My Zombie Husband

1. Chapter I The Sign in Ancient Tomb

Translator: Cheryl_M

April 4th was the birthday of Xia Mingyu. Although it was not an auspicious date, but he always thought naively that he would at least receive a birthday present on his birthday.

He was an orphan. As he remembered, the dean of the welfare house told that he was abandoned at the entrance of the welfare home at their first meeting, and that he was such a fragile baby back then, placed on the ground on such a rainy and snowy day and covered with a thin quilt, who was blue in coldness.

That day was Qingming Festival, April 4. Afterwards, his name was changed to Xia Mingyu.

Xia Mingyu, weak and fragile, had a pair of amber eyes on his palm-size face, who was as meek as a cat. He was quiet and seldom talked.

The kids in the welfare house realized that this little fellow was much less talkative, so sometimes they made Xia Mingyu the scapegoat for them, watching him severely punished by the dean.  However, he never defended for himself. Instead, he only stared at others with his cat-like eyes. Probably because the kids lost interest in him, they gave up scapegoating him then.

Then, some of the children were adopted and some were still in the welfare house. Xia Mingyu was also adopted by a wealthy couple, but they already had a child about the same age as Xia Mingyu, who was called Zhao Ziyi. That year they were only 4 years old. Xia Mingyu was as big as a cat while Zhao Ziyi appeared more sophisticated, more of a baby tiger with fangs.

Xia Mingyu still couldn’t understand why the Zhao family adopted him? Did Zhao Ziyi like him or not? Compared with other adopted children, he was more like a wild cat in captivity, who couldn’t go out or make a fuss. He even had a private tutor. Surely he was offered good meals. He didn’t seem needed in this family. Then on what ground was he worthwhile to be adopted by the Zhao Family?

In 2019, Xia Mingyu turned 14. Today was his birthday, when he learned why he was adopted by the Zhao Family.

The Zhao family always had twin boys since a long time ago, which was a tradition of the family without any exception. The Zhao Family were the tomb keepers. When they died, they would be buried in the tomb. And as to the twins, only one of them would survive while the other would be sent to the tomb at birth and could never come out again.

However, when it came to Zhao Yu and Han Xiaolin, they only had one child, Zhao Ziyi, which put them into a predicament. If they sent their only child into the family tomb, the Zhao Family would have no offsprings. Han Xiaolin also asked Zhao Yu not to send their son into the tomb, but Zhao Yu did not listen, insisting that none of the Zhao Family could survive if they didn’t follow the tradition. He could not take this risk.

So what should they do? They figured out a way—to adopt a child born on the date close to the birthday of Zhao Ziyi from the orphanage. As long as this adopted child stayed in the Zhao family long enough, he would become like a member of the Zhao Family. Then it would work if he was sent to the tomb at that time.

Finally, Xia Mingyu was selected on the ground that he was obedient and quiet enough seemed easy to bring up. As a result, they didn’t need to get close to him and it would be enough to keep him at home.

Then on the morning of April 4, when Xia Mingyu turned 14 years old, an unrest suddenly struck the Zhao Family. The tomb keeper reported to Zhao Yu, saying that there came a strange noise from the tomb. Instantly, it made Zhao Yu shocked. Then he looked at Xia Mingyu sitting beside him. This boy was staring at Zhao Ziyi, who had received many gifts, negligent of what would happen in the future.

“Yu.” Zhao Yu suddenly walked over with a smile, squatting down in front of Xia Mingyu, making Xia Mingyu uneasy move aside. For the past years, the family just ignored him and even the servants only did their jobs and never chatted with him. This was the first time that Zhao Yu had called him so amicably, making him feel delighted and afraid.

“Yu, how about me sending you a birthday present?” Zhao Yu stopped Xia Mingyu from hiding away and grabbed his little hand, affectionately with alienation and majesty. Xia Mingyu lowered his head and nodded for a while. Then Zhao Yu winked at the servant to carry out the plan.

After a while, the servant brought the rope. Zhao Yu caught Xia Mingyu and tied Xia Mingyu’s arms behind his back. Also, his legs were tied up too. Xia Mingyu looked at Zhao Ziyi fearfully for help, trembling and shouting with his face full of terror, “Brother Ziyi…”

Zhao Ziyi, who was holding a gaming machine, suddenly hedged. He turned his head around to make eye contact with him. This was the second time Xia Mingyu had called him brother. When they met for the first time and Xia Mingyu called him brother, he wanted to greet back but he was driven away by his mother.

Zhao Ziyi knew what his father wanted to do, but when he was hesitant, Zhao Yu had already asked his servant to carry Xia Mingyu on his shoulder. It was impossible that he could successfully counteract with a servant who was 1.8 meters tall and he himself was only slightly more than 1.6 meters tall. Moreover, Xia Mingyu was still tied up.

Zhao Ziyi’s dark eyes glittered and then he hid a knife in the palm of his hand. When he walked over to ask Zhao Yu, he stuffed it quickly to Xia Mingyu’s palm.

“Dad, where are you going to take Yu to?” Zhao Ziyi didn’t call Xia Mingyu “younger brother”, because Han Xiaolin didn’t agree. Hence, he followed Zhao Yu’s way of calling Xia Mingyu. His confused look didn’t arouse any suspect of Zhao Yu. Zhao Yu was satisfied with this son for his sensibility and capability. However, he was in haste to continue the business, he answered perfunctorily: “Oh, Yi, I’m taking Yu to see the tomb. After all, Yu is one of our family now and he has paid a visit to the ancestors of the Zhao Family. Okay, you stay at home and I will come back soon.”

Zhao Yu said that he would come back in a while, not with Xia Mingyu. Zhao Ziyi frowned but he said nothing. He knew that it would be no good to nail his father’s lie now. Although he didn’t know why his father had to tie up Xia Mingyu, he supposed that it must have something to do with the tomb. He couldn’t help him in public and it was good enough to sneakingly give him a knife. It would count on himself whether he could survive. To be honest, he didn’t hate this brother at all. Xia Mingyu was cute with a pair of beautiful eyes which seemingly glittered. He looked so handsome that others would feel like offer everything for him to make his eyes beamed with joys…

Sadly, such a good-looking boy entered the Zhao Family.

Xia Mingyu was brought to the tomb of the Zhao Family, which was located on a mountain. The road up the mountain was not complicated. It was a cobblestone path to the top of the mountain, and the tomb exposed to the ground was just a small arch. A large white stone door stood in front of him, with several big locks hanging on it. Zhao Yu asked someone to bring the keys and open the locks. In the end, he inserted the missing sun jade into the Yin and Yang array on the door.

The door was opened with a bang, and it was dark and chilly inside. The weather was no longer warm anymore.

“Throw him into the tomb.” Zhao Yu ordered and the subordinate threw Xia Mingyu in there. With another loud bang, the door was closed. The last light in Xia Mingyu’s eyes disappeared. He thumped on the ground in pain and could hardly hold the knife hidden in his palm.

There was a strange sound in the darkness behind him, and Xia Mingyu immediately became vigilant. It was too dark around for him to see anything. What could be in the cemetery? It was either a dead person or the mechanism that kill him. Xia Mingyu thought of this and then started to cut the rope with the knife in his palm without hesitation. Nevertheless, because he couldn’t see the ropes behind his back, he cut himself several times, making him gasp in pain.

Fortunately, the knife given by Zhao Ziyi was very sharp, but after a minute or two, Xia Mingyu cut the rope on his wrists. When his hands were released, he quickly cut the rope on his feet. When he was about to stand up, there was a gust of wind blowing in front of him. His amber pupils met a pair of green vertical pupils, which didn’t belong to a human. They were more like the pupils of a cold-blooded animal or a dead person. Out of fear, Xia Mingyu felt a chill down his spine and fell on the ground.

“Phew Phew.” The thing in front of him gasped for breath. It still remained unknown what it was. It went near Xia Mingyu and smelt for a long time. Xia Mingyu was so frightened that he held his breath and didn’t dare to breathe. The thing didn’t go away until he almost couldn’t hang on, but it didn’t move far away. Its vertical pupils in the darkness were like a phantom ghost fire, which were very scary.

“Chirk.” The blue flames suddenly sprang out from the stone wall around him. Only with the help of the inexplicable flame could Xia Mingyu see the thing that was wandering not far away. It was a zombie in a Qing-Dynasty official uniform.