Surviving the Apocalypse with the Young Miss - Chapter 25

Chapter 25: Provocation

Granny Tian also brought over a Kecheng travel brochure. It contained a partial map of the city, but the area it covered was still quite far from their current location.

The three of them spent the entire morning drawing.

When lunchtime arrived, Tong Xiangyu started feeling “unwell” again. Her eyes truly hadn’t fully recovered; overusing them for the morning’s mapping made them turn red with the slightest rub.

Song Ge told her not to rub them and added, “If you’re not feeling well, I’ll go up and bring some food down for you.”

Tong Xiangyu gave a hesitant murmur, essentially taking the opportunity to agree.

Song Ge took the insulated food box from the table. She reached the door, but then turned back to lock the room’s window and reminded Tong Xiangyu to double-lock the door. Tong Xiangyu nodded repeatedly.

After a moment of thought, Song Ge said, “Now that we have a map, if you don’t want to stay here, we can leave anytime.”

Hearing this, Tong Xiangyu knew Song Ge had likely guessed some things. After a silence, she whispered, “I understand.” She didn’t say whether she wanted to leave or stay.

Song Ge nodded, not forcing her to make an immediate decision.

Lunch consisted of pan-fried meat cakes. As the weather grew hotter and the power stayed out for half a month, the meat in the fridge could no longer be kept. Jiang Zhuang had used the meat along with his own spicy pickled vegetables to make a large batch of savory cakes.

Song Ge guessed Tong Xiangyu wouldn’t eat them; she had already complained about the smell of the meat yesterday.

Song Ge leaned against the rooftop door alone, indifferently watching the lively scene of people milling about. She thought that if the Young Mistress were here, she would likely love this sight—as if no accidents or trouble had ever happened. Everything seemed normal.

Unfortunately, even before the monster outbreak, Song Ge didn’t like such scenes. Let alone after. This kind of ease and leisure would only make people lose the alertness needed to face a crisis.

Song Ge had once thought that once Tong Xiangyu’s eyes were healed and she reunited with Fan Mingyuan, she would leave and let this “pair” stay here. They would probably want to stay; after all, there was food, water, and companions a very “peaceful” life. Perhaps they really could last until rescue arrived. By then, the Young Mistress would surely have forgotten their original goal of escaping Kecheng.

However, looking at the current situation, there seemed to be an irreconcilable conflict between Tong Xiangyu and Fan Mingyuan.

Song Ge’s gaze fell on Fan Mingyuan nearby. She remembered the day she bumped into Tong Xiangyu while escaping; the girl had been hiding behind a tree crying, and later threw up just at the mention of that day.

Song Ge roughly understood what had happened. When faced with a choice between life and death, human selfishness can become extremely hideous. That “beautiful and kind” Young Mistress would even hold a grudge over Song Ge running away; Fan Mingyuan, who was in the classroom with her, likely did something even more terrifying and unacceptable.

For example, the knight who was protecting the girls one moment might have turned into a butcher swinging a cleaver the next.

My analogies are getting quite poetic, Song Ge thought. I’ll have to let the Young Mistress grade them later.

Despite deducing the cause and effect, Song Ge’s expression remained unchanged. Human nature is inherently flawed; nothing was surprising.

Fan Mingyuan had fully expected to see Tong Xiangyu at lunch, or at least confirm it was her. Instead, only the short-haired girl showed up again. He went to ask her why the other hadn’t come.

Song Ge said she was unwell and still sleeping.

Fan Mingyuan asked, “What’s wrong with her?”

Song Ge: “She’s not acclimating well. She needs more rest.”

Seeing Song Ge’s flat tone and impenetrable attitude, Fan Mingyuan frowned. Looking at Song Ge’s face, he suddenly felt she looked a bit familiar, but he couldn’t remember who she was.

Fan Mingyuan asked, “Have we met before?”

“Don’t know.” Song Ge looked at him. “Do you recognize me? I don’t recognize you.”

Fan Mingyuan, who was pursued by so many girls at school, couldn’t stand being told he wasn’t recognized by a short-haired girl with a bad personality. It was a humiliation. He immediately said, “I don’t recognize you either. I must have misremembered.”

The pan-fried cakes at lunch were, unsurprisingly, “rejected” by the Young Mistress. Song Ge ate them herself and pulled out the snack chicken drumsticks from her backpack.

Tong Xiangyu’s eyes lit up at the familiar packaging. She was overjoyed. “Song Ge, how did you bring these out too?” There clearly hadn’t been any when they packed!

Song Ge: “The backpack was too empty. Nothing else to put in it.”

Tong Xiangyu looked at her. “Actually, you were just worried I’d have nothing to eat and go hungry, right? Caring about people isn’t embarrassing. Why won’t you admit it?”

Song Ge: “You have a very vivid imagination.”

“Hmph~ typical duplicity.” Tong Xiangyu looked at her. “You’re just shy, aren’t you?”

Song Ge felt the Young Mistress was being tedious and stopped responding.

Tong Xiangyu couldn’t keep up the monologue alone, so she carefully gnawed through two drumsticks. After eating, she was silent for a while before suddenly asking, “Song Ge. Why don’t you ask me about Fan Mingyuan?”

Song Ge asked back, “Do you want to talk about it now?”

Tong Xiangyu fell silent.

Seeing she didn’t want to talk, Song Ge changed the subject. “There are a lot of cakes left from lunch. We’ll probably have them for dinner too. I want to borrow that couple’s pot to cook some noodles. Do you want some?”

Tong Xiangyu quickly said, “I do!”

For dinner, Tong Xiangyu still didn’t join everyone.

Fan Mingyuan watched the short-haired girl borrow the pot from the Jiang couple. The more he thought about it, the more convinced he was that the voice he heard that morning was Tong Xiangyu’s. This other girl had hidden her away.

Why hide her? Was she some kind of creep?

“Creep?” As the word flashed through his mind, a string of related labels followed: Orphan, psychologically warped, twisted personality, lesbian…

Was this… Song Ge?!

Fan Mingyuan didn’t have a clear memory of Song Ge’s face, but he had heard Chu Qiao and the others mention the name and all those descriptions more than once.

In other words, this “creep” likely took advantage of the outbreak and Tong Xiangyu being alone to coerce her?

Just as he thought this, he heard Granny Tian ask the short-haired girl, “Is Little Tong still feeling unwell?”

Little Tong?

It really was Tong Xiangyu!! Fan Mingyuan felt his heart skip two beats.

Song Ge said, “She can’t handle heavy oil or salt. I’m making her some plain noodle soup.”

Song Ge had told Tong Xiangyu she was making noodles for herself and would bring her a bowl, but the noodles, the gas, and even two small greens were all requested from the Jiang couple. She couldn’t eat much herself. She ate the meat cakes with the others, packed the cooked noodles into a container, and left early again.

This time, Fan Mingyuan secretly followed her.

His theory was that Song Ge had used some special means—like drugs—to control Tong Xiangyu. She was in danger! He wanted to find evidence, so he muffled his footsteps and followed stealthily.

Song Ge knocked. Moments later, Tong Xiangyu ran to open the door, her soft, delicate voice calling out: “Song Ge~”

The sun hadn’t set yet. Fan Mingyuan crouched by the stairwell, peering out with only his eyes. In the sunset, he saw his Yu-Yu flutter out like a butterfly.

But Song Ge quickly closed the door.

No. Fan Mingyuan saw that Tong Xiangyu was mobile and clearly conscious, yet he still believed she was under Song Ge’s control. He assumed Tong Xiangyu didn’t know he was there and was temporarily playing along with Song Ge for some reason.

He had to bring Tong Xiangyu into everyone’s sight to expose this “creep” Song Ge’s true colors.

Fan Mingyuan stayed awake all night thinking about it, feeling a secret excitement. He truly hadn’t expected his Yu-Yu to still be alive…

The next day, Tong Xiangyu still didn’t show her face.

However, during lunch, Fan Mingyuan suddenly asked Song Ge in front of everyone: “Is your friend still feeling unwell?”

Song Ge didn’t even look up. “Mhm.”

Fan Mingyuan said, “You can’t just suffer through being sick. You need medicine. After lunch, let’s all go take a look at her.”

Song Ge said, “No need. She just needs quiet rest.”

Wu Senjun also thought it was a hassle. If Fan Mingyuan wanted to go, he could go himself; why bother everyone else?

“We must see her,” Fan Mingyuan’s tone suddenly became firm. He looked at Wu Senjun, then at the Jiang couple, and then gathered several classmates. “I hope you can understand. The situation is too unusual right now. We’ve been together from the start and know each other well. You two are the only new additions. This virus is so dangerous; once it breaks out, it’s uncontrollable.

Your friend is always ‘unwell’ and never shows her face. If she’s just sick, that’s fine, but what if…”

As soon as Fan Mingyuan said this, Wu Senjun was startled. He realized he had overlooked something so important! They were keeping the monsters out, but what if the virus broke out from the inside? Everyone would die!!

Wu Senjun immediately said, “Little Fan is right. My Qianqian is a nurse. If your friend is unwell, let her take a look.” He put his arm around the woman’s waist.

Liu Qian had no choice but to cooperate. “I can take a look. If she’s unwell, it’s better to take medicine early. Dragging it on makes it worse.”

Jiang Zhuang added, “Granny Tian has medicine, right?”

“Yes,” Granny Tian said. “The first-aid kit is still with Little Tong and her friend; they haven’t returned it yet.”

Liu Qian smiled. “That’s perfect. Since we have nothing to do after eating anyway, let’s all go take a look together.”

Song Ge watched as they decided the matter amongst themselves, never intending to get her consent. She looked calmly and coldly at Fan Mingyuan, seeing his face full of blatant provocation and arrogance.

Maybe we should leave, Song Ge thought.

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