Stock Up For Natural Disasters And Cubs Survive – CH65

Chapter 65

“What?! Chen Fangshun is a murderer?!”

The moment those words came out, Shen Zheng and Director Wang were both badly shaken.

Mingming and Xiaotiao had just been coaxed to sleep. The group shut the doors and windows tight and gathered in Shen Zheng and Yi Qi’s cabin to discuss the matter.

Yi Qi’s expression was grave. “From what Li Rui said, if it weren’t for the apocalypse, Chen Fangshun would never get out of prison. That means he was very likely serving a life sentence. And people sentenced to life usually committed either serious violent crimes—like murder or rape—or drug crimes, major financial crimes, or crimes endangering national security.”

He paused. “From the way he acts, Chen Fangshun is slick, but he isn’t educated. His son is seven this year, which means he very likely started serving time when he was in his twenties. My guess is that he’s most likely a murderer from a major criminal case.”

Director Wang felt a chill run through him. His hands trembled as he said, “Then we absolutely can’t let Guanguan, Mingming, and the others play with their child anymore. If Chen Fangshun holds a grudge against us, that’ll be bad, very bad.”

A murderer from peacetime was not the same as a survivor who killed in self-defense during the apocalypse.

“Oh, hell. What kind of luck is this? We go looking for labor, and we end up with a murderer!” Shen Zheng cursed through clenched teeth.

“The world’s gone to hell. All the demons and monsters have crawled out. Nothing can be done about that,” Yi Qi said helplessly. “So what do we do now? Kick them out immediately, or sit tight and wait?”

Shen Zheng said, “If we kick them out now, won’t we just force them into desperate action? Better to pretend we don’t know and let them finish the work first.”

“The main issue is that Chen Fangshun is basically a ticking time bomb now,” Yi Qi said.

Director Wang sighed. “If Chen Fangshun hasn’t done anything to us yet, and we strike first and kill him, then what about his son and wife? Are we going to kill them too? That would be a terrible sin.”

Yi Qi and Shen Zheng both turned to look at the always-silent Wei Cheng.

Wei Cheng lifted his eyes and said only, “Uncle Shen, Uncle Yi, let’s not alert them for now. Let the family of three keep living on the farm.”

His voice was still childish, but his gaze was calmer than any adult’s. “If someone starts getting crooked ideas, that just means they’re too idle and not tired enough. From now on, they get up at four every morning and work until nine-thirty at night. And we shouldn’t be stingy with the canned meat, vegetable cans, and rice we give them every day.”

“Right now, fixing the gate and the fence is the most important thing. From here on, Grandpa Director and Uncle Shen will work with Li Rui on laying the steel fence around the farm. Uncle Yi and I will work with Chen Fangshun on repairing the main gate. At all times, at least two of us must keep enough strength in reserve. And the children are not allowed to leave the core area, nor are they allowed to go near Chen Xiaoming anymore.”

Everyone thought it over for a while after hearing him out. Shen Zheng nodded. “Then that’s the only way. We’ll do it like that.”

That afternoon, everyone gathered once more at the gate, where piles of cement and steel plates were stacked.

Li Rui worked with red-rimmed eyes. Chen Fangshun bent and bowed, apologizing profusely to them.

“I’m sorry. The boy just doesn’t know any better. Once the kids have calmed down, I’ll drag him over to apologize.”

Yi Qi waved his hand like it was nothing. “Kids bickering is normal enough. Fangshun, don’t blame Xiaoming either. The kids here all grew up without seeing their parents. They’re a bit more sensitive and fragile.”

The moment Chen Fangshun heard that, he understood. “Then I’ll make sure Xiaoming stays away from the little ones from now on, so they won’t get upset again.”

Seeing that the people on the farm didn’t seem to be making a big deal out of it, Chen Fangshun and Li Rui exchanged a glance and quietly relaxed.

Life on the farm was too stable, too peaceful. They truly did not want to go back to dragging their child all over the place. If they could stay one extra day, that was one extra day.

It wasn’t that Chen Fangshun and Li Rui had never entertained bad thoughts—but their child was their weak spot.

As Shen Zheng mixed cement, he said, “By the way, Sister Li, Director Wang said it might rain again in a couple of days. The stones get slippery when it rains. Since your family is still living near the fence, tomorrow let’s finish laying the steel plates around the perimeter first.”

Li Rui glanced at her husband. Seeing that he kept his eyes down and said nothing, she thought for a moment, then smiled. “Alright, then that’s what we’ll do tomorrow.”

The farm’s original cement gateframe was already tall, and the distance between the two gate pillars was wide—about four meters. But the only ready-made steel gate they had was a black one measuring 3.67 meters wide and 4.6 meters high. It was the kind of “windfall gate” custom-made for villa districts, supposedly symbolizing money coming into the home from unexpected sources. They had gotten lucky finding it.

Which also meant more work. They had to use lime bricks and concrete to build two new support pillars underneath the original gateframe.

Once the support pillars were finished, they ran electrical wiring out from the core area and started welding.

Chen Fangshun and Li Rui had both been surprised at first that they actually had electricity. But on second thought, they figured the farm must have a generator and gasoline or diesel.

The husband and wife exchanged a glance, each harboring their own thoughts.

Since Wei Cheng had allowed them to see all this, he clearly wasn’t afraid they would covet it. Since he had chosen to keep them, his goal was obvious: make these two healthy adult laborers hurry up and finish the gate and fence.

Shen Zheng took Li Rui and Director Wang to work on the fence line. On both sides of the gate, for twenty meters each way, there stretched a row of stainless-steel fencing. Beyond that was the ordinary wooden paddock. In the deep foundation trench, every two adult strides there stood a three-meter steel post. The concrete had been poured more than ten days ago. The posts and the reinforcing bars in the trench were already fixed solid, which made it the perfect time to begin laying the steel plates.

Whereas before they would stop work at seven in the evening, now they started at four in the morning and worked until nine-thirty at night. Chen Fangshun and Li Rui were so exhausted they had no strength left for any ulterior schemes.

At least the meals these two days had been fragrant, hearty, and filling.

Late that night, Chen Xiaoming’s snoring filled the little cabin.

Li Rui’s whole body ached from exhaustion. She let out a heavy sigh. “What kind of work were you doing these past two days?”

The nearly five-meter gate had already been installed, but the couple barely even saw each other during the day.

One of them was laying steel plates near the main gate, while the other was laying steel plates at the far back of the farm. They even ate their meals wherever they happened to be working.

Chen Fangshun didn’t even open his eyes. He sounded half-asleep. “Laying steel plates.”

After hesitating a bit, Li Rui turned over, enduring the pain in her arms. “How many days until the two months are up?”

Chen Fangshun lifted his eyelids and glanced at her. “What?”

Li Rui was so exhausted she nearly cried. “I really can’t keep this up. Sure, we’re eating well and eating our fill every day, but this is too much work. The way they keep the two of us apart, they’re obviously guarding against us. If it comes to it, why don’t we just run?”

“How? Run with what?” Chen Fangshun replied weakly.

Li Rui moved her lips. “They have gasoline.”

Chen Fangshun frowned. “And they’ve got guns!”

Grinding her teeth, Li Rui said, “Aren’t you a murderer? What are you afraid of? I’m not telling you to kill them. I’m just saying you should grab some gasoline and food, and then the three of us run off. Isn’t that enough?”

“Stupid bitch. They have guns—do you even know what that means? Before I could get close, they’d shoot me dead!” Chen Fangshun clenched his fists and sat up in anger. “You want me dead? You want me dead that badly? If I die, do you think you and Xiaoming will keep living? You just want to go underground and meet your old lover!”

Li Rui rolled over hard with a shiver of anger. “You already chopped him into pieces! Why are you still talking about that!”

In the darkness of the little cabin, Chen Fangshun’s teeth ground audibly. “Li Rui, I don’t hate you. I don’t feel anything for you anymore either. I broke out of prison for my son. So for Xiaoming’s sake, just put up with these last twenty-some days. That Yi Qi and Shen Zheng—they’re decent people. When it’s time for us to go, I’ll beg them. They’ll probably give us some supplies and gasoline…”

—

Director Wang’s rheumatism had been getting worse and worse.

He had been bedridden for the last two days.

The old man couldn’t sit still, so he asked Wei Cheng for textbooks. Even while staying in bed to recover, he still insisted on teaching the children to study.

“Even in the apocalypse, you still have to know how to read.”

Wei Cheng was more than happy to let Director Wang teach Guanguan to read and write—after all, that meant another twenty coins a day.

Since he was still young, the two uncles couldn’t bear to have him work themselves to death alongside them. So instead, they made him conserve his energy and carry a gun, just in case Li Rui or Chen Fangshun showed any strange behavior.

Watching the two uncles come back every day so worn out they could hardly move, Wei Cheng and Guanguan felt terrible for them. So every night they quietly invited the two men into their little cabin and secretly cooked special meals to help them recover.

“Wei Guanguan?”

Wei Cheng, wiping his face, leaned halfway out from the bathroom. “Get up, hurry up. Time to wash up—Director Wang’s little classroom is about to start.”

On the bed, the chubby little child had his rear in the air and didn’t move at all, his fluffy little head buried under the pillow.

Wei Cheng walked over with a smile. “What’s wrong?”

Worried the child would hurt his neck, he gently lifted him up and laid him properly on the bed. “You don’t want to go to class?”

Guanguan flung himself into his brother’s arms, his little curls whipping wildly. “Brother, ask for leave for Guanguan. Tell him Guanguan’s tummy hurts!”

“Okay, okay. Slow down, you’ll make yourself dizzy shaking your head like that.”

Steadying him by the shoulders, Wei Cheng laughed. “You were fine the day before yesterday. Why don’t you want to go today?”

Counting today, it had only been three days since classes started.

Guanguan raised his plump little face and puffed his lips. “Guanguan doesn’t want class. Guanguan wants to be a little drifter!”

Wei Cheng laughed. “A little drifter? That’s something Director Wang must have scolded you with, right?”

After thinking for a moment, he asked, “Did you get too used to learning with Brother, and now you’re not used to Director Wang teaching you characters?”

Guanguan shook his head.

“Then what is it? You can’t tell Brother?”

“I can tell Brother.”

After hesitating for a moment, Guanguan hugged his brother’s neck and whispered, “Guanguan didn’t get a little red flower yesterday!”

Director Wang had started using little red flowers as encouragement for the children to study. Wei Cheng didn’t want him to realize they had all kinds of things, so he had only given the old man a few sheets of red paper.

The day before yesterday, Guanguan had a little red flower stuck on his cheek and strutted around showing it off proudly to everyone—he hadn’t even spared Little Apricot and the gray puppy.

Wei Cheng grew curious. “Why didn’t you get one yesterday?”

Guanguan scratched his face guiltily. “Guanguan and Xiaotiao secretly looked at each other’s notebooks, and Director Wang said he wanted you to come…”

The worst student and the second-worst student had been checking answers together.

So that was why he had been asked to “bring in his guardian.”

Wei Cheng laughed. “So you both got two big zeros?”

Guanguan circled his hands together and grinned. “Yes—salty-salty, butter-smelling delicious duck eggs!”

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