Reborn in the Apocalypse: A Commoner's Survival Log

Afterwards, the others, like Xu Zhiyi, chimed in with a few words, making Zhou Yang blush.

Fortunately, Shen Zechuan was perceptive enough to stop them in time; otherwise, Zhou Yang might have wanted to kick him out on the very first day she had a boyfriend on trial.

However, Lu Xingye still said nonchalantly, "Hehe, if we can't call Brother Chuan in the future, we'll have Yangyang call him. I guarantee that he won't make a sound when she calls him!"

Then Shen Zechuan kicked him: "Yangyang, is that how you call me? From now on, call me...brother!"

He originally wanted to call her "sister-in-law," but then he thought that if he said it, he might lose his job the same day he started his job, so he immediately changed what he was about to say.

Lu Xingye: ? ? ?

"No! I'm clearly a year older than Yangyang, it's too weird to call him 'brother'!"

Shen Zechuan clicked his tongue lightly: "From now on, he'll be following my seniority, so of course you'll have to call him 'brother'."

Lu Xingye gave Shen Zechuan a disdainful look: "Tch, why aren't you following Yangyang's seniority? I won't change it, just to annoy you! Besides, Yangyang hasn't even told me to call him 'brother,' what's your hurry? Isn't that right, Yangyang?"

Seeing that the question had been passed to him, Zhou Yang quickly waved his hand and refused, "It's okay, it's okay, you don't need to call me brother, it would be strange if you did."

Upon hearing Zhou Yang's words, Lu Xingye immediately looked at Shen Zechuan triumphantly, raising his eyebrows like a little lion who had just won a battle.

Shen Zechuan: “…”

"You don't care?"

Shen Zechuan kicked Yan Fei's foot and glanced at him sideways.

Yan Fei simply looked up and glanced at him indifferently: "What do you care? A-Ye didn't say anything wrong. You can actually follow Zhou Yang's seniority and call us 'brother.' We don't mind."

Shen Zechuan: ...

Thank you, he minds!

After joking around for a while, everyone started eating the birthday banquet properly, and they even sang a birthday song for Shen Zechuan.

Although I didn't really appreciate it, at least I was kind enough to eat a piece of cake this year.

Well, the taste wasn't very good.

After all, it's just a few vacuum-packed small cakes stacked together, covered with a layer of cream, and finally melted chocolate with "Happy Birthday" written on it. It certainly can't compare to the pure handmade cakes made by pastry chefs before the apocalypse.

But for a group of grown men to do this on their first attempt is already quite an achievement.

After eating the birthday cake, Gu Yaoyao also gave Shen Zechuan a greeting card she had drawn herself.

When the simple birthday party ended and the two returned to the other side of the street, it was already past 8 p.m.

After washing up and getting into bed, Shen Zechuan took the initiative to pull Zhou Yang aside and start telling him about his family—a dramatic, soap opera-like tale of a wealthy family.

His father came from a military family and was a rogue soldier in his youth. In order to improve the family's genes, he shamelessly pursued his mother.

Less than two years after their marriage, in pursuit of so-called true love, he had an affair with his mother during her pregnancy and even told her about it.

He shamelessly claimed that his mother, coming from a scholarly family, would certainly understand why men have multiple wives and concubines.

His mother was already in her late pregnancy, but he angered her so much that she couldn't hold back and went into labor. She was taken to the hospital, gave birth to him, and then suffered a massive hemorrhage and died.

Immediately afterward, before Shen Zechuan was even a month old, his father brought his mistress, who was already six months pregnant, home.

While pretending to be gentle and generous, the mistress bribed the maids and nannies in the house, causing Shen Zechuan to be abused at a young age. He was often hungry and cold, and was pricked with needles every few days.

His father would come to see him at first, but after seeing him cry all day and become as thin as a monkey, he disliked him more and more, and eventually stopped caring about him altogether.

If his maternal grandparents hadn't been so worried about his father's refusal to allow him to visit, and hadn't barged into his house to witness the nanny's abuse, and then forcibly taken him away to raise him, he probably would have been abused to death long ago.

After hearing the melodramatic story of Shen Zechuan's family, Zhou Yang couldn't help but shed a tear of sympathy for him.

"You're really in a bad situation. Your dad is a real jerk. You're better off without a dad like that! No wonder you only called your maternal grandfather's house when you first woke up. I thought you were like me."

"Same as what?"

"You're both orphans. It's just that you're an orphan who's rolling in money."

"An orphan? Then what about your parents..."

"Oh, they died in an accident while on vacation. But I was already quite old then, 17 years old. Although it affected my grades a bit, I still got into Z University. Pretty amazing, right?"

Upon hearing this, a hint of heartache appeared in Shen Zechuan's eyes. He then hugged Zhou Yang and said, "Yes, you're amazing! Baby, don't worry, I'll always be with you from now on and I won't leave you alone again."

"Ugh... that's so cheesy! Just call me by my name."

"Okay, Yangyang."

Zhou Yang: "..."

It doesn't feel that much different...

"By the way, shouldn't you have grown up at your maternal grandfather's house since you were little? How come your father later sent you to the army camp for training?"

"It was probably the old man's karma. His mistress had her face all done, and the child she gave birth to was terribly ugly. Later, when the child was five years old, it was discovered that he had a hereditary disease. Then the old man remembered me and begged and pleaded to take me back from my maternal grandfather's house with custody."

"So you really went back obediently?"

“I was too young to make decisions back then, so I had to go back. But as I grew older, I figured it out. My mother couldn’t have died in vain. I had to wait until I had all the family assets before kicking out the mistress and the old man. Unfortunately, I had only been in control for two years and hadn’t even finished collecting the assets when the apocalypse came. I guess the old man is still living a good life with the mistress in the capital right now.”

"Hmm... she might just turn into a zombie. But didn't that mistress have plastic surgery? Can you, old man, still tolerate that?"

"Who made that woman succeed? And she's incredibly good at handling things, she completely charmed the old man. She's also very generous, letting him keep as many women as he wants outside. That idiot probably still doesn't understand why, despite keeping so many women outside, he can't get any of them pregnant."

After saying that, Shen Zechuan sneered, his eyes full of mockery and coldness.

Zhou Yang was amused by his last sentence: "Pfft, no wonder that mistress is so generous, she probably just drugged your old man to make him childless."

"Okay. Alright, let's not talk about them anymore, it's affecting our mood."

Seeing Zhou Yang laughing uncontrollably, Shen Zechuan suddenly felt that continuing to bring up the old man's dirty deeds would be a real mood killer, so he took the initiative to change the subject and then turned around and leaned against Zhou Yang.

"By the way, when is your birthday? I'll celebrate with you next time."

"Ah, July 23."

"Okay, got it!" Shen Zechuan nodded, then leaned closer, "Since it's my birthday today, can I ask you for a birthday present?"

Zhou Yang thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Hmm, okay. What kind of gift would you like?"

"You have to promise me first."

Shen Zechuan refused to speak directly, and kept pestering Zhou Yang to agree first.

Being hugged and acted on by a grown man was something Zhou Yang really couldn't resist. She surrendered in less than two minutes and said:

"Alright, alright, as long as I can afford it, I'll definitely give it to you. Tell me, what do you want?"

Upon hearing this, Shen Zechuan's eyes lit up immediately: "I want a kiss."

"What? You... um!"

Zhou Yang was stunned. Before he could react, Shen Zechuan covered his mouth with a kiss.

Unlike the fleeting kiss last night, this kiss was hot and urgent, tender and passionate, leaving Zhou Yang, a lifelong single, defenseless girl, unable to resist in no time.

When the kiss ended, all he could do was gasp for breath.

Later on, she didn't even remember how she fell asleep in Shen Zechuan's arms.