Chapter 282: Checking Things Off Lists
The noise got worse the farther down the hall Yuche and I got.
Someone was hammering hard enough to shake dust from the ceiling, a drill screamed from somewhere near the front of the house, and at least three people were arguing about whether a pipe was cracked before or after someone touched it.
My mansion sounded like it had swallowed a construction crew and was now trying to puke them back out and then let me clean up the mess.
By the time we reached the stairs, I had already decided that one person was probably going to die, possibly two. I just had not chosen which one yet.
The main floor looked like a bomb had gone off inside a hardware store. Plywood covered the worst holes in the walls, and thick plastic had been stretched across the broken windows. There were even wooden braces that now held up the damaged entrance.
Boxes and boxes from the trucks had been stacked along the walls, while strangers carried boards, pipes, tools, and enough mud through my house to make me want to burn everything and start all over again.
Stupid stubbornness. We all knew that wasn’t going to happen.
A man dragged a long piece of wood across the living room and left a brown streak behind him. He noticed me staring, looked at the mess, and immediately started hunting for a rag.
Smart man.
He could live.
But I had to give all of them credit. The others were not sitting around waiting to be fed or asking when someone would make them comfortable. They were working. Loudly and with enough swearing to make Lingyun proud, but they were working.
Which meant that they were all useful.
And that alone bought them a little more time.
The older man who had climbed down from the truck carrying a pipe spotted me near the bottom of the stairs. He handed the pipe to someone else before walking over and stopped far enough away that the vines outside did not move.
"You must be Miss Shen," he announced, raising a single eyebrow in challenge. I hated the fact that I like that.
Instead of saying anything, I simply raised an eyebrow of my own. Yeah, that was right. We were having a whole conversation with nothing but eyebrows and smirks.
He nodded, his lips shifting just enough that screamed he knew what I was doing. Instead of waiting for my response, he continued to speak. "Most people call me Old Chen."
"How old do you have to be before everyone gives up on your real name?" I asked cocking my head to the side. "Asking for a friend."
A laugh slipped out before he could stop it. "Older than the people around you."
"That sounds like a terrible reward for surviving what killed stupid people too soon."
Old Chen smirked before he glanced toward the damaged entrance, where the stern-looking woman was drawing lines across the wall while two men argued over a tape measure. "That is Fang Lihua. She has worked construction most of her life. She says the wall can be saved, but part of the entrance needs to come down before it falls on someone."
Fang Lihua looked over when she heard her name, gave me a quick nod, then pointed at one of the men beside her. "If you cut there, the whole damn thing will sag. Measure it again."
"She seems friendly," I grunted, not sure how I felt about her.
That was a lie.
I knew how I felt about her. Another person that I could appreciate. She wasn’t going to be dying either... unless she touched my snacks. Would she touch my snacks?
Old Chen only grunted before he pointed toward the broad-shouldered woman measuring one of the front windows. "Luo Qing handles welding and metalwork. Once the walls are safe, she can reinforce the doors and put bars over the lower windows."
Luo Qing had a pencil behind one ear and probably enough tools hanging from her belt to rebuild a small tank. A younger man reached for one of the metal brackets beside her, and she slapped his hand away without looking.
Useful and mean.
Even better.
The lights flickered twice, and a woman kneeling in front of an open electrical panel swore so loudly that everyone nearby took a step back.
"That is Qin Fen," Old Chen continued. "She is working on the power."
"Is she fixing it or making it worse?" I asked studying the woman. I was actually impressed that Xu Zhenlan managed to get a majority of female construction workers. Then again, maybe that was all that was left. After all, the military probably didn’t think that a woman could fix anything more than a drink.
"A little of both," grunted Old Chen with a shrug. "I don’t understand it, myself."
A loud bang came from the kitchen, followed by an older man insisting that the pipe had been rotten before he touched it.
"And the one losing a fight with the plumbing is Gao Shun," introduced Old Chen with a smile. "Believe it or not, he actually knows what he is doing."
"The wall sounds like it disagrees," I pointed out.
"He is the best plumber we have," replied Old Chen, not missing a beat. "And you don’t want to be missing a plumber when the toilets start backing up."
"Good point," I chuckled. "It looks like you guys are definitely checking things off my ’honey do’ list."
Gao Shun limped past the kitchen doorway with a wrench in one hand and a broken piece of pipe in the other. He was muttering threats at both of them like he planned to win through fear alone.
Lingyun had been right.
The house was full of Oompa Loompas. They were too tall, angry, and had forgotten the chocolate, but the rest fit.
Old Chen showed me what they had already finished. The worst of the broken windows were covered, and the front entrance now had enough of a wall that a zombie could not simply wander inside without at least pretending to knock.
That was, if they managed to get past the regrowing jungle out front. Those plants were hungry when they were teething.
"All right," I said nodding my head. "Now let’s see if this place can deal with whatever the world throws at us next."
