Chapter 410: Chapter 195: A Boat on Green Waves, a Person Drifting in a Painting, This Is Life.
"Thanks, I like it a lot too."
But after sizing up the interior, Lin Wanzhou chimed in from a professional standpoint. "Aside from its looks, this car has some issues when it comes to value for money."
"It has too many plastic parts in the interior, which will easily lead to rattling."
"Second, it’s relatively small, so the rear passengers have limited leg and headroom—not as much as a Magotan or other cars in its class."
"Finally, the suspension is on the stiffer side, so the ride gets pretty bumpy on rough roads."
"..." Xu Yun.
"..." Wang Yang.
The friendly exchange of compliments came to an abrupt end, and an awkward silence fell over the group, all thanks to him.
About fifteen minutes later, the group arrived at their first tourist attraction in Yangshuo, Guilin: the Yu Long River.
After they got out of the car, they saw the place was packed with people. It looked like the wait to get in would be a long one.
Wang Yang told them to wait a moment and went to talk to a staff member.
Xu Yun looked at Lin Wanzhou and asked with a smile, "You still don’t have a girlfriend, do you?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Nothing. It’s perfectly normal for you to be single." Xu Yun sighed. Then he saw Wang Yang waving them over and started walking.
Lin Wanzhou, not quite sure what Xu Yun meant, followed along.
’Sure enough, paying for a guide with connections makes all the difference.’
Xu Yun glanced at the jam-packed public entrance beside them. They simply followed Wang Yang, who was wearing a staff pass, and strolled right through the employee-only channel.
The main attraction here was riding on hand-poled bamboo rafts.
On Wang Yang’s suggestion, they chose the section from Jinlong Bridge to Jiuxian County. It was the longest route and passed over a total of nine weirs.
The rafts were for two people, so their group of three was one person short. They had to find a temporary partner, and ended up finding a woman to join them.
For free, of course. She didn’t have to pay a dime.
And why a woman instead of a man, you ask?
Duh. If I have the option of choosing a pretty girl, why would I pick a guy?
And so, with Xu Yun and his temporary raft-mate in one group and Lin Wanzhou and Wang Yang in the other, they all put on their life vests. With a push from the boatman’s pole, they began to drift downstream.
Summers in Guilin are refreshingly cool. A gentle breeze blew across the river as Xu Yun sat on the bamboo raft, soaking in the unhurried pace of life amidst the mountains and water.
’A boat on jade-green waters, people drifting through a painted landscape... Now this is the life.’
He had wanted to come here for a long time, but between work and the endless grind to make money, he’d never had the chance.
There were no days off during the week, and on public holidays, the place was so packed it ruined the entire experience.
Not to mention, the prices for everything skyrocketed.
Back then, he couldn’t afford to be so extravagant. Saving for a house and for marriage meant he had to stretch every single dollar for all it was worth.
’So for a wage slave like me, just getting away for one decent vacation in a lifetime is damn near impossible!’
The scene was so picturesque he suddenly felt the urge to recite a poem. But just as the words formed on his lips, his sandal slipped right off his foot, plopped into the water, and started floating away behind them.
...
He quickly called out to the boatman behind him, "My sandal fell in the water! Can you help me get it?"
The seats on the raft were arranged side-by-side. Seeing this, the woman next to him couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.
"The boatmen won’t retrieve a lost sandal for you."
The woman explained with a smile, "The last time I was here, the same thing happened to me. They wouldn’t get it."
"Who says? That’s just because you didn’t know the right way to ask."
Xu Yun turned to the boatman. "Hey, sir, how much would it cost for you to get my sandal back for me?"
"Fifty yuan," the boatman answered.
"Deal."
And so, as the woman watched in disbelief, the boatman plunged his pole into the water, anchoring the raft in place.
Then, eyeing the sandal’s position, he expertly maneuvered the raft over and fished it out of the water with his pole.
Xu Yun looked down at the retrieved sandal on his foot and grinned. "See? It’s back."
"..." The woman was speechless.
"Everyone’s just out here trying to make a living. It’s not easy,"
Xu Yun explained. "You want him to go out of his way to retrieve your sandal, but you don’t want to pay him for it. Of course he’s not going to agree."
"But spending fifty yuan to get back one sandal... it would be more cost-effective to just buy a new pair when we get to the end."
The woman laughed. "You have a point, but if it were me, I wouldn’t be willing to spend fifty yuan on one sandal. To avoid the awkwardness, I’d just throw the other one in after it."
"That way, I could be barefoot without feeling awkward."
It just goes to show how your position—or your personal circumstances—changes your perspective on things.
Xu Yun wasn’t short on cash, so he didn’t care about cost-effectiveness. As long as money could solve the problem, it was worth it.
The woman, on the other hand, was clearly looking at it from a different angle and had even come up with a clever way to defuse the awkwardness of the situation.
After hearing her out, Xu Yun laughed. "You’re an interesting person. And you’ve got a unique way of thinking."
"You too."
The woman smiled and asked, "Hey, handsome. Listening to your accent... are you from Jiangcheng?"
"Yeah."
Xu Yun nodded and asked, "You too?"
"What a coincidence! I can’t believe I ran into someone from back home."
The woman smiled. "Hello, my name is Cheng Ran."
"I’m Xu Yun."
"Are you traveling by yourself?"
"There are actually two of us."
Xu Yun grinned. "But my friend ditched me for a girl, so I had to find someone else to share a raft with."
"Oh, I’m here by myself."
Cheng Ran smiled. "Well, thank you for treating me today. I got a free bamboo raft ride out of it."
"It was fate."
Xu Yun said, "No, I should be thanking a beautiful woman like you for being willing to drift along with me."
"Haha, you’re quite the smooth-talker."
Cheng Ran couldn’t help but laugh as she asked, "Do you travel often?"
"Nope. This is my first time."
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