Chapter One Hundred and Fifteen - Lazy November Mornings

Nathan was never one for change in his routine, but perhaps because his Xian was there, he managed to adapt fairly well to the move into the third property.

The two men now lived in a small reception room that had possibly been a study or cosy living area of sorts, just them, a comfortable bed covered with thick duvet's, a chest full of Nathan's clothes and a small, cast iron fire place created by a deft hand and based on an electric imitation that Shaun had once seen. There was no residual warmth coming from it this morning and so his beloved felt not the chill of the dawn air upon rolling out of the bed, Ren Zexian added fresh wood and lit it aflame not long after returning from his bout upon the walls.

This stove was more than adequate to heat the room that had been hastily decorated with rugs upon the wooden floors, thick curtains on the windows and ply board that had been added to three walls to thicken and add warmth to the cold brick ones beneath. Only the wall in which the stove was added was treated differently, using tiles to make a simple patterned backdrop, then shelves for a few necessities such as a tea set and a few tins of tea blends. A frying pan, saucepan and spoons dangled from hooks underneath the shelves so that the two men could make simple meals or reheat stews and soups sent from the main house during each visit. All in all, Nathan was very comfortable living in this peaceful manner with just the older man beside him.

Nathan didn't linger long in bed when he realised his Xian had returned home. That was one of the minor things he didn't like; Xian would leave him while he slept peacefully in the early hours just following what once would have been the toll of midnight to walk the perimeter of the house then take his assigned place upon the walls. If Nathan woke during his absence, he wouldn't be able to fall back to sleep, just would nestle in the blankets, trying to absorb any lingering scent to comfort himself until that man once more appeared before him. It couldn't really be helped, Nathan was not stupid enough to think that they could pass this winter without worries caused by the outside world, but he didn't have to like it.

The hot water began to bubble, Nathan moved out from beneath the layers of warmth and quietly headed to the small 'bathroom' that had been added by an adorning door. Considering the plumbing that had already been in place, this was once a cloakroom toilet, but it had been adequate enough for a metal partition to be added along with the small metal sink and toilet. After adding a little more pipework, the room had become a wet room for showering as well as the usual morning ablutions. The soil pipe left in its usual direction, but the soapy grey water was redirected to a tank in the basement to be reused as toilet water or for cleaning surfaces. Nathan did not like to use it on his plants if he could avoid it.

Nathan dried himself down before placing a hand on the metal tank above the shower head in order that Ren Zexian could wash his own body after Nathan was done. Ren Zexian never lingered over long in the tiny shower room and soon rejoined his lover for a refreshing cup of morning tea. Although they often sat there in silence, it was not at all uncomfortable and Nathan basked unknowingly in the abundant warmth from the fire, the beverage and the man sitting beside him.

Once the tea was drank, the cups washed in the bathroom sink before being hung on an overhead rack to drip dry over the same metal bowl, they finally left the room. Nathan braced himself as he stepped into the brisk coolness. The temperature in the hallway was low, possibly reduced to freezing point. Ren Zexian squeezed his hand below heading right while he lingered watching the back of his man before walking in the opposite direction; left.

The door of the room he head into was closed, trapping the little warmth that would have built through the sun's morning rays inside. Nathan entered to see walls and floors abundant in green.

Originally in this room, the plan was to grow just potatoes, winter cabbages and such, food crops, nothing else. But Nathan brought in ivies, sweet pea plants and other climbers from outside, climbers that could cover the bare walls with growth adding warmth, yet also providing the manner of protection unique to himself. He'd also added a smaller, hanging spider plant in the sleeping room in part for this purpose. That and he did not feel comfortable without that spray of greenery.

In another persons's house, this sort of winter garden might not be possible, however the occupants of the three property haven had long since been aware that if developed with Nathan's hand, such things were not impossible. Nathan walked beside the beds which had been raised up to his knees, gently brushing his fingers over stalks and leaves as he walked once around the plants growing in the long reception room. He softly praised the radishes that were bushy and almost ready to be harvested, encouraged the potato plants that had a long way to go. He chided the clematis which had crept over a window pane and under the thin translucent fabric covering it, stealing light from other plants then took his small basket and searched for a few things to harvest for breakfast.

Their base breakfast didn't vary too much, usually eggs, potatoes or the grits sent from the main house. They did have some rice on hand, however they preferred to save this for main meals. Every so often Autumn would make bread or noodles so they could have the taste of something different with their meals, but it relying on the garden for variety was their main way of making meals interesting these days. Not that Nathan minded too much, food was for fuel in order that he could continue to garden and grow things, yet he was aware Ren Zexian was much different than him. According to Xian, there had been a time when he did not rely on food and only ate to enjoy the taste. That sort of living can develop a picky nature in a person, so the man preferred quality and variety.

Many things weren't quite ready, either time was inadequate or the temperatures still weren't warm enough in this sheltered environment. However, many herbs and baby leaf plants could be picked despite this. Nathan chose to thin down the bunched up blades of chive crop as well as pluck some slightly larger spinach leaves from several plants. After also cutting some decent lengths of pea shoots without hurting the overall plants, he checked the moisture levels of the plants before heading up a spiral staircase to an upper room. This room had been sealed off from the rest of the first floor. In fact, they had also closed off the first floor stairs from the ground floor in order to try prevent too much of the heat from escaping upwards this winter. It was only a temporary measure so not to waste whatever warmth they could retain from the low rising sun, if unblocked from steel grey clouds and the little stove in Ren Zexian and Nathan's bedroom.

There were also a few braziers formed here and there in order to heat sand which had heat retentive qualities and would slowly release this heat compare to evaporating water. This was purely experimental, something that Nan Li Liang had read which happened to be based on an experiment to provide continuous solar electricity throughout the night; heating sand instead of just boiling water to provide the steam needed in the mechanisms. This article had been some years old at that time, he'd noticed it in passing when studying electricity in school and hadn't delved too deeply as it hadn't been necessary at the time, so they could only see what results they came up with themselves.

As yet, although the outside was below freezing, it had not hit temperatures yet that would effect the growing plants, so they did not test whether they worked as yet.

Regardless, the upstairs room that once might have been a master bedroom, benefited from rising warmth, so was a little warmer than below, perhaps by a degree or two. Just like downstairs, the windows were covered by thin, translucent fabric to cut down on the heat loss and here they were trying to increase the harvest of mushrooms.

Their original experiments, attempting to develop a mushroom farm had not been great, one could even been considered disastrous. They'd pooled together what little they knew of mushrooms to try grow more of the fungus, this time Nan Li Liang had been of little help; he'd hated eating mushrooms as a child so had no interest in reading or learning much about them. Everyone knew that mushrooms grew wild on the bases of trees and in grasses; they liked humid, warm, moist conditions, though there was some debate whether they liked dark, dank conditions or sunlight.

Their small mushroom kits could only produce so much, so they had bit their tongues and gritted their teeth to break open one to further develop it.  The inside had been a wrapped kit; they'd only opened a portion of it to quicken at the beginning, which was as per the instructions, but they were hoping that the whole thing cut into portions (taking care around the developed roots) could help them obtain the desired result.

Long story short, they tried to develop five containers using various 'techniques', none that time were successful, the worst was not not developing at all.  That was the mutated mushrooms that glowed red and seemed to be growing mouths with sharp teeth beneath their hoods.  Ren Zexian burned these to a crisp.  The closest to a good result was the container that did develop mushrooms, but also developed other moulds and fungi, contaminating the whole container.

However, learning from this, they tried again with better results.  Now, in this room, were six translucent containers, large plastic tubs with plenty of aeration, light and warmth, which had been sterilised (along with their ground contents using a mix of Ren Zexian's fire and Nathan's waters) before the spores were allowed to develop. 

Having learned from Autumn, Nathan plucked several of the close cup mushrooms to add to his breakfast.

Downstairs, Ren Zexian was already waiting for him, so he didn't look at the chillis and other small things overwintering in the sunroom and headed back. 

Ren Zexian was placing the gathered eggs from the chickens in the coat cupboard close to the front door and their bedroom.  Here was also placed cleaned, empty containers as well as a tub of potatoes, of carrots and of cabbages, all that kept well in the cold temperatures.  Rice, grits and a cool box containing Autumn's stews also were stored here to be used by the two men and refilled by their neighbours every three days when they came to collect the eggs.  Later they would also come for some fresh vegetables; this was the ideal at least.

The chickens lived in the western side of the property, in a well insulated room with reasonable light and plenty of bedding.  Nathan hadn't liked their noise, hence their distant location.  It was Ren Zexian's task to collect their eggs and feed them bits of vegetable and broken corn, remnant from making cornmeal and grits that the main house brought over those days.

Because of this, they also got to enjoy eggs for breakfast many days and with Ren Zexian's quick grasp of some basic cooking techniques learned from Autumn, they prepared omelette with the herbs and mushrooms upon their small stove before once more brewing tea and sharing their bodily warmth curled up on their cosy bed to laze away for the rest of the morning.