I Alone Am Immortal: My Rebirth and Leisurely Cultivation

Chapter 204 Who's Your Grandfather?

A day passed in the blink of an eye. After lunch the next day, Li Yan called a ride-hailing service to go to his hometown, Dongshui.

How many days are you going?

After they had eaten and drunk their fill, the group sat in the doorway basking in the sun. Jiang Yingzhu looked at Li Yan.

As soon as he asked this question, Mei Mengqian and Hua Junshu also looked at him.

"You'll be back the day after tomorrow. What's wrong? You're so reluctant to see me go?"

"You're overthinking it. I just wanted to teach Laba a lesson for waking me up every day, and punish it by not letting it eat cat treats!"

Jiang Yingzhu gave a soft hum and turned her head towards Mei Mengqian and Hua Junshu.

"Right, Mengmeng, senior?"

Mei Mengqian nodded, and then said, "But Zhuzhu, there are no cat stickers for Laba Festival."

Since cat treats aren't very healthy, they all use the main dish sauce packet.

"Oh well, whatever, it's just a punishment anyway."

Li Yan let out a long "oh" and received a big foot. Although it was wearing socks, it was still soft to the touch.

Jiang Yingzhu pulled her foot back and glared at him fiercely.

Li Yan shrugged, and when the ride-hailing car arrived at the intersection, he greeted the three people and then got up to leave.

The car was a Volkswagen, which was not surprising.

Li Yan approached, gave his phone number, and then sat in the back seat.

I glanced at the driver's seat; it was a man with a buzz cut, probably in his thirties.

The driver started to turn around and struck up a conversation with Li Yan.

"Young man, you're so young, are you still a student? Going to Dongshui for tourism?"

"Uncle, who's going to Dongshui for tourism? I'm going back to my hometown."

"Oh, going back to your hometown? That's good. It's time to go back and visit during the holidays."

The driver agreed and sighed, "Unlike me, I haven't been back for decades. If I didn't mention the word 'hometown,' I would have almost forgotten that I'm not from Huangcheng."

"Life after entering the workforce is exhausting; there's rent, raising children, and four elderly parents to care for."

He began to pour out his grievances, talking on and on. Li Yan listened half-heartedly, observing his expression. He seemed like a good listener, but in reality, he was taking notes on the person.

After exiting Zhongyaowan Road and entering the main road, the driver finally finished speaking and gave a summary.

"So, you students have it so easy. You get holidays, and someone takes care of you. You don't have to worry about anything. It's a pity that I believed the rumors on the internet back then and thought that studying was useless, so I dropped out of school."

"Young man, listen to my advice: study hard, or you'll end up driving for ride-hailing services."

Upon hearing this, Li Yan was speechless. Isn't it only 17? Are ride-hailing drivers already so ahead of their time?

However, this fatherly attitude was a bit too strong, so Li Yan decided to retaliate a little.

After all, I'm just a passenger, not someone who's there to collect garbage, so I shouldn't listen to him vent his emotions.

"Uncle, no way. My family owns a car and a house, and we earn hundreds of thousands a year. Why would I drive for a ride-hailing service?"

Li Yan casually mentioned a number; he himself was unsure of the extent to which Old Li had taken the milk tea business.

The driver was silent for a few seconds before speaking dryly:

"That's your parents' money. Young man, you still need to work hard yourself."

“I make money myself too. Uncle, do you play Douyin? I have almost a million fans. My name is Sijiu. I sing and I also do carving.”

Li Yan rarely showed off, and he wasn't worried about what the driver might do.

Upon hearing this, the driver fell silent again, seemingly tempted to hit the vehicle.

But seeing a line of buses coming from the opposite direction, he lost that idea.

After Li Yan's few words, the rest of the road became quiet.

Nothing happened that would be shown on CCTV.

Upon arriving at Dongshui, Li Yan got off the bus.

Before he could even turn around, a roar of an engine filled the air, and the Volkswagen van disappeared at top speed. The roads on the outskirts of the county town were dilapidated and old, lacking vegetation, and filled with dust.

Only the main roads in the city center are better.

Fortunately, the drop-off point that Li Yan located was not far from his grandfather's house, only a kilometer or two away.

He wasn't in a hurry and just kept walking towards his destination.

On the road, I encountered some people driving electric bikes, three-wheeled vehicles, and even passenger buses modified from three-wheeled vehicles, which were called 'mopeds'.

Sitting on it really did make me feel numb.

Buses in the county town are hard to catch, so these mobile phones that travel through the streets and alleys are the best means of transportation.

As for shared bikes, they'll just be thrown into the river.

The last time Li Yan came back was when he was in the first year of junior high school.

Three years have passed, and he still lacks the air of someone from a small county town, let alone having cultivated immortality.

Even if she tries to hide it, she still exudes a refined and otherworldly charm.

Many people assumed he was from out of town and that he just wanted to get on the bus.

Li Yan then communicated with them in fluent Dongshui dialect, which was difficult for outsiders to understand.

Instantly, the aura of a naive, rich, and unsavory outsider that his face and demeanor seemed to possess vanished under the bombardment of his rustic Dongshui dialect.

"Kid, you're back from outside? Where are you going? Grandpa's giving you a ride. Five yuan, that's the starting price," said an old man driving a three-wheeled motorcycle next to Li Yan.
"Grandpa, I'm a student, can I get it for free? We're from the same hometown."

"Who's your boss?!"

The old man rolled his eyes, and the three-wheeled vehicle wobbled away.

Li Yan continued walking, turned a corner, and entered a cement path leading to the countryside. The number of enthusiastic citizens along the way immediately decreased.

However, people who were playing cards, chatting, or playing games in front of their houses and rice paddies on both sides of the road paid him much more attention.

A short while later, I arrived at the yard in front of my house and immediately saw that my grandfather's gate was open. It was pitch black inside, and I could only hear the sound of the television.

I don't know if he went to visit someone else or if he was just taking a nap at home.

Li Yan went inside and called out "Grandpa," but no one answered. Instead, his grandmother came out from the kitchen on the right side of the main room.

"Yanwazi?!"

"grandmother."

Li Yan called out, his gaze shifting to an elderly man with gray hair standing at the kitchen door.

Like most elderly people, the old man had a slightly hunched back, his hair was tied back with a headband, his face was sallow, and there were deep wrinkles at the corners of his eyes.

These wrinkles stretch and twist as the face blossoms with a smile, becoming even deeper.

Grandma walked up to Li Yan in a few steps and grabbed his wrist with one hand.

"You're back. Are your parents back yet? Have they eaten?"

"My parents came back on the 27th because my cousin is getting married and hosting guests, so I came back first. I have to leave again tomorrow."

Looking at the smile on his grandmother's face, Li Yan found it hard to say the last sentence, but if he really had to stay here for more than half a month, he wouldn't be able to stay.

He pursed his lips and continued:
"We'll all be back by the time of the Little New Year."

"Okay, okay." Zhang Xiuying nodded, her smile unchanged. "What do you want to eat tonight? I'll go buy something nice. There's some milk in the TV cabinet, you can take it and drink it."

She greeted him warmly, and Li Yan let her do as she pleased.

Not long after, Grandpa returned and repeated what had just happened.

Li Yan managed to manage a large meal of meat and vegetables that evening, along with the news broadcast and his grandfather's endless questions.

He then returned to his room and breathed a long sigh of relief.

After thinking for a moment, Li Yan went out again and pretended to stroll around the house, drawing a few fortune-gathering talismans.

Then, he took out two specially brought Peiyuan Pills and, while his grandmother was clearing the dishes, dropped them into their teacups.

(End of this chapter)