Chapter 76 Chapter 76 Ship Repair
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There was no rush to complete the deception plan, Gu Mengran needed to take it slow.
To thank the Dog-Headed Military Advisor for his help, Gu Mengran opened the last door to him and took him to the space to farm for three full days.
At first, Zheng Yijie found it novel and wanted to spend the whole day in the space.
But after three days of planting, Zheng Yijie was so tired that he couldn't even lift his hands, and angrily scolded Gu Mengran for repaying kindness with enmity.
After three days of hard work, in addition to the cabbage, radish, and sweet potato that Liang Zhao and I had planted before, there were also potatoes, leeks, and lettuce in the space. Most importantly, Gu Mengran led the coolies to dig a small ditch with their bare hands, which made watering much easier in the future.
Before they knew it, they had spent six nights peacefully in Fengjin Lake. In just one more day, the "isolation" would be over. Who knew if the owner of this place would show up again?
After tossing and turning in bed for an hour, Gu Mengran stretched himself and climbed out of bed resigned to his fate. Without washing up right away, he walked slowly to the window and opened the curtains with a "swish".
The endless rainstorm finally turned into continuous drizzle today. The mist lingering on the lake gradually faded away, and the mountains in the distance were clearly visible. The annoying noise also weakened significantly, and the drizzle hitting the tarpaulin was like a lullaby.
After standing by the window for a few minutes, Gu Mengran immediately thought about what he should do today. He picked up a set of clothes from the closet to change into, quickly washed up, opened the door, and walked happily towards the restaurant.
It was a little after nine in the morning and Gu Mengran thought he had gotten up relatively early. But when he arrived at the restaurant, the old man and Liang Zhao had already finished their breakfast and were sitting on the sofa in the living room watching TV.
I have been working in the fields from dawn to dusk these days and have basically not met my grandfather and Liang Zhao. When they saw him walking out of the corridor, the two people on the sofa looked at him at the same time.
Especially the old man, he glanced at Gu Mengran, and gave Liang Zhao a look that he thought was hidden. Then Liang Zhao, who was sitting on the sofa, leaned forward, obviously intending to get up.
Without giving him the chance, before Liang Zhao walked towards him, Gu Mengran walked into the kitchen without saying a word and finished his breakfast in the kitchen at the speed of light.
First suppress him and then praise him, leaving him alone.
No more than five minutes after entering and leaving the house, Gu Mengran wiped his mouth and left, leaving behind the dumbfounded old man and a distraught Liang Zhao.
"Knock, knock, knock, get up, Zheng Yijie, it's time to work!"
Gu Mengran returned to the door of Zheng Yiji's room and knocked on the door politely.
There was no response from inside the door. Gu Mengran turned the doorknob and pushed the door open. He didn't see anyone, but only a tightly wrapped, very large silkworm pupa on the bed.
Without saying a word, Gu Mengran walked forward and lifted the quilt.
After trying to lift it but it didn't move, he slapped the bulge and snorted, "Let go, stop pretending, and get up quickly."
When he opened his eyes, he was farming again. Zheng Yijie wrapped himself in a quilt and pretended to be dead.
Unexpectedly, the next second, another heavy slap landed on his back. He grimaced and gasped, begging for mercy through the quilt pitifully: "Let me go, brother! It's been three days, can you let me rest for a day?"
"Not today, it's a rare drizzle, hurry up, I have something important to do."
"Business, business. Business every day! I don't!"
Too lazy to continue bargaining with him, Gu Mengran kicked off his slippers, climbed onto the bed and started peeling onions. The short Zheng Yijie was no match for him, and was pulled out of the quilt by Gu Mengran in less than two minutes.
Not leaving the bed was the final bottom line. Zheng Yijie desperately clung to the edge of the bed, staring at him with dark circles under his eyes, "Do you really have to torture me alone? Can you go find your Liang Zhao?"
Gu Mengran put on his slippers and got off the bed. He put Zheng Yijie's quilt on the chair next to him, turned his head and raised his chin towards him, "I'm not kidding you. While it's not raining today, we have to go out and fix those deep holes on the outer panels."
"Why didn't you tell me such an important thing earlier?" Zheng Yijie sat up from the bed and rubbed his hair with his hands. "The Wind Wing really needs to be repaired quickly, but how long will it take for the two of us to finish repairing it? Why don't we ask your Liang Zhao to help?"
Gu Mengran was stunned for a moment, "My Liang Zhao——"
Speak of the devil, here he appears. Just as Gu Mengran said the words "Liang Zhao" the half-closed door was suddenly pushed open, and a tall figure stood in the dim corridor.
Although he couldn't see his face clearly because of the backlight, Gu Mengran inexplicably felt that he was a little aggrieved.
I don't know how long I stood at the door and listened. The two people in the room didn't say anything. Liang Zhao took two steps forward, looked at Gu Mengran and said, "I want to go too. Maybe it will rain heavily tomorrow. We should take advantage of today to fix it all at once."
"Yes, yes, yes." Zheng Yiji quickly nodded in agreement.
Gu Mengran smiled without saying anything and silently took out three raincoats from the space.
The Fengyi was hit several times, and the outer plates on both sides were dented in many places. The first full-force impact was the most serious, and the outer plate, which was originally slightly curved, was directly hit into a "steel basin" three meters wide and more than one meter deep.
Fortunately, the outer plate was not damaged and only needed to be repaired with tools. Gu Mengran had prepared for a rainy day and had already prepared a hydraulic tensioner specifically for repairing the outer plate.
But the problem is that the stretcher is expensive and Gu Mengran only has one.
The drizzle continued to fall. The three men came to the open deck wearing raincoats and lowered the escape ladder along the concave position of the outer plate.
Determined to be the first to try something new, Gu Mengran ignored Liang Zhao's dissuasion, put on a wearable safety rope over his raincoat, and walked down the ladder little by little.
Everything went smoothly at the beginning. Gu Mengran staggered to the designated location. Zheng Yiji and Liang Zhao used a cable to lower the tensioner and handed it to him.
The moment he received the stretcher, he regretted it, because although the thing was not big, it was very heavy. It was okay to carry it on flat ground, but holding a piece of iron weighing dozens of kilograms in the air, his arms became sore after a while.
Once the arrow is shot, there is no turning back. Gu Mengran gritted his teeth and stayed in the air for half an hour, barely repairing a few small holes that were not very obvious. Finally, he climbed up the ladder, and his hands were so sore that he almost couldn't hold the ladder.
Without mentioning being tired, Gu Mengran just said that the efficiency was too low when he returned to the deck. He then immediately took out his walkie-talkie to contact the old man and asked him to go to the cab to operate the crane to cooperate with the repairs.
The mechanical arm lowered the diesel boat, and Zheng Yijie, who took the second baton, successfully stayed in the air for an hour. The last contestant to appear, Liang Zhao, seemed to be competing with Zheng Yijie, and refused to come up until one side of the outer panel was completely repaired.
It was tiring and time-consuming, and it was almost dark when we finished repairing one side of the deck.
No one knew what the weather would be like tomorrow, so the three of them hurried to the other side while the rain was light.
The other side was much more convenient, and the crane didn't even need to be used. Because it was right next to Heng Rong Sheng 2, which was carrying more cargo and much shorter than Feng Yi, it just missed the dents on the hull, and you could operate it directly by standing on its deck.
And... there are also enthusiastic neighbors here.
Perhaps because they saw that the three people were in a very awkward situation repairing the boat in the rain, as they had just arrived and had not even repaired one hole, Xu Xingran and Xu Xinghe came out in raincoats and decisively rolled up their sleeves to help.
Being too tired, Gu Mengran did not refuse their kindness, but quietly stepped aside and used the intercom to contact the old man in the house, asking him to prepare a few more dishes and treat the siblings to dinner in the evening to express his gratitude.
The old man agreed quickly, and Gu Mengran didn't react for a while, so he didn't remind him deliberately. When he walked back to the crowd, he realized that cooking requires caution, and it is best not to serve dishes that should not be served.
Being pestered by Xu Xinghe, the community leader, Gu Mengran never found another chance to remind the old man. He worked with a group of people until nine o'clock in the evening. It was estimated that other people's homes were not cooking, so he could only bite the bullet and invite the siblings to dinner.
Xu Xingran was quite polite. He waved his hands when he heard this. "No, no, we didn't help much. We just came to join in the fun. Xu Yuan is probably cooking in the house. We can just go back and eat."
Before Gu Mengran could say anything, Zheng Yijie, with sweat on his forehead, came over and said, "Sister, call your sister along. We've lived together for such a long time and haven't had a meal together yet. Let's go, let's just have a get-together."
"Sister, it's hard to refuse your kindness! I'll go call Xu Yuan, and we'll go over and have a gathering together?" Xu Xinghe loved to join in the fun, and had been itching to do so, so he fanned the flames.
Unable to resist the two people's repeated persuasion, Xu Xingran finally nodded and looked at Gu Mengran embarrassedly, "Then, thank you for your help."
"It's no trouble, no trouble." Gu Mengran said with a smile.
I hope grandpa knows what's going on! Gu Mengran couldn't help but get nervous.
After nervously leading the guest in, Gu Mengran finally felt relieved.
The old man had some knowledge, but not much. He put away all the things that shouldn't be in the living room, such as the fresh fruits, milk and bread on the coffee table. But the restaurant was full of dishes, including fried crispy meat, sweet and sour spare ribs, and cola chicken wings...
As Gu Mengran walked into the restaurant, his vision went dark again and again, while the Xu brothers and sisters who followed behind him stared at each other with shock and disbelief written all over their faces.
The aroma filled his nose. Xu Xinghe pointed to the dining table with a trembling hand. He turned his head with difficulty to look at Gu Mengran, and hesitantly said, "What's going on, Brother Gu? How come you still have meat?"
Gu Mengran: ...I haven’t figured out how to edit it yet.
Just when he was at a loss of what to do, the old man came out of the aisle holding a box of beer and greeted the guests, "Come on, why are you still standing there? Sit down and eat, or the food will get cold soon."
Curiosity overcame appetite, and no one sat down. The Xu siblings turned to the old man with puzzled looks.
The old man put the beer under the corner of the table, looked up and saw everyone staring at him, frowned slightly, "What's wrong? Is the food not to your liking?"
"No, no." Xu Xinghe waved his hands and quickly explained: "I'm just curious, why do you still have these vegetables, Grandpa Meng?"
Meng Gaoyang glanced at the table, pretended to be enlightened, and laughed: "Hey, what's so strange about this? Our Fengyi used to be a supermarket ship, selling vegetables and meat."
"After the earthquake, I froze the fresh meat. We are pretty frugal, and we have several large freezers in our warehouse. We still have some chicken wings, chicken legs, shrimp dumplings, and fish balls. You can take a few bags when you go back later."
"No, no," Xu Xinghe waved his hands and turned his eyes to the plate of Kung Pao Chicken and stir-fried lettuce on the table, "What about these vegetables, Grandpa Meng? Can lettuce and lettuce be frozen for so long?"
The old man remained calm and said, "Oh, those are pre-prepared dishes."
Pre-prepared food? Pre-prepared food can be presented like this? This lettuce is so fresh, as if it was just picked from the field, okay? Xu Xinghe hesitated to speak, he had already asked several questions. It would be very rude to ask more questions when someone kindly invited him to dinner.
The old man seemed to have guessed what he was thinking. He raised his chin and shook his head helplessly, saying, "My Meng Ran doesn't like the food I cook. He only likes takeout. We can't order takeout on the ship, so I can only buy him some pre-prepared dishes, and I only buy the expensive ones."
"I have to say, this expensive one is different. I heard it uses some unique freshness-locking technology. I heated it up and poured it out of the bag. It turned out better than freshly fried ones."
Xu Xinghe suddenly realized, "So that's how it is, I knew it."
"Sit down, sit down, and eat!"
"What a sumptuous meal, thank you, Grandpa Meng."
"You're welcome, pick up some food."
"Wow, Grandpa Meng's cooking skills are so good, but Brother Gu doesn't like it?"
Gu Mengran, whose reputation was damaged: ...
Just halfway through the meal, a short whistle sounded suddenly from the lake.
The others seemed a little confused and were startled by the sudden noise, but Gu Mengran guessed that his eldest brother had come, so he put down his chopsticks, put on his raincoat, and hurried out the door.
Liang Zhao was worried, so he followed him out. The two of them stood on the open deck on the side, watching the pointed white boat getting closer and closer until it approached the outer board of the Fengyi.
The rain was not heavy, so the other party no longer used the loudspeaker to communicate.
After the speedboat came to a stop, a short, unusually fat man wearing a dark raincoat came out and craned his neck to look at the deck. "Hey, how's it going on your boat these days? Is anyone having a fever or a rash?"
Perhaps it's the fat pressing on the vocal cords that makes the man's voice sound very harmless, even a little gentle.
It was one of the ones that night, Gu Mengran recognized it.
The distance was very close, one high and one low. Gu Mengran leaned on the guardrail and shook his head, "No, you should be able to see that we are all fine and healthy."
The man squinted his eyes and looked them over. "Well, have you thought about it?"
"What have you thought about?" Gu Mengran didn't understand and asked back.
"Leave, or join us?"
Leave or join? Gu Mengran was stunned for a moment, then said in a gentle voice, "Must we join you? We just plan to stay here for a while and leave after a while."
"No, no!" The man raised his voice, but said without confidence: "This, this is our territory, and only our people can stay here."
Gu Mengran: "What are the benefits of joining you?"
"If you work, you will be fed. You won't be left hungry."
"What if you don't join?"
"Please leave now!"
The more Gu Mengran listened, the more strange it seemed to him. Seven days ago, they were worried that they might be carrying the virus, but they didn't chase them away. They even sent them food. But after they had been isolated for seven days and it was confirmed that there was no risk, they started to chase them away.
There are two possibilities. One is that something unexpected happened in the past few days, and there may be other outsiders pouring into Fengjin Lake; the other is that they are short of manpower and want to use this method to attract people.
No matter what, it was impossible to leave. Gu Mengran didn't want to continue sailing in the rain after he had just stabilized. But a strong dragon could not defeat a local snake, so he couldn't directly conflict with the other party. He had to find out the real situation here as soon as possible.
After thinking for a moment, Gu Mengran looked down at the man again and said with difficulty: "Brother, I also want to join you. In fact, we are almost out of food and really want to find something to eat. But we don't even know what your situation is. You just said that you won't starve, what if..."
"It's simple. You can follow me to the shore right now." Xiao Pang patted his chest in the rain. "The environment here is very good. There is food and drink. I guarantee that you won't want to leave once you get ashore."
"It's too late now. How about you give us another night to think about it? Tomorrow?"
"Okay, I'll pick you up tomorrow morning."
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