Chapter 22: Survivors

Song Ge followed Grandma Tian upstairs, instinctively keeping an eye on her surroundings.

The building had three and a half floors. It was a small house that blended Chinese and Western styles, with two apartments per floor and a glass roof over the central atrium that let in plenty of light.

“We eat on the rooftop terrace,” Grandma Tian explained. “The Jiangs rent the room up there. They thought gas was too expensive. I hadn’t planned to rent out my terrace, but both their children go to school nearby.”

If Tong Xiangyu had come with them, she would have chatted warmly with Grandma Tian, or at least asked where her children were.

But it was Song Ge.

All she said was, “Oh.”

Grandma Tian didn’t think she was rude. She smiled and went on. “Before my son went abroad, he arranged for the supermarket to deliver rice, flour, and bottled water every month. I live close to the market, too, so I used to buy vegetables often. Now we can share what we have.”

Song Ge admired her. At her age, facing such a drastic upheaval, she’d adapted remarkably well. Someone more timid, or slower to accept what was happening, might have been frightened into a breakdown.

Before they’d reached the third-and-a-half floor, Song Ge heard people talking. She smelled food, too.

She stopped. Food?

“It’s lucky the Jiangs have a gas cylinder and a stove,” Grandma Tian said. “Otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to cook a hot meal now that the power, water, and gas are all cut off.”

Grandma Tian opened the rooftop door with a smile. “I’ve brought everyone some new friends.”

With the power out, dinner was early. The sun hadn’t even set yet.

Everyone on the rooftop turned to look at Song Ge. They were divided into three groups. A middle-aged couple worked over a steaming stove, while two little girls crouched nearby, watching the greens in a foam box.

On the left, a young man in glasses had his arm around a pretty woman. They were stretched out together on lounge chairs in the shade.

On the right, six students sat around a dining table. None wore uniforms, and there were so many schools nearby that Song Ge had no idea which one they attended. One of them, though, was familiar.

But her gaze passed over him just as quickly as it had everyone else.

“Grandma Tian, you’ve rescued more people again?” The man on the lounge chair sounded annoyed. He let go of the woman and sat up. “Who knows when the rescue team will come? This isn’t a shelter. Every time you bring someone into the building, that’s another mouth to feed. We don’t even have enough food for ourselves!”

One of the girls among the students thought he was taking a jab at them, too. “You can’t put it like that. Grandma Tian’s kindhearted. Are you saying she should’ve just left them to die?”

“When the monsters were eating people, why didn’t I see you running out to save anyone?” he snapped. “This is an emergency. You have to look out for yourself. What good did all those books do you?”

The girl hadn’t expected him to insult her outright. Her face flushed red with anger.

Then the biggest, most solidly built boy in the student group spoke up. “If Grandma should look out for herself, then you two can stop eating starting tonight. Isn’t all this food supplied by Grandma Tian, Uncle Jiang, and Auntie Jiang? What good are you, besides being two more mouths to feed and two more people making snide remarks?”

“You!” The bespectacled man sprang up in a fury.

The pretty woman quickly caught his arm and murmured, “Don’t get angry. Mingyuan isn’t wrong. We’re eating Grandma Tian’s food and the Jiangs’ food, too.”

Fan Mingyuan slipped both hands into his pockets and gave the furious man a challenging, disdainful look.

That’s right.

Of the six students, Fan Mingyuan was the only one Song Ge knew. He had courage and a sense of responsibility. When the monsters surged into their classroom, he’d led the other boys in trying to protect the girls.

Even though it had been like a mantis trying to stop a cart.

Still, if the young lady saw he was alive, she’d probably be happy.

With that in mind, Song Ge said, “I don’t have to eat. Just let me bring some food to my friend. She has a small appetite and won’t eat much.”

“How can you skip dinner?” Grandma Tian reached for Song Ge’s hand.

Song Ge instinctively started to pull away, but stopped herself.

Grandma Tian’s hand was thin and bony, with hardly any flesh left on it, but it was warm. She held Song Ge’s hand and said, “Look how thin you are. It’s not good to go hungry. Don’t worry, I have plenty of food.” Then she turned to the bespectacled man. “Wu, don’t argue with the children. Things are difficult right now. We need to stick together.”

Wu didn’t look pleased, but he still gave the landlady a little deference. “All right…”

There were six students: two boys and four girls.

Of them, only Fan Mingyuan and a short, round-faced girl with shoulder-length hair went to Kecheng High School. The round-faced girl was a first-year student. Since the first- and third-year students were on separate campuses, she’d only heard of Fan Mingyuan. She didn’t know Song Ge.

The other four students attended No. 2 High School, next door to Kecheng.

Mr. and Mrs. Jiang brought the last dish to the table, and everyone sat down to eat.

Song Ge noticed that every bowl and plate had been covered with plastic wrap.

Grandma Tian brought Song Ge a container, also lined with plastic wrap. “Get some food for your friend before everyone finishes. Otherwise, all that’ll be left for her is cold leftovers.”

“Thank you, Grandma.”

Song Ge knew Tong Xiangyu didn’t eat much. With the bespectacled man glaring at her from the side, she took just one and a half scoops of rice from the pressure cooker and one serving spoonful of each dish, then snapped the lid shut.

The bespectacled man only gave a snort and said nothing.

Song Ge knew she was in an awkward position, so she didn’t eat much.

The mood at the table wasn’t great. The Jiangs’ two daughters were the liveliest ones there, and their family of four sat together in easy harmony. The students talked among themselves, while the bespectacled man spoke to the woman with him.

Song Ge had little to say. After sitting down, she hadn’t spoken again.

Everyone was still eating when Song Ge finished her last bite of hot food. Now she understood why they’d used plastic wrap. She could take it off her bowl, leaving the bowl clean and saving precious water that would otherwise be needed for washing up.

“Grandma, I’m finished,” she said.

Grandma Tian looked surprised. “You’ve finished already? You barely ate anything. Are you full?”

“Mm.” Song Ge picked up the food container. “I’ll head downstairs, then.”

Song Ge knocked five times.

The door opened almost at once.

Tong Xiangyu squinted at her.

Song Ge handed her the food container and chopsticks.

Tong Xiangyu took them, looking startled. After nearly half a month of eating nothing but snacks, she’d almost forgotten what warm food was. She squinted at the container and brought it close to her face. “What’s this?”

“Food,” Song Ge said, closing and locking the door behind her. “They have a stove upstairs.”

“Wow! That’s amazing!” Tong Xiangyu was delighted.

Song Ge watched her excitement and thought that if she told her about the other thing, she’d be even happier. But for some reason…

Song Ge pressed her lips together and let the moment pass.

Tong Xiangyu ate the hot rice and vegetables with complete satisfaction. The rice was soft and fragrant. The four dishes were tomato and egg stir-fry, sweet-and-spicy pickled radish, green vegetables, and red-braised pork.

But as soon as she tried the pork, her pretty brows drew together.

She remembered that the power was out and the frozen meat wouldn’t keep in the freezer. The pork tasted as if it might have gone bad…

Tong Xiangyu’s expression turned uneasy. She was afraid she’d get sick if she ate any more. And if she got diarrhea, it would be mortifying without water to flush the toilet.

She hesitated, then decided she didn’t want another bite.

Song Ge had no idea what was going through the young lady’s mind. Thinking she was savoring the food, she went to the window.

After a long struggle with herself, Tong Xiangyu finally said, “Song Ge, I don’t want this piece of meat…”

Song Ge looked over. “It’s pork.”

“I know,” Tong Xiangyu said quietly. “But… I think it’s gone bad.”

“Is that so? I didn’t have any.” At the table, Song Ge had only taken two slices of tomato and a little pickled radish, and no one had mentioned the meat being spoiled. She walked to the bed, took Tong Xiangyu’s hand along with her chopsticks, and ate the piece with a bite missing from it.

Tong Xiangyu jumped. She couldn’t see clearly and was practically blind. Song Ge taking her hand and then doing all that had been impossible to miss. When Tong Xiangyu realized what had happened, her cheeks turned scarlet. She stammered, “Y-you…”

Song Ge swallowed. The red-braised pork had been seasoned so heavily, probably to cover the smell of spoilage, that she couldn’t taste anything wrong with it. She took the chopsticks from Tong Xiangyu, picked up the two remaining pieces of pork, and ate them. Then she put the chopsticks back in the young lady’s hand. “There. The pork’s gone. Finish the rest of the food.”

Tong Xiangyu sat stiffly, her face bright red.

Song Ge looked at her, puzzled. “What’s wrong?”

“N-nothing.” Still blushing, Tong Xiangyu gripped the chopsticks and awkwardly poked at the bottom of the container. After a long pause, she picked up a few grains of rice.