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

Chapter 99 The Start of the B&B: A Riverside Courtyard [1.3 words!]

(Look at the word count, the votes, you get it?)
When Li Younan returned to Anchuan County with his mother and Lu Xiaolan, it was already dark.

Summer days are already longer, and it's not dark until eight or nine o'clock. We went there in the morning and came back in the evening; after a whole day of playing, everyone was exhausted.

Lu Xiaolan sat in the back row, sprawled out on the chair, fast asleep, her snores echoing softly in the quiet carriage.

Although Mom was also a bit tired, she didn't sleep. She sat in the passenger seat, quietly watching the road ahead.

Li Younan casually rested one hand on the steering wheel, while the other hand habitually rested on the edge of the car window, tapping lightly with two fingers, displaying a very comfortable posture.

There are very few cars going to Anchuan County during this time of year, especially after entering the branch expressway, where there are no large trucks at all, making it very easy to drive.

Li Younan smiled and said to his mother, "Mom, why don't you take a nap?"

My mother didn't say anything, her gaze wandering over the highway outside the car window.

After a while, Mom suddenly said seriously, "You seem to have really grown up."

Li Younan chuckled: "Didn't this happen a long time ago?"

Mom shook her head: "It's not the same. Do you mean 18 years old is considered grown up, or is it when you start working? Neither. Growing up is a feeling, do you understand? It's like how Mom used to think of you as a little boy who needed to be protected, starting from when you were so young."

My mom gestured for a moment, then couldn't help but laugh at herself. She looked up and said, "Suddenly, I've become someone others can rely on."

Li Younan paused for a moment, then shook her head slightly, a relaxed smile appearing on her face. It was good that her mother thought that way.

After a short day of rest, it was Monday again.

After his mother went to work, Li Younan took Lu Xiaolan to his grandparents' house again.

After just over a day without a live stream, the group chat exploded with everyone clamoring, "Why isn't the streamer broadcasting?"

When Li Younan turned on the live stream again, hundreds of people flooded into the live stream room, and someone even gave him a super gift worth 2000 yuan.

It's worth mentioning that he receives many tips every day just from his live streams, earning him several hundred yuan daily. While it may not seem like much, it adds up to tens of thousands of yuan a month, which is quite an unexpected source of income.

Every time Li Younan appeared on camera, he would advise students not to give tips. Furthermore, he would carefully read out the name of each person who gave a tip to express his gratitude.

Brother Long is very satisfied with the image of his fans.

Since Brother Long took over Li Younan's management, he has started to seriously study the relevant data.

According to Brother Long, at least 6% of Li Younan's fans are white-collar workers from big cities, while a small portion are students who yearn for poetry and freedom.

A key characteristic of this fan demographic is their strong spending power.

This makes sense in a way; it explains why these people would like to pay attention to Li Younan.

Trapped in a cubicle, yet still possessing the ambition to go out and see the world. Unable to leave on their own, they send out a rather handsome guy to show off all over the world... That's right, that guy has shown off several times in the video, easily creating an immersive experience for viewers.

Of course, this is an analysis from a male perspective. If it's a female perspective, the reason she likes Li Younan is even simpler: he's handsome.

Such a fan profile gives businesses a strong ability to command a premium.

Brother Long also shared some lesser-known industry facts with Li Younan: In this line of work, a blogger's earnings are not directly proportional to the number of followers they have; rather, the level of video interaction and the spending power of their followers are extremely important.

In addition, for streamers in vertical fields, their fans are more valuable. For example, beauty and digital bloggers have the highest revenue per ad.

Li Younan is a streamer in a broad field, and his original pricing power was not as good as that of streamers in a vertical field. However, thanks to his strong fan base, Brother Long actually managed to attract a few high-quality merchants.

However, the business deals for these merchants have not yet been filmed, as they are all hotel promotions. We can only film the videos when we arrive in the corresponding cities.

Brother Long said to Li Younan with a smug look on his face, "Not only can you stay in a free hotel, but you also get paid. Doesn't that sound good?"

Lee You-nan said with some concern, "I'm afraid that my experience staying there will be different from that of my fans."

After a while, Brother Long replied, "You're quite considerate of your fans, but it's probably not that bad. The hotels I found for you are all five-star hotels, and their service standards are generally quite consistent."

Time flew by and it was already mid-August. The renovation of Grandpa's house was nearing completion.

The living quarters and main room underwent an upgrade inside and out, and the vegetable gardens in the yard were also tidied up and made to look better.

Li Younan leveled the cracked and pitted cement floor of the original cement courtyard and laid a layer of stone slabs, making it not only smoother but also better for drainage.

All that's left now is that small slope in the backyard; strictly speaking, it's no longer a slope.

Li Younan renovated the place, turning it into a very relaxing riverside courtyard where one could fish and camp.

The area is not small; it has some flowers, plants, and fruit trees.

A large stone that was previously unearthed was polished and turned into a large stone table.

In the summer, you can use a parasol or a canopy for shade, have a barbecue, go fishing, and even sing karaoke at night.

Of course, grandparents wouldn't be very interested in these things.

Li Younan had his reasons for decorating the place this way, which inevitably brings us to the three bedrooms.

Besides the grandparents' bedroom, the other three rooms not only have private bathrooms, but also feature exquisite woodwork and soft furnishings. They are simple and beautiful, and very easy to clean, making them comparable to boutique hotel rooms.

When Li Younan finished building these three rooms, many people in the live chat asked, "Streamer, are these three rooms for rent?"

"I suggest the streamer turn these three rooms into a guesthouse!"

"If it opens to the public, I'll definitely come and support it!"

"Wow, this room is just as good as a hotel room, and even cleaner!"

"I wanted to come and see my grandparents..."

Grandparents occasionally appear in the live streams, and some fans who frequently watch Li Younan's live streams are already familiar with them.

However, Li Younan has not yet responded to these fans' comments.

The renovation plan has essentially been completed at this stage.

Next, some details still need to be refined.

Once you reach this stage, it becomes very difficult to make changes every single day. Often, even after a busy day, you might not see much change in the videos.

For example, carving on certain wooden objects to make them more beautiful; pruning newly planted fruit trees; or remodeling areas that seemed reasonable at the time but need adjustment after a period of use.

Li Younan estimated that it would take about another week to be truly completed, by which time Lu Xiaolan would be about to start school.

During this time, Lu Xiaolan continued to work as a live-streaming assistant.

She's a seasoned pro now, and she knows exactly when to create a lively atmosphere, when to warn viewers to watch their words, and when to explain what Li Younan is doing.

It has to be said that it saved Li Younan a lot of trouble.

From the initial few dozen viewers in the live stream to the current stable viewership of several hundred, and even occasionally exceeding a thousand, Lu Xiaolan's contribution is indispensable.

Li Younan's fan base had now exceeded 30, marking her transition from a junior streamer to a mid-level streamer.

10 to 100 million followers can be considered a mid-tier streamer. Streamers at this level can earn anywhere from tens of thousands to millions of yuan a month, which means they are already considered to be able to make a living in this industry.

However, Li Younan hasn't actually made much money from this identity yet.

There's no need to rush that. Although he hasn't received many big orders, Li Younan's savings have slowly returned to six figures over the past few months, thanks to taking on commercial orders through video shooting. This is after Li Younan paid JK Long a commission once.

It's worth mentioning that JK Long finally sent over the contract after Li Younan urged him several times. The contract that was sent over had also been revised, and in addition to the original video packaging designer contract, it also included some content related to a business agent.

To Li Younan's surprise, the contract that arrived didn't include his full name; it only had the character "Liu" and a red fingerprint. Li Younan found the fingerprint and the incomplete name somewhat amusing.

He genuinely believed that Brother Long trusted him completely, but he didn't expect that Brother Long wouldn't even reveal his real name in the contract. This made Li Younan feel that JK Long was more real. Before this, he had always felt that the conditions offered by JK Long were too good to be true, to the point that he wondered if he was a fake.

The last week's tasks were quite varied and not very specialized, such as cleaning and moving odds and ends. Li Younan found them rather troublesome, so in this final period, besides Lu Xiaolan who was really starting to "move bricks," Li Younan had an extra helper.

At that moment, Ren Xiaohuan was carrying a pot of flowers into the house. Grandma came out of the main room and said, "Xiaohuan, come and rest for a while. I've made some mung bean soup."

Ren Xiaohuan wiped the sweat from her forehead and replied, "It's okay, Grandma, I'm not tired."

Ren Xiaohuan is Dou Dou's older sister.

Because of the incident involving the carving knife, Ren Xiaohuan avoided looking at Li Younan.

But on several occasions, she brought some things from home to Li Younan's grandparents, sometimes freshly harvested vegetables, sometimes freshly cooked cured meat and sausages.

Ren Xiaohuan takes care of her younger brother and paralyzed mother on her own. The village provides them with a minimum living allowance. Her father works outside and sends money back every month, so they are not in a bad situation materially.

To be honest, it's rare to see people living like this who can't afford meat or rice anymore; this is the true picture of rural life.

However, every time Ren Xiaohuan brought these things over, she would deliberately avoid Li Younan.

There was no way to avoid it. As she was leaving, she bumped into Li Younan, who was working. She lowered her head in a panic, said "I'm sorry," and quickly ran away.

Li Younan could roughly tell that the little girl was still embarrassed about her younger brother's situation.

In contrast, her younger brother, Dou Dou, is much more shameless.

Although he felt genuinely ashamed, he still eagerly came over to watch Li Younan work the next day.

One day later, Dou Dou even used the carving knife Li Younan had given him to carve something of unknown origin as a return gift to Li Younan. Li Younan picked it up and examined it for a long time, carefully choosing his words before tentatively saying, "This pig—"

DouDou's expression immediately turned somewhat anxious.

"This is Pleasant Goat!"

Li Younan immediately said in a serious tone, "Oh! I mean, the carving of Pleasant Goat (the pig) living in the sheep village is really great!"

A smile finally appeared on DouDou's face.

The following day, the camera that Li Younan had ordered online finally arrived.

He installed these cameras in several key locations that he had previously reserved, covering the entire house, leaving no blind spots except for the bedroom and the toilet, and even the riverside camping yard at the back.

A wireless router is also essential, so that even when you're not home, you can check on your grandparents' status anytime.

Of course, it has other uses as well.

One afternoon later, Grandma cooked her first meal in the newly renovated kitchen.

Grandma braised a whole pot of pork ribs, scooped out a bowlful with a large spoon, and handed it to Li Younan, telling him to take it to Ren Xiaohuan's family to try.

Li Younan responded and then carried the bowl of ribs out, humming a little tune.

Ren Xiaohuan's house was only a few dozen meters away from her grandparents' house, making her their closest neighbor. Li Younan often passed by their house, but he never went inside.

This time, Li Younan arrived at Ren Xiaohuan's house again. The door was open, and he went straight in.

Compared to the refined home of her grandparents, Ren Xiaohuan's home was much rougher. In the cement courtyard, a dog was tied to a post in the corner, and half a bowl of cold porridge remained in the food bowl next to the doghouse.

Upon noticing Li Younan enter, the dog immediately stood up from its sleeping position and barked twice at Li Younan.

Hearing the noise, a girl came out of the house. Upon recognizing Li Younan, she immediately scolded the stray dog, "Little Yellow, don't be fierce!"

Li Younan watched this scene with great interest; Ren Xiaohuan was quite authoritative when she scolded him.

Ren Xiaohuan's family only owns one house. When she saw the ribs Li Younan was carrying, she paused for a moment, unsure of what to say.

Li Younan smiled and said, "Grandma made it and asked me to bring it over to you specially."

DouDou rushed out as soon as she smelled the aroma and shouted happily, "Wow, ribs!"

Once she came to her senses, Ren Xiaohuan quickly invited Li Younan inside.

At this moment, Ren Xiaohuan's mother was resting in the room, which was similar to the layout of her grandmother's house, with a large stove and the cooking area next door, separated by a cloth curtain.

Smelling the aroma, Li Younan asked curiously, "Are you cooking?"

Ren Xiaohuan was stunned: "How did you know?"

Li Younan slowly placed the bowl of ribs on the stove. Often, the stove also served as a dining table. He said slowly, "It smells burnt..."

Ren Xiaohuan was suddenly startled and quickly turned and ran into the kitchen, followed by a cry of "Ah!"

When Li Younan went in, Ren Xiaohuan was staring blankly at a pot of burnt shredded potatoes.

The potatoes here are of very good quality and have a high starch content. If you don't soak them in water beforehand, they will easily stick to the pan when you stir-fry them directly.

But potatoes cooked this way will be more fragrant, but if you don't control the heat well, they can easily burn.

Ren Xiaohuan was very skilled at making this dish, so it was impossible for it to burn.

But just now, at the crucial moment, she heard Xiao Huang call out, realizing that a stranger had come to the yard, so she hurriedly went out.

Upon seeing Li Younan, her mind went blank, and she forgot all about what was happening in the pot.

In just a short while, the pot had already burned.

The earthen stoves used in rural areas have a very strong fire. Sichuan people always add a handful of dried chili peppers when stir-frying shredded potatoes, so the kitchen is filled with a pungent smell of smoke.

Ren Xiaohuan scraped out the potato shreds with a bit of heartache; many of them were already stuck to the bottom of the pot, so it looked like she would have to stir-fry them again.

Li Younan smiled and asked, "Do you need any help?"

Ren Xiaohuan quickly shook her head: "No need, no need, I... I'll just go wash the pot."

Li Younan pointed to the large iron pot and said, "This is quite heavy. Are you sure you don't need any help?"

Ren Xiaohuan smiled sheepishly: "I have to wash the pots every day, it's no big deal."

Li Younan suddenly realized, "That makes sense."

Then Ren Xiaohuan picked up the pot and took it to the tap in the courtyard to wash it. Just like at her grandparents' house, the tap water in Ren Xiaohuan's house was not connected to the main room.

Watching this scene, Li Younan seemed to be deep in thought.

As Ren Xiaohuan left, Li Younan asked, "Do you want to reheat it?"

Ren Xiaohuan's voice drifted in from outside: "Yes, yes."

At this moment, DouDou obediently brought over a glass of water and said, "Brother, drink some water."

Li Younan picked it up casually, patted Dou Dou's head, took a sip, and put it on the stove.

He glanced at the few fresh potatoes that hadn't been cut yet, then at the knife on the cutting board...

Ren Xiaohuan washed the pot in a short time.

A quick rinse with a bamboo brush is usually enough to clean it.

She brought the pot in and was immediately stunned.

At this moment, Li Younan had just sheathed his sword.

Neatly cut potato shreds, green pepper shreds, and a few cloves of garlic sliced ​​on the cutting board.

Hearing the noise, Li Younan turned around and asked, "Is the pot washed?"

Ren Xiaohuan blinked and nodded subconsciously: "Yes, I'm done washing."

"Bring it here."

"Well, but..."

"I'll cook it faster..."

"But……"

"Go get me some dried chili peppers..."

Before Ren Xiaohuan could say anything more, Dou Dou had already stood next to Li Younan, holding a handful of dried chili peppers, and proudly raised her hand.

Li Younan placed the pot on the stove and quickly stir-fried a plate of home-style shredded potatoes.

Ren Xiaohuan: "..."

It is indeed much faster than Ren Xiaohuan.

After finishing cooking, Li Younan picked up a rag from the table to wipe his hands and casually asked, "Do you always cook at home?"

Ren Xiaohuan nodded: "Mm."

"I heard some things about your family from your grandma. Oh, so you're staying at home now?"

Ren Xiaohuan lowered her head and said hesitantly, "That's the only way. Mom can't be away for long; she has trouble going to the toilet."

Li Younan nodded silently, and then casually asked some questions about Dou Dou, such as how his grades were at school and whether anyone bullied him.

Ren Xiaohuan explained, following Li Younan's words.

Suddenly, Li Younan changed the subject: "So now that you're staying at home, is your only source of income your uncle?"

Ren Xiaohuan was taken aback, not understanding why Li Younan asked such a question, but she still honestly replied, "Yes, my dad regularly sends us money when he works outside, and the village also takes good care of us, so we don't lack money."

Li Younan nodded, put down the rag, wiped the water stains on his already not-so-clean pants, and said, "How about I find you something to do?"

Ren Xiaohuan was stunned for a moment, then looked up: "Huh? What?"

Li Younan smiled and said, "I'll find you something to do and pay you a salary, how about 100 yuan a day? Or, how about another way, um, commission-based, that way you might earn a little more."

Ren Xiaohuan certainly didn't understand what Li Younan was talking about, and besides, the amount of money he mentioned was too much. If it was 100 yuan a day, that would be 3,000 yuan a month, much more than the money her father sent back every month.

Ren Xiaohuan had a puzzled, confused, and somewhat shocked expression, which was inexplicably cute.

Li Younan continued, "That's right, as you've seen, I've renovated my grandparents' house recently, and it's quite beautiful now."

"You went into those rooms and helped clean them. Each room was decorated to hotel standards and had its own bathroom."

"Yes, I plan to take in guests and turn it into a bed and breakfast."

“My grandparents are getting old and don’t know much about these things, so I need to find someone to help me manage them.”

"You happen to live near your grandparents' house, so you spend a little time each day going over to clean the rooms, change the sheets and blankets, and put them in the washing machine to dry. There are only three rooms, so the workload isn't too heavy. Then you arrange for some guests to check in... that's roughly what your job is."

Li Younan took out his phone, smiled, and asked, "Do you usually use short video platforms?"

Although the conditions weren't great, this was an era where smartphones were commonplace, and Ren Xiaohuan certainly had one too. She nodded.

Li Younan showed him his video platform homepage and said, "I'm a small-time streamer. I think a lot of people will come and play here after it opens."

"We'll build a camping site on the open space behind my grandparents' house."

"Staying at this guesthouse for one night, it has everything you need, parking, Wi-Fi, all these things are very convenient, business... should be pretty good."

“My grandparents actually really enjoy lively gatherings. I talked to them about this before, and they were very happy and eager to entertain the guests. It’s just that they are getting old and don’t understand mobile phones, let alone electronic payments.”

After a pause, Li Younan looked at Ren Xiaohuan with a serious and sincere expression: "If you can come and help, Grandpa and Grandma will be very happy, how about it?"

Ren Xiaohuan was stunned. For a moment, her head was spinning from the shock of the news.

Is it really possible for something as good as a free lunch? How could something so good exist? It's like a job tailor-made for me.

Although she's no longer in school, her grades aren't bad, and she has a strong ability to learn new things. She'll definitely learn things like payments and online orders very quickly.

As for cleaning, how long would it take to tidy up three rooms?
More importantly, the job is just a few dozen meters from my home, so I can take care of everything...

Li Younan smiled and said, "If you agree, I'll try it out once the backyard is officially completed. You can come over then, and we can learn together. Oh, I've never run a bed and breakfast before, haha. Let's leave it at that for now. I'll call you later, since you're always home anyway."

After saying that, Li Younan slowly walked away. At that moment, he was in an extremely good mood.

Just as they reached the door, a dog suddenly jumped up. Although Li Younan was held back by its leash, he was so startled that he almost did a somersault.

Ren Xiaohuan, who had been looking somewhat dazed, was first startled, and then couldn't help but smile faintly.

She was also starting to look forward to seeing what the old house of Li Younan's grandparents would eventually look like.

……

Recently, Li Younan has been receiving invitations from various MCN agencies.

Such statements include, "Join our organization, and we can provide you with excellent business cooperation opportunities. We have established partnerships with numerous brands."

Li Younan always ignored these private messages.

On the one hand, he cannot tie himself to other companies and become someone else's money-making tool.

On the other hand, Li Younan previously worked at an internet company and had some understanding of the business models of some MCN agencies... There were too many pitfalls.

If a popular online streamer suddenly stops updating videos at a certain time, it's often because they've signed with an MCN agency and are trying to terminate the contract.

Like now, I can update videos whenever I want, and travel alone whenever I want.

Once I have a large fan base, I'll be able to support myself no matter what, and I won't even need to shoot too many commercials; a few orders a month will be enough.

Moreover, JK Long became his own business agent, directly connecting him with business partners, which was more transparent and saved him a lot of trouble.

Right now, Li Younan was in his room giving the video a final check. This video was the final version compiled by JK Long from all the videos since the old house's renovation began. It spanned various points in time, from the old house's initial state to the present day, showing how everything had changed inside and out.

The entire video is 20 minutes long.

JK Long's editing skills deserve high praise here.

To be precise, his editing skills go beyond simply operating video editing software.

If we had to make an analogy, JK Long would be more like a director.

He dissected and re-edited such a massive amount of material, creating a story with its beginnings, developments, twists, and turns, yet it was not easily noticed.

At the beginning of the video, the same magnetic voice is still reading a monologue, describing the old house: the water and electricity are not very convenient, the outhouse is terrible, the kitchen is greasy, rats are running and jumping on the roof beams, the useless slope, and the uneven cement courtyard.

From this point on, the audience's appetite was completely whetted, and no one was not looking forward to seeing what the final transformation would look like.

This is a large-scale strategy of first suppressing and then elevating.

After the transformation began, the difficulties encountered at each stage and the brilliant solutions were used to propel the video forward in a dramatic and suspenseful manner. The video was structured with a major climax followed by a major climax, which kept the audience on the edge of their seats and rhythmically satisfied their small emotions. In the end, the video successfully satisfied the core emotions of the viewers at the climax.

The 20 minutes were long, but I didn't feel tired at all.

It has to be said, this is truly a high-quality video that can keep someone under control for 20 minutes.

Li Younan watched it twice, pausing and rewinding in between, taking a full hour.

He exclaimed sincerely, "Brother Long, this video is truly amazing. It's my good fortune to have you as my video packaging designer."

For once, Brother Long didn't criticize Li Younan. Instead, he calmly replied, "The video footage is the foundation. Although you didn't use any high-end filming techniques, you captured all the details of the renovation, and the clarity is very high. With such solid footage, I had room for editing."

A rare instance of mutual praise among businesses.

Meanwhile, in a corner, a girl's lips curled into a slight smile: "Go for it, my traveling frog..."

Of course, this video also has high commercial value.

Under Brother Long's management, an advertisement for a camera was inserted into the video, with a unit price as high as 5 yuan, and if the data was good, an additional 3 yuan could be earned.

This offer is roughly equivalent to a streamer with 50 followers, and it's the kind of treatment only streamers in a specific niche can receive.

But JK Dragon managed to negotiate it all down that far.

The ad was inserted in the middle of the process, lasting only 20 seconds.

Li Younan was also somewhat taken aback; those were truly expensive 20 seconds.

In response, JK Long said calmly, "Don't always think about saving money for those brands' capital. To be honest, their marketing departments spend millions or even tens of millions of yuan on marketing expenses all the time. Isn't all that money from the shareholders? They don't care at all when they spend it. If they don't care, why are you being so concerned?"

After confirming it several times, Li Younan clicked to upload and publish the video.

This video is just the first result of this old house renovation project.

The second achievement, without a doubt, is the three rooms that can be used as guesthouses.

To do this, you first need to obtain some necessary licenses and permits.

In fact, Li Younan had already taken care of it in advance.

The grandparents' house only has three rooms, which simplified the process. By the time Li Younan uploaded the video, he had already obtained all the necessary documents.

The more troublesome part is that you need to install a computer at home and connect it to the Public Security Bureau's guest information collection system.

Grandparents definitely don't know how to operate a computer.

Fortunately, Ren Xiaohuan has already agreed.

Tomorrow, Li Younan will install the computer and then teach Ren Xiaohuan how to use it.

Young people can learn it in no time.

Of course, these are all just ideas at the moment.

Whether this guesthouse can truly succeed will only be known once actual guests stay and try it out.

However, Li Younan did not expect to make a lot of money from this.

If, for any reason, I don't want to continue or can't keep going, these rooms are fine for me and my mom to stay in when we visit my grandpa.

……

Old Zhou works in Mianyang city, sitting in his cubicle in front of a computer all day.

Reports, plans, customer calls—it's like an assembly line. My mind is constantly on edge, and when I get home, I'm so tired I don't even want to talk.

His wife always says that when he gets home he just collapses on the sofa with a face as bitter as a bitter gourd.

When the child asks her father to play with her, sometimes he can't muster the energy. He knows something's wrong, but he's just tired—a kind of exhaustion that seeps into his bones.

One night in July, Lao Zhou was lying in bed scrolling through his phone. His fingers were getting tired from swiping when he suddenly came across a video about the renovation of an old house in Yasukawa.

Although Yasukawa is also in Mianyang, he has hardly ever been there.

Upon clicking, it revealed a dilapidated old courtyard with cracked and peeling paint on the walls.

The anchor was a young man, and to be fair, quite handsome, though he was covered in dirt and was struggling to dismantle doors and windows.

Once he started swiping, he couldn't stop.

The streamer keeps updating, and you can still find his live stream from time to time.

Old Zhou watches it like a TV series. Every night after get off work, no matter how tired he is, the first thing he does when he lies in bed is to check what he did that day.

Look at him, shirtless, sweating profusely as he mixes cement and lays bricks.

I saw him doing electrical work, carpentry... This young guy seems to know everything, he's really amazing...

What made him feel most at ease was seeing the three bedrooms that had been renovated.

The room, which was originally dark and cluttered with miscellaneous items, was transformed after some hammering and banging. Windows were opened, ventilation was provided, wooden floors were laid, the walls were painted white, and furniture and linen bedding were added...

It's very relaxing.

The three rooms became bright and comfortable, just like the guesthouses in the magazines.

Especially that window overlooking the river; opening it reveals a view of the lush green water...

The kind of water that looks like it has lots of fish.

Throughout July and mid-August, Lao Zhou followed the videos and watched his dilapidated courtyard gradually transform.

Honestly, watching these is more stress-relieving than any TV series.

Without having to think, just watching people actually work and turn a pile of junk into a beautiful place gives me an indescribable sense of satisfaction.

The thought that this place is in Anchuan, not far from Mianyang, makes the feeling even more real.

Sometimes when I'm so annoyed at work, the thought of being able to read the latest episodes at night makes me feel a little bit better.

At the end of the video, the host said that he would turn the three rooms into a homestay. He was having a promotion for the opening, and the lucky winner could book all three rooms for one night for 600 yuan, plus a free farmhouse breakfast.

Old Zhou was tempted, truly tempted.

He was thinking of bringing his wife and kids, and inviting his brother-in-law along, so that both families could have a place to stay for the night in the courtyard where he had watched his children grow up.

How comfortable!
The backyard is a river, and he loves fishing, but his fishing rod has been gathering dust for a long time.

I quickly discussed it with my wife, and she thought it was a good idea after watching the video. My brother-in-law and his family also wanted to try their luck.

The lottery was conducted during the live stream.

Send comments, and the streamer will randomly take a screenshot; whoever is captured is the streamer.

To be honest, I didn't have high hopes; his luck in grabbing red envelopes was terrible.

But I actually won!

Old Zhou felt that his luck had finally turned around!

Over the next few days, Lao Zhou got a little carried away.

Finally, the day of departure arrived.

The night before, Lao Zhou placed his fishing gear bag in the most conspicuous spot by the door.

The stifling atmosphere that had been building up inside the cubicle for so long seemed to dissipate somewhat with these thoughts.

Tomorrow, I can finally breathe a sigh of relief.

……

The two families only drove one car; it was a minivan driven by Lao Zhou's brother-in-law.

There were seven people in the car, and the child sat in the last row without feeling crowded. The brother-in-law, while driving, said with some amusement, "Brother-in-law, you're already so old, yet you still like to do these kinds of messy things."

Old Zhou said irritably, "Just drive when I tell you to. Stop talking so much nonsense. It's only 600 yuan for the room, and I'll reimburse you for the gas..."

The brother-in-law quickly smiled apologetically, "Brother-in-law, that's not what I meant. I was just worried that your expectations would be set too high, and you might regret it and be disappointed later."

Old Zhou said, "I watched that video. It was very well done; you won't be disappointed. Didn't you watch that video too?"

My brother-in-law had already driven the car off the highway and was slowly driving down the ramp.

Once we were out of the ramp, he slowly said, "The video only shows you the good side, but the countryside isn't as nice as you imagine."

"Water and electricity are not very convenient in those places, and the dogs bark until very late at night, and the roosters crow early in the morning, so you can't sleep well at all. Also, the place is a bit too remote, and there are no attractions around. Anyway, I think we shouldn't have too high expectations, but 600 yuan is enough to relax. If all else fails, we can go fishing for a while, and that will be worth the ticket price."

Old Zhou didn't say anything, closed his eyes, leaned back in his seat, and dozed off for a while.

……

Installing a computer was a piece of cake for Li Younan.

He did a quick test and found no problems, then installed some antivirus and security software commonly used by beginners.

Although programmers like Li Younan value a clean computer with no ads or pop-ups, if even 360's ads can't be handled, then it's best to just install that kind of security software.

Ren Xiaohuan stood in front of Li Younan, watching him operate the machine with some nervousness.

Even though Ren Xiaohuan grew up in the countryside and didn't use a computer much, she must have spent a lot of time on the internet on her phone, so it wouldn't be difficult for her to adapt.

For guesthouses, the computers are mainly used to allow guests to complete authentication on the public security information network. In addition, the cameras also need to be connected to the public security system so that the police can access them at any time.

This also provides an extra layer of security for those who run bed and breakfasts.

Li Younan demonstrated the process to Ren Xiaohuan using his own ID card, and Ren Xiaohuan roughly understood. Then Li Younan processed the check-out, and the whole process became clear.

Li Younan put away the ID card and said with a smile, "This is the whole check-in and check-out process. Generally speaking, once guests check in, you don't need to worry too much. If they have any reasonable needs, just help them handle them."

Ren Xiaohuan nodded.

Li Younan continued, "I'll give you a 20% commission on the room rate. The room rate is variable, as for how it will vary..."

Li Younan found a similar guesthouse online. "Let's use this guesthouse as a reference and set our price at 80% of its price. For example, if this guesthouse charges 230 yuan per room per day, then we'll set it at around 200 yuan. You can decide the exact price yourself."

Ren Xiaohuan nodded again.

After hesitating for a moment, Ren Xiaohuan said softly, "I have a question."

Li Younan nodded: "Mm."

Ren Xiaohuan said with some hesitation, "Isn't 20% too high?"

Li Younan found it amusing that everyone he encountered seemed to be negotiating with him in the opposite direction. First it was JK Long, and now it's Ren Xiaohuan.

Li Younan said, "If you think it's too expensive, then improve the quality of your service to justify the price."

Ren Xiaohuan seemed to be thinking about something, and softly said "Oh".

Grandma brought over some fruit and smiled as she offered it to Li Younan and Ren Xiaohuan.

Lu Xiaolan didn't come today; she's going to buy some things for the start of the school year.

Lu Xiaolan applied to Chongqing University, and with the start of the semester fast approaching, she became increasingly excited.

Li Younan planned to drive her there himself later, as he also wanted to visit Chongqing.

Chongqing is the destination for the next leg of my journey.

Grandpa and Grandma were genuinely happy about the house being converted into a bed and breakfast.

In their view, it was like getting a huge bargain.

In their minds, they can earn several hundred yuan a day without doing anything, which adds up to tens of thousands of yuan a month, like picking up money from the ground.

Moreover, the originally quiet houses and courtyards will become lively.

Grandpa was already imagining his future life: holding a pipe, smoking, chatting leisurely with tourists, and occasionally letting them try some rural dishes. Such a life would be wonderful.

Regarding traffic sources, Li Younan only opened a reservation service on one ordering platform and directly posted the link on his own shop window.

The promotional video was simply a video of their own old house renovation.

Around 10 o'clock, the first group of guests arrived.

Ren Xiaohuan was a little nervous and stood there at a loss.

Since there are only three rooms, even if one room corresponds to one car, there can only be a maximum of three cars.

Grandpa's courtyard wasn't very big, but Li Younan had marked out three parking spaces, which was more than enough.

The car drove in and parked in the designated spot.

Ren Xiaohuan took the initiative to step forward and helped the passengers in the car check in.

Li Younan didn't interfere; he simply observed Ren Xiaohuan from the sidelines.

Actually, Li Younan had a little bit of worry before this.

After all, Ren Xiaohuan is still young, about the same age as Lu Xiaolan, so it's understandable that she's nervous.

However, as Ren Xiaohuan began checking guests in, Li Younan gradually relaxed.

Ren Xiaohuan got into the swing of things very quickly and completed the check-in procedures quite efficiently. Then she led the guests to their rooms, thus successfully completing the reception.

Old Zhou was naturally there for Li Younan.

After putting down his luggage, he came out to greet Li Younan.

Contrary to expectations, there was no exaggerated body language or emotional fluctuation from fans upon seeing the streamer. Lao Zhou said rather casually, "I didn't expect you to be even younger than I imagined!"

He turned to his brother-in-law and said, "How is it? Better than you expected, right?"

The brother-in-law's eyes darted around the yard. Hearing this, he didn't say anything, but nodded.

Li Younan extended his hand and smiled, "Welcome, our first group of guests. Would you mind if I filmed a video?"

Old Zhou chuckled and said, "I don't mind at all. It's great to be on a big streamer's video, hahaha."

Afterwards, Li Younan led his first group of guests on a tour.

Old Zhou's two children are still in elementary school, while his brother-in-law's family of four has an eldest child who is already in junior high school.

Li Younan led them to his meticulously crafted riverside courtyard.

Entering through the back door, the first thing you see is a small waterfall about one meter high.

The water was drawn from the village's irrigation canal; it was very clear and flowing, instantly making the whole courtyard much cooler.

It has everything: fruit trees, gardens, stone paths, pergolas, and barbecue grills.

Seeing this, the brother-in-law blinked.

At this moment, Old Zhou chuckled again and said to him, "How was it? Not bad, right?"

The brother-in-law remained silent and simply nodded.

This was Li Younan's first time running a bed and breakfast. These three rooms gave him a lot of experience; it wasn't actually a particularly difficult thing.

Li Younan couldn't help but fantasize that perhaps at some point in the future, he would suddenly have the urge to open his own small guesthouse in another place.

……

As one of the first guests, Li Younan still had some concerns, worrying that they might find the guesthouse boring or uninteresting.

Therefore, he was present throughout the entire process.

On the one hand, he serves the guests here, and on the other hand, it's quite interesting to experience it from the guests' perspective.

The stone table made of huge stone slabs amazed Old Zhou and his family. The stone table was under the fruit trees, which was very cool.

Li Younan also drew chess and Go grids on the stone table.

Old Zhou and his brother-in-law played chess for a while, while their wives chatted under the shade of a pavilion.

The oldest junior high student was huddled in a corner playing video games, while two other children ran around in the small yard. After a while, they ran outside to check on the chickens in the coop.

Li Younan watched the two of them play chess from the side.

In fact, in places far from the hustle and bustle of the city, this kind of more primitive form of entertainment is more interesting.

After having barbecue for lunch, Lao Zhou and his brother-in-law went fishing by the river in the afternoon.

Li Younan also took a couple of swings.

The river water looked greenish and not particularly clear. In Old Zhou's words, "Water that is too clear has no fish," and this kind of river is the only one with fish.

However, it was clear that Lao Zhou was also a fishing novice. He spouted theories one after another, and after the three of them spent the whole afternoon fishing, only Li Younan, a complete novice who was fishing for the first time, managed to catch a small fish about the length of a finger.

When they took the bait, the three of them burst into laughter.

Later that night, Li Younan carved a small trinket for each of the two children out of wood.

While the carving was being done, Lao Zhou and his brother-in-law took photos with their mobile phones.

Old Zhou couldn't help but ask, "Young man, how did you do that?"

"what?"

"You know so many things? Plumbing, carpentry, and even this kind of carving. Oh, and you can do parkour too!"

Li Younan blinked and chuckled, "I'm just learning casually."

Old Zhou sighed, "You really have to keep learning as long as you live."

At this moment, Lao Zhou's brother-in-law looked at his son who was playing games, then at Li Younan, and sighed deeply, feeling increasingly uneasy.

He walked over, and his son was still shouting, "Use your skill, use your skill, you idiot!"

The next moment, the phone disappeared in a flash.

"Huh?" The middle school student looked completely bewildered.

It was pretty good. Overall, although there weren't any exciting moments, even from Li Younan's perspective, it wasn't a boring day.

The only area that could be improved is the food for the guests.

It wasn't practical to have the grandparents prepare the meals. Although they could do it, Li Younan didn't want to tire them out too much.

He thought he might be able to discuss it with the other households in the village. This wasn't a mountain village, and it was only about a kilometer from the town. There were also farmhouses and small restaurants in the village. He could ask Ren Xiaohuan to help with that later...

After the first group of guests left, Li Younan didn't rush to pick up the second group. Instead, he asked Ren Xiaohuan how she felt and how her experience was today.

Li Younan hadn't expected Ren Xiaohuan to give any outstanding answers; he simply wanted to ask how well Ren Xiaohuan was adapting to the job.

Unexpectedly, Ren Xiaohuan began to explain clearly and logically, mentioning things like they could prepare some small meals for an extra charge; that the check-in and check-out times seemed to be adjusted so that they could only accommodate a group of guests every two days; and that they needed to pay attention to the safety of the children when they arrived, etc.

Li Younan was stunned for a moment.

Ren Xiaohuan lowered her head somewhat embarrassed: "Did I say something wrong?"

Li Younan smiled and said, "No, I think you're right. You've thought of everything."

After a pause, Li Younan said seriously, "This little guesthouse... is now in your hands!"

(End of this chapter)