Doomsday Traveler

Chapter 344 Whether or not one suffers a loss
"I have some good stuff here. See if you can use it. If you can, feel free to take it!"

Old Liu continued, his words earnest and sincere, without glancing even once at Lu Xi's pocket where he was carrying cash.

Lu Xi'an became interested and asked, "What do you have here?"

Old Liu immediately looked at the shelf by the wall, preparing to raise his hand to point.

Lu Xi'an said, "We don't need this. We don't need it."

Old Liu's gaze lingered between Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei for a moment, but he didn't dare to look closely, for fear of offending these two new humans.

He thought for a moment and said, "Wait a moment."

After saying that, he went into the house and soon brought out something, which turned out to be a large box woven from rattan.

Old Liu put the thing down, let out a soft breath, and said, "This is a box woven from rattan. My grandfather made it. I doubt anyone on our island knows how to make it now."

"I remember my grandfather saying that this box had a tight-woven structure and was coated with the resin of the jujube tree. It was insect-proof, waterproof, and breathable. Even the rats on the island couldn't gnaw on it. It was very useful."

"My wife used to dry fish and make dry food and put them in here. They could be stored for a long time without any problems."

"Look at this, the top cover is snap-on, so it can be used as a temporary small table or cushion outside without any problem."

"There are also two shoulder straps here, so you can carry it and walk around, which is very convenient."

"I've done the math, and besides fish bladders, this is probably the most valuable thing in my house right now..."

“Someone had their eye on this wicker trunk of ours before; I almost took it upstairs to exchange for playing cards. My wife couldn’t bear to part with it, so she hid it away…”

At this point, Old Liu suddenly gave a dejected laugh, tinged with bitterness, "Thinking back to those days, I was really a scoundrel."

“My wife hid the box, and I got angry with her. Later, I changed my mind and calmed down for two days, but then I couldn’t hold back anymore and tried to trick my wife into revealing the box.”

"If my wife hadn't hidden the box well and seen through my true nature, refusing to give it to me no matter what, the box would probably already be in someone else's hands."

"When my wife left this time, she took out the suitcase, emptied everything out, and threw it all at me, telling me to do whatever I wanted with it and that she wouldn't care about me anymore."

"But now I can't bear to cause any more trouble. But thinking about it more carefully, there's no use for me keeping this."

"And I'm also a little afraid that one day I might lose control again and take this money."

"So I thought about it and decided to just leave it to you guys."

"No, I don't want any of it. I don't want those swim bladders either. I made those when I wanted to fix them last time, but then I was so focused on having fun that I stopped making them."

"I haven't done this for so long, my skills have all gone to waste, but these should still be usable."

"Big Hu, do you want the fish bladder? If so, you can take it."

Hu Xiaodong muttered, "No wonder the fish bladders I bought from you later weren't very good. I heard some people even had their fish bladders break after using them for a while..."

"Yes, they came to my house and caused a scene. I had to pay them a lot of money."

Old Liu replied.

Lu Xian: "..."

Yao Wei: “…”

"..."

Hu Xiaodong was silent for a moment, then said, "I don't want these. I still have fish bladders at home, so I'll just leave these."

He glanced at Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei, considered what to say, and then said, "Keep these for yourselves."

"If you want to turn over a new leaf, you need to have money to live on. Only by managing your life well can things get better."

"Didn't you just say you wanted a wife? You need to improve yourself and completely change before you can bring your wife back, right?"

Old Liu suddenly felt that Hu Xiaodong's words made some sense, and couldn't help but say, "At least you've said something sensible."

Hu Xiaodong's face darkened: "What are you saying! Forget it, I'm too lazy to say anything more to you. Just change yourself and stop trying to get ahead and contacting people from your past."

"You're mainly hanging out with those poker players all the time. They keep asking you to play, how can you change that?"
"If you also feel that you haven't done these fish bladders well, then you should deal with them yourself. You can do better in the future and get the family business back on track."

Old Liu took a deep breath and said, "Okay, I'll do as you say! Thank you!"

After saying that, he bent down and pushed the rattan box in front of Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei, and added, "But this box, I've been eyeing this box for too long. As soon as I see it, I think of playing cards. I really don't plan to keep it. You two keep it safe."

Seeing that Lao Liu said this, Lu Xi'an stopped refusing and said, "Then I will accept it without being impolite."

"What respect?"

Neither Lao Liu nor Hu Xiaodong understood.

Lu Xi'an could only explain, "Then I'll accept it."

After saying goodbye to Lao Liu, the three left. Lao Liu watched them until they were out of sight before going home.

Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei had already walked quite a distance, but they could still faintly hear a sigh coming from the courtyard behind them.

Beneath that sigh, one wonders how much regret and how much resolve lay hidden? Will that old Liu ever truly change for the better?

However, these questions only flashed through Lu Xi'an's mind briefly. This Old Liu wasn't from Shanyang County; how could he possibly concern himself with other people's affairs?
When they arrived at Hu Xiaodong's house, Lu Xi'an turned to Hu Xiaodong and said, "We'll rest on the boat tonight. After you come over tomorrow morning, we'll disembark and go to the morning market with you."

"no problem."

Hu Xiaodong agreed and then asked, "Mr. Lu, Mr. Yao, won't you come to my house for a visit?"

Lu Xi'an glanced at Hu Xiaodong's house and said, "Never mind, your grandson is waiting for you to come home and sleep. It's so dark, he's so sleepy he can't stay awake any longer." After saying that, he and Yao Wei turned around and left, heading towards the stranded ship.

Hu Xiaodong stared blankly at Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei's retreating figures for a moment, then muttered, "Are these new humans really that amazing?! They know about my house from so far away?! My house has walls!"

After muttering to himself, he went home. As soon as his grandson Hu Xiaodong saw him enter, he rushed over and exclaimed, "Grandpa, you're finally back! I was so sleepy!"

His wife, son, and daughter-in-law all came over to greet him, giving him food and asking him how his day was.

He briefly recounted the day's events to his family, and they all sighed upon hearing about Old Liu's situation.

His wife remarked with emotion, "So, those two really are good people."

"I told you long ago that you're a good person, but you wouldn't believe me and kept telling me to be careful."

Hu Xiaodong said with a smile, then added, "I knew they were good people, but I never imagined they could be this good."

As he spoke, he gently pinched his grandson Hu Xiaodong's nose and said, "You have to learn from those two in the future and be a really good person."

"Uh-huh!"

Sunzi Hu Xiaodong nodded repeatedly.

His wife slapped his arm and said, "Don't teach the kids bad things! Don't try to be a good person all the time, or you'll suffer the consequences!"

Hu Xiaodong said, "Neither of them suffered a loss."

His wife said, "Those two are so capable! Can you be more capable than them? They have the confidence to be good people and not suffer losses."

Hu Xiaodong fell silent.

The son, Hu Dong, didn't say anything, but his daughter-in-law said, "Anyway, whether they are good people or bad people, we should be careful and not suffer losses."

"Yes, yes, that's the truth."

His wife nodded repeatedly.

……

Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei also heard what the family was saying.

Lu Xi'an suddenly asked, "What counts as suffering a loss, and what counts as not suffering a loss?"

Yao Wei said, "I don't know."

Lu Xi'an thought for a moment, then laughed: "That's right, why bother with all that? Let's do what we want and follow our hearts."

"Ah."

Yao Wei nodded.

So when they returned to the ship, the two men stared at the supplies they had put back in the hold before they left, and some wanted to follow their hearts.

The reason we put them back in the hold is because we didn't want them left on the deck if it suddenly rained. It wouldn't be good if the supplies got wet.

Besides, they need to rest in the cabin all night anyway, so moving back is just right.

"With this rattan trunk, if we go back tomorrow or the day after, we can bring more things at once. This rattan trunk is really quite good."

Lu Xi'an put down the rattan box he was carrying on his back, but his eyes kept glancing at the supplies.

"Ah."

Yao Wei agreed and was also looking at the supplies.

She was a little embarrassed, but after hesitating for a while, seeing that Lu Xi'an kept changing the subject, she finally took the initiative.

The woman crouched down, picked up a loose small umbrella, and asked Lu Xi'an, "Do you need this?"

But after she finished speaking, she felt a little embarrassed and looked away, not daring to look Lu Xi'an in the eye.

Seeing Yao Wei's expression, Lu Xi'an suddenly relaxed. Looking at her alluring face, he smiled slightly and said, "Let's not rush things. This place is a mess; we can only make do. It's not even comfortable to sleep here."

"Let's get to work early tomorrow, and once we're done, we can go back. We'll use it when we get back, okay?"

Yao Wei looked strange, as if she had breathed a sigh of relief, but also seemed a little disappointed. In the end, she nodded and said, "Okay, I'll listen to you."

She used three words to agree to Lu Xi'an's request, which shows she was quite nervous.

Two rosy blushes still lingered on her face, making Lu Xi'an's heart flutter. So Lu Xi'an said, "No rush to use this, we can do something else first. Shall we smell it?"

Yao Wei nodded: "Mm."

The moonlight casts a silvery glow, making the old boat on this small island so gentle and touching, as if clear water were flowing endlessly within it.

……

As the moon set, the two woke up from their sleep, stood at the bow of the boat to watch the sunrise, and then exercised in the morning sun, feeling an indescribable warmth and comfort.

Just as they were about to open a pack of compressed biscuits to eat some, Hu Xiaodong walked quickly over from outside the window and called out, "Mr. Lu, Mr. Yao, I'm here! I brought you some food."

Ok.

Lu Xi'an put down the compressed biscuits.

It seems we can save some supplies.

(End of this chapter)