Chapter 36 Negotiation
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After a proper rest for half a day, early the next morning, Gu Mengran and Liang Zhao came out of the basement with some dry food and water, carrying backpacks, and headed to Ninth Street according to the route given by Zheng Yiji.
After much thought, Gu Mengran decided to solve the car problem first. As for the other trivial matters that were not important, he only needed to think about how to lie and how to make up a reasonable story.
The mountain city has a complex terrain. Although most of the houses collapsed in the earthquake, the city has three layers inside and three layers outside, three layers above and three layers below, and is no different from a maze.
Without a local to lead the way, Ninth Street was quite difficult to find. The one-hour journey took almost an hour and a half. Gu Mengran and Liang Zhao were sweating profusely, and there was no sign of Ninth Street.
Fortunately, they were lucky enough to meet a group of people holding shovels and other tools after walking for another ten minutes. The other party was very alert and surrounded them immediately when they saw that they were strangers, and asked them questions for a long time as if they were checking their household registration.
After Gu Mengran explained his purpose and mentioned the agreement with Brother Gang yesterday, the group gradually relaxed their vigilance. However, the other party did not take them directly to Jiu Street, but asked them to wait there and sent a short man back to confirm.
About ten minutes later, the man came back panting and whispered something in the team leader's ear. The team leader then pointed to another person in the crowd and took the two to Ninth Street.
It took ten minutes to go back and forth. Gu Mengran thought it would only take five minutes, but after walking for almost twenty minutes, the guide still showed no intention of stopping.
For safety reasons, why not take them to the base camp?
This is understandable. Gu Mengran was even relieved because the other party was wary.
After walking and stopping for more than half an hour, the guide led them through the ruins and streets, and a quiet and secluded city park with lush vegetation came into view.
Compared to the city where high-rise buildings collapsed and turned into ruins overnight, the situation in the park was much better. There were open lawns, lush trees, and quaint pavilions, and almost no building debris was visible.
But the green grass has turned yellow, the leaves have curled up, and no one is resting in the pavilion.
Not too far away, shortly after entering the park, Gu Mengran and Liang Zhao followed the man down the anti-slip ramp and came to a dark and quiet underground parking lot.
As soon as they entered the parking lot, a refreshing cool breeze swept over them from all directions. Gu Mengran exhaled a breath of hot air, sighing that they had finally arrived. Just as he was about to take out a flashlight from his bag to illuminate himself, the guide stomped his feet, and the voice-controlled light above his head lit up instantly.
The bright lights dispelled the darkness. Gu Mengran looked around and his pupils suddenly shrank.
It’s big, very big, an extremely large underground parking lot, the kind where it would take several minutes for your shout to echo back.
Unlike the empty parking lot before, this is clearly the garage on Ninth Street. There are almost no empty parking spaces in the entire parking lot, which is packed with cars.
Sedans, off-road vehicles, pickup trucks, excavators... basically all the car models on the market are available here, including the bus that Gu Mengran had been thinking about.
Gu Mengran was dazzled by the various cars and was stunned. At this moment, a hearty laugh came from deep in the garage, and a familiar yet unfamiliar male voice gradually approached with footsteps.
"Hahaha! You came today? How is it? There are a lot of cars here, right? Do you see anything you like?"
The man who came was none other than Gang Ge, wearing his standard flip-flops and an old man's vest. His biceps bulged high even without being covered by his tattoos. Although he was dressed casually and had a smile on his face, he always gave people a feeling of majesty without even being angry.
"Brother Gang." The man who led Gu Mengran and the others greeted them warmly.
Brother Gang walked over quickly and waved at the man, "You're sweating all over your forehead. Go in and drink some water and rest for a while. Don't rush up."
"Okay!"
The man turned and left. Gang Ge smiled and raised his chin towards Gu Mengran and Liang Zhao, "Would you like to go in and rest for a while too?"
Liang Zhao frowned, obviously wanting to refuse, but Gu Mengran spoke before he could, smiling and nodding, "Okay, I'm a little thirsty."
One car might be able to be negotiated in the parking lot, but four cars definitely can't. Since they are here, since the host invites them, they should sit down and have a good chat. Besides, Gu Mengran also wants to know what is hidden in this parking lot.
The person leading the way became Brother Gang. He introduced the two people as they walked, like a competent tour guide, telling them the history of the mountain city and the origin of the air-raid shelter in the mountain city.
Gu Mengran was not very interested at first. He just listened casually, saying "hmm" from time to time or asking a few simple questions to show politeness.
He walked directly to the end of the huge parking lot, passed through a narrow and dim corridor, and the open and bright arc-top air-raid shelter came into view. Only then did he truly feel the wisdom and greatness of the ancestors of the mountain city.
The air raid shelter is five meters high, almost the height of a two-story building. The arc top and walls are made of cement, and you can vaguely see the rusty steel bars. It is about six meters wide, and the ground is also smoothed with cement, which is as smooth as you can see.
At this moment, the six-meter-wide passage was compressed to two meters. On the left and right sides of the air-raid shelter, thick cardboard was pieced together to form irregular beds, which was a hard-earned place for people to live.
The people who disappeared on the ground appeared here. Some of them were slumped on the bed, fanning themselves, enjoying the rare leisure time, while others were staring at the ceiling with dull eyes, as if they have not yet come out of the grief of losing their loved ones.
There were many injured among them. Some had flushed faces and seemed to have suffered from heatstroke, while others were missing limbs. It was obvious that they were seriously injured in the earthquake but were lucky enough to escape.
There is no joy of surviving a disaster, and not everyone is looking forward to the future. Most people feel dull and depressed. Although there is order, despair is revealed everywhere.
At the end of the straight air-raid shelter, Gang Ge led them to turn right and walk into another air-raid shelter of similar size. This one was not yet fully occupied, only half of it was covered with thick cardboard, and at the end of the passage, a dazzling array of supplies were piled up like a mountain.
Surely it wasn’t the Nine Streets’ base camp, specifically used to store supplies?
Gu Mengran did not hide his curiosity and looked around all the way.
After walking a few meters into the air raid shelter, Gang found a cardboard bed and sat down. He smiled and patted the bed twice, then waved to the two of them enthusiastically, "Come and sit down. This place has just been cleaned up and no one lives here yet. It's clean."
He was already dirty enough with sweat, but Gu Mengran didn't care whether he was clean or not. He walked with Liang Zhao and sat down opposite Brother Gang.
Gu Mengran's curiosity was noticed by Brother Gang. Without waiting for him to ask, Brother Gang took the initiative to explain: "Didn't I just tell you that there is a group of air-raid shelters under Ninth Street? You can also imagine it as a spider web, with all the holes connected."
"This was originally part of the Jiujie air-raid shelter. Several holes collapsed during the earthquake, cutting off the road, leaving only these two holes. We didn't live here originally, but as more and more people came, it became too crowded, so we only cleaned this place up recently. It looks a bit shabby now, so we'll clean it up when more people come."
After saying this, Brother Gang laughed dryly a few times.
After hearing the last two sentences, Gu Mengran realized that Brother Gang was not answering his questions, but just wanted to emphasize that life in the real Jiu Street was good and not as simple as here.
Gu Mengran opened his lips slightly, deliberately showing surprise, "So that's how it is. So those people outside came to the air-raid shelter recently?"
"Yes, they are also from the mountain city. They survived outside for a while after the earthquake, until the temperature became higher and higher and they could not bear it anymore, so they came to the air-raid shelter." Brother Gang explained patiently.
No wonder he looked so depressed. Gu Mengran nodded to show that he understood, and then asked casually, "There are only two air-raid shelters left. Do you still plan to recruit more people? The more people there are, the more supplies will be consumed. Not everyone has the labor force."
Gang Ge's smile faded and his expression gradually became serious.
"The air-raid shelters were left by our ancestors in Shancheng. Every resident in Shancheng has the right to seek refuge. If supplies are gone, we can find new ones, we can plant crops, and if the air-raid shelters are full, there are underground parking lots. As long as people are still alive, there is always a glimmer of hope."
"You outsiders don't understand the unity of us mountain city people."
Gu Mengran was choked by him and smiled slightly to ease the embarrassment.
"We've gone off topic. Let's get down to business. What kind of car are you planning to buy?" Gang Ge said with a dry mouth. He looked around, took a half-finished bottle of mineral water from the bedside of the next bed, unscrewed the cap and drank it in one gulp.
The rough and untidy man seemed to have no intention of getting water for the guests. Gu Mengran silently took out two bottles of mineral water from his backpack and handed one to Brother Gang.
Brother Gang took the mineral water with a smile. The next second, Gu Mengran decisively said, "Brother Gang, we want four cars, two buses and two seven-seater commercial vehicles."
Gang Ge's hand holding the water trembled violently, and he subconsciously handed the bottle back to Gu Mengran.
Gu Mengran smiled and waved his hand, "It's just a bottle of water, not that serious."
Brother Gang didn't refuse anymore, but he always felt like he had taken on a hot potato.
He didn't agree or refuse immediately. After thinking for a while, he asked in confusion, "What do you need so many cars for? You said you have an old man, and there are only four of you including the kid from Emerald City. Do you think each of you will drive one?"
In fact, after entering the air-raid shelter, Gu Mengran's remaining doubts about Gang Ge were completely dispelled, and he could tell the truth. But it's better to be safe than sorry. After all, with so many children, Gu Mengran weighed it again and again and chose the lame excuse he had prepared in advance.
"The surface temperature is too high, and it's easy for the car to get a flat tire once it's on the road. And the air conditioner is prone to malfunction if it's turned on day and night, so we have to have a few more cars ready just in case."
Brother Gang frowned, staring at Gu Mengran without blinking, and suddenly sneered, "Your excuse is untenable! Even if I give you four cars, how would you prepare them? Drive one and put the other three in your pocket?"
"If four cars are on the road at the same time, there won't be a flat tire, or the air conditioner won't break down? Obviously that's impossible. You might as well ask me for a few spare tires."
Gu Mengran lowered his eyes, deliberately avoiding Gang Ge's sight, "It can be considered a gamble on luck. We bet that the tires of the four cars will not burst at the same time. There will always be one car that can make it to the next city. As for the air conditioner, we turn on the air conditioner when we drive during the day and only turn on the air conditioner of one car when we sleep at night. It shouldn't break down so quickly."
Even if Gu Mengran spared no effort to add, the credibility of this statement was still pitifully low. Gang Ge did not delve into it further, looking at Gu Mengran and asked: "Then why do you have to have a big car with many seats? Isn't off-roading more attractive?"
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