By linking my account to the check-in system, I became a leisurely traveler.

Chapter 91 New Things in the Old House [6.4 thousand words, please... understand?]

When Li Younan woke up, he felt refreshed and invigorated.

Jing Chaoyi hadn't gotten up yet. After Li Younan got up, he quietly went to the kitchen and made breakfast. He didn't rush to wake Jing Chaoyi up. Only after he finished his portion did Jing Chaoyi rub her eyes and come out of the room.

She said sleepily, "Good morning, senior." She yawned, "I didn't sleep well last night, I had insomnia."

Li Younan asked with amusement, "Why are you having trouble sleeping?"

"Because I miss you."

Jing Chaoyi also seemed nonchalant, spouting nonsense without hesitation, and then she couldn't help but laugh at herself.

Half an hour later, Li Younan was ready to set off.

Jing Chaoyi did not go downstairs to see Li Younan off. In her words, "Senior, I don't want to part with you. It will be sad when we part, so I won't see you off."

Li Younan tapped her on the head in an annoyed manner.

This farewell wasn't as abrupt as the last one in Xiamen; Jing Chaoyi's words were becoming increasingly unrestrained.

Li Younan sat in the car and started the engine.

Jing Chaoyi sent a message, which Li Younan glanced at casually: Senior, could you do my eyeliner again next time?

Li Younan smiled wryly and did not reply.

The car slowly drove out of the underground parking lot of the residential area.

What followed was a long journey.

Li Younan opened the map navigation and found that the distance home was more than 1100 kilometers away.

After leaving Hunan, you still need to enter Chongqing, and only by crossing Chongqing can you enter Sichuan.

Li Younan didn't plan to stay in Chongqing any longer. The reason was simple: the place was just too fun. If he wandered around Chongqing any longer, it would be hard to say when he would go back.

He has several friends in Chongqing.

Li Younan turned on his phone camera and smiled at the lens: "Friends, I'm going to head home now, so I won't stop for the time being."

Putting down his phone, Li Younan focused on driving.

This was, after all, a long journey. Before getting on the highway, Li Younan drove the car into a gas station, filled up the tank, and carefully checked the fuel level, tire pressure, and coolant level of the Land Cruiser to make sure everything was in order.

The back seats had already been folded down, and a 1.2-meter bed was ready. Because this modification didn't fundamentally change the vehicle's structure—it was essentially just placing a large item in the trunk—it wouldn't be stopped by the traffic police.

The mattress and blankets have already been laid out, and the navigation has been set. The destination is naturally the county town of my hometown, and the route will pass through the highways on the outskirts of Chongqing.

Li Younan started the car and drove onto the Changsha-Zhangjiajie Expressway.

The car was driven very steadily.

Li Younan maintained the allowed speed limit.

There weren't many cars on the road, and Li Younan focused intently on the road ahead. That morning, at a service area near Changde, Li Younan stopped to refuel, filled his thermos with hot water, and ate a little of the service area's lunch.

Around noon, the car entered Chongqing. The highway signs displayed the names of Chongqing's various districts, but Li Younan simply drove along the ring expressway without exiting.

Outside the window, you can see Chongqing's unique mountainous terrain and dense buildings, but the car is constantly traveling on the highway.

Once you leave the main urban area of ​​Chongqing, there are noticeably more large trucks on the road.

In the afternoon, at a service area near Suining, Li Younan stopped again. He repeated the actions of refueling, getting water, and using the restroom. This time, he stretched his arms and legs a little and stood by the car for a few minutes.

Feeling a bit tired, Li Younan crawled into the back of the car, lay down on the made-up bed, left a crack in the window for ventilation, and set an alarm for half an hour.

The alarm rang, I got up, washed my face with cold water, and continued on my way.

It was getting dark.

Li Younan turned on the headlights and continued north along the Chengdu-Chongqing Ring Expressway. The traffic was lighter at night, and familiar road signs appeared.

After exiting the highway and paying the toll, the odometer showed more than a thousand kilometers more than when I set off.

Anchuan County.

We finally arrived in our hometown county.

Anchuan County is a large county under the jurisdiction of Mianyang. It doesn't have any famous tourist attractions or landmark buildings, but it has a strong academic atmosphere and is a leading county in education in the province.

In a sense, this area is a breeding ground for cramming education, and the students are very good at taking exams. The high-scoring students in the district's high schools every year are even comparable to those in the central area of ​​Mianyang... Of course, the overall quality is still somewhat inferior.

Li Younan had been studying in the county town before taking the college entrance examination.

The last time I went home was half a year ago during the Chinese New Year. I only stayed for three days, had the New Year's Eve dinner, and then returned to Binhai City.

My mom said that my girlfriend is very important to me, and she's very happy that she can come back home.

Yang Ting said that she would just go back and make a token gesture; what was there to miss about that backward county town?
Li Younan thought that this place might not be as developed as the districts and counties in the east, but he still cherished it and loved it because it was his hometown and the people he loved most were here.

Upon arriving at the toll station, Li Younan called his mother to tell her that he would be home in about twenty minutes.

You could tell Mom was surprised and delighted. She paused for a moment, "Huh? We're already here? So fast? Weren't we still in Changsha yesterday?"

My mom isn't very good at geography and doesn't really have a sense of the distance from Changsha to home. She just thinks it would probably take several days and nights to drive there!
Li Younan didn't mention that he had driven over a thousand kilometers to get here; he simply said casually, "It's not that far... Mom, I'm a little hungry."

"I just made dumplings, and we can eat them as soon as we get back!"

"Um……"

After a brief exchange, Li Younan focused on driving. Just over ten minutes later, Li Younan's car arrived at the building in his mother's workplace compound.

This is a product of the pre-housing provident fund era.

Before the housing provident fund was implemented, employees working in companies were allocated housing. My mother was among the last batch to receive a small two-bedroom apartment of less than 70 square meters, which was more than enough for our family of three.

It's an old building that's over 20 years old. Each building is only five or six stories high, there are no elevators, and the buildings are a bluish-gray cement color, giving them a very vintage feel.

But Li Younan only felt warm and at ease.

The security guard at the gate, Old Zhang, stopped the car. Li Younan rolled down the window and said, "Grandpa Zhang, it's me!"

Old Zhang is the security guard of the compound. Li Younan has known Old Zhang since he was a child. Over the years, Old Zhang seems to have changed no different from how he looked when he was a child. He looks just as old as he did when he was a child.

Old Zhang leaned over for a look, then paused, stunned. "Huh, Xiao Nan? Oh! It really is you, Xiao Nan!"

He took a step back and carefully examined the car. "Tsk tsk tsk, I was wondering whose Land Cruiser I was talking about!"

Old Zhang knows a lot about cars. When Li Younan was a child, he often heard Old Zhang bragging and chatting with others about which cars were the best and which were the worst. In his opinion, the best car was the Land Cruiser, and the other cars were not so good. He said that Audis burned oil, Mercedes-Benzes had difficult column shifters, and BMWs were prone to slipping in their rear-wheel drive... As for domestic cars, could they even be called cars?

After we finished chatting, I rode a domestically made bicycle to buy groceries.

Old Zhang circled Li Younan's car several times, then opened the door and looked at it carefully, making "tsk tsk tsk" sounds. "The Land Cruiser is really something else... Whose car is this?"

Li Younan just smiled casually and said, "I bought it secondhand..."

"your?!"

Old Zhang was surprised at first, then chuckled: "Used is fine too... If you have good taste, buying a used car is better than spending hundreds of thousands on a new one! This car still has two or three hundred thousand kilometers on it before it's past its break-in period..."

Li Younan smiled wryly, neither agreeing nor refuting. He didn't blindly worship the Land Cruiser, nor would he belittle domestic cars. In this era, domestic cars are not bad; it's just that domestic off-road vehicles like the U8 or the Mengshi 917 are too expensive to afford.

Those who are involved in science and engineering tend to view things more objectively, materialistically, and fundamentally.

After greeting Lao Zhang, Li Younan drove in.

It's foreseeable that tomorrow, the story of Li Younan's discerning eye in choosing the best car in the universe will be widely circulated by Lao Zhang.

Their home was on the fifth floor. Li Younan parked the car in an empty space in the courtyard downstairs and slowly climbed up.

Li Younan carried the things, and with his physical fitness, he naturally didn't feel tired. But when he reached the fifth floor, he couldn't help but think of... his mother buying groceries, carrying so many things and climbing such a high floor all by herself...

Things are alright now, but what will happen when Mom gets old?

Li Younan knocked on the door, and it was opened shortly afterward, bringing with it the delicious aroma of dumplings from the kitchen.

Her mother's name was Chen Xiaohui. She looked Li Younan up and down, a smile appearing on her face, and quickly went over to help Li Younan with his things.

Li Younan did not agree, but simply said, "I'll do it myself."

When Li Younan returned home, he saw the familiar yet somewhat worn furniture, which filled him with warmth and made him very happy.

He put down everything he was carrying and first took out the box of cosmetics he had specially bought for his mother.

My mother's eyes lit up with surprise as she took the bag and examined it carefully. Although it wasn't a brand she was familiar with, she had heard of it.

She put down the gift, happily hugged Li Younan, and said, "Thank you, son. Are you hungry? I'll go get you some dumplings."

Li Younan nodded, leaned back on the sofa, and watched his mother bustling around the room, as happy as a little girl. A slight smile crept onto his lips.

Since leaving home, he has met many of his parents.

The most common scenario is that when children buy something and bring it home, regardless of whether their parents like it or not, they will always casually say something like, "Why did you buy this kind of thing?"

"It's unnecessary, I don't need it..."

"What a waste of money..."

Of course, it's not that this is wrong, but Li Younan's mother would never do this.

Every time he gave her a gift, Mom would happily accept it. Whether she was going out or guests came over, Mom would proudly take it out and show it off: "This is a gift my son bought me, I love it!"

She didn't think it was something that should be associated with feelings of unworthiness.

Perhaps for this reason, every time Li Younan returned home from a trip, he would think about buying his mother a gift, just to see her happy expression.

Therefore, Li Younan has always deeply understood one principle: when someone buys you a gift, it doesn't matter whether you like it or not. All you need to do is praise the gift, praise the person who gave it, and praise the act of giving the gift.

The Waterloo of this experience began... well, never mind.

As soon as the dumplings were served, Li Younan began to eat them heartily. His mother gently reminded him, "Slow down, don't choke. I'll get you a glass of water."

My mom's dumplings are still the best.

Li Younan felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction.

After dinner, as usual, Li Younan shared the interesting things that happened on the way with his mother.

My mom listened attentively, occasionally asking a couple of questions that sounded a little funny, such as, "Are there monkeys on Huangshan Mountain?" or "Xiamen is actually an island, is it very hot there?"—questions that weren't really relevant.

Some issues may seem like common sense to young people, but not to someone of my mother's age.

Li Younan showed no impatience and patiently explained to his mother. Before they knew it, it was already quite late.

Mom rubbed her eyes and yawned, saying, "I'll stop talking now. I have to get up early for work tomorrow. You should get some rest too, son."

Li Younan nodded. He had been driving all day, and although his improved driving skills made him feel more relaxed, he was still a little tired, considering he had driven over a thousand kilometers.

After washing up, he went back to his room to rest. The sheets and blankets had all been freshly changed and smelled faintly of laundry detergent.

He slept soundly that night, more soundly than any night before.

When I woke up, it wasn't too late, and my mom was still outside preparing breakfast.

During the meal, Li Younan casually asked about his grandparents' life in the countryside.

This question really stumped Mom. She put down the noodles she had cooked for breakfast and sighed softly.

“I went to check on it a couple of days ago. These days, the township government is renovating the water system, and the water pipes are supposed to be connected directly to my grandparents' house. It hasn't been connected to their house yet. As you know, my grandparents' house is in a rather remote area. But now the water has been cut off, and they have to carry buckets and walk several hundred meters to get water.”

After a pause, Mom said, "It won't last long, it should be within the next day or two. But connecting the water pipe is a hassle, the tap can only be run to the yard." Mom sighed slightly, "My idea is to connect the water pipe into the kitchen, but the township government won't help with that, we'll have to find someone ourselves."

Li Younan frowned. He knew about his grandparents' house. To be honest, when he was little, Li Younan really didn't want to go to his grandparents' house, partly because it was so outdated.

Because the house was built quite early, it didn't have a sewer system and still used the old-fashioned dry toilet, which was extremely smelly. There was only one tap in the yard. When you needed water, you had to use a bucket to fetch water from the yard outside.

It wasn't a problem when my grandparents were young, but now that they're this old, there's really no need for them to live like this anymore.

Li Younan took a couple of bites of noodles and said, "Mom, I'll take you to work later, and then I'll drive to Grandpa and Grandma's place."

Mom looked up, somewhat puzzled: "Are you going to Grandpa and Grandma's to help look after things?"

Li Younan smiled and said, "I don't have anything else to do now, so I'll go keep an eye on things over there, help Grandpa and Grandma fix the water pipes, and see if I can renovate their old house properly."

Mom thought for a moment: "But aren't you going on a trip?"

Li Younan shook his head: "Traveling is something you can do anytime. I've been wanting to renovate my grandparents' house for a while now, and I need to get it done before I set off again!"

He waved his phone: "We can also take a video later."

Of course, Li Younan didn't expect to achieve any particular effect when it came to shooting videos; simply recording things was fine too.

"Huh?" Mom blinked and nodded.

There's a saying: No one is perfect. Even a gentle, beautiful, and intelligent woman like my mother has her flaws.

My mom's biggest flaw is that she lacks assertiveness when it comes to important matters. When doing things, her most important priority is ensuring she's in a good mood; her mindset is impeccable, and she's generally in a non-competitive, non-aggressive state in many situations.

But when it comes to situations like my grandfather's family, she can't make up her mind. Sometimes, my mother gets frustrated because of this.

After Li Younan said that, his mother didn't think much of it and happily agreed: "Okay then, do whatever you think is easiest!"

……

This was the first time Li Younan's mother had seen his car. Although Li Younan had mentioned it to her in video calls and on the phone before, and had shown her his car, it was still different from seeing it in person.

My mom doesn't know much about cars, but she knows this one is pretty good, and she says with a smile, "My son is awesome!"

Li Younan opened the car door for his mother, and she got in.

This was the first time Li Younan had brought her mother to work, and she felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction.

Li Younan drove for a while and suddenly realized that his mother was still quite young. She was only 46 years old this year and had many years before retirement.

Along the way, they chatted casually about the changes in the county town over the years, such as which buildings were demolished and which roads were re-filled. The small county town has new changes every year, and the mother excitedly explained them to Li Younan.

Li Younan's mother works at the county rural commercial bank, which used to be a credit cooperative; it is a local commercial bank.

These days, my mom is no longer in the sales department, and her workload isn't as heavy. Thanks to her years of experience in finance, she's very efficient, so unless it's year-end settlements or similar periods, she can usually leave work on time.

Another advantage of this company is that it has an early retirement policy, which allows employees to retire early.

After dropping his mother off at her workplace, Li Younan drove alone to his grandfather's house in the countryside.

After leaving the county town, it takes more than an hour to drive westward into Baishui Township, where my grandfather and his family live.

Although Li Younan is from Baishui Township, he actually rarely lived there when he was a child. When he went to the countryside during summer and winter vacations, his grandparents treated it like a holiday.

His father was one of the few young people who came from the countryside. He worked hard in the county town at a young age and even got together with a beautiful woman who worked at a bank.

As the son grew up, he excelled in personality, academics, and sports, becoming a standout among his peers. If it weren't for the accident that happened later, his father would undoubtedly be a model of breaking free from the shackles of fate and a true winner in life.

For ordinary people, it's difficult to achieve something spectacular; being able to do this much is already quite impressive.

Thinking about this, Li Younan still felt a little sad.

The car entered Baishui Township, where the rural roads were much narrower, and in many places, they were even unpaved dirt roads.

But for Li Younan and his Xiao Ku, this didn't matter.

Along the way, passersby from the village would often stare at his car in a daze, watching it drive away.

My grandparents' house is in a relatively remote location in the village.

It's considered remote because it's far from provincial and national highways, requiring almost the entire township to reach.

Their house is all alone on the banks of the Baishui River.

However, to be fair, although my grandparents' house is not in a very good location, it occupies a fairly large area.

Going out of the back gate of the courtyard, there is a long slope that connects to the Baishui River. The entire area belongs to Grandpa's family. However, the slope is full of large rocks, so it's impossible to grow any crops; only some weeds grow tenaciously.

Vegetables are planted on some scattered open spaces.

The yard was much better; the chickens and ducks raised by my grandparents, as well as a few small vegetable plots, were scattered around, so it didn't feel crowded.

Li Younan honked the horn twice in front of the iron gate outside, but there was no response.

He quickly jumped out of the car, and only then did his grandmother come over to open the door.

Grandma looked around curiously, paused when she saw Li Younan, and then her face immediately lit up with a delighted smile.

"Nan Nan, why are you back?" Grandma stared blankly at the car again. "Ah, this car..."

Li Younan chuckled, turned around and took out the nutritional supplements he had specially bought for his grandparents from the car: "I bought these myself, Grandma! I'll drive this car and take you out to play from now on!"

My grandparents are ordinary elderly people from the countryside. Although they are almost 70 years old, they are very healthy and efficient.

Grandpa was hoeing in the vegetable garden. Li Younan looked over and saw a big yellow dog and a big white cat hiding under the shade of a tree, taking a nap.

Grandpa and Grandma were naturally very happy that Li Younan could come. They put down what they were doing and started preparing food for Li Younan.

When my grandson comes, I must prepare the best food.

Grandpa walked into the chicken coop with a kitchen knife, turned around and smiled: "Nannan, do you remember when you were little you were chased by a big rooster? I'll slaughter another one for you today."

Li Younan was speechless... There was indeed such an incident when he was a child, which scared him so much that he dared not go to his grandfather's house. At that time, in order to avenge Li Younan, his grandfather chased the unfortunate rooster from the chicken coop to the gate with a stick and beat it until it died a very tragic death.

Hmm... using this as an excuse to kill a chicken now...

When the big yellow dog saw Grandpa enter the chicken coop, it jumped up and hopped around, panting with its tongue lolling out. Its little eyes... looked like it was smiling.

……

Li Younan drove the car in, parked it somewhere casually, and then went to help his grandmother make lunch.

When the buckets ran out of water, Li Younan carried two buckets to a tap a few hundred meters away to fetch water.

Along the way, you can see water pipe workers arranged by the township government busily laying water pipes.

Li Younan glanced at it but didn't say anything.

He filled both buckets, but the water was still a bit heavy, so he slowly walked back.

When he reached the front door, he took another careful look at his grandparents' old house.

The nearest neighbor is dozens of meters away. This path was built by my grandfather when he was young, using rammed earth. The house stands alone, isolated from the world.

There is a ditch at the entrance of my grandfather's yard, which seems to be the dividing line of the yard.

But Li Younan thought it was fine this way. He had some ideas in his head and couldn't help but chuckle softly...

Hmm, it should turn out pretty good.

At noon, Li Younan called his mother to tell her that he wouldn't be coming back for the time being.

Grandpa and Grandma set up the dining table under the shade of the pavilion in the courtyard. The braised chicken with potatoes smelled delicious, and the free-range chicken meat was firm.

Li Younan tossed the half-eaten bone on the ground, which the big yellow dog picked up and excitedly gnawed on. Meanwhile, the big white cat had somehow climbed onto the grape trellis and was lazily watching the people sleeping below.

A strong sense of happiness welled up inside me.

But it’s not enough…

Li Younan held his rice bowl, his gaze wandering around the old house, his mind racing.

(End of this chapter)