Chapter 7 Chapter 7 Weigh the anchor and leave the port! ...
*
"Hello? Gu Mengran, you little bastard, you actually dared to block my phone number. Where the hell have you been? I haven't seen you for a month, and now you know to call your dad?"
As soon as the phone was connected, a rough male voice mixed with obscenities came out like a machine gun.
The voice was so loud and harsh that Gu Mengran moved the phone closer to his ear. After the other end of the line finished talking and it got quieter, he slowly spoke, "You haven't made any progress in all these years. You keep repeating the same few sentences. You're suffering from your lack of education. You don't even know how to curse."
"You!" Gu Decheng on the other end of the phone was furious and yelled, "You little bastard, you've grown wings, haven't you? How dare you talk to your father like that!"
Gu Mengran snorted and laughed: "I haven't had time to ask you, you always say I'm a little bastard, then what are you? An old bastard? What is your precious little son? A little bastard?"
"Gu Mengran, you fucking￥&*#*@%#..."
The verbal attack lasted for nearly a minute. Gu Mengran rubbed his numb ears and interrupted him lightly: "You have become rich, your living standard has improved, but your quality has not kept up. No wonder people always say you are like a nouveau riche."
"Gu Decheng, when I treat you as a human being, can you please act like one? I didn't call you to listen to your nagging. I wanted to tell you—"
Gu Mengran stopped talking halfway through, deliberately whetting the audience's appetite.
Gu Decheng hated being called a nouveau riche, but after hearing the second half of Gu Mengran's words, he miraculously stopped cursing and asked sarcastically, "Tell me what? No money to spend?"
The voice was a little distorted through the receiver. Gu Mengran's shoulders trembled slightly and he smiled softly, "Gu Decheng, you must live well with your wife and children. I still want to see you again. I hope you won't be too embarrassed when we meet again."
"Are you crazy? What on earth do you want to—bleep—"
He ruthlessly hung up the phone and added the number to the blacklist. Gu Mengran seemed to have all his strength drained away in an instant, and lay on the railing of the ship, motionless.
Are you kidding? Are you trying to give Gu Decheng a reminder?
How was that possible? He wished Gu Decheng would die on the spot.
However, this phone call was really meaningless. Ridiculing Gu Decheng did not make him feel good. Instead, he was labeled as a villain for no reason, with a look of a smug villain.
"Oh!" Gu Mengran sighed and picked up the phone again.
I don't want to remind Gu Decheng, but I need to remind others. Gu Mengran opened the memo, copied the text edited a few days ago, and posted it on the forum.
A title that is too serious will not attract much attention, so he specially edited a title that is pretentious and easy to cause ridicule:
[I’m not going to pretend anymore, I’m actually the prophet, don’t pretend to know if you don’t, come in and listen to my analysis.]
The notification that the post was successfully posted flashed by, and Gu Mengran turned off his phone on the spot, pulled out the SIM card, and let it slip from his fingers into the bottomless river.
As he was about to leave the port, he was not afraid of being visited by others, and every possible reminder was a good one.
Disasters do not break out overnight. The chance to escape is often reserved for those who are prepared. Believe it or not, you have to judge for yourself. There is only so much he can do.
*
As the sky gradually brightened, a small diesel boat carrying four people penetrated the night, passed through the hazy mist, and slowly approached the Wind Wing.
Gu Mengran held a telescope in his hand, stood on the bow deck and waved to the diesel boat, then picked up the intercom: "Captain, the new captain is in place, and the crane is ready."
Five seconds later, the old man's deliberately low voice came through the intercom: "The cab received it, the crane is ready. Little ancestor, stop yelling, the law enforcement ship is probably coming soon."
"I got it." Gu Mengran had a cheerful face and a smile in his eyes.
Gu Mengran got up very early without any complaints and was more energetic than anyone else.
The reason is simple: today, the Feng Yi is leaving the port.
Driving a boat is not as simple as driving a car. It is not enough to just have a driver. It takes a lot of effort to set sail legally, especially for the Wind Wing.
The minimum safe manning for a Class I ship with a gross tonnage of 3,000 tons is five persons, including the captain, the first mate, the chief engineer, and two crew members. If the ship is sailing continuously for more than sixteen hours, a second mate is required.
Currently, there are only two official crew members on the Fengyi, and a retired captain who can only follow the ship as the shipowner. Therefore, Meng Gaoyang hired four other senior crew members who are certified but have less sailing experience.
Social order still exists and everything is done according to regulations.
In a blink of an eye, the diesel boat arrived safely. The crane lifted the diesel boat onto the Fengyi, and four senior crew members got off the boat one after another to participate in the "training" in the wheelhouse.
An hour later, the law enforcement ship arrived as expected.
Maritime law enforcement officers boarded the ship to inspect cargo, crew and fire protection.
It took three hours in total. After the law enforcement officers got off the boat and left, Meng Gaoyang took Gu Mengran to the open deck outside the cockpit.
The main engine of the Wind Wing started up, and the huge roar was deafening. The old captain stood on the deck and raised his arms and shouted. His deep voice covered the layers of noise and resounded through the sky.
"—weigh anchor!"
Emotions are contagious, and Gu Mengran also shouted: "Weigh anchor, let's leave the harbor!"
Figures began to appear one after another on other cargo ships anchored in the anchorage, and the crew members cast their eyes at them, perhaps thinking they were crazy for making such a big noise when leaving the port.
But only Gu Mengran knew how significant the departure of the Wind Wing was.
For at least three years, or at most a lifetime, they will be away from land and have no idea when they will return.
The river wind was howling, and the Fengyi was sailing steadily, heading to the next stop - Shaozhou Lock.
After the excitement wore off, Gu Mengran walked down the gangway from the second floor to the first floor, humming a little tune as he walked into the supermarket.
After not being there for one morning, the supermarket has changed a lot. The shelves are neatly arranged, and all kinds of food, condiments and daily necessities are classified and neatly stacked on the shelves.
Refrigerators and freezers, fresh fruit and vegetable counters, the hall that was empty not long ago now has the prototype of a supermarket.
When Gu Mengran walked in, Liang Zhao was carrying a bag of rice weighing 100 kilograms from the temporary warehouse at the back of the supermarket to the cash register next to the main entrance.
This was already the sixth bag. He was so tired that he was panting. His neat short hair was wet with sweat and casually lifted up. His smooth and full forehead was covered with sweat beads.
"Bang."
The rice bags overlapped with other rice bags on the ground and were stacked neatly together.
Liang Zhao exhaled a breath of hot air, lifted up his shirt and wiped the sweat off his face, then nodded to Gu Mengran, "How was it? Was it fun to raise the anchor?"
The tight and smooth abdominal muscles covered with a thin layer of sweat flashed before his eyes. Gu Mengran's pupils shrank slightly, and he was distracted for a moment, and didn't even hear what Liang Zhao said.
The river breeze brought up a wave of heat. Gu Mengran knew he had lost his composure, so he lowered his eyes and looked away. He took a bottle of water from the shelf and handed it to Liang Zhao, "Take a break. You look tired and sweaty. I asked you to be a crew member on the ship, not a laborer."
Liang Zhao caught the mineral water with one hand, unscrewed the cap and took a sip, then asked, "You haven't been on a ship much, have you? Ordinary crew members are basically coolies, doing all kinds of odd jobs."
After putting the mineral water on the freezer, Liang Zhao turned around and walked towards the warehouse.
"Liang Zhao." Gu Mengran called him, his expression extremely serious: "The Wind Wing is different. Here, you are not a coolie. Take it easy and do the work slowly. We are not really driving-"
In a few days, all the goods in the supermarket will have to be put away. Gu Mengran didn't want Liang Zhao to waste his energy on useless work, so he got excited and even thought about telling the whole truth.
But he quickly calmed down. Now was not the right time. He could get off the boat as soon as he could get on. He couldn't scare Liang Zhao away at the critical moment.
So, Gu Mengran changed his tone and said half-jokingly, "Don't think of yourself as an outsider, and don't think of yourself as a coolie. You are still my biggest creditor. You should think of Fengyi as your home."
"You're right." Liang Zhao didn't even turn his head and laughed softly, "Then shouldn't we work harder at home?"
Treat the company as home, the school as home, and the ship as...
Understanding the other meaning of these words, Gu Mengran hurriedly chased after him: "That's not what I meant, Liang Zhao, wait for me!"
If you can't persuade them, just move together. Just consider it as exercise.
Gu Mengran pushed his hair back and followed Liang Zhao into the temporary warehouse.
The warehouse was in a mess, with rice, flour, oil and grain piled up into small hills. Liang Zhao stopped beside a pile of rice, held the rice bag with both hands, exerted force with his upper arms, and raised his developed biceps high. Then he easily carried a bag of rice weighing 100 kilograms on his shoulders.
Liang Zhao's relaxed appearance gave Gu Mengran the illusion that he could do it too. He followed suit, completely forgetting that he hardly exercised and that a bag of rice weighs 100 kilograms.
When the rice bag was hanging in the air and Gu Mengran couldn't hold it up even with all his might, he finally realized the seriousness of the problem. But it was too late. Dozens of bags of rice were stacked together as high as half a person. He couldn't hold it up, and he couldn't put it back.
"Liang, Liang Zhao."
The rice bag was so heavy that Gu Mengran's arms trembled and his face turned red. He subconsciously looked for help, but when he turned around, he saw that Liang Zhao, who was only focused on his work, had already disappeared at the end of the corridor.
This is the end! Gu Mengran took a deep breath, held the rice bag tightly with both arms, bent his knees, and tried to push the rice bag down little by little by pushing against the other bags.
One hundred pounds, one hundred pounds. With just two hands, there was no fulcrum. It was difficult for Gu Mengran, who weighed fifty pounds, to move at all.
The rice bag was still one meter off the ground, and Gu Mengran's fingers, which had turned white from exerting too much force, suddenly lost their strength. The rice bag suddenly slid down, and he was worried that he would be knocked down and pressed on his chest and knees. His desire to survive made him push forward with all his strength.
It was with this blow that the rice bag brushed past Gu Mengran's knees and fell heavily to the ground.
The next moment, a shrill wail broke the original tranquility of the warehouse.
I wasn’t knocked down, and my chest and knees weren’t crushed, but my feet were crushed by the rice bag!!!
Following his grandfather’s good habits, Gu Mengran wore slippers.
The rice bag weighing hundreds of pounds fell vertically and hit the toes of his right foot hard. The piercing pain suddenly hit Gu Mengran. His legs went limp, his body leaned back uncontrollably, and he sat down on the ground.
In fact, the pain was still within the tolerable range, but it was his right foot that was injured. Gu Mengran felt a black screen in front of his eyes, and in a trance he returned to the day when his right leg was crushed by the propeller.
Cold sweat slid down Gu Mengran's temples and his chest heaved violently, as if an invisible hand was strangling his throat. He exhaled more than inhaled, and breathing became particularly difficult.
A strong feeling of suffocation wrapped him tightly, and Gu Mengran's eyelids became heavier and heavier. Just when he was about to lose consciousness, as usual, a warm and dry hand gently supported his shoulders.
"Gu Mengran, what's wrong with you? Where are you injured?"
The cold voice gradually overlapped with the previous life——
"Don't be afraid, Meng Ran. I'm here."
"Don't worry about me, Liang Zhao. I'm already a useless person. I can't let you take care of me for the rest of my life."
"I, I am willing."
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