A Reasonably Cozy Night (1)

“Miss Yanlan, I’m here.”

Standing at the door, I put down the bag of potatoes and gently knocked on the hard glass door.

It was already dusk.

I had been a bit dazed on the way over, so it took me longer to get here.

Hugging the teddy bear in my arms, I waited quietly.

After a short while, Su Yanlan came out of the room where she kept the corpses and opened the door for me.

I didn’t know what to call that place.

Let’s just call it the morgue.

“Miss Qin Yue.”

Welcoming me into the house, she nodded gently at me.

Her long pink hair was tied in a ponytail, hanging behind her back.

She was still wearing that simple, beige coat.

“…”

Once inside the shop, she led me to the kitchen and gestured for me to sit down, while she sat across from me.

We looked at each other in silence.

I didn’t know what to say, so I forced a smile.

“Is this all the luggage you have?”

She asked.

Originally, there was more.

But most of it probably wouldn’t be useful, so I only brought this.

“Mhm.”

I nodded, and I saw a flicker of pity in her eyes, though it vanished quickly.

Did she think I was pitiful?

It didn’t matter.

I wasn’t going to correct her misconceptions.

In fact, if she treated me better because she pitied me, that would be even better.

I wouldn’t have to try so hard to pretend.

I poured the bag of potatoes onto the table and roughly counted them.

There were about thirteen.

Not many; they wouldn’t last long.

Su Yanlan ignored the potatoes on the table and focused her gaze on the teddy bear in my arms.

“Miss Yanlan?”

I tightened my grip on the bear and looked at her.

“Miss Qin Yue, you really are… young at heart.”

She seemed to be holding back a laugh.

“Ha, thanks for the compliment.”

Resting my chin on the bear’s head, I gently nuzzled the top of it.

For some reason, I felt more relaxed with Su Yanlan than in front of the Leader.

She didn’t say anything else but stood up and came to my side, gently touching the spot where the bear’s eye used to be.

It was empty now.

“Its eye is missing.”

Su Yanlan said this, but her eyes were fixed on me.

“Yeah, a certain nasty guy gouged it out.”

I took the doll’s eye out of my pocket and gently stroked the rough plastic on the back of it.

“As nasty as you? Miss Qin Yue.”

She stopped touching the doll and gently held my wrist instead.

Why ask such a question?

“Probably not. By the way, Miss Yanlan, can you help me fix it?”

Su Yanlan didn’t answer my question.

Instead, she hugged me and sniffed gently.

Oh, I remembered.

I said yesterday that I could smell like her.

But did she have to do this every time?

I shifted uneasily, but I couldn’t break free from her embrace.

Today was another day of missing the past.

Compared to my male body, my current body was simply frail.

As time passed, my former appearance was becoming increasingly blurry.

I was starting to forget what I used to look like.

It had only been a few days, hadn’t it?

“Eh, Miss Yanlan, are you staining me with your scent again?”

I sighed helplessly and let her hold me, while I held onto the teddy bear.

A strange combination.

“…Mmm. Let’s make dinner first. I’ll help you fix the toy later.”

After a long time, she finally let go of me and stood up to go to the stove.

I placed the doll on the stool and walked over too, taking out the matches I had found on the neighbor’s corpse.

I opened the brown box, struck a match, and threw it into the stove, igniting the dry grass used for kindling.

Su Yanlan glanced at me, then silently picked up a few pieces of firewood and stuffed them in.

The fire caught quickly.

I sat on the small stool in front of the stove, holding out my hands to feel the warmth.

“Hah…”

I breathed out gently.

The warm yellow firelight always made people feel comfortable so easily.

But this time I was quite energetic, so I didn’t doze off like last time.

Su Yanlan ignored me.

She just took the pot to wash the rice and prepare other things.

On the dining table, it was rice and shredded potatoes again, just like last time.

Not a lavish meal, but in the apocalypse, it was excellent food.

“Let’s eat.”

After saying that, she buried her head in her food and stopped talking.

The fire in the stove had gone out, but the warmth it brought remained in the room.

The dinner for two under the lights seemed somewhat cozy.

However, my relationship with Su Yanlan wasn’t exactly good; we weren’t even close acquaintances in terms of how long we’d known each other.

So, this coziness only stayed in my heart for a brief moment before vanishing without a trace.

I thought again about the agreement to conquer Su Yanlan.

How could I make her like me?

It was a problem.

Blindly lowering myself could indeed prevent people from being hostile towards me, but it was impossible to make someone like me just by doing that.

I shook my head, casting these torturous questions aside, and ate my meal.

Dinner ended quickly.

Su Yanlan efficiently cleared the table, and I helped her wash the dishes used for dinner.

Then we sat back at the table, returning to our previous state of silent mutual observation.

“Let’s go.”

Saying this, she took my teddy bear and left the kitchen, heading for the morgue.

I followed her.

Under the incandescent light, the table I had seen before was covered with a pale blue blanket.

No bloodstains; it had been washed very clean.

She took the bear’s eye from my pocket, took some glue from a drawer under the table, applied it to the back of the eye, and carefully stuck it onto the doll.

She was very careful, trying not to let the glue stick to any stray fluff.

But I knew it wouldn’t be long before this eye fell off again.

Because it had broken once, even if fixed, it would break again.

Under the white light, I looked at her serious profile.

If I wanted to conquer her, what should I do now?

I noticed the fine sweat on her forehead; it must have been from when she was in the kitchen.

Compared to the cold outside, the kitchen was indeed much warmer.

“Thank you, Miss Yanlan. You’re a very gentle person.”

I used my sleeve to gently wipe the sweat from Su Yanlan’s forehead and thanked her softly.

Sincere thanks and genuine praise will make a person happy.

When you make a person happy enough, they will eventually like you.

My apology and praise didn’t come from the heart, but with the right expression and tone, I could make them sound sincere.

“Done.”

Su Yanlan handed the teddy bear to me, sat on the table, and looked up at the incandescent light.

I sat beside her, holding the repaired doll in my arms.

“Tomorrow, I have to go out. The Leader invited me and some others to go to Tongda.”

She said this while reaching out and rubbing my head.

“Eh? Miss Yanlan, you’re going to Tongda too?”

Although I was annoyed by her rubbing my head, I extracted more important information from her words.