Leisurely Traveler with Check-in System

Chapter 33: Chapter 33: There Must Be Elephants with Wings

”Listen to my advice, don’t think doing self-media is just about shooting videos and writing a little text, and you can easily lie back and make money! This industry is deep, if you’re not prepared, diving in headfirst, getting bruised and battered would be the least of it!”

The bearded uncle indeed had a lot to say on this matter, he smiled slightly and then pulled up a chair to sit next to Li Younan.

”Do you think those internet celebrity bloggers just casually post a video and get a million likes, taking on advertisements until their hands are full? Let me tell you, that’s just the surface! You haven’t seen how much effort they put in behind the scenes! Burning the midnight oil many nights to come up with a good topic; shooting a few minutes of video repeatedly dozens of times; sitting in front of the editing software all day to produce a hit content!”

Li Younan blinked his eyes, able to sense the goodwill in the uncle’s words, but also feeling somewhat helpless inside. Without a doubt, this uncle had already defined him.

A young person with unrealistic ideals in their head, detached from reality, blindly pursuing poetry and distant dreams.

You can’t blame others for looking at you with colored glasses.

Asking yourself honestly, before obtaining the system, if Li Younan encountered a young person who lost their income source, had several thousand yuan in savings, and drove a car to wander around the world, he too would find it hard not to label them as unrealistic.

The uncle got even more excited the more he spoke, and the other uncle beside him also chimed in.

”Exactly! Many people always think they’re lucky to become an overnight sensation, but the odds of that are lower than winning the lottery! Doing self-media relies on real skills! What special abilities do you have? What knowledge reserve do you possess? Can you consistently output valuable, attractive content? Today’s audience has sharp eyes, without some solid content and creativity, why would anyone pay attention to you and like you?”

”And the mindset, doing self-media isn’t a quick fix! No traffic, no followers, no income in the beginning is normal, can you endure such a setback? Many people give up after persisting for several months seeing no results, wasting all their previous efforts...”

Li Younan interjected, ”Big brother, what kind of content do you shoot for your short videos?”

As soon as this topic came up, the uncle became interested, took out his phone, flipped to his homepage and said to Li Younan, ”This is my account.”

What surprised Li Younan was that the bearded uncle, who looked very rugged, turned out to be a craftsman in the field of engineering and technology. Most of his videos are about collecting discarded electronic components from various places, then extracting the gold inside the electronic elements through chemical methods.

Li Younan himself is also a techie, knows that gold is a strategic reserve resource precisely because it has irreplaceable roles in high-precision electronic components.

Circuit boards, chips, these high-precision electronic components contain quite a bit of gold. The uncle videoed the gold refining process, there are quite a few fans of his online.

Li Younan was somewhat impressed, the uncle’s primary job is quite lucrative, and by shooting short videos, he can make a second income.

While chatting leisurely, the uncle’s wife brought a pot of stir-fried snails to the table, saying, ”Dinner can begin.” There were no other side dishes, just a large portion of stir-fried snails. The two families sat around a small table, and Li Younan joined them at the table.

The two kids didn’t eat the spicy stir-fried snails, each holding a bag of chips, ran around nearby after eating. Occasionally, the sound of their bell-like laughter echoed. Beneath the canopy, it was no longer hot, a refreshing breeze blew from the surface of the lake.

In the warm hospitality of the uncles and aunts of the two families, Li Younan picked up a toothpick to extract the snail meat, sucked the juice. So far, he thought the journey was very pleasant, meeting different people, different professions, experiencing different landscapes.

The bearded uncle said earnestly, ”Little brother, don’t blame me for rambling, I’m someone who’s been through this. To be honest, if you want to do self-media, still have to think carefully about how to produce content. Travel bloggers, frankly there are too many on various video platforms, to stand out in it, what is your selling point? You need a precise category to have traffic.”

The uncle stopped saying more. Some things are better left unsaid, his personality is warm and outgoing, seeing that Li Younan isn’t the type of young man who thinks too highly of himself, he spoke a few more words. Reminding a stranger can easily become annoying preachy advice if not careful, seeking pleasant moods while traveling, unnecessary indeed.

Li Younan did not refute the uncle but rather seriously contemplated the uncle’s words in his mind.

After lunch, the two families chatted beneath the canopy. Though unfortunately fishing was prohibited here, otherwise the fun would be even greater.

The two kids ran over from beside the lake, they picked up many beautiful stones. The aunt praised the little girl, ”Yaoyao, wonderful! Are these stones for mom?”

This little sister who had earlier given Li Younan a watermelon looked very endearing, with a round face and a dimple when she smiled. She nodded earnestly, ”Yes, mom, these are for you!”

Li Younan’s attention was attracted by those small stones.

You often see many colorful stones by the riverbank, some of which are crystalline and transparent, almost like jade. The most common are crystals, marble, quartz, etc.

And the stones the little girl brought over included two marble blocks of fine quality.

The carving skill Li Younan acquired is essentially about processing stone materials, so he has a complete set of stone material knowledge in his mind. He instantly recognized these two marble blocks as the ”snow white” variety among marbles. These two stones were merely egg-sized, milky white, high white purity, even color, looking very pure and elegant.

Li Younan smiled and asked the little girl, ”Can I take a look, Yaoyao?”

The little girl nodded earnestly and then shyly hid beside her mom. The aunt laughed, ”My daughter gets shy whenever she sees handsome guys.”

Li Younan reached out to pick up one, touched it, fine texture, smooth surface, glossy, good touch.

Marble is excellent material for carving because this rock has relatively low hardness and fine texture, not inferior to some jade stones.

Li Younan suddenly had an idea and asked the little girl, ”Is it Yaoyao, right? What’s your favorite animal?”

Yaoyao thought for a while and said, ”I like elephants with wings.”

The bearded uncle chuckled heartily, ”Dear daughter, there are no elephants with wings in the world.”

Yaoyao’s expression was hard to tell if she was sad or disappointed. She loves big elephants for protection but also loves wings to fly, so she can ride a cute elephant to take her anywhere.

Thus, in her world, elephants with wings must exist.

Li Younan smiled slightly, stood up and said, ”Give me a moment.”

After saying this, Li Younan ran towards his car.

Everyone watched with a little confusion as Li Younan ran away.

After a while, Li Younan brought over a suitcase, placed it on the folding table and opened it, inside was a set of portable jade carving tools, electric cutting tools, polishing tools, carving tools, everything was there.

It was given by Huang Xiaoyang last time when leaving.

Li Younan asked the little girl for the snow white block, saying, ”Elephant with wings, right?”

Everyone present was drawn to Li Younan’s set of tools.

Momentarily dazed, the bearded uncle realized something, and immediately took out his phone, aimed the camera at Li Younan.