Talks, Convincing, and Wedding

After sitting in the room for a bit, Gantian was starting to get a little bored as Jixi was only closing his eyes and relaxing.

"Jixi, what do you want to do now?" Gantian asked impatiently.

"Let's wait until Yiming is awake."

"Okay..."

After sitting on the chair for three hours straight, Gantian was getting really bored out of his mind.

Just as Gantian was about to take a walk, their injured comrade was finally awake.

"W-Water." The injured comrade asked weakly.

Jixi quickly took out his water bottle, opened it, and slowly poured it into the injured comrade's mouth.

"Ahem, ahem... Where are we right now?" The injured comrade asked.

"At a small town right now. How are you feeling right now, Major Yiming?" Jixi warmly asked.

"Me? I can barely feel my feet right now. They really fired on us when we were retreating, didn't they?"

Yiming groans in pain as he touches his on top of the bandages, but he says someone has performed surgery on it.

"I am afraid so... But I'm sure it was just an accident."

Despite Jixi saying it out loud, his face didn't look confident at all, as if he knew it wasn't unintentional.

"Yeah... I mean, they had to fire the zombies running in their direction. I would do the same too." Gantian added, but his face didn't look happy at all.

Seeing both of them looking a little down, Yiming knew it was time to make a decision.

"Corporal Jixi, Private Gantian. You two are to be immediately granted an honorable discharge from military duty." Yiming suddenly announced.

"Wait, what? Sir, you can't do this."

Gantian immediately resisted Yiming's order, as he had been in the military since graduating from high school.

"Do you want to go back to go on a hopeless search again? You guys can go back. I am not going back."

Yiming didn't show any sign of backing down, as his injuries were the final blow to the coffin of his loyalty to the army.

"But, sir, isn't this desertion?" Jixi raises his concern.

"So what? The moment they fire on us, they will all think we are dead. Besides, I was supposed to retire a few weeks ago if it wasn't for this damn outbreak."

Yiming slowly sat back up from the bed and looked towards the two with determination on his face.

"Still——"

"What is the soldier's duty?" Yiming suddenly yelled out, interrupting Gantian from continuing.

"Listen to command, sir!" The two immediately yelled out loud, getting up and saluting toward Yiming.

"Am I not your superior?" Yiming asked.

"Sir! You are our superior!" The two replied.

"Then I dismiss you two from military duty effective immediately. No more questions." Yiming lay back down on the bed.

The two let out a sigh of relief as if they didn't actually want to go back. But they just didn't want to admit it.

"Anyway, where are we exactly?" Yiming curiously asked.

"We are at Luoping community right outside the city outskirts. It's right around here." Jixi explained as he took out his map.

"This is way too close to the city. We can't stay here for long if there isn't any defense." Yiming commented.

"The people in the town seem to have built a wall. They even had some pitfall traps and spikes outside the walls." Gantian replied.

Suddenly, Yiming's stomach started growling.

"I haven't eaten for almost an entire day, and the logistics can't even give us more than a day's ration," Yiming complained as the starvation started to give him a headache.

"Sir, let me go call Mr.Xiaoyun for food."

As Gantian took out his phone to make a phone call, Yiming turned his attention over to Jixi.

"Who is this Xiaoyun person?" Yiming curiously asked.

"He's the leader of this settlement, I think," Jixi replied.

"Hm... Do you know why they saved us?"

"I think they want to hire us... But they seem to be very kind. At least that's my interaction with them so far."

After Gantian came back, they waited for a few minutes before someone knocked on the door.

As Gantian went over to open the door, Xiaoyun was carrying a bag with several bottles of water in hand.

"Here's the food. And sorry about the water. I completely forgot this place doesn't have running water." Xiaoyun apologized and handed the bag over to Gantian.

"No need, sir. We're extremely thankful for what you have done for us." Gantian bowed down in gratitude.

"Major, here's the food."

Jixi took out one of the containers and started feeding the injured comrade on the bed, but he pushed his hand back.

"You're Mr.Xiaoyun?" The injured comrade asked.

"Yes. I'm Chen Xiaoyun. You're Mr.Yiming?" Xiaoyun curiously asked.

"Yes. I'm Major Yiming... Can I have a small request?"

"Of course, what is it?"

"Would you be kind enough to accept us as citizens of this town?" Yiming asked.

Xiaoyun froze for a second but immediately nodded in agreement.

"Um, I can't make that decision——"

"Major Yiming, why would you say this? Are we not soldiers?"

Gantian asked, interrupting Xiaoyun, as he couldn't understand why Yiming wanted them to be citizens of a small town.

"Gantian!"

Yiming's voice made Jixi quickly drag Gantian aside, signaling him to be quiet and not speak up any further.

"Of course, there are exceptions that I can make... Do you guys mind being the security guard for the front entrance for now?" Xiaoyun suggested.

"Great. Jixi and Gantian, you two heard what Mr.Xiaoyun had said. I'll join you two when I'm fully healed."

"Yes, sir."

Seeing Gantian hesitantly saluting towards him, Xiaoyun held in the urge to laugh.

"Well then, you guys can visit around the town. However, this is a little far from the town center.

Here are ten food stamps. You guys can go to 302 to trade food with them, and for your salary, you can ask Yezi for it in the security room tomorrow.

After handing over the food stamp, Xiaoyun added one last thing.

"Also, you guys only have to guard the back entrance. It's just right outside 310 down the road, only less than a minute walk."

After Xiaoyun finished explaining, he dropped off the water on the table and left.

Yiming quickly took the food container from Jixi's hand and started eating it himself, showing him that he could still move with his upper body.

"Major Yiming, why did we join them?" Gantian curiously asked as he started eating the food in the container.

"His generosity is rare in this apocalypse. Would you help a stranger that you don't know and risk letting them in?

Especially when the stranger has guns, this man either has an insane amount of confidence, or he's just naive. But I doubt that is the case."

Yiming took a short break to eat the food, then continued.

"The way he talked and acted felt extremely calculated. It barely matches the age and face. But he seems truthful in his generosity, which confuses me.

It doesn't really matter though since we had nowhere else to stay, so we might as well stay here... He was nice enough even to give us hot food."

After finishing the food in the container, Yiming puts it on top of the drawer.

"You two remember what the food situation was like back in base, right?" Yiming reminded the two.

Jixi and Gantian both looked down at the food they were eating right now, which was full of nutrition, from beef to broccoli to even rice.

"I guess you are right, Major Yiming..." Gantian murmured as he didn't argue any further, eating the food in silence.

Jixi nodded in agreement, as he had never really opposed the idea of leaving in the first place.

"Also, you two, don't call me major anymore. Just call me Yiming. Before you argue, that is my final command. I'm going to sleep now."

Yiming lay back down on the bed, turning his head the other way to show his determination.

"Yes, sir!" The two gave a final salute, knowing their army career was now over.

---

As Xiaoyun drove back home, he decided to take a turn and drove toward the construction site.

After he arrived at the construction site, he could see several chopped logs being carried onto the bus and drove off.

"How is it going?" Xiaoyun asked as he walked towards Jingming.

"It's going to take at least two more weeks to get all these out of the way... Oh hey, boss."

Jingming quickly changed his loud attitude after turning around and realized it was Xiaoyun, not Qijian.

"Look like there are a lot fewer workers here. What happened?" Xiaoyun curiously asked.

"Most of the women left to go farm in the field at 308 since it is a lot less work and it only pays one less food stamp.

Only the guys are staying behind to work here to earn more since construction is now paid based on the amount of work." Jingming replied.

"I see... do you need more people?" Xiaoyun asked.

"No, I think this is a good pace. Everybody is getting used to working here. Although it's kind of weird for some of them working here."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, some of them are teachers, firefighters, doctors. But they all working here in construction rather than going to do something more useful with their skills." Jingming replied.

"Hm... maybe we need a census to allocate people in the right place. But for now, I think we need to continue this until we finish the wall." Xiaoyun argued.

Jingming nodded in agreement, as he thought the defense was the most important thing as well.

"Oh yeah, speaking of the wrong people working here, boss, did you ask Miss Yueyue to work here?" Jingming asked.

"No... But you can just treat her as a normal worker... No wonder why she's so tired every day when she comes back." Xiaoyun murmured the last part to himself.

Just as Xiaoyun was about to leave, he noticed Jingming looked a little hesitant, as if he was unsure whether to ask the question.

"Jingming, do you have any more questions?"

"Um, boss... You won't get mad, right?" Jingming nervously asked.

"Yeah, I won't mind. What is it?"

"Well, there's like a rumor going around that you are marrying your... mom and sister? Sorry, I shouldn't have asked this question——"

"It's fine... You will know after two weeks. Ahem, you should tell everyone to focus on their work, can you Jingming?"

"Yes, boss."

As the two stood in silence, Xiaoyun noticed Yueyue in the middle of the working area, getting ready to chop down a big tree with several other workers.

After looking at her for a bit, she noticed Xiaoyun, and she waved back at him, which prompted Xiaoyun to wave back as well.

"Ahem, I'm going to go now. You are doing a great job, Jingming. Keep it up."

Xiaoyun quickly left the construction site after Yueyue's wave almost caused the tree to collapse onto one of the workers.

---

Two weeks quickly flew by.

The trees were finally cleared out of the way, and the wall could now begin construction once again.

Yiming's leg healed much quicker than expected as he could start walking again, albeit needing Jixi to support him everywhere he went.

The people were initially scared of the three soldiers, but Yiming pushed the two to talk with the town's people.

Eventually, the townspeople were no longer afraid of talking to them, only treating them as everyday police.

Beside the soldiers, Xiaoyun and Yezi had been driving the car outside and coming back with their car.

However, it was to make everyone think that the two had just looted an entire storage facility when, in reality, Xiaoyun was just creating them outside and driving them back.

Yuqi, Leyan, and Yueyue have been taking a break from their jobs for the last three days as they start to put their wedding plan into reality.

As the stages and tables are set, the only things missing are the wedding dress and the ring, which were practically impossible as the city was the only source for it.

Fortunately, Xiaoyun was able to replicate the old wedding dress into three different copies, but it still required many fixes and modifications.

---

The wedding day.

Yezi was standing outside holding a microphone as everyone in town was before him, sitting in their assign seat waiting for the wedding to start.

"Hello everyone, I'm Yezi, the co-mayor of this town. As some of you might already know, today, my blood brother Xiaoyun is getting married."

The crowd clapped, but many of them waited for the next part.

"If you haven't lived under a rock for the past few weeks, you guys probably already know about the rumor that our mayor is marrying his mom and sister."

As soon as Yezi finished his sentence, the crowd fell into dead silence, all waiting for his answer.

"Well, I'm here to confirm that... all those rumors are true."

The crowd immediately started chattering and whispered to each other. But Yezi could tell the people weren't against it or disgusted by it.

"Ahem, I know this is hard for people to accept, but all I ask is that everyone understands Xiaoyun's situation.

Xiaoyun has been an orphan for almost his entire life. Is it really that wrong for him to fall in love with the family that adopted him?

How could you have someone know what the difference is between family love and a lover's love if they never had a family?"

Yezi waited as the crowd started chattering again as if they were debating whether Xiaoyun's action was justified or morally correct.

"You guys probably don't know this, but Miss Yuqi was saved by Xiaoyun, who went to the city alone and brought her here. Is it really wrong for her to fall in love with her hero?"

The crowd started leaning towards Xiaoyun's side as they knew how bad the outbreak was in the city.

"And for Xiaoyue, she has been by Xiaoyun's side almost everywhere he went. I mean, how can a co-worker not fall in love with someone you work with every day?"

The crowd once again started leaning even more towards Xiaoyun's side, but one major hurdle remained.

"I know, I know, many of you might question, why is Miss Leyan marrying someone young enough to be her son?

And some might even point out that she's probably the one that adopted Xiaoyun into the family in the first place. How could she fall in love as a mother to him?"

Yezi waited for a second as the crowd started to get impatient for his answer, which fell right into his plan.

"You guys all know Songjia group, right? One of the biggest corporations in Guangzhou manufactures all kinds of goods across the country.

They are even praised by the People's Daily as one of the best companies to work for... You might be confused as to why I'm mentioning this."

Seeing the crowd looking confused, Yezi continued.

"But you all have heard how the Songjia's stepson, Songming, died in a car accident, right?"

Immediately, the crowd burst into chatter as they all could remember it hitting the national news, with conspiracy running rampant since the car accident never had a body inside.

"Miss Leyan, the woman that we all know for being an energetic and nice person in the town... She was the wife of Songming."

This time, Yezi didn't wait for too long as he could feel the crowd starting to have an 'eat the rich' mentality.

"She has been a widow all these years for almost twenty years straight. You tell me, what more do you want from a woman to abstinent from marriage that long?

Is it really wrong for her to fall in love with a young, healthy man who she once took as a son to be her husband?"

The crowd finally got over it as Yezi's speech was beyond what anyone expected, especially as he appealed to people's emotions.

"But Mr.Xiaoyun is marrying three women at once! That's illegal and falls under bigamy law!" One of the people in the crowd yelled out loud.

Immediately, the crowd started leaning away from Xiaoyun right before Yezi's eye, as it was the only argument that Yezi had no way of deflecting.

"They all consented. Who does it hurt? You say it's illegal under this country's law. Where is the country saving us from this outbreak?"

The man who yelled fell into silence as he wasn't preparing for Yezi to argue back.

"B-But that's morally wrong——"

"You know what? I know I'm not that intellectually gifted, but even I know the saying, 'better to tear down a temple than break up a marriage.'

If anyone wants to be that guy, then I'll——"

Just as Yezi starts to draw his gun out, Xiaoyun quickly runs out of the backstage and pushes his gun back down.

"It's enough. Thank you, Yezi. I really appreciate your help." Xiaoyun patted his shoulder in gratitude.

"No problem. Just tell me if you need my help," Yezi said before leaving the stage and going to his assigned seat.

Seeing the crowd before him, Xiaoyun suddenly felt relief rather than nervousness as he picked up the microphone.

"I know it might be hard for some of you to accept me marrying three people at once. I'm sorry.

But I'm not going to hide them. They had been working hard for the past few weeks for the town, and they sacrificed a lot to be with me.

I'm going to give them the wedding they deserve... It'll be great if I get support from you all, but I'm going to continue with it no matter what."

Seeing the determination on Xiaoyun's face, some of the crowd felt a little bad. But some felt an even stronger sense of pushback towards him.

But nobody dares to speak up after hearing Xiaoyun's tone... Until one person stood up from his seat.

"Mister Xiaoyun, it's fine. You don't have to be so sorry like this. We all understand, and we can see you are genuinely in love. Everyone deserves to be happy."

Baiqun, who Xiaoyun had rescued in the past, was the one who stood up.

The crowd suddenly flipped as more and more people who Xiaoyun personally helped started standing up and clapping.

Eventually, the entire crowd clapped in support, as the peer pressure was beyond what an individual may think of him.

"Thank you all!" Xiaoyun bowed down in gratitude.

As the cheers continued, Huayi knew it was time to start as she watched the whole thing unfold.

"Here comes the brides!" Huayi yelled out loud.