Ch39 - Kitchen Reunion

translator: transcendentwings

A night of sleeplessness.

It wasn’t that Song Fei didn’t want to sleep, but it was truly too cold in the kitchen where the heating was turned off to be able to sleep. There was nothing on the floor that could keep the chill away, so everyone didn’t bother setting up a makeshift bed there, thus the tidied up countertop became a good place to rest as it could isolate the chill from the floor. However the specialty foods window was different from the typical kitchens downstairs. Each compartment only had a small kitchen with a chopping board and was entirely order-based, where however many students ordered was however many servings were made, as such the countertops weren’t very wide, so after the two girls laid down, there wasn’t much extra space leftover. Ultimately it was decided that Lin Dilei and Huang Mo would hug each other on the countertop and the rest of the male classmates would lean against each other haphazardly in a corner of the room, sleeping if they were able, or napping if they couldn’t.

When dawn finally arrived, Song Fei felt that his fingers and toes had become a little stiff. Sensation only gradually returned after he stood up and moved around a bit.

Zhao He and the rest weren’t in a much better state. Each and every one of them didn’t escape the fate of having dark circles under their eyes and they all looked extremely haggard. Understanding finally dawned on Song Fei as he realized that the fatigue etched on the faces of the members in Class 2 wasn’t just the result of them fleeing for their lives but was also a product of torment from poor rest.

Huang Mo and Lin Dilei were up the earliest and already started cooking miso soup. The rich soy sauce aroma and the heat from the stove added a touch of warmth to this frigid morning.

Song Fei stretched his neck and shoulders as he walked up to open the window, cold air rushed in, instantly refreshing his mind.

Outside was a world of snow and ice, too beautiful to be true. The treetops, the ground, everywhere was covered with snow, shining with a crystalline light under the newly risen sun like a bride’s wedding veil, pure and limpid.

“This snowstorm sure was big,” Zhao He commented with novelty after he came up behind Song Fei at some unknown point in time, “It seems that there wasn’t such heavy snow all winter last year.”

On the other side, Wu Zhou, who had just stolen a spoonful of soup for a taste test, stopped when he heard those words and retorted: “How was there not one. It snowed once in the beginning of February making the sports ground unusable for the entire day and the training your department held was even halted ma.”

Zhao He furrowed his handsome brows and laboriously tried to recall that time: “I don’t have any impression of it at all. . .”

Huang Mo snatched the soup spoon from Wu Zhou’s hand, snuffing out this act of thievery in the cradle and analyzed: “Most likely due to the fact that it melted too quickly, giving it an illusion that it hadn’t come down in the first place.”

Wu Zhou reluctantly glanced at the prized soup that almost reached his lips and sighed: “Alas, if it was like the Northeast, it wouldn’t melt throughout the entire winter, a vast and indistinct field of white until the dawn of spring.”

“Fortunately this isn’t the Northeast. It’s only a few degrees below zero and we are already frozen to an intolerable extent. If it was a few dozen degrees below zero. . . Achu! I don’t even dare imagine it.” He Zhiwen rubbed his nose as he watched Song Fei who was still looking down below in the distance, puzzled. The latter had been looking for a long time already, sticking his neck out further and further as if he hated that he couldn’t just stretch around to see the back of the building. He Zhiwen observed his behavior until he was scared witless, “Song Fei, be more mindful, don’t accidentally fall!”

It was unknown whether Song Fei heard He Zhiwen’s warning or not, but Zhao He who was next to Song Fei heard it clearly. He also found it strange and elbowed him once: “What are you looking at?”

Song Fei finally pulled back the upper half of his body and replied: “The zombies.”

Last night, Song Fei had already told Class 2 about their combat experience and their research results. As for the battle experience, Song Fei may have overexaggerated a little, but regardless of whether the others could tell or not, at the very least, he was entertained. However, he didn’t dare adulterate the data they analyzed. From the suspicion that it was a zombie virus, to the special characteristics of the zombies, he had seriously lectured on it all. There were students in Class 2 who fully acknowledged it, and others who were skeptical, but whether they believed it or not, at least they all accepted the moniker “zombie”. After all they shouldn’t keep addressing them as crazy students or monster students ba, it sounded awkward even to themselves.

Zhao He glanced down, puzzled. The sky and ground were boundless, and there wasn’t even the shadow of a ghost: “There are no zombies here ah?”

“It’s because that there are none that it’s strange,” Song Fei was still perplexed despite much thought, “Before, no matter what time, day or night, there would always be zombies wandering about. Perhaps a little more when they smelled people or when they caught sight of living people and a little less when they couldn’t smell or see them, but it’s too odd for there not to be a single one at all.”

Zhao He was more of a straightforward person, so he really couldn’t understand all of Song Fei’s repeated twists and turns in logic, “They’re afraid of the cold bei. Who would like to run around outside on such a snowy day and freeze to death.”

Song Fei subconsciously wanted to retort, zombies have already lost their sense of pain and touch, but are still afraid of the cold, wouldn’t that be strange? But after further preponderance, although they could no longer be addressed as human beings, they could still be considered as some sort of life form. Since they were able to retain some past behaviors and habits from when they were still alive, then maintaining the most basic physiological instinct of seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages didn’t seem to be too far-fetched either.

“It’s time to eat—” Lin Dilei lined up the stone pots on the tidied up countertop while Huang Mo poured the soup, she called out to Song Fei and Zhao He, “Hurry and shut the window, we’re about to freeze to death. Come and drink the soup first and you two can continue criticizing after.”

In the blink of an eye, all eight of them gathered around the counter. There were no stools so they each took a stone pot and found a comfortable resting spot to settle down and drink. Song Fei was still pondering whether the zombies were afraid of the cold and moved more slowly. When he regained his senses, the seven companions had already each taken one and only one was left. Fortunately, they were all steaming hot with no distinction between them, not a part of the first come, first served principle. He held up his share with anticipation as the tangy aroma of soy sauce assaulted his nose. . .

The feet that were about to make an about face stopped as Song Fei cupped the stone pot in front of himself higher, ensuring that it was the sound of broken dreams that had resounded in his ears.

Xili huala.

Pili pala.

Guang dang.

Ka cha.

—It seems that his dream wasn’t the only one that was broken.

“Sister,” classmate Wu Zhou, representative of the shattered aggrievedly objected on their behalf, “The fact that you didn’t use the stone pot to cook it and used the large soup ladle instead and then divided it, are all things I can understand, after all, everything is already like this so we can’t be too picky about what we eat. But miso soup should at least have some tofu, beef, mushrooms, or clams ba, isn’t it too cruel to just toss in a handful of bean sprouts!”

Huang Mo took a sip of the soup calmly, and after savoring the fragrance of the soy sauce on the tip of her tongue, she put the stone pot down and spread her hands innocently: “The tofu is already spoiled, I’m also helpless.”

Wu Zhou made a face, that the tofu soured was something everyone saw the first day they came, but: “Isn’t there still some beef in the freezer, and there are also a lot of sealed bags of dried mushrooms.”

Huang Mo gazed at him quietly, just fixing her gaze on him without saying a word.

Wu Zhou’s words slowly trailed off and then he fell silent. It was obvious that Huang Mo’s expression was very gentle, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that the other party’s lenses would take flight at any point and slit his throat.

In fact, the impression that Huang Mo gave off was completely different from that of Lin Dilei. Even if the latter just stood there and didn’t speak, her presence would be impossible to ignore and was exigent. If she didn’t put on a soft façade, then as soon as she spoke, the silent pressure would explode. However Huang Mo stayed inconspicuous most of the time, was short, and pretty much didn’t have anything like an aura. Despite all that, the most peculiar thing was that if she locked onto you with her eyes, it’d feel like you’d be sucked into them and be unable to leave again. You’d be pulled along to feel relaxed or tense, as if an invisible force was controlling you.

Finally, Huang Mo opened her mouth and explained tranquilly: “We can eat whatever we want, it isn’t a big deal to get a moment’s satisfaction and die. However, if you think that this is going to be a protracted battle, then there must be a rational plan for food rationing to maximize the utility with the least amount of loss. What do you think?”

Wu Zhou swallowed, then quickly lowered his head and began to drink the soup assiduously.

Zhao He, who had been listening in from the side, was completely won over: “Women sure are meticulous, no wonder my father always said that my mother could hold up half the sky.”

Huang Mo was taken aback, not knowing how to answer for the moment.

Zhao He thought she was dissatisfied and immediately changed his words: “You can hold up three-quarters of it!”

Huang Mo made a face and could only mutter a word of “thanks” after a long time. Following that, she lowered her head to drink the soup and never looked up again.

Zhao He vaguely felt that he had killed the conversation yet again, but the fact that he didn’t know how to chat with a girl wasn’t a one off occurrence. He shrugged and also began his own bean sprouts breakfast journey.

It doesn’t take much time to just drink soup, and within ten minutes, the bottom of the pot in everyone’s hands was revealed. Although the ingredients in the soup were scarce, a stone pot full of hot soup going down still really warmed people up.

There were still no traces of the zombies outside. Song Fei and Lin Dilei were eager to meet up with their friends and couldn’t care less about so many things anymore as they bid the Class 2 students farewell directly.

Huang Mo glanced down, a little worried: “Although it’s only the second floor, it’s still very high. Will you guys jump down just like this?”

Fu Xiyuan also took a look down below and asked in bewilderment: “It’s not too high ah, it’s fine to just jump.”

Huang Mo looked up at Fu Xiyuan.

Fu Xiyuan glanced down at Huang Mo.

The height difference made the other a little embarrassed.

This was a modern version of the fairytale The Pony Crossing the River. The cow uncle thinks it’s shallow, while the squirrel thinks it’s deep, thus in the story, the pony goes home and asked his mother. But right now, Song-xiaoma was very self-aware: “The lightest consequence of jumping straight down is spraining your feet.”

Zhao He questioned: “But your rope is gone, how are you going to get down?”

Song Fei grinned mischievously and swept his gaze across the entire audience.

The students of Fighting for Survival Class 2 had a bad feeling.

Five minutes later, everyone was gathered together, Zhao He who had the longest reach, raised his cell phone, kacha, and captured this moment of eight united and friendly faces in a single photo through the frontal camera which came with its own beauty filter attached.

As Zhao He returned the phone to Song Fei, the five male students of Fighting of Survival Class 2 began to strip.

Huang Mo retreated to the side but couldn’t help taking a generous, good long look. Anyway, they were only taking their tops off so having another look was harmless.

After another few minutes, a fabric rope made of sweaters, T-shirts, long johns, etc., hung down from the window on the second floor. A giant white radish was secured at the end of the rope, knocking against the window pane below, making a muffled sound that was neither too light nor too heavy.

Soon, the window below was opened and Qi Yan stuck his head out and looked up.

Song Fei aimed an OK gesture at him which Qi Yan nodded back to in understanding.

The cloth rope was quickly retracted, the radish untied, then let down again. This time there was no one anchoring the rope because one end of the rope was firmly tied to the leg of the countertop, leaving the six companions free. Two guarded the leg of the countertop to prevent the fabric from loosening midway and the other four squeezed onto the counter, pressing down with their combined weights, making sure that it could withstand the pulling force generated by one person.

Everything was carried out in silence.

The whole process only required two minutes before Song Fei landed safely, followed by Lin Dilei closely behind. The two quickly dived through the window while Zhao He and the others retracted the makeshift rope and closed the window.

Song Fei was astounded by the wide open space as soon as he entered. Although he knew deep down inside that the kitchen downstairs must be much larger than the one upstairs, he still needed to adapt to the change in space initially. More importantly, the freezers ah, there were four of them while there was only one upstairs. Furthermore, the one downstairs was also bigger in size, standing proudly in the corner, it was practically shining.

Qi Yan was amused by his appearance and couldn’t hold back in the end as he touched his head: “You must be hungry ba, just pick whatever you want to eat.”

Song Fei was astounded and exclaimed in surprise: “You know how to cook?”

“I can’t ah.” Qi Yan didn’t need to think about it, and answered very naturally.

Song Fei made a face: “Then what are you asking me to choose for!”

Qi Yan was stunned: “You don’t know how to cook?”

Song Fei: “When did I ever tell you that I knew how?”

Qi Yan: “When we first met, you told me that you were like the reincarnation of the snail girl, who was highly competent in life and at home and that whoever was lucky enough to have you could just laze about and wait to enjoy a blissful life.”

Song Fei: “. . .”

The companions dispersed quietly, unable to bear the innocent and naïve look on classmate Qi Yan’s face.

If it was before, Fighting for Survival Class 1 was actually divided into two camps when faced with this pair of blatant gays, Qi supporters or Song supporters, but now, everyone was no longer divided at all— backing Qi up while annihilating Song.

Taking in Qi Yan’s foolish but hurt expression, then seeing their companions’ eyes full of disdain, Song Fei also began to feel a little ashamed. Though objectively speaking, this wasn’t a heinous crime ba, who doesn’t boast a bit when they are trying to flirt?

“It’s not a sin to brag when you are pursuing others.” Lin Dilei commented softly.

Song Fei squeezed her hand at the speed of light, wishing that his eyes could be filled with tears: “Exactly ba, that’s exactly right ba, you are the most experienced, this is just human nature!”

Lin Dilei firmly pulled her hand out: “But one should be honest after a successful pick up.”

Song Fei: “No. . .”

Zhou Yilu: “Even if we ignore the dishonesty, in the end the other party was kicked aside first.”

Song Fei: “It’s not. . .”

Luo Geng: “The other wanted to get back together regardless of past deceptions.”

Qiao Siqi: “But was tossed aside a second time.”

Song Fei: “He. . .”

Li Jingyu: “It was the cinnabar mole in one’s heart when it wasn’t out of one’s grasp and the mosquito blood on the wall when it was.”

Song Fei wanted to cry but he had no tears as he looked to his only confidant: “Qingyuan—”

Wang-tongxue stepped forward at this opportune moment and patted him on the shoulder comfortingly: “Actually, after these few days of observation, I found that he isn’t as bad as you described.”

All the companions: “And you also spoke ill of the other behind his back?!”

Song Fei: “. . . I’m the one in the wrong, I’ll just go into the corner to reflect on my actions now.”

Drinking miso soup to warm the empty stomach, calling the scumbag out on behalf of indignation for injustice!

The translator has something to say: (〃▽〃) I wonder if Lin Dilei became bashful again or if she copied her fellow sister, Huang Mo, and admired the view this time around and we’ve gone from the author’s music library to the author’s literature library