“What? That bastard! Don’t stop me, I’m going to beat him to a pulp.” Song Zi Qiao swung his arm as if to push the door open and confront Zhang.
He got all the way to the door, realized no one was actually stopping him, and quietly returned to sit back on the sofa.
“After you guys left, I wanted to organize my supplies, and then someone came knocking at the door,” Jiang Si said, still shaken, taking a heavy breath. “Of course I didn’t open the door, but he already knew I was home and just stood there, not leaving.”
“I didn’t expect that after waiting a while and seeing no reaction, he would actually try to pry the lock!”
Her hands trembled slightly, and she swallowed several times to suppress her pounding heart.
Song Zi Qiao sat back down beside her, lightly stroking her back to comfort her.
Rarely had he not been pushed away.
Xia Ao handed her a cup of warm water and asked, “So how did you get out?”
“I blocked the keyhole with the key. He thought the wire he used to pry the lock was too soft and went back to get tools. I ran out while he went back to his room.”
Then she ran upstairs to find them for help, as Shi Zuo An had witnessed.
Shi Zuo An, witnessing the latter part of the event, was fuming: “There’s no way we can just let him go!”
“You sure do have a strong sense of justice,” Xia Ao said coldly, then turned back to Jiang Si with a normal expression. “He didn’t knock on our door, so he doesn’t know which room you hid in. You probably can’t go back to your apartment for now, stay here for the time being.”
Everyone was finally told to rest. Shi Zuo An’s original room, the secondary bedroom, was given to Jiang Si. Song Zi Qiao still slept on the sofa, so Shi Zuo An had no choice but to move into the master bedroom to share the bed with Xia Ao.
“[1]“Xiao” (小) means “little” or “young” jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1361087_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1361087_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });Xiao Xia, have you really stopped loving Father? Don’t you remember all the crap I went through raising you? Didn’t we even share the same bed before?” Song Zi Qiao was acting insane again.
Xia Ao wanted to slap him across the face: “Ancient-style pretty boy, shut up. I’ll consider letting you on my bed when you stop snoring.”
Shi Zuo An had nothing to pack, so he grabbed his bag and cleared out the room.
After telling Jiang Si to get some rest, he followed Xia Ao back into the master bedroom.
Once the door closed, it was just the two of them in the small enclosed space.
Shi Zuo An hugged his bag, feeling awkward.
Xia Ao had always lived alone, and having three sets of sheets and blankets was already the limit.
Now, Song Zi Qiao was using one set on the sofa, one set in the secondary bedroom, which meant tonight Shi Zuo An had to share the same bed and blanket with Xia Ao.
He gripped the backpack straps tightly, twisting them into a tight knot.
“What are you standing there for? Do you need an invitation to sleep?” Xia Ao kicked off his shoes and got onto the bed, taking off his glasses and placing them neatly on the nightstand.
“…Who said I need an invitation?” Shi Zuo An mumbled, placing his bag on the carpet by the door before getting into bed from the other side.
The soft mattress sank deeply under their weight, and the thin blanket stretched between them. For a moment, neither dared to move.
The presence of the person behind him was so strong that the two non‑overlapping breaths seemed to be trying their best to stay quiet and not so noisy.
Shi Zuo An didn’t dare turn over. His arm under his head had gone numb. Only when the breathing behind him steadied, as if the other person had fallen asleep, did he slowly let the left side of his body sink onto the mattress, lying on his back and staring up at the ceiling.
He’d already slept all afternoon, so he couldn’t fall asleep at all now.
He quietly glanced to the side.
Xia Ao’s eyes were tightly closed. His eyelashes were long, and the moonlight slipping through the gap in the curtains cast a delicate shadow.
They were very close, close enough that even the fine fuzz on his nose was clearly visible.
“You’re still not asleep?”
!
The man had opened his eyes!
Shi Zuo An jolted in fright and instinctively turned his head away, pulling the blanket over his head.
……
A familiar scene.
Xia Ao could barely suppress the laughter in his throat. “You don’t actually think that covering your head means the person who was just staring at me like I was a ghost isn’t you, right?”
Insane!
Shi Zuo An angrily flung the blanket off and tossed it into the other man’s arms.
“So what? You weren’t asleep either!” If he had been, he wouldn’t have instantly caught him.
Xia Ao lifted the blanket out of his arms.
“I’ve been pretty independent since I was little. According to my parents, back when I first started kindergarten, I was already insisting on sleeping alone. They were thrilled to finally shake off their little shadow.” Speaking about his childhood, his eyes curved in a smile. “So I’m really not used to sleeping next to someone.”
Only then did Shi Zuo An realize he was explaining why he hadn’t fallen asleep, and at the same time answering Song Zi Qiao’s earlier nonsense.
“Then tomorrow morning you’re not allowed to blame me for tossing and keeping you awake.”
…Speechless.
Xia Ao huffed and turned over, presenting his back to him.
He said nothing more.
Just when Shi Zuo An thought he had finally fallen asleep, he heard a muffled voice: “What are you planning to do about Jiang Si?”
“Huh?”
“Song Zi Qiao may act impulsive, but he’s a coward. You looked all righteous earlier, I thought you’d already come up with a plan.”
“Thank you for thinking so highly of my brain,” Shi Zuo An said with genuine sincerity.
“Huh? So you actually don’t have a plan?”
“……” Idiot.
“Sorry, I was being sincere.”
Shi Zuo An mentally wrote an eight‑hundred‑word essay praising himself just to calm his temper.
“The three of us are grown men. Going up against one middle‑aged slob, what’s there to be afraid of? You think we can’t take him?”
Xia Ao didn’t expect his thought process to be this straightforward and brutal.
“We’re fine, but Jiang Si is a girl living alone. What if he retaliates against her?”
“Have Song Zi Qiao stick to her side twenty‑four hours a day. Isn’t he dying to do that anyway?”
…So you really don’t care whether he lives or dies.
“But I do have another idea.” Shi Zuo An’s mind turned quickly. Ignoring the blanket between them, he leaned toward Xia Ao’s ear.
Hot breath brushed against his earlobe.
After hearing it, Xia Ao was stunned.
“…It would work, yes.”
“Hm?”
“I’m just surprised you’re actually such a law‑abiding citizen.”
What the hell!
Get lost!!!
Early the next morning, the two shot out of bed eagerly.
Especially Shi Zuo An, after sleeping the whole afternoon yesterday, he was completely sleepless at night. He spent the first half of the night drafting revenge plans for Old Zhang, and the second half leaning over the balcony observing zombie activity.
The more he thought, the more excited he became, convinced he was a genius. As soon as the sky brightened, he dragged Xia Ao out of bed and slapped Song Zi Qiao twice on the butt on the sofa.
“Up, up, up!”
“What the, Shi Ge, are you a pervert?!” Song Zi Qiao clutched his backside, utterly shocked.
“That butt of yours shows zero signs of exercise, no one on earth wants it, okay!”
Shi Zuo An then knocked on the guest‑room door. Five minutes later, Jiang Si came out rubbing her eyes.
“What’s wrong? What time is it?”
“Eight o’clock. I’ve figured out how to deal with Old Zhang!” Shi Zuo An said, brimming with excitement.
When this came up, Jiang Si instantly sobered.
“Explain it in detail.”
The four of them sat around the coffee table, sitting upright and serious.
Shi Zuo An held the props he had borrowed from Xia Ao, ready to demonstrate.
The more Song Zi Qiao and Jiang Si watched, the less they understood.
“Shi Ge, why are you holding a pump and a remote control?”
Shi Zuo An didn’t bother being mysterious. “I’m planning to make a simple device similar to a fake explosive. No gunpowder, no real destructive power, but enough to scare Old Zhang so he won’t dare bother us again.”
“All we need is a plastic bottle without the cap, and we connect the fire extinguisher’s hose to the bottle opening.”
“Then we cut open the bottom of the bottle, wrap it in several layers of plastic wrap, tie it tightly with rubber bands. When the extinguisher releases gas, the pressure gradually breaks through the plastic wrap, creating a ‘blast’ effect.”
As he spoke, he cut the bottom of the bottle with scissors and gestured in the air to demonstrate.
“He’s got piles of trash outside his door. When the time comes, we just hide the bottle in the trash heap. Jiang Si pretends to press the remote, and someone else coordinates by opening the fire extinguisher.”
After finishing, Shi Zuo An lifted his chin slightly, the corners of his lips curving upward, like a golden retriever waiting to be praised for doing something clever.
“Shi Ge, this is great! How did you even think of this?” Song Zi Qiao was excited.
This method would scare Old Zhang, but also avoid damaging the hallway, attracting zombies, or endangering the residents.
Song Zi Qiao made two proud hums, then turned to Jiang Si.
She was the victim, so her opinion mattered most. Whether they carried out the plan depended on her.
“It’s really cool. I agree.” Jiang Si’s eyes sparkled as she tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “When do we set it up?”
They were already discussing setup timing, clear proof she was very satisfied.
Shi Zuo An clapped his hands and said he’d prepare a bit more.
They needed Jiang Si’s intel for the final plan.
After living across from Old Zhang for nearly a year, she knew his habits and temper well.
Daytime and the first half of the night definitely weren’t ideal. The four finally decided to set an early alarm and sneak to the fifteenth floor at five in the morning to plant the “fake explosive.”
Before dawn, the sky barely light.
The four tiptoed out. Song Zi Qiao even wrapped one of Xia Ao’s luxury scarves around his face, claiming it would prevent Old Zhang from recognizing him.
On the first day of the zombie outbreak, people hadn’t accepted the apocalyptic reality yet and barely left their homes.
But in the past two days, they could hear noise outside through the doors, someone offering a high price for cold medicine, someone trading a gold chain for instant noodles.
But human society hadn’t completely collapsed yet, for example, at night, everyone still returned to their rooms to sleep.
And by five in the morning, people were mostly out of deep sleep, so even the slightest sound could wake someone up.
The four of them went down to the fifteenth floor.
Shi Zuo An hid the plastic bottle in the trash heap and instructed Xia Ao to bring the fire extinguisher from the hallway, connecting the hose to the bottle opening.
The black hose was short, so someone had to hide around the corner, pressed against the wall, ready to watch Jiang Si press the remote and coordinate opening the fire extinguisher.
Song Zi Qiao volunteered.
Shi Zuo An and Xia Ao hid in the deepest corner of the stairwell.
Everything was set.
According to the plan, Jiang Si needed to simulate footsteps coming from a distance, then “accidentally” trip over the trash and bump into Old Zhang’s door.
If that didn’t lure Old Zhang out, she would pretend to cough from a cold.
In short, the louder the noise, the better.
“Bang!”
The sound of a body hitting the door was enormous, especially in the dead silence of early morning.
On top of that, everyone was already on edge, any small movement could make people jumpy and nervous.
Before Jiang Si could fully act the part, the door was pushed open from the inside.
References[+]