At one o'clock in the afternoon, the blazing sun was like fire.
There were hardly any trees by the river, just patches of reeds, yet the cicadas kept chirping incessantly.
The scorching weather turned decks of old antique boats, barges, and floating cranes hot enough to fry eggs; the hulls too hot to touch with bare hands. Naturally, work couldn't be done at this time; otherwise, it was easy to suffer a heat stroke.
Captain Fan, Zhu Baogen, and a dozen workers hired from outside were all crammed into the air-conditioned meeting room on the second floor of the dunship, taking a nap, while Zhang Ping, Chen Zikun, and the two "interns" Liu Wenju and Guo Zhengguo were gathered in the command and dispatch room playing card games.
Just like yesterday, they would wait until about three-thirty, when the weather wasn't as hot, to start working.
