Chapter 6 Chapter 6 Boarding the ship

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“Wow—wow—”

The river water beat rhythmically against the hull of the boat, and the leisurely river breeze blew past his face. Gu Mengran stood alone on the open deck, looking at the ships coming and going on the vast and winding Mother River through the hazy yellow mist.

Huangjiang River, the largest river in China, originates in Yinan, flows through many provinces, and finally flows into the East China Sea at Songkou. It runs from west to east, with a total length of about 6,000 kilometers.

Yuntian is located in the lower reaches of the Huangjiang River, 5,600 kilometers away from the "end point", and the remaining 5,600 kilometers will be the final route of the Fengyi.

5,600 kilometers, it only takes three or four hours by plane, but it would take at least twenty days to sail over it bit by bit.

There was no time. There were less than five days left until the volcanic eruption that would change the course of human history.

It was time to set off, and they had to set off as soon as possible.

"——Shasha, Shasha, Gu Mengran, Gu Mengran, where is he?"

The walkie-talkie on his waist rang, and the white noise wrapped around his grandfather's voice came from inside. Gu Mengran leaned against the side railing and stretched his waist. He picked up the walkie-talkie slowly and pressed the PTT button: "I'm here, I'm on the deck outside."

"Come in quickly, the contract has been signed. Go and arrange a room for Xiao Liang."

"Received, wait a moment."

There is a certain distance between the stern and the bow of the ship. When Gu Mengran hurried back to the cockpit, Liang Zhao was already waiting at the door of the cockpit with his luggage.

Meeting again was still a little awkward. Gu Mengran forced himself to forget about the morning's mess and pretended nothing happened. He walked forward with a smile and said, "How is it, Liang Zhao? Are you satisfied with the treatment?"

Liang Zhao said "hmm" softly, "Very satisfied."

"Hey, that's good. Come on, I'll show you the room."

In order to trick people onto the ship, Gu Mengran and his grandfather added a level to the salary standard for ordinary crew members when drafting the contract, and directly gave Liang Zhao the salary of a senior crew member.

I am satisfied, but I can't give you any money...

Coming from the driver's cab and passing the warehouse is the rest area. Gu Mengran walked in front and led the way to the door of a secondary bedroom next to the master bedroom.

"Here, here. You live in this room."

Twisting the handle to push open the door, Gu Mengran made way, stretched out his hand as a "please" gesture, raised his chin and looked back at Liang Zhao, "This is your bedroom, come and take a look and see if you like it."

"There are six crew lounges on the ship. The captain's and first mate's rooms are bigger. The other four rooms are similar in layout, just in different locations. This is the one I chose for you. Next door is my bedroom. I live in the first mate's room. Diagonally opposite is the captain's lounge, where my grandfather lives."

Gu Mengran was very enthusiastic and chattered about the introduction, but Liang Zhao said nothing and walked slowly into the room dragging his suitcase.

The crew lounge is about 20 square meters, much larger than an average family bedroom. The overall color tone of the room is white and gray, with a simple and elegant modern decoration style.

On the left side of the entrance is the bathroom, which has an overall bathroom design with steel decks and frosted partitions, separating dry and wet areas, and is fully equipped with toilets, showers, washbasins and other appliances.

Going further inside, a built-in wardrobe and a 1.5-meter standard double bed come into view. In addition, there are projection screens, projectors, desks and chairs, lazy sofas, dehumidifiers, and a wide variety of furniture and appliances, which make the originally cold room full of the atmosphere of fireworks.

There is a bedside table on each side of the double bed, with a table lamp and two exquisite small ornaments neatly placed, matched with a set of gray sheets and quilt covers, making the whole room look warm and homey.

The area of ​​a ship is limited. On a large ship, it is normal for several crew members to squeeze into one room. Recalling the dim and cramped crew lounges in the past, Liang Zhao frowned slightly.

This subtle change in expression fell into Gu Mengran's eyes, and he immediately changed his mind. He walked to Liang Zhao's side a little awkwardly and asked softly: "Don't you like it? Then why don't we go to another room——"

"I like it." Liang Zhao suddenly turned his head and met Gu Mengran's gaze. His eyebrows relaxed, his slender neck was raised high, and his eyes, which were like a pool of stagnant water, slowly brightened.

"I like it very much."

"Really?" Gu Mengran was skeptical. "We'll be living here for a long time. If you're not satisfied, just let us know. We can move to another room and move our things over."

Liang Zhao: "Such a nice room, how can I not like it."

Gu Mengran: "Haha, that's good, that's good."

After staring at each other for a moment, Gu Mengran was the first to look away. He walked quickly to the window and waved excitedly to Liang Zhao, "Come here, I'll show you something good."

Liang Zhao put down his luggage and followed him. Gu Mengran pulled open the curtain, and a transparent panoramic floor-to-ceiling window immediately appeared in front of him. Then he slid the sliding door, and a bright and spacious semi-open balcony was revealed.

The balcony is very long and spacious, and you can reach any room on the second floor from the balcony.

The dark green deck is somewhat inconsistent with the room decoration. Standing on the balcony, you can look far and wide with a very open view. The river breeze blowing in your face brings a refreshing coolness, which makes people feel refreshed.

"I love this balcony so much. When the yellow mist dissipates, we can put a table here, drink tea and enjoy the river view. It will be so comfortable." Gu Mengran lay on the railing of the ship, tilted his head and looked at Liang Zhao, with a deep smile in his eyes.

"Well, it's very good." Liang Zhao curled the corners of his mouth unconsciously, and his hands hanging at his sides trembled slightly.

"Oh, by the way—"

"Other rooms——"

Neither of them spoke at the same time. They smiled at each other. Liang Zhao raised his chin towards Gu Mengran and said, "You speak first."

Gu Mengran shook his head quickly, "No, you go first."

Liang Zhao: "Well, I was just wondering, are the other bedrooms like this? With the same decoration and the same... supporting facilities."

After going around in circles, perhaps what he wanted to ask most was, do other people get the same treatment? Or is it just him, his old classmate, who gets it all.

Gu Mengran didn't get what he meant at all and his eyes widened. "How is that possible? No one lives in the other rooms, why would I spend that money?"

"No one is living here? What about the other crew members?"

Gu Mengran shrugged, "No more, just the three of us."

There are many cargo ships that are clever in terms of crewing, but Liang Zhao never expected that there would be only three of them on such a large ship.

Liang Zhao moved his lips, wanting to say that there were too few people and it was unsafe, but when he lowered his eyes and saw Gu Mengran's clear eyes, he blurted out a suggestion and changed his mind, "That's good too. What about you, what did you want to say just now?"

"I……"

Gu Mengran was silent for a second, his eyelids drooped, and he stammered, "There's still some stuff left on the ship. I, we've exceeded our budget for buying the ship and the goods, and the liquid funds on hand... aren't enough, I..."

It was simply too difficult! To! Open! His teeth! Gu Mengran was so ashamed and angry that his head almost drooped to the deck. He just couldn't say the words "borrow some money" out loud.

At this time, Liang Zhao leaned forward and spoke in a low, cold voice: "The loan approval is slow. I have some spare money in my hand. Can I use it first?"

Gu Mengran hesitated, "I don't feel comfortable with this."

"The money will just sit there anyway, it won't get more. How about I calculate some interest on it and treat it as a deposit with you?" Liang Zhao's tone was light, with a hint of liveliness in it.

Not only did he lend money, he also resolved Gu Mengran's embarrassment. Regardless of the past or the present, Liang Zhao has always been the person who seems cold and unkind, but is actually extremely gentle.

Gu Mengran looked up at Liang Zhao and muttered softly, "Why are you so nice?"

Liang Zhao looked at him with a half-smile, "We are good friends, and we have a life-long friendship, right?"

Gu Mengran: ...I don't want to lend you the money.

It's embarrassing to borrow money, but it's no burden to spend it.

As soon as the WeChat money arrived, Gu Mengran immediately ran off the boat and bought a diesel boat, a tarpaulin, a pressure reducing wheel, and added a few kayaks, several spare anchors, and various maintenance tools and diving equipment.

Liang Zhao was on the boat, and Gu Mengran, who had gone out shopping, had no choice but to return empty-handed. He could only put the unimportant small items back in the space, have others sent to the dock, and then rent someone else's diesel boat to transport them to the anchorage.

After running back and forth four or five times, all the goods were loaded on the ship and it was already dark.

It was midsummer, and the Wind Wing was like a huge iron stove, emitting so much heat that it didn't get cool even at night.

The living room was filled with the faint aroma of food, which Gu Mengran smelled as soon as he entered the room.

He was so exhausted that he dragged his tired body to lie down on the sofa in the living room. He didn't even want to move a finger, let alone look in the kitchen. The only thing he could do was to shout at the top of his voice: "Grandpa, I'm back!"

Hearing the noise, Meng Gaoyang poked his head out of the kitchen with a spatula in his hand. Seeing Gu Mengran's listless appearance, he teased him without hesitation, "Are you really that tired? I think you just don't exercise enough and don't have enough stamina. You're so tired from doing just any work!"

Gu Mengran glared at him angrily: "I'm hungry!"

"It's cooking. We'll eat soon." Meng Gaoyang said casually. Just as he was about to go back to the kitchen, he suddenly remembered his business and hurriedly told Gu Mengran: "Take a break and go downstairs to bring some food and seasonings up."

Speaking of this, the old man got angry, "When I just entered the kitchen, the refrigerator was empty, the cupboards were empty, and there was nothing I needed."

Gu Mengran: “I know.”

The goods in the supermarket downstairs cannot be put away for the time being. The maritime department will inspect them when leaving the port and passing through the gate. After all, they are a "supermarket ship" and the goods have to be displayed in the open.

Food that can be preserved for a long time is fine, but the fruits, vegetables and fresh food that grandpa pretended to buy need to be processed as quickly as possible, well, eaten as quickly as possible.

The new home was fully furnished with furniture and appliances, but when he first moved in, it was cold and deserted, with no atmosphere of life. Gu Mengran always felt that something was missing. After taking a break for about ten minutes to calm down, Gu Mengran looked around the living room and was surprised to find that someone was missing.

"Grandpa, where is Liang Zhao?"

Gu Mengran hurried to the kitchen door.

The old man was busy at the stove, and without turning his head, he said, "I can't run away. I'm downstairs organizing the shelves and packing up the goods."

"You're asking me to work on your first day?"

"If you don't do it and he doesn't do it, then who will do it? Me? Go away, go play somewhere else and don't bother with this."

After being kicked out of the kitchen by his grandfather, Gu Mengran shrugged helplessly and prepared to go downstairs to find Liang Zhao.

However, just as he took two steps, his grandfather's voice came from behind him again: "Gu Mengran, we are leaving the port tomorrow. Are you really not going to tell Gu Decheng? After all, he is your biological father. Even if you don't take him with you, shouldn't you at least give him a heads up?"

Gu Mengran paused, and his pursed lips slightly raised.

"Say, why don't you say it."