Leisurely Traveler with Check-in System-Chapter 145 - 96: Guesthouse Sets Sail: Riverside Courtyard [13,000 Words!]
The child asked her dad to play with her, but sometimes he just couldn’t muster the energy. He knew something was wrong, but it was just exhaustion, the kind that seeps from the bones.
It was probably some day in July, one evening Old Zhou was lying in bed scrolling through his phone until his fingers felt sore. Suddenly, he stumbled onto a video about the renovation of an old house in Anchuan.
Though Anchuan is also in Mianyang, he hadn’t really been there much.
He clicked on it and saw an old courtyard in disrepair, with crumbling walls.
The host was a young man, admittedly handsome, but dusty and dirty, busy dismantling the broken doors and windows.
He couldn’t stop swiping through.
The host kept updating regularly, and occasionally he would catch him live streaming.
Old Zhou followed it like a TV series. Every night after work, no matter how tired he was, the first thing he’d do in bed was to click and see what else he’d tinkered with that day.
Watching him shirtless, drenched in sweat, working with cement and laying bricks.
And also doing electrical work, carpentry... such a young guy, yet seemingly able to do everything, truly impressive...
What he found most satisfying was watching the renovation of the three bedrooms.
Formerly dark and cluttered rooms were refurbished with new windows, ventilation, wooden floors, white walls, and adorned with furniture and cotton and linen bedding...
Very relaxing.
The three rooms became bright and comfortable, just like a homestay from a magazine.
Especially the window by the river, open it, and you could see the lush green surface of the water...
The kind of water that immediately seems full of fish.
From July into mid-August, Old Zhou followed the video, watching bit by bit as the derelict courtyard transformed.
Honestly, watching this was more relaxing than any TV drama.
No brain work needed, just watching someone doing honest labor, turning a pile of junk into a beautiful place gave an indescribable sense of satisfaction.
Especially knowing this place was in Anchuan, not far from Mianyang, made it feel more tangible.
Sometimes, work was unbearably annoying, but thinking about watching the updates in the evening made him feel slightly relieved.
At the end of the video, the host said he was going to turn the three rooms into a homestay. Once opened, there was a promotion where a lucky draw winner could rent all three rooms for 600 yuan a night, with a homemade rural breakfast included.
Old Zhou was tempted, truly tempted.
He thought about taking his wife and child, and inviting his brother-in-law, so both families could book the whole place and stay for a night at the courtyard he watched being built.
How delightful!
The backyard was right by the river, and he loved fishing, but his rods had been collecting dust for a long time.
He hurriedly discussed it with his wife, she watched the video and liked it too. His brother-in-law also wanted to try their luck when they heard about it.
The draw took place during a live stream.
Sending comments in the chat, then the host randomly took a screenshot, whoever was caught in the shot would win.
Honestly, he didn’t have high hopes, his luck with grabbing red envelopes was pretty bad.
But he won!
Old Zhou felt his luck must have turned!
In the following days, Old Zhou’s thoughts began to drift.
Finally, the departure day arrived.
The night before, Old Zhou placed the fishing gear bag in the most visible spot by the door.
The bottled-up frustration from the cubicle seemed to dissipate a bit with these thoughts.
Tomorrow, he could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
...
Both families only took one car, it was Old Zhou’s brother-in-law driving an SUV.
There were seven people in the car, with the kids sitting in the back row, but it didn’t feel crowded. The brother-in-law said, half-jokingly while driving, "Brother-in-law, you’re getting on in years, yet you still love to mess with these sorts of things."
Old Zhou said irritably, "Just drive, where’s all this nonsense coming from? Anyway, it’s just 600 yuan for the room, and I’ll reimburse your gas..."
The brother-in-law quickly smiled, "Brother-in-law, that’s not what I meant, I’m just worried your expectations are set too high, you might regret and be disappointed later."
Old Zhou said, "I watched the video, the guy did a great job, I won’t be disappointed. Didn’t you watch that video too?"
The brother-in-law had already exited the highway and was slowly driving down the ramp.
After passing the ramp, he said slowly, "What they show you in the video is, of course, the good side, but the countryside isn’t as nice as you imagine."
"In those places, using water and electricity isn’t very convenient, and at night, the dogs bark til late, and the roosters crow early in the morning, you can hardly get any sleep. Plus, the place is quite remote, without any nearby attractions. Anyway, I think you shouldn’t expect too much, but for 600 yuan, you can relax a bit. Worst case, we can go fish for a while, just to justify the cost."
Old Zhou didn’t say a word, leaning back in his seat with his eyes closed, dozing off.
...
Installing computers was second nature to Li Younan.
He ran a simple test and found no issues, then installed some antivirus and protection software commonly used by novices.
Though for someone like Li Younan, a programmer, computers should be clean, focused on ad-free and popup-free performance. But if one couldn’t handle even 360’s ads, then it’s better to just install these protection software.
Ren Xiaohuan stood in front of Li Younan, nervously watching him operate.
Even though Ren Xiaohuan grew up in the countryside and didn’t use computers much, she surely spent plenty of time on the internet via her phone, so adapting wouldn’t be difficult.
For a homestay, the computer was mainly used for guest certification on the public security information network. Besides that, the cameras needed to be connected to the public security system for them to access anytime.
