Chapter 3: Yanxi Night Market

After the call, he soon received the location his second uncle had sent. Cheng Yubai opened the navigation app, eased the car out of the underground parking garage of the high-speed rail north station, and once he reached the main road, he pressed the accelerator and headed straight for Yaxi Night Market.

Forty minutes of driving later, Jiang Wenbin was still unwilling to give up, coaxing his niece all the way not to be foolish enough to quit her job and go back to the countryside to drift through life. Jiang Yuan clenched her jaw and watched as her uncle’s little van crossed the high-tech district, then Tunsi city proper, and finally entered the road toward the suburbs and Peilang West Road. Her body and soul felt as though they were being simmered in a frying pan, and she could only hope to arrive at the destination soon.

At last, her uncle slowed down and began to creep along, searching for a parking space.

Seated in the passenger seat, Jiang Yuan stared out in disbelief. Along a stretch of open ground about a thousand meters long beside the river road, night stalls stood shoulder to shoulder like a long dragon: barbecue, snacks, milk tea, rice noodles, and all manner of food vendors gathered together. Groups of customers chatted as they ate, while the tempting fragrance drifted in through the window, thick with the lively smell of ordinary life.

The roadside was packed with cars and electric scooters from people coming here to enjoy the nightlife, and two police cars were patrolling back and forth.

Jiang Yuan’s eyes widened. “It’s so lively. Uncle, why are there so many barbecue places on this road? There are cars everywhere, and so many people. Is there a fair or something?”

Jiang Wenbin said, “This is Tunsi’s newly famous internet barbecue spot, Yaxi Night Market. It’s this lively every night. Lots of online influencers are livestreaming here. Your second uncle and second aunt have a barbecue stall here too, and they’re busy from evening till who-knows-when. They may not even be able to close up by midnight. Your mom came a few days ago to do a livestream, and she made your eldest uncle’s stall blow up. Now the foot traffic every night has surged.”

Jiang Yuan sat up straight. “I only knew Zibo barbecue was famous, with netizens from all over the country flocking there. So ours is popular now too?”

Jiang Wenbin looked pleased with himself. “Of course. It all got boosted by influencer livestreams. At first, people just thought it was novel and came in twos and threes after seeing it on short-video apps. Back then, everyone still wasn’t sure it would amount to anything. Who would have thought the popularity would keep growing, attracting more and more street vendors until it became what it is now? It’s unbelievably hot. The government is happy to see it thrive too, so they set up mobile toilets, added sewage, drainage, and power facilities, and on holidays they even allow fireworks and organize all kinds of cultural performances. Look, there are drones in the sky filming the night market right now.”

Through the car window, Jiang Yuan really did see the drones.

It was bustling beyond words.

At the bridgehead connecting to Yaxi Village across the river, a conspicuous sign stood there: Yaxi Night Market -- Rural E-Commerce Outdoor Livestreaming Base.

Jiang Wenbin seized a gap in the traffic and, after quite a while, finally managed to snatch a parking spot.

Once parked, Jiang Yuan pushed open the door and jumped out, following Jiang Wenbin to find her second uncle’s stall. Sure enough, she saw plenty of young men and women along the way livestreaming the spectacle of the night market.

Soon, Jiang Yuan spotted a middle-aged woman standing out conspicuously among a crowd of young people: her mother, Jiang Lanfang.

Her mother was standing in front of the second uncle’s stall, holding up her phone and talking away in a flood of words, full of energy, clearly livestreaming.

Afraid of accidentally getting into the frame, Jiang Yuan did not go up to her mother. Instead, she ran over to greet her second uncle and second aunt.

“Second uncle, aunt.”

“You’re back, Yuan Yuan? Hungry, aren’t you? What do you want to eat? Your second uncle will cook it for you. How about two jin of spicy crayfish?”

Jiang Yuan swallowed. “Sure. And I want barbecue too.”

“Find a seat yourself and wait.”

Jiang Yuan saw that all the tables and chairs in front of the stall were already occupied, and many customers were standing nearby, wanting to order beer, barbecue, and crayfish but afraid they would have nowhere to sit, hesitating indecisively. She decided not to take up a seat, rolled up her sleeves, and went to help her second uncle.

Whenever she saw a table where the customers were almost done eating, she would immediately grab a rag and a trash bin, hurry over, clean the mess off the table, and collect all the bowls and chopsticks into a stainless-steel basin to take to her second aunt, who was crouched in the corner of the stall, to wash.

Her second aunt was sitting on a small stool, wearing an apron and rubber gloves, washing the dirty bowls and chopsticks in the basin with a splashing racket, repeatedly telling Jiang Yuan not to fuss and to fill her stomach first.

Her second uncle also called to her, “Yuan Yuan, the spicy crayfish is ready. Come over and taste your second uncle’s handiwork. What are you busying yourself with? Don’t get your nice clothes dirty. How could you do this kind of work?”

Jiang Yuan cheerfully busied herself pointlessly, standing beside her second uncle and munching on a basin of spicy crayfish while watching him grill lamb skewers until they sizzled, then sprinkle them with cumin and chili powder. The aroma hit her all at once, irresistible to the extreme. No wonder business was so good.

In this bustling night market, besides food, there were also many young women selling small accessories: delicate necklaces and bracelets, adorable hair clips and earrings, imaginative phone cases and keychains, glowing cat ears, and exquisite hand-held bouquets.

There were also plenty of amusements for children: inflatable castles, bouncy castles, bumper cars, goldfish scooping, turtle scooping. Parents and children played with unrestrained delight.

If she had not seen it with her own eyes, Jiang Yuan would never have believed this was suburban countryside on the outskirts of a fifth-tier city. She remembered that if one crossed the bridge over there, one would reach Yaxi Village.

Thinking that at this hour she would normally still be slogging away at the company like an overworked ox, while the people back home were living a nightlife of eating, drinking, and having fun, Jiang Yuan forgot all about her younger uncle’s painstaking advice in the car. Once again, she lifted her spirits and encouraged herself: “My mom was right. Rather than suffering miserably in a big city, it’s better to go home and enjoy a slow life!”

At last, her mother turned off her phone and ended the livestream.

Jiang Yuan immediately went over. Before she even got close, she saw a man in his forties walk up to her mother, hand her a bottle of mineral water, and chat with her in a lively, smiling manner, telling her to moisten her throat.

The man was lean, a little tall, dressed in a simple but elegant black-and-white casual style, understated yet refined, with a very distinguished air.

Jiang Yuan stopped and tugged at her younger uncle, who was helping nearby, asking gossipily, “Little uncle, who’s that? What’s going on?”

Jiang Wenbin glanced over and answered as though it were already routine. “Just some fishing guy, here on vacation. He comes to fish at the reservoir in our village every day. He says he’s your mom’s fan and likes watching her cooking videos. They make him so hungry he says it cured his loss of appetite.”

“Really? My mom has fans too? He’s not some scammer, is he?”

Jiang Yuan walked over openly and threw her arms wide, ready to fling herself into her mother’s embrace, drawing out her voice in a sweet, spoiled tone: “Mom.”

Jiang Lanfang had a fiery personality and a loud voice, the very image of an energetic rural woman. Her fashionable short-permed hair made her seem like a blaze of fire, always ready to ignite everyone around her, and she loved to laugh; her smile was like the winter sun, able to disperse the gloom in anyone’s heart.

She pulled her daughter into her arms at once, holding her for a long while before reluctantly letting go. Looking at her face, she could not resist teasing her:

“My precious daughter is finally back. Come let Mom have a look. Just how much hardship have you suffered out there? You look completely worn down.”

Jiang Yuan muttered miserably, “That’s called office decay, okay?”

Then her gaze fell on the cultured-looking man standing beside them, and she blinked. “Who is this uncle? I’ve never seen him before.”

Jiang Lanfang said, “Yuan Yuan, call him Uncle Cheng.”

Then she introduced her to Cheng Qingyan. “Brother Cheng, this is my daughter. She just came back from the big city. My daughter takes after me in looks, doesn’t she? You can tell at a glance we’re mother and daughter, right? Everyone says we look like sisters.”

Cheng Qingyan had just said, “She does,”

when a tall young man came looking for him from not far away, calling in a low, magnetic voice, “Second uncle.”

Jiang Yuan looked over at the sound, and her eyes nearly popped.

Wasn’t that the back-view heartthrob she had run into at the high-speed rail station?

But Cheng Yubai was already scrutinizing the mother and daughter pair with guarded eyes.

He had assumed the internet celebrity who had bewitched his second uncle would be a sweet, sunny young girl like Jiang Yuan.

A dark thought crossed his mind: What a sin. Could his second uncle actually be trying to chase a young woman despite his age?