Zhao Jiayi felt awkward as he looked at Yan Xing with an awkward smile as he hugged his friend. He actually didn’t intend to meet him here this time. This made 3 days in a row that they had met. He was starting to wonder if Yan Xing thought he was a stalker at this point. They were in a relatively barren coffee shop, it had lost all of its customers to a popular and trendy coffee shop that had recently opened so Zhao Jiayi never expected to see Yan Xing here. Yan Xing didn’t expect to see him here either, he bowed a little when they locked eyes and awkwardly kept his eyes on the barista as he ordered his coffee.

“It’s been so hard without you, Ge!” Su Ling exclaimed, taking off his cap as he sat down in front of Zhao Jiayi. 

“I thought it was easy since you hadn’t tried to contact me in a while.” Zhao Jiayi teased.

Su Ling was one of the few friends of his that had survived the apocalypse. This was because Su Ling was in the military, he and other soldiers grouped together and made it through the apocalypse with ease. They met three weeks into the apocalypse when Su Ling’s group was going through the ruined city looking for survivors to move onto the next city after getting a report from another military group. Zhao Jiayi’s group had been running out of food at that point so they had prepared to go through to find some more. It was quite a great reunion and was the only reason most of Zhao Jiayi’s group made it out back then.

“I was busy. But hey! I heard you were quitting!? You’ve been a teacher for 5 years and you’re quitting already? Are you coming back to the military?” Su Ling exclaimed excitedly. Yan Xing seemed to be eavesdropping a little since he stumbled and almost dropped his credit card on the floor as he heard that.

Zhao Jiayi and Su Ling had been in the military together during their early twenties alongside Yi Boqin. Jiayi only joined because his father wanted him to learn to use weapons in preparation for dire situations but he stayed longer than Yi Boqin and only left when he had become very high ranking and thought he knew enough.

“No. I’m just taking a break from things for a while. Meeting up with old friends and stuff now that I have the time.” Zhao Jiayi smiled, he followed Yan Xing with his eyes until he left the coffee shop and then looked back at Su Ling.

“What? Was there a cute girl behind me?” Su Ling asked, looking around the coffee shop.

“Yeah.” Zhao Jiayi lied and smiled.

Su Ling looked shocked, “I was starting to think you were gay. You never pay attention to girls!”

Zhao Jiayi just laughed a little, so he could’ve said it was a boy and gotten away with it? Interesting…

Zhao Jiayi changed the topic back to catching up. They had this kind of conversation during his first ‘life(?)’, he had avoided mentioning what happened to his father just because Su Ling was involved with the military. Things went well back then and as much as he wanted to have extra protection for the warehouse, he knew that Su Ling was actually the person who saved Xu Meihua and a few others who became vital parts of his team later on. He saved them when he was with his military group so Zhao Jiayi didn’t want to change things.

He was no longer so sure if he liked Xu Meihua. His love for her was definitely because she seemed like a sweet girl but could still match his pace. Knowing that she wasn’t the caring, all loving person she seemed to be made the situation very different. He knew that Yan Xing and Xu Meihua knew each other but he had assumed any animosity that she had for him was because he was the zombie king and not for any other reason.

Zhao Jiayi and Su Ling parted ways after a while of talking. 

Jiayi made his way over to the warehouse, Yi Boqin was talking to some of their friends about the situation. Wu Yanyu’s expression turned from a plain look to a bright smile as she saw Zhao Jiayi, she was going to cutely run up to him but He Guang beat her to it and rushed up to him and bowed.

“Ge!” He Guang exclaimed.

“Thank you for thinking of us!” 

Wu Yanyu was caught off guard by He Guang’s loud greeting and thanks so she faltered and could only greet Zhao Jiayi quietly.

“Y-Yes, thank you, gege.” 

“It’s nothing, I just want to keep my friends safe.” Zhao Jiayi said and smiled, patting He Guang’s head.

“Is there anything you need help with?” He Guang asked, looking around the Warehouse.

“I’m having Jin Fang help me tomorrow when he gets to the city. I don’t really need much help except some setting up when more stuff arrives. Just focus on packing your essentials.” Zhao Jiayi murmured, inspecting the drywall that he had installed.

“If there was more time we could get so much more done, but a lot of stuff won’t get here in time.” Yi Boqin added.

“We’ll get everything we really need, don’t worry.” Zhao Jiayi said and smiled.

—

It was Friday when Yan Xing and Zhao Jiayi met again. Partially by coincidence, partially because Zhao Jiayi actively sought him out.

“Are you waiting for the bus?” Zhao Jiayi asked, a bit shocked to see Yan Xing at a bus stop.

“Yes?” Yan Xing murmured after jumping a little when Zhao Jiayi suddenly appeared beside him.

“Uh. You know there’s a curfew now right? At 8 pm? In 45 minutes?” Zhao Jiayi asked, with a troubled-looking smile.

“Huh?” Yan Xing didn’t seem to believe him and quickly pulled out his phone and looked it up and saw it was true.

“On the one day that my driver is away…” Yan Xing mumbled and gritted his teeth.

Zhao Jiayi chuckled a little, “Want a ride?”

“...Please.” Yan Xing murmured and bowed.

The curfew had been announced the day before and implemented today so Zhao Jiayi felt a little suspicious about why today of all days Yan Xing’s driver decided to not be at work. He walked with Yan Xing to where his car had been parked.

“Address?”

Yan Xing answered and Jiayi started the car. He was a bit surprised that Yan Xing lived near one of his friend’s houses.

“You know a guy named Hu Shi?” Zhao Jiayi asked with a smile.

“Huh? Yeah, he’s my neighbor.” Yan Xing murmured.

“He’s a friend of mine.” Zhao Jiayi said and chuckled.

Yan Xing looked down at his hands on his lap, “I guess you’re quite the popular guy.”

“Haha is that surprising?” Zhao Jiayi laughed.

“No...not really. It kind of makes sense.” Yan Xing mumbled, glancing at Zhao Jiayi’s smile.

“We’re completely different people after all.” Yan Xing whispered.

“I don’t think we’re that different.” 

They were quiet for a while after Zhao Jiayi said that.

“You and Xu Meihua aren’t friends, right? You just have known each other for a long time?” Zhao Jiayi suddenly asked.

Yan Xing rolled his eyes a little, “...Yeah. She hates me so if you’re trying to get her number, I don’t have i—“

“If I were trying to get her number I’d just ask a teacher in her department, not a student.” Zhao Jiayi said and raised an eyebrow.

“She’ll blame it on me regardless.” Yan Xing murmured fiddling with his phone case.

“Blame what on you?” Zhao Jiayi asked, turning to look at Yan Xing since they stopped at a stoplight.

“She’ll fall in love with you, ask to break off our engagement, and instead of saying it was because she fell in love with someone else...She’ll say that I cheated on her.” Yan Xing explained, his voice becoming obviously hostile. He had a straight face, not showing much emotion other than the slight anger that could be seen in his eyes.

“You’re engaged?” Zhao Jiayi asked incredulously.

Yan Xing nodded, “Yup. We’ve been in an arranged marriage since before we could walk.”

Zhao Jiayi turned his head back to face the road.

‘Xu Meihua...you got with me before we even knew the Zombie King existed…while you were engaged?!’

“H-Has she done that before? Accused you of cheating?” Zhao Jiayi asked, he couldn’t look Yan Xing in the eye anymore, he was a bit embarrassed.

“She’s the reason I have no friends. Every Time I make a friend she accuses me of cheating and my parents pay the friend off so they’ll stay away from me.” Yan Xing didn’t know why he was ranting to Zhao Jiayi about all this. Maybe it was because it was so rare for people to actually talk to him.

“I guess they weren’t very good friends if they gave you up for money.”  Zhao Jiayi said and frowned. His image of Xu Meihua was destroyed.

“You wouldn’t?” Yan Xing raised an eyebrow, he almost sneered before remembering that Zhao Jiayi was older than him and a teacher (and currently driving him home out of the goodness of his heart).

“I definitely wouldn’t. Money is meaningless.” Zhao Jiayi murmured. That was something people quickly learned in the apocalypse. 

Money and status had no meaning.

Anything that wasn’t strength, knowledge, or connections to people with strength and knowledge was useless in the apocalypse.

“...oh.” Yan Xing mumbled.

The car went quiet again and they soon arrived outside a gated community. 

“You don’t have to go inside, I can walk and get inside in time for the curfew.” Yan Xing murmured as he saw that Zhao Jiayi was about to turn and go through the security check.

“Alright,” Zhao Jiayi said and watched Yan Xing get out of the car and lean down to say thank you.

“Thank yo—“

“Be safe.”

Yan Xing was a bit confused by how Zhao Jiayi suddenly cut him off.

“Something is going on, y’know? There’s a curfew for a reason and the ‘gang violence increase’ isn’t the true reason.” Zhao Jiayi explained.

“Oh alright.” Yan Xing murmured, he didn’t really expect Zhao Jiayi to be so distrustful of the government.

“Have a good night A-Xing.” Zhao Jiayi added, looking at Yan Xing with a sly smile.

Yan Xing blushed bright red and cursed the street light that shined on his face and exposed him. 

“...Embarrassing...g-goodnight.” Yan Xing mumbled and went off to the security gate quickly.

Zhao Jiayi watched him walk away for a bit before going on his way to his own house. He shouldn’t get caught up in the curfew either.