Yu Dong had a lot of questions when she saw Fang Chi crouching on the forest ground crying his eyes out. First of all, she wanted to know what he was doing here so late at night and secondly, she wanted to know why he was crying so badly that his eyes were swollen to the point of looking like they were stung by bees. However, when she saw tears trickling down his eyes, she no longer dared to go ahead and ask these questions.
Though she didn't have a boyfriend in her last life, she wasn't someone who didn't know about basic things like matching and breaking up.
Most of her friends were in a hurry to get married and have kids because no one knew what was going to happen in the Apocalypse and with the decreasing population, the women of her world were a lot less picky than before as long as the man had great spiritual energy, every woman was willing to match with him. The apocalypse was great for men with a large power bank of spiritual energy, but for women who were looking for a life partner, it was hell.
Why will men settle down for a single woman when they could live like an emperor with numerous concubines and mistresses on their sides? So there was a lot of trouble in the so-called normal love life of her friends.
Some were lucky enough to get married to their boyfriends who didn't change throughout the Apocalypse but the majority of her friends were unlucky. The second the Apocalypse's situation worsened and the zombies started to mutate resulting in an uproar of the spiritual energy of the people who were awakened, their boyfriends broke up with them.
The current Fang Chi was resembling her heartbroken friends a lot.
" are you okay?" asked Yu Dong softly she was trying to be as considerate towards Fang Chi, she even softened her tone as she carefully approached him. She wasn't great at consoling but she couldn't just ignore Fang Chi and be like, ' alright, moving on. ' It wasn't an option and maybe such an option will never even exist, so she tentatively approached Fang Chi trying to get him out of his ' break up phase'.
But the second she asked this question she wished she didn't because Fang Chi who was greatly stimulated by constant rejections threw himself in her arms as he started crying on her shoulder. Now, Yu Dong was completely dumbfounded, she was no longer her usual cool-headed self as she looked around in a spooked manner. She didn't know why but this - this hugging and crying was making her feel like she was entangled in an affair.
And she wasn't wrong in thinking like that because first she was married, two she had three husbands and three she was hugging an unmarried mer in the middle of a forest at night! If someone caught them it will cause a big hoo haa in the village. Yu Dong didn't think much about it but that didn't mean that the villagers wouldn't think about it, in the end, she raised her hand to push Fang Chi away but then she heard him speak in a muffled voice and she paused.
" I - she promised to marry me. For her, I have been waiting for all along, from the young age of seven till now but - but she " Fang Chi was so upset that he couldn't even form a comprehending sentence anymore. His voice was completely inaudible but Yu Dong whose ears were nourished by her spiritual energy could more or less make out what Fang Chi was talking about.
Fang Chi had a match with a girl from the village when he was a young boy. The girl was none other than Village head Mu Xuan daughter Mu Yuxi, the two of them could be more or less considered childhood sweethearts as the two played together with each other as kids, or until Fang Chi's parents were still alive. After his parent's death, Mu Xuan stopped her daughter from playing together with Fang Chi because he could no longer be considered on the same standard as her daughter.
However, children couldn't understand their parent's ideas and would most certainly rebel if forced, Mu Yuxi did the same after her mother barred her from playing with Fang Chi. She would still come and play with Fang Chi behind her mother's back, childhood friends soon became childhood sweethearts and Mu Yuxi promised Fang Chi that she will marry him in the future before leaving for doing business in the capital.
The promise was nothing but a mistake of adolescence but Fang Chi who never got a taste of kindness after he and his grandmother were kicked out from their ancestral house by his uncle after his parent's death, to him the promise was like sweet honey. He firmly believed in Mu Yuxi and waited for her even going as far as rejecting his match as a teenager.
When Fang Chi was young he was just as soft and cuddly as other mers but after working in the fields to support his grandmother, he got tanned and became stronger and sturdier like a man. No one liked him anymore but he believed in Mu Yuxi, he thought that no matter how much he changed, Mu Yuxi would still like him and bring a proposal to his house one day.
He wholeheartedly waited for Mu Yuxi's return to the village even going so far as to become an old spinster. Days became months and months became years yet Mu Yuxi didn't return but Fang Chi kept on waiting he was optimistic and full of hope because Mu Yuxi's kind image never left his heart.
He was sure she will come back and one day his prayer was answered Mu Yuxi returned but she didn't come alone. She came with her husband and child whom she pursued and married in the capital because the mer came from a good family Mu Xuan didn't complain and accepted the marriage. The only person who couldn't accept the marriage was Fang Chi but so what? So what if he couldn't accept it? Mu Yuxi had forgotten their promise as well Fang Chi after settling in the capital, and she never gave him a betrothal gift either, so their relationship was nothing but illegitimate.
Fang Chi had nothing but an empty promise, now he was twenty one and keep getting rejected while Mu Yuxi's child was already three years old and soon she will be blessed with another child.
How can Fang Chi be not regretful? How can he not be heartbroken?
Today as well he was rejected because his cinnamon bar was no longer as bright as it was before, He tried to tell his match that it was all because of his skin getting tanned nothing more but she didn't listen and now he was left on the shelf once again!
" she - she was so kind but she no longer remembers me, I - how can she be like this, wasn't I good to her?" Fang Chi couldn't help but get a little angry, for years he found excuses for Mu Yuxi. For example, Mu Yuxi was a young woman it was simply impossible for her to keep track of her desires when the capital was full of beauties.
But if she wasn't willing then she shouldn't have promised him! And broke their friendship before it escalated to something more than just friendship then Fang Chi wouldn't have entangled his feelings for so long.. Now what? She was happily married and he was a second hand rejected good waiting for a good - no, just a match to accept him.