EFB Chapter 124 Road Trip
Chapter 124 Road Trip
After dealing with Wei Min's message, he opened the product requirements document sent by He Biqiong.
The live streaming feature of Magic Book is scheduled to launch its internal testing next week, initially only open to high-quality content creators certified by the platform, including Song Yin's beauty account.
The product link function in the live broadcast room is still under development, but the tipping and bullet screen interaction functions can be tested first.
Scroll down further to find the "Specialty Products Map" feature, which will be launched after the New Year. This feature will mark all the agricultural products that Su Peixue has photographed on a map according to their geographical location. Users can click on it to see the corresponding videos, place of origin information, and purchase channels.
He Biqiong added a note at the end of the document: This function needs to be integrated with Zhao Jin's supply chain backend, and the development cycle is expected to be four weeks.
Lin Ran finished reading the document, added a few notes on the "Specialty Products Map" page, and clicked "Approve".
Then he opened the message sent by Gu Nianxi—she was in Shanghai running business collaborations for Magic Book, and recently contacted three brands that wanted to get the top spot in Magic Book's information feed.
Gu Nianxi said she had done background checks on all three brands, found no negative public opinion, and that their product quality inspection reports were complete and met the previously established GG entry standards. Lin Ran replied "Okay" and sent her the contract template.
It was already evening when Lin Ran finished dealing with all the business. He closed his laptop, rubbed the back of his neck, walked to the window, and drew back the curtains. The sky was already dark, the streetlights were on, and there weren't many people on the street. The small county town was especially quiet at night in winter.
At night, just as Lin Ran lay down, the door was gently pushed open. Su Peixue stood in the doorway, holding a pillow that was soaked, turning the light-colored pillowcase dark.
She was wearing that light pink nightgown, her hair was loose, and there was a little red under her eyes, not the kind of red from crying, but a different kind. She hugged the pillow to her chest, her voice hoarse.
"Zookeeper".
Lin Ran sat up. "What did you dream about? Your pillow is all wet from crying."
Su Peixue threw the wet pillow onto his bed, climbed on top, and knelt down in front of him. She looked down at her fingers, then looked up at him, her eyes glistening with tears, but her lips were upturned in a smile.
"It wasn't crying. It was pinched."
Lin Ran didn't react. "What??"
"Xuexue was thinking about the zookeeper while she was pinching him." After she finished speaking, she looked straight at him with her almond-shaped eyes, and there was something flickering in her pupils. It wasn't shyness, but frankness, the kind of frankness that said, "I told you, what can you do to me?"
Lin Ran's mind went blank for a moment. This girl was being so direct. Before he could say anything, Su Peixue had already pulled back his blanket and crawled inside.
She grabbed his wrist, pulled him into the covers, and then led him by the hand into her pajamas. She clung to him like a cat that had found its nest, gently rubbing against him.
Lin Ran moved very carefully. Su Peixue buried her face in his chest, her breathing becoming faster and shallower.
The room was quiet, save for her suppressed breathing and the rustling of the blankets. After a while, she went limp and collapsed into his arms, a thin layer of sweat on her forehead.
Su Peixue was asleep. Her breathing was even, her eyelashes were drooping, the corners of her mouth were upturned, and her face still had a trace of cherry blossom pink.
Lin Ran gently pulled his hand out of her pajamas to cover her with the blanket, then tiptoed out of bed. He walked to the window and opened it a crack.
The cold winter wind blew in, dispersing the rich fragrance in the room. He stood by the window for a while, then went to the bathroom to wash his face with cold water.
He turned the tap on full blast, letting the cold water splash on his face and trickle down his chin. He looked at himself in the mirror and took a deep breath.
Calm down. Calm down!
With a week left before the New Year, Lin Ran closed his laptop, told Xu Wanru that he was taking Su Peixue out for a drive, and then drove out of the county town.
The Xiangxi loop route, including Fenghuang, Furong Town, Aizhai, and Dehang, took four days and three nights, and we returned before New Year's Eve.
Su Peixue sat in the passenger seat, took off her shoes, and curled up on the seat. Next to each location, there were signs indicating the camera position and the estimated arrival time.
Her finger slowly traced the route, from the beginning to the end, and back again, before tucking it into the car door storage compartment. She turned to look out the window at the roadside trees that were receding into the distance.
It was already afternoon when we arrived in Fenghuang. The guesthouse we booked was located by the Tuojiang River. It was a converted old stilted building. The wooden stairs creaked as we walked, and with each step, fine dust rose from the cracks in the wooden planks.
The room window faces the river. The Tuo River is quiet in winter, without the crowds and noise of summer.
A thin layer of mist floated on the river, and the reflection of the stilted houses swayed gently in the water, shimmering and fragmenting.
Su Peixue leaned on the windowsill and looked down. Occasionally, locals carrying loads of cured meat and glutinous rice cakes would walk by on the bluestone road, the carrying poles bending in an arc on their shoulders.
She looked around for a while, then turned back and said that this place was different from Guishu Village. Guishu Village was quiet, but this place was slow-paced.
In the evening, the two walked half a circle along the Tuo River. The former residence of the literati was already closed, and the sign at the entrance was blown askew by the wind. Su Peixue reached out and straightened it, leaving a faint fingerprint on the sign.
At the North Gate Wharf, a few locals were washing vegetables. The sound of wooden mallets beating clothes came from the water, muffled, one after another, carrying far across the quiet river.
Lights were lit up on the Wind and Rain Tower, their orange glow reflected on the river surface, stretching into streaks of light by the ripples, as if someone had also lit a row of lights underwater.
Su Peixue bought a fried rice cake under the bridge. The old man wrapped the bottom of the cake in oil paper and handed it to her. She took a bite, chewed it a couple of times, and then held the remaining half of the cake up to Lin Ran. She held it up very naturally, as if she had done this ten thousand times before.
Lin Ran took the rest and stuffed it all into his mouth, then crumpled the oil paper into a ball and threw it into the trash can. Su Peixue watched him finish the last bite, a slight smile playing on her lips, before turning and continuing to walk along the riverbank.
We had dinner at a small restaurant next to the guesthouse, where the owner recommended local dishes: blood duck and sour fish soup.
Blood cake is made by stuffing glutinous rice into pig's blood, steaming it, slicing it, and cooking it with duck. It is black and red in color, with firm duck meat and soft and glutinous blood cake.
Su Peixue picked out all the blood cakes and ate them, chewing for a long time until her cheeks ached. Then she put the remaining half into Lin Ran's bowl.
Lin Ran glanced at her, and she said without changing her expression that it was too salty, but her eyes were already looking at the next dish.
She did drink two bowls of the sour fish soup, scooping it up with a spoon and bringing it to her mouth. After finishing, her lips were flushed red, and she was panting from the spiciness, fanning herself with her hand. After a while, she scooped up another spoonful. On the way back to the inn, she kept sniffing.