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.

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.

Woke up before six this morning, feeling pretty rough.

It’s my first time renting a car, and without an experienced driver by my side, I’m a little nervous.

Spent quite a while learning online, now ready to get up.

Driving Home

At 9 a.m., Huanhuan and I went to pick up the car—a Chevrolet Cruze. This car rolls back a bit, which is slightly scary.

Thanks to some prior practice, we calmly drove it into Huanhuan’s family courtyard.

Packed our stuff into the trunk and set off. The drive went smoothly overall—my first time driving this far alone, including on the highway.

In the afternoon after arriving home, they mentioned wanting to go play by the river again. So, along with Fourth Uncle, we drove everyone to the riverside. Having a car is quite convenient, though the rough roads still make it easy to scrape the undercarriage. But with all the insurance we’ve bought, it’s no big deal.