Chapter 8 Chapter 8 When I woke up, the sky was falling
*
"——hiss, it hurts! Grandpa, please be gentle."
The smell of safflower oil lingered in the bedroom for a long time. Gu Mengran sat leaning against the head of the bed, his pale face wrinkled into a ball, and the corners of his mouth twitched uncontrollably.
His right foot was held tightly in Meng Gaoyang's hand. The old man's rough palm was filled with safflower oil, and he repeatedly rubbed Gu Mengran's slightly red and swollen toes.
The sour pain stimulated his brain, and Gu Mengran couldn't help but pull his legs back. Every time he pulled his calf back, he would be slapped. After four or five times, Gu Mengran bit the corner of the quilt and dared not move, complaining from time to time.
The old man sat at the end of the bed and rubbed Gu Mengran's feet. His face looked very ugly. He looked up at Gu Mengran from time to time, wanting to say something but stopping himself. His eyes were particularly complicated.
Gu Mengran finally couldn't help being tortured physically and mentally. He smiled at his grandfather, pursed his lips, and asked tentatively: "Grandpa, I fainted at that time, right? How long did I faint for?"
"Don't you know whether you are dizzy or not?" The old man glared at him fiercely.
Gu Mengran said confidently: "I am unconscious, how would I know?"
Meng Gaoyang stopped talking, and the bedroom fell into strange silence again.
Gu Mengran closed his eyes and fainted in the supermarket warehouse. His last memory was Liang Zhao finding him, and that was it. Rather than how long he was unconscious, he was actually more concerned about how he came back.
There was no need to hide anything from grandpa, so Gu Mengran just asked whatever he wanted to ask.
But upon hearing this, the old man's face became uglier, and he rubbed her feet harder and harder, "How did you get back? Liang carried you back! I should have used my phone to record it for you, look at you."
"What's wrong with me?" Gu Mengran smelled something bad and straightened his back.
Meng Gaoyang was gloomy and imitated his tone at that time: "'Liang Zhao, Liang Zhao, my legs hurt so much, don't go, Liang Zhao.' Xiao Liang was kind enough to bring you back, but you hugged him tightly and kept crying and repeating Xiao Liang's name."
Gu Mengran: …………
It’s over. When I woke up, the sky fell!
Before Gu Mengran could digest it, the old man suddenly looked up at him, no longer teasing or scolding him, and said solemnly: "Gu Mengran, tell me the truth, you and Liang Zhao... Forget it, are you sick?"
One sentence after another, without any pause, Gu Mengran naturally connected the two sentences together.
His already pale face instantly turned as pale as paper. He looked away in panic and whispered back, "Grandpa, don't be so feudal. Experts say that liking the same sex is innate, not a disease."
"What?" Like a thunderclap, Meng Gaoyang stood up from the bed.
He stared at Gu Mengran without blinking, his brows furrowed, his eyes filled with confusion and shock.
Gu Mengran was stunned, his lips trembling slightly: "Aren't you asking me this?"
Meng Gaoyang: "A bag of rice fell on your toes and knocked you unconscious. I asked you if you have any disease. Gu Mengran, what are you talking about? Who do you like?"
It’s over, it’s over, it’s really over now!
He just... suddenly came out with grandpa?
Gu Mengran was unwilling to face the reality. He closed his eyes and slapped his forehead heavily. "Wait a minute, wait a minute, Grandpa, I feel a little dizzy. I want to go to sleep first--"
"Get up and explain it to me clearly." Meng Gaoyang grabbed his arm and pulled him out from under the quilt.
There's no escape! Gu Mengran opened his eyes in despair, ready to face the storm. Unexpectedly, the next moment, his grandfather came into his sight and smiled, gossiping, "Who do you like? Liang Zhao?"
Gu Mengran was stunned. "Grandpa, you, you're not angry?"
"Why should I be angry? At your age, isn't it normal to have someone you like?"
"Yes, yes...Is it okay if I like boys?"
Meng Gaoyang frowned, "Why not? Men and women are not all human beings. Haven't you seen those weird foreigners marrying rice cookers and cell phones? And some young people marrying old men, that's not okay."
Gu Mengran's pupils widened in shock. Did he accept this?
It was like a dream. He never thought that his grandfather was such an open-minded parent.
Shocked and moved, he lowered his head and his eyes were slightly red.
The old man didn't give him a chance to shed tears, and gently pushed his shoulder, "I want to ask you a question, do you like Xiao Liang? Does Xiao Liang know? When will you be together?"
Gu Mengran shook his head and said nothing.
Meng Gaoyang was not discouraged. With a gossipy face, he analyzed to himself, "That's for sure. You did everything you could to trick him onto the boat. Besides wanting to save him, you also wanted to seduce him."
“Cough cough cough…”
Gu Mengran was nearly choked to death by his saliva and coughed for a long time before he recovered.
There was no trace of emotion left. Gu Mengran patted his chest and nudged the old man with his elbow. "Nothing! That's enough. You are still so gossipy at your age."
"Forget it." The old man sighed with a hint of disappointment and sat back on the bed. "Then tell me about you. What happened? You didn't have any injuries except your toes. How did you pass out?"
He couldn't tell the truth. Gu Mengran slid into the quilt calmly, pulled up the quilt to cover most of his face, and said in a muffled voice: "I was scared and had a little hypoglycemia. I fainted all of a sudden."
"Really?" The old man was skeptical.
"Of course. If I was really ill, I couldn't hide it from you, Grandpa! Now I am the backbone of our family. Most of the supplies are with me. I can't let anything happen to me."
"It's okay. As long as you're not seriously injured, your leg will probably need to be healed for a few days. Just lie down and have a good rest." Meng Gaoyang patted his thigh, stood up, and walked towards the door slowly.
"Grandpa." Gu Mengran called him, "Where's Liang Zhao?"
Meng Gaoyang: "Please steer the car for me in the cab. Otherwise, how do you think I can get away?"
"What about those people who just came aboard? Won't they help?"
"Responsible for the old captain and the old first mate, helping in any way possible, as long as you don't cause any trouble, it's a good thing."
Gu Mengran frowned in dissatisfaction, "When will they leave?"
"We'll get off the boat after we pass Shaozhou Lock in three days." The old man smacked his lips and turned back to remind Gu Mengran: "Don't worry about it, take good care of it. Liang Zhao and I will be busy, and when the water level is deeper, we can start automatic navigation and we'll be free."
Gu Mengran was still worried about the outsiders staying on the boat.
When he heard that he would leave in three days, he closed his eyes and fell asleep peacefully.
*
Lying down all the time is not a big deal, it's just boring.
Grandpa and Liang Zhao took turns on duty and were extremely busy. Several retired sailors stayed in the room all day long playing cards and Landlord. It was difficult to see them. Gu Mengran was bored to death.
He was free anyway, so he found something to do.
Take the initiative to serve as the head chef.
The injured toe made it difficult for him to walk, but fortunately Gu Mengran had foresight. He quietly took out an electric wheelchair from the space and drove it into the kitchen every time it was time for dinner without anyone's help.
In the morning, there are porridge and steamed buns; in the afternoon, there are stir-fried dishes and stews; in the evening, there are fried chicken and grilled skewers. The three meals a day are cooked in different ways. The crew members are happy to eat, and Gu Mengran is also enjoying it. Not only does he kill time, but his cooking skills are also improving.
Three days passed in a flash, and in the evening when the sun was setting, the Fengyi arrived smoothly at the Shaozhou ship lock and joined the long queue of ships waiting to pass through the lock.
It was Gu Mengran's first time to experience passing through the gate by boat, and he found it novel. As soon as the Fengyi got in line, he drove his wheelchair to the driver's cab and looked around cautiously.
The door of the driver's cab was open, and yellow mist drifted into the room along with the river breeze, and the entire driver's cab was filled with the smell of sulfur.
The yellow fog became thicker and visibility dropped sharply. In just three days, we received no less than ten text messages with red fog warnings. Even when sitting in the driver's cab with the widest view, the entire field of vision was covered in yellow fog, and the visibility was estimated to be less than 30 meters.
Gu Mengran leaned against the glass and couldn't see anything clearly. He sat back in his wheelchair in dismay, a sigh escaped from his lips, "It's so foggy that I can't even see how many ships are ahead. Grandpa, when can we pass the gate?"
"It's still early!" The boat driver casually turned on the electronic radar and took a closer look. "It will take four or five hours to queue up, and another three hours to officially pass the gate. It will probably be late at night."
Meng Gaoyang waved his hands and said, "Go and have fun. I'll wake you up when we pass the gate tonight."
“Slurp——”
The wheelchair turned around on the spot, and Gu Mengran drove away with his head down and a sad look on his face.
The old man's loud voice chased after him: "Let's prepare some brisket tonight!"
"Okay." Chef Gu responded.
After three days, Gu Mengran's toes were almost healed, and as long as he didn't push too hard, he could walk. But Gu Mengran insisted on sitting in a wheelchair because -
It only takes five minutes to get from the driver's room to the kitchen in a wheelchair, which is much faster than walking.
However, it is not very convenient to go downstairs in a wheelchair. The old man wants to eat brined pork in the evening, so Gu Mengran can only limp downstairs with a vegetable basket and go to the supermarket on the first floor to get the meat.
After three days of consumption, there was not much fresh meat left in the supermarket.
Gu Mengran put two pieces of premium pork head and a piece of pig's trotter into the vegetable basket, and took advantage of the fact that no one was around to put the rest of the tenderloin and pork belly into the space.
It’s troublesome to brine meat. If you want to brine it, just brine more at one time. At least you can store it if you can’t finish it.
Thinking of this, Gu Mengran simply carried his vegetable basket and walked around the supermarket. He ordered some eggs, chicken feet, and frozen chicken legs, some kelp and dried bean curd as vegetarian dishes, and also some broth and dark soy sauce, filling up the vegetable basket.
I have to say, after this round of shopping, it really feels like I'm shopping for nothing in a supermarket.
Half an hour later, Chef Gu returned to the kitchen and started to get busy.
Washing vegetables and meat, boiling water and blanching them, preparing brine, I wish I could split myself into two people.
The dish was not cooked, and the meat needed to be brined for a while before it could be flavored. Gu Mengran first put the blanched pork head and pig trotters into the pot, but felt that there was not enough meat, so he took out another ten kilograms of beef from the space.
Pork and beef in one pot; chicken legs, chicken feet, and eggs in another. The high-power induction stove is turned to maximum power. In just one hour, the lingering white mist brings out the rich aroma of meat, filling the house with fragrance.
The temperature rose, and the air conditioner in the kitchen couldn't drive away the heat, and the air was filled with steam.
The kitchen was completely empty, as the marinade of the meat would take some time to absorb the flavor. Gu Mengran wiped the sweat off his forehead and walked out of the kitchen. He was about to go to the living room to get some water to drink when he ran into Liang Zhao who was coming towards him as he reached the corridor.
Ever since grandpa recounted that socially devastating episode, Gu Mengran had been avoiding Liang Zhao, intentionally or unintentionally. In addition, Liang Zhao had been on night shift in the driver's room these days, so they had hardly been alone together.
At this moment, Liang Zhao, who was half asleep, came towards him. Gu Mengran had no way to avoid him, so he hurriedly slid the kitchen sliding door open, pretending that he was about to go in.
"Gu Mengran."
It was too late. The light above dimmed slightly, and the smooth floor was covered with thick shadows.