Leisurely Traveler with Check-in System

Chapter 351 - 161: The Intangible Heritage Girl

The familiar lakeside of Shengzhong Lake.

The sun is gradually slanting as the afternoon arrives.

The clouds in the sky are gathering gradually, piling up bit by bit, layer by layer. The weather has become quite overcast, looking like it might rain soon.

Li Younan didn’t take out much stuff; he cleaned his cooking utensils, packed them up nicely, and glanced over at Liu Yu, who was still stubbornly fishing at Shengzhong Lake. He kindly went over and asked him, "How much longer will you be? We still need to go to the city."

Unexpectedly, Liu Yu didn’t even lift his head and said flatly, "I have a good vibe for fishing today; I plan to fish a bit longer. I’ll stay here for the night. Leave your tent for me, you can go."

Li Younan’s facial muscles twitched slightly. He looked at the lake water and, with some reluctance, said, "If it doesn’t work, you can try fishing from the shore over there. Perhaps it’s not your skill level; it’s the spot you’re standing at that’s affecting your performance."

At this point, Li Younan could only come up with these lame reasons to console Liu Yu, but didn’t expect Liu Yu to have a thoughtful expression, and then nodded, "You do have a good point." He looked at Li Younan, "Your luck is better today, maybe I should listen to you."

Li Younan sighed softly—this lad really can’t see the situation clearly. Indeed, the hardest thing for people is to understand themselves.

Seeing Liu Yu’s determination to catch fish here, he didn’t bother persuading him anymore.

Despite not having had a bite to eat since noon, it didn’t stop him from looking full of energy at the moment.

It’s the same saying, adults can skip a meal, get soaked in the rain, and they won’t die from it.

Li Younan left the tent for him and decided not to bother anymore.

After exchanging contact information with He Gang over there, he planned to leave.

He Gang was determined to fish here, equipped well enough to handle heavy rain. And right now, it’s only April, not enough for heavy rainfall.

He said to Li Younan, "Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of your buddy."

Li Younan shrugged, "No need to bother about him; let him fend for himself."

He Gang curiously asked, "You’re definitely not a fishing newbie, right?"

Li Younan pointed at his own face and said, "Old man, do you recognize me?"

He Gang looked a bit puzzled, "Should I recognize you?"

Li Younan chuckled.

Sure enough, even with over 3 million followers, there really aren’t many who can recognize you on the street.

So, there’s still quite a distance between a web celebrity and a true star—a national-level celebrity is certainly recognized on the street while even a ten million followers web celebrity hardly gets noticed.

Li Younan certainly isn’t pursuing fame, but if you really want fame, you need to be on TV.

After parting ways with Liu Yu and the others, Li Younan drove straight to Nanchong.

The university student who arranged to meet Li Younan was originally from the southern region, but since Li Younan planned to stay in Nanchong, the student didn’t hesitate to say he’d meet him in Nanchong.

In the car, Li Younan pondered some matters regarding the university student who had arranged to meet him.

From the messages sent by them, generally speaking, they’re in the kind of post-graduation phase, not yet too battered by reality, filled with hope and sentiment for life.

To put it harshly, they’re somewhat disconnected from reality; to put it nicely, they haven’t yet become realistic, and hold dreams inside them.

They occupy quite an elevated position, idealistic. Of course, these are merely conclusions drawn from chatting, but it requires meeting in person to properly judge.

Li Younan knew well that in this increasingly restless society, many intangible cultural heritages are gradually vanishing.

Previously, he felt some regret about it, but it never strongly motivated him to actually do something.

After all, it’s a thankless task.

Many intangible cultural heritages can’t be saved by the fame of just one or two people. In some sense, their elimination conforms to the times—when replaced by better alternatives, they lose their original functional value.

Take woven bamboo baskets, for example,—taking time and labor to make them, priced higher than comparative industrial plastic ones. Regular folks naturally choose industrial products. With no sales, the number of makers naturally dwindles.

However, Li Younan was indeed influenced by that university student.

Their tireless, even somewhat silly enthusiasm piqued his curiosity.

He wanted to see what kind of person was involved in such an endeavor.

When Li Younan found the old teahouse at the end of the alley per the address, the young lady was already seated by the window.

Upon hearing the footsteps, she sprang up, her chair scraping softly against the floor.

Before Li Younan could speak, she hurriedly adjusted the chair, accidentally touching the enamel cup on the table corner. The white water inside swayed, splashing two drops on the faded tablecloth, and she quickly wiped it with her fingertips.

As Li Younan approached, he noticed the girl was wearing a shirt with frayed cuffs, buttoned tightly at the collar.

In her hand was a notebook with curled edges, its cover inscribed with "Intangible Cultural Heritage Research" in black ink. The word "Research" had been traced over twice, appearing blurry, likely due to writing with too much force.

Once Li Younan sat down, she leaned forward, rummaging through her canvas bag and accidentally pulling out a plastic bag holding a steamed bun. She hesitated for a moment before hurriedly shoving it back, her ears quietly turning red.

Noticing this scene, Li Younan paused for a moment.

Then the girl introduced herself: "I, I am Lu Shihua, hello Teacher Li."

Li Younan nodded: "We didn’t cover much in detail on WeChat; can you briefly introduce yourself?"

Not having communicated with a big influencer like Li Younan before, the girl stammered, hesitating, seemingly unsure where to begin, her face flushing red.

Smiling, Li Younan reassured her: "No need to be nervous, just start by telling me about your experiences..."

Lu Shihua, still with her head down, hardly dared to look at Li Younan, quietly said: "Previously, during my volunteering teaching, I encountered an elderly man who was a bearer of intangible cultural heritage. At the end of my teaching service, the old man passed away, and the cultural heritage he carried was effectively lost. I felt heartbroken, hoping to do something for them after graduating from university."

Then she began searching through her materials, saying: "After graduating, I spent some time organizing some of the scarcely known intangible cultural heritage I was aware of; take a look."

When handing over the materials, Li Younan noticed her fingers had ink stains and faint mud marks under her nails.

"This is what I gathered from three counties, including records of old artisans’ skills and their difficulties," the girl’s voice was not loud, yet she moved closer, eyes glued to the pages in Li Younan’s hands, afraid of missing any expression from him.

When Li Younan turned to a page, the girl’s fingertip suddenly paused on the words "Smiley Doll," her finger pad gently rubbing the paper’s surface: "Grandmaster Wang is the last inheritor of the Smiley Doll craft, he’s over seventy. He said if no one asks about it, this craft will be buried in the ground. He said he is sorry to his ancestors..."

At this point, she lifted her head with a bit of heartache and said: "But the Japanese really like this craft and even went to Grandmaster Wang to learn it, but he drove them away."

Hearing this, Li Younan knitted his brow slightly and asked: "What do you want me to do?"

"I’d like to ask you to advocate for it..." she pushed the materials slightly towards Li Younan, her palms sweating, the edges of the pages crumpled and soft from being held.

Li Younan fell silent for a while.

This silence made Lu Shihua uneasy, her nose tingling with the urge to cry as she recalled the distressing scenes she had witnessed, saying: "Many of us are already working on this. The more we understand, the more painful it gets. Many intangible cultural heritages we don’t emphasize are being sought after by neighboring Japan and South Korea. For instance, the Smiley Doll; many people think it originated in Japan, but the origins are actually in our country."

"In Japan, these Smiley Dolls are expensive, and the artisans who make them are held in high esteem. But since it doesn’t make money here, Grandmaster Wang is the last inheritor."

"For example, the kimchi that Koreans eat is actually from our Sichuan... but now they’ve already applied for heritage status."

Li Younan suddenly interrupted, saying: "Advocating is actually an easy task, but is advocacy useful? The main problem is still the lack of inheritors, right? We need to find a solution, don’t we?"

Lu Shihua was surprised for a moment, not expecting Li Younan to see the issue so deeply, and nodded: "Only through advocacy can we attract people to learn."

Li Younan didn’t immediately agree. He seriously reviewed Lu Shihua’s materials, then slowly heaved a sigh, saying: "Where is this Grandmaster Wang you mentioned? Here’s the thing; it’s getting late today, how about tomorrow, or whenever you see fit, we visit him on-site?"

The girl stared blankly for a moment before gradually understanding the meaning behind Li Younan’s words. Suddenly, she smiled and took out a small clay figurine tied with a red string from her canvas bag. Its uneven clay color and slightly crooked ears hinted at a homemade quality: "I made this clay figurine while learning from Grandma Li. It’s not valuable, but I wanted to thank you."

After settling this matter, Li Younan temporarily parted ways with Lu Shihua.

At this time, he sent all the videos he shot during the day to JK Dragon.

Because his unfortunate older brother was still fishing at Shengzhong Lake now, by the look of it, he seemed intent on staying there for a couple of days.

With no time to assist with dubbing, Li Younan instructed JK Dragon to directly edit the videos in other ways.

This time’s video footage was extremely rich, including the classic double fish shot and videos of Li Younan using superb fishing techniques to catch seven or eight fish.

For JK Dragon, these materials were easy to edit, she assured there were no problems, and reminded Li Younan to keep an eye on her brother, not losing him.

Li Younan promptly assured her: "Rest assured, as long as I’m here, your brother won’t starve or freeze."

Feeling a bit embarrassed, JK Dragon said: "I didn’t mean it that way... but thank you."

Having promised JK Dragon, Li Younan put down his phone, took a hot shower, and comfortably lay down in bed to sleep.

Meanwhile, heavy rain began to fall outside.

The rain marking the junction of April and May was not as gentle as spring rain, but somewhat fierce.

Amused, Li Younan thought, what if Liu Yu’s tent leaked? That would be quite embarrassing.

With these thoughts, drowsiness enveloped Li Younan even more.