Chapter 9 Chapter 9 Countdown

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The person is right in front of you, it would be rude to pretend not to see him!

Gu Mengran turned around and smiled dryly, "Morning, good morning, Liang Zhao."

Liang Zhao had just woken up and felt lazy and listless.

He stood behind Gu Mengran, his eyes slightly drooping with deep weariness, his nose moving slightly, "It smells so good, are you salting meat?"

"Well, I just added salt," Gu Mengran nodded and went to the kitchen. "Oh, look at my memory. I almost forgot to add salt. I'll--"

"Let me do it. Your injury hasn't healed yet, so try to move less." Liang Zhao pushed open the kitchen sliding door with one hand and walked into the kitchen before him.

Gu Mengran: …

Gu Mengran watched Liang Zhao put a large spoonful of salt into each pot. Hmm... I hope the brined pork tonight won't be too salty.

After helping, the enthusiastic crowd still had no intention of leaving. He followed Gu Mengran to the sofa in the living room, neither saying a word nor leaving. He frowned slightly and looked at Gu Mengran without blinking.

"What, what's wrong?" Gu Mengran felt uncomfortable being stared at by him, and subconsciously reached out to touch his cheek, "Is there something on my face?"

"No." Liang Zhao shook his head and slowly turned his gaze away, "That day——"

That day, it’s that day again, I’ll just open the pot and talk about it!

Before Liang Zhao could finish, Gu Mengran interrupted him in a panic: "I fainted that day and lost consciousness! The last person I saw was you, so, so... I wanted you to help me, so I didn't let you go. You know the desire to survive, right?"

Liang Zhao didn't expect such a big reaction from him. His slightly frown relaxed, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes, and then he smiled softly.

"What are you laughing at?" Gu Mengran blinked blankly.

Liang Zhao smiled and said calmly, "I heard from Master Meng that you fainted that day due to low blood sugar. Are you feeling better now?"

"Oh, this is better. Much better." Gu Mengran said guiltily.

Gu Mengran thought it was just a simple concern, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Unexpectedly, the next second, Liang Zhao changed the subject and said calmly: "After leaving school, I lost contact with my old classmates, but this morning, I contacted Zheng Yifei."

A huge rock was thrown onto the calm lake, splashing water in all directions and creating ripples.

This day was not that day. Gu Mengran understood. The day Liang Zhao was talking about was the day they met again.

What did Liang Zhao contact Zheng Yifei to explain?

This means that he knew that the news that he was a sailor was not told to him by Zheng Yifei.

How to explain the lie that was broken by itself? Gu Mengran's mind went blank.

Liang Zhao saw Gu Mengran's hesitation and panic. He was obviously in the upper hand and held the initiative, but his brows furrowed and a trace of imperceptible regret flashed in his eyes.

Liang Zhao had hardly slept the entire day and thought a lot, but still couldn't figure it out.

But no matter what, no matter what the reason, he didn't want to disturb this moment of peace that he had been dreaming of. He was a man with nothing, so what else was there worth planning?

"I just ask one question." Liang Zhao suppressed the surging emotions in his heart and looked up at Gu Mengran.

Knowing he couldn't avoid it, Gu Mengran uttered "hmm" vaguely.

Why would you ask? Why did you lie to him, why did you bring him aboard, why—

"Before we meet again, do you still remember me?"

A completely unexpected question, one that had nothing to do with itching. But Liang Zhao met Gu Mengran's gaze with a serious expression and tone, as if he was eager to confirm something.

Gu Mengran widened his eyes, with a hint of unnaturalness flashing across his eyes.

After a brief silence, Gu Mengran seemed to have figured it out. He shrugged nonchalantly, raised the corners of his mouth slightly, and replied to Liang Zhao with particular certainty: "Of course I remember, otherwise why would I ask you to come to the Phoenix Wing?"

It was visible to the naked eye that Liang Zhao's tense body gradually relaxed.

"Liang Zhao." Gu Mengran moved aside, reached out and gently patted Liang Zhao's shoulder, and said seriously: "I know you have a lot of questions in your heart. But I can't explain it to you now. Give me two more days, okay? Trust me once."

"I don't disbelieve you, I just..."

Liang Zhao lowered his eyes and looked away, whispering softly, "Curiosity."

"What are you curious about?" Gu Mengran tilted his head and looked at him.

Liang Zhao pursed his lips and smiled softly, then pointed to the kitchen, "Your salami."

“Oh no!”

The halogen in the evening was a bit too salty after all. In the early morning, Gu Mengran and Liang Zhao were waiting to pass the gate in the driver's seat. They were extremely thirsty. Each of them drank no less than five glasses of water, and then... they went to the toilet like crazy.

At 1 a.m., Meng Gaoyang also woke up and walked into the driver's room yawning.

"Grandpa Meng."

Seeing Meng Gaoyang coming in, Liang Zhao immediately stood up from the captain's chair. But just when he was halfway up, Meng Gaoyang pressed his shoulder and pushed Liang Zhao back to the chair, "Sit down, I just came to take a look."

We were about to reach the gate. Gu Mengran was standing in front of the driving platform, his face pressed against the glass, watching with great interest. He realized that his grandfather had come when he heard the voice. He turned around suddenly and asked in surprise, "Grandpa, why are you here? Are you awake?"

The old man walked around the driving platform and walked towards Gu Mengran, raised his eyebrows slightly, and smiled wickedly, "It's just a gate. I'm worried about you two young boys, so I came to take a look. I didn't mean to disturb you two--"

"Grandpa!" Gu Mengran's face changed suddenly. He took two steps at a time and rushed forward to cover his grandfather's mouth.

The old man is really outspoken, he almost...

Gu Mengran glanced at Liang Zhao subconsciously, and happened to meet Liang Zhao's puzzled gaze. He grinned to ease the embarrassment, and quickly pulled his grandfather back to the corner of the driving platform.

"Grandpa, I beg you not to talk nonsense. It's so embarrassing for Liang Zhao and me if you say that casually!" Gu Mengran deliberately lowered his voice and complained in a low voice.

The old man knew he had said something wrong, so he raised his hand and touched the back of his head, pretending to say, "Haha, the salsa tonight is really salty, and my mouth is dry."

"Master Meng, there is water here."

"Oh, that's great. I'm dying of thirst."

As soon as Liang Zhao opened his mouth, the old man slid to the driving platform like a loach. Gu Mengran was helpless and glared at his grandfather angrily.

At 1:30 in the morning, Feng Yi was in the lead and slowly approaching the gate.

From a distance, the gate was just a slightly larger door, but as the distance got shorter, the towering gate came into view. Gu Mengran widened his eyes and almost forgot to breathe.

The gate is so high that it reaches the sky, and you can't see the end at a glance. It is like a steel beast lurking in the Yellow River. People can't help but be impressed by this great project.

Shaozhou Ship Lock is a third-level ship lock with three gates in total.

The channel ahead was cleared, the miter gate slowly opened, and the Fengyi and the other three cargo ships entered the first pilot channel.

The pilot channel is equivalent to an uncovered rectangular box with water underneath, gabled gates at the front and back, and impenetrable high walls on the left and right sides.

All the ships entered the pilot channel and stayed steadily in the channel. The first-level gate behind them slowly closed. Gu Mengran knew without his grandfather's special explanation that the pilot channel was about to be filled with water.

There is a certain difference in water level from downstream to upstream, and the purpose of the ship gate is to solve this problem and effectively control the excessive difference in water level between upstream and downstream.

After one hour of water injection, the water level of the first-level ship lock rose from the original 70 meters to 94 meters, a full 24 meters in height.

Then it passed the second and third levels until the water level in the pilot channel reached the same level as the upstream river surface. The last gate was opened wide and the Fengyi began to slowly exit the gate.

The gate crossing took three hours, and Gu Mengran watched it from beginning to end.

He did not feel tired at all and was even excited by the magnificent man-made engineering he witnessed.

Unfortunately, in the near future, this great human engineering project and the Mother River that nurtures mankind will eventually disappear in the long river of history.

He slept until noon, and when Gu Mengran got up, the four retired crew members had already taken the money and left.

When people are on the boat, they have no sense of existence. Once they leave, there are only three people left on the huge Fengyi, making it seem exceptionally quiet and empty.

The yellow fog had a great impact, and visibility dropped significantly, slowing down the speed of ships. The ships that were supposed to pass through Shaozhou Ship Lock yesterday morning were postponed to this morning, and there was only less than a day left before the disaster that changed the course of human history.

The impending disaster was like a huge rock pressing on his chest. Gu Mengran was in a bad mood. He came out of the bedroom and sat alone in the living room in a daze. It was 1 o'clock in the afternoon and the pot was still not hot.

The old man was driving the boat in the cab. He seemed to be very hungry. His voice kept coming from the intercom. He kept cursing for nearly ten minutes. Then Gu Mengran reluctantly walked towards the kitchen.

When the cook is not in a good mood, just eat whatever is available.

Cut the halved pork head and halved beef left over from last night into a plate each, and cut a plate of kelp and bean curd, and you have the vegetarian dishes. Heat the meat and vegetables in a steamer, and cook some rice in a rice cooker, and you have a simple lunch - done.

When the meal was brought into the cab, the old man was so hungry that he couldn't even curse.

But when he saw that it was the leftovers from last night, his mouth immediately sank and he said with disgust, "Why is it brined pork again?"

Gu Mengran was absent-minded and said casually, "Just eat it together. It was you, Grandpa, who asked for the brined pork."

Meng Gaoyang: "You can't eat it every day, right? You've eaten it three times! Where's your enthusiasm from the past few days? You cooked it in different ways a few days ago, but these past two days you've been eating leftovers."

"There won't be leftovers every time, so just make do with what you have for this day."

Gu Mengran was talking to his grandfather, but his mind was elsewhere. He slowly walked to the front of the driving platform, looking at the increasingly thick yellow mist on the river, his brows knitted tightly.

The chatterbox suddenly stopped talking, and seemed to be in a state of worry. The old man finally realized that something was wrong and looked at him from a distance while sitting in the driver's seat. "What's wrong? Did you have a fight with Xiao Liang? Why are you crying?"

As soon as these words came out, the gloomy-faced Gu Mengran was instantly amused and turned to look at his grandfather, "It's endless, isn't it? You can always blame Liang Zhao for everything."

"Who told you to feed me leftovers every day?" The old man picked up the bowl, picked up a piece of salami and put it into his mouth, complaining as he ate.

Gu Mengran didn't answer. The smile on his face disappeared in an instant. He looked at the river and sighed softly, "Grandpa, do you remember what day tomorrow is?"

"Tomorrow? Ah, the end of the world!"

"…It's not that exaggerated."

Meng Gaoyang buried his head in his food, puffed up his cheeks and said, "Almost. According to what you said, what's the difference between this and the end of the world?"

"Then why are you eating so happily?" Gu Mengran teased softly.

The old man ate even more vigorously after hearing this. "It's going to rain and my mother is going to get married. Some things are destined to be unchangeable. Your grandfather's hunger can't block the crater. Just eat and drink. What else can you do?"

"That's true." Gu Mengran crossed his arms, a trace of confusion flashed in his eyes, "But grandpa, are you... not afraid?"

"What's the point of being afraid?" The brined meat was too salty. The old man took a sip of water and smacked his lips. "We have done what we should do and prepared what we should prepare. We will just leave it to fate. Besides, there are no active volcanoes in Yuntian and Shaozhou. It is relatively safe. We just need to survive that wave of earthquakes."

A wave of earthquakes...

It was not easy to survive that earthquake. The river was not safe, and the land was even less safe. Even with sufficient preparations, Gu Mengran was still not sure whether he could keep his grandfather and Liang Zhao alive safely.