Apocalypse Escape: Day One of Survival

This wasn’t Wei Zhengtong being intentionally complimentary.

It was just that for the past year, Song You’ai had eaten well and slept well. She had put on a healthy, prosperous-looking weight, and her skin was in excellent condition.

At first glance, she looked like a pampered, wealthy lady descending the stairs. Wei Zhengtong almost didn’t recognize her.

Song You’ai gave him a polite yet distant smile. ”Dr. Wei, you must be here to see Xiao Yu. In that case, I’ll...”

”No, no, no! Ma’am, I came specifically to see you.”

”Me?” Song You’ai was taken aback.

”Yes.” Dr. Wei nodded repeatedly. ”I came here specifically to talk to you about Old Xie.”

Song You’ai’s expression fell. ”He’s not coming himself? He sent you to talk for him? Dr. Wei, as you know, the zombie outbreak happened so suddenly. The divorce papers were left in a desk drawer at work; I didn’t have time to grab them. Just have him print another copy and bring it over.”

”What divorce? Hey, no, it’s not about a divorce!” Wei Zhengtong grew anxious.

Just as he was about to take a few steps forward, a side door opened and Xie Ning ran out. ”Mom, have you seen my...”

Her voice trailed off. Her gaze fell upon Wei Zhengtong from her higher vantage point. ”What are you doing here? Did Xie Xuezheng send you?”

”Go back and tell him that my mother and I won’t cling to him. Tell him to get lost and not worry his pretty little head about it. We won’t go looking for him. And we hope he won’t come bothering us.”

Wei Zhengtong’s heart sank. ’This is bad,’ he thought.

’Old Xie, that bookworm, has really, thoroughly offended them!’

”No, no, no.” Wei Zhengtong waved his hands frantically. ”Ningning, please don’t misunderstand. Your father doesn’t mean that.”

”I don’t have a father.” Xie Ning cut him off with a cold sneer. ”I haven’t had one for twenty years. You should go. You’re not welcome here.”

”Huh?” Wei Zhengtong stomped his feet in frustration. ”Kid, what a way to talk. Your father has been looking for you and your mother this whole time! Ah, I can’t explain it properly. Just look at this.”

He suddenly pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and held it over his head for the mother and daughter to see.

Xie Ning glanced at it.

She saw that it was a bounty mission, offering a hefty reward of 50,000 Crystal Cores.

It featured portraits of her and her mother. The more Xie Ning looked at it, the more it resembled a wanted poster or a funeral portrait.

’How morbid!’

She retracted her gaze, her face expressionless, and sneered, ”What are you trying to say by showing us some random, crappy picture?”

”Just go.”

”Ma’am, Ma’am!” Wei Zhengtong climbed a few steps, bypassing Xie Ning to speak directly to Song You’ai. ”Ma’am, let me tell you, for over a year now, Xie has been looking for you and your daughter. Everyone at our entire research institute knows about it.”

”Is there some kind of misunderstanding between you two?” Wei Zhengtong asked with a grave, earnest expression. ”You two are having marital problems, but you can’t... you can’t just say whatever you want in front of the child.”

Wei Zhengtong suspected that the main reason for Xie Ning’s terrible attitude toward Dr. Xie was that Song You’ai had put her up to it.

At this, Song You’ai laughed in anger. ”What did I say? He, Xie Xuezheng, wants a divorce, so I’m cooperating. He wants someone young, beautiful, and educated, so I’m stepping aside! I’m just a country woman who, by some twist of fate, ended up with a great Ph.D. like him. I’m the one who’s not good enough!”

”I know. I’m uncultured. I can’t connect with him on his level. I know all that. They can connect, they have so much in common—I’m willing to step aside, so what more does he want to make a fuss about?”

”What do you know?!” a furious shout came from the doorway.

Xie Ning looked up to see a tall, thin man with black-rimmed glasses hurry in—Xie Xuezheng.

His hair was a bit messy, and he was wearing work clothes. When his eyes landed on the mother and daughter, they darted back and forth, unable to decide which of them to focus on.

”Xue Zhi,” Song Yaoguo called out from the top of the stairs.

Xie Xuezheng quickly called back, ”Dad!”

”Hey, hey, you, what are you—” Before Song Yaoguo could finish, the old lady dragged him back into the room, grumbling, ”What are you getting involved in a married couple’s business for?”

”Shouldn’t I be worried?”

”What’s there for you to be worried about?”

”It’s escalated to divorce, and you think I shouldn’t be worried?”

The old lady retorted irritably, ”Divorce what? Where are you going to find a Civil Affairs Bureau now? Go on, find one for me. Divorce, my foot! All right, stop rambling. Let the young people solve their own problems.”

Standing on the landing, Song You’ai was so stunned by Xie Xuezheng’s shout that she couldn’t react for a moment.

After a long moment, her eyes reddened. ”What are you yelling for?”

Xie Xuezheng bounded up to her side in a few quick steps. ”You’ai, I wasn’t yelling at you. I’m just so anxious! Why are you still fixated on this?”

”What am I fixated on?” Song You’ai angrily flung his hand away. ”Didn’t we agree on this before? I don’t want the house or the car, I just want my daughter!”

”We can’t go on like this anyway. Go be with whoever you want to be with! Let’s get divorced and go our separate ways!”

”Why are you still going on about divorce? Who told you we were getting a divorce?” Xie Xuezheng roared. ”I already said I absolutely refuse to! Are you not listening or what?”

”Fine, I’m not listening! I’m just uncultured!” Song You’ai was furious. ”I’m not good enough for you, is that it?”

”Who said you’re not good enough!”

”Your colleagues all say so! They say only Miss Kang is a match made in heaven for you! I’m already making way for Miss Kang, what more do you want?” Song You’ai shouted, her face red with anger.

”I—!” Xie Xuezheng was so angry with his wife he felt like he was having a heart attack.

”I... I asked you to make way for her?” Xie Xuezheng laughed in fury. ”How many times have I told you, Song You’ai? Miss Kang is just my assistant!”

”You’re going to be the death of me! If you don’t want to see her, I’ll get a new assistant tomorrow!”

”But this is completely baffling for Miss Kang. You... she’s a young woman in her twenties, only five or six years older than my own daughter! What kind of ideas could I possibly have about her?”

”Your colleagues seem to have plenty of ideas about you two!”

”No, no. Our colleagues don’t think anything of it.” Dr. Wei quickly stepped forward to mediate. ”Ma’am, Old Xie is completely devoted to you and your daughter. Where did you hear all this gossip?”

When Gu Chen arrived, he saw his little girl standing on the stairs with a frosty expression, staring at her own father with an exceptionally distant gaze.

Gu Chen hurried up the stairs to Xie Ning’s side. ”Aunt Song, Ningning doesn’t seem to feel well. I’ll take her back to her room.”

The arguing group paused, all turning their heads to look at the expressionless Xie Ning.

A moment later, Xie Xuezheng couldn’t help but roar, ”Who is this kid?”

Song You’ai rolled her eyes. ”What’s it to you?”

”What kind of mother are you? What, what, what? You’d just let some strange man take our daughter back to her room?”

”He’s no stranger. For over a year now, he’s been by our Ningning’s side, doing far more for her than her own father ever did!”

The words were like a knife to the heart. Xie Xuezheng felt a pang of guilt and shame. ”But I’ve been looking for you this whole time, haven’t I?”