Thirty Degrees Part 2

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It took almost two hours to fly from the capital to Xunchuan.

It had been snowing last night, and the sky was gloomy this morning, but fortunately, the flight was not delayed.

Shi Yun had never been to Xunchuan. Her stereotype of the south was probably the “Jiangnan waterways”, with white walls, black tiles, quaint bridges, flowing water, and misty drizzles.

Wei Congying gave up his seat by the porthole to Shi Yun. Not long after he sat down, the stewardess reminded passengers to turn off their phones and other communication tools, and he adjusted his chair to a comfortable angle.

Shiyun’s cell phone was turned off before boarding the plane. There were not many passengers in the first-class cabin. She flipped through the magazines at hand. There were various magazines, but she was not interested in any of them.

The whole flight was smooth, with no turbulence at all. The plane arrived at Xunchuan International Airport on time.

Shi Yun wanted to dig into her suitcase as soon as she got off the plane. He didn’t know why the temperature of one to two degrees celcius displayed on her phone was so cold.

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Hotels on this old street preyed on tourists like them from out of town. The doors of the hotel are all antique, and you could smell the faint smell of sandalwood as soon as you entered. The front counter was made of a large piece of mahogany, and a huge framed embroidery work hung behind it.

What was embroidered were the distinguishing characteristics of the culture of this generation in Xunchuan and the Wu area.

The ancient artificially built canals, antique gardens and the unique silkworm culture in this area were all recorded in the embroidery of local intangible cultural heritage.

The front desk asked for Wei Congying’s and Shi Yun’s ID cards, worked on the computer for a while, and then handed them their ID cards and room cards.

The luggage had been sent to the room by the staff.

The air conditioning in the hotel was fully functioning, and Shi Yun was warming up.

The entire hotel had local architectural features everywhere. The hotel was shaped like a zigzag, with a garden in the middle. The garden was a replicate of the famous local gardens.

Shi Yun turned around and looked down through the glass. She saw the carved windows of the waterside pavilion and the rockery. After autumn, the hotel had taken care of all the lost lotus leaves.

Because it was winter, the scenery downstairs was not as good as it was in the other seasons.

Their luggage had been delivered to the room. Wei Congying inserted the room card into the card slot at the door. The room was instantly powered on and the air conditioner that controlled the room temperature was also turned on. He turned on the heating and raised the temperature by many degrees.

The window of this room faces a famous old street in Xunchuan.

You could also see a famous local ancient pagoda in the distance.

It was past three o’clock at the moment, a time when there was no business.

“What should we do?” Shi Yun stood in front of the window and looked out. “Have a rest and eat, or should we go shopping and then eat?”

Wei Congying turned on the air conditioner, unbuttoned his coat, and walked into the room: “I feel like you want to take a stroll.”

Shi Yun: “After all, we are here to play.”

“You’ve forgotten the cold, haven’t you?” Wei Congying walked over and looked at the scenery outside the window with her, “Go and put on some more clothes.”

However, the Xunchuan people seem to have little ‘intention to work’. Because it was the first day of the Lunar New Year, the shops were closed early. When he went downstairs, a few shops on the nearest old street were still open. Wei Congying used his phone navigation and found a commercial street nearby.

A little further away, they called for a human-powered three-wheeler, but riding it was torture to their conscience.

It took more than ten minutes of tricycle riding to reach the commercial street.

The commercial street was much more lively than the old street, but it had lost some of its local characteristics.

Without its local characteristics, there was no reason to visit. Except for the different horizontal and vertical arrangements of the shops, what they had here could also be found in the capital.

Seeing people coming and going, Shi Yun asked curiously: “What should we eat?”

Wei Congying held her hand, intertwined her fingers and put it in his coat pocket: “Let’s go eaaattt…”

He lengthened the last sound of the word “eat”, probably because he hadn’t thought about what to eat. Looking around, suddenly a drop of water fell on his face.

The weather in the south changed quickly, and within a short while, light rain started to fall from the sky. There was little snow here, and what did fall was not rain, but sleet.

It was a day of raining sleet, so there didn’t seem to be a need to hold an umbrella, but after standing there for a while, you’d get wet.

Wei Congying put on Shi Yun’s hat and suddenly had an idea: “Let’s go eat the rain.”

“Rain?” Shi Yun was confused and imitated his pronunciation.

Wei Congying took her hand and led her to a restaurant with some local characteristics. He said: “Yes, rain.”²[2] Rain and fish are homonyms in Chinese. The difference between the two is their tones.

“Fish? As in fish from the water?” Shi Yun couldn’t understand.

Wei Congying responded: “Three hairs.”

His answer was the same as not answering. It was difficult to understand literati.

They braved the sleet and walked into a local specialty restaurant. Xunchuan tastes were on the sweeter side, which didn’t suit the tastes of the two people from the capital.

When the boss brought the food to the table, he could tell at a glance that the two of them were not locals. However, it was not unusual for young couples to travel together during the New Year. His son also said that he would travel with friends during the New Year this year.

Young people have the freedom of young people.

Seeing that the two of them were not used to sweet food, the boss smiled and said, “You’re not locals.”

After chatting casually for a while, Shi Yun asked the boss: “Boss, do you have any places you would recommend to people visiting Xunchuan?”

“Recommended?” The boss thought for a while, “I recommend them not to come.”

It is not a good idea to ask locals for recommendations as they were used to seeing everything around them while growing up, so they wouldn’t think there is anything new.

Shi Yun picked up a piece of sweet and sour mandarin fish with her chopsticks: “Is this the fish you were talking about?”

He didn’t answer. It seemed he was very busy, as the phone in his pocket had rung several times. He stood up and went to pay the bill. Shi Yun brought the fish meat pinched between the chopsticks to her mouth. Not long after, a hand fell on her head. Wei Congying crumpled the receipt into a small paper ball and threw it into the trash can beside the table: “I’m going to smoke. Take your time eating.”

Shi Yun looked out through the glass store door. He was making a call on his phone. His expression didn’t look good but he hung up quickly. When Shiyun picked up her bag and went out, he was still in the middle of smoking.

The wind picked up, stirring up white smoke drifting into the air and mixing it with sleet. He was leaning against to the street lamp pole, and the wind made it difficult to keep his eyes open. He squinted slightly, bunching up the skin of his under eyelid, held the cigarette butt between his thin lips, and looked at the gray-blue sky, thinking about something.

Notes:

[1] Pingtan is an entertainment based in storytelling and ballad singing.

[2] Rain and fish are homonyms in Chinese. The difference between the two is their tones.