Chapter 174 The Story of My Aunt

Compared to Chen Yu,

the person most familiar with this beautiful woman was Li Mengyao.

"Auntie?!"

Li Mengyao cried out in surprise,

tears on the verge of welling up.

...

...

When she was eleven, her parents took her two-year-old brother abroad. Before leaving, they told her, "We'll come back for you once we're settled." She waited for three months, only to receive a text message—

The paperwork can't be processed. Stay with your aunt for now.

Since then, she had never seen them again.

It was her aunt who took her in.

Her aunt was only twenty-five that year, a recent graduate working as a dance teacher at a Song and Dance Troupe, living in a single dormitory provided by her unit.

She gave the bed to Li Mengyao and slept on a floor mat herself.

She would wake up at five in the morning to practice her craft, then come back to make breakfast for her.

When her aunt took her to school on an electric scooter in winter, the cold wind would blow down her collar. Her aunt would tell her to tuck her hands into her clothes, against her back. Her hands were freezing, but her aunt never once flinched away.

Later, her aunt won an international gold award. She was thirty-four that year, and the judges described her as "someone who writes poetry with her body."

From then on, their living conditions improved. Her aunt even became a guest teacher at the Haicheng Film Academy, specifically teaching physique classes.

But her aunt still never married.

There were plenty of suitors: wealthy businessmen, directors, colleagues, and officials within the system.

There was a cellist who pursued her for two years, bringing her breakfast every day. Li Mengyao had met him; he was tall and thin, and she thought there was a chance this time.

In the end, her aunt still refused.

When Li Mengyao asked why, her aunt said: "If I get married, I'll have to have children. Once I have a child, I won't have the energy to look after you. But you still have the college entrance exam; I can't afford to be distracted."

...

...

Li Mengyao buried herself in Liu Manqing's embrace, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed.

"Auntie... I thought I'd never see you again..."

Liu Manqing held her, patting her back rhythmically. "Look at how big you are, and you're still crying."

Wang Mengmeng leaned over from her seat, "Auntie! It really is you!"

Liu Manqing looked up at her. "Mengmeng? You've gotten more and more beautiful!"

Wang Mengmeng felt a bit embarrassed. "I'm not that pretty... though I have lost a lot of weight since the apocalypse..."

Yang Kexin called out from the driver's seat, "Hello, Teacher Liu! I'm Yang Kexin!"

Her voice trembled slightly because she was seeing her idol.

She was a dance student.

Before the apocalypse, Teacher Liu was the most formidable dance artist in Haicheng. Seeing her in person now was incredibly exciting, and even more unexpected was that Li Mengyao, who was in the same car, actually called her aunt!

Deng Yuxin also stood up. "Teacher Liu."

Zuo Shi, holding Lu Xiaoyu, nodded at Liu Manqing. "Teacher Liu."

Liu Manqing's gaze swept around the cabin and landed on Zhang Wanyue. "This is... the Class Monitor, right? I've seen photos. Mengyao said the Class Monitor took very good care of her."

Zhang Wanyue nodded. "Teacher Liu is too kind."

Liu Manqing then looked at Qiao Xi. "This one is..."

Li Mengyao wiped her tears and introduced her. "Dr. Qiao Xi, S-rank Perception, the team doctor for our convoy."

Liu Manqing let out a surprised sound. "S-rank? That's amazing!"

Finally, Li Mengyao took Liu Manqing's hand and walked behind the driver's seat. "Auntie, this is... er, you know him. He's also the car owner of this vehicle. We all survived thanks to him."

Chen Yu leaned back in his seat, feeling a bit awkward. "Auntie Liu."

Liu Manqing sized him up. "Xiao Yu, you've gotten thinner, but you look more spirited than before."

She held Li Mengyao's hand and looked at Chen Yu again, the smile on her lips deepening. "As expected, with Mengyao being with you, I can rest easy."

Li Mengyao's face flushed. "Auntie, we're actually..."

"Alright, alright, no need to explain." Liu Manqing smiled and patted her hand.

"It's not like your aunt is an old fossil."

Li Mengyao opened her mouth but still couldn't bring herself to say, "We've already broken up."

Liu Manqing looked at the girls in the cabin again, her gaze gentle and warm. "As long as you children are all well, that's better than anything else."

Chen Yu didn't say anything either, simply shifting his gaze back to the windshield.

Of course he had met Liu Manqing.

During the winter break of his freshman year, Li Mengyao had dragged him to her aunt's house for dinner.

It was snowing lightly that day, and he was carrying a box of fruit.

Liu Manqing had opened the door wearing loungewear, her hair tied up casually, and her apron stained with water.

But at that moment, Chen Yu had actually remembered this woman.

It wasn't the kind of beauty young girls had.

It was something else.

Standing there, she seemed like a taut string, yet at the same time very relaxed.

He only found out later that Liu Manqing wasn't just some aunt; she was half a mother.

Having raised Li Mengyao from the age of eleven, never marrying or having children of her own, and giving all her best years to Li Mengyao—when he saw Liu Manqing again, he felt an extra measure of respect.

Until now...

Liu Manqing boarding the vehicle had left him surprised.

Li Mengyao wiped away her tears, held Liu Manqing's hand, and glanced at the man in the distance.

"Auntie, are you in the same convoy as Uncle Sun?"

Liu Manqing nodded and introduced him to everyone. "Sun Zhiyuan, the deputy head of the Haicheng Song and Dance Troupe. In the previous convoy, we were grouped together. He's a very kind person."

Sun Zhiyuan straightened his collar and walked over with a smile on his face.

He looked at the setup in the cabin, then at Chen Yu, and nodded. "Young man, not bad. Carrying a convoy with so many people all by yourself isn't easy."

Chen Yu didn't respond.

Sun Zhiyuan wasn't embarrassed either and turned back to Li Mengyao.

"Your aunt has been talking about you non-stop this whole way. Every day she'd post missing person notices in the chat box whenever she had a moment. I told her that the feed refreshes so fast no one could see them clearly, but she wouldn't listen. I didn't expect it would be such a coincidence!"

Li Mengyao nodded politely. "Uncle Sun, the other people in your vehicle... are they all dead?"

Sun Zhiyuan's smile faded slightly, and he sighed. "Pretty much. There were over twenty of us, but after a few missions, only the two of us are left. We really didn't have the confidence to get through the next mission, so we chose to join another convoy."

Liu Manqing nodded. "Speaking of which, if I'm able to see you alive, it's thanks to Deputy Commander Sun. If it weren't for his Talent being able to drive away monsters, I'm afraid..."

She didn't finish her sentence.

Wang Mengmeng leaned in. "Driving away monsters? What kind of Talent is that?"

Sun Zhiyuan smiled. "That day, I was shouting into a megaphone when, unexpectedly, the apocalypse arrived. I immediately awakened Sonic Dispersion, B-rank. It can simulate the roars of higher-order creatures with a range of... about thirty meters. Ordinary monsters will instinctively flee when they hear the sound."

He finished speaking in one breath and leaned against the back of the seat, waiting for the people in the car to be amazed.

Li Mengyao nodded. "Sounds quite impressive."

"?"

Sun Zhiyuan was stunned. He was expecting reactions like "Wow," "So strong," or "A support type!" He didn't expect to receive such a simple response.

He instinctively looked at the others in the cabin; they were all extremely calm.