Erhai Lake, RV, New Friends

Following the young man's directions, Tian Nina started the RV, and within a few minutes they arrived at their destination.

The place was exactly what Lin Qiye had wanted: a stretch of green grassland, with the blue surface of the lake not far away.

To express his thanks, Lin Qiye said, "Thanks. We're having barbecue tonight. Come eat with us."

The lad smiled, showing a mouthful of white teeth. "Sure. I'll go back and tell them."

With that, he got out of the vehicle and ran off without looking back.

"Is he bringing people over?" Tian Nina asked, puzzled.

"Probably. Then we'll just prepare more. Worst case, we'll buy some more at a nearby market tomorrow."

After Lin Qiye finished speaking, he got busy.

A large sun umbrella, two beach lounge chairs, a small table, and a folding barbecue grill.

Once everything was set up, the two of them lay back on the beach chairs, enjoying the midday sun.

Tian Nina, however, could not sit still. She took out her phone and kept taking photos, then posted them to Moments and QQ groups.

"I'm now by Erhai Lake, a plateau lake 2,000 meters above sea level." Attached was a panoramic photo of the blue lake surface.

"Thanks to the warm guidance of the locals, we found a quiet and beautiful place." Attached was a photo of the lakeside, the RV, the grassland, half of Tian Nina's profile, and Lin Qiye leaning back on a beach chair with his eyes closed, resting.

As soon as the two image-and-text posts were sent, they immediately drew attention and replies from the QQ group and Moments.

In the college girlfriends' QQ group:

"Dani is living so freely. I'm so jealous."

"That guy is Lin Qiye, right? I can recognize him just from the side."

"Just the two of them? Isn't this basically a honeymoon?"

Tian Nina replied, "It was originally a trip with his parents, but the two elders changed their minds halfway, so the two of us are planning to stay by Erhai Lake."

Over on WeChat Moments, however, the vibe was completely different.

Chinese Department teacher: "So beautiful. Isn't this exactly my dream? I'm sour."

Her third uncle's little nephew: "Auntie, you didn't take me with you."

Hungarian: "Sis, Mom and I are looking at your WeChat Moments. The scenery is charming. Who's that man?"

Hero Without Regret: "Your dad already saw the Moments you posted. He went downstairs just now, and I saw him drive away."

Hero Without Regret was Tian Nina's eldest uncle's WeChat account. Because of the fraud case, Tian Nina had added her eldest uncle on WeChat, then forgotten about it.

Now things were great. She had originally thought nothing would happen as long as she had not added her father on WeChat, but her eldest uncle had leaked it out.

She shot upright. "This is bad. My dad's coming over."

"What?" Lin Qiye opened his eyes in a daze. "What's your dad coming over for?"

After hearing Tian Nina's explanation, Lin Qiye did not know whether to laugh or cry. When your luck was bad, even drinking cold water got stuck in your teeth. He had done nothing at all, and his future father-in-law had come charging over.

Right, he asked, "You didn't say the exact location, did you?"

"No. I don't even know where this place is." Tian Nina immediately went from worried to smiling.

Just then, her phone rang. As soon as she answered, a man's roaring voice came through. "Dani, where are you? Who is that bastard boy?"

"Dad, stay out of my business."

"How can I stay out of it? You're a girl, going out alone with a man. If something happens, how am I supposed to answer to your mom? And you even lied to me, saying you were going to a classmate's house. Nina, you've learned to lie, huh?"

"What have I learned? Mom knows about this too, and she didn't scold me."

Tian Nina's words dealt the old father a heavy critical hit, and the other end of the phone fell silent.

Lin Qiye could not let his girlfriend's family relationship worsen, so he took the phone.

"Uncle, my name is Lin Qiye. I'm a student from the 2010 cohort of International Trade Class 3 at Southwest University of Industry, in the same year as Tian Nina. I'm currently pursuing her. I promise I absolutely won't hurt your daughter. Please don't worry these next few days."

The man on the phone roared again. "Worry my ass! You little brat, you've taken advantage and still want to act obedient."

Lin Qiye more or less understood this kind of thinking. In his previous life, there had been a colleague whose family also had a daughter. In the end, after she grew up, she was hooked by a Handsome Lad, and that old father had been utterly heartbroken.

People all said a daughter was her father's little padded jacket, but once that little padded jacket got a boyfriend, everything changed.

Tian Nina took the phone back and started lecturing her father. "Dad, how old are you? Didn't you say you had to look at everything rationally? And now this is how you are? Enough. I'll call Mom and have her talk to you."

A hint of joy appeared in Tian Nina's father's voice. "Mm, you call her. I'll wait."

Immediately after, Tian Nina made an international call and spoke a long stream of Hungarian. Only at the end did she let out a breath of relief.

"Resolved?" Lin Qiye asked.

"Resolved. My dad is just easily emotional. Only my mom can rein him in."

"Then why did the two of them divorce?"

"It's been so long that I don't remember why either. I only know they argued for two months, then my mom carried my little brother and left home, and never came back."

"Haven't they already divorced? Is there still a chance?"

Tian Nina said helplessly, "After all these years, any chance has been worn away. But my dad won't give up, and my mom still has some feelings too. They're still broken but connected."

Lin Qiye genuinely wanted to help his girlfriend's parents get back together, and he was just thinking of using Intelligent AI's big-data integration function to look into the secret behind their divorce.

Just then, voices came from the distance, and the two of them turned to look.

It was the young man who had given them directions earlier, with seven or eight men and women following behind him, all carrying things in their hands.

The young man stated his purpose bluntly. "Barbecue sounds good. We've been wanting to barbecue together for ages, so this works out."

Unlike young people in the city, the youths here were frank and straightforward. After setting down all kinds of ingredients, they just stared openly at Lin Qiye and Tian Nina.

"Oh." Tian Nina only then reacted. "We don't know your local customs. How should we do this?"

There was a burst of soft laughter, and the young man who had led the way said, "No big deal. Do it however you want."

"Then let's take a group photo first. Can I send the picture to my friends?"

"You mean WeChat, right? We've got that too." The young man took out his phone and enthusiastically showed off his WeChat.

In truth, aside from their accents and some differences in personality, there was not much of a generation gap. They were all young people, so they quickly became familiar with one another.

Soon, everyone took a group photo together, then started chatting.

It turned out that these youths were all Bai people, and their families had lived here for generations.

But with economic development, many young people had left for big cities to work.

The few of them had also agreed to go to the coastal area together, having heard that factory wages there could reach several thousand yuan.

Tian Nina cut the lamb she had taken out of the RV into pieces and asked, "Why not open a restaurant in Dali? There are so many tourists there."

"We just want to go see the seaside. Several people from our village have already gone," a Bai girl replied.

The others chimed in one after another. It seemed that, living beside Erhai Lake, they yearned for the real ocean.

Lin Qiye did not need to cook, so he took a pack of canned beer and handed them out, instantly warming up his relationship with the boys.

The young man who had led the way handed him a cigarette.

Lin Qiye accepted it, but waved his hand and said, "I don't smoke. Thanks, though."

The young man lit one for himself and said with a smile, "Not smoking is good. Where are you from?"

"Southwest University of Industry in Kun City," Lin Qiye replied, though his eyes were examining all the food the other side had brought.

The Bai youth introduced them to him.

"Cold mixed assorted vegetables, you can probably tell what that is. This one we call Zhaiyanxiang; where you're from, you call it fried crispy pork. And there's Rushan, Chuigan, and Shengpi."

Lin Qiye had eaten Rushan last night, but this was his first time seeing Chuigan and Shengpi.