Chapter 107 Chapter 107 Strawberry and Black Plum
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The sky was gloomy, and the drizzle was falling like silver threads.
The endless water surface was covered with ripples, and a dark green boat was drifting alone in it. The bow of the boat broke through the rain curtain, and the hull rose and fell slightly with the waves.
Raindrops hit the boat awning, making a "crackling" sound. All around was desolate and lifeless, only the boat was sailing steadily into the distance, gradually disappearing in the misty rain.
After entering the Huangjiang River Basin, Gu Mengran became emo and no longer had the energy he had before. He moved a recliner to lie next to Liang Zhao early in the morning, staring blankly at the water in front of him, and no one knew what he was thinking.
Liang Zhao had been paying attention to him for a long time and glanced sideways frequently, but Gu Mengran didn't react at all. If he hadn't opened his eyes, Liang Zhao would have thought he was asleep.
The unhappiness was visible to the naked eye, and Liang Zhao could feel it without asking the reason.
The turbid waves surged wildly, swallowing up all the ups and downs and contours. The river I passed a year ago, the road I walked a year ago, all disappeared in the rain washing day and night, leaving only the vast and boundless water.
Mountains, forests and rivers are all submerged in water as time passes. This civilization is disappearing and gradually becoming history, and an empty and desolate water world is born.
As a survivor who witnessed this process, I feel both fortunate and unfortunate.
It is normal to have some emotions, but you cannot get too hung up on them and remain depressed.
Seeing Gu Mengran in despair, Liang Zhao did not speak to comfort him directly. He clenched his fist to his lips and coughed twice, and said casually: "My throat is a little itchy, Mengran, can you pour me a glass of water?"
Hearing this, Gu Mengran didn't even raise his eyelids. A bottle of mineral water suddenly appeared in his palm. He considerately unscrewed the bottle cap and silently handed it to Liang Zhao.
Quick and decisive, without saying a word.
Liang Zhao was stunned for a moment, took the water from him, took a sip, tightened the bottle cap again and put it aside.
"Cough, cough, cough, cough..."
As soon as the water bottle was placed on the ground, Liang Zhao started coughing again. Gu Mengran finally moved, looked up at him, and immediately covered his forehead with his hand hanging by his side, "Why are you coughing? Did I infect you? Fortunately, you don't have a fever."
"No, I don't have a cold." Liang Zhao said calmly, "It's just that my throat is a little itchy. Maybe eating some fruit will help?"
Gu Mengran glared at him and climbed up from the recliner by holding onto the armrest. "An itchy throat is a sign of a cold. What fruit should you eat? What should you take is medicine."
As he spoke, he took out various medicine bottles from the space and began to prepare medicine on the spot.
Liang Zhao's eyelids jumped, and he hurriedly stopped him: "Meng Ran, you can't take medicine randomly. You really don't have a cold. Apart from an itchy throat, you have no other symptoms. How about a cup of liquid?"
Just take precaution.
Gu Mengran frowned slightly and looked at him suspiciously, "Are you sure?"
"Yeah." Liang Zhao nodded.
"All right."
Gu Mengran quickly got up and returned to the cabin to boil water and wash cups. After a while, he brought back a cup of steaming hot cold medicine.
This little episode did not affect his daze. He handed the syringe to Liang Zhao and watched Liang Zhao drink it bit by bit. Then he lay back on the recliner and stared blankly at the water in front of him.
Liang Zhao: ...drink a cup of cold syrup for nothing.
Determined not to let him have wild thoughts, Liang Zhao remained silent for less than two minutes before tapping the rudder with his fingertips and speaking again: "It's strange, why does my mouth feel tasteless? Meng Ran, I want to eat some fruit."
The reclining chair that was creaking suddenly stopped moving. Gu Mengran raised his eyes slightly and looked at Liang Zhao with interest. "The sun is rising from the west. You actually brought fruits twice today? What do you want to eat? I'll get it for you."
Liang Zhao smiled and started to order: "Strawberry, pineapple, kiwi..."
"So many." Gu Mengran was stunned.
Complaints are complaints, but there is no reason for a person with a low appetite to be dissatisfied if he suddenly wants to eat something.
Gu Mengran climbed up from the recliner again, went to the rear cabin and moved the folding table to the cockpit, then put the recliner back into the space and replaced it with a small stool, and finally brought over a mini bucket.
The bucket was filled with clear mountain spring water. Gu Mengran sat on a small stool and took out the food Liang Zhao ordered one by one: bright red strawberries, golden pineapples, and furry kiwis...
The folding table was soon filled. Gu Mengran washed the strawberries, put them on a plate, and placed them on the driver's seat. He raised his chin towards Liang Zhao and said, "Eat them first. I'll take care of the rest."
The bright red strawberries were big and plump, and the rich sweet fragrance was particularly tempting, but Liang Zhao just glanced at them indifferently and looked at Gu Mengran aggrievedly, "Are you going to eat them like this?"
"No, what else?"
Gu Mengran looked back at him in confusion, "Use a toothpick to eat it?"
"That's not necessary. I just feel like something is missing, like..." Liang Zhao pointed at the tip of the strawberry, his lips slightly raised, and looked at Gu Mengran with expectation in his eyes, "Can I have an extra dried black plum here?"
"Strawberry and ume plum?"
"Um."
"Okay, sure."
Gu Mengran had tried this novel way of eating strawberries and black plums before, and it tasted pretty good, but it was Liang Zhao who suggested it... weird, very weird.
After bringing the strawberries back and taking out a bag of dried black plums from the space, Gu Mengran sat back at the folding table and cut the strawberries one by one with a knife. As he cut, he was tempted by the sweet fragrance of the strawberries and ate each one he cut, even the damaged ones.
Half an hour later, Gu Mengran burped a full stomach with the taste of pineapple and strawberry, and in the glass fruit plate on the table... there was half a pineapple, seven or eight strawberries, and two kiwis.
Liang Zhao turned his head and saw this scene. He raised his eyebrows and looked at him with a smile.
Gu Mengran blushed and stammered, "I'll wash it for you again."
"No, this is enough." Liang Zhao chuckled and gently instructed: "Eat in moderation, don't eat too much sour food, be careful of sour teeth."
Gu Mengran tried to bite his teeth and smiled, "It's okay, it's not sore."
The purpose of deliberately tormenting Gu Mengran was actually to find something for him to do so that he wouldn't have time to be emo, but the busyness didn't make him forget his troubles. Instead, a big fruit meal made him happy.
The goal has been achieved.
Liang Zhao twisted a strange-shaped strawberry and threw it into his mouth, his eyebrows slightly arched, and he smiled silently.
Some were happy while others were sad. Gu Mengran patted his bloated belly and said with a sad face, "Oh, I'm so tired. I don't even need to eat lunch. I need to do something to help digest the food."
"What are you doing?" Liang Zhao asked him.
Gu Mengran held his chin up and said, "Good question. I don't know either."
The trip to the East China Sea was a boring and long process. There was very little that could be done in the narrow cabin. Liang Zhao was like a machine. He got up every day, sat on the steering platform, and drove the boat seriously for the whole day.
As for Gu Mengran, he didn't have to do laundry or cook, nor did he have to mop the floor or wash dishes. He could just tidy up the cabin in his spare time, return to the cabin every night to feed the livestock, and then... sleep and eat, eat and sleep.
What can he do? Gu Mengran pondered for a while, and the only thing he could think of was to grow vegetables in the space, which would not only be a place to expend energy, but also bring in gains.
But, sailing was boring enough, and he just walked away, leaving Liang Zhao alone...
Forget it, I can’t bear to do that.
After struggling for a long time, Gu Mengran finally just walked back and forth in the cabin for a few laps. When his stomach was no longer so full, he strolled to the driving platform, took out a tablet from the space, and sat on a small stool to watch a movie.
Then he discovered a pattern: when he was concentrating on watching the movie, Liang Zhao said nothing, sometimes glancing at the screen, sometimes glancing at him. But once he started to lose focus, Liang Zhao immediately asked him to get something, or pulled him to talk.
Worried that it was just a coincidence, Gu Mengran tried again. The movie on the screen switched to an empty shot. He raised his chin slightly, squinted his eyes and looked thoughtfully at the water in front of him.
30 seconds, one minute, one and a half minutes...
"What are we having for dinner? How about we cook hot pot?"
In no more than two minutes, Liang Zhao's deep voice rang in his ears.
Gu Mengran suddenly turned his head, staring at him with burning eyes containing a hint of disbelief.
Without replying or saying anything, Liang Zhao raised his eyebrows, "What's wrong?"
Too lazy to beat around the bush, Gu Mengran said directly: "You're acting weird today. What do you want to do? You want to keep me quiet, right?"
"Yeah." Liang Zhao admitted frankly: "I won't let you have peace."
Gu Mengran was confused. "Why?"
"What do you think?" Liang Zhao said with a smile, "You were staring at the water in a daze, your face full of unhappiness, and your soul was gone. How could I dare to let you let your imagination run wild?"
"Oh, that time." Gu Mengran touched his nose and said unconvincingly, "I didn't have any wild thoughts. I just felt a little sad when I saw that the beautiful country disappeared so quietly."
Liang Zhao let go of the rudder with his left hand, grabbed Gu Mengran's hand in the air, and gently squeezed it twice. "Staying in a closed environment for a long time and lacking social interaction can easily lead to some negative emotions. Don't underestimate these emotions. I have seen crew members suffer from mental illnesses because of this, and even..."
Gu Mengran held Liang Zhao's warm hand, as if he had found an interesting toy, and pried open his fingers one by one, nodding in agreement, "Indeed, the cabin is so small and narrow that we can't do anything. There are only two of us in the cabin, and we can't even get together a table for playing Landlord."
"Oh, all I do every day is eat and sleep. I'm so bored! I don't want to play games, listen to music, or watch movies. Life is so boring..."
Gu Mengran kept talking more and more excitedly, while Liang Zhao, who was sitting next to him, looked more and more ugly and his expression gradually became solemn, and his eyes, which were not full of emotion, were filled with deep worry.
"but!"
Just as Liang Zhao's lips moved and he was about to speak, Gu Mengran grabbed his hand and suddenly lifted it up, kissing the back of his hand. "What are you thinking about? I'm not depressed, I'm not depressed! It doesn't matter where I am or what I do, having you is enough."
"Two lifetimes, Liang Zhao, I finally became your boyfriend, I was laughing secretly at night, how can I give up-"
“Hey!”
Before he could finish his words, Liang Zhao stood up suddenly, then leaned over to Gu Mengran, quickly put his hands over his shoulders and around his waist, and then lifted him up with force.
Before Gu Mengran could react, he had already lifted her up and held her in his arms.
The unmanned boat drifted with the current. Liang Zhao, holding Gu Mengran in his arms, walked briskly, lifted the dark gray curtain that separated the cabin, and walked straight to the stern.