Chapter 23: The Tenants

Tong Xiangyu said she was fine, so Song Ge stopped looking at her and went to the window.

The basement had always been dark. Now that they were in a large house, it was hard to tell how much time had passed.

The clock on the wall read 6:20 p.m.

But the sunlight outside was still fierce.

Maybe it was because she was so far away that Song Ge couldn’t hear the monsters. The silence made it easy to imagine nothing had happened, and let her guard down.

If this situation could be resolved soon, that would be one thing. But if it couldn’t, Song Ge didn’t think the quiet was a good sign.

The mood on the rooftop was completely different from the quiet in the girls’ room.

With so many people there, it hadn’t taken long for them to polish off the dishes after Song Ge left.

Once they’d finished eating, nobody seemed in a hurry to leave the rooftop.

The two little girls ran around.

There wasn’t much rice left in the pressure cooker. Jiang Zhuang scooped out the cold rice, planning to make egg fried rice for his daughters the next day. Mother Jiang cleared away the dishes.

The bespectacled man stood at the rooftop railing with the pretty woman in his arms, looking down. The streets and alleys were deserted. Now and then, a few zombie monsters wandered by.

In the heat, the bodies lying in the streets had turned from corpses to rotting flesh and then to putrid slurry in less than half a month.

Fortunately, Grandma Tian’s detached house was tall. Its three and a half stories were as high as five floors in many other buildings.

They couldn’t smell the corpses below.

The high schoolers gathered together to talk.

Fan Mingyuan rarely spoke. He leaned against the railing and listened to the others.

There was another boy in their group, a plump kid with a face full of pimples who wasn’t even five foot seven. The girls paid him no attention at all. Naturally, they preferred Fan Mingyuan, who was tall and handsome.

No. 2 High School wasn’t a prestigious school like Kecheng. It was an arts school, so the girls cared more about their looks than their grades. When they saw a handsome boy like Fan Mingyuan, they flirted with him every chance they got.

But Fan Mingyuan had known plenty of pretty girls over the years. These ones dyed their hair, had tattoos, and acted like delinquents. He knew exactly what they were after, but wasn’t interested and wouldn’t be tempted.

He only chatted now and then with the first-year girl from his own school.

That was who he’d spoken up for earlier.

Her name was Zhu Lulu. She had a round face, big round eyes, and an honest, likable look. She was a good student. She said she’d always looked up to Tong Xiangyu, a senior at Kecheng. If someone as beautiful as Senior Tong studied so hard, what excuse did she have not to work hard, too? She hoped she could get the top score in her grade someday, just like her.

Fan Mingyuan had smiled at that. But when he remembered being separated from Tong Xiangyu on the day the monsters broke out, his mood soured. He had no idea whether she was still alive.

Though the sun was strong and the air was hot, night fell quickly.

With the power out, everyone left the rooftop before sunset.

Mr. and Mrs. Jiang took their two daughters to bed early. The couple slept at one end of the bed, and the girls at the other.

The younger girl asked, “The sky doesn’t have any stars again tonight, Mom. Why isn’t it raining? Why are there no stars?”

“We have to wait until the firefighters come,” Mother Jiang told her. “Then there’ll be stars.”

Though the younger girl was only seven, she had a good point. “Can the firefighters do something about the stars in the sky?”

“Why are you asking so many questions?” Father Jiang said. “Your mother is always right.”

Mother Jiang nudged his arm.

Jiang Zhuang grinned. His face was rough with stubble as he leaned in to kiss and paw at her, but she pushed him away. “Don’t go telling the children nonsense.”

The younger girl piped up again. “When are the firefighters coming?”

“Maybe tomorrow!” her older sister said. “Let’s go to sleep, Yingying. When we wake up, the firefighters will be here!”

“Okay, Sister. I’m already asleep!”

Grandma Tian’s building had two apartments on each floor, and the second and third floors were rented out. The rooftop had originally been a storage room. Later, when the Jiangs were short on money and desperately needed a place to live, Grandma Tian cleared it out for them. She had a large bed installed, called in workers to cut a window into the room, and had a roof built beside it so they could keep their cooking equipment there.

The Jiangs had lived on the rooftop for four years, from the time their younger daughter started preschool until she began primary school.

The second- and third-floor apartments, meanwhile, were well furnished and had good layouts: a three-bedroom apartment with a living room facing north, and a two-bedroom apartment with a living room facing south. Both had been rented out.

But when the monsters overran the city, the other tenants never came back. Grandma Tian began using the empty apartments to house the students she’d rescued.

Wu Senjun and his partner lived on the third floor, so Grandma Tian put the students, who might make more noise, on the second. The north-facing apartment had three bedrooms, and they brought in an extra single bed for the living room so four girls could sleep there. The two boys shared the south-facing apartment.

It worked out perfectly.

The first thing Wu Senjun did when he entered the room was take off his glasses. His polite manner vanished in an instant.

“Damn old hag!”

The pretty woman took off her shoes but said nothing.

“She’s got one foot in the grave and she’s still running around taking people in. All she’s doing is making trouble for us!” Wu Senjun fumed as he walked into the bedroom. “Who knows when the rescue team will come? We’re almost out of food. You think I didn’t hear Uncle and Auntie Jiang talking? They’re down to half a bag of rice!”

“What good does getting angry do?” the woman said.

“It doesn’t,” he admitted, his anger subsiding a little. He ran a hand through his hair and sat on the bed. The woman took off her sun-protective jacket, leaving only a little camisole underneath. She looked very sexy. He reached out to her. “Come here.”

She nestled into his arms.

Wu Senjun ran his hand over her slim waist, then up to her neck and kissed her there, pushing her down onto the bed. He kissed her and mumbled, “Maybe this isn’t so bad. We can enjoy ourselves for a few more days…”

She arched her neck for him, breathing a little faster. “If your wife dies, you won’t have to worry about getting a divorce anymore, right?”

“Then I wouldn’t get any money.” He grinned wickedly. “If I had no money, would you still stay with me?”

“You’re awful!”

Fan Mingyuan was brushing his teeth when someone knocked on the door. He thought it was the chubby boy sharing his room and called, “Come in.”

Then he saw a flash of red in the mirror and paused. He rinsed his mouth and walked out of the washroom.

The sun was setting. A yellow-haired girl had already sat down on the edge of the bed.

“What do you want?” Fan Mingyuan asked.

She stood up and walked over to him, lightly stroking his chest. “Hey, handsome. Want to hook up?”

“No.” Fan Mingyuan removed her hand.

She watched his tall figure from behind. “Do you have a girlfriend? Even if you do, she isn’t here. You don’t have to take responsibility. We’re all bored and lonely here. We could have a little fun. You know it, and I know it.”

“Go bother the guy next door.”

The girl’s expression shifted, but she kept her temper in check and went over to Fan Mingyuan again.

Fan Mingyuan clicked his tongue and looked at her. “I’m really not into your type.”

She’d had plenty of admirers at school. After being rejected again and again, she was embarrassed. “Then what type are you into?”

“Someone who studies hard,” Fan Mingyuan said. “Pretty and cute, speaks softly, blushes easily, and has a good heart.”

The girl couldn’t help thinking he was describing someone in particular. She’d made a fool of herself for nothing, so she turned and left.

The girl who studied hard, was pretty and cute, spoke softly, blushed easily, and had a good heart was now standing by the window, clutching her empty food container and looking at Song Ge.

Tong Xiangyu couldn’t see well. All she could make out was a figure by the big window.

Is Song Ge looking at something? Or is she just spacing out?

Song Ge had been thinking for so long that one leg had gone numb. She shifted, then turned around and saw Tong Xiangyu gazing her way with big, innocent eyes.

Song Ge froze for a moment, then remembered that the wider Tong Xiangyu opened her eyes, the less she could see.

Song Ge glanced at the empty container in her hands, walked over to take it, and set it on the table. Then she pulled a sofa over.

Tong Xiangyu heard the movement and squinted. “What are you doing?”

“Putting the sofa by the window. That way, I can hear what’s happening outside.”

Tong Xiangyu was startled. “You’re not going to sleep on the sofa, too, are you?”

Song Ge said, “Why not?”

“The bed’s huge. Why won’t you sleep in it?”

“You toss and turn.”

Tong Xiangyu was instantly stumped. She stubbornly said, “That’s nonsense. No one’s ever complained about the way I sleep.”

“Someone has now.”

“?” Tong Xiangyu said, “Song Ge, don’t push your luck!”

“How am I pushing my luck? Is it because I won’t share a bed with you?”

Tong Xiangyu froze, unable to answer.