Leisurely Traveler with Check-in System

Chapter 76: Chapter 75: The Soul of Camping

The mountain wind in Huangjian Town was chilly, making the canopy rustle loudly.

The glaringly pink car chugged into the camp, stopping not too far and not too close, diagonally across from Li Younan.

It turned out to be a Volkswagen Polo.

The car door pushed open, and a little girl stepped out. She looked quite pretty, her skin white like satin, wearing an Alalei baseball cap and sandals that revealed her fair toes.

She didn’t glance towards Li Younan, instead went around to the back of the car, huffing and puffing to open the trunk. She dragged out a large tent bag, wider than her back, hugged it to her chest, and moved step by step to the middle of the open space.

After putting it down, she returned to haul out a heavy storage box, its plastic exterior scraping against the ground with a rustling sound.

Going back again, she lifted out a sleeping bag, followed by a folding chair, a small table, and a backpack stuffed full...

One trip after another.

She was like a diligent little ant, shuttling back and forth with her possessions.

Her movements weren’t exactly swift; while carrying things, occasionally she would stumble or be tipped by small stones on the ground, but each time, she steadied herself and continued walking.

Finally, everything was piled on the open space. With her hands on her hips, she looked at the heap for quite a while, as if she were counting items, then squatted down to unzip the largest tent bag.

With a flourish, the tent fabric, poles, ground stakes, and wind ropes all poured out, spreading over the ground.

She then held onto the crumpled instruction manual, pinching the edges of the paper, flipping it over repeatedly, brows slightly furrowed.

The mountain wind kept trying to blow the paper from her hand, and she had to press a corner of the tent fabric with her knee to free up a hand to hold down the paper.

She began setting up.

She tried to thread a pole that seemed like the main beam into the sleeve at the top of the tent fabric. The pole was a bit long, and just as she managed to push one end in, the other side slid out. After finally getting one end all the way in, the opposite end bent, and she couldn’t align it with the sleeve on the other side.

Standing on tiptoe, stretching her arms and neck, she struggled against the elastic pole which suddenly snapped open with a ”pop,” startling her into a small backward jump.

She took off her hat, revealing shiny black hair, fanned herself, stared at the pole, pursed her lips, then bent down to pick it up and started threading it once more.

...

Li Younan was holding a bottle of mineral water, sitting leisurely in the chair, sipping slowly while watching the little flurry of activity diagonally opposite with interest.

She finally managed to thread all the main beams, albeit crookedly. The tent fabric was tugged into shape, resembling a crumpled mushroom.

She let out a breath, dusted the dirt off her hands, then tackled the ground stakes, her aim a bit off, sometimes hitting the stake cap with the hammer with a crisp ”clap”; other times, she missed, and the hammer struck nearby stones with a ”poof.”

She didn’t get discouraged, pulling them out, changing spots, and trying again.

After a while, she started to wander a bit aimlessly in circles looking for spots, often almost tripping herself with ropes dragging at her feet.

Suddenly, there was a muffled ”wham,” mixed with a small startled yelp.

Li Younan looked up to find her tent, which had finally stood upright, collapsing on one side as if it had been sapped of bones — two of the junctions of the support poles had come loose.

The little girl was standing beside the collapsed tent fabric, still holding the improperly tied wind rope, staring blankly with a somewhat helpless expression.

She stood there, facing the collapsed bundle of fabric, for quite a while, her shoulders seemed to sag slightly.

Li Younan stood up, rummaged through the car drawer for two individually wrapped chocolate cookies, and walked over.

Getting closer, he could see a smudge of dirt on her forehead, several strands of loose hair escaping from the hair tie, sticking to her sweat-damp temple.

She heard footsteps and quickly turned her head, her eyes bright in the dim light, still carrying a trace of confusion and a hint of embarrassed surprise at being caught.

”Here,” Li Younan handed over the cookies, trying to make his voice sound casual, ”Setting up a tent is quite a hassle. A break?”

She looked at the cookies, then at Li Younan, and then her own collapsed tent. The slight embarrassment on her face slowly melted away, her mouth curled into a somewhat sheepish, yet relieved smile, and she replied softly, ”...Thank you.”

Her voice was soft, like the mountain wind brushing against the tips of grass.

Li Younan handed the cookies to her, the plastic wrapping rustling.

She gripped the cookies, not eating them immediately, her eyes still glancing at her partly collapsed tent, her brow slightly creasing again.

”First time setting up?” Li Younan asked casually.

She shook her head, then nodded, her ponytail swaying with her motion: ”Second time... Last time was on the park lawn, the ground was soft.”

Her voice was small, slightly slurred, ”The manual says this tent is quick to set up.”

She gently kicked the limp bundle of fabric on the ground, making it sink in a soft spot.

The twilight deepened.

She seemed to temporarily give up on wrestling with the tent and turned to open the rear car door of her pink car.

Oh boy, with the back seat folded down, it was packed full, like a mobile camping supply shop, with so many items it could make someone dizzy.

First, she dragged out a square, insulated box, which looked quite heavy.

”Cooler,” she patted the lid with a bit of pride, ”Drinks and fruits are chilled inside.”

She didn’t stop there, bending down again to noisily drag out a small, metal-framed contraption, peculiarly shaped like a lantern, but with a stove underneath.

”This,” she pointed at the thing, ”is a gas lamp, runs on gas. It has much more character than those rechargeable mood lights.”

She crouched down and started fiddling with the gas lamp, still not very skillfully, turning the valve and lighting it. With a soft puff, a flame of orange-yellow sprang up, and she carefully covered it with a glass shade.

The warm glow immediately spread out.

Then she fished out a small cast iron pot from the car, the handle folded, looking very delicate, along with a small bag of nicely packaged coffee beans and a hand-cranked coffee grinder, even a small collapsible water bucket.

Li Younan was dumbfounded.

Is this the legendary newbie equipment overload?

She fiddled with the hand-cranked grinder, put in the beans, cranked it a few times, making a dry, slightly awkward noise. She stopped, checked it with a puzzled look, then continued cranking.

She looked up and asked, ”By the way, aren’t you setting up a tent?”

Li Younan said, ”I’m sleeping in the car tonight.”

At his words, she looked up, glanced at Li Younan, then at his cool Land Cruiser, and then back at her own collection of shiny, atmosphere-enhancing gear, especially the gas lamp glowing warmly.

Her chin raised slightly, and her lips curled into a small arc that tried hard to look natural, but struggled to hold it, her voice deliberately light: ”Oh, in the car, huh...”

She paused, absentmindedly turning the handle of the grinder, making a soft clicking sound, ”That’s just soulless.”

After saying that, she immediately lowered her head, pretending to be fully focused on studying the grinder’s settings, as if the earlier comment had just slipped out.

Li Younan paused... uh, was he disdained?

In fact, Li Younan had already given up hope that this little girl would have something like a lighter on her, but he still tentatively asked, ”Do you have a lighter?”

Sure enough, the girl said, ”No... what do you need it for?”

Li Younan said, ”For lighting a fire...” gesturing towards the cassette stove, sighing slightly, seemed like it would be just biscuits or such dry food for dinner.

”Wait!”

The girl called after him again.

Li Younan looked up and saw the girl crouching by her gear, rummaging through a professional-looking tactical shoulder bag. She did it with great concentration, and soon pulled out an odd-looking little item, holding it in her hand, and walked over a few steps.

”Here,” she handed the item to Li Younan, ”use this.”

Li Younan took it, felt the weight in his hand, the coldness of metal.

He paused; it was quite a decent magnesium fire starter, with a thick strip of magnesium embedded on the back, looking quite professional.

”You even have this?”

Li Younan was a bit surprised, weighing it in his hand; this thing was really something for starting fires in the wild.

Not afraid of water, and very durable.

She straightened her little chest slightly, chin lifting a tiny bit, a hint of pride: ”Yes, for safety. In case... in case the gas lamp doesn’t light, you know?”

Her eyes glanced at her own gas lamp, which was burning warmly.

Li Younan clutched the fire starter, walked over to the cassette stove, and crouched down. Scraped off some magnesium shavings, rubbed the knife blade forcefully against the scraper, and a cluster of bright sparks exploded, igniting the stove precisely.

”Thanks.” Li Younan lifted the fire starter in his hand.

”You’re welcome,” she waved her hand, turned, and walked back, muttering under her breath, ”...it’s gotta have some soul, even starting a fire.”

The voice was soft but just right to drift into Li Younan’s ears.

...

Flames licked the bottom of the pot, and the oil was hot.

Li Younan tossed the sliced cured meat in, and with a sizzle, the rich savory aroma mixed with the smell of sizzling fat burst forth, domineeringly filling the cool evening air, wafting far and wide.

The cured meat curled and turned golden and translucent in the pot, the oil happily crackled.

Li Younan, while stir-frying, glanced sideways at the little girl across from him, who finally scored a temporary victory amid her pile of gear—the half-collapsed tent was propped up in a not very symmetrical but at least upright position, still wrinkled.

She was taking out two square self-heating pots from a cooler, tearing open the packaging, opening the heating pack, pouring in water, all the actions were done neatly. The lids were covered, and soon, the two plastic containers started making a ”puffing” sound, steam hissing out from the edges.

Meanwhile, dishes were coming out of the pot one after another, the fragrance getting stronger and stronger, Li Younan holding the pot, serving the cooked dishes into disposable lunch boxes, the aroma spread unreservedly.

The little girl’s self-heating pots were still steaming.

She sat on a moon chair, back facing Li Younan’s area, sipping from a thermos. Yet her head was slightly, little by little, tilting towards Li Younan.

Finally unable to resist, she hugged her thermos, slowly sauntered over, stopped a few steps from Li Younan, eyes fixed on the glistening, steaming cured meat slices in his lunch box, her nostrils barely perceptibly flaring twice.

”You’re cooking for yourself?” She spoke.

Li Younan was leisurely breaking apart disposable chopsticks, picking up a translucent slice of cured meat, glanced leisurely at her small table with two self-heating pots. ”Yeah,” Li Younan responded, putting the cured bacon slice in his mouth, chewing as he indistinctly continued...

”Well... it’s just not soulful.”