Chapter 20 The Apocalypse 19
The hunting team's work was high-risk, but it also brought extremely generous rewards in points. Luo Mingchuan had only been on the team for a few days when the meals on the table were upgraded from bland free relief meals to nutritious meals with good color, aroma and taste, including meat, eggs, milk, vegetables and fruits.
However, most of the dishes didn't suit Lu Xuejin's taste, and she only ate one or two. Luo Mingchuan wanted to buy groceries and cook for himself, but the base had strict controls over ingredients. Purchasing wasn't just a matter of points; it also required certain permissions. He needed to work for the base for a while longer before he would be qualified to make purchases, but fortunately, that wouldn't be long.
Lu Xuejin doesn't need to go out to work at all; he can support her very well on his own.
Luo Mingchuan was satisfied with this fact.
After finishing her meal, Lu Xuejin lazily leaned against the window, resting her chin on her hand and gazing leisurely at the sky.
"Will it snow here in winter?" he murmured softly, as if talking to himself.
The city they used to live in had cold, damp winters, but it never snowed, let alone the deep snow that blankets the land like in the north, turning the world into a vast, desolate expanse. Building snowmen and having snowball fights were things you only saw on television.
Luo Mingchuan dried his hands, changed into his special uniform, put on his gear, and was about to leave when he saw Lu Xuejin bending down to change her shoes in the entryway.
"I'm leaving now, bye-bye." The handsome young man smiled and waved to him before pushing open the door and leaving. Luo Mingchuan chased after him and looked out from upstairs. He saw the young man greeting people as he walked towards a short, fat man.
His dark pupils tightened instantly.
—These days, Lu Xuejin always spends time with the other party, talking about some nonsensical things.
Luo Mingchuan left the base with the hunting team, his expression growing colder and colder along the way. No one knew who had provoked him, and the others in the car dared not cross him; the entire vehicle remained quiet.
"Oh, I see. With Brother Luo in the hunting team, you don't need to worry at all." On the bustling commercial street, chubby Liu Gao chuckled. These past few days, he had been patiently explaining the base's rules and various job opportunities to Lu Xuejin, afraid that the young man might be targeted by some clueless person and cause a lot of trouble.
Hearing that Luo Mingchuan had established himself in the hunting team, Liu Gao was very happy: "Then just pretend you didn't hear what I said before. Finding someone to marry is too risky, it's easy to get reported, let's be as stable as possible. With your brother in the hunting team, plus me, Old Liu, here, no one in this base will dare to mess with you."
Moreover, with the unpredictable Mu family behind them, who would dare to be so blind?
“But…” Lu Xuejin didn’t seem happy. “The hunting team is too dangerous. Mingchuan has just come of age and is still a child. I’m worried about him.”
He's as strong as a wild beast, and he's still a kid?
Liu Gao couldn't help but mutter to himself, but elders always view younger people with heavy filters, so he couldn't say anything. He could only go along with Lu Xuejin's words: "So you're still planning to find a job?"
Lu Xuejin slowly shook her head, remained silent for a moment, then looked up at Liu Gao and asked softly, "Brother Liu, could you elaborate on the marriage you mentioned before?"
Liu Gaoyi shuddered: "Of course! Xiao Lu, listen to me, for these kinds of private deals, it's best to find someone you know well, someone reliable with connections. You're so young and beautiful, you can't settle for just anyone. You need to find someone young, strong, with a high income, someone who's your equal..."
He talked on and on while observing Lu Xuejin's expression. The young man was clearly interested, listening attentively, though his eyes occasionally wandered to the art supply store across from the coffee shop. Liu Gao couldn't help but chuckle to himself; Lu Xuejin was about his age, yet she still acted like a child, staring longingly at anything she wanted.
But he couldn't help buy it; the captain should keep it and try to curry favor with the captain himself. Old Liu has done his best, playing assists for so long!
...
"Mingchuan, you like sweets, right? This is a popular dessert in the Central District recently, would you like to try it?" Lu Xuejin opened the packaging box, pushed the chocolate cake in front of Luo Mingchuan, and said proudly, "Because the ingredients are scarce, you need to win a lottery to buy it. I've been trying for several days, and I only won today."
Luo Mingchuan stared intently at him.
"What's wrong? Eat up." The young man rested his chin on his hand, his smiling eyes filled with doting affection.
Luo Mingchuan lowered his head in silence.
Dong Yao, exasperated, said: "What a blockhead! Did you even say thank you before you ate it?! Even pigs don't eat this well!"
The cake was quickly devoured. Lu Xuejin got up to take a shower when Luo Mingchuan called her back.
"...Have you been looking for a job these past few days?" the man asked in a hoarse voice.
"Ah..." Lu Xuejin paused, then replied lightly, "Yes, I can't keep making you suffer all the time. I'm your older brother. Or are you really going to treat me like a prisoner?"
He winked playfully at Luo Mingchuan before disappearing behind the hazy glass door of the bathroom.
The glass, illuminated by the light, was momentarily veiled in a blurry gray shadow. Through this dirty barrier, Luo Mingchuan saw a pair of clear eyes, as clear as obsidian washed clean—Luo Mingchuan racked his brains, finally finding the few words he could find to describe them.
"Luo Mingchuan, this is your brother." Someone introduced him in a cold voice, and a hand grabbed his wrist without any gentleness, pulling him out from behind the glass door.
elder brother?
The word elicited no reaction whatsoever; he lowered his head, his face showing indifferent disdain.
Until a faint laugh reached his stiff, numb ears, like a match suddenly struck in the biting cold wind, the instantaneous light and warmth seeped from the top of his head into his frozen body, causing Luo Mingchuan to shiver for no reason.
He didn't remember if he looked up at the time, only that it snowed heavily that day, the swirling snowflakes turning the whole world white. He heard the man chatting with someone in a feignedly gentle manner, pretending to care about their life, and then offering to take him home.
When Luo Mingchuan returned, he was still standing in the same spot, lost in thought. The man stood at the door, staring at him indifferently for a long time, before suddenly letting out a maniacal laugh.
"You brat, I've been good to you, haven't I? I even found you a child bride before I died."
"Luo Mingchuan, you must remember this: that woman is your future wife. You are engaged." The man repeated this without any emotion, only showing a slight fluctuation at the end, repeating it obsessively, "After you come of age, you will get married. You must get married! You absolutely must!"
“Otherwise he’ll be with someone else…” the man murmured, his body gradually becoming transparent, like a soul unwilling to leave the mortal world.
We'll get married when we're adults.
Luo Mingchuan repeated this in his heart.
How could he forget his engagement to Lu Xuejin?
Fortunately, he has now remembered.
The sunlight shimmered overhead. Luo Mingchuan opened his eyes and felt his heart, which had been restless and empty for the past few days, finally filled with a sense of peace and security.
...
afternoon.
Luo Mingchuan returned feeling chilly.
He placed the lunchbox he had brought on the table, carrying a black leather briefcase in his other hand. The briefcase landed with a thud, clearly indicating its weight.
Lu Xuejin raised her eyebrows: "What is this?"
Luo Mingchuan didn't explain, but instead opened the lunchbox, releasing a steaming aroma of food. It was all Lu Xuejin's favorite dishes, and next to it was a small bowl of fresh fruit, plump and bright in color.
"Let's eat first." Luo Mingchuan pulled out a chair.
After the meal, Luo Mingchuan got up to wash the lunchbox. Lu Xuejin's gaze fell on the suitcase. She stuck out her toe and gently kicked it, but the suitcase didn't budge, as steady as a mountain. He then squatted down and tentatively unhooked the clasp—the lid popped open, revealing a suitcase full of art supplies.
Lu Xuejin's eyes darkened: "..."
【? ?】 Dong Yao was full of questions. 【How did the male lead know that the baby liked to draw? This kid has finally figured it out and knows how to care about people?】
Luo Mingchuan walked over, wiping his half-dry hands, water droplets running down his well-defined fingers.
"Don't you like painting? I happened to see some when I came back today, so I just bought some." His tone was casual, as if it were truly a coincidence. "The shopkeeper said these are all necessities. Will you need them?"
Lu Xuejin turned her head and looked him up and down several times, her gaze carrying a meaningful weight. Luo Mingchuan remained expressionless and composed.
“Of course I need them.” Lu Xuejin looked away and took out the items from the box one by one and arranged them. “They are all things I need.”
He had never systematically studied painting, and painted entirely according to his own whims. He didn't like to use charcoal to carefully outline, but preferred to use rich and full colors to cover the canvas.
Therefore, he mostly painted oil paintings.
The easel and frame were quickly set up by the window, and the canvas was laid out tightly and smoothly. Lu Xuejin instructed Luo Mingchuan to distribute the paints to her and wash the brushes, while she herself naturally sat down in front of the easel.
He stretched his finger out in front of Luo Mingchuan's eyes.
Luo Mingchuan: "..."
The paintbrush was handed to Lu Xuejin. He mixed a bluish-red hue on the palette, lightly dipped the brush tip in it, and swept it diagonally across the snow-white canvas.
The way he started to draw didn't look like he was painting; it looked more like he was causing destruction.
Luo Mingchuan watched for a while with his arms crossed, convinced that Lu Xuejin was just scribbling randomly, but dared not say anything. But gradually, as Lu Xuejin's brushstrokes became sometimes wild and sometimes delicate, the scene on the canvas gradually took shape—he silently retracted his conclusion that "Lu Xuejin can't paint."
Although the painting doesn't look very pleasant, it is still a work with composition and color.
The background is of old town buildings, their base a dull gray-blue. A bright red sun shines in the sky, casting a shadowy glow on the streets, making them appear like walking corpses, their crooked shoulders and necks split apart. Wisps of crimson mist, like smoke from a slender pipe, peek out from the gaps, brushing against the distorted skyscrapers. Hidden within the mist are pairs of half-closed eyes, quietly observing the world beyond the canvas.
It's a very bizarre painting that could easily frighten people.
Luo Mingchuan didn't find it scary, but he lacked aesthetic sense and couldn't offer any profound evaluation. He only felt that it was already quite remarkable that Lu Xuejin could create something with paint.
Dongyao also silently gazed at the painting. It felt that the picture was harmonious and comfortable, but it also knew that this was a style that ordinary people could hardly appreciate.
Such works are destined to be appreciated by only a minority of people during the artist's lifetime.
As she finished the last stroke, Lu Xuejin lightly twirled her fingertips, causing the paintbrush to leap in a small arc before falling into Luo Mingchuan's palm. The remaining paint on the tip of the brush rubbed a faint red mark on his sleeve.
The color palette was also abandoned.
That means Luo Mingchuan will handle it.
As for his works on canvas, Lu Xuejin always painted them and then left them untouched. He didn't particularly enjoy painting; he only liked the process of scribbling freely.
Luo Mingchuan picked up the palette and called out to him, "Wait a minute."
Before Lu Xuejin could turn around, he said something surprising: "Let's go register our marriage."
Author's Note:
What's wrong with him again? [question mark]
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