Chapter 87 Chapter 87 Ever Leap

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At noon, I still couldn't escape the chayote's trap. I had chayote and yam spleen-strengthening soup, chayote fried pork slices, chayote and egg fried black fungus... a chayote feast.

The hot food was placed on the table and everyone was seated, but everyone was holding their bowls and chopsticks, as if they were embarrassed to be someone else's guest. No one, including the grandfather who was cooking himself, picked up the food with their chopsticks.

"Why!"

Cai Lu's face turned even greener. Gu Mengran sighed, silently picked up a piece of yam from the soup bowl, and reluctantly took a small bite.

"Ah!" The old man also sighed, and hesitated for a long time to put down the dishes on the table. Finally, he put down his chopsticks and looked at Gu Mengran, "Chayote...how much is left?"

Gu Mengran chewed on the yam without raising his head and said, "If you eat more every day, ten days or half a month won't be a problem."

"Forget it." Zheng Yijie's hand holding the chopsticks trembled slightly, "It's still ten days or half a month away. I feel a little uncomfortable now!"

"Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing? That's too much!"

The old man glanced at Zheng Yijie and wanted to defend his chayote, but he glanced at the table and said, "Forget it. After dinner, go pick those melons and pull up the vines. Plant something else."

"After that, pick out the melons and send the good ones to Hengrongsheng and Shijin Village. The rest... the rest will be fed to the pigs and chickens. I don't want to eat them anyway."

Zheng Yijie, who ran to the neighbor every few days, waved his hands and said, "Heng Rongsheng doesn't need it. They have grown it at home and can't eat it all. They can't eat it all at all."

This batch of chayote has a high yield, good quality, and large size. The old man is more or less reluctant to feed all of them to small animals. Although it is okay to store them in the space and they will not go bad, they have eaten enough during this period of time. They probably won't touch this thing again in the next few years.

It would be a pity to leave them alone, and it was heartbreaking to feed them to the little animals. The old man looked at Gu Mengran eagerly, "What about the village? I remember you also gave them chayote seeds?"

"Yes, we have planted some," Gu Mengran swallowed the food in his mouth and said slowly, "But the soil is different, the yield is not as good as ours, and there are many people in the village, so they won't think the food is too much, so we can send some over."

Giving it away seems to be the best way to end the chayote. The old man heaved a sigh of relief and said, "Okay, let's eat, and then we'll go pick some. Let's see if the rain can get lighter this afternoon, and then we'll find a time to send them over."

"Oh, I really can't eat this table of food."

"You've become a picky eater, haven't you? Even if I starve you for three days, it'll still taste delicious."

"It's the last meal, let's eat together."

…

Heavy rains continued for a year, and the Fengyi No. 1 floated on the empty lake, going out but not coming in for nearly a year. Relying on growing vegetables and the bug-like space in Gu Mengran's hands, the Fengyi No. 11 had a very comfortable life.

Our neighbor Heng Rongsheng was also doing well. They planted a lot of high-yield and filling crops on the ship, such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, and pumpkins. Although they didn't eat as well as the people on the Feng Yi, they never went hungry.

Especially some time ago, Xu Xinghe and Zheng Yijie fell in love with fishing. The two of them would sit on the deck with their fishing rods for a whole day, sometimes returning with nothing, and sometimes returning with a full load, to improve the food for their family.

In comparison, the Shijin Village, which is still on the shore, lives in a more difficult situation.

After lunch, the old man stayed in the kitchen to clean, while the others, each holding a pair of scissors and a woven bag, went to the "vegetable garden" on the first floor to pick vegetables.

If you ignore the taste of chayote, the process of picking the vegetable is still very relaxing. With a "click", a big and plump chayote falls into your hand, with a lot of weight.

But the fun was just at the beginning. When all the chayote fruits in the hall were picked and the vines were pulled out by the roots, Gu Mengran took Liang Zhao and Zheng Yijie to the space, and the relaxed and happy expressions on everyone's faces suddenly became solemn.

The sky is as blue as ever, with no wind or clouds, and the temperature is just right.

A stream was flowing from nowhere, and a group of sleek ducks were swimming happily in the water, quacking from time to time and splashing water.

Hens and roosters were strolling around, with their chicks following behind them, pecking at the ground tremblingly; docile sheep, strong cows, and fat pigs were lying lazily together in the open space, one next to the other, getting along in extraordinary harmony.

It is still the same land and animals, only a little bigger. The once lifeless yellow land has completely changed color, and a vibrant green can be seen everywhere.

Cabbage, radish, leek, pepper...almost all the vegetables that could be seen before the disaster are available. The fruit trees planted before have also grown into small trees that are one meter tall. Unfortunately, it will take more patience and a few more years for them to bloom and bear fruit.

A space was specially reserved for poultry and livestock. The three of them walked on the yellow mud and passed by a fat pig that was lying on the ground and taking a nap. Zheng Yijie couldn't help but look at it a few more times and muttered quietly, "It's so fat, isn't it time to slaughter it?"

"What?" Gu Mengran, who was walking in front, didn't hear clearly and asked casually.

Liang Zhao, who was sandwiched in the middle, acted as a messenger: "He said the pigs are fat and it's time to slaughter them."

"Don't even think about it," Gu Mengran snorted and laughed, "I raise them specifically for breeding. The big pigs give birth to piglets, and the next batch of piglets will be slaughtered and eaten when they grow up."

Zheng Yijie frowned and rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "Breeding? But I vaguely remember... sows can be bred and conceived at seven to eight months old. Why is it that after a year, none of your pigs have conceived?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Gu Mengran paused and turned around abruptly.

The tip of his nose bumped into Liang Zhao's shoulder without warning. Gu Mengran didn't even bother to rub it. He grabbed Liang Zhao's arm to steady himself and asked hurriedly, "Is it true? Aren't pigs the same as cows and sheep, and they take one and a half to two years to get pregnant?"

Zheng Yijie's mouth twitched, "Who told you? Pigs are best at eight months old!"

Gu Mengran turned his head to look at the group of lazy fat pigs, and a crack appeared on his calm face.

I haven’t gotten pregnant in over a year. Will I be able to eat pork in the future?

"So, what do we do now?"

Zheng Yijie: "How would I know? I'm not an expert..."

Halfway through his speech, he was caught off guard by Liang Zhaoling's sharp eyes. Zheng Yijie coughed lightly and changed the subject: "Well, you should have bought some related books, right? Bring them to me later so I can study them further."

Gu Mengran hummed, "Whether I can eat pork in the future depends on you."

Zheng Yijie sneered: "Don't put pressure on me!"

Not forgetting the important matter, five minutes later, the three of them came to the rack filled with bitter melons.

No dead objects could be brought into the space, not even wood for building the trellises. This certainly did not pose a problem for Gu Mengran. He simply used local materials and planted a field of dark purple sugarcane to use as wood to build the trellises for the crops that needed to climb.

Without any tools, it is quite tiring to pick the melons with bare hands. Gu Mengran originally wanted to dismantle the rack directly, but Zheng Yijie said not to do so yet, and let the remaining small melons grow slowly and be saved as seeds.

Professional matters should be handled by professionals, and Gu Mengran chose to listen to him.

After three hours of hard work, they finally finished picking all the chayote. Since they were already there, they also picked some cabbages from the field next door to feed the little animals.

It was already past five o'clock when we returned to the cabin. The harvested bitter melons filled more than twenty large woven bags. The four of us sat in the living room to choose and select, and finally picked out three bags of the best quality melons to deliver to Shijin Village.

The rain was a little lighter in the evening. A strong wind blew by, and the dark clouds in the sky followed the wind. The dim sky gradually brightened, and the heavy rain turned into a drizzle.

It is better to arrive in time than to arrive early. The rain stopped as soon as they divided the bergamot. Gu Mengran and Liang Zhao put on raincoats while there was still time, got on the diesel boat controlled by the old man, and swayed down to the lake.

With a push of the accelerator, the diesel boat was ejected with a roar, carrying several hundred kilograms of chayote.

It was hard to feel the passage of time on the boat, except for the increasing rust on the deck, there was basically no change. But once on the lake, sitting on a diesel boat that was dozens of times smaller, the view became lower and all you could see was water. Gu Mengran then felt as if it had been raining for a year.

The water level rose so much that within a few minutes, the diesel boat passed by the former tourist pier. The approach platform, the approach bridge, the tourist check-in sign... everything was submerged by the lake. If it weren't for the street lights standing in the water, only half of their heads would be left, and there would be no trace of them at all.

The road used to end here and people had to walk the rest of the way. But now, it’s hard to say whether it’s better or worse, it’s convenient and fast - you can take a boat directly to the village entrance.

The roads and hillsides along the way, including the ruins after the earthquake, were all submerged by rainwater. The land belonging to Shijin Village was also shrinking inch by inch. The diesel boats had smooth passage. It was estimated that it would not be long before even the Fengyi would be able to drive directly into the village.

Without turning a single corner, the boat reached the village entrance in 15 minutes. The rainstorm had just subsided, and the lake was still covered with a layer of white mist. Gu Mengran sat on the boat and looked around, looking for the stairs leading to Shijin Village.

Visibility was low and there were almost no reference points around, so it was quite difficult to search. Gu Mengran focused all his attention on the surroundings. Unexpectedly, the stairs were not found yet and the diesel boat that was sailing at full speed suddenly stopped without any sign.

It was as if someone suddenly pushed him hard from behind, and inertia almost threw Gu Mengran out of the diesel boat. Fortunately, Liang Zhao reacted in time and pulled him up in time.

Not knowing what happened, Gu Mengran patted his chest in shock and looked at Liang Zhao in confusion, "What... huh?"

The words were muffled by Liang Zhao's hand, and Gu Mengran finally realized something was wrong. He followed Liang Zhao's line of sight, and his eyes stayed in the rain and mist ahead for five seconds. His pupils suddenly shrank, and his whole body became extremely stiff.

On the empty water, a huge ship that seemed to be one with the water mist stopped silently in front of us. It was white in color, nearly ten stories high, and the top was almost invisible at a glance.

Cruise ship!

Relying on the vague shadow, Gu Mengran could see at a glance that it was a huge cruise ship.

His body was shaking uncontrollably. Gu Mengran clenched his teeth and used the last bit of his strength to take out a ship-mounted telescope from the space.

The familiar white and blue color scheme, the familiar ship shape, he felt a little bit lucky, but the name printed on the bow dealt him a heavy blow.

——Ever Leap.

The Eternal Leap that had cost him his legs and disfigured him in his previous life.