Zombie Apocalypse: Creation

“Governor, are you sure you want to put your wedding on live TV?”

“That’s what my in-law wanted… Put it on channel 12.”

Shen Wen quickly nodded his head, realizing what Xiaoyun was trying to do as they walked out of the parking lot.

“What are you doing back here?” Leyan questioned as she noticed Shen Wen walking off in the distance.

“Just going for a walk… Ahem, are Houqin and Lily here yet?”

“They said they should be here in like three minutes.”

As Xiaoyun and Leyan headed back towards the wedding venue together, there were already hundreds of guests in a massive canopy tent.

On the left were all young faces wearing all kinds of plain, casual clothes. All of them were chattering with each other nonstop.

Only one or two of them looked like adults, dressing formally, which sharply contrasted with their younger peers in the group.

Meanwhile, on the right were much older people from their 30s to even their 60s, all either wearing traditional clothes or formal suits.

It was a clear divide.

All done on purpose.

Lily had invited her classmates, teacher, and friends, while Houqin had allowed her parents to make a list.

This ranged wildly, from next-door neighbors at their new place to the friends they made a few weeks ago at the marketplace.

Only a very small fraction of them were Houqin’s coworkers and friends, who all sat in the first row on the right side.

“Where did you guys go?”

Yuqi curiously asked as the rest of Xiaoyun’s wives turned around from their seats over at Lily’s side.

“Just talking to some people.”

𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Seeing him not wanting to elaborate any further, they didn’t think too much of it as they sat down in the empty seat in the front.

“Look who I got here, chat. The one and only, the main character for today. The very man you guys had been asking to see.”

“Are you livestreaming?”

Xiaoyun finally realized what Nami was doing with her phone as she held it up right against his face.

“Yep. The first ever livestream since the outbreak. Say hello to five hundred thousand users watching this right now.”

“What?”

The number stunned him. It made Xiaoyun genuinely freeze. Not once had he ever expected there would be so many people watching a livestream.

Especially not in the middle of a Wednesday.

“Whoever donates the most in ten seconds, I’ll do whatever you ask me to. I really do mean it, by the way.”

“Nami, when did you start livestreaming? And how do you even livestream in the first place?”

As Xiaoyun raised his question, she kept staring at her second phone as hundreds of thousands of messages scrolled right by.

“I rented the school servers… Okay, time’s up. Let me see who had donated the most in the past ten seconds.”

“This is a part of your plan?”

“Mhm… Okay, the winner is… Spicy Meatball. You have donated fifty thousand dollars! Holy moly, thank you so much for the donation.”

“That’s a drop in the bucket—”

“Shush.”

As Nami received multiple notifications on her second phone, her face weirdly blushed as she put down the first phone camera for a second.

“You guys are a bunch of perverts. I’m not going to run up to the stage naked. Suggest something else, or else I’m gonna take your money for free.”

“You set all this up by yourself?” Xiaoyun asked curiously.

“Nope. A few of my old coworkers were willing to write the website and the netcoding for ten thousand—ahem, ten burgers.”

The attempt to hide the number was a complete failure, as it was abundantly clear to the livestream what she was trying to say.

“Nami, turn the livestream off. Houqin and Lily didn’t consent to being recorded.” Yuqi suddenly chimed in.

“I already asked the two of them. They said they were fine with it as long as it doesn’t bother anyone.”

“Are you going to hold a phone when we’re up on the stage?”

Leyan asked as she finally realized and understood what livestreaming was through Anna’s explanation on the side.

“I’ll turn it off when it’s time.”

“You better.”

As Nami put her phone back up, she finally seemed to have figured out what the Spicy Meatball wanted to do.

“Hey Xiaoyun, Xiaoyun.”

“What? I’m not going to be a part of your clown show.”

“Hey, don’t call it a clown show. It’s no different than the camera crew over there… Crap, what was I going to ask?”

Watching her scroll up on the other phone, Xiaoyun rolled his eyes as he couldn’t really understand livestreaming.

A thing he never really got any exposure to in either of his two lives, both in the past and in the present.

“Okay, Xiaoyun. Can you kiss me on the cheek?” Nami requested.

“I’m not doing that on camera.”

“Ah, come on.”

After having her shake his hands over and over again, Xiaoyun folded under pressure as he leaned closer and kissed her.

“There, you happy?”

“Thank you…”

Seeing her looking all shy all of a sudden, he didn’t think too much of it as he turned his attention back to his own phone.

“What’s taking them so long…”

—

After waiting for ten minutes in the warm weather, Lily and Houqin finally arrived at the grassy field alongside her parents.

The wedding could finally begin.

The first person to step onto the stage was a professional wedding host Leyna hired, who held a pre-written script that Leyan made.

A short story of how Lily and Houqin fell in love with Xiaoyun. It was the most boring thing ever to hit his ears.

But to all the guests, it was the most interesting thing ever. They were all listening in carefully, not wanting to miss a single word.

Their curiosity peaked as the wedding host recounted how Lily fell in love at first sight after being saved by Xiaoyun.

Not long after, it peaked again as the host described how Xiaoyun saved Houqin from a zombie attack inside a hotel during her trip to Changsha.

“Geez, is it that emotional?”

As Xiaoyun looked around, he could see some of the guests crying, especially the younger members of the group.

“Who doesn’t want to be saved by a hero?” Nami murmured as she continued to hold up the camera the whole time.

“Shush,” Leyan warned.

After the short story was done, elegant music suddenly started playing from the speakers, and Leyan and all of Xiaoyun’s wives got up from their seats.

They quickly headed up the stage before Xiaoyun stepped up onto the stage, standing right before them with no one else.

He didn’t invite anyone as his groomsmen.

Partially because the wedding was so rushed, and partially because he didn’t have friends of similar age who were free from their military mission.

Down in the middle, Houqin’s dad walked Houqin down the aisle, with Houqin’s mom walking Lily down the aisle next.

Both of them were wearing the same wedding dress his wives had worn in the past—a pure, simple ivory silk draped around their bodies.

A white veil covered both of their long hair, with a sharp contrast in height that made them look more like mother and daughter.

Yet, they were both marrying the same man today.

Xiaoyun’s heart was beating fast as they walked up the stage together, with Houqin’s parents choosing to walk up after.

“You guys look very beautiful.”

“Thanks…”

As both of them shyly looked down at the floor, the wedding host cleared his throat as he put the microphone away for a second.

“Ahem, are you three ready?”

With a nod, the music began to die down as the three of them walked closer, meeting right in the middle.

“Xiaoyun, are you willing to marry Houqin and Lily as your wife in a sacred marriage together for life?

Whether she has sickness or health, poverty or wealth, beauty or is plain, in good times and in bad.

Are you willing to love her, to comfort her, to respect her, and to protect her? And willing to treat them equally and be forever loyal to them?

“Yes, I do.”

“Houqin, Lily, are you willing to marry Xiaoyun as your husband in a sacred marriage together for life?

Whether he has sickness or health, poverty or wealth, beauty or is plain, in good times and in bad.

Are you willing to love him, to comfort him, to respect him, and to protect him? And willing to be forever loyal to him?”

“Yes, I do.” Both answered at the same time.

“Well, I announce that the three of you may exchange rings.”

Xiaoyun took out two different pairs of rings from his pocket as both bride raised their hands out.

Without a single pause, he easily put the rings onto their fingers at once. Next, they took out a ring together as they put it on Xiaoyun’s finger.

“Congratulations, I pronounce you husband and wife.”

As all the guests started clapping, all three of them blushed, as there was still one last thing left in the wedding process.