Chapter 43 Chapter 43 Separation is imminent

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It was a long way from the mountain city to Xinjing, but fortunately the smog that had lasted for months had completely dissipated. The four of us took turns driving day and night, and finally, a week after setting out, we were only a few dozen kilometers away from Xinjing.

As the sun rose, the temperature rose day by day, and the second bus was also reaching its limit. Tire blowouts and mechanical failures were commonplace. The reason why we were able to get to this point was thanks to the spare tire and repair tools that Gang gave us.

At 8:30 in the morning, after changing the last spare tire, Gu Mengran, Liang Zhao, and Zheng Yijie returned to the bus. Their clothes and pants were soaked, and it didn't look like they had gotten off the bus to change the spare tire. Instead, it looked like they had been caught in the rain.

It was too hot. The bus had only been running for three days, but the cabin was already filled with a foul smell of sweat. Ventilation had become a luxury. All Gu Mengran and his companions could do was to maintain good personal hygiene within the limited conditions.

The doors closed and the bus started again.

Looking at the three sweating people, Wei Qianlan, who was sitting next to the rear door, pulled up the bed sheet hanging between the front and rear compartments without hesitation.

The carriage was divided into two parts. Gu Mengran no longer had any scruples. He decisively took out a stainless steel bucket and a plastic washbasin from the space and quickly poured clean water into the buckets.

The first time Zheng Yijie took water directly from space, the man stood by and was stunned. But he had been exposed to too many unscientific things during this period. After just a few seconds, Zheng Yijie suddenly realized and analyzed to himself:

"You were the water in the space before? It turns out that this is possible."

Gu Mengran didn't explain to him. He dragged out the backpack from under the seat, took out the dried towel and shampoo, squatted in front of the washbasin and began to scrub his sweaty hair.

It was the first time for Liang Zhao to take a shower in the carriage, and he was very taciturn. He took out a mouthwash cup from his backpack and poured water for Gu Mengran when he needed to rinse his hair.

Short hair is convenient, and it took only ten minutes for all three of them to finish washing their hair. The sticky sweat turned into refreshing spring water, and the unbearable sweat odor turned into the fragrance of shampoo.

After washing his hair and preparing to take a shower, Gu Mengran took back the basin and the dirty water and refilled the stainless steel bucket with clean water.

The conditions are quite limited, so it is impossible to take a proper bath. You can only wipe it simply with a towel dipped in water.

The sweaty clothes stuck to his body, which was uncomfortable, and Zheng Yijie couldn't wait. As soon as Gu Mengran put the water in, he immediately lifted up the hem of his clothes and took off his T-shirt from the beginning, revealing his standard elementary school student figure.

Zheng Yijie is very thin and not tall, with not a pound of flesh on his body. With a pair of plain black-framed glasses, at first glance he really looks no different from an elementary school student.

Gu Mengran found it curious and couldn't help but look at it a few more times. At this time, Liang Zhao coughed lightly, grabbed his collar and slowly took off his T-shirt.

Liang Zhao is tall and well-proportioned, with standard broad shoulders, narrow waist and long legs.

Perhaps because he has been doing physical labor for a long time, the muscle lines on his body are smooth and without any redundancy. His abdominal muscles are clearly visible with distinct contours of his waist and abdomen. They are tight but not exaggerated. It is the kind of body that is just right and very powerful.

In the evening, everyone took a shower in the living room one by one. It was the first time that Gu Mengran felt Liang Zhao's good figure so intuitively. Although he had seen it in his previous life, he had been hungry and full at that time, and his muscles had long been starved.

After the surprise, he felt more awkward. After just two glances, Gu Mengran quickly looked away, lowered his head and exhaled a breath of hot air.

"Fuck, bro, you must have trained before, you have such a great body!"

In comparison, Zheng Yijie was much more open. He spared no effort to praise Liang Zhao's figure and even wanted to touch her.

But unfortunately, Liang Zhaoling dodged to the side and prevented him from succeeding.

"Why is there such a big difference between people?" Zheng Yijie turned his head and looked at Gu Mengran.

Both of them took off their clothes, and he seemed a little out of place as the only one left. Gu Mengran sighed inwardly, put down the towel and took off his shirt.

If Zheng Yijie has the body of an elementary school student, then Gu Mengran has the body of a college student at best. He has a good body proportion, thin and linear, but lacks exercise and has no muscles. His advantage is fair skin.

From the moment he took off his clothes, Zheng Yijie kept staring at Gu Mengran.

Gu Mengran felt uncomfortable being looked at by him, and just as he was about to say something to him, Zheng Yijie immediately twisted his arm and looked at him, and suddenly said, "That's not right. Everyone hasn't showered for so many days, how come your body is so clean? It's no exaggeration to say that if I take a bath now, I will definitely rub off two kilograms of mud!"

Gu Mengran smiled and thought that if he went back to his space to take a shower every day, how could it not be clean?

But he didn't show it on his face, and raised his chin towards Zheng Yijie, "Don't dawdle, wash it quickly. Let me make it clear first, you are not allowed to rub mud in the carriage!"

After taking a shower and changing clothes, the three of them returned to their seats to rest.

It was a little before ten o'clock and Gu Mengran had already started planning lunch.

If nothing goes wrong, they will arrive in Xinjing this evening. It seems that they are about to say goodbye, and before parting, he wants to cook a meal for the children.

Moreover, after meeting each other, they couldn't leave empty-handed, so Gu Mengran was still thinking about which supplies would be easy to carry.

Unable to figure it out no matter how hard he tried, Gu Mengran simply took out two large mountaineering bags from the space and loaded them directly into them before the curtain was pulled up.

Pack some snacks such as preserved fruits and candies to comfort the children when necessary; bring some cold medicine, anti-heat medicine, and vitamins in case of emergency. The staple food is mainly dry grains, followed by instant noodles, self-heating rice, canned meat, canned fruit...

As for milk, chocolate, fruit... these are no longer necessary supplies. Gu Mengran wanted to give them, but he couldn't give a reasonable explanation.

The other supplies were easy to explain. The two teachers knew that Zheng Yijie had hoarded a lot of supplies, but they didn't know what exactly he had hoarded. In order to conceal their whereabouts, they even ran back and forth several times and loaded some of the supplies into the car.

Carrying too many supplies at this time would easily attract other people's attention. Gu Mengran knew this very well, but he couldn't help it. He packed a little here and a little there, and stuffed his two backpacks full.

There will always be a time for separation, but after walking together for a while, he actually felt a little reluctant to leave.

It is impossible to cook well in the carriage. As noon approached, Gu Mengran stood up and stretched, then took the electric cooker from the luggage rack and connected it to the outdoor power socket.

Wash the rice and cook porridge, add some dehydrated vegetables that Zheng Yijie has stockpiled, then secretly take out a bag of frozen shrimps from the space, wash them clean and put them in the pot, and cook them together with the vegetables and rice.

Anyway, the question is...Zheng Yijie has stockpiled dehydrated dried shrimps.

There was no need to think about cooking as the bus was not full of room. When the porridge was almost cooked, Gu Mengran took out ten boxes of self-heating hot pots of different flavors from the luggage rack and called Liang Zhao and Zheng Yijie to open them together.

The tomato and sauerkraut flavors are not spicy and can be eaten by children. In addition to the vegetable and meat buns that come with the package, Gu Mengran also adds a can of luncheon meat and salt-baked quail eggs to each box.

Fifteen minutes later, the hot porridge comes out of the pot, emitting a rich aroma from the self-heating pot.

The bus slowly pulled over to the side of the road and the children playing in the bus looked over, patting their bellies and saying they were hungry.

"Have you washed your hands? Get ready for dinner!"

…

Everyone knows that separation is imminent.

After lunch, the children fell asleep in their seats. The two teachers who had some free time did not choose to take a nap, but instead opened the curtain and went to the front carriage.

Zhou Qin sat in the empty seat next to Liang Zhao, and Wei Qianlan sat next to Gu Mengran. As if they had discussed it beforehand, Wei Qianlan said directly as soon as she sat down: "I feel like we're almost there, can we get there today?"

Gu Mengran smiled and nodded, saying truthfully: "You are right. If everything goes well, we can arrive before dark. But just in case, we plan to rest for a while and send you into the city after dark."

"No, no need to send me off." Wei Qianlan waved her hands hastily. "The location of the official base shouldn't be very hidden. We can just go into the city and look for it ourselves."

You don't want to send me? Gu Meng frowned and looked at her in surprise, "What if there is no base in Xinjing? Aren't you worried at all?"

Wei Qianlan smiled disapprovingly: "How is that possible? Just like you said, Xinjing is the capital, the central city. If there is no base in Xinjing, there will be no base in other places."

This makes sense, but Gu Mengran still finds it strange. After thinking for a while, he asked directly: "Then why don't you want us to take you? Even if there is a base in Xinjing, it's so hot and you don't know the exact location. How long will it take to find it with a group of children?"

After saying this, Wei Qianlan, who had been looking down at the ground, slowly raised her head, looked into Gu Mengran's eyes, and stared at him for a few seconds.

Then she slowly looked away and said in a low voice, "In fact, I can sense that you don't like, or are very resistant to, the city of Xinjing. You have helped us a lot along the way, so let us walk the rest of the way on our own."

Is it that obvious? Gu Mengran was speechless for a moment.

Gu Mengran was not unfamiliar with Xinjing, because he had lived there for five years, including a long period of time after the disaster. So he knew that Xinjing was taken over by the military after the disaster, and that there was sufficient supplies and order, so it was relatively safe for the time being.

There were two main reasons why he didn't want to go to Xinjing. First, he had a secret and didn't want to have any contact with the military for the time being. Second, he didn't want to have any possibility of meeting Gu Decheng.

So what if he is his biological father? Gu Decheng has been able to push him out to exchange for supplies throughout his life. Gu Mengran will definitely not be soft-hearted towards such a person, but the same may not be true for his grandfather. He does not want to have a conflict with his grandfather because of an unimportant person.

A few days ago, he just hinted that there was a high possibility that there was an official base in Xinjing. Unexpectedly, with just a few words, Wei Qianlan could see that he didn't like Xinjing.

Girls’ sixth sense is so accurate!

Gu Mengran touched his nose awkwardly and admitted frankly: "I once lived in Xinjing, and it was indeed a little unhappy. But as the saying goes, we are here now, and we can only feel at ease after we send you safely to the base."

Having said that, Gu Mengran thought Wei Qianlan would give in, but the teacher shook her head and gave a helpless smile, "Really, there's no need. It's not just because of you. This is also a joint decision between Zhou Qin and I."