In 2000, Boss Hu carefully drove it out, and everyone immediately began to load things into the trunk and on the roof of the 2000. However, Boss Hu seemed to have a peculiar affection for the 2000; not only did he not get out to help, but he also sat in the car, touching this and that, with a lewd expression as if he had stolen a treasure. In the end, he even found a snow-white towel, wet it, and began to wipe the car with an unusual seriousness.
"I said, Chef Hu, what kind of madness is this? You actually want to wipe the car?" Little Pepper Jiao Jiao stood outside the car with a amused expression, looking at him as if she were watching a rare spectacle!
"You don't understand, this was my dream in the past. When I was young, only city-level leaders were qualified to ride in this car. I used to dream of having one!" Boss Hu grinned widely, excitedly wiping the car, his face showing less of the cunning he used to have and more of beautiful aspirations.
"No way, you're a renowned chef after all. You can't possibly be unable to afford a beat-up 2000 model!" Jiao Jiao said, crossing her arms and teasingly.
"Sigh~" Boss Hu suddenly let out a sigh, and his car-cleaning movements slowed down. He then lamented in a somewhat low voice, "I used to be a big gambler. I would spend all the money I earned within half a month, earning the nickname Hu Guangguang. I even ended up owing a ton of stock debts. My wife ran off with a small boss who drove a 2000 model during that time. But even so, I still liked that 2000; it looked so impressive no matter how you looked at it. After I finally saved up some money to buy a second-hand 2000, this damn doomsday came again. Poor thing, my newly bought 2000 hadn't even warmed up before it said goodbye to me!"
"It seems that there is a saying that holds true: those who are hated must have their own pitiable aspects, haha~ I didn't expect you, Chef Hu, to have a sad past as well. But you don't need to be sad anymore; that scoundrel who stole your wife might have already been bitten and eaten by your wife, who you turned into a living corpse! You should consider yourself lucky; otherwise, it could have been you who got bitten!" Jiao Jiao covered her mouth and laughed lightly, leaving Hu Laoda at a loss for words. Frustrated, he opened a bottle of Wuliangye and started to drink, but Jiao Jiao snatched it away and threw it onto the car roof, putting her hands on her hips and saying, "Are you planning to drive under the influence?"
"What's the matter? Are the police coming to catch me? Even if I'm running around naked, no one would dare to care about me!" Boss Hu was so angry that he was almost bleeding from all seven orifices. He didn't even know why he was at odds with this little girl, Jiao Jiao. Besides Cao Mei, she was the only one who constantly went against him. If it were in the past, he would have slapped her long ago. How could he tolerate this foul-mouthed woman acting wild with him?
"With your appearance, you still want to run around naked? Aren't you afraid of scaring the living dead to death!" Jiao Jiao rolled her eyes adorably, pulled out a bottle from the top of the car, and stuffed it into Hu Laoda's arms. Pouting, she said, "You may not care about your own life, but you should take care of the women in your car. How many years of old troubles do you still want to drown in alcohol? Do you know the difference between you and Brother Lin?"
"Difference? Wha... what difference?" Boss Hu blinked and suddenly asked with a hint of guilt.
"The difference is that he looks more like a man than you do!" Jiao Jiao said loudly, hands on her hips.
"What?" Boss Hu jumped up suddenly, but his head hit the roof of the car with a loud bang. Still holding his head, he shouted angrily, "Nonsense! You little girl, how dare you say I'm not a man? Where am I not like a man? I'll tell you, you can say I'm rustic, you can say I'm bad, but you absolutely cannot say I'm not a man!"
"Bad? Did I say that?" Jiao Jiao covered her mouth and laughed, saying, "You are definitely rustic enough, that big pompadour makes you look like a country bumpkin. But as for being bad, I don't know what you mean. If you mean the kind of bad that's very manly, sorry, you're far from it. But if you mean the kind of bad guy, you do look a bit like a gangster. Just don't think I can't see through you; you're clearly a softie inside. Look at how that zombie scared you just now, your old face turned so pale! If one day you could be as manly as Brother Lin, I, Jiao Jiao, would definitely be the first to throw myself at you, any position you want, haha, just enjoy your drink, Chef Hu…"
"You…" Boss Hu was so angry he was about to go crazy. It was the first time in his life he had been scolded like this, and the other party was just a little girl. He couldn't argue back, and if he hit her, Jack would definitely come looking for trouble. Looking at the bottle of dark soy sauce that Jiao Jiao had shoved into his hands, Boss Hu felt like he wanted to die sitting in the car!
...
There were seven people and a dog in the front of the cheetah, while in the back of the black 2000, Boss Hu wore sunglasses and drove with four beautiful women. Jiao Jiao sat in the passenger seat, constantly rummaging through the storage box for CDs, hoping to find a song that would satisfy her.
Boss Hu held a Cuban cigar the thickness of his thumb, picking up and putting down a windproof lighter, seeming quite troubled. Finally, with a hint of flattery, he said to Jiao Jiao beside him, "Hehe, Jiao Jiao, can I smoke a cigarette?"
"Of course not! Besides you, everyone here is a woman, and yours is so thick. If you smoke that, won't you suffocate us all?"
Jiao Jiao made a gesture indicating how thick it was, which made Boss Hu swallow hard. Then he saw Jiao Jiao finally find a CD she liked, put it into the car's CD player, and when the melodious music started playing, she stretched lazily, leaning back in her seat and said, "Ah~ with the air conditioning and listening to CDs, I finally found a bit of the old feeling… Hey, why are you still holding that cigar? Are you still not giving up?"
"I'm just holding it, not really smoking!" Boss Hu blinked oddly, mumbling as he stuffed the cigar back into the box. When he looked up, he saw Jack in the driver's seat of the cheetah also holding a cigarette. However, unlike him, as soon as Jack put the cigarette in his mouth, a pair of snow-white arms reached over to help him light it. Boss Hu felt a wave of frustration; there were six women in that car, and no one said anything to him. What a difference in fate!
"Where are we heading, who will accompany me on this journey? There are no signs along the way, if I walk into another narrow alley…"
The long-lost music played from the cheetah's CD player, and Jack's thoughts drifted further and further away with the music…
...
In the evening, a red sun hung in the sky, and as far as the eye could see was a desolate expanse of MarcusMarcus, repetitive and monotonous. There were no desert plants that could survive in such an environment, so all that could be seen were patches of pitiful little grass amidst the sand, and occasionally one or two collapsed buildings, the original purpose of which was unrecognizable, creating an atmosphere of desolation everywhere.
"Clang…"
Jack lowered his head and noticed that he seemed to have stepped on a piece of metal. He squatted down and brushed away the Marcus sand that had accumulated on it, revealing a greenish color that immediately caught his eye. It was a traffic sign, a very common one!
"Yangtze River Third Bridge 5KM"
Several large white letters were prominently written on it.
Jack lifted his head in a daze, took a long time to pull out his monocular from his pocket, and adjusted it to a twenty-fold magnification. He held the binoculars up and looked ahead, only to see a silver bridge, already broken into several sections, standing lonely against the grayish sky. Beneath it lay the long-dried riverbed and some dark debris, devoid of the original shimmering waves and the hustle and bustle of the past. The broken bridge resembled an aging old man lying on the ground, silently expressing his pain and helplessness.
Jack returned to the car in a daze, his face marked by deep disappointment and confusion, which immediately alerted the women in the vehicle. However, they all chose to remain silent and did not ask any questions. They were all intelligent women who understood that if this enigmatic man wanted to tell them something, he would naturally do so. If he didn't speak, it was likely out of kindness and for a good reason.
Jack did not continue driving the car forward but chose to camp on the spot. He found a relatively open area to stop the car, called everyone to get out and start a fire to cook, while he sat in the car silently smoking.
In his heart, he felt it was better to delay telling them about the drying up of the Yangtze River for as long as possible. The significance of the Yangtze Marcus River in the minds of Americans was simply too great. The mother river was not just a phrase; it had indeed nurtured generations of Americans. If it were to dry up, almost everyone would wonder if it also signified the end of human reproduction, if it destined humanity to ultimately face extinction. Jack did not want to bring them despair, but all he could do was temporarily conceal the bad news.