Chapter 50 Destination: Luanyang Ridge

  After returning, my mood has changed. Along the way, sweet words and promises were made, everything became natural, just like a young couple. Yang Xiufeng and I simply thought that we would live happily together like ordinary people, even if there might be some help from my parents. However, this is not what I think is the problem. I can have a good talk with my parents, and Yang Xiufeng's greatest advantage is that she can treat my parents well. We had already started discussing our future life, even secretly thinking about having children. As for Yang Xiufeng's parents, we didn't think much about it, neither of us thought it was a problem, thinking that it could be settled with money. Now what's troubling us is that Yang Xiufeng and I don't have any money. Luckily, there were almost 30,000 yuan left over from Li Hongjun's funeral, which I hadn't returned to Li Xiaoman yet. At the time, I really forgot, but now it seems unnecessary. Not to mention that Li Xiaoman wouldn't care about this amount of money, maybe in her eyes, it was just as simple as a few dollars. This was also the compensation given by Li Hongjun, so I selfishly thought of it as a little consolation for the blood curse he put on me. So I handed over the money to Yang Xiufeng and directly opened an account in her name at the bank, depositing our first sum of money. Of course, this is far from enough, but as a student, I really have no way to make more money now. As for how we will make money in the future, we truly haven't had any ideas yet.

  After returning, I felt a bit more spirited. Of course, when I arrived at the county town, I first went to see Second Uncle. Second Uncle's condition was not bad, but as soon as he saw me, his face turned angry: "Xiaohai, you must get back that 50,000 yuan immediately and return it to them right away. We can afford this hospital fee ourselves, even if we can't afford it, we will never use their money. Didn't you hear what I said?"

  The old man was very excited, if he didn't know where those people were, he would have taken it back himself. To be honest, I don't think this 50,000 yuan is a good thing either. As the old man said: "Eating someone else's food makes your mouth short, taking someone else's money makes your hands soft. If it's not earned by your own sweat, something will definitely go wrong. No one's money will let you off scot-free, who knows, you might have to pay a price far greater than 50,000 yuan."

  I agreed and ran around to finally take out the 50,000 yuan. After all, it was just a minor adjustment for Second Master, and the hospitalization fee was only over 100 yuan per day. We could afford it ourselves, and even if we couldn't, we would borrow from relatives and friends. We wouldn't use the money given by Li Xiaoman. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to hold my head up in front of her. That's different from the money given by Li Hongjun, which is what I deserved.

  50,000 yuan is not a small amount of money, to be honest, it's not something our family can easily take out either. But Second Master might not even have that much in savings. However, I believe that even if my parents were here, they wouldn't accept this money. According to the nurse, Second Master hasn't been eating or sleeping well for a whole day because of this. Now that the money has been taken out and after I agreed to return it, Second Master finally had a good sleep.

  Second Master is fine, just older and lacking in energy, after a few days of recuperation he can be discharged from the hospital. In fact, now he can go out to buy food himself without any issues, so I didn't stay behind either, I just bought some nutritional supplements for Second Master, and left after he finished his lunch.

  But I didn't go back to the village directly, instead, I stayed in the county town with San Jie Mei and Huang Da Xian to discuss what preparations to make. Since we couldn't stop Li Xiao Man from going to explore that place, we might as well follow her and see if we could still prevent something. However, what made me lose heart was that even my usually resourceful eldest sister had a helpless look on her face: "Liu Hai, I've asked around, but the situation isn't good. Everyone has heard of zombies, but no one has seen them before, and no one knows how to deal with them. At most, we can only find some scattered records in ancient books. If we want to deal with zombies, it seems like we'll have to rely on ourselves. Alas, the people I can contact are really too few."

  I knew that the two sisters didn't gain anything from this trip, otherwise they wouldn't have been quiet after returning. But now is not the time to think about those things, the key is how to deal with the zombies? Zombies are not ghosts, they have a physical body, which means we should use methods to deal with physical objects. Originally, using guns would be the best, you can keep attacking from a distance, but obviously this is not possible. If I use a knife, it's too close and I don't feel safe.

  But it's often said that three cobblers are better than one Zhuge Liang, and this saying still makes sense. At least when I was in a predicament and had to resort to searching online and asking people for help, someone gave me an idea - using an electric saw. This inspiration came from the movie "Electric Saw Massacre", but I think it's not bad.

  On the third day, Li Xiaoman arrived at our village as scheduled, but he came in a van. I don't know what was inside, and when we met, there was no small talk. He just glanced at me: "Are you ready?"

  I nodded and took out the treasures I had prepared, including an electric saw, iron chain, rope, gasoline, etc. Li Xiaoman was stunned at first sight, and it wasn't until after a good while that she stammered: "Liu Hai, are these the things you've prepared?"

  I was a bit embarrassed by Li Xiaoman's gaze, but this is already the best thing I could think of. A chainsaw alone cost me over 1,000 yuan, and all in all, it added up to over 2,000 yuan. I've tried it out, and this chainsaw can cut through an iron plate, so I don't believe a zombie is harder than that. Plus, I have a secret weapon, which cost me several hundred yuan and took half a day's effort to get someone to make for me. So, I shook out a steel wire mesh net and nodded forcefully: "It's all here, this is what I was thinking - first, use the net to trap the zombie. I've tried it out, and this net can withstand at least 800 kilograms of force. Once the zombie is trapped, I can use the chainsaw to cut it open. I don't believe it can still cause any trouble after being dismembered. Finally, I'll burn it with gasoline."

  After hearing my words, Li Xiaoman was completely speechless. After a long while, she shook her head and said: "I really don't know why my father chose you to help me."

  "That's because your father didn't have a choice, and I'm the best among the worst, you can't do anything about it either, otherwise you wouldn't need to find me." I felt somewhat resentful, after all being looked down on like this doesn't feel good.

  Li Xiaoman hummed, looking me up and down, and sighed: "I thought you could raise ghosts, and several ghosts were quite skilled, with a demon as a doorman, you must understand something, at least prepare some talismans. How did you come up with this stuff? Are you sure it's useful against zombies?"

  I couldn't be certain, but I had to save face, so I naturally couldn't let others look down on me. As I started packing my things, I tilted my head and said: "Those few ghosts are my friends, and Huang Daxian is also a friend, that's what you think, I didn't say anything. As for whether or not we can deal with zombies, who knows if we haven't tried? Can you be certain that the talisman will definitely work?"

  Of course, Li Xiaoman had never seen a zombie before, so he wouldn't know if it was useful or not. He didn't continue to drag the topic with me and just waved his hand: "Let's get on the car then, we need to prepare first, there's a lot of work that needs to be done beforehand."

  Then I got on that container, only in the rear carriage, but after entering, I found out that this was not an ordinary incense or house car. Inside, except for a part piled up with machines that I didn't know what they were used for, most of it was like a room, with beds, tables, TVs, computers, and even a small kitchen, refrigerator, wardrobe, etc. Only then did I understand what it means to be rich.

  I won't mention my feelings, from our village we set off, heading north all the way. Luckily it was a diesel truck with great power, otherwise this mountain road would be really hard to walk on. The car couldn't speed up on the mountain road and it wasn't until dusk that we had traveled over 40 miles. Not far ahead I knew there was a village called Xiama Village, legend has it that when Emperor Qianlong passed through here, he got off his horse there, so it's called Xiama Village.

  It was just that I didn't know, when I left, a figure had been gazing at the village head for a long time, and it wasn't until the sky was about to darken that he turned back. It couldn't be Yang Xiufeng, who else could it be? Although I didn't say a word when I left, how could I not worry? Just like a young daughter-in-law whose husband is leaving, especially since this trip was full of unknown dangers. However, Yang Xiufeng knew she couldn't stop me, so she just reminded me to be careful.

  For a long time, the worry on her face couldn't be dispelled. She gently stroked her belly and sighed: "Little Hai Ge, I hope you have good fortune and will return safely. I've done my best, hoping to get pregnant too, so we can leave an heir for the Liu family..."

  I had no idea why Yang Xiufeng let go, why she would take the initiative to give me everything. I was just enjoying the impact and feeling it brought, but I didn't know how much a girl had to bear. I could go on adventures, I could be reckless, but I never really thought about my parents and family's situation. If something unexpected happened to me, the Liu family would be completely cut off, it's impossible for parents in their fifties to have another child. Yang Xiufeng's thoughts were simple, she just wanted to give the Liu family six children, this was also a decision Yang Xiufeng made after thinking about it for a long time. It has to be said that rural girls take more responsibility for family obligations than city girls do.

  From that day when my hemophilia relapsed, Yang Xiufeng felt a sense of terror, as if she might lose me at any moment. This feeling lingered around her all the time, although she couldn't express it in words. But sometimes girls in love think differently, and many times they can no longer consider things rationally. In the end, she made this decision to use two consecutive nights of joy to leave something for me.