Chapter 200 - 108: First Attempt at Archery
Li Younan said with some concern, "Are you going to stay up late again? Edit it tomorrow after getting up."
Brother Long said nonchalantly, "It’s not the first day I’ve stayed up late."
Li Younan sighed slightly, "That’s not good for your health. Why don’t you try a regular schedule? Or do you have to work night shifts?"
Brother Long said discontentedly, "You talk too much..."
Li Younan was momentarily speechless, feeling perhaps he was being a bit nagging, so he let Brother Long be.
But just as he was about to rest and was putting down his phone, Brother Long suddenly sent a message: "Thank you."
Li Younan looked at those two words, his expression a bit peculiar.
But in the next moment, those two words were recalled.
He found it amusing and sent back: "What message did you withdraw?"
Though he felt this question seemed like stating the obvious.
However, Brother Long clearly didn’t realize this, and blandly replied: "Sent by mistake, mocking words, best if you didn’t see them."
...
The next morning, Brother Long sent over the video.
The video started with a preview, exactly the shot of the arrow hitting the rat, and then cut into the main content of the video.
Undoubtedly, this kind of editing piqued the curiosity of the video audience.
To see how that shot was achieved, everyone would be quite willing to watch the video up to that point.
The theme of this video was sharing a day camping in Jiuzhaigou with Li Younan, very worth watching.
The segment involving Ze Wangxiu’s café was handled by Brother Long without giving the video an advertising feel, purely a sensory share.
And the entrepreneurial project of a few college students towards the end enriched the entire video.
Brother Long’s editing was as steady as ever.
Even if this video doesn’t become a sensational hit, just the scene of the arrow hitting the rat gives it a high baseline.
Li Younan didn’t know how much traffic this video could bring to Ze Wangxiu, but this was what he could do to the best of his ability.
Then, the next third day, they still hadn’t set out.
Li Younan and the others went to see Nenensangcuo - Immortal Pool.
In the afternoon with nothing to do, they visited the basketball court at Huamei Scenic Spot again.
The Tibetan king of the court was still there, and they played some basketball with him again.
Li Younan dunked on the spot, livening up the atmosphere on the street court.
The king of the court was also spurred and after breaking through, he dunked in return, marking a challenge to Li Younan.
At this moment, the atmosphere peaked. After all, wherever you are, those who can dunk are an absolute highlight.
After the match, Nigmei came over to greet Li Younan, smiling, "I usually don’t dunk, too easy to get injured."
Li Younan was a bit surprised; Nigmei was quite different from the Tibetan people he had in mind.
Firstly, Nigmei was a very pure Tibetan, yet his Mandarin was very standard, even carrying a bit of a northeastern accent. It must relate to him attending university in the northeast.
Besides, when interacting with Ze Wangxiu yesterday, Li Younan discovered that Tibetan people enjoy drinking culture.
However, Nigmei was very disciplined; he doesn’t drink, and seldom dunks when playing matches, his actions being simple and crisp, undoubtedly worthy of the title King of the Court in Tibetan Aba.
Li Younan also mutually followed the court king, even talking about meeting up again in the future.
When they returned to the hotel in the evening, Li Younan had a peculiar feeling.
In fact, coming to Jiuzhaigou for travel, sightseeing was just one aspect. The scenery here is indeed breathtaking and beautiful, but what’s more interesting was meeting two people here.
Whether it was the warm greeting from Ze Wangxiu or the unexpected acquaintance with the King of the Court from Aba, both gave Li Younan some new insights into the Tibetan minority.
Traveling a thousand miles is indeed a very interesting thing. It greatly enriches your understanding. The more places you visit, the more experiences you have, the more inclusive your perspective becomes, and you’re less likely to become extreme.
For instance, if someone says how people from a certain place behave, or how a certain ethnic group behaves, such views would basically not take hold in Li Younan’s heart.
Things, everything, are complicated.
...
Next, they would not backtrack, departing straight from Jiuzhaigou to Songpan, then taking a detour from Songpan to the Ruoergai Grassland for a visit.
Li Younan had calculated, if they set off early in the morning, they could reach Ruoergai by noon.
Ruoergai is a real plateau, with the county town itself having an altitude over 3000 meters, and many places have altitudes even exceeding 4000 meters.
September has already passed the spring season of the grassland, approximately late spring to early winter, and that place goes from spring to winter as soon as spring passes. If they go now, they can still experience the grassland before it snows.
Early in the morning, they set out.
On the way today, Zhao Ruoxuan behaved a bit unusually. When her mom spoke to her, she didn’t talk back and constantly watched videos in the car.
After a while, she sighed slightly and suddenly said, "Brother Younan, how do you know so much?"
Li Younan leaned back in his seat because the road from Jiuzhaigou to Songpan is uphill; even the V8 engine of the Land Cruiser showed a slight sign of oxygen deficiency, the engine noise being loud but the power somewhat weaker than on flat terrain.
Li Younan said calmly, "I learned it."
Zhao Ruoxuan sighed slightly, feeling a bit emotional, and said, "I know why that Tibetan brother said what he said yesterday."
"What did he say?" Li Younan asked curiously.
"He said you didn’t just rely on live streaming to have so many followers, nor did you rely on travel to have so many followers."
Li Younan nodded, "Oh."
"You know so many things, that’s why everyone is willing to watch your videos, that’s the reason."
Li Younan found it amusing, "Why did you suddenly become so sentimental?"
Zhao Ruoxuan said seriously, "I’m serious. I still want to become a big anchor, a big internet celebrity, but yesterday I suddenly understood something. There are so many travel bloggers, why would anyone watch you? I scrolled to your video, the one I shot for you, shooting an arrow at the mouse with one ear..."
Li Younan interrupted, "What is the mouse with one ear?"
Zhao Ruoxuan made a disdainful expression, "You don’t even know about the mouse with one ear, it’s from ’Black Cat Sheriff’! How outdated you are..."
Li Younan immediately fell silent.
These youngsters...
Zhao Ruoxuan continued, "Stop interrupting, let me finish, I’ve figured it out now."
Zhao Xiaofang, who had been silent on the side, didn’t expect her daughter to suddenly have such an epiphany, becoming so sensible, and softly asked, "So, my dear, you don’t want to be an internet celebrity anymore?"
Zhao Ruoxuan frowned, "Of course not! I just know how to become an internet celebrity now!"
"I’ve figured it out, in the future I’ll just carry a drawing board around while traveling, and paint interesting things, and make videos of them; people will definitely watch. Brother Younan, what do you think?"
Li Younan gazed at the forest highway ahead; the stretch from Jiuzhaigou to Songpan was extremely beautiful, like passing through a Nordic forest.
Li Younan smiled, "So it’s still important to learn and master your skills well."
He glanced at Zhao Ruoxuan in the rearview mirror.
Every young person has a time of confusion, especially those in their teenage years; they defy authority and resist being lectured.
Even if deep inside they vaguely feel some truths, they fail to unify knowledge and action.
Perhaps, in such a state, they grow up in a daze, looking back on this period with sighs.
But maybe, at some point, they have an epiphany, achieving true unity of knowing and doing, and life changes.
As long as the choice is made by oneself, regardless of the outcome, there will be no regrets.
Even if the result is different from what one imagined... so what? What can be done?
It’s all good.
The car continued, the wheels kicking up two leaves.
