“Done crying?” Feng Chen asked.
Yan Bubu sniffled. “Yeah.”
Feng Chen patted the boulder beside him. Then he took out a bottle of water from his backpack, unscrewed the cap and handed it to Yan Bubu.
When he finished drinking, Feng Chen pulled out the only two pieces of dry military rations he had and handed over a piece.
Yan Bubu chomped down. It was like biting into a piece of wood, hard and not tasty at all like cookies were supposed to be.
He suspected that these cookies had gone bad, but he didn’t dare to say anything since Feng Chen was eating.
Feng Chen always ate elegantly. Even if he was wretchedly sitting next to the ruins of his home eating emergency rations, he still projected the feeling of being in a fine restaurant. He chewed normally, like the food wasn’t difficult to swallow at all.
On the other hand, Yan Bubu held the cookie in both hands. He gnawed on it first with his incisors, his front teeth, and then the ones in his back, wearing at it with quite some effort.
Feng Chen finished his ration and turned to look at Yan Bubu, only to find he had just taken one bite and was trying to force it down.
“Don’t roll your eyes.”
“En….I didn’t mean it. It’s a little hard to swallow.”
Yan Bubu tilted his head and continued to bite the cookie with his front teeth. Feng Chen watched him for a moment and asked, “Is the ration that hard?”
Although dry military rations were dehydrated, the raw materials compressed, and the taste indeed not very good, it was no brick.
Yan Bubu gave him a look and neglected to mention how his front teeth were feeling loose. He took another chomp.
Crack!
“Ah!” Yan Bubu opened his mouth wide, looking at Feng Chen with a bewildered expression.
Feng Chen suddenly spotted a hole between his teeth and couldn’t help but be stunned too. He realized one of the teeth had fallen out.
“Don’t move, let me see.”
Yan Bubu opened his mouth wide, allowing Feng Chen to retrieve the fallen tooth and inspect his gums. It was too dark to see clearly. Feng Chen shone the flashlight in his mouth.
Yan Bubu sniffled, his voice a little weepy, “Young Master, ‘m I gonna die too?”
Feng Chen gave him a look. “It’s fine, you won’t die. You’re just changing teeth.”
“Changing teeth?”
“It happens to everyone. You’re six years old, so it’s about time.”
Yan Bubu was dazed for a while. He probed that spot with his tongue. Feng Chen took out a small jar of caviar from his bag and used the small spoon that came on the inner lid to scoop up some.
He found this caviar in the kitchen at home just now. He took away Yan Bubu’s ration and spread the caviar on it, carefully avoiding the spots wet with Yan Bubu’s saliva.
“Young Master, Adjutant Chen went to pick you up, right? Where is he?” Yan Bubu asked.
Feng Chen’s hand paused a beat. He lowered his eyes and said, “The plane crashed. Adjutant Chen’s gone.”
Yan Bubu rubbed his eyes and asked again, “What about Master and Mistress?”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“I don’t know.”
“Let?” Tjc Deye rajgfv ja tlw yijcxis.
“Jbwweclmjalbcr jgf booilcf. Qf mjc’a mbcajma atfw, rb la’r pera atf akb bo er cbk.” Mfcu Jtfc tjcvfv tlw atf mbbxlf. “Sja delmxis, kf’ii ifjnf ktfc sbe’gf vbcf.”
Qtfc ifjnlcu, Tjc Deye aegcfv ab ibbx lc atf vlgfmalbc bo atf nliij tjio kjs eq atf wbecajlc jujlc. Mfcu Jtfc vlvc’a gert tlw.
“Young Master, will Mommy be cold sleeping there?”
Feng Chen said after a moment of silence, “No, she’s not there anymore. She’s gone to heaven.”
With a heavy sniff as he wiped his eyes on his shoulder, Yan Bubu nodded. “En. Mommy went to heaven, where there’s lots of good eats and fun, and Daddy. She isn’t cold at all.”
He turned around and naturally went for Feng Chen’s left hand.
Feng Chen was too busy escaping earlier, but he wasn’t quite used to this level of intimacy. His left hand subconsciously avoided Yan Bubu’s grip.
But Yan Bubu just reached over for the hem of his shirt. He tilted his head up to ask, “Young Master, shall we go?”
Feng Chen glanced down at the hem of his shirt and turned away. “Let’s go.”
Because of the extreme silence, every movement felt exposing. Aside from footsteps, there were muffled shuffling sounds from the cloth bag that Yan Bubu was carrying. The straps were too long for him , so it kept bumping against the back of his knee.
Feng Chen stopped and took the cloth bag off over his head. He adjusted the straps to the shortest possible length.
This was the cook Mrs. Liu’s grocery shopping bag. It was made of dark blue cloth and could carry many things. The words ‘Tiantian Supermarket’ were printed on one side.
Yan Bubu got the cloth bag back. It only reached his thighs now, which was barely suitable.
“Ha!” He looked at Feng Chen, overjoyed.
This was the first time he smiled today. In the refracted light from the phone, his glittering eyes and white teeth could be seen despite his swollen eyelids and dirt-smeared face.
The most striking thing was that hole between his teeth.
When he saw Feng Chen’s looking at his teeth, Yan Bubu collected his smile and closed his mouth again.
More than half an hour later, the two finally reached the main street.
Several ruins were on fire, brightly illuminating their surroundings. The once familiar streets were so foreign now. The tall buildings on either side have collapsed, large pieces of debris strewn about the street.
A constant stream of military helicopters rumbled overhead, snowy beams of light piercing the night sky. Shrill sirens echoed in the distance, fire trucks, ambulances, or perhaps both.
Feng Chen found it hard to believe this was real. He stopped in some trance.
The other survivors they ran into on the street didn’t looked happy at all to have survived. Their expression were clouded with grief or numbness. Some might have watched their loved ones be buried alive under rubble, other might have lost contact with their loved ones. Perhaps the person they were talking on the phone was abruptly cut off.
The surface of the street was filled with potholes. In order to not fall and stay away from the steel bars piercing through the concrete, Yan Bubu tightly clutched Feng Chen’s shirt and concentrated on moving forward.
He knew he could not become a burden. He had to keep up with Feng Chen no matter what. So even if he tripped and fell, he would quickly get up and grab the corner of Feng Chen’s shirt again as if nothing had happened.
Feng Chen wasn’t going too fast. After noticing another stumble from Yan Bubu, he grabbed him by the back of his collar and carried him directly over the mound of dirt at their feet.
“Thanks.” Yan Bubu whispered after regaining his balance. He went to hold Feng Chen’s shirt again.
But Feng Chen didn’t let him this time. He took his hand.
The child’s hand in his palm was small and soft, not damp or sticky. Feng Chen found it acceptable.
After walking for a while, they spotted a group of people gathered in the alley to their right. The sound of rushing water could be heard. Feng Chen led Yan Bubu over.
These people were gathered around a well with candles around it. Some squatted on the ground to wash their faces, other simply took off their clothes and scrubbed down in only their underwear. The city’s water pipes had all burst. This well water was a little cloudy, but it could be used to wash if you didn’t get it in your mouth.
Feng Chen told Yan Bubu to wait nearby as he went to the well platform to get an empty bucket that no one was using. He joined the line.
“Thank the stars the earthquake didn’t cause a tsunami, or we’d all be finished.”
“Of course there was one. The areas by the sea are all flooded. It’s just that the center of our Haiyun City is elevated. As long as the waves aren’t several hundred meters high, we’re safe here.”
“So there weren’t any particularly large tsunamis.”
……
The people in line for water were all men. Feng Chen wasn’t even 1.7m tall, so he looked a little scrawny in comparison. Still, his straight back made him stand out in a different way.
Yan Bubu stood nearby. The dirt on his face couldn’t hide his delicate, beautiful features. A woman sitting with her daughter stared at him and finally couldn’t resist asking, “Little friend, who are you with right now?”
Yan Bubu turned to look at her. He also saw the little girl, who was about his age.
He didn’t want the little girl to see that he had lost a tooth, so he didn’t respond.
“Is that your brother in the line for water?” The woman asked again.
Yan Bubu turned a little nervously to look at Feng Chen. When he saw that the teen didn’t seem to hear her, he turned back and quietly said, “Nw.”
“What?” The woman didn’t hear him.
“He’s my young master.” Yan Bubu slowed down his speech.
“What? He’s what?”
Yan Bubu didn’t bother answering again. He turned back to continue to stare at Feng Chen’s back, lips pursed tightly.
He did used to chase after Feng Chen and call him his big brother, but Feng Chen never responded and even asked him coldly, “Who’s your big brother?”
“Big Brother is so silly. Of course it’s you, ah.” Yan Bubu smiled with eyes curved into crescents.
Yet Feng Chen didn’t smile back. He just turned away sullenly.
Yan Bubu gradually understood that Feng Chen didn’t like to be called big brother by him, nor did he like Yan Bubu chasing him around. So he only called Feng Chen young master, and stopped rushing up to him when Feng Chen came home from school. He hid behind the fence and just peeked out.
Feng Chen fetched water and came over to Yan Bubu. “Yan Bubu, come here.”
Yan Bubu immediately trotted up.
Feng Chen took out a towel from his backpack, soaked it and wrung it out before handing it to Yan Bubu. “Wash your face.”
Yan Bubu placed the cold towel on his face. It felt very comfortable against his little swollen eyes. The towel even had a nice smell to it. He inhaled deeply, head tilted back a bit, and didn’t move.
“Don’t you know how to wash your face?” Feng Chen’s voice rang out.
Although he was simply asking, Yan Bubu jolted and quickly answered, “I know.”
Yan Bubu began to scrub his face, as if to prove it to Feng Chen. He scrubbed so hard with the towel over that his nose and mouth were pulled out of shape.
Feeling like that should be enough, he looked up at Feng Chen, who was silently watching him. He wanted to continue scrubbing when Feng Chen’s voice stopped him. “That’s enough. Give me the towel.”
Feng Chen took the towel and rinsed it. “Come here.”
He began to wipe Yan Bubu’s neck and ears, instructing quietly, “Don’t tell anyone where we came from or our names, got it?”
Yan Bubu gave him a look. “Got it.”
After washing his face, Feng Chen put a cool towel on Yan Bubu’s red and swollen eyelids before starting on his hair.
Yan Bubu was scrubbed in every direction. He happened to see those who were bathing next to them and whispered as he regained his balance, “Young Master, they’re bathing.”
It was only April now, but the temperature was like June in previous years. The city wasn’t even that cold at night, so many people chose to bath here.
Feng Chen’s hands didn’t stop as he said, “Children can’t take baths. We can get clean like this.”
After finishing, the curls in Yan Bubu’s wet hair were even more obvious. They piled up in a mess on top of his head.
Feng Chen began to brush the dust off him. A pat to the leg sent him stumbling.
Feng Chen steadied him and used less force next time. When he was done he said, “Go wait on the side.”
Yan Bubu did as he was told. The woman looked at his fair, clean face and said to the person next to her, “This child is so good looking.”
“Yes, but there are no adults with him. Kids taking care of kids, sigh.”
“The adults should be gone, right? A pair of brothers…poor things.”
Yan Bubu turned his back to them and pretended not to hear.
Feng Chen got another bucket of water and dipped his entire head in.
From the moment he left the villa, he felt himself become feverish again. He was dizzy to boot.
The earthquake destroyed Haiyun City’s airport and roads, so he couldn’t leave for now. He didn’t know what to do next. Anxiety and uncertainty flooded his heart.
Not to mention that he wasn’t alone right now. Six year old Yan Bubu was with him.
The cold water went up to his neck. The chill cleared his head a bit, and he was able to gradually calmed down.
The Eastern Union Army, which his father was a part of, had already evacuated Haiyun City a while ago. There was important information stored in the cipher box. Just after the earthquake hit, Feng Chen realized that the security system at home would fail and the Western Union Army would definitely take advantage of this to come and seize the cipher box.
Now he just has to be careful not to reveal his identity and hide the cipher box until his father came for him.
As for Yan Bubu, he would take him if he could. If it wasn’t possible, he would give him to those rescue organizations, having done what he could.
Seeing that Feng Chen kept his head submerged in the bucket for so long, Yan Bubu came over and gently nudged him in concern. “Young Master.”
When Feng Chen didn’t move, Yan Bubu got a little anxious and started to shake him.
Feng Chen suddenly pulled his head out of the bucket. He opened his stinging red eyes and gasped for air.
He turned to look at the flustered Yan Bubu and said hoarsely, “I’m fine.”
A twelve year old kid is acting like twenty two.. And then there’s me — (¬_¬)
You are wondering about that and I am like “A 12-year-old being almost 1,7 m tall…my boy, what great genes do you have? I want some too😩”. I think we both grave what little Feng Chen has😔
Yeah that too.. forgot about his gigantism ..
Thanks for the update
thanks for the update 🤍 feng chen’s maturity is something else, poor thing
Thanks for the update ❤️
Thank you for the chapter! 💚🤍💚🤍