Leisurely Traveler with Check-in System

Chapter 35: Chapter 35: Afternoon, Rain, Inside the Car

The rain stopped, and the music ended. Li Younan woke up.

He wasn’t woken up by the silence, but rather by a strong sensation of soreness in his back.

He sat upright. When he was sleeping earlier, he had adjusted the driver’s seat to the lowest position, but anyone who has slept in a car knows that no matter how you adjust the seat, that posture is never very comfortable. Keeping one position for a long time will cause certain muscles to remain stiff and unable to relax, resulting in extreme soreness.

Li Younan looked outside. Although the rain had stopped, the sky hadn’t cleared up; it was still overcast. Layers of dark clouds spread uniformly across the sky.

Seeing this, Li Younan sighed slightly. It seems that completing the task of photographing the starry sky will be a bit troublesome. However, he wasn’t particularly upset. For him, everything is part of the journey, and every process has its significance.

He checked the time; it was just 4 PM. In summer, it gets dark late, and there are still several hours to go. He felt somewhat hungry; after all, during lunch when he was invited, Li Younan was too embarrassed to eat much, especially since there wasn’t much meat on the fried snails. Given his physique, he would get hungry shortly after.

He got out of the car and stretched, slightly alleviating the back pain. Fortunately, there was a village nearby, and Li Younan decided to buy some food. After ten minutes, he drove to the village entrance and then walked into the village to buy supplies.

He went into a local store and bought some side dishes, including ham sausages, eggs, and noodles. Just as he was about to leave, he saw a folding camp bed placed at the entrance. He thought about it, asked for the price, found it to be only over a hundred yuan, and decided to buy it along with the only sponge mattress in the store.

After the shopping trip, Li Younan carried the camp bed on one shoulder and held the food and mattress with the other, struggling slightly to get back to the car. He stuffed everything into the trunk all at once before driving back to the riverbank of Tongji Lake.

Li Younan had a feeling that he might have to nap in the car again today, which is why he purchased these items.

The rear seats of the Land Cruiser can fold down, but unlike many family cars, the Land Cruiser’s rear seats have two folding modes. The first mode folds the backrest down directly, creating a high protruding area; the advantage is a continuous space. The second mode folds the entire seat and attaches it behind the front seats; the advantage is nearly flat space, but the sleeping area is reduced to about 1.7 meters. Due to his tall stature, Li Younan could only choose the first mode.

He folded down the rear seat on the co-driver’s side, disassembled the legs of the camp bed, leaving only the bed board, and set it on the folded area. Finally, he found two flat stones outside to level the inclined area approximately.

After trying it out, it was quite stable, and thus the makeshift bed car was modified successfully.

Li Younan spread the mattress on it and lay down for a test. Although it was far from the big bed at home, it was still much better than sleeping directly on the seats; at least he could stretch out his whole body.

However, if he really wanted to sleep well, this kind of rough modification was only good for emergencies. Li Younan wondered if he would often rest in the car in the future; if he wanted to rest well, he would have to modify the trunk area.

This car has a lot of space, and creating a single bed would be easy.

Afterward, Li Younan took out a few pieces of clothing from his luggage and laid them on the mattress as a pillow. Having done these, he jumped out of the car, set up a folding table, placed a gas stove, and prepared to cook himself a bowl of noodles.

Ten minutes later, a fragrant bowl of ham sausage and egg noodles was cooked. Li Younan ate directly from the small pot. The noodles, cooked just right, combined with the aroma of eggs and ham sausages, were delicious with the pleasant lake view.

The weather indeed changed quickly. After Li Younan finished his noodles and tidied up, the rain curtain spread again from the surface of the lake. Li Younan hurriedly took shelter inside the car.

Not long after, the heavy rain enveloped the car again. The car’s sound insulation wasn’t as good as most domestic new energy vehicles; he could clearly hear the rain outside. Within this sound, Li Younan unconsciously recalled some pleasant things. He didn’t deliberately imagine anything, just let his thoughts wander, and the feeling was quite marvelous.

A lightning bolt sliced through the sky, bringing him back to his senses with a silent smile. The previous state was indeed ethereal; he couldn’t even remember what he had been daydreaming about.

How wonderful. Such a state has been rare since he has had memory.

No goals, no deadlines, just pure daydreaming... in a foreign place.

This weather is truly great.

Li Younan crawled from the driver’s seat to the back, onto the newly set up bed. The mattress wasn’t exactly soft but was just right. Among his luggage was a bath towel, which he had purposefully bought because he didn’t trust hotel bath towels; now, it served well as a blanket.

He took off his shirt, lay down naked, covered himself with the bath towel over his belly, and closed his eyes naturally. He wasn’t consciously trying to sleep, just closing his eyes and quietly listening to the rain outside.

Raindrops hitting the car roof made a ”pat, pat” sound. The sky was gloomy, and the lighting inside the car was quite dark. It was very quiet around, with only the sound of the rain.

Li Younan could smell the leather seats.

The thick shell of the car kept the rain and wind outside. He thought, while it’s dry inside, it’s not cold either. He closed his eyes, listening to each raindrop tapping the roof. Listening became hypnotic, and his eyes couldn’t remain open.

The car window glass felt a bit cold.

...

The soft chirping of insects woke Li Younan. He opened his eyes and, a bit confused, took half a second to realize where he was.

During sleep, he had a long, long dream. In the dream, a man whose face was already a little blurry took him to an amusement park; it was a dream about his father. Although the dream seemed a bit melancholy, after waking up, Li Younan didn’t feel down. Instead, he felt oddly refreshed.

He sat upright and looked out the window; it was already dark. At some point, the sky had completely cleared, and a bright Milky Way stretched across the sky.

Li Younan quickly jumped out of the car. After the heavy rain, the temperature by Tongji Lake had dropped, and a chilly breeze blew across the lake. With his upper body bare, Li Younan felt the cleansing breeze, his bangs gently lifted by the wind.

He hurriedly took out his camera, aimed at the lake and the Milky Way, capturing the moment. This was followed by a task completion reminder.

Task checked off!