Chapter 230 Don't Play with Fire
In Lu Yanhe's memory, he seemed to have never participated in such a large-scale traditional event.
Whether before or after time travel, he was a typical "modern urbanite".
His upbringing was almost entirely devoid of tradition. Apart from traditional festivals like the Spring Festival, Lu Yanhe never participated in any regional traditional activities such as "stepping on lanterns."
Therefore, Lu Yanhe felt very fresh about this event in Jiangzhi, and even a sense of bewilderment, frequently glimpsing a kind of déjà vu between ancient and modern times.
Jiangzhi is an ancient city with a relatively underdeveloped modernization process. Many buildings still retain the charm of ancient times, including wooden houses, buildings from the Republic of China era, and old-fashioned buildings from the 1960s and 70s. Of course, there are also renovated houses. They are scattered in every corner of the city, coming from different periods, yet all shrouded in the same atmosphere.
Especially at night, when the light is not so bright, the huge buildings become shadowy, and many young men and women dressed in ancient style carry lanterns and wander through the city, giving people this feeling even more.
Lu Yanhe walked onto the Mother and Child Bridge, stood at the bridgehead, and saw people carrying lanterns on both sides of the river.
"So beautiful." Xin Zixing stood beside him and uttered a deep sigh from Lu Yanhe's heart.
Lu Yanhe said, "I can't even imagine how beautiful such a scene would have been in ancient times."
A small bridge spans a flowing stream, and the moon hangs high above the branches.
Xin Zixing: "It's still beautiful now. This is a view that you can't see anywhere else."
Lu Yanhe composed himself and tried not to dwell too much on the impact of the night.
"Brother He, sister-in-law, have you ever participated in such an event?" Lu Yanhe turned to look at the two of them.
Liu Yiyi smiled, nodded, and said, "He proposed to me on this very day."
"Huh?" Lu Yanhe and Xin Zixing immediately looked at Liu Yiyi with surprise, "When was that?"
He Yunlan held Liu Yiyi's hand and said, "The year we graduated."
A hint of envy appeared on Xin Zixing's face.
At this moment, an indescribable look of longing appeared in the eyes of both Lu Yanhe and Xin Zixing.
"Hey, isn't that the young lady we met at the teahouse this afternoon?" Xiao Mei suddenly pointed to a woman dressed up at the bridgehead. She hadn't chosen ancient costume, but was still wearing a wine-red long dress, her hair loosely tied up, giving her a unique charm.
Most importantly, the woman who said she wasn't interested in participating in the lantern-stepping activity at the teahouse that afternoon is now carrying a lantern in her hand.
"..."
Lu Yanhe and Xin Zixing couldn't help but exchange a smile.
-
The filming continued until 10:30 p.m.
Xin Zixing said, "There are fewer people on the street now, and we've almost finished filming our footage. How about we go grab something to eat together?"
He Yunlan said, "Perfect timing, I'll take you to eat. What would you like to eat?"
Lu Yanhe said, "Brother He, you have to go to work early tomorrow morning, right? We've already troubled you and your wife to keep us company all night, so you don't need to stay with us anymore. We can find a place ourselves."
He Yunlan glanced at Liu Yiyi, and seeing that she had no objection, he smiled and said, "We've been walking all night, and we're hungry too. It'll be more comfortable to go back and sleep after we've eaten. It's okay, we usually go to bed around midnight, not that early."
Lu Yanhe then nodded.
We all went to a barbecue restaurant together.
With Yunlan leading the way, they arrived at a barbecue restaurant tucked away in a small corner of a residential area. It looked lively, but after passing a locust tree and going through a small alley, the crowd thinned out.
However, this barbecue restaurant is doing quite well, with the small tables outside full of people.
Seeing it from afar, Xin Zixing couldn't help but ask in confusion, "Are there any seats left here?"
"Don't worry, Yunlan has already called the boss in advance and reserved a private room for us," Liu Yiyi said with a smile.
Liu Yiyi is so gentle.
Lu Yanhe couldn't help but glance at Liu Yiyi a few more times.
After eating and drinking his fill, Lu Yanhe listened to the noisy commotion outside, propping his chin up with one hand, and stared blankly into space.
Xin Zixing, on the other hand, was chatting happily with He Yunlan and Liu Yiyi.
He Yunlan noticed that Lu Yanhe was lost in thought, so he leaned close to his ear and whispered, "Are you sleepy?"
Lu Yanhe snapped out of his daze, shook his head, and said with a smile, "No, I'm not sleepy, I'm just too full, and I've been walking all day, so I don't really want to talk."
"Isn't it very busy for you to study and work as an artist at the same time?" He Yunlan asked.
Lu Yanhe pondered for a moment, shook his head, and said, "Actually, it's not too bad. When I was in my senior year of high school, I didn't do much work as an artist. I only started taking on more work after I finished the exams. And I really like all of these jobs. They are things I enjoy doing. Including filming this city documentary, I've only been in Jiangzhi for one day, but the atmosphere here is amazing. It's a city atmosphere I've never experienced before."
He Yunlan asked with a smile, "Small town atmosphere? Yuming is indeed different from here. After all, Yuming is an international metropolis."
“It’s not just that difference. As soon as I got here, I felt like I breathed a sigh of relief. Putting aside everything else, the air is much better than in Yuming.” Lu Yanhe smiled and scratched his head. “Moreover, I especially like the feeling of being lively and bustling wherever I go. It’s not the kind of liveliness where there are a lot of people, but rather a feeling that there are very few people alone on the road. Everyone is in groups of three or five, chatting and laughing. There are no barriers between people, and I rarely see anyone with a blank expression on their face.”
In Yuming, if you walk along the streets, you'll find that most people are alone, hurrying along, their faces expressionless. The more people there are, the more of this you'll see. It looks lively, but it's really just the liveliness of a large crowd.
He Yunlan said, "I've always felt that Jiangzhi is a great place for everyone to take a short vacation. You can stay here for three to five days. The climate is nice, and there are plenty of things to eat, drink, and do. But the transportation is just too inconvenient."
At this point, He Yunlan showed a hint of regret, "If the location here were better, people might be more willing to come."
Lu Yanhe was at a loss for words when he heard He Yunlan's words.
That's absolutely true.
A trip to Jiangzhi takes too much time.
The road transportation is very inconvenient.
However, if transportation were truly that convenient, with a surge in tourists, Jiangzhi might not be able to maintain its current urban atmosphere.
Lu Yanhe thought for a moment and said, "I hope this episode will allow more people to get to know Jiang Zhi."
He Yunlan nodded, “We don’t have any big companies or industries here, and the economy isn’t very developed. In recent years, the city has been hoping to create a cultural tourism brand for Jiangzhi and develop the tourism industry. I also think this place is very suitable for doing this, so I’ve been trying to let more people know about Jiangzhi. However, it doesn’t seem to be so easy to get people to come to a remote city for tourism now. We’ve put in a lot of effort, but we still can’t attract anyone.”
The main reason is that too many cities are now developing their tourism industries.
Tourism is a huge boost to the local economy; as long as people come, everything else can be stimulated.
Until the transportation situation in Jiangzhi is effectively resolved, it will be difficult to attract a large number of tourists.
Here, the average monthly income is probably just over 1,500 yuan, and civil servants like He Yunlan earn less than 100,000 yuan a year.
Of course, this income is enough for them to live on locally.
But if a city doesn't develop, it will only decline. Although Jiangzhi isn't He Yunlan's hometown, it has become his second hometown because of his status as his son-in-law. Of course, he hopes to see the city develop and for everyone's lives to improve.
Lu Yanhe sincerely hopes that this video will spark everyone's interest in Jiangzhi and encourage them to visit the area.
-
On the way back to the inn, Lu Yanhe said to Xin Zixing, "Sister Zixing, if possible, how about we release this video on Wednesday or Thursday?"
Xin Zixing was a little surprised and asked, "What's wrong? Is there some kind of custom?"
“I was thinking, would this allow people who have seen the videos and become interested in Jiangzhi to come and visit on the weekend?” Lu Yanhe said. “It’s not realistic for people who live so far away, but it should be okay for people from places like Jiangguang to come over in just a few hours, right? Maybe tomorrow we can go to the places we didn’t visit today? That way, we can showcase more of Jiangzhi’s charm in the program.”
Xin Zixing instantly understood Lu Yanhe's intention.
"You and Director He talked a lot just now, it wasn't about this, was it?"
“No, this is something I just thought of. I just… well, I really like it here,” Lu Yanhe said. “I really hope that our trip here to film this program can have a positive impact on this place.”
Xin Zixing patted Lu Yanhe on the shoulder and said, "Yanhe, I understand your thoughts. However, I'm a few years older than you and have been through the same stage as you. I want to tell you that many times we hope to achieve a certain goal, but it's actually very difficult. Just like when we came to Jiangzhi to make this episode, I was like you, hoping to attract more people to come to Jiangzhi to play and stroll around. But the core idea of our filming this episode is to introduce different cities to the audience and show the charm of different cities. As for what effect this episode will have in the end, and how many tourists it will attract, that's not something we can control or predict. All we can do is do our job well, and we can only wait and see what the final result will be."
Lu Yanhe nodded.
“Just like you told me this afternoon, mission-oriented filming will affect the quality of the program. If we film this program with a utilitarian purpose, it will also affect the quality of the program,” Xin Zixing said. “It’s okay to have high hopes, but our main job is to make the program good. The premise of making the program good is, as you said, that we ourselves are in good condition and have a lot of fun. Only then will everyone genuinely feel that this is a place worth coming to. There should be no acting or pretense. We should just convey our most authentic feelings to everyone.”
Lu Yanhe was enlightened.
-
Lu Yanhe was exhausted when he arrived at the inn.
He said, "Then I'll go back to my room to rest."
Xin Zixing nodded and said, "Let us pick some wheat for you first."
It's not actually that late, but Lu Yanhe has been walking around all day, probably taking over 30,000 steps. He's really tired and just wants to lie in bed.
However, just as Xiao Mei was helping him pick wheat, the sound of a suitcase wheel rolling on the road suddenly came from afar.
Hearing the sound, everyone turned to look curiously. Lu Yanhe also turned his head and saw a girl wearing a white shirt and a dark blue long skirt, who looked as if she had just stepped out of an anime, appear in front of them.
The girl had long, seaweed-like hair, and her fair skin still shone with a pearly luster under the streetlights.
Her gaze fell on Lu Yanhe, and immediately lit up with joy.
"Lu Yanhe!"
"Lin... Miaomiao?" Lu Yanhe looked at the girl who appeared in front of him in surprise, and was so surprised that he didn't know what to say.
At the same time, everyone else in the film crew turned their attention to Lu Yanhe.
The expressions on their faces all conveyed the same ambiguous feeling.
Lin Miaomiao pulled her suitcase to Lu Yanhe, carrying a lantern in her hand.
She picked it up and showed it to Lu Yanhe, saying, "On my way here, someone gave me a lantern."
Lu Yanhe: "Do you know what it means when someone brings you a lantern tonight?"
"I know, he likes me, that's why he stepped on the lantern." Lin Miaomiao nodded immediately. "I told him that I really like the lantern, I accepted it, but I don't accept confessions from strangers, and then he left."
Lu Yanhe stared at Lin Miaomiao in shock.
Is this even possible?
Lin Miaomiao pointed to the inn behind them and asked, "You're staying here, right?"
Lu Yanhe nodded.
"Looks like I didn't book the wrong place." Lin Miaomiao smiled with relief.
Lu Yanhe turned around and glanced at Xin Zixing and the others.
Xin Zixing immediately said, "Then you guys chat first, we'll go in first."
Lu Yanhe asked, "So, do we still need to prepare samples tonight?"
“I’m not picking anymore, what’s the point of picking?” Xin Zixing said directly, “You guys chat.”
Lin Miaomiao curled up the corners of her mouth and said, "Then please bring my suitcase in. I'll check in first."
After saying that, Lin Miaomiao followed Xin Zixing and the others into the inn.
Chen Liang, who was usually quiet, glanced at Lu Yanhe, who was standing still, and asked, "Do you need any help?"
Lu Yanhe said awkwardly, "No need."
He felt he hadn't misread it; he did indeed see a hint of mockery in Chen Liang's eyes.
-
Why did Lin Miaomiao suddenly come to Jiangzhi?
Once this question popped into Lu Yanhe's mind, he never went back to it.
After Lin Miaomiao finished checking in, Lu Yanhe helped her carry her suitcase up to the second floor before asking, "Weren't you going to Baichuan to see your friends?"
"I've finished seeing you, so I came here to visit you," Lin Miaomiao said.
Lu Yanhe said, "I'm here for work. I have another day of filming tomorrow, and I'll go back tonight."
Lin Miaomiao nodded and said, "Then I'll go back with you. Are you unhappy to see me here?"
"I'm not unhappy, just a little confused."
“Then you don’t need to have any doubts now,” Lin Miaomiao asked. “Is there anything to eat around here? I’d like to get something to eat; I’m hungry.”
Lu Yanhe said, "There seems to be a restaurant on our way back."
"Let's go eat together," Lin Miaomiao said. "It's on me."
Lu Yanhe said, "I can go with you, but I won't eat. I already ate with them."
"You've already eaten?" Lin Miaomiao sighed upon hearing this. "Then forget it, I won't eat either."
"Huh?" Lu Yanhe looked at Lin Miaomiao, puzzled. "Didn't you just say you were hungry?"
"You're not eating, you're just watching me eat. It's so boring for me to eat alone," Lin Miaomiao said. "Fine, let's go to sleep first. It's late anyway. I'll get up early for breakfast tomorrow. What time do you usually get up?"
"Me? I get up at six o'clock to go for a morning run."
"Six o'clock?" Lin Miaomiao looked at him in shock. "Why are you up so early?"
"Morning run."
Lin Miaomiao took a deep breath. "Okay, I understand."
She waved her hand, carried her suitcase into her room, and closed the door.
Lu Yanhe returned to his room.
A little while later, Xin Zixing sent a message: Young man, I'm reminding you, don't play with fire.
(End of this chapter)
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