Leisurely Traveler with Check-in System

Chapter 111: Chapter 89: New Developments at the Old House

This unit has another advantage: an internal retirement policy allows one to retire early.

Li Younan took his mom to her workplace, then drove alone to visit his grandfather in the countryside.

Leaving the county town, he needed to drive for over an hour towards Western Sichuan to reach Baishui Town, where his grandparents lived.

Although Li Younan was from Baishui Town, he actually spent little time there during his childhood, visiting his grandparents during summer and winter holidays, which was as exciting as the New Year for them.

His father was among the few young people who left the town early on to carve out a career in the county, successfully pairing up with a bank-employed beauty.

The son, as he grew up, excelled in personality, academics, and athletics, standing out among his peers... If it weren’t for the unforeseen events that followed, his father would undoubtedly be a model of breaking the chains of fate through sheer effort, a veritable winner in life.

For ordinary people, achieving something grand is tough, reaching even this level is quite remarkable.

Thinking of this, Li Younan still felt a tinge of sadness.

The car entered Baishui Town, where the paths are significantly narrower, some even unpaved dirt roads.

But for Li Younan and his little SUV, this posed no problem.

Along the way, village passersby often stared dumbfounded at his car, watching as it drove past.

Grandfather and grandmother’s house was in a relatively remote part of the town.

It’s called remote because of its distance from provincial and national roads, requiring one to traverse nearly the entire town to reach it.

Their home sat alone by the Baishui River.

However, truth be told, despite the inconvenient location, the property was quite substantial in size.

A long slope extended from the backyard gate to the Baishui River, the whole area belonging to grandfather. But the slope was covered in large stones, unfit for growing crops, and only some resilient weeds managed to survive there.

Only some scattered vacant plots were planted with vegetables.

The courtyard was much better, with chickens and ducks raised by grandparents, and a few small vegetable gardens dotted around without being cramped.

Li Younan honked twice at the outer iron gate, but there was no response.

He quickly jumped out of the car, and grandmother came over to open the gate.

Grandmother curiously looked around, surprised to see Li Younan, then her face lit up with a joyful smile.

”Nannan, what brings you back?” Grandmother stared blankly at the car, ”Ah, this car...”

Li Younan chuckled, turning to grab the nutritional supplements he specially bought for his grandparents from the car: ”I bought it myself, Grandma! I’ll take you outside for fun with this car!”

Grandfather and grandmother were typical rural seniors, nearly 70 yet robust and agile in their tasks.

Grandfather was currently in the vegetable garden, hoeing, while Li Younan glanced over at the courtyard where a big yellow dog and a large white cat lounged in the cool shade, napping.

They were naturally overjoyed by Li Younan’s visit, putting aside their work to prepare food for him.

With their grandson visiting, the best dishes must be served.

Grandfather took a knife into the chicken coop, turning back with a smile: ”Nannan, do you remember being chased by a big rooster when you were little? Today I’ll slaughter one for you again.”

Li Younan was speechless... there indeed was such an incident in his childhood, so terrifying that he dared not visit grandfather’s house. To vent his anger, grandfather chased the unfortunate rooster with a stick from the chicken coop to the gate, where it met a tragic end.

Hmm... using that reason to kill a chicken now...

The big yellow dog, seeing grandfather entering the coop, jumped excitedly, panting with its tongue out, its gaze seemingly laughing.

...

Li Younan drove the car inside, casually found a spot to park, and went to help grandmother make lunch.

The water bucket was empty, so Li Younan took two buckets to fill at the tap several hundred meters away.

On the way, he saw municipal workers diligently burying water pipes arranged by the town government.

He glanced at them, staying silent.

With both buckets filled, the water was somewhat heavy, so he leisurely strolled back.

Upon reaching the gate, he thoroughly examined his grandparents’ old house.

The nearest neighbor was dozens of meters away, the path compacted by grandfather in his youth, leaving the house to stand alone in solitude.

A water channel flowed by the entrance like a boundary for the yard.

Yet Li Younan felt that was quite nice, the ideas swirling in his head made him lightly chuckle...

Hmm, this could turn out quite well.

At noon, Li Younan called his mom, saying he wouldn’t return temporarily.

Grandfather and grandmother placed the dining table under the courtyard’s cool trellis, the fragrant aroma of potatoes and chicken wafting through, and the free-range chicken’s meat was firm.

Li Younan tossed the unfinished bones to the ground, where the big yellow dog eagerly picked them up and chewed them excitedly nearby. The big white cat had climbed onto the grape arbor unnoticed, lazily observing the people below, asleep.

A profound sense of happiness arose spontaneously.

But it wasn’t enough...

With his bowl of rice in hand, Li Younan’s gaze wandered around the old house, his mind constantly brewing plans.