Roommates
Chapter Two: Don't Worry, I'll Fix It!
Starring: Lu Xun and Ling Tong
Ling Tong gets stuck in the wall, and Lu Xun "laughs" cruelly at his expense.
"Don't ask me how, just do something about it!"
Renovations... in the lower east side of Wu Province... is HELL on WHEELS!
Ling Tong looked through blueprints for the new porch and groaned. 'There is no way I will get this done by Monday!' The landlord made it clear: they have until Monday to have the house ready for inspection, and if failure is seen, have to move to a crappier house then the one already on 65 East Sun St. The one they are living in now.
There was four of them. Him, Lu Xun, Zhu Ran, and Gan Ning. Zhu Ran was, right now, burning a forest, as a part of his job to make room for expensive housing and whatnot. Lu Xun was at Zhou Depot to get paint, wood, and everything for the new porch. And Gan Ning was having the time of his life for being called in to fill in for a last minute match due to the other guy getting sick. Leaving Ling Tong to do ALL the work alone until Lu Xun gets back with what they need.
"Curse my luck!" He said aloud and threw the blueprints to the side. He rubbed his temples in frustration.
"Ling Tong, are you there." A feminine voice called out. Ling Tong looked behind him and literally stood up as quickly as he could without moving everything around him in his haste to get to the fence.
"Lianshi, what are you doing here?" Ling Tong asked as he got closer to the woman.
"I brought cookies." Said woman said, handing Ling Tong a tray full of cookies of all kinds. "You must be irritated by having to work by yourself on this new porch to cover up the old one. I hope you're not annoyed too much."
"Understatement Lianshi." Ling Tong groaned, taking the tray of cookies from her hands. "But thank you for the cookies. They look great!"
"There are some raisin cookies in there and a fair amount of chocolate chip. I even made my famous mint chocolate chip and peanut butter cups for the coming holidays."
"There's a reason why Zhu Ran has trust issues: raisin cookies look like chocolate chip cookies. He hates raisins but I love them! Thanks!" Ling Tong said. Putting the tray under his arms he turned back to Lianshi. "Yeah the winter holidays are coming, but you wouldn't know down here in the south without a calendar and the neighbors' decorations."
Lianshi laughed at this. She knew he was talking about the apartments across the street. "They do get loud when they put the decorations up do they?"
Ling Tong just sighed. "You don't know the half of it. Recently Sun Ce moved out into the sticks for the renovations they're going to do for his dad's new lands he got from winning a competition of some sort. Said something about investing in a water park or something like that."
Lianshi nodded. "I've heard that from Sun Quan as well. Oh, the Wu Boys are coming for a concert in December. Will you be able to go to it?"
Ling Tong frowned. "Nah, it'll be too much of a hassle. I got till Monday for this damn porch and then I'm trying to find a job and keep it. There's a reason why I don't have any pets, I could hardly take care of myself. I have THREE roommates for crying out loud!"
"Oh well." Lianshi said. "I guess it can't be helped. Will you be fine handling all this until one of them comes back?"
"Oh yeah, it'll won't take long. I'm just frustrated right now. Lu Xun went to get supplies, he should be back any minute now. Thanks for the cookies!"
"Yeah, no problem, just call if you need any help." Lianshi smiled at him and began to walk away. She lived on the upper end of east side Wu province, up in the rich neighborhood in Liger cul-de-sac.
Ling Tong went inside the run down house he and the other three lived in. It had a bad paint job and modest furniture. The only thing in the entire building that was expensive or value worthy was Gan Ning's gold case of all of his fighting medals and MMA trophies and belts. He shook his head at the large case. It was an eyesore to him, only because the case was originally his but he couldn't find anything of value to put into it.
He set the tray down on the table, opening the package and took a cookie. It was raisin! "Score!" He took a bite. Looking around the kitchen, Ling Tong grew dreary of the existence of a cage on the counter. He picked up another cookie and walked over to the cage. Movement in the cage showed a brown rat with red beady eyes. "Hey Baku, got a cookie for you!" He dropped said treat into the cage. The rat went and started to nibble at it.
It was Gan Ning's idea to bring an animal of any kind into the old house. He originally wanted a big dog who could guard the place. "What's to guard? A moldy sandwich and cracked walls," was Ling Tong's reply. Lu Xun asked for a small animal and suggested a guinea pig or a hamster. "Too girly," was Zhu Ran's argument. So, they decided on a rat, even though they could have caught one instead of spending a good $100 on a "purebred sand rat" named Baku. "We should've renamed you Baka!" The rat wasn't the brightest crayon in the box. But, Baku was good company for Ling Tong, especially when he was alone. The rat was well handled and it would always come back to Ling Tong if he let it loose for only a bit. The previous owner said that Baku was a male and sterile, but Ling Tong just took his word for it.
He looked at the clock on the stove next to him. 3:00PM. Ling Tong sighed and finished his cookie. The walls around the kitchen caught his attention. Water was seeping out of some of the cracks and it was basically an eyesore in and of itself. They recently had a large storm that broke the storm drain and the water flooded the house for about two days. The carpet was still drenched and the walls seemed to be breaking at the seams.
He could work on the porch a bit later. It was only Wednesday. And the walls look more damaged than the porch outside. At least the porch is made for industrial work, these walls were paper thin in comparison.
Ling Tong sighed. He should call Lu Xun to get something for the walls as well. The landlord won't go inside the house to check the damage, but that doesn't mean they don't have to be fixed to have the inside be livable. One wrong move and the whole thing could come crumbling down.
Lu Xun was having difficulty trying to find the right paint for the porch. Zhu Ran said to paint the porch in a sort of design, like flames. Gan Ning opted to have the porch painted a stark red to match the house they lived in. Ling Tong didn't care as long as it was done by Monday. Lu Xun sighed repeatedly. He was a college student who worked as an intern for Lu Meng and often has twice the paperwork to work with because of his lazy co-worker who spends the day playing basketball. Now the renovations needing done to the old house they lived in was cutting into his schedule. First a big storm flooded the darn thing and now the landlord is coming for an inspection, saying the porch is the most important thing on their list.
Lu Xun wasn't about to fight the landlord about that. The walls were more in need of their attention than an industrial porch that has seen worse for wear. A recent fire was one of them.
Lu Xun was tempted to ask his rival Jiang Wei for help. Whoever Jiang Wei knew who had serious ties with the higher ups had a ton of cash to toss to the wind. Jiang Wei would call him Aniki, but Lu Xun knew he had no relatives to account for. So whoever it was, was in better shape finance-wise than the majority of people.
It would get them out of the run down house they lived in now, so whatever deal Jiang Wei wants to throw at him would be worth it.
It was a really big temptation that he was willing to go for it. Jiang Wei himself said he would help his rivals in any possible way. That would include him and Sima Shi in Jin province.
Lu Xun just grabbed a random color and purchased the materials he got. He would have to load everything himself. If everything goes well he won't start an accidental fire again in the parking lot. "Stupid toad, getting into the hood while I was applying anti-freeze." He mumbled as he came out of the store. Causing fires was Zhu Ran's job.
How tempting was it to call Jiang Wei again?
Lu Xun loaded everything into the equally run down car they used and drove home.
On the way home though, he called up Jiang Wei.
"Hey Lu Xun, what's up?" The voice on the other end asked.
"Oh, nothing much other than painstaking renovations on the old shelter. You?"
"I just purchased three cats." Lu Xun nearly dropped the phone. "I'm bringing them home now."
"Oh, well, that's great for you. How's that overprotective roommate of yours?" He asked, referring to Guo Jia.
"Oh you know, complaining about his diet, not getting any bacon, and what-not. So how's your rat?" He asked in turn.
"Baku is doing fine, so long as the landlord doesn't find out we're in the clear. Oh, hey I kind of need a favor. Feel free to throw a deal for it too. There is no doubt about it, we're going to have to pack up and move soon. The recent storm cause a flood to the old house and now the landlord wants us to build a new "presentable" porch to the old thing. The walls are in more need for it and…"
"You need help getting a new place? I can help yeah, so don't worry about it. It'll be awhile before I could help find a more permanent residence, but I could get you a temporary residence. When I find the more permanent one then I'll strike the deal, otherwise give me a few moments."
Lu Xun sighed, relieved. "I owe you one." And hung up. Now he waits.
When he pulled up to the driveway, the engine died down and Lu Xun got out of the car… and proceeded to slip on a lone skateboard in the middle of the driveway. He grabbed the old car for dear life. His near death wish rolled nonchalantly away from his foot. "The neighbors have to keep their kids' toys away from driveways. Especially ours!" He mumbled and proceeded to release his death grip on the old vehicle.
He got his keys out of his pockets and one of the bags that was close to the driver's seat. He headed up to the wooded door. The house was a nasty stark red and it was no doubt the cheapest thing on their block. "Now all we need is an infestation and we're golden" was Zhu Ran's way of expressing his distaste over the renting.
Opening the door, he set the bag down and went back to get the others. When he got everything out of the car into the house he closed the door, breaking the lock as it went. A few seconds later the door fell off its hinges onto the ground below, making a loud "THUMP" as it went. Lu Xun rolled his eyes. "Oh please Jiang Wei find somewhere good, I'm begging you!"
He turned toward the living room. "Hey Ling Tong, I'm back from Zhou Depot with some materials. Where are you?"
"I'm in the wall!" Came a reply.
"Wait, how?" Lu Xun asked.
"Don't ask me how, just do something about it!" Ling Tong's voice sounded very frightened.
"Don't you know how many spiders are in those walls?" After Lu Xun asked he wished he kept his mouth shut.
The scream Ling tong emitted should have woken the dead. "Now you're just laughing cruelly at my expense you little punk. Wait until I get out of here!"
At this point Lu Xun's phone rang. It was Jiang Wei.
Rushing out of the room, Lu Xun answered it. "Hey good timing Jiang Wei- what do you have for us?"
The living room was empty, but Ling tong didn't know that. "Hey, Lu Xun. You still there? Hey, come on now don't do this to me! Lu Xun? Come on buddy, I'm joking. Answer me please!"
Author's Note: I apologize profusely for the long hiatus. But I just finished this chapter although it is half as long as the first. I have a total of 46 planned chapters for this story and maybe more. They will range from short and long.
For this story:
Zhu Ran: A slightly paranoid and insane pyromaniac. He has trust issues involving cookies.
Lu Xun: Like Jiang Wei, a book worm who always needs to be at his best to beat Jiang Wei. He goes to college and is an intern for Lu Meng.
Ling Tong: A lazy guy who can't hold a job down, and will repeatedly get jobs and be fired from them. He also hates Mondays since he thinks they are out to get him. He also has a severe fear of spiders. He likes raisin cookies, much to Zhu Ran's dismay.
Gan Ning: A seemingly tough guy who has a fondness for animals. He is secretly one of 5 feared gang members from the Wu province. He also has a huge appetite, along with an eating problem. He is a pro MMA fighter and is called in usually for last minute fights because of several reasons.
*The entire house shares a pet rat named Baku which the previous owner said was male and sterile.
The next time you see them, they would be house hunting and moving into their new place.
If you have any suggestions for this story, I will gladly take them or fit them into the story.