Chapter 451: Apparently, He Was the Weather
By the time we reached the kitchen, I was hungry enough to eat whatever Chenghai made without checking for vegetables first.
That was probably dangerous.
Chenghai opened the refrigerator while Zhenlan went through the freezer. Yuche lowered Lingyun onto one of the stools near the island, added a cushion behind his back, then stood close enough to catch him if he forgot he was injured.
I sat on the counter.
There were stools available, but the counter put me closer to the food.
Zhenlan looked over his shoulder when he found the frozen hamburger patties. "Burgers?"
I nodded.
That was all the discussion dinner needed.
Chenghai pulled out cheese, bacon, tomatoes, and several jars of things I didn’t remember putting in the refrigerator. Zhenlan started heating the large grill pan while Yuche opened a bag of frozen fries.
Lingyun reached for the bacon.
Yuche moved it to the other side of the island.
"I was helping," Lingyun said.
"You were eating it raw."
"It’s cured."
"It’s still raw."
Lingyun looked toward me for support.
I was already eating a piece of cheese Chenghai had left near my knee, so I pretended not to see him.
The kitchen filled with the smell of bacon a few minutes later. Chenghai stood at the stove while Zhenlan cut tomatoes and onions beside him. Yuche put the fries into the oven, then returned to Lingyun before he could slide off the stool and reach the food.
I watched all of them work.
It was nice.
I had cooked in my last life because no one else would do it. Most meals had been made from whatever we found, and half the time I ate standing near the door in case something came through it.
Now four men were making burgers while I sat on the counter and stole cheese.
This life was much better.
Chenghai passed behind me on his way to the refrigerator. His hand moved over my bare knee before he opened the door, then stayed there while he searched the lower shelf.
Zhenlan noticed.
He came over with the sliced tomatoes and placed the plate beside me. His mouth touched my temple before he returned to the stove.
Lingyun watched both of them.
Yuche handed him a glass of water.
Lingyun drank it without taking his eyes off me.
"You’re being weird," I told him.
He set the glass down. "I’m watching dinner."
"The food is behind you."
"I can smell it."
Yuche turned Lingyun’s stool slightly so he faced the stove.
That fixed the problem.
For almost a minute.
A sharp buzzing sound came from the small screen mounted near the pantry door. The outer buildings had started using it after Chenghai moved the radios out of the mansion. Messages appeared there when someone needed something that couldn’t wait until the next supply run.
Most of them could wait.
The screen buzzed again.
Chenghai wiped his hands and checked it while the bacon continued cooking.
His face didn’t change, but he stared at the message long enough that I became interested.
"What?"
He looked toward Zhenlan.
Zhenlan kept turning the burgers.
That made me more interested.
I slid off the counter and walked over before either of them could decide I didn’t need to know.
The message came from one of the workers in the eastern building.
They had written three possible times for rain tomorrow.
Six in the morning.
Eight in the morning.
Or sometime after dinner.
Below that, someone had added that the vegetable beds needed at least twenty minutes of steady rain, but nothing strong enough to damage the young plants.
I read it twice.
Then I looked at Zhenlan.
He stood at the stove with a spatula in one hand, cooking burgers in my kitchen while someone outside tried to book him like a weather service.
"Do they think you take appointments now?"
"No."
Chenghai deleted the message.
Another one appeared almost immediately.
This one included a rough drawing of the vegetable beds and an arrow showing which direction the rain should come from.
I started laughing.
Zhenlan looked at the screen.
The burger behind him began smoking.
Chenghai reached around him and turned it before it burned.
Lingyun twisted on the stool, trying to see. Yuche caught his shoulders and turned him back toward the front.
"What did they send?" Lingyun asked.
"A rain order," I said.
His face brightened. "Can they request fire too?"
"No," four of us answered.
The screen buzzed a third time.
Someone had added that wind would be helpful after the rain because the workers wanted the leaves to dry before night.
I laughed harder.
Zhenlan walked over, pressed one finger against the screen, and turned the whole thing off.
That only made it funnier.
He went back to the stove without saying anything.
I followed and leaned against his arm. "Maybe they’ll leave a tip."
His hand settled around my waist while he checked the burgers. "They can water the plants."
"They have a lot of plants."
"So do we."
"Our plants eat zombies. Theirs make cucumbers."
"Then the cucumbers can wait."
That was fair.
Chenghai moved the bacon onto a plate and handed me one piece before putting the rest out of reach. I ate it while watching Zhenlan finish the burgers.
The screen stayed dark.
Someone outside was probably standing near the message system waiting for rain confirmation.
They were going to be disappointed.
Dinner came together quickly after that. Yuche carried the plates to the dining table, but I took mine back to the island because it was closer to the kitchen. Everyone followed.
Apparently, we were eating there now.
Chenghai sat on one side of me, Zhenlan on the other. Yuche stayed beside Lingyun so he could stop him from reaching too far, and the baby vine appeared near the back door the moment it smelled bacon.
Both leaf-heads pressed against the glass.
I pointed at them with a fry. "No."
One head lowered.
The other opened its mouth wider.
Lingyun tried to slip a piece of bacon beneath the table.
Yuche caught his wrist before the bacon left his plate.
Lingyun put it in his own mouth instead.
The burgers were good enough that no one talked much after that. Chenghai had added more cheese than necessary, which was the correct amount, and Zhenlan had cooked the onions until they stopped being crunchy.
I ate the entire burger and most of my fries.
Chenghai added another handful to my plate when he noticed it was empty.
Zhenlan gave me half of his bacon.
Dating both of them had improved dinner considerably.
The message screen came back on by itself while we ate.
One final note appeared.
Please confirm whether tomorrow’s rain is approved.
Zhenlan looked at it for several seconds.
Then he reached across me, took one of my fries, and kept eating.
The screen buzzed again.
I leaned into his shoulder. "You’re going to make them cry."
"They have water tanks."
"They wanted special rain."
"They aren’t getting special rain."
Lingyun swallowed a piece of burger. "Rouxi gets special rain."
Zhenlan’s hand moved onto my thigh beneath the island.
"Yes," he said.
The answer was so simple that no one bothered adding anything to it.
I looked toward the dark windows over the sink. The sky was clear outside, and the plants had begun settling around the house for the night.
"Can you make it rain after dinner?" I asked.
Zhenlan turned his head toward me.
"Not on the vegetables," I added. "Here."
His thumb moved slowly against my leg. "How much?"
"Enough to hear it from the bedroom."
The message screen buzzed again.
Zhenlan turned it off a second time.
Then he leaned close and kissed me while Chenghai stole one of the fries from my plate.
Outside, the first clouds began gathering over the mansion.