City Nan was not that far from the oceanside. Shu Yan opted out going to the popular sites but, instead, picked a small fishing village. This was the hometown of an old colleague of hers from the past. The scenery was beautiful and the people simple and nice.
Tourism was not big back then and even if there were some, they were limited only to a few relatively well-known locations. Almost nobody would ever visit a small fishing town like this. When Shu Yan and the others arrived, many of the children looked at them curiously.
Feng Zeyu holding Tianbao in his harm and Shu Yan holding JingJing’s hand, they found their way to the home of the village head.
“You said you are vacationing here?” That was a first. Who would opt for a little fishing village instead of big cities like capital city or City Nan?
“We are from the inland and my children had never seen the ocean before so I thought I’d take them here. I knew someone in the past who was from this area. She told me that the scenery is nice and the locals are very friendly. So I thought I would take my children here while school is out.” The condition might not be as good as 30 years from now, but this was truly the authentic scene.
“Oh, alright. Will you be staying over at your friend’s or?” Having tourists there meant their water and people were nice and it would make them sound good. They had no reason to decline them.
“I hadn’t been in touch with my friend for a while and she lived quite far from here. As such, we will like to see if we might be able to rent a room from anyone here for 10 yuan a night. We will pay extra for meals.” Shu Yan had no friends around. She just made that up.
The village head’s wife kicked him under the table. 10 yuan a night, not including meals. That would be at least 20 yuan a day.
The village head drew in a puff of cigarette, ignored his wife and said, “Most of the houses here are adobes and I doubt you will want to stay in them. Zhang Qiang, who lives at the other end of the village just rebuilt his house last year and both his son and daughter-in-law work out of town. I am sure he has a room available. I will go ask him for you in a il while.”
“Thank you so much.” Shu Yan noticed what happened under the table but she pretended that she didn’t.
They planned to be there for 3-5 days. It would not be a big deal to stay in an adobe but, of course, a new house is better.
They took a 2~3-minute walk toward the inner part of the village and saw a two-story house that was divided into three portions. Zhang Qiang and his wife welcomed them inside affectionately.
In the middle of the house was the staircase with the bathroom underneath it. The inner portion of the left side was a bedroom, that’s the one that Zhang Qiang and his wife stayed in. The outer portion held the crops and hoes, etc. The right inner portion was the kitchen and the outer portion the dining area. There was no such thing as living room in villages back then, just a few chairs in front of the stairs for guests to sit at when someone came to visit. That was close to a living room as it was going to get.
There were four rooms on the second floor plus a bathroom. With the exception of the one on the right, none of the other rooms were remodeled.
“This is my son’s room. I put the stuff away after they left. The sheets had been washed and I’ll put them on for you,” said Zhang Qiang’s wife enthusiastically.
Her son and daughter-in-law worked outside and they made 500 yuan a month combined. These people would pay her 10 yuan a night and extra for meals. Where else would she find a good deal like that?
Shu Yan looked over at Feng Zeyu. The village head thought they were a couple and Shu Yan felt that as they would only be there for a few days, it would bring about more gossips if she tried to elaborate. She didn’t think that there would only be one room. That was a bit awkward.
“What’s the matter? I clean this room all the time. It’s very clean?” Zhang Qiang’s wife thought Shu Yan wasn’t happy with the room.
“Oh, no, no. This room is great. We will book it for four nights for now. We will let you know if we decide to stay longer,” said Shu Yan quickly with a smile.