The camping pot was placed on the campfire, with hot water boiling inside and bubbling. Gu Lang rinsed the fish that had already been gutted by a badger, skewered it with green branches, gave one to Wang An, and then squatted by the fire to roast it.
He had originally called a badger to join him, but for some reason, Wang Ping had been leaning against a corner since he came back, ignoring anyone who called him. And Wang An had also been silent since he accidentally said that sentence just now. The atmosphere in the cave became depressing.
"Um, uncle and aunt...they... emmm..."
Gu Laosan spoke hesitantly, and it was apparent that he wanted to comfort Wang An or know more about her past, but he was afraid of touching upon her sad memories, and as a result, he became more and more conflicted the more he spoke.
It seemed that his clumsy opening was responded to, or perhaps the environment gave Wang An the desire to talk. Adjusting his posture, facing the campfire sideways, Wang An turned the fish in his hand, stared at the flames and slowly narrated.
"Before I was 18, I lived in heaven. Parents love, families are happy... I was so care free, I was just naughty all day, and then I got my brother beat up on the back of a black pot... "
"My brother and I fought all the time, and it wasn't because of something as trivial as our names. My brother had a personality similar to yours at that time, very stupid... Oh, sorry, I'm not talking about you, I'm talking about my brother... He was a little, a little naive, like a little kid, always happy and silly."
"I just can't stand his silly look. He's already grown up, but he has no opinion of his own. He does whatever his parents say. They ask him to join the army, so he joins the army. They ask him to transfer to civilian jobs, so he transfers to civilian jobs. It's as if he was born to live for others..."
"But fighting is fighting, I know he loves me the most. At that time, I was fascinated by outdoor sports and kept trying to persuade him to open an outdoor club... That was the first time in my brother's life that he went against my father's wishes, and he was chased around the house by my father with a belt. But in the end, my parents still took out their savings and helped him open the club."
"The club was opened in Shanghai, and I was successfully admitted to a university in Shanghai... I was really happy at that time. When I didn't have classes, I would go to the club to hang out and fight with him. The coaches there called me the big boss and him the second boss, haha..."
"Unfortunately, all this beauty came to an abrupt end when I was eighteen years old..."
In a dark corner, a pair of night vision eyes stared straight at the rock wall above, and in the haze it seemed as if I had returned to that dark day.
My parents’ work at the wildlife research institute was mostly theoretical, and they rarely set foot outdoors. One reason was that outdoor research was expensive, and the other was that most of the objects they studied were extinct fossils, which they would not be able to find even if they went outdoors.
However, just five years ago, the Dutch Wildlife Conservation Organization announced that it had discovered the Eurasian mink, which had been extinct for more than a decade, in the wild. However, it is only an association after all, and the authenticity of the discovery still needs to be verified by experts. So the Netherlands protected the mink subspecies it discovered while inviting the biological community.
Wang Ping's parents also received an invitation. Coincidentally, Wang An's birthday was approaching, so the two agreed to bring her a birthday present when they returned.
However, Wang An never received this gift.
"The day we received the news, my brother and I hugged each other and cried all night."
In the quiet cave, there was only the occasional crackling sound of the campfire. Wang An's voice seemed to come from a very far distance, making it difficult for Wang Ping to hear clearly.
"After daybreak, I was so tired from crying that I fell asleep. My brother went to my parents' workplace alone to collect their belongings. But for some reason, he became much more gloomy after returning and didn't speak for several days. After he finished handling my parents' funeral, he suddenly said he wanted to go abroad..."
In the corner, a badger shrank its neck and held up its little paws, seeming to be a little cold.
Wang Ping still remembers the conversation he overheard outside the office when he was sorting out his parents' belongings at their workplace.
It turns out that the mink subspecies found in the Netherlands are indeed the extinct Eurasian mink, which has attracted the covetousness of poachers. Although the fur of the Eurasian mink is not as bright as other subspecies, the gimmick of extinction is enough to make some perverted rich people open their wallets happily.
So in the Netherlands, after a group of experts identified those minks and announced that they were indeed Eurasian minks, the research institute where the minks were stored was attacked by mercenaries.
When a scholar meets a soldier, the outcome is obvious. However, what the mercenaries did not expect was that when they broke into the institute, they did not find any trace of the Eurasian mink, and two Chinese experts also disappeared.
Afterwards, the mercenaries were surrounded by the military police who arrived and knelt down to surrender. It was only then that they learned that the moment they appeared, the two Chinese experts had already escaped with the mink in the cage and called the police.
Two days later, a flight to China had an accident and the cabin caught fire before it even left the runway.
In front of the two siblings, their parents' former colleagues only said that the two died in a flight crash, but behind the scenes, many people thought it was revenge by poachers.
"The day my brother went abroad, I hugged his legs and cried. I already lost my parents, and if I lost my brother, I don't know how I would live. But he still left me. Maybe he couldn't face the fact that his parents were gone..."
"They say that people become adults after they turn 18... But I would rather never grow up..."
The water in the camping pot had already boiled, steam was rising, and the aroma of grilled fish was spreading. Gradually, Wang Ping, who was lost in the past, smelled a burning smell.
He subconsciously glanced at the two people who were grilling fish, but it didn't matter what he saw, it frightened a certain badger so much that his hair stood on end.
Wang An, who was originally leaning on the backpack, had leaned on Gu Laosan's arms without knowing when. A certain salty fish's arm was around her waist, and his fingers were restlessly curled. The two of them looked at the dim campfire and didn't even notice that the fish was burnt.
“Ah~!!”
The roar resounded through the cave, making the two people's ears ring. Wolf Xiao Si jumped up in fright and roared at a badger. Wang An's foot, which was originally on the badger, fell to the ground suddenly, and he let out a cry of pain.
Gu Lang looked up blankly, and saw a black shadow jumping directly over the campfire. Its small black claws suddenly enlarged in front of his eyes as they passed through the steaming water vapor.
"Bang!"
Wang Ping kicked a man to the ground, and the grilled fish in his hand flew out. A badger was still not satisfied, so he rushed over and beat him up, as if he wanted to kill him.
Wang An rolled his eyes, his cheeks flushed, and he moved his feet to the side to avoid hurting others, but he had no intention of helping anyone out.
She was also very confused at the moment. If it wasn't for the badger's shout, she didn't know how it would end. God knows why she was bewitched and hugged by Gu Laosan just now. If that bastard really wanted to kiss her or something, she didn't know whether to agree or beat him up.
It just so happened that a badger made the choice for her at this moment.
"Fuck~ Boss, stop fighting... What's going on?"
Gu Lao San, who was turning into a pig head at a speed visible to the naked eye, still had a confused look on his face, and kept asking for mercy. But then he smelled the strong smell of burning in the cave, and suddenly he realized that it was not unfair.
While covering his face and begging for mercy, a salted fish was still lamenting in his heart. What a pity, just a little bit short...