I called Fido all afternoon, due to it sent me a urgent email and asked me to pay $165. It looked like a ghost.

Finally I paid $2.96 and I hope that’s it.

中午和小欢欢去吃了冰粉，姚述屿也来和我们一起，绿豆冰粉可好吃了。吃完对面 36 块钱开了两个小时自助 KTV，休息了一下。

晚上我们一起和峰哥，猛哥吃了牛肉，味道还可以，就是相对来说太贵了，不划算，两斤半就吃了 300 多。

吃完后去骚坤求婚的地方，我觉得这些事情有点尴尬，并不是很想布置。但最后的效果还是挺经验了，超乎预期，果然真诚最重要。

仪式弄完，我们就准备撤了。后面因为没有提前化的蛋糕，又继续坐着聊了好一会儿。十点钟，再不走就不行了。峰哥开着他新提的理想送我们去龙洞堡机场。峰哥说他这个车听日落大道效果特别好。

结果没唱几句，想到只能和小欢欢呆几个小时了。眼泪就在眼眶里打转转留下来了。音乐具有击穿心理屏障的作用。

和峰哥道别后，在酒店马上就和小欢欢相拥而泣了。难过并不是我们没有信心，而只是单纯的不舍，想时刻在彼此身边。

中午到了贵阳，预约了个滴滴直奔白云区，我提前在兄弟牛杂订好了位置。好久没吃了，还是挺好吃的。好久没见有些生疏了，我要习惯于人际交往中的突然安静。

郭师傅带我去办理护照的相关事情，在半路把小欢欢放在了酒店休息。郭师傅对我的事情非常的伤心，带着我东跑西跑。很快便把事情弄完了，还去去入境管理局咨询了出境的相关事情，最后又开着车把我送回酒店。非常感谢郭师傅，心里暖暖的。

欢欢给我买了个超贵的耳机，很开心但是还是有些不想要，太贵了。去打印了保留党籍的资料并寄了出去。

晚上约了老师们吃饭，想到今天是七夕节，突然想到给老师们买一束花吧。点好菜之后我们问着工作人员找到了花鸟市场。买到了非常漂亮的花，一朵一朵挑的。

吃完已经比较晚了，打车回酒店准备休息了。

此时 i 人属性体现了，我很想今晚继续和小欢欢在一起，但是我待不住。想过去图书馆，去公园，自己开一个酒店。想想还是和小欢欢一起去水城吧。

下午的时候又和小欢欢一起回去了。欢欢妈妈做了炒蚕豆，拌辣椒和折耳根。油烟机坏了，明天去修修看。

晚上我们还去买了烧烤回来吃，和欢欢爸爸喝了一杯酒。欢欢爸爸妈妈还给我塞了 1000 块钱。

一点钟才睡。

逛完之后，又和小欢欢去二香酸汤鱼粉，我们贪婪地加了鱼头、鱼翅、鱼排。

在出租屋简单休息了一下，出发前往盘州。欢欢找小雪帮我拿了护照，我们一起去吃了干锅牛肉，还把在水城市集买的菌子也洗了吃了。

然后一起去欢欢的房子看了看，走路回到欢欢家，已经接近十点钟了。

有点小累的一天。

于是今天就来了，早上小欢欢加了一早上班，写出来一个看起来像报告的报告。

然后我们就去车站接小何，突然想到叫璇璇一起。我就把璇璇的刚准备吃的螺蛳粉抢来了。

然后我们去吃了黄金烤洋芋，下午去 KTV 唱了一会儿歌，然后去吃了青瓦房烙锅。

吃撑的一天。

今天早上起来把保险一起看了，租房算是告一段落了。

中午下雨又没带我妈出去玩，每天都在等待，浑浑噩噩。

小欢欢下班来找我了。我们一起去吃了 39 元的自助烧烤，雨一直下，有些烦。

我们走路回家，到出租屋的时候已经快 12 点了。

在街上的时候，宁宁一如既往的依依不舍，她想不明白，为什么我们每次都要这样狠心的离开。

她伤心的如此纯粹，不掺杂一丝丝任何其他的情绪，只是想我们能在彼此身边。她和曼曼拥抱亲吻了每一个人，我们各自带着彼此心里的祝福离开。

下一站是爸爸上班的地方——湾田煤矿。因为不怎么顺路，而且路比较脏，爸爸上班也比较早。妈妈姐姐都叫他自己先走，不要叫我送。而我则将这些复杂的情感转嫁到金钱上来：都可以送，把油加满就行！

这次爸爸没有叫我们送到他的住处，到煤矿门口跟前就喝止我们，就在这里下车了。爸爸如我预言的一样回头。

下一站是欢欢家，我想多和欢欢呆在一起，不管是什么环境。于是提前和妈妈说好要在欢欢家吃晚饭。

我们特意留他们两个大人单独相处，感受 i 人的情绪；而我和欢欢则乘机去看看凤仙和她的宝宝，有自己的小家挺好的，虽然可能会有各种烦恼。

吃完晚饭，我和欢欢把哥哥的车擦了一遍，不然实在是太脏了。擦完感觉干净了许多，心里也舒服了许多。

到水城已经是 8 点四十了，和妈妈分别，前往出租屋。

感觉今天好累啊，躺着休息了一会儿舒服了很多。

今天早上刚七点半，妈妈就打电话来说啥时候出发。我说雨非常大，我再睡一会儿。然后我妈去卖核桃，我想着叫她去明湖菜场旁边的蜜雪冰城避避雨，就借口叫她买柠檬水分我们喝。

结果他走了好远好远，走到了体育局这边，把自己的鞋都弄湿了。昨天小欢欢就已经帮我把大部分的行李收拾好了。我去找到妈妈，然后把车开过来，还买了糯米饭。嘲笑了妈妈一番，她只顾傻傻的笑着。

上下楼梯三两次，我们就把该拿的东西拿得差不多了。出发回家！

一路上的空气特别好，因为一直在下雨的缘故。我们心情也都非常好。

开了两个小时就到四格了，妈妈说带我们下馆子。于是我想起来之前说要带小欢欢尝尝干锅牛肉的味道，正好就提议这次来吃干过牛肉。牛肉特别的新鲜，第一碗酸菜也非常好吃。

吃完姐姐他们也来了，在街上简单逛了逛。把我的洗衣机搬上六楼，便从四个回到家里了。

玩了一会儿我和小欢欢就困了，然后就睡觉。曼曼宁宁你也特别听话的没有来打扰我们。

妈妈自己一个人弄好了晚饭，还包好了饺子。快五点的时候我叫宁宁去叫欢欢起床。然后爸爸也快到了，我我们带着宁宁去接老爸。老爸他也给宁宁买了牛奶，宁宁一靠在她外公的怀里，马上就静静地不说话睡着了。

晚饭很好吃，我吃了三碗饭。吃完就简单的聊天，和曼曼玩游戏，就到了该入睡的时候了。

一整夜都睡得很安稳。

然后一早上开始帮小欢欢着急护照的事情，很想叫她赶紧把护照办好，以后的联系就能够更方便些。

中午吃完酸汤鱼粉回来，自己给自己剪了头发。发现没有想象中那么难，就是左手有点不大跟脑子。

然后下午去农行、建行激活了对应的银行卡，为以后可能要用到做好工作，虽然大概率可能用不到，但就怕万一，多留一些信用额度也是好的。

弄好回来把脏碗筷洗了，时间就差不多了。雨下得特别大，穿着洞洞鞋，撑着伞去坐一路公交接小欢欢。在车上突然想吃手枪腿了，于是在闲鱼上花了十三块钱买了一个。

我在德克士避雨，等小欢欢来手枪腿差不多好了。两个人一起吃就会美味加倍，很奇怪。然后我们走着光着，小欢欢想吃香辣虾，我想加加点螃蟹，就点了一个虾蟹大战的套餐。味道还不错，就是量有些少。不过吃其他的也吃饱了。

见面就很幸福！

吃完我们去菜市场逛了逛，买了一些西红柿，烤鹌鹑蛋，黄瓜还有羊角蜜。

回来吃吃喝喝就已经三点过了，好想时间暂停。简单休息会儿，送小欢欢去坐车了。自己坐公交回来，没啥胃口。简单把剩菜热了热，煮了碗面放进去，不大好吃。

然后晚上又玩了好久的游戏，MOBA 游戏太看运气了。总是会有各种气人的情况出现。

白天一开始想着去水库逛逛，后面发现太热了，在公园里面躺了好久。然后就准备回来了。

晚上去买了两个大鱼头，叫老板多给了我们一些汤。我们拿回来煮上素菜，超级好吃。

我曾经也有同样的想法，而且还不止一次，却没有一次付诸行动。比如开发网站让人们互相鼓励好好生活，比如买了相机去给到各地大家拍照。

还有更多时候是感慨，哀民生之多艰，却只能无能为力。总觉得自己没有能力，没有精力和金钱。可动起来迈一步就已经是前进一步。

晚上带小欢欢去吃了羊肉串，没有馕了，后面才发现美团上面便宜很多，亏大了，难受。

起来看回盘州的车票，密密麻麻全是候补。无奈放弃回盘州的想法，改为回水城。

我和小欢欢在车上吃了泡面，下车我们去吃了舂舂鸡自助火锅。

头晕晕的，太难受了。

妈妈他们最近那边婆媳关系不好，害，我也无能为力。每个人都做的很好，但就是相处不好。

为了省点钱开始我们选择坐火车去，提前买了蜜雪冰城。一路坐过去还挺舒服的。

菜还可以，但就是特别贵。酒也喝的很多，到KTV那一步已经醉了。

使用了git sync的软件，然后手动将obsidian和主题文件夹复制过来。在obsidian git的插件上设置好了同步的认证和相关参数。昨天的日记就是由手机推送的。

非常完美，以后随时随地都可以推送了。

01:02 睡觉

把手机上同步到 GitHUB 折腾好了

10:45 洗完澡

洗完澡，整个人开始火起来了，算是一天当中正式的起床。早上躺床上，玩了会手机，聊了些天。

06:19 肚子饿了

今天把老手机机型改了，然后英雄联盟手游锁帧解除了。改成小米 15 ultra 之后，明显发现手机变得流畅多了。

小欢欢已经在前往红果坐车了，捞点小零食吃吃，等她来再一起去吃烤鱼。

08:25 坐上公交了

准备去接小欢欢咯，眼睛有点难受。

黄土坡这边还是有点老了，没啥人，去看了几家烤鱼店好像要不看起来不好吃，要就比较贵。

最后我们在白鹤公园旁边找了家店，买了炸土豆，买了鲜榨果汁，买了羊肉串，然后等烤鱼好的时候我们已经吃不动了。

现在妈妈可能也要去买菜，于是打电话问她要不要一起去，结果她说她已经到了。我们起床洗漱，然后就出门了，去菜市场买了好多东西，但是没有看到有卖菌子的。

中午回来欢欢炒了空心菜，然后我们煮了小瓜，还有昨天没吃完的鱼，继续炖了个汤，美好的午餐就完成了。

吃完午餐照例休息会儿就开始睡午觉，下午小欢欢就要走了，难过。

然后开始打游戏，证明自己，准备像飞哥一样把王者荣耀卸载了。

然后我们就开始去买菜，准备晚饭。欢欢说的想吃鱼了，我也有点想吃鱼，然后我们就去后面的菜市场去买了鱼。本来想买黑鱼的，但是没有卖的这一家。然后我们就买了草鱼，最小的草鱼都有 3 斤 6 两，13块钱 1 斤。

我们尝试把鱼刺剔除，我们把鱼分成了两份，一份用来煮酸菜鱼，另外一份用来炸。都非常的好吃，就是油炸的那份有点过于油腻了。

吃饭的时候我突然想起，我们两个基本上已经掌握了生活的基本技能，至少以后不会饿肚子了。

昨天凌晨和小欢欢说晚安之后，又叫飞哥打游戏，打到两点钟。今天早上起床之后又叫飞哥打游戏，下午又继续打，相当于打了一整天的游戏。

下午小欢欢下班比较累，打电话过来，我刚刚开始了一局游戏。我想静静的听他诉说完这些事情，没想到王者荣耀的惩罚机制现在太过于变态了。挂机了几分钟就直接把我踢出游戏，并且判定为失败。

无所谓了，游戏而已。

小欢欢说想吃素瓜豆，我赶忙去菜市场买了新鲜的小瓜和金豆。煮好了之后赶紧坐上公交车来到龙城广场来接她。我们都想珍惜好每一分钟可以相聚的时间，太难得了。

见到小欢欢以后，我们走到人民广场的时候，突然想看到对面的炸鸡，想吃一份，然后我们就去买了，就坐在路边吃，炸的一份脆皮藕特别好吃，其他的一般。

吃的时候内心突然涌出一股特别幸福的感觉，平平淡淡的，又特别难得。

简单吃了些晌午，我们便开始纷纷离开家。曼曼宁宁还是照例拥抱了我们，亲吻了我们的脸颊。

先是送爸爸前往煤矿，我们直接送他到了他居住的钢蓬小屋，简单呆了几分钟，我们就返回抓紧赶路了。每个人心里都五味杂陈。爸爸很不舍，妈妈和欢欢内心有了一些新的其他的想法。

又经过一个半小时的车程，到了干沟桥。欢欢的爸爸在家，简单的寒暄了几句。拿上直接给爷爷买的助听器，准备前往二叔家，试试这个助听器能不能用。结果是完全不能用。

在二叔家炸了点糯米粑粑吃，我们就回来了。欢欢妈妈也回来了，坚持要留我们吃饭。欢欢爸爸去外面餐馆端了条鱼回来。很快吃完饭后我们便马上启程赶回水城了。

因为高速路还没有修好，硬是跑了三个多小时才到水城。妈妈陪我一起去停了车。回家躺下给小欢欢打视频，累的不行，灯都来不及关闭就睡着了。

小欢欢和我睡了懒觉，起来把剩饭热了热吃。家里监控一直提示检测到运动轨迹，点开一看是家里人。突然想回家了，欢欢说那就回家。

开始想着租一个车，虽然不贵，但是加上杂七杂八的保险过路费油费还是很贵。于是突然想到哥哥的车目前是闲置的，应该可以借来。

简单收拾好东西，欢欢把脏的碗筷洗了。我们找哥哥拿到了钥匙，开始了即刻的返程。

经过快三个小时的驾驶，我们终于回到了家中。和小孩玩了玩，妈妈做好了晚饭，我们出去散了散步。

回到家中睡了一个香甜的觉。

下午姚律打电话过来说一起吃饭，我们一起去吃了清水烫。八点过骑车去接小欢欢。这家清水烫同样非常的好吃，只是有点点贵。

而后叫小欢欢先回家，我们又喝酒喝到四点过。

好久没有打篮球，和他们一起去打了篮球，明显发现自己的身体跟不上剧烈的运动了。晚上去吃宣威菜，特别的好吃，吃了好多。吃完后一起骑车回民宿，很快乐的感觉。

大黄买了码字，少见的赢了 15 块钱。而后就开始喝酒了，喝到快四点钟，实在太困了，睡了。

提前和凤仙打了招呼，凤仙给我们点了陪护餐。到干沟桥，我们去拿了之前买的激光测距仪，准备完事之后去帮小欢欢量一下房子。

飞哥买了很多水果。凤仙见到我们非常的开心，我们也是，宝宝在另外一个房间我们并没有看到。

月子中心的一个副店长小菊，人非常好。我们想着这是一个不可多得的机会，让飞哥脱单的机会。于是各种机会都让给飞哥表现，但是飞哥心里别扭，一直没有进一步发展。

看完凤仙后，我拉着飞哥陪我去量小欢欢的房子。粗略量了一下，飞哥便着急去赶昆明的高铁了。

而我在去吃了一碗酸汤鱼粉，然后找了个地方打游戏，等着小欢欢从南昌回来。我们见面已经快九点钟了，然后去单位加班。电脑还没有打开，小欢欢看我特别想去昆明。便说走！立马打了个车，等快到高铁站的时候，发现最后一班车已经不能够买票了，我们悻悻然只能叫师傅再送我们回来。

然后看顺风车，发现现在的顺风车并不是顺风车，都是专职的司机。要加钱，承担各种高速过路费等等，实在太贵作罢。

然后我们一起加班到两点过，小欢欢的这些工作是在是没有多少意义，单纯折腾人而已。很多工作都能够在系统设计层面予以解决，却要折磨最基层的人。

——补录于 2025 年 8 月 19 日

Haha, now I’ve got dirt on her—and I even cleaned it up for her.

After eating the tomato and egg noodles Huanhuan’s dad made, I got ready to head back to Shuicheng, while Huanhuan had to go to work. We chatted for twenty minutes at the bus stop, and it was really fun. She waited until I got on the bus before leaving for her shift.

Once in Shuicheng, I went to see my favorite Tony for a shampoo and haircut—he even gave me a facial. I felt completely refreshed afterward. Then I picked up my bank card, went home, showered, and headed to Bank of China to activate it.

I stopped by the supermarket to buy some rice noodles but forgot to grab eggs.

Back home, I washed my dirty clothes and lazily lounged in bed scrolling through my phone.

By the time I got up and got ready, it was almost 11 o’clock. Big Huang fried some eggs for us, and I ate a big, hearty bowl. Fully prepared, we headed to IKEA—this was my first time visiting IKEA with Little Huanhuan. We ended up with quite a haul; a cozy room doesn’t actually need to be all that complicated or troublesome.

At IKEA, we even won some free mashed potatoes and ice cream in a lucky draw. Big Huang bought a hotdog, hoping to snag a free tiramisu cake, but unfortunately, that didn’t work out.

After IKEA, Fangfang and Big Huang took us for a massage. The massage place had a nice ambiance, but honestly, I didn’t feel much difference afterward. Then, we took a taxi to meet Lao Sao for some mushroom dishes. Each type of mushroom was quite expensive, but they didn’t taste particularly great—nowhere near as delicious as I remembered.

After dinner, we went to Lao Sao’s rented place, sat around for a bit, and chatted. Time flew by, and we had to hurry to the subway station to catch our train to South Station. Fangfang rode her e-bike to guide us—it was really touching.

Even on the subway, Huanhuan and I couldn’t stop marveling at how lucky I was to have such amazing friends.

By the time we got back to Huanhuan’s place, it was already 10:30 p.m., and her grandpa was there too. After a brief chat, we washed up and went to bed. Maybe because we were exhausted, I slept more soundly than usual.

On our way out, we noticed many unusually large carp and goldfish in the river by the entrance, so we grabbed the net we used for catching crayfish and decided to try our luck at fishing. After having rice noodles with Fangfang, we returned to the river only to find the water had suddenly turned murky, and the fish seemed to have been washed away. We walked along the riverbank and, sure enough, spotted the fish being carried along by the current not too far away.

The fish struggled hard to swim upstream, resisting the force of the river. But the moment they stopped, the current would sweep them away again. In the end, no matter how hard they tried, none of them could escape the relentless flow.

Still, the fish were quite clever—despite our efforts, we didn’t manage to catch a single one. They darted away as soon as they saw us moving.

But the outing wasn’t a total loss. We ended up with a big turtle, a loach (which the turtle later ate at home), and a large snail.

In the afternoon, I went with Huanhuan to Yunnan Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine for her check-up. The doctor advised her to control her weight—haha! After the appointment, we really craved a drink from Mixue Ice Cream & Tea, so we got lemonade and jasmine milk green tea. Seeing how popular the “Green Grape Meat Delight” was, we ordered one too, and it was a unanimous hit!

Then we headed to Metro and bought some hairy crabs to cook at home. Turns out the crabs tasted bitter—another lesson learned. Luckily, the fried potatoes and the crayfish tails Fangfang stir-fried from the supermarket were both delicious.

After Huanhuan finished washing the dishes, we started playing a house-building game and kept at it until past 1 a.m.—way more fun than Monopoly!

After sending Huanhuan off at noon and returning to the rental room,

I ended up playing games with Feige all afternoon, couldn’t win no matter what, but it didn’t really matter anyway.

After getting my ID card, I bought two meat pies and a portion of sticky rice. I rested for a while, and at noon, my brother called to invite us over for crayfish to celebrate Zhu Xiaoyu’s birthday. I got up, finished the leftover beef and shrimp from yesterday, took a shower, and then strolled over.

By the time I got back in the evening, it was already quite late. Happy times always fly by so quickly.

After Huanhuan finished her overtime, we chatted for a bit, and then her parents called us back for dinner. After eating, we went to the hospital to visit Fengxian, who is about to give birth. We originally wanted to buy flowers, but since it was quite late, we checked two shops but couldn’t find any.

Instead, we bought some cake and ice cream, played a round of “Hearts” with her colleagues, and then headed home.

My mom had breakfast with me, and afterward, I took her to the hospital for an ultrasound. The results were quite good—there was no further growth or enlargement. When we arrived at the doctor’s office, we could hear a patient arguing with the doctor, who was recommending surgery.

After the argument finally subsided, it was our turn. The doctor, despite knowing it was benign, still said, “If you’re the nervous type, you might as well remove the thyroid.” That’s clearly not something a doctor should say. No wonder the previous patient was arguing with her—she always seems to push for surgery.

She rambled on with an illogical explanation, leaving my mom confused. I quickly stepped in to clarify: “This is benign. What the doctor means is that we don’t need to do anything about it—just monitor it with regular check-ups. But if you’re going to worry every day about it growing or turning bad, causing constant anxiety, then it might be better to remove it.” That made things a bit clearer.

For conditions that might require surgery, it’s always best to consult multiple doctors. Some really don’t have the best medical ethics.

After returning home, I went to the supermarket to buy some eggs, vermicelli, and clams. I also stopped by the seafood street to get some oysters, planning to cook them and share them with my mom. Unfortunately, the quality this time wasn’t great, and they didn’t taste very good. As usual, my mom started criticizing everything, and I had to scold her again.

In the evening, I played a few rounds of games with Huanhuan and Xiaoxue. Then, as drowsiness set in, I got ready to hit the sack.

I woke up early in the morning, took a shower, put on my suit and dress shoes, and went downstairs with Huanhuan to have breakfast before heading to the exam site. I had thought wearing a suit might make me stand out, but when I arrived, I noticed everyone else was also dressed formally, which put me at ease. I also ran into many younger classmates, who clearly had a fresh, student-like vibe. One junior was struggling to button the top button of his shirt—it was obviously too tight. I reassured him, “It’s fine, you don’t have to button it. It might affect your performance, and the examiners won’t mind. You’ll feel better if you’re more comfortable.”

A-Lin was there too. He had kindly picked up my exam admission ticket for me, and I was very grateful. After performing well in the last interview, I’ve grown increasingly confident. This time, my interview went smoothly—at least I didn’t stutter excessively or feel overly nervous—and I scored 82.33. Initially, I thought it was an average score, but after chatting with others afterward, I realized it was actually quite good.

After the interview, A-Lin and I went to a busy area nearby to grab a bite and relax. There weren’t many options, so we settled for a beef and bean hotpot. Gui’an is truly remote—there wasn’t even a Mixue Ice Cream & Tea shop, which was a bit disappointing.

At noon, Xiaomeiling brought Huanhuan back, and we sat together briefly before accompanying her to have a bowl of noodles. After resting for a bit, we prepared to return to Panzhou.

By the time we reached Panzhou, it was pouring rain. We both got completely drenched—the small umbrella we had was useless against the downpour. Once we got back to our place, we ordered some takeout on our phones. I overestimated my appetite and ordered way too much. Watching those mukbang videos where people eat enormous amounts made me think I could handle more, but in reality, eating just a little extra left me feeling uncomfortable. After eating, I played some video games but was so exhausted that I dozed off without realizing it.

This morning, I had a medical check-up arranged by the Emergency Management Bureau. First, I went to the bureau, where Section Chief Wang from the Personnel Department and another colleague accompanied me to the People’s Hospital for the examination. These two colleagues were quite strict at first but later seemed a bit tired and couldn’t keep up.

After the check-up, I took the bus back by myself—they still had some things to wrap up. When I got back, I had a bowl of beef dumpling skins with some Laba garlic. It was quite tasty and not too pungent.

Sometimes, I really dislike dealing with people, especially those who leave a less-than-favorable impression. Avoiding work or using work time to do other things seems pretty common—maybe everyone does it to some extent.

Heading to Guiyang by Train

Since Xiaohuanhuan’s training ended early today, I changed my train ticket to an earlier high-speed rail. After arriving in Guiyang, I went straight to meet Huanhuan, who said she was getting a massage. After getting off the subway, I followed the navigation to the place, only to find it quite remote, even though it was a newly built building. I felt a bit uneasy—these kinds of places don’t seem very safe. So, I was both worried and a little upset with Huanhuan, and I later told her how I felt.

Grabbing a Bite to Eat

Huanhuan had found a place for snacks, but when we got there, we couldn’t locate it. So, we just picked another random spot nearby. We ordered sour rice noodles, potato wedges, shrimp tarts, and two craft beers. Everything was pretty good, though a bit overpriced. It’s fine for an occasional treat.

Visiting Brother Meng’s Place to Catch Up with Long-Time Friends

As we were nearing the destination, the driver’s phone lost signal due to the many bridges, so we had to take a big detour, delaying us by several minutes. Then, we took a wrong turn, which cost us a few more minutes. When we finally arrived, we found everyone waiting for us to eat. Tingting had prepared a whole table of dishes, all of which were delicious.

We chatted casually over some beer. Spending time with friends is always comfortable and relaxing. Maybe someday, after settling down, I’ll cook them a little something to show off my skills.

Since it was getting late and we were too tired to drink more—plus, I had an interview the next day—we decided to leave for Gui’an around 11 p.m. By the time we got there and finished washing up, it was already quite late.

This morning, we played for another hour and finally managed to finish the entire game.

Huanhuan had to leave for Guiyang today to report for training, so after packing lightly, it was time to go. We wanted to eat bean rice hotpot, but the place wasn’t open, so we took a ride to Lucky Dog for burgers and hot dogs, which weren’t very good.

We still had some time before the train, so we sat outside chatting about the present and the future—everything seems to be going well.

After coming back, I felt completely drained from staying up late, groggy and sluggish all day.

We had a bowl of lamb rice noodles together, then headed to Caojiawan Agricultural and Sideline Products Wholesale Market. Since it was Sunday, the market was bustling with people.

We bought some incredibly delicious loquats and peaches, though the bayberries weren’t great. We also picked up some water spinach and free-range eggs.

In the afternoon, since we couldn’t think of anything else to do, Huanhuan and I took my mom to the zoo. Before setting off, I asked my mom if giraffes were as tall as a house, and she said definitely not. But when we actually saw the giraffe, it was enormous—so, so tall and big.

It was my first time seeing a giraffe too—so incredibly tall and huge. I even bought five yuan’s worth of carrots to feed it. Next time, I’ll bring my own carrots.

Oh, and fun fact—the giraffe’s nickname is also Huanhuan. Haha.

Happy the Giraffe

Happy is a gentle and curious giraffe who lives in the vast grasslands. With her long neck and graceful spots, she stands out among her peers. Every day, she roams the savanna, nibbling on tender leaves from tall trees and gazing at the distant horizon with her big, bright eyes.

Happy loves interacting with other animals, whether it’s playing hide-and-seek with the zebras or sharing stories with the wise old tortoise. Her kindness and cheerfulness make her a beloved friend to all.

One of her favorite pastimes is watching the sunset, painting the sky in hues of orange and pink. As the cool evening breeze rustles through the grass, Happy feels at peace, grateful for another beautiful day in her wild home.

Join Happy on her adventures and discover the wonders of the African savanna through her eyes!

People only yawn when their eyes are open.

06:36 Noodles and Pastry Are Quite Tricky to Make

I tried steaming buns once before and failed. Yesterday, I attempted making pancakes and nearly failed again. Mastering the properties of ingredients and controlling the heat really requires a lot of experience.

Huanhuan has had diarrhea since Friday, so I haven’t made anything particularly tasty these past couple of days.

This morning, I tried making pancakes, and they turned out quite delicious. Huanhuan ate a little and felt better during the day. In the afternoon, we had some golden fried potatoes, but unfortunately, she had a relapse by evening.

Early in the morning, Mom and Dad were busy reheating and eating the leftovers. After breakfast, they had to catch their bus, so Huanhuan and I washed the dishes. Then we went to my sister’s place to hang out for a while and help carry some things.

Ningning always struggles the most with goodbyes, unable to hold back her emotions. Manman, being a little older now, has gotten better at masking and disguising her feelings, trying to be the well-behaved child in Mom’s eyes. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.

Huanhuan and I rode our little scooter through the rain to catch the shuttle bus. The rain wasn’t heavy at first, but the cars speeding by splashed water straight into our faces. We got lucky—the bus was about to leave just as we sat down.

I dozed off on the bus and arrived in no time. Her parents weren’t home, so we stayed for a bit. Then we went into town to look at some apartments—living by the roadside was pretty noisy. After that, we grabbed some KFC, but I had to leave before finishing the fries. I probably could’ve finished them, but I didn’t want to risk it. And somehow, I absentmindedly ended up taking Huanhuan’s water with me.

We bought a big rolled rice pancake at Sige, and as soon as we got home, we started eating again. These past few days have been nonstop eating.

My parents planned to sell the corn to avoid it getting infested with bugs or mold from sitting around unused. They decided to sell it to my fourth aunt’s family for 1.2 yuan per jin. Before long, they arrived.

There was quite a lot of corn. We started moving it around at noon and didn’t finish loading it onto the truck until the afternoon. The total came to 3,858 jin, which should have been over 4,600 yuan. I suggested 4,500, but my mom said 4,000 would be fine.

The weather was really nice today, and the clouds looked so clean.

Huanhuan’s father went ahead first, while we took our time at home before heading over. We also carried a bag of rice that Huanhuan had received from her workplace.

The second aunt was there too and prepared a big table full of delicious dishes for us. We went out to buy some fruit—lychees were particularly expensive at 10 yuan per pound, but they didn’t taste very good. We’ll have to buy fewer next time. We also bought a pineapple (I’ve always thought it was just another name for the same fruit). The vendor’s “Dubai knife skills” turned a whole large pineapple into just a tiny box of fruit. It might have been better to peel the pineapple ourselves during the family gathering—that way, we could have avoided sitting around with nothing to do but play on our phones.

After finishing the meal, we headed back. In the evening, we met up with Xiaoxue and had some barbecue. I ended up eating way too much and felt uncomfortably full afterward.

This morning, after getting up, I stir-fried some clams and saved some of them to make clam noodles with the leftover vermicelli from yesterday. The stir-fry turned out pretty good—I’ll definitely make it again in the future.

The quality of ingredients is the key to whether a dish tastes good or not. I looked it up online and learned that clams can simply be steamed with a bit of cilantro and sesame oil, and they’ll already be delicious. Next time I get fresh clams, I’ll give that a try.

In the afternoon, I sent Huanhuan home.

My eyes have been hurting a lot these past few days—I need to cut down on my phone time. I’ve noticed that looking at this phone for even a short while makes me feel really uncomfortable.

After a short nap in the afternoon, we went to the seafood street and bought some oysters (¥3 each, opened on the spot) and clams (¥7 per pound—the vendor even threw out the bad ones). It was quite a good deal. Then we headed to the supermarket to pick up some side ingredients and seasonings.

It was my first time cooking oysters myself, and they turned out incredibly delicious—especially the quality, which was completely different from the ones at barbecue restaurants. Last week, we had oysters at a restaurant, but they were very fishy and not tasty at all. The ones we made today were exceptionally fresh and sweet, truly delightful. The only downside was that the garlic wasn’t stir-fried beforehand, so the raw spiciness was a bit overpowering.

We couldn’t finish all the clams, so we saved them for tomorrow.

Strictly speaking, this was my second structured interview. The first one was when I took the civil service selection exam in Anshun before graduating. Back then, I didn’t prepare seriously—I just watched a few videos to get familiar with the interview process. Naturally, the lack of preparation led to failure, though I was surprised to have made it to the interview stage with a completely unprepared written test.

This time, I thought I should put in some effort. If I wasn’t going to prepare properly, I might as well not go at all. So, I asked Huanhuan to help me practice for two evenings, and I also did some brief solo practice. Niwa was incredibly patient and thoughtful, explaining all sorts of interview details and precautions to me—so much so that I got a bit annoyed, haha. But deep down, I was really grateful to her.

Today, I left the house in a rush and ended up forgetting my ID card. However, the staff were very meticulous and checked my identity information through 12306 and Alipay, allowing me to proceed without having to go back for my ID or being denied entry.

After the check, I sat down in the waiting room, and the instinctive nervousness of an interview kicked in. I chatted briefly with the staff there, which helped me relax a little.

When it was time to draw lots for the interview order, I was the last to pick—there wasn’t much choice left. I ended up with number 3. Recently, I’ve been seeing a lot of videos on Bilibili from interview training accounts that mock nervous candidates in funny skits. They always use “Candidate 3” as an example, so when I drew this number, I couldn’t help but laugh.

Then came the interview. Compared to my first time, I was much more relaxed, and everything felt natural. There were still many examiners—a small room packed with over ten people under bright lights.

There were three questions, with 15 minutes in total:

1. A quote from Xi Jinping;
2. Emergency response to natural disasters;
3. A junior staff member unwilling to fulfill emergency duty obligations.

I hadn’t seriously practiced the first type of question, so I just said whatever came to mind—things like life values and patriotism. The second question was similar to what Huanhuan and I had practiced, so I was more familiar with it. For the third, I approached it with a people-oriented mindset, emphasizing understanding and leading by example in persuasion.

After the interview, I waited in the scoring room for what felt like forever. Time dragged on because we weren’t allowed to do anything—no talking, no reading, no phones. I don’t know how long I waited, but it seemed like they were discussing the scoring criteria for quite some time.

Finally, they called us over to hear our scores, and soon it was my turn. My final score: 85.8. I was quite satisfied with this result—barring any surprises, it should be the highest.

I quickly got up, cooked a bowl of noodles, and shared some with Xiaohuanhuan. Then, I prepared the materials for tomorrow’s qualification review while Huanhuan helped me wash the dishes and tidy up neatly.

Before I knew it, it was already noon. We left the house together and took the same bus—she went for an exam, and I headed to the sports center.

Relatives are always so hospitable. I ate a lot of delicious food, and when it was about time, I came back.

The buses in Shuicheng are absolutely ridiculous. The drivers never wait an extra second, not even for someone with mobility issues getting off. Next time someone argues with the driver, I won’t feel any sympathy for them.

After returning, I lay down and rested for half an hour, then went out to print the materials for the qualification review and stopped by the courier station to pick up the razor Huanhuan bought for me.

And just like that, another day passed.

21:48 — Acting Very Impatient Again

Tonight, my mom video-called me and said her phone couldn’t make or receive calls.

I thought of asking her to use QQ’s screen-sharing feature so I could see what was going on. But the process of logging into QQ completely stumped her. No matter how I tried to guide her, she couldn’t get it, and I ended up speaking to her very impatiently the whole time.

Eventually, I gave up. I tried calling her and found that the call went through, and she could call back normally. Then she said my dad’s phone wasn’t working. With extreme impatience, I snapped, “Just try calling back!”

It probably worked, but my mom didn’t call again. I felt pretty guilty. Since it was already late, I’ll call her tomorrow to check in.

Lessons Learned

1. In the future, it might be easier to download Tencent Meeting for my parents.
2. If possible, verifying the issue immediately is a crucial first step.
3. I still need to improve my communication skills and work on my mindset—less hurting others.

22:55 — Optimized the Heatmap

Fixed the issue where intensity=0 wouldn’t display and reset the font to size=7px, weight=500.

Now it looks very aesthetically pleasing. I hope I can keep filling in all the squares.

Heatmap of My Recent Life

Recently, I’ve been trying to visualize my daily routines and habits using a heatmap. This chart clearly shows the distribution of my time and energy over the past few weeks.

The red areas indicate high-intensity activities, such as work and study sessions, while the blue parts represent relaxation or leisure time. I noticed that my productivity peaks in the morning, gradually declining in the afternoon and evening. There are also some blank spots—those are probably days when I was too lazy to record anything.

Looking at this heatmap, I realize I need to better balance work and rest. Maybe I should schedule more breaks or adjust my tasks to match my natural energy fluctuations.

How do you track your daily activities? Do you also use visualization tools? Feel free to share your methods!

Huanhuan and I played *Split fiction all day long, skipping breakfast. Suddenly, hot dogs appeared in the game, making us crave them so badly that Huanhuan quickly steamed two zongzi for us to eat.

As it got dark, we went out for a walk, thinking about buying some delicious grilled sausages. But we couldn’t find any. There was a single dried-out one at a Meiyijia convenience store, but we didn’t buy it.

We walked really, really far. Later, we suddenly felt like eating oysters and drinking Coke. We found a barbecue shop that said they had them, so we went in and ordered four while we waited.

After half an hour, the food ended up being served to another table, which made us a little upset. We walked around some more and found another place that was even cheaper. We ordered a dozen right away, but they weren’t very tasty. Maybe next time we should just make them ourselves.

Around 8 a.m., the Emergency Management Bureau called for a qualification review, so I quickly cleared my throat and answered. After that, I couldn’t fall back asleep, so I got up, took a shower, did the laundry, and made breakfast.

Just as I was about to shower, the power went out. I went outside to check and found that the circuit breaker had failed—the wiring wasn’t properly connected before and had burned out. Luckily, the water was already hot, so I showered and then started figuring out how to replace the breaker.

I initially thought about doing it myself. A 2P63A circuit breaker costs less than 30 yuan on Meituan, but I was a bit nervous to handle it alone. I checked the price online through Meituan’s service, and they quoted 130 yuan, which felt overpriced. So, I went out to find a repair shop instead. I found a couple running a repair store, and they charged 80 yuan, including materials. I didn’t haggle and agreed right away.

At noon, I messed around with a JS script and missed my nap time. In the afternoon, I lay down for a while but couldn’t sleep, so I ended up playing on my phone.

Later, I tidied up my room, but my eyes were so tired that I went back to sleep.

A day without studying—just pure slacking.

By the way, last night I suddenly thought of my brother-in-law’s father. I’m not sure what the proper formal term is, so I’ll just call him Uncle. I often think of him inexplicably, so I jotted down a few notes.

02:16 An old phone suddenly beeped

My sister’s phone suddenly made a system notification sound, and my mind started wandering.
I thought about how her WeChat might still have chat logs with Uncle Chaoyang, which I never backed up. The thought made me miss him again, remembering how he looked when he passed away, how hardworking he was.

What kind of life should one live? He embodied so many admirable qualities—bravery, kindness, diligence, selflessness, intelligence, confidence, extroversion, optimism. It’s rare for someone to possess all these traits.

Just thinking about it brings me to tears.

Our interactions weren’t many, yet why has such a towering figure left such a deep impression on me? He helped my family in countless ways—arranging medical care for my mom, plowing fields, driving my dad to Shuicheng, assisting my brother with his wedding, even castrating pigs for our household. He was always energetic, never seeking comfort, never drinking alcohol, often rushing from one task to another.

I want to be like him.

When I woke up in the morning and checked my phone, I realized it was just a system notification from Find My Device.

Dicos recently launched a new menu item: chili oil chicken drumsticks. It left me feeling greasy all day—never pour oil over fried food!!!

For dinner, we had the corn Xiaoxue brought us at noon. After eating, I called my mom and asked her to come out for a walk. I suggested she take the bus, but she was still a bit hesitant, maybe because she thought spending two yuan was a waste of money, so she walked to meet me instead. On the way, we bought some hawthorn balls. When she saw the sugar coating on them, she thought it was ice and said it was too cold, which made the shop assistant laugh. She told me she had never eaten hawthorn before and hadn’t even seen it.

We passed by a SANFU store, so I took her inside to look around. She wanted to buy a hair tie, tried a few, but ultimately didn’t buy anything. Later, we went to a small goods supermarket, but the quality of the items there wasn’t great, and the prices were quite high. She initially wanted to pick up a hair clip, but I told her it didn’t look very nice and wasn’t comfortable, so we decided to check other stores later.

Huanhuan suggested that we could take pictures of the products and buy them online—for the same price, we could get a whole bunch.

I’ll look into it.

In the morning, Xiaohuanhuan had to work overtime, so I stayed in bed by myself, playing on my phone until noon.

Around two o’clock, I decided to visit my grandfather at my second uncle’s house. I checked the map and strolled over leisurely. On the way, I stopped by the supermarket near the neighborhood to buy some soy milk powder and regular milk, then spent a simple half-hour there.

I always feel a bit uneasy when visiting other people’s homes, and I can sense their discomfort too—probably because we’re not very familiar with each other.

Yesterday, Huanhuan’s mom told her mother-in-law that we wanted to eat bamboo shoots. After Huanhuan got off work, we took an unofficial taxi to Chengguan, bought some cakes and drinks, and headed over. Huanhuan’s grandmother had already stewed the bamboo shoots with pork ribs until they were rich, tender, and falling apart. My mouth watered so much that I couldn’t resist lifting the lid to peek twice.

After dinner, we went out again to buy a watermelon—2.5 yuan per jin, and it was quite sweet. These days, watermelons are already flooding the market, so they’re not out-of-season ones.

I slept in today, and after waking up, we continued playing games. I was hoping to finish the game today.

Around 10 a.m., my brother called and asked me to drive to Liupanshui South Station to pick up Mom. When I met up with him, he said he had already arranged a ride-hailing service for her. We just happened to run into my brother, and then he left. We took the opportunity to have breakfast at Panxian Flavors.

Huanhuan seemed a bit reluctant to let my brother know we had been together these past few days, feeling somewhat shy. I think if it were me, I’d feel the same way, but there isn’t really a good solution for it.

By 2 p.m., we finally finished It Takes Two. It really is an amazing game.

After resting for a few minutes, I took Huanhuan to the bus station. Just as we arrived, a driver from Panzhou approached us, so we avoided having to wait in line for the coach.

When I got back, I originally planned to rest, but I ended up tinkering with Shizuku, Dizuku, and NFC cards on my phone. As a result, I didn’t get proper rest when I should have.

There were still some leftover vegetables from yesterday, so I cooked noodles with them again today. Simple but delicious.

After eating, I caught up on the diary entries I missed.

Now it’s time to get back to work and give it my all.

After waking up in the morning, I played with my phone in bed for a while. Huanhuan suggested maybe getting up to study today, but I suddenly remembered that we had brought the game controllers back with us this time. A rare holiday is probably better spent relaxing.

We bought It Takes Two a long time ago but never finished it, so today was the perfect opportunity to continue playing. By noon, we were hungry but too lazy to cook. So we decided to go out and grab some food—fried spring rolls, sweet wine with eggs, and some zhajiang noodles.

After leaving the supermarket, we saw massage chairs by the roadside and thought about sitting down for a break. To our surprise, this annoying thing kept using a microphone to prompt us to pay. Out of curiosity, we spent 15 yuan for 20 minutes.

The massage didn’t feel comfortable at all, so we decided to try a real massage at a blind masseur’s place. This experience corrected a major misconception I had—blind people aren’t just people with their eyes closed. Their lives aren’t as clumsy as I imagined; instead, they are highly skilled. Whether grabbing things, walking, or making a living through massage, they demonstrate that they are complete, capable individuals.

For dinner, we planned to make clam vermicelli soup. We bought vermicelli, clams, shrimp, lemon, baby bok choy, and cilantro from the supermarket. Following a video tutorial while incorporating our own ideas and adapting to reality, we ended up with a dish that didn’t taste great at first. I thought, “Oh no, this is a disaster!” Haha. But after adding a bit more salt, it transformed completely—so delicious!

Oh, and the phone Huanhuan helped me buy arrived safely today. I even took some really nice photos of her, haha. But then I accidentally deleted them all while setting things up.

After dinner, we washed the dishes, took showers, and then went back to gaming. We didn’t go to bed until 1 a.m.

While waiting for the bus at noon, I got hungry and casually ate a bowl of beef noodles by the roadside. As a result, I wasn’t very hungry when we arrived in Shuicheng and had little appetite.

During this trip home, I noticed an old broken phone that my sister used to have. I also observed that Manman and Ningning would become very eager to use phones when they had no playmates. So, I thought of taking this broken phone with me to see if I could fix it.

After picking up the package (parts for repairing the phone) and returning to our accommodation, I immediately started working on the phone. Thinking I hadn’t fixed it, I reassembled it casually, only to find that the battery was slowly charging. Now I have another backup phone to bring home next time. I also asked Huanhuan:

Question

Are phones more harmful or beneficial for kids?

Huanhuan said they’re more harmful, and I agreed. But it seems there aren’t many beneficial alternatives.

In the evening, neither of us felt like eating. After browsing on our phones for a while, we decided we wanted either boiled dishes (清水烫) or sour soup fish (酸汤鱼). We took a taxi to Fenghuang Mountain, only to find it closed. So, we started walking around while looking for food. Eventually, we found a sour soup fish place near People’s Square—it was incredibly cheap, just 29.9 yuan for two people. Though the fish seemed like it had been soaked in water, the vegetables were quite tasty.

Today, my second uncle, second aunt, fourth aunt, fourth uncle, youngest aunt, and even Huanhuan are all planning to come to my house for a visit.

I remember bringing a bag of wheat gluten powder home earlier and have been thinking about improving my homemade gluten skewers. Taking advantage of my parents going out to buy food for the afternoon and evening, I poured out half the bag of wheat gluten powder to give it another try.

Noon

When the relatives arrived at noon, little Huanhuan came too. I drove fourth uncle’s car, taking Manman and Ningning to pick up Huanhuan. The streets were so crowded that I couldn’t find a single parking spot, so I had no choice but to turn back and park in the parking lot.

Right next to the parking lot was a supermarket, so I decided to take Manman and Ningning shopping. And that’s where the nightmare began. After Manman and Ningning took forever to finally pick out what they wanted, it was time to check out. Manman cheerfully said, “My uncle will pay for me!” Like an idiot, I replied, “So how are you going to repay me?” What I actually had in mind was tricking Manman into helping me grill the gluten skewers later.

Unexpectedly, Manman got angry right away. She ran over, put the items back, and started crying. Nothing I said worked. Thankfully, I’ve dealt with situations like this before, though I was still a bit flustered. I said everything I could think of, then decided to just stand by and wait for her emotions to settle on their own. Meanwhile, Huanhuan was patiently comforting and coaxing her the whole time. Ningning, on the other hand, stayed very calm—she didn’t join the tantrum, didn’t say anything, and didn’t run around, just waited quietly beside us.

After about thirty or forty minutes, when Manman realized this wasn’t getting her anywhere, she started asking for Huanhuan to hold her. Seeing this, I figured things were okay now, so I handed her the stuff I’d just bought and went to get the car. Manman took the things from me, and that was that. In a way, Manman gave Huanhuan a little lesson too.

Evening

In the evening, I saw some mulberry leaves and suddenly remembered a video I’d watched about frying them. So I took the kids to pick some leaves, then made a batter with eggs, flour, and salt to fry them. Personally, I found them a bit greasy—probably because the batter wasn’t prepared well and absorbed too much oil—but everyone else thought they were delicious, and we finished every last piece.

After dinner, Huanhuan and I took Manman and Ningning for a walk before sunset. The laughter along the way and the feeling of being close to nature were wonderful.

When we got back, I prepared to grill my gluten skewers. I gathered whatever ingredients we had at home and made a simple version of chili oil. Using a portable gas canister, I lit the remaining charcoal and started grilling slowly. This time, the gluten skewers were a hit with everyone, and even I thought they tasted great—much better than the deep-fried version I’d made before.

Night

My dad, mom, and sister all have birthdays in late March. After finishing the grilled gluten skewers, I asked Manman to bring over the cake Huanhuan had ordered from Shenggu Cake. Manman made three birthday cake hats for them, and I handed the cake-cutting knife to Dad. It was his first time cutting a cake, and he didn’t seem awkward at all—it was perfect.

Everyone chatted away, each person happy in their own way. Today was a truly wonderful day.

Earlier, she mentioned she wanted to eat crayfish. In the morning, while she went to the competition, I went to Jiahui Supermarket and bought 3.6 jin (approx. 1.8 kg) of crayfish. On the way back, I saw an uncle selling local strawberries and bought some as well.

I’ve never cooked crayfish completely on my own before, but it didn’t seem too difficult. However, handling the crayfish was a bit troublesome. When I bought them, I specifically picked live ones, but processing them felt somewhat cruel.

The crayfish turned out quite tasty, though toward the end, the flavor became too intense, making it a bit hard to enjoy.

Tip

Once the crayfish are braised to the desired taste, they should be removed promptly to prevent the flavor from becoming too strong.

This morning, Huanhuan’s dad came back while we were still sleeping in. After getting up, I washed my hair, and Huanhuan’s dad went out to buy groceries. At noon, I tried stir-frying pork liver for the first time—it tasted a bit odd, but Huanhuan’s dad thought it was quite delicious.

In the afternoon, I went to Huanhuan’s office to wait for her while she worked on her speech draft. After she finished, she bought me some cakes, and then we went to eat Luosifen (river snail rice noodles). It didn’t taste as good as before.

Time flew by quickly. After the meal, Huanhuan rode her bike to drop me off at the bus stop. When I arrived in Shuicheng, I called my mom and asked if she wanted to come for a walk. If she did, I told her to meet me directly.

I found a bench near People’s Square and sat down to play on my phone. Lately, my mom has seemed somewhat adjusted—or maybe not. Either way, we still don’t get along very comfortably.

I completely agree with what Huanhuan said: people need validation. Mom used to do everything well back in our hometown. But after coming here, she’s only left with cooking and taking care of the kids. However, these two tasks haven’t received any recognition, which makes her feel very frustrated. I think I should take some time to talk to my brother about this—to be more patient in teaching Mom and to communicate with my sister-in-law. I believe we can reach a comfortable state, but if we ignore it, things might get worse.

Exams really cost a lot of money, especially since hotels turn into a seller’s market during exam periods and inevitably raise their prices. Many hotels have hiked their rates to such an extent that they might as well be publicly shamed on a lamppost.

Candidates are truly pitiable—most of them don’t even have stable jobs. The exams themselves are hard enough, and yet they still have to endure being exploited by these people.

Complimenting others is actually quite nice. Last night, the driver I had booked stood me up, and a taxi happened to come pick me up instead. I praised the driver for her excellent skills, and she ended up sharing a lot about her life with me.

The exam didn’t go so well, though. I messed up transferring and filling in the answer sheet. I had the correct answers calculated but didn’t write them down—so frustrating. It took me several minutes to calm down and focus on the essay section. For the first question, I had already finished writing but thought of adding more, only to exceed the word limit. It was really annoying. These little details still need more practice.

After the exam, I grabbed a shared bike and rode to Haina Plaza to find something to eat. Nothing really appealed to me, so after some thought, I ordered a KFC single meal. I asked the staff to verify my coupon, but she told me to do it myself on the app. Feeling a bit annoyed and considering my slow phone, I just left. At the station, I ended up eating the eggs I had in my bag and the mooncakes Huanhuan bought for me.

Huanhuan took me to eat sour soup fish noodles, and I was so hungry that I finished even the soup. We walked home and also had some big gluten skewers on the way. I told Huanhuan about an Indian movie I had watched part of on the bus today—Karma, and after we got home, we continued watching it. Her mom couldn’t stand the bloody scenes and went back to her own room. We stayed up very late before going to bed.

Haha, currently teaching Xiaohuanhuan about Git and GitHub.

10:16 Teaching Xiaohuanhuan markdown syntax

Haha, she seemed quite amazed and curious. But it’s indeed very useful—taking just a few minutes to learn it is definitely worth it.

Noon

At noon, we fried mushrooms again. Using only potato starch didn’t taste very good. The potato starch was sticky, and after frying, it turned out quite tough. The texture wasn’t great, so we can improve on that later.

Nap

When the two of us are together, we just get so sleepy—once we fall asleep, we don’t want to get up at all.
After 3 PM, we took the leftover mushrooms to share with my brother and his family. Then, Xiaohuanhuan and I strolled along the Shuicheng River and admired the cherry blossoms by the riverside.

My hair was greasy and messy, so I could only take some sloppy, unflattering photos. In the future, I’ll have to specifically train Xiaohuanhuan in managing her expressions, haha.

Return

After seeing Xiaohuanhuan off on the bus, I took the K1 route back. It was 1 yuan more expensive, but there were far fewer people. Definitely worth it in this scorching summer heat.

Then I went to get a 15-yuan haircut, which turned out quite satisfying, and the barber was very nice. Since lunch was a bit greasy, I didn’t feel like eating much, so I bought some jelly noodles and cold skin noodles, along with 5-yuan crispy beans. Back home, I mixed them together myself, and it tasted pretty good.

Started tinkering with code again—sometimes it’s hard to resist the temptation. Especially when I see someone else’s great implementation or when a novel idea suddenly pops into my head.

10:14 Ported the Chat Bubble Shortcode

Inspired by Some Hugo Shortcodes | Naive Koala, the effect is as follows:

From now on, meaningful conversations can be preserved in this format, like the one I had with Manman before: Is Our Earth Real?

10:55 Hidden Posts

Some draft-like posts that won’t be edited later, so I added a hidden attribute to the site to hide them. Unlike the draft attribute, these posts will still be rendered and accessible via direct links. Reference: Hugo | Adding Hidden Posts Functionality to the Cactus Theme | Little Flying Fish.

12:19 Introduced Heti

Heti (hè tí) is an open-source project for enhancing Chinese typography, making page layouts more aesthetically pleasing. Project address: Heti - A Simple and Minimalist Web Chinese Typography Enhancement

13:14 CSC Has Reached the Review Stage at the China Scholarship Council

Suddenly realized I hadn’t checked the CSC application status in a while—it had been stuck at “Pending Acceptance by the Unit.” Just logged in and saw that the provincial education department has approved it, and now it’s under review by the China Scholarship Council.

One step closer to a successful application. Feeling a mix of excitement and nervousness.

14:18 Why Can’t I Keep Things to Myself?

Couldn’t fall asleep. Kept worrying about my passport still being at my former workplace—it might become an issue.

15:51 Tidied Up the Room

Living alone really makes me lazy. Huanhuan is coming over this afternoon, so I cleaned up the room a bit—it looks slightly more presentable now.

17:24 Eyes Feeling Sore

Synced recent diary entries to a notebook.
Tried adding an info stats page inspired by Big Little Snail, but rendering took too long, so I gave up.

Time to read for a while.

19:36 2024 Guizhou Provincial Exam Results Are Out

Saw the results on WeChat—they’re out. I applied for the Guiyang Disabled Persons’ Federation position, and this score basically means no chance for an interview.

23:35 Happiness

For the past four days, I’ve been guiding my mom around the main streets of Shuicheng. Today, to help her practice exploring the city on her own, I asked her to walk along Gongyuan Road to find me. She successfully followed the path and made it to me. We took a short stroll, and she got to know the surrounding streets a little better.

After dropping my mom off, I walked along the Shuicheng River to pick up Huanhuan.
Winter is truly over—the cherry blossoms along the riverbank are in full bloom, clustered in thick bunches. Crowds of people gathered beneath them: girls in all kinds of dresses, middle-aged men and women, elderly folks, and children. Shuicheng is coming alive again.

After meeting Huanhuan, we walked the cherry blossom-lined path once more. It had been a long time since we were alone together, and we both felt relaxed and at ease. The only downside was that I’d walked too much—my lower back was aching terribly.

We took a taxi back from Minghu Road and cooked a bowl of Buldak ramen with crayfish flavor, along with some leftover vegetarian dishes from the morning. It was absolutely delicious—everything was just perfect, even the chilled broth from the vegetables.

Yesterday, I went to Qingzhen to take a public institution exam—I had applied for the Guizhou Academy of Social Sciences. Xiaohuanhuan came along to accompany me, and spending these last two days with her has been so much fun.

On the 29th, we had some spicy braised food, which was really spicy, and the ingredients didn’t seem all that fresh either. The next day, both of us had stomach issues. I should probably buy less of this kind of food in the future—making it myself might be better.

I performed terribly on the exam, constantly distracted and feeling really frustrated. But now that it’s over, I’ll just let it go.

At noon, we went to a small hotpot place near Xiaokun’s place. We were so hungry that everything tasted amazing. After eating, we spontaneously decided to go to Anshun for some fun.

In the evening, we visited Anshun’s Little Cross area, strolled through the food street, and explored the ancient town. Anshun has so many delicious foods—after eating around, we even went for some big skewer barbecue. We were stuffed to the point of numbness.

Back at our accommodation, we played Exploding Kittens and ended up staying up late again.

2025-03-30

Today, Xiaokun took us to eat yellow catfish with green peppers. There were so many chilies and Sichuan peppercorns—it was legitimately numbing and spicy, but still pretty good.

After overeating, we took a walk along the river and returned to Little Cross. The food street was just as lively during the day as it was at night. We bought some rice paper rolls (xiaoguojuan), which were seriously delicious. We also grabbed some meat pies—next time, I’ll try the posu buns.

I took the leftover rice paper rolls and the chips Xiaohuanhuan bought to my brother and sister-in-law’s place. They weren’t as good as when they were fresh. We had dinner at my brother’s, and afterward, he and I drove the car to park it at the stadium.

It’s been a while since I last drove, so I felt a bit rusty.

23:38 Code Edits

Added a visitor statistics feature to my blog and also fixed a bug with Giscus theme switching. Now the theme changes successfully on the first attempt.

By the way, I took a photo that I really like.

I couldn’t fall asleep during my midday nap, as there’s quite a lot on my mind.

In the blink of an eye, the day is over. I need to hurry up, take a shower, wash the dishes, and get ready to head to Guiyang for the exam.

Today is a day when I might get to see little Huanhuan.

Today, we laid my grandmother to rest on the mountain, burying her alongside my grandfather. Huanhuan also came. Thankfully, I had taken Huanhuan to visit my grandmother while she was still alive. Looking back, that was an incredibly wise decision, even though her parents didn’t fully understand it at the time and were somewhat reluctant. We cannot truly know or understand a person through the black coffin. The beauty of life exists only when life is present.

I haven’t written in my diary for the past few days, and I don’t feel like trying to recall and fill in the gaps. Perhaps it’s because I’ve been sick, but I’ve been feeling especially tired lately, with dizzy eyes and a foggy mind.

As for my recent situation, it might make one feel helpless and lost. Work, studies, life, family, love, time, dreams—nothing seems to be going well, and it’s overwhelming. I think what we fear isn’t making choices, even if they turn out to be wrong. As long as we move forward with determination, even if we change direction, we’re still moving forward. Except for death, life has no endpoint.

I once compared our lives to the process of digestion. Whether we are apples, rice, eggs, beef, water, or something else, our birth is like entering the mouth of society. We are broken down, absorbed, and our value is revealed. When we no longer have value, we are expelled from this society.

It seems that’s how our lives end. But what choices do we have in this process? Upon closer thought, there are quite a few. From the moment we enter the mouth, we can choose to cling to the front teeth of society. We can become a fishbone stuck in society’s gums. Once in the stomach, if it feels unbearable, we can turn into watermelon or scalding hot pot oil to quickly end this painful process. We can even adopt a sacrificial approach, becoming something sweet like a sugary drink, giving our all to contribute, even if it means giving society diabetes or other illnesses.

Of course, these are just fantasies. Often, we can’t even decide what we are. Sometimes, society might not even want to consume us. Most food, without exception, has its nutrients absorbed and is then expelled. The good thing is that whatever consumes us has its own life—it gets sick, dies, and is broken down and absorbed. After we are expelled, even though our nutrients are gone, those nutrients were only valuable to the society that digested us. By leaving that society, we actually return to or enter a broader world, continuing the cycle of life.

If this is the truth of life, how should we choose to live it? Different people will give different answers, some of which may work temporarily. Transforming ourselves into something toxic, from the perspective of the ecosystem we’re part of, often doesn’t have much effect.

Perhaps the most positive and optimistic attitude is to view this process of digestion as a journey. Actively explore and observe, and see what an exquisite world our life has created and nurtured; it’s also fine to quietly complete this journey without any thought.

After I got off work, I also hurried to the supermarket because Xiao Huanhuan said she wanted to eat stir-fried beef with tea tree mushrooms. I couldn’t find fresh tea tree mushrooms, so I bought dried ones. The beef was almost sold out, so I bought a small piece of tenderloin.

Yesterday, we rested the whole day, and the stir-fried beef with tea tree mushrooms turned out to be quite delicious. Cooking and washing dishes are still a bit of a hassle, so in the future, we’ll keep our meals simpler.

Xiao Huanhuan talked about the things she was worried about, but to me, they didn’t seem like big issues. Overall, we are quite stable and harmonious because we often think alike.

Yesterday, my dad called to say that my grandmother might not have much time left. My mom also called me, but I didn’t notice it. I tried calling her back close to 11 PM, but she didn’t answer. Early this morning, she called me twice and showed me my grandmother via video call. I wasn’t extremely sad, but seeing my mom looking so haggard and exhausted made me feel heartbroken. I thought it would be good to go and see her, to comfort my mom.

I originally planned to go with Xiao Huanhuan to take the bus to Yuge, but the driver didn’t stop midway, so we had no choice but to go to the train station area to catch another bus. The driver arranged for me to transfer at Yuge.

There were many strawberries for sale in Yuge, and they were very cheap. However, since I was thinking about going to my grandmother’s house today and there would be many people, it wasn’t convenient to buy any.

After arriving, I realized it would have been nice to bring some along, as the whole family would be sitting together and would want something to eat.

We came back shortly after finishing our meal, allowing Mom and Dad to rest for a while. Fourth Uncle lent his car to someone else who drove it here, making it convenient for them to return early tomorrow morning.

It was a comfortably lazy day.

In the evening, we went out for a walk to see if we could buy some silver carp, and also to pick up a plug cord to see if we could get my electric wok working.

At the Minghu Market, we bought a cord that looked quite similar for 5 yuan, but it still didn’t work—it wouldn’t plug in, as if there were no standard specifications.

We didn’t manage to buy any silver carp either, but we caught wind of the price (15 yuan per jin), which was quite a good deal compared to buying online.

At the aquatic products store, we saw a yellow catfish dancing gracefully in the tank, incredibly lively. The beauty of life was on full display at that moment, even if it was just under the light at the top of the tank.

How I wish to have a pond or a water jar, to bring it home with me.

最近坐车总是很容易晕，刚刚坐公交回来头都是晕晕的，眼睛也很难受。睡一觉。

20:21 折腾博客可烦了

总是会有一些小细节，或者突然想到的小想法。总是想要去实现，每次都花费好大的时间和精力，不弄了。