Chapter 12: RV Story
The mother and daughter chatted all the way, and after more than 20 minutes they arrived at the outskirts of the city gate. Li Ai followed the mule cart in front of her and turned into a dilapidated courtyard. The courtyard was small and dilapidated, and it looked like no one had lived there for a long time.
"This is the yard of the original body's classmate Lin Youcai. After his parents passed away two years ago, he and his wife went to settle down with his father-in-law. The yard doesn't make much money if you rent it out, and he's not in Nan County, so he keeps it empty because he doesn't think it's troublesome. He comes back every Qingming Festival to sweep the graves, and the old house is still there, so he has a place to stay when he comes back occasionally. When I have time, I will help him take a look at the yard to prevent it from being occupied by other people. Of course, this is the original body's memory." Li Jun explained to the two siblings while standing outside the car.
"You two rest in the car and wait for us to come back. After notifying the Shen family and buying the things, we will be back in 2 or 3 hours at most." Chen Huiqin reminded them worriedly.
"We're not the ones shouting, so don't respond and don't open the car door! We've locked the gate!" After giving the instructions, Li Jun walked towards the mule cart, looking back every step of the way.
Around 4 p.m., the two siblings who were taking a nap in the cool air-conditioned room were startled by a knock on the window.
"Emma, I was so scared!" Li Ai got up with a somersault, checked her watch, pulled down the privacy curtain, looked at her parents sweating outside the car, and quickly opened the door. "You're finally back, you were gone all afternoon!"
"Wow! You bought so many things! Come up and cool down!" The heat was rolling outside. Li Hao stuck his head out and squinted his eyes at the full mule cart.
"It's so hot! Oh my God! We finally got out of the city before the city gates closed." Li Jun asked his wife to get in the car first, closed the yard door, and tied up the mule before walking into the RV.
Chen Huiqin was so hot that she went to the bathroom to wash her face with cold water. She wiped her face with a face towel and walked out to Li Jun who had just got in the car and said, "Go wash your face and cool down."
Li Hao poured water for the two of them, and the four of them sat down to chat. On the way back to the village, two of them were in the car and two were on the mule cart, so it would be even harder to chat in the village.
Li Ai looked at the three people and said, "The most important issue is not how many people there are to flee. Don't you think that this RV is the most important issue at the moment?"
The four people looked at each other.
Li Hao said: "Just say you found it! Then tinker with it and try to start it!"
"It's a bit of a stretch, and there are so many daily necessities in the car. When we flee together..." Li Jun gave a look that you all understand.
"Why bother with so much? You're busy escaping for your life, and you don't know what will happen tomorrow!" Chen Huiqin said indifferently.
"I thought about this problem all the time I was driving. If we stop to settle down, it's impossible to lose the car. Do you think this is okay? Let's say that my brother and I were kidnapped by human traffickers and taken to Ancheng, which is far away from home. Then we were bought by the steward of a wealthy family and worked as servants doing rough work and running errands. A year later, the war came to Ancheng and the city was broken. We were lucky enough to escape from the city and met a Taoist priest who was traveling around to cultivate immortals. Seeing the brother and sister were pitiful, and listening to the experiences of the two children, he felt that they were lucky and it was a blessing to meet him, so he gave his car to the two of them to go home. The Taoist priest did good deeds and accumulated virtue for himself. Under the guidance of the Taoist priest's car, the two of them were able to return safely from such a far place to their hometown and find their parents. If there are things or items that are difficult to explain, they can blame the Taoist priest!" After saying so much in one breath, Li Ai picked up the water cup to drink a sip of water and take a breath.
Three people gave Li Ai a thumbs up.
Li Ai continued, "The reason why I am the only one who can drive the car is that the Taoist priest performed a ritual."
Li Jun immediately followed up: "The Taoist priest is worried that someone might rob your car while you are on the road. He is also worried that when you get home, your family members will favor boys over girls and abandon you and take your car away."
Li Hao's eyes lit up and he nodded, "And why can the car move without being pulled by animals? It's because the Taoist priest cast a spell and the car can store the sunlight. He told them that it's called solar energy. The car consumes solar energy when it's running. The car can move when it gets enough sunlight, and it doesn't need people or animals to pull it."
"My son is doing well! You have made progress!" Chen Huiqin rubbed her son's head and gave affirmation.
Li Jun gave a thumbs up!
Li Ai nodded: "Okay! Let's put it that way! Then the image of the Taoist priest is that his hair and beard are all white, he holds a whisk, and looks like an immortal."
Chen Huiqin: "Just in case, don't say the car was given by the Taoist priest. Say the Taoist priest lent it to you. When you return it to the Taoist priest, just say he will come and take it when he needs it. The Taoist priest has cast a spell on his car, so he can find it no matter where it is."
Li Jun looked like his wife was awesome, and continued, "It makes sense that you two were able to come back with the help of the wandering Taoist priest. Otherwise, the two children had never been far away, and were abducted to such a faraway place and sold into the government. And then there was a war and the city was destroyed, and there were only a few adults who could escape back. In ancient times, you needed a pass to travel far, and many people had never left their village or town in their entire lives. Villages close to the city were better, especially those far from the city. There are too many people in remote villages who have never left the mountains or been to the city in their entire lives." After thinking for a while, he continued, "There are many adults who couldn't escape from the city. The fact that you two were able to escape from the city is because you two children are small and inconspicuous, and you are lucky."
Li Ai: "It's really good luck."
Li Hao: "No, luck is a blessing, the key point is that I am prepared for a rainy day and have a plan!"
Li Ai: "Yes, yes, yes. Speaking of cars, the Taoist priest's car is different from that of ordinary people. It's normal, right? There's nothing wrong with it! If it's hard to explain, just blame the Taoist priest!"
"That's right! That's what I said! There's chaos everywhere now, and there's no way to verify it! Even if the world is peaceful, we don't know how many years have passed. We don't even know where we can settle down, and there's no way to verify it!" Chen Huiqin affirmed.
Li Jun clapped his hands, "Only half-truths and half-falsehoods can be true! Okay, let's put it this way! Remember this, everyone!"
"However, if you can keep silent, keep silent. If you can avoid explaining, don't explain. It's best to change the subject! Don't let everyone know! On the road to escape, there is no way to live together as a family every day! In short, keep it secret if you can, and don't let others know if you can! If there is anything, the four of us will find a chance to talk about it in private." Ms. Chen Huiqin was responsible for summarizing.
"Okay, Mom."
"Mom, I know."
"I know, wife."
"While we still have some time, let's tidy up your RV together and put everything that needs to be put away in the cabinet under the bed." Chen Huiqin stood up, rolled up her sleeves, and prepared to get to work.
“Yes, there will be many people around when we go back to the village, so we should sort things out here before going back. By then, we need to put food in the RV.” Li Jun squatted down and opened the drawer under the sofa. Most of the drawer was filled with snacks, including lollipops, soft candies, chewing gum, spicy strips, chocolate, biscuits, braised eggs, ham, salt-baked wings... It was a mess.
Li Ai stood up and watched her parents busying themselves. "We only had some snacks on the way. We were so busy on the road that we didn't have time to eat. Otherwise, this drawer would be empty."
"There are too many people on the road, so it's not convenient to eat. If you want to eat, just eat quietly. Just put the snacks here so it's easy to take when you want to eat. I'll go to the back of the car." Li Jun got out of the car in two steps.
"We want to eat too, but unfortunately I get carsick. She drives, and when we stop to rest, I just want to eat something and go to sleep." Li Hao helped his mother take out the smart electric frying pan, electric rice cooker, stainless steel basins, bowls, spoons, chopsticks, glass bowls, plates, cups... all the kitchen utensils that are not suitable for current use from under the bed.
"Leave the kettle, thermos flask, two thermos cups, and three plastic kettles in the car. I'll make covers for them when I have time so they won't be conspicuous." Chen Huiqin looked at the items on the floor and thought about how to arrange them.
Li Hao stuffed the pots and cups that he was going to leave in the car back into the cabinet.
Li Ai pointed at the glassware on the ground and said, "Keep one of each of the glass plates, bowls, and cups! You can use them to heat up food in the microwave. You can heat up food quietly!"
Chen Huiqin waved her hand and said, "No need. Shen Xianglan has good porcelain bowls, cups, and plates. These porcelains, although not the best, are also very good. There is no problem in putting them in the microwave to heat up food."
Li Ai: "Scissors, kitchen knives, fruit knives, planers, etc., there's no need to hide them, right?"
Chen Huiqin: "No, these can be used, just leave them in the cabinet as they are."
Li Jun opened the double rear doors at the rear of the car. The door of the large storage cabinet under the bed was at the rear of the car.
“折叠小单车一辆，1、2、3、4，4袋5KG的真空包装大米，1、2、3。。。。十多袋泡面！！！一袋里有5包，你买这么多泡面放车上！！还每袋泡面口味不一样，泡面有这么多种口味了？？”
"There's a promotion online with promotional prices and coupons. I bought some food and daily necessities and stocked them up in my car." Li Ai felt in her heart that it's not a bad thing to love buying food and daily necessities.
"1, 2, 3... 7 bags of salt, three cartons of paper towels, two cartons of face towels, 3 small buckets of oil... What is this? Wife, these are the things you always talk about every month. This pile can last for several months, right?" Li Jun picked up the sanitary napkins while flipping through them and counting them, waiting for his wife to praise him.
Li Ai looked like an old man on the subway looking at his phone: "......"
Li Hao frowned: "......"
Chen Huiqin was relieved, "Okay, just leave it there, I'll take it myself if I need it." Being a woman is troublesome because of menstruation. I've been wearing a menstrual bag for two months. The menstrual bag is made of coarse cloth and filled with plant ash. It's more convenient and easy to use than modern sanitary napkins.
"Hahahahaha... my precious slingshots!" Li Jun opened the bag in surprise, looked at the slingshots, touched this one, looked at that one, and weighed the bag of steel balls. Fortunately, they were placed in the RV, and they all came through with it. Now he has a weapon to use!
The huge black canvas bag was taken out and placed on the ground to be counted one by one. There were three composite slingshots with 40 steel balls, stainless steel slingshots, titanium alloy slingshots, and 10 slingshots of different sizes. There were bags of steel balls of different sizes, two bags of thorn balls and two bags of wolf teeth balls. There were three green laser spear guns. When the boxes were opened, there were dozens of flying shark darts and bullet darts. There were also some accessories given by the merchants in the bags. The more you buy, the more accessories the merchants give you.
Li Ai climbed onto the big bed and looked at her father who was squatting on the ground at the back of the car, counting his favorite things. "I thought you took them home, but you left them in my car instead! Isn't that great!!!"
Li Hao lay on the big bed, "......!! Dad, you are so awesome!"
Li Ai looked at her mother and raised her eyebrows at her father: "Mom, Dad's hobby is great, right? The money was not wasted! Now it can be put to good use!"
Li Hao grinned and said, "Dad, Mom no longer has any reason to nag about your hobby!"
Chen Huiqin smiled, pulled the corners of her mouth, coughed twice and said, "It's getting dark! Hurry up!!"