While Shen Siyuan was eating breakfast, he booked a ride-share.
The reason Shen Siyuan hadn't booked a car the previous night was that there were many ride-shares heading to his hometown.
This was because many tourists traveled by car between Binhai and Coconut City every day, and Shen Siyuan's home was right between the two cities.
After breakfast, Shen Siyuan went to the roadside, and before long, a car slowly pulled up beside him.
Someone was sitting in the front passenger seat, so Shen Siyuan opened the back door and got in.
"User 2817, going to Clearwater Town?" the Driver asked, looking back.
"Yes. Are there no other passengers? Are we leaving now?"
Shen Siyuan didn't particularly like sitting in the back with strangers.
"Just the two of you. We're leaving now," the Driver said.
Hearing this, Shen Siyuan didn't ask any more questions and took out his mobile phone to scroll through it.
The car wasn't quiet, however, because the passenger in the front seat was very talkative and kept chatting with the driver.
"What are the fun places in Binhai…"
"The cost of living in Binhai is too high…"
"Are there any good places to visit in Coconut City…"
"It's a pity my flight is this afternoon, I guess I'll have to come back next time, and so on."
From their conversation, Shen Siyuan figured out that the middle-aged man was in Binhai to travel and relax and was heading to Coconut City to catch a flight home.
As for why he wasn't flying directly from Binhai, it was because Binhai was a tourist resort, and direct flights were very expensive. Therefore, many tourists chose to fly to Coconut City and transfer from there, which was much cheaper.
Shen Siyuan got in the car at seven o'clock and arrived at Clearwater Town before nine. It was still halfway to Coconut City; the remaining passenger wouldn't get to Coconut City until after eleven, just in time for lunch.
In truth, they could have taken the Coastal Expressway from Binhai, which would have been faster, but the Driver clearly wanted to pick up another person, which was why he chose to take the National Highway.
Shen Siyuan's home wasn't in Clearwater Town, but in a small village under its jurisdiction.
After getting out of the car, Shen Siyuan didn't rush home. Instead, he went to a pharmacy to buy a few boxes of Blood-Activating Pain Relief Plaster.
His Mom was a teacher and suffered from severe shoulder inflammation from holding her arm up to write for long periods.
Besides that, he also bought a carton of cigarettes, which was naturally for his Dad, Shen Jianjun.
Although he wasn't a heavy smoker, he ran a Chicken Farm, and cigarettes were often consumed when dealing with social obligations.
Speaking of Shen Jianjun, he was quite a capable man.
He had run a restaurant, managed a sand quarry, raised fish, herded ducks, and now he was running a Chicken Farm.
Even though Shen Siyuan was slaving away like an animal in Binhai, his family's living conditions were actually quite good.
This was also why some relatives and acquaintances were so keen on setting Shen Siyuan up on dates—it was mainly because of his family's good financial situation.
After buying everything, Shen Siyuan got on a Three-Wheeler at the end of the street.
The Three-Wheeler wound its way through villages and alleys, specializing in taking people from the town to the various villages. It was like a local taxi, but it didn't charge by distance, but by person—kids were free, and adults were five yuan each.
After a shaky, bumpy ride of about twenty minutes, they arrived at the Village Entrance of Shen Siyuan's village.
Shen Siyuan's village was called Linjia Slope.
It wasn't large, with only about two hundred households, but most of the people remaining in the village were the elderly and children; basically all the young people had left to find work elsewhere.
Carrying his things, Shen Siyuan arrived at his front door and saw the Courtyard Gate wide open.
His Mom, Huang Huijuan, was in the Courtyard sun-drying Dried Shrimp, which were used to make Shrimp Paste.
Huang Huijuan was fifty-one this year.
She was wearing a blue floral V-neck dress and had permed her hair. Her skin was very fair, so she looked quite young.
You could tell she was definitely a beauty in her youth. Although she had put on a little weight, it only made her seem more elegant.
"Mom~"
Shen Siyuan called out to her.
Huang Huijuan looked up, and her face lit up with joy upon seeing Shen Siyuan.
She immediately came over to greet him.
"You're back! Why did you buy more things? Have you had breakfast?"
Although they often bickered on the phone, when they met in person, it was a picture of a loving mother and a filial son.
Of course, this dynamic was limited to the initial greeting and wouldn't even last a full day.
"I've eaten.
I bought you a few boxes of Blood-Activating Pain Relief Plaster in town. Didn't you say your arm was hurting last time? Is it any better?"
"It got better long ago.
If I had waited for your plaster, I would've died from the pain," Huang Huijuan said tartly.
But she had already reached out to take the bag from Shen Siyuan's hand.
Just then, she suddenly froze and looked Shen Siyuan up and down in surprise.
"What's wrong?" Shen Siyuan asked, a bit puzzled.
"You seem a little different," Huang Huijuan said suspiciously.
She reached out to touch Shen Siyuan's face, but he dodged it with a look of disgust.
"Your hands stink of fish, don't touch me."
Hearing this, Huang Huijuan swatted him twice on the shoulder in annoyance.
Then she brought her face close to his and examined him carefully.
"Are you wearing those… what are they called… colored contacts?"
"You even know about colored contacts?"
"Is that so strange? Your mom isn't some old fossil.
Oh right, I haven't even gotten on your case yet. Why don't you like my WeChat posts or follow me on Douyin?"
As she spoke, she reached out to rap Shen Siyuan on the head.
Shen Siyuan quickly protected his head and said with dissatisfaction, "Can you please stop posting that kind of stuff?"
"What do you mean, 'that kind of stuff'?"
"Things like 'If you don't have children, you probably won't be cared for in your old age'; 'The cruel truth that will send shivers down your spine'; 'Eating pickled vegetables every day will add at least ten years to your life'; 'The truth the TV stations don't dare to report…'"
"Instead of believing that stuff, you might as well believe your son is Qin Shi Huang."
"If you've got the guts, go say that to your dad."
Huang Huijuan shot him a glare, then pulled him by the wrist toward the house.
"What's there to be afraid of saying?"
"Do you know who Qin Shi Huang's mother was?"
"Zhao Ji, who doesn't know that?"
"Zhao Ji didn't exactly have a good reputation…"
"Er…"
Shen Siyuan's house was very large. Although it was in the countryside, it was built quite luxuriously, no worse than a detached villa in the city.
It had two floors with six rooms in total, a living room on each floor, a kitchen, and two bathrooms. It was quite beautiful.
Stepping into the foyer, he was greeted by a huge floor-to-ceiling window. The light from the north and south streamed through, making the view feel extremely open.
"Where's Dad?" Shen Siyuan asked casually as he changed into slippers.
"He went to the Chicken Farm. He should be back soon."
Huang Huijuan put the things down and went into the kitchen to wash her hands.
The smell from turning over the Dried Shrimp was indeed unpleasant.
"How did you get back?"
"How else? I took a ride-share."
"Taking the car every time is a hassle.
You should get a driver's license. Your dad and I can chip in and buy you a car."
Hearing this, Shen Siyuan looked up at the luxurious house, thinking she still treated him like a child, always saying the family was poor and had no money.
"It's fine, taking the car is good enough."
Just as they were speaking, the sound of a motorcycle roared from outside.
Shen Siyuan walked to the door and saw a pot-bellied, middle-aged man ride a motorcycle into the Courtyard.
The newcomer was none other than Shen Siyuan's Dad, Shen Jianjun.