Looking at the joyful atmosphere, Lu Yuan thought of his grandparents who, because of their advanced age, gave up and left when the first earthquake struck, and their final fate was unknown. When Lu Yuan returned to his hometown, it was already a scene of ruins, with rubble and stones burying the entire village. After three whole days of searching, Lu Yuan and his parents could not find a single survivor. Now, looking at his grandparents chatting and laughing, Lu Yuan felt an urge to cry.
Before seven o'clock, Lu Yuan and his father were clearing weeds outside the house. It was already November, and the weather was gradually getting cooler. Various small animals were starting to prepare for hibernation and began to eat a lot. Unlike the city, there were many wild animals in the countryside, especially in the mountains. Wild rabbits or deer would often come to farmers' homes to steal grain, and there were even snakes. In order to prevent the family from stepping on snakes in the grass, Lu Yuan's father and father prepared to clear the grass at the base of the wall so that they would not step on snakes.
Lu Yuan felt his strength was almost exhausted after cutting the weeds for only a short time. His hands were also cut by the weeds, which hurt terribly, but he felt incredibly fulfilled.
What he's thinking about now is how to convince his parents and grandparents to move to his villa before the end of the world.
It was getting dark when Lu Yuan heard the roar of a car engine not far away. Then, the headlights of a white Porsche Cayenne shone directly on his front door as it stopped in front of his house.
Chen Han and several young men got out of the car and exclaimed in surprise as they looked at Lu Yuan cutting grass.
"Lu Yuan, you're so uncouth! You came without even saying goodbye. Do you look down on us old folks from the countryside?" It was Chen Han, who looked a bit fatter than a few years ago. He had a thick gold chain around his neck and a cigarette dangling from his mouth, clearly living a comfortable life.
As she spoke, she squatted down in front of Lu Yuan and carefully examined him.
"Heh! You haven't changed at all these years! Come on! I heard from my dad that you were here, so I brought Liangzi and the others over. Let's go to town for a drink! It's been years since we last met, let's catch up!"
To be honest, Lu Yuan really didn't want to go. Although he and Chen Han and the others were childhood playmates, they hadn't seen each other for so many years and didn't have much in common anymore. If they wanted to catch up, they could only do so from their vague memories. Moreover, judging from their attire, they were all obviously successful and doing quite well, while he was dressed in cheap clothes and felt out of place among them.
Seeing Lu Yuan standing there blankly without saying a word, the short, thin youth stepped forward and lightly punched Lu Yuan in the chest, saying, "Lu Yuan, have you become successful in the city and now you look down on us old brothers!" His smug expression was exactly the same as when he was a child. Lu Yuan remembered him. In the three years after the apocalypse, the national food reserves were almost exhausted, many people starved to death, and some people joined the army of cannibals. They specifically targeted unarmed old people, children, and women, and their methods were extremely cruel.
Later, one of his neighbors, a family of three, was captured by these people. The leader was this Liangzi. He raped two underage girls and even ate their mother's flesh piece by piece in front of them. Later, he was arrested by the police and shot dead on the spot. It can be said that he died a worthy death, or rather, he got off too easily.
Lu Yuan ignored them, holding the sickle in his hand and saying indifferently, "I'm pretty tired today, so I'm not going. You guys have fun!"
Chen Han walked over and put his arm around Lu Yuandao, saying, "Alright, brother, what are you doing? We've finally managed to get together, and you're the only one missing. Come on, let's go grab a drink!"
Then he turned to Lu's father with a grin and said, "Uncle Lu, don't bother. I'll go to your house and get the lawnmower to clean it up for you another day. It's late, you should get some rest. Lu Yuan can borrow it for the night!"
Mr. Lu was usually an inconspicuous person in the village, rarely returning home each year, spending most of his time working in construction in other places. He was well aware of the behavior of the rich second-generation girls in the village, but he still had to consider his family, so he simply said calmly, "Alright, it's far, so go ahead. Don't drink too much, it'll hurt your health!"
He then took Lu Yuan's sickle and went back to his room.
Left with no other choice, Lu Yuan got into Chen Han's car.
The sound system was blasting loudly all the way. Around 7 p.m., most of the elderly and children in the village had gone to bed, but their unbridled disturbance made Lu Yuan frown.
When they arrived at a barbecue restaurant in the town's night market, the five of them ordered ten cases of beer and sat around the stove, bragging and boasting. Lu Yuan basically didn't say anything; he just listened.
Chen Han took a meat skewer, biting into it with greasy mouth, and mumbled, "Lu Yuan, I heard you're working in the city now. How's it going? If it's not working out, come work for us. Liangzi and I set up a wholesale market for mountain products, supplying hotels in the city. The market is now completely open."
Liangzi, who was over there, also picked up a skewer of lamb kidneys and ate it while it was still hot, blowing on it as he ate. Hearing Chen Han speak, he put down the scalding hot lamb kidneys and chimed in, "Yeah, these past few years, we've put in a lot of effort to open the door to the city. If you join us now, making money will be a piece of cake, like picking up money off the ground. Earning three to five hundred thousand a year is like playing around!"
Lu Yuan took a sip of his cold beer, pulled his coat tighter, and said, "Let's forget it. I'm not good at talking, I can't do this kind of work."
"No way! Look how well the five of us played together when we were kids. You have money now, but if you just keep it and don't spend it, it's just dead money. Why not take some out and invest it? That'll be live money, and you can just sit back and count your money at the end of each year. Isn't that great?" Chen Han glanced at Lu Yuan.
“I don’t have that business sense, and unlike you, I don’t have your parents’ support. I’m afraid that if I mess things up, you’ll lose money too, and that wouldn’t be good.”
"Lu Yuan, you're not treating us brothers at all by saying that. What do you mean by losing money? Even if we really lose money, we'll accept it. We'll make money together and face difficulties together! Isn't that our biggest dream when we were kids?" Liangzi was a little annoyed after hearing Lu Yuan's words, but Lu Yuan saw more greed in his eyes. As for the idea of making money together and facing difficulties together, he only believed the second half of it.
It was already past 11 p.m., and after a few rounds of drinks, the group was all staggering. Chen Han pulled Lu Yuan to go pee together. The barbecue restaurant didn't have a toilet, but the toilet was in the grove of trees not far from the restaurant entrance.
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