to Yun Yao's cooking as well. He didn't really care for the food out there. What he needed was to fill his belly.

"I want the same. Plus a couple of steamed dumplings though."

Gu Mingxuan requested bluntly as he walked down the stairs. Despite being an indoor guy, he didn't drop the daily workout. Actually, he was more committed than others. He usually went out for running very early in the morning. By the time the other guys came home, he'd already taken a shower.

"OK, we're off then. There'll be nothing left if we run late." Said Shen Rui.

The guys set off to the dining hall. Gu Mingxuan walked up to Xing Feng and sat opposite him. "They are busy with something?"

They must be or else Xing Feng wouldn't give such an order in the morning.

Looking up at Gu, Xing Feng slid the screen of his pad. "Yes. You guys will soon know what they're busy with but I shouldn't be the one to tell you that."

He was insinuating that Gu should stop asking.

"Chief, don't you think you're more and more like part of Che's family? You're indeed a guardian beast."

"Hah. Well…"

Xing Feng shook his head with a chuckle. It looked like the nickname was going to stick with him forever.

Back at Yun Che's.

Chenchen shocked Yun Cheng with his sudden outburst of crying. Yun Cheng was already in a fluster when Yun Yao hugged him with tears, now he just went straight-up petrified. His body was as stiff as stone. Hadn't Yun Che held his hand, hinting him that he should hug Chenchen back, he wouldn't even know how to react. But his body and motion were still rigid.

The one who had been facing him was Leng Yehan. From the moment Yun Cheng showed up, Leng's eyes were locked on him without a single blink. Yun Cheng felt familiar to him yet not quite. Yun Cheng used to be like Yun Che, thin, but not weak. He was brave and clever. He was sagacious and rational. He was always confident and did things in his stride no matter whom he was dealing with. All professors from all departments commended that he was doctor or researcher material. He always wore a smile on his face, a light, modest smile. He never got arrogant or self-important. He was like a lonely, lofty lotus in the muddy world, attractive and elegant. But now, the sagacity, the self-confidence, the elegance had all disappeared from him. Instead, he got innocence in return. He was now like a piece of white paper, a whole new person. What remained the same was that he was still attractive.

To Leng Yehan, no matter what Yun Cheng had become, wise or innocent or murderous, he would always be a fatal attraction for him.

Lu Haixuan didn't say anything, either. In fact, he got to know and build the friendship with Yun Cheng only for a couple of days but for these people who faced fear and death every second, even one-minute of being together beat a mediocre lifelong relationship. Lu Haixuan was happy enough to see Yun Cheng stand there speaking even though he was in a fluster. At least it meant his friend was back. It didn't matter that he was slightly different from before as long as he was still him.

The others didn't do anything to disturb the family reunion. When they saw Yun Cheng, all of their worries were gone. No zombie would look like him! Yes, he was a zombie, but he was a unique one. The most important thing was, he was still part of the family.

"Hey, hey! Have you forgotten someone here? I'm back, too! Why isn't anyone paying any attention to me? I saved your lives! Remember, you ungrateful people? You all like Yun Cheng, what about me? I'm a divine beast, why isn't anyone talking about me?!"

At this moving and thrilling moment, a voice was making annoying babble. Everybody looked in the direction where the voice came from, a pitch-black puppy was on Yun Che's shoulder. Can't believe he's out again! Zhou Zeyu and the guys face-palmed, they knew who the puppy was because they'd seen him transform. Zhan Tianlong, Wang Suhua, Ye Xingchen, and Jiang Shang had never seen him before, their curious eyes were widely open, gawking at the snarling puppy on Yun Che's shoulder. The four of them were having the same question: Since when can a dog speak?

"Heiyu."

Yun Cheng was quite familiar with him already. He turned his head to take a look at him. After pushing Yun Yao away and giving Chenchen back to his brother, he opened his arms to hug Heiyu. "I like you, Heiyu. Heiyu is good."

This was the longest sentence that came out of Yun Cheng's mouth today and it was for Heiyu.

"Haha! See? See? This is the charm of a god! Yun Cheng likes me the most! If you keep neglecting me, I'll tell Yun Cheng to ignore you people."

Everybody wanted to knock this gloating, insolent jerk away.

"Shit! Again, master? I'll be back!"

And Yun Che did it. He grabbed him and ruthlessly threw him away. Everybody applauded. Chenchen, the innocent boy, asked with teary eyes, "Uncle, is Uncle Heiyu Gray Wolfie?"

"I'll be back!" is a cartoon character, Gray Wolfie's tag line. For a boy that watched cartoons a lot, this was highly recognizable.

"Pffff!"

"My silly boy, Uncle Heiyu is Uncle Heiyu. He can't be Gray Wolfie."

Yun Yao chuckled as she wiped her tears. She took her son over from Yun Che and turned to Yun Cheng. "Cheng, I know that you don't remember us anymore, that you find us strange but it's OK. I don't feel bad. Even if you can never remember the past, we'll just start creating your memories from now on. It's just you need to give us the chance to do so. Please don't reject us, okay?"

After releasing the emotions, Yun Yao thought it through. They could start over, just like Haixuan said. It wasn't like that it was hopeless. She raised her two little brothers on her own in the past 10 years, she could still look after the youngest one from this moment.

Yun Cheng reflectively turned to Yun Che. After seeing Yun Che nod at him, Yun Cheng nodded back. "OK."

"Great."

Yun Yao hurriedly turned around with her son in arms in case she burst into tears again. Leng Yehan stepped forward at this point. Deep eyes fixed on Yun Che, he walked up to him step by step, opening his arms to give him a compulsive hug. "I'm Leng Yehan! Welcome back! Cheng, I love you. I didn't have the guts to tell you this before. Not until I lost you once did I understand how hurtful it is if one's love can't be expressed."

Leng Yehan had put all his affection and lovesickness in this "I love you". He just wanted Yun Cheng to hear it no matter if he understood it or not!

Those who heard Leng Yehan felt for him even though they were in shock. Wang Suhan even buried her head into her husband's arms and started sobbing. They finally understood why Leng Yehan never took a break from his constant collecting of crystal nuclei, and the reason why he was even more emotional than Yun Yao when Yun Cheng spoke. It was all because he loved him. No matter what Yun Cheng was, human or zombie, Leng Yehan would always be in deep love with him.

"I…"

"Don't move. You don't need to say anything right now. Let's just hug for a while. For a little while."

Yun Cheng, who had a blank memory, surely didn't understand how much the love weighed. Still, he felt uncomfortable and struggled but Leng Yehan just tightened the hug. Maybe Yun Cheng felt something or Leng Yehan's bald head reminded him of Yun Che, the person who'd give him a sense of security, he became less reluctant. In the end, Yun Cheng stopped struggling. Like a docile baby, he allowed Leng to hug him however he wanted.

"Che, um…"

Shocked, Yun Yao just held her boy and looked at them without knowing what to do. Yun Che gave her a look and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "It's good, isn't it? One more person that loves Cheng like we do. Living in the doomsday is hard. It's even harder to meet the person that loves you wholeheartedly. Yehan is a good guy. I trust him."

Looking at them, Yun Che's lips curved into a smile. To Cheng, it was absolute luck that someone deeply loved him no matter what he had become. The love was from a guy or a girl? It didn't really matter.

After looking at Yun Che's side face for a long time, Yun Yao's face also lit up when she turned to the two people hugging each other. "You're right. We should feel happy for Cheng."

No one was sure whether Cheng would be cured or not, yet still, Leng Yehan was committed to him. She as the sister shouldn't object such love.

Yun Che wasn't expecting her to accept this so soon. But right before he brought up the relationship between him and Xing Feng, Yun Yao said, "The continuity of our family falls on to you, Che. Once you meet a good girl, you hold on to her or you can ask for my advice. I want you to get married as soon as possible."

"Uh…"

Yun Che decided to give up. "We're both her brothers, why does she treat me differently?" Wondered Yun Che.

"Cheng, I'm Lu Haixuan, a friend of yours. A friend forever."

When Leng Yahan let go of Yun Cheng. Lu Haixuan stepped up for a small hug with him as well. Lu welcomed him back by punching his chest like guys would do to each other.

"Hi, Yun Cheng. I'll just call you Cheng, OK? I'm Zhou Zeyu. You can call me Zeyu. Welcome back to this big family."

Before Yun Che responded to Lu Haixuan, Zhou Zeyu stepped up to give him a warm greeting.

"I'm Zhan Yafei. These are my parents. We used to study in the same university. We'll be a family in the future."

"Cheng looks like Che but is way much cuter than him."

"Right? We'll have one more cute son."

Zhan Yafei and her parents came up to Cheng as well. They saw him as a normal human being, not letting him feel uncomfortable at all. Zhan Tianlong and his wife genuinely liked Yun Cheng.

"And us. I'm Ye Xingchen. He's Shang Jiang. Cheng, we're glad to be your family."

At last, Ye Xingchen and Jiang Shang walked over to Cheng. Now, Yun Che and Yun Yao both put on a smile of relief. They believed that one day, Yun Cheng would get to know each and every one of them because everybody was kind and warm-hearted. He'd also be creating more new memories with them. Even if he could never get his old memories and self back, it wouldn't matter because everybody was here for him and this mattered the most.