Chapter 9 Chapter 9 Countdown
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The person is right in front of you, it would be rude to pretend you don’t see him!
Gu Mengran turned around and smiled dryly, "Good morning, Liang Zhao."
Liang Zhao had just woken up, feeling lazy and listless.
He stood behind Gu Mengran, his eyes slightly drooping with deep weariness, and his nose moved slightly, "It smells so good, are you stewing meat?"
"Well, it's just been braised," Gu Mengran nodded and headed for the kitchen. "Oh, look at my memory. I almost forgot to add salt. I'll--"
"Let me do it. Your injury hasn't healed yet, so try to move less." Liang Zhao opened the kitchen sliding door with one hand and walked into the kitchen before him.
Gu Mengran: ...
Gu Mengran watched Liang Zhao put a large spoonful of salt into each pot. Hmm... I hope the braised meat tonight won’t be too salty.
After helping, the enthusiastic crowd still had no intention of leaving. He followed Gu Mengran to the sofa in the living room, neither saying a word nor leaving. He frowned slightly and looked at Gu Mengran without blinking.
"What, what's wrong?" Gu Mengran felt uncomfortable when he was stared at, and subconsciously reached out to touch his cheek, "Is there something on my face?"
"No." Liang Zhao shook his head and slowly looked away, "That day——"
That day, it’s that day again, bringing up everything!
Before Liang Zhao could finish, Gu Mengran interrupted him in a panic: "I fainted that day and lost consciousness! The last person I saw was you, so, so... I didn't let you go because I wanted your help. You know the desire to survive, right?"
Liang Zhao didn't expect such a big reaction from him. His slightly frowned brows relaxed, a hint of slight surprise flashed in his eyes, and then he smiled softly.
"What are you laughing at?" Gu Mengran blinked blankly.
Liang Zhao smiled and said calmly, "I heard from Grandpa Meng that you fainted that day due to low blood sugar. Are you feeling better now?"
"Oh, this is better, much better." Gu Mengran said guiltily.
Gu Mengran thought it was just a simple concern, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Unexpectedly, the next second, Liang Zhao changed the subject and said calmly: "After leaving school, I lost contact with my old classmates, but this morning, I contacted Zheng Yifei."
A huge rock was thrown into the calm lake, splashing water and creating ripples.
This day was not that day. Gu Mengran understood. The day Liang Zhao was talking about was the day they met again.
What does Liang Zhao’s contact with Zheng Yifei mean?
This means that he knew that the news about his sailing career was not told to him by Zheng Yifei.
How to explain the lie that was exposed on its own? Gu Mengran's mind went blank.
Liang Zhao saw Gu Mengran's hesitation and panic. He was obviously in the upper hand and held the initiative, but his brows furrowed and a trace of imperceptible regret flashed in his eyes.
Liang Zhao had hardly slept the entire day and thought a lot, but still couldn't figure it out.
But no matter what, no matter what the reason, he didn't want to disturb this moment of peace that he had been dreaming of. As a person with nothing, what else was there worth pursuing?
"I just ask one question." Suppressing the surging emotions in his heart, Liang Zhao looked up at Gu Mengran.
Knowing that he couldn't avoid it, Gu Mengran uttered "hmm" vaguely.
What would he ask? Why did he lie to him, why did he bring him aboard, why—
"Before we meet again, do you still remember me?"
A completely unexpected question, or even an irrelevant one. But Liang Zhao met Gu Mengran's gaze with a serious expression and tone, as if he was eager to confirm something.
Gu Mengran widened his eyes, and a hint of unnaturalness flashed in his eyes.
After a brief silence, Gu Mengran seemed to have figured it out. He shrugged nonchalantly, raised the corners of his mouth slightly, and responded to Liang Zhao with particular certainty: "Of course I remember, otherwise why would I ask you to come to the Phoenix Wing?"
It was visible to the naked eye that Liang Zhao's tense body gradually relaxed.
"Liang Zhao." Gu Mengran moved aside, reached out and gently patted Liang Zhao's shoulder, and said seriously: "I know you have a lot of questions in your mind. But I can't explain it to you now. Can you give me two more days? Trust me once."
"I don't disbelieve you, I just..."
Liang Zhao lowered his eyes and looked away, whispering softly, "Curiosity."
"What are you curious about?" Gu Mengran tilted his head to look at him.
Liang Zhao pursed his lips and chuckled, then pointed to the kitchen, "Your braised meat."
“Oh no!”
The braised meat in the evening was still a bit salty. In the early morning, Gu Mengran and Liang Zhao were waiting in the cab to pass the lock. They were extremely thirsty. One of them drank no less than five glasses of water, and then... they ran to the toilet frantically.
At 1 a.m., Meng Gaoyang also woke up and walked into the cab yawning.
"Grandpa Meng."
Seeing Meng Gaoyang coming in from the corner of his eye, Liang Zhao immediately stood up from the captain's chair. However, just when he was halfway up, Meng Gaoyang pressed Liang Zhao's shoulders and pushed him back to the chair, "Sit down, I just want to take a look."
They were almost at the gate. Gu Mengran was standing in front of the driving platform, his face pressed against the glass, watching with great interest. He realized that his grandfather had come when he heard the voice. He turned around suddenly and asked in surprise, "Grandpa, why are you here? Are you awake?"
The old man walked around the driving platform and walked towards Gu Mengran, raised his eyebrows slightly, and smiled evilly, "It's time to pass the gate. I was worried about you two young boys, so I came to take a look. I didn't mean to disturb you two-"
"Grandpa!" Gu Mengran's face suddenly changed. He took two steps at a time, rushed forward and covered his grandfather's mouth with his hands.
The old man is really outspoken, he almost...
Gu Mengran subconsciously glanced at Liang Zhao, and happened to meet Liang Zhao's puzzled gaze. He grinned to ease the embarrassment, and hurriedly pulled his grandfather back to the corner of the dashboard.
"Grandpa, I beg you not to talk nonsense. It makes Liang Zhao and I so embarrassed when you say that!" Gu Mengran deliberately lowered his voice and complained in a whisper.
The old man knew he had said something wrong, so he raised his hand and touched the back of his head, pretending to say, "Haha, the braised meat tonight is really salty, and my mouth is dry."
"Grandpa Meng, there is water here."
"Oh, that's perfect. I'm dying of thirst."
As soon as Liang Zhao opened his mouth, the old man slid to the driving platform like a loach. Gu Mengran had no choice but to glare at his grandfather angrily.
At 1:30 in the morning, Feng Yi was in the lead and slowly approached the gate.
From a distance, the gate looked like just a slightly larger door, but as the distance got shorter, the towering gate came into view. Gu Mengran opened his eyes wide and almost forgot to breathe.
The gate is towering into the clouds, with no end in sight, like a steel beast lurking in the Huangjiang River. One cannot help but be impressed by this great project.
Shaozhou Lock is a three-level lock with a total of three gates.
The channel ahead was cleared, the miter gate slowly opened, and the Fengyi and three other cargo ships entered the first pilot channel.
The pilot channel is equivalent to an uncovered rectangular box, with water underneath, herringbone gates in front and back, and unbreakable high walls on the left and right sides.
All the ships entered the pilot channel and stopped steadily in the channel. The first-level gate behind them slowly closed. Gu Mengran knew without his grandfather's special explanation that the pilot channel was about to be filled with water.
There is a certain difference in water level from downstream to upstream, and the purpose of the existence of ship locks is to solve this problem and effectively control the large difference in water levels between upstream and downstream.
After one hour of water injection, the water level of the first-level lock rose from the original 70 meters to 94 meters, a full 24 meters in height.
Then it passed the second and third levels until the water level in the pilot channel reached the same level as the upstream river surface. The last gate was opened wide and the Fengyi began to slowly exit the gate.
The gate-passing process took three hours, and Gu Mengran watched it from beginning to end.
He did not feel tired at all and was even particularly excited to witness the magnificent man-made engineering project.
Unfortunately, in the near future, this great human project and the mother river that nurtures mankind will eventually disappear in the long river of history.
He slept until noon. When Gu Mengran got up, the four retirement crew members had already taken the money and left.
When people are on the boat, they have no sense of existence. Once they leave, there are only three people left on the huge Fengyi, making it seem exceptionally quiet and empty.
The yellow fog had a great impact, and visibility dropped significantly, slowing down the speed of ships. The ship that was supposed to pass through Shaozhou Lock yesterday morning was delayed until early this morning, and there was less than a day left before the disaster that changed the course of human history.
The impending disaster was like a huge rock pressing on his chest. Gu Mengran was in a bad mood. He came out of the bedroom and sat alone in the living room in a daze. It was 1 o'clock in the afternoon and the pot was still not hot.
The old man was driving the boat in the cabin. He seemed to be very hungry. His voice kept coming from the intercom, and he kept cursing for nearly ten minutes. Only then did Gu Mengran reluctantly walk towards the kitchen.
When the cook is not in a good mood, just eat whatever is available.
Cut the leftover braised pork head and beef from last night into a plate each, and cut a plate of kelp and bean curd, and there are also vegetarian dishes. Heat the meat and vegetables in a steamer, cook rice in a rice cooker, and a simple lunch is done.
When the food was brought into the cab, the old man was so hungry that he couldn't even curse.
But when he saw that it was the leftovers from last night, his mouth immediately shrank and he said with disgust, "Why is it braised pork again?"
Gu Mengran was absent-minded and said perfunctorily: "Just make do with it. It was you, Grandpa, who asked for the braised meat."
Meng Gaoyang: "You can't eat it every meal, right? You've already eaten three meals! Where's your enthusiasm from the past few days? You cooked in different ways a few days ago, but these past two days, you've been eating leftovers."
"There are no leftovers for every meal. It's just one day, so we have to make do with what we have."
Gu Mengran was talking to his grandfather, but his mind was elsewhere. He slowly walked to the front of the control panel, looking at the increasingly thick yellow fog on the river, his brows knitted tightly.
The chatterbox suddenly stopped talking, and he seemed to be worried. The old man finally realized something was wrong and looked at him from a distance while sitting in the driving seat. "What's wrong? Did you have a fight with Xiao Liang? Why are you looking so sad?"
As soon as these words came out, the gloomy-faced Gu Mengran was instantly amused and turned to look at his grandfather, "It's endless, isn't it? You can always blame Liang Zhao for everything."
"Who told you to feed me leftovers every day?" The old man picked up the bowl, picked up a piece of braised meat and put it into his mouth, complaining while eating.
Gu Mengran didn't respond. The smile on his face disappeared in an instant. He looked at the river and sighed softly, "Grandpa, do you remember what day tomorrow is?"
"Tomorrow? Ah, the end of the world!"
“…It’s not that exaggerated.”
Meng Gaoyang buried his head in his food, puffing his cheeks and saying, "Almost. According to what you said, what's the difference between this and the end of the world?"
"Then why are you eating so happily?" Gu Mengran teased softly.
The old man ate more vigorously after hearing this. "It's going to rain and my mother is going to get married. Some things are destined to be unchangeable. Your grandpa's hunger can't block the crater of the volcano. Just eat and drink. What else can you do?"
"That's the truth." Gu Mengran crossed his arms, a trace of confusion flashed in his eyes, "But grandpa, you... aren't you afraid?"
"What's the point of being afraid?" The braised meat was too salty. The old man took a sip of water and smacked his lips, saying, "We have done what we should do and prepared what we should prepare. Let's just leave it to fate. Besides, there are no active volcanoes in Yuntian and Shaozhou, so it's relatively safe. We just need to survive that wave of earthquakes."
A wave of earthquakes...
It was not easy to survive that earthquake. The river was not safe, and the land was even less safe. Even with sufficient preparations, Gu Mengran was still not sure whether he could keep his grandfather and Liang Zhao alive.
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