Chapter 23 The Debt you owe will be repaid with your life
From within the tent a young man’s head emerged. His hair was half long and half short and only in the middle, was a tuft of his hair coloured red. Biting onto his cigarette sloppily, he looked outside.
Seeing that it was Yan Hanqing, his complexion faintly changed then calmed back down. “Oh, I was thinking who it could’ve been. Who knew you were able to survive and return?”
Yan Hanqing with great efforts tried to suppress his anger. At the area where ordinary people lived, the good or the bad were all solely dependent on one’s strength. In order for his mother to live in a slightly more comfortable area, who knows how many fights he had gotten into, then was he able to win a two person tent.
This man standing before his eyes was someone he had originally defeated who was reportedly some superhuman’s relative. Never would Yan Hanqing have thought that after leaving for only a few days, this guy would try to steal his shelter and even dared to throw his mother out.
Not to Yan Hanqing’s surprise, the friend that he requested to take care of his mother who was hiding within the tent, pale facedly looked over at him. “You… you’ve returned?”
Even if you were to use your toe to think about it, you would understand this situation. Thinking that Yan Hanqing would die outside, they decided to work together to take possession of Yan Hanqing’s residence.
After all, quite a few investigation squads would also hire a bunch of regular citizens to use as cannon fodder. The mortality rate was incredibly high. However with these high risk gambles, they would also bring in large harvests. This is the reason why a lot of regular humans would be willing to join them.
The two had thought that Yan Hanqing would be in a similar circumstance, yet they did not anticipate for Yan Hanqing to smoothly and safely return.
“Get out!” Yan Hanqing’s voice was hoarse. Biting his teeth, an inexhaustible storm was brewing within his eyes. The sloppy youth swallowed his saliva and touched his neck. “This place is my property now! Who are you telling to get lost?”
He hadn’t even finished speaking, when Yan Hanqing had already hauled him out of the tent by his neck collar. After throwing the man out, the first thing he did was to look for the medicine underneath the bed.
All the medicine that Shao Qing had given him was hidden underneath the bed. However that friend of his had known that. Knowing that the chances of the medicine still being there was slim, Yan Hanqing held on to this thread of hope.
However, lifting up the bed sheet away, Yan Hanqing just saw an empty bed. Expressionless he turned towards his friend. “Where is my medicine?”
“Who…. who knows…..” That person stepped back a few steps and sent a few glances crying for help towards the other young man. At that time he was greedy, thus decided to exchange the medicine with the young sloppy man for points. Using the points, he had already exchanged them for quite a bit of food and clothing. Where on earth would he be able to get medicine to return to Yan Hanqing?
Yan Hanqing reached out and grabbed him by his collar, the vein on his forehead popping out. He gnashed his teeth. “I… I trusted you! I relied on you to take care of my mother. I didn’t expect… that you could be a lying ingrate!”
After yelling at him, Yan Hanqing threw him to the side, knocking the young man who had finally just crawled back up to fall to the ground again.
Shao Qing holding Xiao Baozi walked over to help look after Yan Hanqing’s mother. After seeing her, Shao Qing shook her head. After being ill and hurt constantly she had become an expert in injuries and illnesses. Back when she was originally serving in the army, she would frequently injure herself. Later even though she had retired from the military, she could already be considered to be half a doctor. Nowadays just taking one glance, she was able to tell that Yan Hanqing’s mother at most had one breath left in her. Just being able to last until Yan Hanqing came back was already a miracle.
Yan Hanqing naturally was also able to see that this was the case. Closely hugging his own mother, his head drooped and after a long while did he manage to say some words while he was choked with emotion. “When I was little, my father had passed away early. It was my mother who with great difficulty brought me up. When I passed the exam for military school, my mother went everywhere to borrow money, sold our house, our land, just so she could gather enough money for my living expenses and school fees. At that moment I had sworn I would let my mother experience happiness… yet I wasn’t able to do it….”
“When the apocalypse broke out, I wasn’t able to protect her. Even though I was able to prevent her from getting eaten by a zombie, she had nearly died within a zombie’s mouth. Afterwards wandering to the base, I had no ability and wasn’t able to get her the treatment she needed. Since arriving, I haven’t been able to let her enjoy even a single good day.” Yan Hanqing’s voice started to become increasingly hysterical until his mother lightly held his hand. “Is my family’s Ah Qing back?”
“Mother, its me, its me.” Yan Hanqing looked at the elderly woman who still had a bit of consciousness, promptly grabbing her hand afraid of startling the senior he lowered his voice. “Mother, how are you feeling?”
“Still good…” Yan Hanqing’s mother persistently smiled and firmly held Yan Hanqing’s hand. “In my entire life, I did not have a single regret. The only thing that I do regret though is being unable to see you marry a wife and give birth to my grandchildren…. Ah Qing, later on when you finally find a woman who is willing to spend the rest of her life with you, you make sure you treat her well…. Women, once they’ve decided to marry a man, they are entrusting their entire life to them….”
“Mother, I know. I understand.” Yan Hanqing placed his head within the elder’s embrace, sobbing more. The elder rubbed his head gently, regretfully saying: “I can’t let go… can’t let go….”
“Auntie, you can be at ease. In the future I will take care of him for you.” Shao Qing couldn’t resist speaking. The elder glanced over at Shao Qing then smiled. Her dirty aged face no longer showing any signs of regret. Softly pinching Shao Qing’s pinky with her fingers seeming like she was pulling it to form a pinky promise, but before they could hook on properly, she took her last breath.
Yan Hanqing’s entire body trembled, buried within his mother’s bosom, not even a sound of weeping could be heard. His always straight back was shaking, showing his vulnerability.
Shao Qing didn’t speak. She didn’t know what to say to comfort him. She silently looked towards the outside of the door where the two men stood there preparing to break out into a run at any minute. Life for a life, isn’t that how it works?
