Tomb Raider: I Am Hu Bayi's Cousin

Chapter 59 Temporary Rest
"Just install it on him, don't mess with him."

Both of them listened to Hu Ming; they had no choice but to obey, as they couldn't stop him if danger came. However, they were still angry. An Liman, that old man, kept saying that brothers were still connected even if their bones were broken, but he hadn't expected him to have a backup plan.

Anliman was a cunning and treacherous old fox; otherwise, he would have died in the desert long ago.

"Uncle Anliman hid several bags of Ma** liquor, and two bags of water."

Sadi Peng went to the fat man's side to complain, and the fat man, upon hearing this, became furious. He said to Yang Xueli, "Miss Yang, did you hear what Glasses said? That old fox Anliman still has a lot of horse wine and water. We're so thirsty we're about to kill his camels, and he still won't give them to us?"

Yang Xueli finally understood why Anliman never left his camel bag. Everyone was short of water and almost dying of thirst, yet the old man was always drinking water from his water bag. It turned out he had a backup plan.

"When we get back, we'll deduct half of his pay."

"No, we have to deduct them all."

The fat man already disliked Anliman, and this made him even more annoyed. He then instigated Yang Xueli to deduct Anliman's pay, but Yang Xueli would not do such a thing.

"Alright, Fatty, I already knew about this, but Anliman prepared the water and wine himself. Why should he share them with us? Besides, there are so many of us, his little bit of wine and water isn't enough for us to share."

The fat man saw Anliman carrying water out in a collapsible bucket from a distance of more than twenty meters. He wanted to rush over and teach him a lesson, but Hu Ming grabbed him and stopped him.

“Brother Hu Ming is right, Fatty, let it go, don’t bully Uncle Anliman.” Ye Yixin was innocent and couldn’t bear to see the elderly Anliman being bullied by the fat man, so she quickly said.

"Alright, Xiao Ye."

The fat man nodded at Ye Yixin with dissatisfaction and said, "You were so thirsty that you were lying on the desert, almost dying. If Mingzi hadn't had a backup plan, you would have died of thirst. But did that old man Anliman give you any water to drink back then? And now you're still speaking up for him."

Upon hearing this, Ye Yixin was at a loss for words.

"Alright, Fatty, I said we'll all pretend we don't know anything about this, so why are you making such a fuss? Why didn't you prepare more water beforehand? Even Old Hu knows to bring some fruit, what about you?" Hu Ming glared at Fatty, what was this fat guy yelling about!

Hu Ming still had more than a dozen barrels of purified water in his space that he hadn't taken out. When the fat man was cursing An Liman, Hu Ming, who was listening from the side, also felt uncomfortable.

On the way, it wasn't that Hu Ming didn't want to take water, but people would be suspicious if he suddenly took out so much water. So Hu Ming would never take out water again until the very last step.

He definitely doesn't want to expose the system space!
The fat man nodded knowingly. "Alright, for Mingzi's sake, I won't hold it against him."

"What are you talking about, friends?" Anliman walked over carrying water. When he arrived, everyone shut up and didn't say a word. He had a bad feeling that these people were talking badly about him.

You know what, that feeling was actually pretty accurate!
"Ah, we didn't say anything. Uncle Anliman, are you fetching water for the camels?" Ye Yixin asked with a slightly guilty conscience.

Then she winked playfully at Hu Ming and pouted slightly.

What does that mean?
Why is this girl pouting at me for no reason? Is it some kind of hint?
Hu Ming was unsure. If it was a hint, what could he do with everyone here?
But this girl's mouth is just as good as that woman surnamed Huo's!

"Yes, girl, my camels haven't had water for almost a week. I need to give them water and a bath. Please help me. Only when the camels are better can they carry you to find the ancient city of Jingjue."

Anliman was speechless. Everyone was riding the camels, but no one helped him take care of them along the way. They even wanted to kill the camels at the drop of a hat. He felt that apart from Hu Ming and Hu Bayi, the rest of the people were a bunch of idiots.

"Sadipeng, Chu Jian, go fetch some water so that the old man and his camels will be satisfied."

Hu Ming agreed with An Liman's assessment, so he turned to Sa Dipeng and Chu Jian and instructed them, "If you're not going to do this hard labor of fetching water, who will?"
Sadi Peng and Chu Jian were a bit slow. It was already difficult to draw a bucket of water from the well; they needed to use a rope to lift it out.

That must be exhausting. We're exhausted right now.

"What are you dawdling for? Do you still want to ride camels? If you don't want to fetch water and serve the camels, then don't ride camels. Walk on your own. If you can't keep up with us, you'll be left behind."

Hu Ming didn't give the two a chance to choose at all, and directly explained the consequences.

The two men stood up helplessly and went to fetch water for the camels to drink and to bathe them. They complained inwardly, "Why do we always have to do all the hard labor? We're supposed to be literary scholars!"

"Fatty, Lao Hu, stop sitting there smoking and hurry up and help me set up the tent, start a fire and cook for Yang Xueli and Ye Yixin. Stop being so lazy, you need to be more diligent and stop always waiting to be told what to do!"

After a while...

The camels had drunk their fill of water and taken a bath, and were eating bean cakes when Anliman took a bottle of horse mare's liquor and sat down next to Hu Ming. "Hu Ming, you're my friend, so I'll treat you to some horse mare's liquor. Friends should drink together."

Hu Ming shook his head when he saw the wine bag that An Liman handed him.

He really couldn't get used to this stuff; it had a strong milky taste, a sour and spicy flavor mixed with a hint of alcohol. But Sadipeng, Chu Jian, and Fatty especially loved it. When they first entered the desert, they asked Anliman for it quite a few times.

"Grandpa, we're tired from fetching water for you, could you give us something to drink?"

Chu Jian walked over, rubbing his arms, looking very tired, his eyes fixed on the wine bag in An Liman's hand.

You've fetched so much water for the old man, you should at least give me some to drink, right?
"We're friends, right? We're out of Ma** wine, and it's not enough for me to drink." Anliman hugged the wine bag to his chest as if afraid that Chu Jian would snatch it away, leaving Hu Ming speechless.

This old man seems to be kind to Hu Bayi, except for himself; no one else can get anything from him.

"That old man is so stingy," Chu Jian grumbled inwardly. He gave an awkward laugh, slowly withdrew his outstretched hand, and sat down next to Wang Yang, saying, "Brother Hu Ming, look, Sister Yang and Xiao Ye are back."

Yang Xueli and Ye Yixin walked over carrying several large bundles of timber, their faces beaming with smiles.

Snapped.

Yang Xueli said to the group, "This amount of wood, combined with solid fuel, is enough to burn all night, and it also saves on solid fuel."

"There are still many over there, but we don't have the tools to cut them."

Yang Xueli pointed to the left, wanting Hu Bayi and Hu Ming to go and get some rough stuff.

Without any tools, the two girls could only gather some small twigs, but they didn't burn very well and would soon be gone. So, it was up to the Hu brothers to step in.

Hu Bayi and Fatty went to cut down the poplar trees. Hu Ming stepped on the branches and broke them into pieces.

Then they built a bonfire.

Yang Xueli set up a tripod over the campfire and placed a pot on it.

"Xiao Ye, pour some water."

"Okay, Sister Yang." Ye Yixin poured water into the pot, put the bucket aside, picked up a few pieces of wood and added them to the fire, acting as Yang Xueli's assistant.

(End of this chapter)