I Can Add Passive Abilities to Plants

Lin Yue's balance ticked up, from 60 to a full 110. (Marigold, that's twice now.)

He looked down at the gold coin embedded in the soil, its surface reflecting the morning light so brightly it hurt the eyes.

Having more than a hundred in his balance meant he was one step closer to buying something from Dave's Shop.

Fertilizer. As long as he could buy it, the five little ones in the Zen Garden that had just left the seedling stage could be transplanted into the backyard early and guard the five still-empty lanes of defense for him.

Looks like he needed to quickly adjust his little cat's mindset...

He picked up the gold coin, blew off the dirt clinging to it, and slipped it into his pocket beside the silver coin. Pressed against the fabric of his pants, they felt pleasantly heavy.

The sky grew brighter and brighter.

Chomper basked in the sun in the backyard, its leaves slightly unfurling, tiny glistening droplets beading across its purple skin.

Wall-nut still maintained its earnest on-duty posture, round head facing outward, leaves slightly spread as it stared motionlessly at the woods beyond the courtyard wall.

Lin Yue stood up, stretching his knees that had gone numb from squatting. His gaze swept across the five plants...

Sunflower gently swayed its flower head in the morning breeze. Marigold was still lazily rocking its petals. Puff-shroom curled up in the corner and gave a muddled yawn. Peashooter stood ramrod straight, its barrel aimed eastward as though waiting for the sun to rise completely.

As for that lazy Cattail, sometime or another, it had folded up its cat-ear leaves and curled into a fluffy pinkish-purple ball on the edge of its flowerpot, falling asleep again.

Lin Yue looked at it, shook his head, and couldn't help chuckling.

He wouldn't rush it.

Soon enough, he would find the "bait" that would make Cattail willing to fight, luring in his starting purple card.

Before that, he should first figure out the losses throughout the neighborhood today.

He brushed the dirt from his hands and looked toward the street across from him.

He wondered how that girl was doing.

Had she...

Run into Zombies dropping by, just like he had?

Across the gray stone road and a thin veil of morning mist, the wooden sign reading "Breeze-Kissed Home" stood vaguely in the sunlight. A thin wisp of smoke seemed to be rising from the little cabin's chimney, as if someone were making breakfast.

"Grrrumble~" His stomach growled...

He suddenly remembered that he hadn't eaten in quite a while. Time to go mooch a meal.

Lin Yue casually plucked off a leaf and tossed it back into Chomper's pot. As he walked out, he said without looking back, "I'm going out for a bit. Guard the house."

Even if Zombies really came while he was away, they could at most cause some damage. As for breaking through Chomper? Keep dreaming.

Chomper was still very powerful.

Behind him came the pattering sound of Chomper's leaves slapping together, as if it were saying, "Don't worry."

Mooching a Meal

Bai Qingfeng stood before the stove with a spatula in hand.

The bowl of pea-and-egg fried rice in the wok was sending up curling steam. The golden, glossy grains were mixed with bright green bits of peas and tender yellow egg, lightly bouncing at the bottom of the wok with a lingering sizzle.

A small wooden bowl beside the stove had already been filled to the brim. Morning light slanted in through the window and reflected off the rim of the white porcelain bowl, coating the rice in a warm golden hue.

She lifted the bowl to her nose and took a deep breath.

"Wow~"

She hadn't even realized she'd cried out. Only after saying it did she hurriedly close her mouth, then lower her head and take another sniff despite herself.

The toasted fragrance of egg blended with the peas' fresh sweetness, carried by the starchy aroma of rice as it layered into her nose, making saliva well up on her tongue.

"Starting today, I'm a genius chef. Hehehe."

She carefully scooped up a small spoonful and put it into her mouth. After chewing twice, her almond-shaped eyes widened slightly.

"So good..."

She spoke the words from the back of her throat, as if afraid someone might hear her. Her cheeks moved as she chewed, and the tension on her face gradually relaxed into a small, contented curve.

Yesterday, after entering the courtyard, the first thing she did was search the little cabin from top to bottom.

She had been lucky... There was still a small sack of rice stored in the rice jar beneath the stove. It was dry and mold-free, and it even carried the faint sweetness of fresh rice.

She found half a bottle of vegetable oil and several eggs in the cupboard. Every one of them was intact and pleasantly heavy in her hand.

The moment she gathered those supplies, she realized that her courtyard's starting resources were actually quite decent.

Rice, oil, eggs—it meant that at least she wouldn't go hungry right after arriving.

And the peas?

Those were naturally thanks to her good companion, Threepeater.

The Threepeater in her yard had been something she found by chance in the wild when she was twelve. Back then, it had only been a wilted little seedling, half its leaves yellowed. She had squatted by the roadside for a long time, hesitating, before finally wrapping it in her school uniform jacket and carrying it back to the orphanage. She carefully planted it in a corner of the yard and raised it for six years.

Now, that Threepeater had grown taller than a person, its three barrels standing upright in neat formation.

In the backyard, it could help her resist Zombie attacks.

And when she was hungry, she could eat peas, too.

She served the fried rice from the wok into the bowl, carried it to the crude wooden table, and sat down. Just as she raised her chopsticks, her movement suddenly stopped.

"I wonder if that guy has eaten breakfast..."

Bai Qingfeng poked at the grains in her bowl with her chopsticks. A faintly furrowed, thoughtful expression appeared on her face, though she didn't notice it herself.

After learning that Lin Yue would be her husband in the future...

She kept thinking of him out of the blue.

She remembered how Lin Yue had pushed his little cart through the crowd yesterday, heedless of everything. She remembered how he had pulled her behind him and stood alone before the four people closing in, shovel held across his body.

That person looked like he could shoulder anything, as if he could never go hungry or tired... But boys seemed pretty good at enduring hunger. The boys at the orphanage had always said, "I'm not hungry," when they were little, only for their stomachs to rumble like thunder at night.

Bai Qingfeng took two bites of rice. As she chewed, she suddenly set down her chopsticks and leaned back against her chair with a sigh.

"Forget it. I'll bring him a portion later... I made a lot anyway. I can't finish it all by myself."

After saying that, she continued eating. She took two or three more bites, then suddenly froze stiff.

"No!"

Bai Qingfeng's hand holding the chopsticks hung in midair. Her almond-shaped eyes slowly widened as if she were rapidly recalling certain details she had accidentally overlooked.

"I think... I don't know where his courtyard is."

"I forgot to ask!"

She blinked twice, the tips of her chopsticks absentmindedly poking at the bottom of her bowl.

The next second, the tips of her ears turned red with a whoosh.

"Why... why do I care whether that guy has eaten or not?!"

Bai Qingfeng abruptly sat up straight. Her entire face began flushing from the base of her neck upward, all the way to her ears and forehead. Even the fingertips holding the chopsticks felt slightly hot.

She set the chopsticks against the rim of the bowl, lifted the bowl in both hands, and buried her head to shovel down a huge mouthful of fried rice. Her cheeks puffed up as she forcibly used eating to block out the wild thoughts in her head.

At this point, she should just eat first.

As she chewed, her cheeks puffed up like a hamster's. The messy thoughts in her mind were gradually suppressed by the fragrance of the fried rice.

She scooped up a second spoonful, then a third. By the fourth, her expression had gradually relaxed. She even began idly swinging her short legs beneath the table, her heels lightly tapping the wooden table leg, once, then again.

A soft ding sounded.

[Someone is visiting the courtyard. Allow entry?]

Bai Qingfeng's hand holding the spoon froze.

She tilted her head and looked toward the courtyard gate through the window.

Beyond the gray mist, she could vaguely see a tall, lean figure standing at the gate, turned sideways with one hand resting on the fence, sneaking around suspiciously...

She didn't need a second look to know who it was.

She forcefully swallowed the rice in her mouth, cleared her throat, tilted her head, and said, "Allow."

When the fence gate was pushed open, its creaking sound was a little smoother than yesterday.

It had probably been repaired.

Lin Yue entered the yard, familiarly walking around the cluster of Sunflowers smiling at the sun by the wall. Following the scent of food, he found his way into the cabin.

The moment Lin Yue poked half his body inside, his gaze landed precisely on the bowl of fried rice that hadn't been finished yet. Then his eyes moved from the fried rice to the person sitting across from it.

"Oh, you're eating?"

"What a coincidence, huh?"

Bai Qingfeng raised her eyes at him with her spoon in hand. Her cheeks were still slightly puffed from the rice she hadn't finished chewing, and a tiny sheen of oil clung to her lips. Today, only one of her braids was tied up, while the hair on the other side hung loosely over her shoulder. The slightly curled ends rested against the collar of her old pink sweater.

A pair of red, thin-rimmed glasses sat on her nose. The lenses were clear and bright, making her almond-shaped eyes look especially moist and translucent, like two pieces of amber submerged at the bottom of a stream.

Over her school uniform, she wore that old pink sweater. The cuffs and collar were worn into fuzz, while two patches on the front had been stitched with perfectly neat seams and cleanly tucked threads. Whoever had sewn them had clearly put a lot of care into it.

Lin Yue stood motionless in the doorway.

He looked at that round, fair little face across from him, glowing in the morning light. He looked at the red, thin-rimmed glasses on her nose, the neat stitches along her sweater collar, and the small wooden spoon in her hand that still gleamed with oil...

Suddenly, he felt his heart skip a beat, then speed up by half a beat.

"Oh, would you look at that." By the time he came back to himself, he had already swaggered over and sat down at the table. The fried rice in the bowl was still steaming. He casually took a small wooden bowl from the shelf and weighed it in his palm. The wood still bore fresh chisel marks—it was obviously newly made...

The Stench of Love

"You can't finish it alone, right? I'll help you deal with the rest. Wasting food is shameful."

After saying that, Lin Yue didn't wait for her response. His hand naturally moved the bowl of fried rice half an inch toward himself, and he began portioning it into his own bowl.

Bai Qingfeng held her little wooden spoon and stared blankly at his utterly matter-of-fact attitude. Her mouth opened, then closed again.

This bastard! Was he always this shameless?

She had wanted to say, "Go eat with your wife," but the words twisted around at the tip of her tongue before she swallowed them back down.

Instead, she merely put down her spoon, leaned back slightly, and cupped the warm glass of water before her with both hands as she watched him wolf down his meal.

"Filthy beggar," she muttered softly. Yet the end of her sentence lifted slightly, making it sound nothing like a scolding.

"Damn, this is good!"

After one mouthful of pea-and-egg fried rice, Lin Yue's eyes lit up.

The rice had just the right chewiness. The peas' fresh sweetness and the rich fragrance of egg blended together, melting across his tongue and sliding down his throat into his stomach, warm and comforting, like a little girl crawling into bed.

He looked up at Bai Qingfeng, then at the bowl of rice that was already more than half empty. He shoveled in a second mouthful and added vaguely, "Would be even better with some chili peppers..."

(Jalapeno: Who's thinking about me?)

Bai Qingfeng held her cup of water and watched him devour his food. The corners of her lips twitched upward before she quickly pressed them straight again.

She turned her head away, pretending to look at Threepeater sunning itself outside the window. Deliberately casual, she asked, "So tell me, what did you come here for? Just to mooch a meal?"

Lin Yue swallowed a large mouthful of fried rice, set down his chopsticks, and looked seriously at the person across from him.

Lin Yue's main reason for coming had naturally been to see whether something had happened to this girl.

For now, it appeared that she hadn't been invaded by Zombies.

The backyard fence was also perfectly intact.

In fact, the opposite was true. With the boost from Bai Qingfeng's information-gathering talent, she naturally knew that Zombies would invade that night. She had even accurately predicted which lane they would appear in.

But apart from giving Bai Qingfeng a fright when they first appeared, the two ordinary Zombies could only be described as causing no trouble at all under Threepeater's protection.

As for the intact fence, she had naturally repaired it quickly after dealing with the Zombies during the night.

Sunlight slanted in through the window, falling across her loose hair and gilding the slightly curled tips with a soft, fluffy edge of gold.

Bai Qingfeng wore that faded old sweater. The fingers wrapped around her cup were slender and fair, her nails trimmed neatly and cleanly.

Her gaze rested on him, her tone full of disdain, but the cup of water in her hand had been placed at exactly the corner of the table easiest for him to reach.

Lin Yue pointed his chopsticks at her, the corner of his mouth curling upward, and said something that even he found a little cheesy. "Woman, you've got my stomach in your grasp."