Zou Yue was still in a dazed state while they were walking their way to the market. 'Marriage... marriage... oh my god, I have never thought of that.'
He had been living his life day by day only surviving. He never had the thought of having a boyfriend either but here he was with an absolutely amazing man.
'Marriage... is it too soon? I love him.. so much. But is it even necessary? Especially during this time?'
He has never seen a married in the zombie apocalypse times. The ones who got married before the zombies still existed, but after that, he had never seen a newly married couple. Everyone chose to live with whomever they wanted. They all just survived, I guess.
'Marriage..'
"Don't think too much about it,"
"Yes?" Yue glanced up at him.
Fan Xui smiled at him dazzlingly. "We have a lot of time. We should not rush into anything. I'm more than happy that you accepted my confession and decided to give me a chance,"
Yue held his hand tightly. With his gloves, he could not even touch him directly. "I'm happy you chose to fall in love with me."
In a comfortable silence, they walked over to the market. The whole street was converted into one with vendors spreading out their goods on a cloth on the floor.
So many miscellaneous items were being sold from jewelry to home wear... so many things...
Yue spotted a small stall selling cutlery and small bowls. The goods seemed relatively clean and new. It must have most likely been looted from a store.
"Come here young lad. check out the bowls. It costs only one meal ticket each."
"One meal ticket! Are you kidding me?! That could buy out your entire stall. I can give you o0e ramen for three bowls."
"Can't do that. its fixed price."
Yue silently browsed through the products. One bowl set caught his eyes. It was baby blue bowl set of four with matching cutlery. He picked it up and glanced at Fan.
Fan Xui nodded.
"One ramen or we walk,"
"Go one. Leave then. I have a lot of customers that buy my product. there is no use reducing the price!" the man haughtily said.
Yue sighed. Buying one bowl of a meal ticket was exorbitant pricing. Even though he had a lot of ramen packets at home, he did not wish to waste them.
Sadly, he glanced at Fan Xui before walking away.
Fan Xui stood by the stall, peering at the man. He squatted down, taking the blue bowl set. Just behind it was the store tag. "From the local supermarket. The one that was looted just a few weeks ago. I heard the soldiers are still searching for the looters. What if you get caught with them.... won't that be a very sad thing?,"
The vendor started to swear buckets. "Fuck, take it,"
"Yue! He's willing to sell~" he happily called for him.
Yue ran back excitedly. "Really?" From his bag he took out the ramen and handed it to him. "Better not try to cheat customers like that."
The man glared. "You..."
Fan Xui glared back and the ma went silent.
"We have got it," Yue took the bowl in his hand and happily walked around. They could not find any stall that sold furniture. But they did find a person selling bed sheets and blankets.
Yue observed it. They seem slightly used with a few stains here and there.
"It's not that bad.. it's just coffee.. You can wash it off. If you want, I can wash it for you..." the young man who owned the store said with a guilty smile. "I can give you a discount. You.. you can buy these two blankets for just a meal token."
Yue peered at the young lad. His eyes seemed desperate. "Okay," he gave a meal token to him secretly and took the blankets. "Be careful. Take the food to your loved ones safely."
"How.. How did you know...." the man shed tears.
"I've been there..."
Yue carried the blankets while Fan Xui carried the delicate bowls and cutlery.
"You're kind." Fan suddenly whispered into his ears.
"No I'm not. I'm not kind at all... just I've been at the place in my life."
He did not want to rewind his memory lane. This particular memory only brought him pain.
It was the third year of the Apocalypse. He had moved out of S city base and moved into G city. He had no money, food or anything. He worked for a meager salary of one meal token for a week of work at the walls. The food was good.
One day, while he was returning from work to his small playground, he met a kid. A small boy who looked about five or six years old. He had fainted right by his small mushroom play dome.
Yue wanted to ignore it because there had been scams like these before. Kidnappers and thieves used little kids to cheat people.
He walked past him... the child did not respond.
That night he slept with one eye out the dome.. the child was still there.
The next morning too.... he was still there...
He ran out and dragged him in. By then the child's body had become so hot. He was running a very high fever.
Desperate to save him, he ran around trying to buy paracetamol. But a single meal ticket he could not afford to buy one. the price of meds had become exorbitant then. he searched and begged... even resorted to stealing...
In the end, he did not get the meds but only attracted his long-time bully's attention. He was beaten up black and blue.
By the end of the day, he came back to a cold corpse.
"Yue.. hey," Fan Xui suddenly waved his hand in front of his face. "What is it?"
"n-nothing... it's nothing."
"Let's go check out that stall.." Fan Xui led him over to a stall selling a small single-person sofa. It was dirty and dusty.
While Fan Xui was asking the price, Yue stood there in a dazed state.
'I'm not so kind... if I had taken that kid in he would have lived... he could have lived.. instead I cold heartedly ignored him.'
He glanced at his trembling hands. he could distinctly remember the smell of his corpse an ad the feeling of wet sand as he buried him. it was an empty feeling.
He did not want to feel that again.