Surviving the Apocalypse with the Young Miss - Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Names

Because the window was covered, Tong Xiangyu had no idea whether it was day or night when she woke up. The lights in the basement were on, and Song Ge seemed to be whittling something with a small knife.

Hearing Tong Xiangyu wake up, Song Ge asked, “How’s your body? Are you sick?”

Tong Xiangyu touched her forehead. She felt okay, just a bit groggy from sleeping too much. She said, “I’m not sick.”

“Then we’ll do two sets of exercises first, then eat.”

Tong Xiangyu: “What exercises?”

“Jumping jacks and high knees.” Song Ge didn’t look up. “To train your endurance and leg strength. That way, if you run into a monster, you can flee. If you really can’t outrun it, you can at least put up a fight with a few kicks. It’s very effective.”

“Alright…” Tong Xiangyu thought that since she couldn’t do anything else while stuck here, she might as well train.

The basement was very small. Song Ge moved the desk into the corner to clear some space, but to her surprise, the Young Mistress stopped after only a few repetitions, saying she couldn’t continue.

Song Ge: “Why not?”

Tong Xiangyu didn’t answer. She blushed, stammered, and looked away.

“Don’t be so delicate,” Song Ge said. “Being fit can save your life at a critical moment.”

“I’m hungry.”

“Then eat first.” Song Ge noticed a look of relief on Tong Xiangyu’s face and added, “We’ll continue after you eat.”

The girl’s beautiful face immediately fell.

Tong Xiangyu opened the shopping bag full of snacks. Seeing this, Song Ge took a bottle of water and two small packs of dried meat from a box and handed them to her.

Tong Xiangyu blinked and looked up at Song Ge. “I’ll eat these.”

Song Ge: “The snacks you have are few; they won’t last many days. You still need to learn to eat instant noodles, compressed biscuits, and dried meat. Mix some in now to trick your stomach. Just pretend this is fifty-yuan-a-pack beef jerky.”

Tong Xiangyu: “…”

She looked down at the snacks in her bag, then at the dried meat, feeling very hesitant. She didn’t want to have diarrhea again—the discomfort and embarrassment were one thing, but more importantly, she didn’t want to cause Song Ge more trouble.

Tong Xiangyu said, “But I feel like this big bag will last me more than a week.”

“What if the rescue team doesn’t come in a week?”

“Then I’ll eat your stuff.”

Song Ge stared at her.

Tong Xiangyu knew she was being pampered, but she wanted to hold out a little longer. Her beautiful almond eyes gazed at Song Ge pleadingly, with a touch of piteous request. “Okay?”

Song Ge pursed her lips and finally relented. “Suit yourself.”

Tong Xiangyu immediately brightened up. “Thank you!!”

Song Ge thought, What’s there to thank? Seeing the girl’s radiant smile, she looked away unnaturally, tore open a bag of dried meat for herself, and said, “Eat quickly. We train after this.”

Tong Xiangyu became dejected again. “Oh…”

After eating and letting the food digest, they resumed training. But again, it didn’t last long. After three or four sets, Tong Xiangyu started dawdling again, whispering that she couldn’t do it.

Song Ge said, “It’s precisely because you ‘can’t’ that you need to practice. There’s no effect if you don’t reach the target amount. You’ve only done two; is your physical strength really that bad?”

Tong Xiangyu: “It’s not a strength issue…”

“Then what is it?”

“It’s… it’s…”

Song Ge saw her stammering and let out an impatient click of her tongue. “Fine. If you don’t want to train, don’t.” She started moving the desk back to its original position.

Seeing Song Ge was angry, Tong Xiangyu suppressed her embarrassment and said quickly with a flushed face, “It’s my chest! It hurts when I jump! I… I’m not wearing a bra… the one you gave me doesn’t fit…”

Hearing this, Song Ge turned her head to look at Tong Xiangyu’s chest. Her gaze was direct and observant.

Tong Xiangyu’s face turned red all the way to her ears. She didn’t know whether to cover herself or not. Finally, she thought, We’re both girls, it’s fine, and forced herself to endure the shyness, trying to stand tall under Song Ge’s gaze.

Song Ge only then realized how “sexy” and “alluring” her ordinary T-shirt looked on this Young Mistress. She withdrew her gaze and said, “Sorry. Never experienced it, didn’t know.”

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Tong Xiangyu said hurriedly. “I washed my underwear. Once it’s dry, I’ll definitely train properly.”

“Mhm.”

With training postponed and sleep out of the question, Tong Xiangyu sat on the bed watching Song Ge tinker with her folding military knife. The knife was large and didn’t really seem suited for a girl.

As she watched, propping her face in her hand, her gaze drifted from the knife to Song Ge’s focused face.

Though they hadn’t spent much time together, Tong Xiangyu knew Song Ge wasn’t the “twisted, dark” person her classmates rumored her to be. True, her personality had flaws—she lacked compassion and could be quite blunt—but who doesn’t have a single flaw?

The basement was so quiet.

After watching her for a while, Tong Xiangyu suddenly asked, “By the way, do you even know my name yet?”

Song Ge flicked her eyelids up to look at her. Had this girl suddenly gone stupid?

In Tong Xiangyu’s eyes, Song Ge seemed indifferent to everyone and everything. Although they were in the same class, they had never spoken a word to each other—no, wait, they had exchanged two sentences when she gave Song Ge that cake yesterday morning. But that was the very first time…

Seeing Song Ge look over without speaking, Tong Xiangyu thought she had guessed correctly. She said, “My name is Tong Xiangyu.”

Song Ge teased intentionally, “Oh, like the taro milk tea?”

Tong Xiangyu explained good-naturedly, “It’s not the ‘Yu’ from taro; it has the ‘gold’ radical and the ‘Yu’ from jade pendant. It means ‘precious treasure’.”

“Don’t know it. No education.”

Tong Xiangyu: “…”

To alleviate the awkwardness of Song Ge not knowing her name, she asked considerately, “I know you’re Song Ge. But which ‘Ge’ is it?”

“The ‘Ge’ from ‘Ge-ge-bu-ru’ (misfit/out of place).”

Tong Xiangyu was stunned and quickly said, “It is not! It’s clearly the ‘Ge’ from ‘Ge-ju’ (vision/perspective), ‘Ge-diao’ (style/taste), ‘Ge-lv’ (rhythm), and ‘Pin-ge’ (character/integrity).”

“Fine. Are you practicing vocabulary?”

Tong Xiangyu said, “I’m just listing them for you to choose from. I hope next time you introduce yourself to someone, you won’t use the one you just said.”

Song Ge curled her lip inwardly, thinking, Who would I even introduce myself to? But she said nothing and went back to sharpening her knife.

Tong Xiangyu asked again, “This dagger isn’t your own, is it?”

Song Ge’s sharpening motion froze instantly.

Support