Chapter 52

Chapter 52

Xue Ling sat across from Wen Yi, placing the tablet in front of her.

The tablet was provided by Wen Yi. The screen was sturdy and clear, without many fancy functions, only able to input text and select readings.

There were also many associated words and convenient phrases at the bottom, making it very convenient to input sentences. It was much more handy than the tablets she had used before.

It felt like it was designed for people in situations similar to hers.

Under Wen Yi’s gaze, Xue Ling felt a little nervous and constrained as she picked up the stylus and began to input text.

Apart from Wen Jiuzhe, she hadn’t communicated with any normal humans who knew about her zombie identity for a very long time. Before, she wasn’t concerned about Wen Jiuzhe, but now that the immediate worry was gone, she felt somewhat uneasy.

Wen Yi observed her discreetly, genuinely curious about what she wanted to say. Hopefully, it wasn’t threats or suspicions like her boyfriend’s, or volunteering to be experimental material for the sake of someone else. That would be boring, and she really would be annoyed enough to ask the person to leave.

“Can you tell me about Wen Jiuzhe’s past?” came the female voice from the tablet.

This was an unexpected topic.

Wen Yi was slightly surprised. “I’m not very familiar with him and rarely interacted with him before. What do you want to ask?”

She looked a bit aloof, but her attitude was still relatively friendly, so Xue Ling asked directly, “I want to know what he was doing when he returned to the Wen family a few years ago, before the zombie outbreak.”

Wen Yi: “Didn’t he tell you?”

“He did, but not everything,” Xue Ling was annoyed just thinking about Wen Jiuzhe’s evasive explanation.

He definitely hadn’t told the truth; Xue Ling had guessed that a long time ago.

“I’m not very clear on the details either. It was probably something not so good that Grandfather asked him to do, and he was also set up for a blind date, which he wasn’t happy about. Not long after he returned, Grandfather died at his hands,” Wen Yi said, her expression eerily calm.

Xue Ling’s stylus paused on the tablet, stunned by this explosive revelation.

This… Wen Jiuzhe and Wen Yi shared the same grandfather, right?

Wen Yi saw the shock in Xue Ling’s eyes and felt a regretful urge to take back what she had just said.

“Don’t worry about it. I didn’t like my grandfather much either. I’m not going to seek revenge on Wen Jiuzhe for that. I haven’t even planned to settle the score with him for what he did to my sister Wen Xiang, let alone my grandfather’s matter.”

Wen Yi spoke with an unusual coldness, as if she were a killer.

She was the first child of the Wen family’s generation. Before she was born, her grandfather had hoped for a grandson. Later, when he discovered she was a girl, he was extremely disappointed.

No matter what achievements she made growing up, he was never pleased, only more regretful: “If only it were a grandson.”

Her father had affairs all over town, and her mother couldn’t control her philandering husband. Her mother only blamed herself for not giving birth to a son, which prevented her husband from focusing more on the family.

Wen Yi was raised by different nannies since she was young. Her mother was obsessed with proving herself by giving birth to a son, hoping to win back her unfaithful husband and satisfy her stern grandfather.

To give birth to Wen Xiang, her mother almost lost her life and her ability to have more children. From then on, she lived in self-pity with Wen Xiang, only teaching her to curry favor with her older cousin Wen Xuan, making her follow Wen Xuan around since she was little.

Wen Xuan was a fool, but he was a grandson, so Grandfather thought highly of him, and everything in the family was left to him.

Wen Yi didn’t care, whether it was her father who could barely remember her name, her mother who blamed her for not being a son, her distant younger sister, or her extremely biased grandfather.

She was truly annoyed by her grandfather, who presumed to arrange her life as the self-appointed patriarch.

He diminished her pride and passion, belittled the honors she had earned, and believed her only value was in marrying someone, insisting she marry the child of a certain leader and support the Wen family's business.

Although these annoying demands temporarily disappeared after she found a similarly well-born boyfriend, she was still irritated by her grandfather's pervasive desire to control her.

So when she later discovered that Wen Jiuzhe was planning to strike against the Wen family, as the only person to notice the signs, she even helped him a little.

"There are things I don't want to tell Wen Jiuzhe. You can relay the message to him," Wen Yi said coldly.

"As long as he is willing to cooperate and show his value, there will be no conflict between us. He can rein in his paranoia. I don’t have the time to plot against him."

Xue Ling dryly replied, "Okay," and then typed, "It feels like you had a hard time in the Wen family, too."

Wen Yi picked up the thermos cup next to her and took a sip of water. "Only fools and idiots can survive in that place."

Xue Ling thought: Sister Yi is cool but has a sharp edge.

Holding the tablet, she felt like the stylus might be malfunctioning, making her a bit flustered, unsure of what to say next.

After a moment of silence, seeing her looking earnest and a bit pitiful, Wen Yi finally spoke again. "You asked the wrong person if you want to know about Wen Jiuzhe’s past. I'm not close to him; I only saw him a few times a year back then."

"Oh, okay, I was just casually asking," Xue Ling replied.

Before coming, she just wanted to learn a bit about Wen Jiuzhe's past and probe into the relationship between Wen Jiuzhe and Wen Yi.

After all, she wasn't familiar with Wen Yi, and this was their first interaction. Even if she wanted to ask her for a favor, she needed to build a rapport first, at least become a bit closer.

But! She wasn’t prepared to hear about family tragedies and criminal records!

"Actually, you can talk about anything; just a chat." To ease the awkwardness, Xue Ling continued typing, "I'll be staying with your team from now on, so I just came to say hi."

Wen Yi understood why Wen Jiuzhe treated his girlfriend like the apple of his eye.

This kind of personality can easily lead to setbacks; when embarrassed, she tended to over-explain, worried others would get upset.

Wen Yi disliked idle chatter and hated wasting time on trivial matters, but seeing Xue Ling holding the tablet to ease the awkwardness, she reluctantly obliged and began recounting a memory.

"Wen Jiuzhe... Every time I went home, I found him not eating at the table, instead standing in the kitchen with a large bowl."

Xue Ling was surprised. "Does your family really have a rule that the illegitimate son can't eat at the table, like in TV dramas?"

Wen Yi: "Grandfather asked him to sit at the table together, but he refused, saying he felt like throwing up when he saw the Wen family."

"..." Xue Ling, "He said it so bluntly?"

Grandfather was so furious that he broke two canes, but Wen Jiuzhe still refused to pretend to be part of the family, and Grandfather kept scolding him for not understanding the rules.

"Wen Xuan once told me, does your family really practice the Six Arts of a Gentleman?" Xue Ling was curious about this for a long time.

Wen Yi looked at her, a knowing glint in her eyes. "Does Wen Xuan like you, too?"

Xue Ling: "..."

Wen Yi: "Men don’t speak the truth when they’re pursuing someone."

Xue Ling nodded in deep agreement.

Wen Yi: "It's true that we have to learn calligraphy and be able to recognize antiques. There are family classes for these subjects."

"Wen Jiuzhe learned those too, but he smashed a Ming dynasty porcelain vase and was nearly beaten to death."

Xue Ling was a bit angry. "No matter how precious something is, you can't beat him to death for an accident!"

Wen Yi: "He smashed it in front of Grandfather, and after that, he coldly admitted it was intentional and dared him to kill him."

Xue Ling: "..."

Wen Yi remembered that it was one of Grandfather's favorite items, so he was so furious he nearly had a stroke. After that, Wen Jiuzhe no longer had to continue those lessons.

Wen Yi suddenly realized that she actually remembered quite a bit about this "not well-known" younger brother.

Although they didn't meet often, whenever she returned, she would always hear news about him.

Usually, it was about how he had been reprimanded for breaking the rules or how he was picked on by Wen Xuan and Wen Xiang.

Occasionally, she would run into him in a corner of the large mansion.

When he shouldn't have been in the kitchen, she'd see him cooking by himself, holding simple food and eating voraciously, with blood still on his fingers.

When Wen Xuan and Wen Xiang were searching for Wen Jiuzhe in a rage, she, wanting to find a quiet place to read, accidentally found him leaning against the rear wall of the estate, gazing at the sky, his face marred by fresh wounds.

Every time they encountered each other, she would coldly glance at him, and Wen Jiuzhe's guarded gaze would also shift toward her, but they would quickly withdraw their eyes, neither finding the other worth their attention.

From the time he first entered the Wen family at eleven or twelve years old until he grew into a tall and strong young man, Wen Jiuzhe had always defiantly resisted everyone in the Wen family.

Just like he had told Grandfather on the day he entered the Wen family: "Even if you get rid of my mother's job and force her to bring me to the Wen family, it's useless. I will never consider this place my home."

Wen Yi was an unexpected young lady, and when the Wen family spoke of her, they would regretfully say, "Being so good at studying is useless; she's not a boy."

When speaking of Wen Jiuzhe, they would say with contempt and wariness, "However capable he may be, he's still an illegitimate child, born in disgrace and not favored by the patriarch. He will never surpass Wen Xuan."

They might have had a little bit of shared empathy in some ways, but their relationship was worse than that of strangers.

Xue Ling organized her thoughts for a while before sharing her opinion. "He might have broken it by accident but was too stubborn to admit it."

Wen Yi: "You're quite protective of him."

Xue Ling: "While he can be infuriating at times, he's actually very obedient, considerate, and has a good temper; it's just that his way of expressing himself isn't always the best."

Wen Yi was speechless, unable to control the confusion and slight shock on her face.

She looked into Xue Ling's dark red eyes, which were distinctly clear compared to other zombies' cloudy ones, reflecting her sincerity as if she genuinely believed this.

Wen Yi glanced at her own arm, noticing the goosebumps that had formed.

Feeling a bit uncomfortable, she didn't want to talk about Wen Jiuzhe anymore.

"Now that you're done with your questions, it's my turn." Wen Yi decisively changed the subject.

"I remember when Wen Jiuzhe took away a quarter of the ginseng-like herb; you probably ate all of it, right? Did you eat it before or after you were infected?"

"I ate it before I was infected." Xue Ling answered honestly.

"How did you get infected, if you don't mind me asking?" Wen Yi casually took a notebook and started writing.

"I'm not sure. I wasn't bitten by a zombie; it just happened suddenly. At first, I thought I was just sick."

"Oh? You're one of the first batch of naturally evolved zombies." Wen Yi became clearly interested upon hearing this and gave Xue Ling a thorough look.

After a moment’s thought, she suddenly said, "Wen Xuan consumed half of the 'Taisui.' The zombie he turned into is quite different from ordinary zombies; he looks more like a normal person."

"The serum extracted from his body has also made Wen Jiuzhe unlike typical zombies. He can still speak a few basic words."

Xue Ling was shocked. "What? Wen Jiuzhe can still talk?"

Then why was he acting mute earlier, making some grunting sounds at her and using a tablet to communicate the whole time? Not a single word was spoken!

Wen Yi felt no remorse after exposing Wen Jiuzhe's secret. She said,

"I see that you're not in the best condition. A serum extracted from the 'Taisui' might help you as well."

"I have another test subject who consumed a quarter of the 'Taisui.' I can extract the serum again and give it to you to improve your condition. In exchange, you’ll cooperate with some research. What do you say?"

Xue Ling: "..."

"Didn’t you promise you wouldn’t trick me into doing research in the lab?" Xue Ling asked.

Wen Yi: "This doesn't count as tricking."

Xue Ling realized that Wen Yi and Wen Jiuzhe really were a bit alike. They both spoke so confidently!

"Wouldn’t you want to be like Wen Jiuzhe? I don’t think your condition is very good." Wen Yi asked again.

Xue Ling still shook her head.

She had promised Wen Jiuzhe that she wouldn’t let Wen Yi conduct research on him, at least until their first collaboration was over.

The future was too distant; they would handle things as they arose.

The car door was abruptly slammed open, and Wen Jiuzhe, emitting a fierce aura, stood at the door. His fierce expression softened when he saw Xue Ling sitting across from Wen Yi.

He placed one hand beside Xue Ling, almost shielding her beneath him, and took the pen from Xue Ling's hand to type on the tablet.

"Why did you come here? I couldn’t find you for ages."

Wen Yi swiveled her chair back and gestured for them to leave. "You two can leave now; everything is fine."