Going home for Chinese New Year, I squeezed onto a bus with three energetic young women.

"Holy crap! We've finally arrived!"

Chen Tingting was the first to cheer, her voice filled with relief.

The car door opened, and a blast of dry, cold air, typical of northern China, rushed in.

The temperature difference between the outside and inside of the car made the three girls, who were only wearing thin clothes, shiver.

Bai Li slowly stood up, picked up her suitcase, and got off the bus following the crowded people.

The moment they stepped onto the land of Yunshi, the biting cold wind immediately changed the expressions of Chen Tingting and Li Jiaxin.

Their clothing might be acceptable in the south, but in the near-freezing north, it was pure torture.

Lin Xiaoshuang's lips turned white from the cold, and she instinctively moved closer to Bai Li.

"Let's go, let's take a taxi." Bai Li frowned as she looked at them shivering from the cold.

He had already declined his parents' offer to pick him up before getting on the bus, intending to take a taxi home by himself, but now he could give them a ride.

"Brother, it would cost over a hundred yuan to take a taxi back to Ping County from here, right? That's too expensive. Let's just continue taking the bus." Chen Tingting said, her teeth chattering.

Bai Li ignored her, hailed a taxi on the roadside, put the suitcase in the trunk, and then opened the back door.

"Get in the car."

His tone left no room for refusal. The three girls exchanged a glance, said no more, and quickly got into the car.

The narrow space inside the car became somewhat crowded with four people crammed in, with Bai Li sandwiched between Lin Xiaoshuang and Chen Tingting.

On the left is Lin Xiaoshuang's soft body, and on the right is Chen Tingting's mature and voluptuous figure.

The girls' shivering bodies calmed down a little after the heating was turned on.

"Master, to Ping County." Bai Li gave the address.

"Okay."

The car started and drove away from the bus station.

Bai Li took out her phone, scanned the QR code displayed by the driver, and paid the fare of 120 yuan.

He expected the system to sound another notification, but his mind remained completely silent.

He instantly understood that the money had been given directly to the driver.

It's not an investment in them unless it goes through the hands of the three girls.

It seems that this system isn't so easy to exploit.

Bai Li made a mental note of this.

More than an hour later, the taxi stopped at an intersection in Ping County.

"I'll drop you off here. Cars from the city aren't allowed to pick up passengers in the county." After saying that, the driver stepped on the gas and disappeared into the traffic.

Pingxian is a small town with a slow pace of life, completely different from the tense atmosphere of Shanghai where you are always chasing something.

The buildings here are not tall, generally around 10 stories.

As the Spring Festival approaches, various stalls selling couplets are set up on the streets, and there are middle-aged people with children, as well as some elderly men and women everywhere.

The familiar streets, the steam rising from the food stalls, the locals talking in their dialect—everything was exactly the same as when he left three years ago.

He looked at the three of them and asked:

"Where are you going? It's so cold outside, don't stay outside."

"We..." Chen Tingting was about to say something when a gust of cold wind blew by, making her words sound like her teeth chattering.

"I'll call a taxi and take you home to change your clothes first." Bai Li took out her phone, ready to call a taxi.

"No, brother, no need!" Chen Tingting immediately stopped him, shaking her head vigorously: "We're not going home."

Her tone carried a stubbornness and an imperceptible sense of loneliness.

"We're all left-behind children. No one's home all year round. What would we go back for? To watch the walls?"

Li Jiaxin, who was standing next to her, added in a low voice:

"We're going to stay at the internet cafe up ahead."

Go to an internet cafe?

Bai Li frowned.

Looking at their lips, which were purple from the cold, and Lin Xiaoshuang's eyes, which were almost about to cry, he felt inexplicably uneasy.

"Going to internet cafes is not a long-term solution."

He put away his phone, his tone calm but brooking no argument: "I'll help you find a place to stay."

Upon hearing this, the three girls' eyes lit up simultaneously, as if they had seen light in the darkness.

But the light lasted only a second before quickly dimming.

"Big brother, we don't have money to stay in a hotel..." Chen Tingting's voice lowered, sounding somewhat embarrassed.

Then, as if remembering something, she puffed out her chest and said with a hint of pride:

"But I know a place that's super cheap, only twenty-five a day! Let's go there!"

A hotel that costs 25 yuan a day?

Bai Li's mind stirred, and he became interested.

In Shanghai, 25 yuan can't even buy a decent cup of coffee.

Here, you can stay for a whole day.

He really wanted to see what kind of place it was.

"Alright, lead the way."

Seeing that Bai Li had agreed, Chen Tingting immediately perked up.

It was as if he had found a great deal, and was able to make a good impression on his newly recognized elder brother.

She took the lead and, familiar with the way, led the two of them down the path behind the station.

After crossing a road lined with breakfast stalls and vegetable vendors, they turned into a small alley.

The alley was very narrow, and the buildings on both sides were so close together that they cut the sky into a long, narrow gray strip.

"See that, bro? Those ladies getting their hair done over there. That's where I got my red hair dyed. The proprietress's skills are pretty good, right?"

Chen Tingting pointed to a shop whose signboard light was half broken and said smugly.

Bai Li glanced in the direction she pointed, but said nothing.

After walking about fifty meters, Chen Tingting stopped in front of a small building in a courtyard.

The building is three stories high, and large sections of the exterior wall plaster have peeled off, exposing the bricks underneath.

Several pieces of brightly colored women's underwear were hanging on the second-floor window, swaying in the cold wind.

Above the entrance hangs a crooked sign that, upon closer inspection, reads the four characters "Hongyun Hotel".

"We're here, brother! This is it!"

With a "look how good I am at finding a place" expression, Chen Tingting pushed open the iron gate outside the courtyard.