Chapter 464 — This Is Fire by Drilling Wood: "Coming, Coming!" Zhong Yongliang, on Hearing That Gu Mengyao Would Ask Someone Else, Panicked at Once: "Xiaofu, Didn't You Eat Breakfast? Put Your Back Into It!"

"I ate it and threw it up again—no, I didn't throw up, I had the runs!" Gao Xiaofu said.

"..." Zhong Yongliang's face darkened, and he went awkward all at once. This guy really knew exactly where to poke: Gao Xiaofu had shit himself, but hadn't he done the same? And he had even shit his own pants! Afraid Shen Yushu would mock him again, Zhong Yongliang snapped, "Cut the crap and crank harder!"

With that, Zhong Yongliang blew all the harder as well, huffing and puffing breath into the charcoal in the stove.

"Right! I'll give it everything!" Gao Xiaofu gritted his teeth and cranked faster still. With a bang, a streak of flame shot out of the stove. Zhong Yongliang let out a howl of agony, and the smell of singed pig hair came drifting off him.

Zhong Yongliang's hair was scorched and a patch of his face blackened. Fortunately the flame had lasted only an instant, or the skin on his face would likely have burned clean off.

"Xiaofu, what do you think you're doing?" Zhong Yongliang cried in alarm. "Are you trying to burn me alive?"

"Liang-ge, didn't you tell me to hurry?" Gao Xiaofu said, pulling a long face.

Zhong Yongliang could hardly argue with that—he had told Gao Xiaofu to go faster himself. So he said darkly, "Then keep at it. That was good progress. I reckon we'll have the stove lit any minute now!"

"Right! Then I'll give it everything!" Gao Xiaofu nodded, gave a roar, and started cranking the lever again.

This time, however, Zhong Yongliang didn't dare stand too close. He could only blow from a distance, and the effect was naturally far worse. Gao Xiaofu cranked faster than ever, but without Zhong Yongliang's breath behind it, the flame simply refused to rise.

With a smack, Gao Xiaofu suddenly went down in a heap on his backside, yelping as he landed on the ground. Thank goodness it was sandy beach, or he would have taken a nasty fall.

"What's the matter with you?" Zhong Yongliang was beside himself with fury. He had meant to show off in front of Gu Mengyao, yet trouble kept piling up—first this went wrong, then that went awry.

"It broke, Liang-ge! The handle broke!" Gao Xiaofu wailed, holding up the crank in his hands.

"Broke?" Zhong Yongliang was incandescent. What kind of junk had Gao Xiaofu gone and bought? It was nothing but an embarrassment.

"Honestly, you two are hopeless!" Shen Yushu glanced at Zhong Yongliang and Gao Xiaofu and shook her head in disappointment. She turned around, only to see a thin curl of smoke already rising from Wei Zhao's side. Her face lit up at once. "I'm going to find someone else. Look—even he's already got a fire going!"

With that, Shen Yushu ran off. Zhong Yongliang, though, frowned—for the person by that fire was none other than Wei Zhao.

"Liang-ge, aren't fire sources banned on planes? Where did he get his fire?" Gao Xiaofu asked, puzzled.

"That's right! Fire sources aren't allowed on planes—he must have smuggled it on. Let's report him!" After all that time failing to get a light, Zhong Yongliang was seething. Seeing Shen Yushu drag Gu Mengyao over to Wei Zhao's side, he grew anxious. "Come on—let's go confront him!"

Wei Zhao had fished a few clams and crabs out of the sea, planning to roast them. He had no interest in shark meat, so he had struck out on his own, gathered some twigs and built a fire to grill the clams.

Apart from Kang**, Wei Zhao rarely spoke to anyone else in the class, so nobody thought anything amiss in his unsociable ways.

"Boss, I've caught a pile more sea clams—see if it's enough?" Kang** dumped the clams he had scooped up in the fold of his shirt onto the sand beside Wei Zhao.

"For the two of us, that should just about do," Wei Zhao said after a glance.

"What about me?" Feng Xiaoxiao said, a little flustered. "I want to eat too!"

"Then go catch your own," Wei Zhao said coolly, barely glancing at her. Who did this girl think she was, wanting something for nothing?

"...," Feng Xiaoxiao stood up, aggrieved, and walked toward the sea. She seethed inwardly. Why was Wei Zhao so beastly to her? Couldn't he be a little nicer?

At the water's edge her mood sank even lower: nearly all the clams in the shallows had already been scooped up by Kang**. It seemed she would have to go where the water ran a little deeper.

Fortunately, Feng Xiaoxiao could swim. She had only claimed she couldn't because she wanted Wei Zhao to teach her, so wading into deeper water did not especially frighten her.

"Boss, how can you be so ungentlemanly?" Kang** even spoke up for Feng Xiaoxiao. Had a lovely girl beside him wanted roasted clams, Kang** would have been only too happy to grill them for her.

But now Feng Xiaoxiao was chasing after Wei Zhao, so Kang** had no chance to play the gentleman—and in any case Wei Zhao would never have allowed it.

"Wei Zhao! Where did you get your fire?" Zhong Yongliang had a bellyful of grievance, and he felt he stood in the right: he had been the one to procure the plane, so he had every right to interrogate Wei Zhao. Emboldened, he drew himself up.

Wei Zhao frowned, looked up at Zhong Yongliang, and said flatly, "What's it to you?"

"You—" Zhong Yongliang bristled with rage. He had come to demand an explanation, only to be shut up with a single sentence. But he naturally would not show weakness now. Pointing at Wei Zhao, he barked, "Fire sources aren't allowed on airplanes, yet you brought matches and a lighter! Do you mean to put the safety of the entire class at risk? Do you believe I could call the police and have you arrested?"

In an instant Zhong Yongliang had raised Wei Zhao's actions to a matter concerning the safety of the whole class, and the onlookers who had thought him a bit of a bully now took his side. Indeed—if you brought a fire source, weren't you endangering everyone?

"Which eye of yours saw me with a lighter and matches?" Wei Zhao gave a cold laugh. "I think you're just itching for a fight."

"If you had no fire source, how did you make the fire?" Zhong Yongliang was certain Wei Zhao must have used one, for there was nothing else anywhere near him to make fire with.

"My boss did it by drilling wood for fire!" Kang** would not stand for it. Zhong Yongliang had opened his mouth and slandered Wei Zhao as having lit it with a lighter or matches.

"Drilling wood for fire?" Zhong Yongliang blinked, then burst out laughing. "Are you kidding me? Drilling wood for fire—why didn't you say you lit it with a magnifying glass?"

"Did you flunk elementary school? Don't you know you can get fire by drilling wood?" Kang** rolled his eyes, too lazy to waste breath on Zhong Yongliang.

"Then drill one for me right now! If you can't produce fire, I'm calling the police!" Zhong Yongliang bellowed in exasperation.

"Oh—Wei Zhao, put on a show for him!" Shen Yushu had seen Wei Zhao make fire by drilling wood with her own eyes, so she called out at once.

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