The splashing water washed away most of the blood; next came the task of washing the meat thoroughly. Qian Chuanchuan rolled up her sleeves and excitedly leaned toward the plastic basin—
“Wait.”
A hand with distinct knuckles suddenly moved in front of her. Ling Zhanlou frowned, staring at the blood-streaked cold water in the basin. “It’s cold.“
“It’s fine, my constitution is great~” Qian Chuanchuan waved him off dismissively. Just as her fingertips were about to touch the water, the entire plastic basin was suddenly dragged away from her.
The man moved the basin filled with meat with a single hand.
Then, he repeated: “The water is cold.“
Qian Chuanchuan: “…”
Well… he actually knows how to look out for people.
“Then I… should go put on some gloves?” Qian Chuanchuan asked tentatively.
Ling Zhanlou’s movements paused. He had originally intended to tell the girl to go rest, but looking at her sparkling eyes, he eventually nodded. “Mhm.”
The shop was stocked with rubber gloves. Qian Chuanchuan nimbly pulled on a pair and handed another to the man. Ling Zhanlou, however, just set the gloves aside and continued washing the meat with his bare hands.
The two of them squatted side-by-side in front of the plastic basin, silence stretching through the air. Qian Chuanchuan couldn’t stand this kind of quiet; she felt she had to say something.
“By the way!” She suddenly turned her head. “I haven’t asked what your name is yet?“
Ling Zhanlou’s hands paused for a moment before he replied, “Ling Zhanlou.“
“Which ‘Zhan’ and which ‘Lou’?”
“‘Zhan’ as in to behead, and ‘Lou’ as in a high building.”
“Ling Zhanlou…” Qian Chuanchuan repeated softly, her voice rising slightly at the end. “That’s a very nice name!“
His name, wrapped in her sweet voice, drifted into his ears. Ling Zhanlou suddenly felt the tips of his ears grow warm. He inconspicuously shifted half a step away, and the force with which he scrubbed the meat increased involuntarily.
Qian Chuanchuan didn’t notice the man’s subtle movement. Instead, she began her own introduction.
“My name is Qian Chuanchuan—’Qian’ as in money, and ‘Chuanchuan’ as in strings of it.”
“How about it? Isn’t it very auspicious?” Qian Chuanchuan turned to the man beside her, only to see the corners of his mouth curving upward at some point.
The man was already good-looking, but when he smiled, the naturally piercing aura around him vanished instantly. Instead, it was replaced by a seductive charm, making him look very much like a male fox spirit!
Qian Chuanchuan was momentarily dazed by his beauty again.
But after just a second, her pretty brows furrowed, her face clouded with displeasure. “What are you laughing at? Is my name funny?”
“No,” Ling Zhanlou suppressed his smile and looked earnestly into her eyes. “It sounds very good.”
He paused, then added: “It’s also very cute.“
Just as cute as its owner.
The moment that thought surfaced in his mind, Ling Zhanlou froze.
What was he thinking? What ‘cute’?! Why did he suddenly think a girl was cute? And it seemed he had just laughed because of her introduction…
Qian Chuanchuan was also a bit embarrassed by the man’s sudden, sincere praise. Her habit of talking nonsense whenever she got nervous immediately kicked in.
“I don’t go for the ‘cute’ route, you know? I’ve always gone for the glamorous look. I mean, with this figure…” The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them, and she immediately wanted to bite her tongue.
Good heavens! What on earth am I blabbing about!!!
Qian Chuanchuan wished she could find a hole to crawl into. She quickly lowered her head, pretending to focus on washing the meat while frantically praying in her heart: Didn’t hear that, didn’t hear that, didn’t hear that…
What she didn’t see was the man’s gaze sweeping over her briefly before he jerked his head away as if burned. His ears, which had only been slightly pink, were now a deep crimson. The piece of meat in his hands was nearly being scrubbed into a paste.
After that, neither of them spoke. Only the sound of splashing water remained. Before long, the meat in the basin was washed clean, showing a healthy pink hue.
Ling Zhanlou took the hose and rinsed away all the blood from the ground. Then, with a flick of his wrist, a BBQ grill, charcoal, seasonings, and other items appeared out of thin air, neatly arranged on the ground.
While Qian Chuanchuan was slicing the meat, her gaze drifted outward.
The man had been wearing an outer coat before, so she hadn’t seen what his spatial item looked like. Today, he was only wearing a black short-sleeved shirt, fully exposing the exquisite silver bracelet on his wrist. The surface of the bracelet was about two fingers wide, inlaid with an ice-blue crystal nucleus that shimmered with an eerie glow in the sunlight.
Qian Chuanchuan figured this must be his spatial item, and the crystal inlaid on it likely belonged to a spatial ability user.
It… actually looked quite nice. Especially on his wrist.
Qian Chuanchuan nimbly sliced the meat into uniform thin pieces. By the time she carried the tray out of the shop, Ling Zhanlou had already started the charcoal fire. She grabbed two folding stools and sat enthusiastically by the grill, watching the man methodically roast the meat.
“Your gear is way too complete, isn’t it?” She couldn’t help leaning in to inspect it. He even had professional BBQ charcoal; she had originally planned to buy some from the System Mall, but now she could save that money!
Ling Zhanlou skillfully flipped the meat slices, the fat dripping onto the coals with a sizzling sound. “BBQ is the most convenient, so I prepared more of it.”
Three years into the apocalypse, convenience foods had long since vanished. Now, people either choked down moldy coarse grains or risked their lives hunting mutated creatures. In an era of scarce electricity, primitive cooking methods had actually become the optimal solution.
The aroma of meat gradually filled the air, and Qian Chuanchuan unconsciously swallowed her saliva. The afternoon sun spilled over the two of them, adding a touch of warmth to the apocalyptic scenery.
“Then why didn’t you prepare more water? Isn’t water the most important necessity?”
Qian Chuanchuan still found it strange. Since this man had even these supplies, there was no reason for him to have zero water reserves.
Ling Zhanlou’s hand paused while flipping the meat. “I had a teammate who was a water ability user before.” His voice lowered slightly. “We separated later. Although I stockpiled some water myself, it still wasn’t enough.”
There was a lot of information in that sentence; it was clear there was a story behind it. Qian Chuanchuan tactfully didn’t press further and changed the subject.
“So, are you here on business or just passing through?”
“Passing through,” the man replied, then suddenly asked, “And you? Are you going to keep this shop here forever?”
His question momentarily stumped her. The system said her mission was to open a global restaurant chain in the apocalypse. A chain meant there had to be many storefronts to qualify! Therefore, it was unlikely she would stay in this one spot forever.
She had actually asked the system about this, but the system had been cryptic, saying she would understand everything once she passed the trial operation.
So, she replied as if joking: “Probably not. I’m going to open a chain of stores in the future!”
“The kind where you can see one of my shops every ten steps you take!”
“When that happens, I’ll hang a string of silver bells at the entrance, and next to the bells, I’ll tie a plaque with a unique serial number…”
A spark crackled from the charcoal, reflecting on her high-spirited face. Ling Zhanlou watched the girl before him—smiling, her eyes filled with brilliant light—and his Adam’s apple moved involuntarily.
“You will definitely succeed,” he heard himself say.