Vixen Above, Mensao Below (8)

After Ye Minzhe finished beating the zombie, he ran a hand through his hair, spiking it up a little.

Then he glanced at Song Jia who was still lying on the ground, shocked speechless at his sudden appearance.

"Jia, are you feeling touched this young master rescued you? Don't get me wrong. I just don't want someone of the Ye surname to become a zombie. How shameful would that be? My reputation as the campus prince would never recover."

Despite his words, Song Jia saw that the 'campus prince' looked worse for the wear. His white uniform was rumpled, his tie was loose, and his cuffs were unbuttoned. It was as if he went somewhere in a hurry and did not even bother keeping up appearances.

"Student Ye." Gu Yuan was both surprised and relieved to see him. "Do you know if the rest of the class is safe as well?"

As if Ye Minzhe didn't hear him, he went down the stairs and crouched before Song Jia. He offered her his hand.

"Give me your wrist."

Song Jia looked at him. "Teacher Gu is asking you a question."

"Ye Jia, just give me your hand."

"But Teacher Gu..."

"It's alright, Miss Ye, your wrist takes priority first," Gu Yuan hastily interrupted, seeing Ye Minzhe's expression become darker as Song Jia continued to ignore him.

Back at their school, Ye Minzhe's behavior was like a young tyrant. He would put his feet up on his desk, leave the class whenever he wanted to, and pick a fight at the school grounds without anyone scolding him. Gu Yuan was already used to tolerating him and his friends breaking school rules again and again. Besides, the only way out of this ship was for any of those four's wealthy families to rescue them.

He couldn't afford to provoke them now.

"Ye Jia, you would actually obey unrelated people rather than your own brother?" Ye Minzhe's face was black as Song Jia finally gave him her wrist. "The same blood runs through your veins, don't you know that blood is thicker than water?"

"I didn't hear you spouting family values earlier when you threw that dirty mop water on me," Song Jia mocked him.

Ye Minzhe pulled out a thick roll of gauze from his pants' pocket and started wrapping Song Jia's wrist with it.

"Ye Jia, you were still remembering that? That was already a hundred years ago. How stingy are you?"

Song Jia, "..."

No, that happened just this morning.

"In any case," Ye Minzhe began, his eyes locked on her wrist that he was bandaging, "I decided to reluctantly accept you as part of my Ye family. You're ugly, stupid, and poor, but as they say, love the house and its crow. [1] Since you're already inside our house, then I guess I will have to accept the crow."

Song Jia felt a sudden impulse to hit him. Was he indirectly telling her that she was the crow? And that was not the correct interpretation of the proverb, ah!

This grandma wants to know how stupid a person can be~

"There." Ye Minzhe dusted off his hands with a satisfied look. "It's done."

Song Jia glanced down at her own hand that looked like a tree stump with all of the bandages covering it. It was obvious at first glance that if she swung this hand against a zombie, it would be an instant kill.

"Student Ye." Even Gu Yuan furrowed his eyebrows. "Isn't this a bit overkill? A simple splint would do..."

"Teacher Gu." Ye Minzhe lifted his eyes. "Do you watch ER Doctors?"

Gu Yuan looked confused at the sudden question but still obediently answered, "The TV series? I can't say I have."

"Then what right do you have to argue with me? Do you want to compare your ignorance against this young master, who had watched 10 seasons of it?"

Gu Yuan, "..."

Song Jia looked at Gu Yuan's speechless expression and wisely shook her head. Teacher ah, there's no use arguing with him, humans can't properly communicate with an amoeba.

"Can you stand?" Ye Minzhe asked Song Jia, crossing his arms. "If you can't, although you'll be a hindrance to this young master, I can..."

"I can stand." Holding on to the railing with her other uninjured hand, Song Jia struggled to her feet. "Ye Minzhe, you talk too much."

"Ye Jia, you should be happy that you're listening to this young master's precious words!"

"Like I said, you talk too much."

Ye Minzhe, "..."

After that, although Song Jia didn't know if Ye Minzhe was also aware of it, he became a little quieter.

Ye Minzhe took the lead as they started climbing the stairs again. "The upper decks are safe for now, I've just been there. If worse comes to worst, we'll be nearer to the helipad."

"Are the rest of our classmates safe?" Song Jia asked him.

Ye Minzhe knew she was asking for Gu Yuan's sake, so he gave her the stink eye. But he still grumpily answered her.

"I don't know where the rest of them went, but my friends are in my suite, waiting for me."

They quietly peeked at the Deck 5 stairwell, and seeing that it was clear, Ye Minzhe let out a breath.

"Don't lower your guard, there might be a group of infected people near Deck 6," Song Jia whispered to him. Deck 6 was where they just came from.

Ye Minzhe scowled at her, "I know that!"

Near Deck 6, they finally heard the unnatural groan of a zombie. They huddled together as they peeked around the corner at the head of the stairs, trying to see how many of them there were.

"I counted six," Ye Minzhe whispered and glanced down, the tip of his nose nearly brushing Song Jia's cheek.

Because of their position, their faces were too close to each other. Ye Minzhe could see each droplet of sweat that trickled down her porcelain skin, and the strands of hair that framed her face. The muscles of his throat moved as he swallowed.

"Ye Jia, don't get too close to me!" Ye Minzhe quickly pushed her away.

His voice was too loud, causing the heads of the six zombies to turn towards their direction.

"Ye Minzhe, you idiot!" Song Jia hissed.

The worst thing in life was not an opponent that was as powerful as a deity, but a teammate as stupid as a pig. A tough rival may kill you, but a pig teammate will want to make you kill yourself.

Song Jia immediately jumped to her feet and went out of the staircase, going into the corridor of Deck 6.

"Let's run and find an empty cabin to hide for now!" She started checking doors, hoping for an unlocked one.

Gu Yuan had just pushed down the door handle of a cabin, trying to open it, when something heavy smashed against the door. It was growling the animalistic groan that they were starting to become familiar with.

Gu Yuan leaped back in fright. Fortunately, the door was locked.

"Here!" Ye Minzhe called out.

[1] Ch. idiom that means when you love someone, you also love their flaws and everything about them.