“I can.” Several voices sounded at the same time.
Bai Qingqing’s eyes flickered slightly; Liang Zhiyu put down his kitchen knife, Xiao Yang came closer and Bai Tiantian was blushing. Three people had answered in unison.
The sound also attracted Fu Chen and Shen Mingxuan, who looked over at them, and Bai Qingqing felt she was experiencing her first infamous Asura field 1 . She couldn’t help but be a little excited but troubled at the same time; who should she choose?
Facing the three people who were waiting for her answer, Bai Qingqing was a little nervous. She felt that whoever she chose would do her no good; she showed an embarrassed expression and wisely turned her head to look at her big brother Fu Chen who was still in the living room, her eyes full of dependence just like a little animal looking for its home.
Fu Chen put down the weapon in his hand. He walked to her with his long legs and held her slender arm under everybody’s watchful gazes.
“Do you have any rubber bands?”
Bai Qingqing: “In the space.”
A box appeared on the table out of thin air and Fu Chen grabbed two rubber bands to help her tie up her sleeves. He then took a third one and held her hair. He had never tied a girl’s hair before; he looked like he was waiting on a little princess and his actions were a little clumsy but very serious.
Xiao Yang said sourly: “Brother Fu really pampers his sister.”
The man was the person he admired and the girl was the person he had a crush on; for a while, he didn’t know who to be jealous of.
Fu Chen glanced at him and said: “It is the case when you have a sister, but you wouldn’t know.” 2
Xiao Yang: “…” You have a sister, you’re awesome.
Liang Zhiyu’s expression was faint: “The kitchen is too narrow. If you have nothing else to do here, please leave and don’t get in the way.”
There was not much space in the kitchen, just enough for three people to stand. With Xiao Yang and Fu Chen, there was no room to move anymore. The old fox Liang Zhiyu might be gentle on the surface, he was also full of schemes and was the most terrifying person in this team. Xiao Yang didn’t dare to mess with him and left the kitchen at once. Fu Chen was slightly unhappy but after finishing helping Bai Qingqing tie her hair, he also walked away.
Bai Tiantian exhaled: “It’s finally quiet.”
She liked doing her things quietly. All those people were making trouble here and it made her nervous; she couldn’t even wash the dishes properly.
Bai Qingqing agreed with her and said: “Let’s cook!”
She really liked marinated meat and couldn’t wait to eat some when it would finally be ready.
Liang Zhiyu was worthy of being a doctor. He was very skilled with a knife and all of his cuts were very neat and beautiful. OCD made pretty food to look at and Bai Qingqing couldn’t help but praise him: “Doctor Liang, you are so good. Any girl who marries you in the future will be very happy.”
Liang Zhiyu turned his head and glanced at her: “What about you?”
“Ah?” Bai Qingqing did not react right away and she blushed after a while, “Actually, I have a dream which is to be lazy and eat.”
Bai Tiantian was a little dazed for a moment and completely unaware of the tension between the two of them, she said: “My dream is to open a dessert shop.”
The Bai family had been planning on giving her her own store but the end of the world had happened. Now that people were all running for their lives and the materials and foods were scarce, her shop could only be an unreachable dream.
“It will happen in the future.” Bai Qinqging comforted. As long as the heroine did not take the side of the Zombie Emperor and put the interests of mankind first, the world may still be saved.
The three of them kept cooking as they chatted and poured the meat into the pot. The scene in the kitchen looked just like three friends gathering during the holidays before the apocalypse, very harmonious and warm, and in this rare peaceful time, the men in the living room who were assembling their guns occasionally glanced towards the kitchen.
After handling the meat, they prepared dinner. These past few days in Wucheng, they had only eaten dry bread and ham and desired a real good meal.
Bai Qingqing didn’t know how to cook but as she started heading towards the main room, she remembered Shen Mingxuan’s words from before and went back to the kitchen to make one dish. The team should be grateful afterward that she never cooked; if they didn’t die from zombies, she would most likely be able to kill them from food poisoning with her dark cuisine.
Eggplant stew, hot and sour chicken wings, sweet and sour pork ribs, fried steak… and other appetizing dishes were put on the table. Xiao Yang’s eyes lit up and he couldn’t wait to try it all.
“Tonight looks impressive! Who made the food?”
Bai Tiantian came over with the rice cooker and answered: “Doctor Liang made some and the curry was made by Qingqing.”
“Qingqing made the curry!” Xiao Yang immediately grabbed his chopsticks, “I will try it.”
When he bit the carrot, his face froze and his whole body seemed to petrify.
Everyone asked curiously: “How does it taste?”
Bai Qingqing also stared at him with bright eyes, waiting for his answer. Xiao Yang glanced at her, who looked forward to his praise, and did so against his will: “Good. It’s delicious.”
Fu Chen tightened his fingers around his chopsticks, realizing something was wrong.
“Is it really delicious?” Shen Mingxuan tried it too and immediately spat it out before saying in a mocking voice: “What kind of awful cooking is that! Pigs wouldn’t even eat that.”
Bai Qingqing smiled: “I just fed one.”
Shen Mingxuan’s handsome face darkened and his peach blossom eyes flashed: “You bitch! You did it on purpose!”
Bai Qingqing showed an innocent expression: “I told you I couldn’t cook.”
She then added in an aggrieved and fragile voice: “I finally had the courage to cook for everyone and I almost cut my finger…” She stood up and took the dish before placing it in front of her, “If you don’t like it, don’t eat. I will finish it and not waste the food.”
Bai Tiantian couldn’t help but scold Shen Mingxuan: “Sister has worked hard, why are you so mean?”
The man was stunned and he felt like vomiting as he watched Bai Qingqing’s act. Her long eyelashes drooped down like butterfly wings and covered the smile in her eyes. She lowered her head and started eating the undercooked vegetables. It was really not good and way too salty, just like the tears she wanted to shed.
Everyone looked at her pitiful appearance and they quickly persuaded: “Don’t eat it if it tastes bad.”
Fu Chen saw through everything and he took away the curry that looked somewhat good but was actually poisonous, before telling her in a low voice: “Didn’t I tell you not to cook?”
How can you believe I really can’t cook if I don’t prove it to you? Bai Qingqing couldn’t help but think.
“Don’t do it in the future.” She had almost caused all of their deaths.
After dinner, Bai Qingqing went upstairs to shower and enjoyed the clean fragrance. When she came out, she went back to the living room without drying her hair. It was too early to go to bed and it was too boring to do nothing; when she had gone to gather supplies, she had collected a lot of board and card games, such as chess, werewolf, and anything she could find.
Only Fu Chen and Liang Zhiyu were in the room, everyone seemed to have gone to wash too. Fu Chen noticed her wet hair and frowned.
“Qingqing, your hair isn’t dry.”
Bai Qingqing touched her head and replied: “Brother, my hair is thick, it’s not easy to wipe. Let it dry naturally.”
“If you don’t dry it, you will have a headache.” Liang Zhiyu said.
Fu Chen: “Take a towel out, I will do it for you.”
Bai Qingqing obediently did as he said and the man reached out and pushed her on the sofa. He stood behind her and started vigorously wiping her head with the large towel.
“Brother, be gentle.” Bai Qingqing reminded him. No matter how thick her hair was, at this rate, she was going to turn into a bald baby.
Fu Chen froze for a second and his movements became gentler. When Xiao Yang came downstairs, he saw this scene and couldn’t help but stare: was it really the surly and gloomy big demon Fu Chen? The sister was indeed a creature even he could surrounder to.
After wiping her hair, Bai Qingqing suggested they play Werewolf. None of them had played it before but after suppressing them for a moment, they quickly dominated the game after understanding the rules. Between an old fox and a big devil, Bai Qingqing lost too many times and didn’t want to play anymore.
***
The next day, the team got ready to set off. Bai Qingqing took the medicine and went up to see Cheng Rui; Liang Zhiyu had said he would wake up in the next couple of days and she needed to find opportunities to do her task.
In order to change his dressing, Cheng Rui was not wearing a shirt; he was only covered in white bandage and his sharp features looked even more mature and masculine than before with the stubble growing out.
Bai Qingqing lifted the quilt and her heartbeat sped up a bit when she looked at his very sexy and strong chest. The man looked like a male model and she guessed he had the golden ratio; each muscle was just right, definitely the perfect specimen for all her female compatriots.
She turned him over and carefully cut the gauze with scissors. When the shocking wound appeared, she couldn’t help but hurt for him.
Cheng Rui was a real man! Had this wound been on her body, she would have been in too much pain and probably wanted to die.
She cleaned his wound and used a cotton to slowly apply the medicine. She was concentrating on her task and didn’t notice the fingers of the man on the side moved slightly, showing signs of awakening. Once she was done, she stretched out her hand and gently slid along the wound before sighing: “I don’t know if it will leave a scar… It won’t look so good if it does.”
修罗场 (xiūluó cháng): Asura (malevolent spirits in Indian mythology) + field/stage/scene. The Asura field theme is used for diverse battles but often for love battlefields.Did… did Fu Chen make a joke????