Chapter 134 Inn
Shu Fu stood at the door of the vacant double room on the second floor and reached out to turn the doorknob, but failed. The room was still unlocked.
She thought about it, then switched to her left hand. When she turned the doorknob, the matte silver bracelet on her wrist, which was invisible to others, moved closer to the door lock. With a "click" sound, the door lock was unlocked, and she successfully opened the room.
At the same time, the electronic screen that Lu Ce was checking showed that Room 203 had been checked in and the occupant was Shu Fu.
But soon, Shu Fu's name disappeared from 203, and 203 was shown as vacant again, while 204 showed that the occupant was Shu Fu.
"Wow, that's amazing!" Lu Ce exclaimed. Just as the electronic voice on the redemption machine described, Shu Fu could choose any vacant room and stay in it.
Shu Fu ran up and down the stairs and soon discovered that her bracelet could be used to swipe open the doors of all the vacant rooms. It turned out that this bracelet was also a master key!
Of course, she couldn't open the doors of occupied rooms, such as Lu Zheng and Lu Ce's residence on the second floor, or the doors of rooms where other guests had checked in. It seemed that although she had high authority on these rafts with upgraded suits, she still had a bottom line.
She felt that this was just right. After all, she didn't want to become an unscrupulous person.
She returned to the first floor and told Lu Zheng and Lu Ce that she wanted to try whether the friends who had already checked in would still be excluded by the protective shield. This was a very important experiment, after all, the protective shield was the raft's biggest umbrella.
Lu Ce then clicked on the electronic screen and called up a broadcast announcement function, telling everyone in the entire building to be ready. It would be best to take off cumbersome outer clothes and be prepared for the possibility of falling into the water.
A moment later, Shu Fu opened the protective shield, and the heavy rain that had originally fallen on the raft was instantly isolated by the protective shield, while the small building of the inn remained quiet.
The door on the corridor on the first floor opened, Xu Tingfeng walked out and asked when it would start.
"It's over." Shu Fu looked at the friends who came in from other rooms and downstairs, and said with a smile, "Congratulations, everyone, you have officially become part of the raft."
**
Because the hotel had electricity, after all the friends had settled down, Lu Zheng planned to solve the water problem as well.
Shu Fu was curious and followed him to the top floor.
Lu Zheng placed an extra-large folding bucket near a water tank. This bucket was even larger than the one Shu Fu had given him. It had a diameter of about 1.5 meters and a height of nearly 1.5 meters. It was estimated that it could hold two and a half tons of water. There was also a matching rainproof curtain at the mouth of the bucket, and there was an interface on one side of the curtain.
He took out the water purifier and the matching tools he made from the backpack compartment, and quickly fixed the water purifier to the edge of the barrel mouth. Then he zipped up the waterproof curtain on the barrel mouth, opened the water inlet above the water purifier, and asked Shu Fu to reopen the protective cover.
Shu Fu held up an umbrella and quickly closed the protective cover. Without the isolation of the protective cover, heavy rain fell on the raft and the terrace again. The rainwater quickly flowed in through the water inlet of the filter, and then passed through the filter, becoming completely clean water and automatically stored in the folding bucket.
This is how they used to increase their daily water consumption in Chamu County.
It is now more convenient. When the water bucket is almost full, you just need to operate on the display screen of the water tank next to it, and the clean water will be stored in the hotel's water tank. After that, the guests in the hotel can use tap water through the water tank!
This method is easier than Shu Fu imagined.
"The water in the hotel's water tanks can be adjusted to supply water at different time periods. It is also tap water, so it is much more convenient to use water than when we lived in Chamu County. Fill up these two water tanks as soon as possible, and 20 tons of water can be used for a long time. However, I will have to trouble you to close the protective shield for a few hours every day in the future—" Lu Zheng paused, and then said: "On the premise of not affecting you and Yao Ruoyun's family as much as possible."
"Okay." Shu Fu nodded. "The shield will automatically open in extreme catastrophic weather. In other cases, as long as the wind and rain are not too strong, the waters where the raft is located are uninhabited, and it is daytime, I will open the shield."
"Well, you decide." In Lu Zheng's opinion, it was already very good to be able to store water for one or two hours every day. After all, everyone was very frugal with water now. Even the two big guys knew that a basin of water should be used to wash the face first, then wash the feet, and finally flush the toilet...
Before Shufu left, he said to Lu Zheng and Lu Ce, "Today is special because we are having a dinner together. At six o'clock, I will open the protective cover again so that we can have a barbecue outdoors. Remember to come to the back deck and prepare the tables and chairs, and wait for me to come out and set the dishes."
"Great!" Lu Ce clapped excitedly. It was unclear whether he was happy to see the super large and luxurious villa again, or to have the pleasure of having a barbecue with everyone.
When he was in Cham County, he was happiest when he lived on the ranch. The hay warehouse there was so big that it could accommodate the rafts of Lu Zheng and Chen Fa at the same time. Everyone could live a fulfilling life while avoiding the sight of the outside world.
But after the blizzard, they moved out and went to a shelter in the county. The space there was too small and there was almost no privacy. Not to mention placing a raft, even if they wanted to have an occasional meal, they had to do it secretly and try not to eat food with strong odors.
Food like barbecue could be prepared for several meals by putting together the items in their backpacks, but they just couldn't eat it because the smell was too strong.
Having a barbecue in a crowded shelter? That's just unthinkable!
Lu Ce didn't want Shu Fu to think that his excitement and cheering at the moment were for the delicious food in her place, so after clapping, he said that his elder brother also had a lot of mutton in his backpack. The mutton in Chamu County was especially delicious, so they would take it out and process it later, cut it into pieces, marinate it, and then skewer it and grill it!
Shu Fu could tell what he was thinking. He seemed to have taken Xu Jiechu's words seriously. She smiled at Lu Ce again and said, "Well, I know you guys have food too, and you're willing to share. But today's meal is for you, so the owner of the Drifting Island House is treating. You guys just enjoy your meal today. Next time when you prepare a barbecue, can you invite me over to eat?"
Of course, Lu Ce knew that Shu Fu said this entirely for his own sake. He had also grown up and could understand the good intentions in other people's words, so he did not insist. At the same time, he secretly decided that if Xu Jiechu kept saying these things in front of him, he would raise the price of all the rooms to the most expensive level every time he extended his stay!
"Okay, but my brother actually also stockpiled some for you, so you have to--" Before Lu Ce finished his words, Lu Zheng on the side put out a cardboard box, as if he had been waiting there for a while.
In addition to lamb and lamb chops, the carton also contained oxtail bones, which were her favorite foods, and the chef thoughtfully cut each one into small pieces.
Although the quantity was not much, it was not easy to save a portion of Cham County's specialty beef and mutton for her to share in the current time when supplies were scarce. She naturally would not refuse and put it away immediately.
However, the other party's action reminded her of something. She remembered what she had gained in the deep waters, and took out a large cardboard box from the space and placed it on the ground in front of the counter.
It was a box of various seafood, including several different kinds of crabs, abalone, oysters, scallops, mussels, clams, razor clams, various snails, octopuses... In addition, there was a very large sea bream.
"My fishing rod... is different from yours, so it's all cleaned. You just need to rinse it a little later and you can eat it. Boiled seafood, hand-caught seafood, seafood porridge, spicy seafood hotpot... they all taste good no matter how you cook them!" Shu Fu said, pointing to the sea bream, "This fish needs to be processed. It's black sea bream, and it tastes best as sashimi!"
"Why are there so many?" Lu Ce's eyes widened.
"There are plenty of these things in the water, and they're free. But they're perishable and can only be put into backpacks, so I won't give them to other people. You can take some out and cook them together when we have a barbecue later." Shu Fu said, and added, "There are more of these things in the deep sea. I'll take you directly to the deep sea in a few days. You can try casting a net or using a fishing rod."
"Wow! Going out to sea! Sea fishing!" Lu Ce's focus immediately shifted.
Lu Zheng looked at the black sea bream and said, "We can prepare this black sea bream tonight. Long Sheng used to be a chef, so it should be no problem for him to prepare this fish. We can cut the body into sashimi and grill the head and tail!"
"Longsheng?" Shu Fu was a little surprised: "Who?"
Lu Zheng looked at her and smiled with a relaxed look: "It's just a big piece."
Shu Fu: ...
So, after nearly a year of knowing the big guy, she finally knew his name: Longsheng.
**
6:30 in the evening, above the waters of Yinsha Lake.
After these few months, the water area that originally changed from a river to a lake has gradually shown a trend of transforming into the sea.
The mountains and islands that emerged from the water became smaller, and the waters gradually calmed down. Unlike the time when the flood had just happened, when there were undercurrents everywhere and the water was turbid, the waters here are gradually becoming clear, and the silt has settled due to the calm water flow and is gradually assimilated by the deep waters.
Shu Fu adjusted the flow rate of the Drifting Island House to 20 and then chose free drifting.
Because today is a special welcome barbecue party, Shu Fu has slightly adjusted the usage time of the electricity card and temporarily extended it indefinitely.
The large villa raft towed a planting raft and a hotel raft, and slowly and leisurely moved on the water.
Jiang Dai leaned against the fence of the rear deck, careful not to let her hands extend out of the protective shield, and then looked at the pouring lake outside. She felt that everything at this moment was like a dream.
Behind her, the decorative atmosphere lights outside the villa and the lights on the eaves near the back door were turned on, and the glass door on the back side of the villa was also open. On the spacious deck were several dining tables, chairs, and grills that she and everyone had just set up.
The charcoal fire in the barbecue has been lit. This time, no one is in a hurry. Before coming to the dinner, they even take a quick shower in their rooms and change into their newest and best-looking clothes because there is water and electricity.
Jiang Dai even put on a skirt.
She couldn't remember how long it had been since she last wore a skirt. It had been raining heavily for 21 months, and there was no truly dry land on earth. Whenever she went out, her pants and shoes would soon be covered in mud.
There was no way she could wear a skirt out of the house; it was cumbersome and useless.
This skirt was bought by Yue Dong with one month's salary when they were shopping in the mall the year she got married. Because she looked so beautiful in it, she couldn't bear to throw it away after the end of the world. She hid it in the deepest part of her backpack and took it with her wherever she went.
It was as if by always carrying this skirt with them, no matter where they drifted, they could at some point return to the peaceful times of the past.
But as the land became smaller and smaller, this hope was gradually shattered. She once thought that she would never have the chance to wear this dress again in her lifetime.
Until this moment - on a rainy evening, on the water that once frightened and repelled her, she put on the beautiful dress again, stood here fresh, dry and safe, and looked at the world from another perspective.
But this is just the beginning.
They would have unlimited time to live in this little floating paradise, so everyone was taking their time to set the table, light the fire, fan it, place the grill, and fillet the snapper.
Jiang Dai quickly returned to the dining table and together with Hua Qiong cleaned the head and tail of the sea bream that Long Sheng had cut off in a bucket of water nearby.
Everyone finally decided to grill the head and tail of the snapper, because stewing takes time, and sea fish stew is not as fresh as river fish. All the dinners today were prepared by Shu Fu, a box of barbecue gift packs, a box of Sichuan cuisine gift packs, and a box of beverage gift packs, plus the seafood that was given to Lu Zheng and his friends before.
Such fresh seafood is best cooked as hand-pulled seafood, but Longsheng couldn't enter the kitchen on Shufu's raft. The hotel didn't have a kitchen, and the induction cooker in the room was obviously not suitable for making such a big dish. So in the end, he wondered if he could go to Yao Ruoyun's two-story building to cook this dish.
However, he could now wander around the hotel building without any obstacles, but he still could not enter the second floor building and glass greenhouse of Yao Ruoyun's raft.
A few people talked about it and guessed that this was because the planting house was not a business area and it was still Yao Ruoyun's private space. Even Lu Zheng, who also owned a raft, had to go through the "allow visitors" function to enter the second-floor building. It was normal that Long Sheng, as a "guest", could not enter.
Everyone accepted it, but when Shu Fu came out and heard about it, he subconsciously felt that it was not quite reasonable.
Of course, the exclusive private area is a very safe feature, but the number of rafts is limited after all. If only the raft owner can have "visits" but the guests cannot, this would be too much of a bug.
She thought about it, asked Yao Ruoyun to close the door of the two-story building, and then asked Longsheng to knock on the door.
Longsheng did as he was told. As soon as he knocked on the door, Yao Ruoyun was surprised to find a line of reminders on her personal panel: You have a temporary visitor - Longsheng, are you willing to let him in? Note: A temporary visitor can only stay for 12 hours.
Yao Ruoyun immediately clicked to let go. No one else could see her panel. Long Sheng only felt the door panel in front of him loosen slightly, and the invisible barrier that had been blocking him disappeared instantly.
He successfully entered Yao Ruoyun's home, then stepped out and greeted Hua Qiong and Yao Guodong politely, before carrying a large basin of seafood and going into the kitchen to show off his cooking skills.
"It turns out all you have to do is knock on the door!" Lu Ce exclaimed.
Lu Zheng pressed Lu Ce's head. He just noticed Yao Ruoyun's action and guessed that she should have clicked the panel. However, there was no need to explain this kind of thing in too much detail. It was enough for everyone to know that there was such a process.
Not long after that, Xu Jiechu quietly knocked on the back door of Shu Fu's villa, but unfortunately he couldn't even touch the door because of the roof.
Yao Ruoyun laughed at him for a few words, but then she found an opportunity and quietly went over to try. The result was the same as Xu Jiechu's. She couldn't touch the door and couldn't knock on it. Then, she was laughed at by Xu Jiechu who was staring at the back door of the villa.
"What do you know! Of course it's not so easy to enter the realm of God. My senior sister is the God of Rafts, okay!"
Shu Fu: ...
**
In any case, for everyone on deck at that moment, this was an unforgettable night.
Everyone got together to have a barbecue as if it was Chinese New Year. They ate the fragrant roasted pork belly, lamb skewers, chicken wings and lamb chops grilled by Xu Tingfeng and Lu Zheng, the tender and crispy marbled beef and grilled oysters, prawns and squid skewers carefully prepared by Yao Guodong and Yue Dong, a big pot of Longsheng's special hand-caught seafood and freshly cut sea bream fillets, as well as the fragrant sliced sea bream head and roasted mushrooms and eggplant carefully grilled by Hua Qiong and Jiang Dai.
Xu Jiechu, Lu Ce and Yao Ruoyun, who had no cooking skills, were responsible for watching the charcoal fires of the two barbecue grills, fanning them from time to time, and moving among the crowd with cumin powder, pepper powder and sea salt grinders in their hands, sprinkling powder whenever they were told to, and then put the grilled meat and seafood into plates one by one and brought them to the table at the side.
As for Shu Fu, she did nothing tonight. She just sat next to the table, holding her chin, and concentrated on being a food taster. She took a bite of the food that Lu Ce and Yao Ruoyun handed to her and then gave a few comments.
Everything at this moment is what she has worked hard for for a long, long time to finally achieve.
So at this moment, she didn't want to do anything but sit here and watch everyone, watching them busy, laughing and chatting together on the deck of her raft, under the protection of the shield, leisurely, comfortable and free.
The drifting island house drifted on the water, carrying the two rafts behind it through the waters, and no one knew where it drifted to. At a certain moment, it suddenly began to dive automatically. Everyone was startled when they felt the raft sinking underwater, but no one said anything, and almost subconsciously looked at Shu Fu.
"Don't be afraid, there won't be any water." She had already walked to the fence, looked at the water ahead, and then told everyone: "There are ships ahead, several large ships. Diving should be to avoid collision in the water."
This is not an endless sea. There are mountains on both sides that have become "islands". The raft should have detected that it is not as safe as diving directly than passing through the two sides.
So, everyone followed Shu Fu's raft and experienced a wonderful underwater barbecue.
Everyone stopped what they were doing, held their breath, and looked up at their surroundings. They saw the water gradually submerging the fence and the invisible protective shield, until it finally submerged the tallest three-story hotel building.
They were completely submerged in the water, but the raft was still moving slowly in the water, and they could still walk, talk and breathe normally as if they were on land.
The fire in the oven in front of them was still burning brightly, and the barbecue in their hands still exuded the aroma of cumin.
They soon felt several huge shadows passing over their heads. They looked up and identified them for a long time before they suddenly realized that they were the bottoms of the ships traveling on the water.
Lu Ce couldn't help but walk to the fence and stretched out a finger towards the protective shield. He moved very slowly and kept looking at Shu Fu. Seeing that she had no intention of stopping him, he bravely and slowly extended his fingertips out.
His fingertips passed through the shield and touched the water outside - cold, flowing, real water.
"It's real, I'm not dreaming..."
But they had never dreamed of such a scene, even in their dreams.
"Great..." Even Yao Ruoyun, who had been towing the raft for several days, only truly understood the meaning of Shu Fu's previous words at this moment.
She covered her mouth, eyes moist as she repeated Shu Fu's words in her mind.
- I can guarantee you 100% that no matter how rough the waters are, no matter how horrible the disaster is, whether on the water or underwater, I will be able to protect your raft and keep you with me all the time.
**
On the second day after Lu Zheng Hotel opened, Shu Fu finally received news from Zheng Feifei.
She called directly, her voice was a little hoarse and full of fatigue, and it sounded like she hadn't had a good sleep for several days.
She said on the other end of the phone: "Shu Fu, I'm sorry it took me so long to call you."
"What happened?" Shu Fu sat up from the big bed on the second floor of the villa. It was only seven o'clock in the morning. She listened to the other person's voice and guessed that she might not have slept all night.
"My father went for a physical examination a while ago, and it turned out that he had health problems. He had... a very serious illness..."
Zheng Feifei did not explain in detail what the disease was. She only told her that because her father's condition was serious and the medical level in Zhicheng was limited, their family finally decided to go to a larger city for treatment.
Fortunately, they had also lived in Zhicheng for nearly a year and a half and had friends there. In the end, they found someone, used their connections, sent supplies, and were then arranged to go to Shacheng.
They had been in Shacheng for a week, but being in a completely unfamiliar city with their seriously ill father, they had to find a place to live, a hospital bed, food, and accompany him to see doctors and treatment. All these trivial things kept her and her mother so busy that she had no time to rest.
Today, I finally got a chance to breathe.
Shu Fu listened quietly to the other party's story without rushing to interrupt. Zheng Feifei's voice was exhausted, and her story was a little intermittent and seemed a little vague, but she could tell that this time she was resolute and decisive, and arranged everything well. She was no longer the indecisive girl before.
For example, this time she gave up the house she rented in Zhicheng and moved to Shacheng. Although Shu Fu had never lived in Shacheng, it was easy to imagine that under the current situation, even the mountain town where Chen Fa and Lu Zheng had stayed before was overcrowded, not to mention Shacheng.
Even if you have connections and spend a lot of money, you may not necessarily succeed. Every step requires decision-making and judgment.
Shu Fu could probably guess that Zheng Feifei's current condition was probably partly affected by awakening.
She didn't know how long Zheng Feifei had been awakened, but awakening meant she had a backpack space, and she could carry all the supplies her family needed in her backpack without being exposed on the road. Her bond value was over 80, and she would also have a special tool that was different from others.
She must have analyzed it carefully before doing so.
But obviously, because her father was seriously ill and hospitalized, it was unlikely that she would be able to live in the water in the short term, so Shu Fu thought about it and decided not to mention the towing of the raft. She just told her on the phone that if she had any difficulties, she should remember to tell her.
"Fei Fei, protect your family and yourself. If you really reach a point where you have no way out, tell me. I will find a way to get here no matter how far away you are."
"Really, Shu Fu, no matter how far away you are, you will still come as long as I ask you for help?" Hearing such words, no matter how many times Zheng Feifei has become more independent and stronger than before, she will still think of that night in Jixing Community, Louyun City a long time ago.
She held the phone and trembled as she asked for help. Her voice came from the other end of the phone, calm and clear, guiding her word by word, teaching her how to resist the mob, how to protect herself and her family, and making her no longer afraid.
"meeting."
"Okay." Zheng Feifei laughed on the other end of the phone, a laugh with a hint of tears in it.
Even though she knew that they were not in the same city now and this sentence was more of a comfort, she was still very satisfied.
In this world, there was someone who told her in an extremely firm voice that as long as she asked for help, she would definitely come for her.
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