It’s really quite funny to say, Xie Lin has been here for over a decade, but he hasn’t properly visited the nearby attractions. As an "old local of Dongyang City," the task of being a guide should have originally fallen on his shoulders, but at this mont, he felt a bit at a loss.
Li Younan said leisurely, "It’s alright, I’ve done my howork. Today, just follow my pace as we explore."
In fact, coming here turned into a process of demystifying Hengdian. The comrcial elents of Hengdian are still too heavy, and experiencing the life of an extra is more of a ntal journey. But if you treat the film city as a tourist attraction, there’s always sothing lacking. So, Li Younan already had his own plan for today’s trip.
Lan Yiyi said excitedly, "Where are we going? Let’s visit so famous places! I want to take a tour of all the famous spots in Dongyang City."
Li Younan replied, "The famous places are the sa all over the country; today, just follow my pace."
The first stop was the old town.
From deep in the alley, the vendors’ cries floated in and out. By a few low bamboo tables, so elderly people were slowly sipping soy milk, with mung bean soup set aside, the bowls’ rims sweating fine beads of water; the coolness seed to be visible through the eyes.
Li Younan ordered a bowl of chilled mung bean soup for each of the three.
The soup was clear and bright, the beans soft and mushy, and one sip carried the unique caral aroma of local brown sugar, imdiately calming the morning’s heat with its gentle sweetness. The vendor said with a smile, "This mung bean soup recipe is an old sumr flavor that Dongyang people can’t do without."
Dongyang City also has a few keywords: Lu Mansion and wood carvings.
The sun climbed higher, pouring down white light, and the air turned scorching hot. The three sought refuge in Lu Mansion. Stepping over the high threshold, a coolness mingled with the sll of old wood and dust enveloped them.
The wood carvings on the gatehouse layered upon each other, with lions, flowers, birds, and figures all carved vividly and lifelike.
Because Li Younan mastered carving skills, which could also be applied to woodcarving, he lingered interestedly in front of each carving, appreciating them seriously.
So things only insiders can understand; Xie Lin didn’t get it, and Lan Yiyi didn’t get it either, but both of them followed Li Younan’s pace, and their originally restless moods gradually cald down.
Lan Yiyi curiously asked, "Are these wood carvings really that good? You’re looking at them so intently."
Li Younan smiled slightly, "There’s a lot to learn here. If you look closely, you’ll definitely be able to see sothing in them."
Lan Yiyi tried hard to appreciate them but found nothing, then gazed at Li Younan, suddenly smiling, "You’re such a strange person."
Lan Yiyi felt that in such a restless society, people like Li Younan were like rare treasures, sothing she had never seen.
The sun tilted westward, the heatwave persisted.
The three remained aimless in their wandering.
They turned into a narrow alley called Baigong Lane. The alley was narrow, with so unremarkable small storefronts on both sides, inside ca the sound of "knock knock knock" of wood being chiseled.
An old craftsman was focused, carving sothing, as sawdust danced finely in the light and shadow. Under the old camphor tree at the end of the alley, the dense shade was like a giant green umbrella.
A few local elderly n surrounded a small square table, steeping strong tea, with the tea being as dark as soy sauce.
Li Younan, suddenly interested, found a local to get three bamboo chairs, sat down, leaned back on his chair, and almost lay flat.
Lan Yiyi and Xie Lin glanced at each other, and Lan Yiyi couldn’t help but say, "Just lying down like this, aren’t we going to continue exploring?"
Li Younan comfortably squinted his eyes and said, "Don’t ask, just follow my pace."
Xie Lin thought for a mont, then sat down on the chair next to Li Younan, while Lan Yiyi, a bit helpless, followed suit and lay down too.
Next to them, soone was playing chess, with the pieces striking the board with "pa pa" sounds, mixed with a few muttered Dongyang dialect phrases, buzzing in amidst the cicadas’ hum.
Squinting, watching the spots of light filtering through the leaves of the camphor tree dance on their eyelids, the world seed to only consist of this swaying green shade and the buzzing in their ears.
The bamboo chair creaked softly, and Li Younan felt too lazy to move, just drifting off in this play of light and shadow.
Lan Yiyi had never had such a travel experience, but suddenly she could sense the kind of mood Li Younan pursued, and unknowingly, she fell asleep too.
...
That day, they didn’t rush to any attractions or join in any crowds, just spent it leisurely like that.
But ultimately, they ended up back in the bustling comrcial district.
When the three of them returned to the comrcial district, it felt like a lifeti had passed since their last visit. By this ti, it was already close to dinner ti.
Lan Yiyi originally planned to return before dinner because a few people from the film crew had arranged to have dinner together tonight. Her assistant had called twice, but she managed to brush them off.
However, she didn’t ntion anything about brushing off the calls to Li Younan and Xie Lin.
Their sole purpose for coming to the shopping street was to buy costics for Xie Lin’s girlfriend. Lan Yiyi claid she was an expert, "Bringing along, you’re definitely looking for the right person."
When they arrived at the costics counter, Lan Yiyi chirped away, asking Xie Lin, "How does your girlfriend usually do her makeup? What lipstick shades does she use?" Questions like these made Xie Lin a bit embarrassed, unsure of how to respond.
Li Younan interrupted Lan Yiyi, saying leisurely, "His girlfriend is naturally beautiful and hasn’t worn makeup before."
Lan Yiyi replied, "Oh." Right then, her eyes lit up when she saw a set of costics at the counter that she also used, excitedly saying, "Take a look at this set; it’s perfect for young girls like us. Your girlfriend isn’t too old, is she? This set won’t be a problem at all."
The sales attendant eagerly began to recomnd it.
Lan Yiyi didn’t notice the... dilemma hidden in Xie Lin’s expression.
This set of costics was very expensive.
Li Younan chuckled and chid in, "This set is quite famous indeed. The core of the series Lan Yiyi recomnded relies on that deep-sea purification ingredient, isn’t it?" He turned to the sales attendant and calmly confird.
The attendant was montarily stunned, probably not expecting Li Younan to know about this. Then, with a professional smile, nodded, "Yes, yes, sir, you know your stuff! That’s right. It’s our brand’s patent, the effect is unquestionable!"
"Yes, the main chanism of this ingredient is to stimulate collagen regeneration and provide strong antioxidant effects to combat free radical damage, achieving firming and brightening results, theoretically speaking."
Li Younan explained to Xie Lin and Lan Yiyi, his voice not loud but clear enough, like reviewing a shared knowledge point.
Lan Yiyi paused, her gaze shifting from the product to Li Younan’s face, inquisitive. The attendant’s smile also froze for a mont, revealing a bit of inquiry.
Xie Lin remained silent; he didn’t understand but vaguely sensed that Li Younan was helping him out.
"Actually," Li Younan picked up a test sample of the essence and looked at its texture under the light, "to achieve the core benefits of ’repair, firming, and brightening,’ the Floral Beauty Story’s Youth Vitalizing series follows a solid formulation concept, delivering a fully competitive effect."
"Oh?" The sales attendant raised an eyebrow, a hint of curiosity in their smile indicating, "Let’s see what else you can say."
Li Younan turned to Lan Yiyi and Xie Lin, speaking at an easy pace, as if educating both of them, "Look, the core ingredients of this essence in the Floral Beauty Story’s Youth Essence employ the sa functional pathway using Acetyl Hexapeptide-8 and Ergothioneine combination."
"Acetyl Hexapeptide-8 specifically targets dynamic lines, with extensive literature supporting its collagen-promoting effects. Ergothioneine is commonly recognized as a powerful antioxidant, effectively fighting photo-aging. Furthermore, in the essence from Floral Beauty Story, the effective concentration of these two ingredients ets the efficacy standards, more substantive than so big-na basic lines."
The attendant was completely dumbfounded, thinking, what spell did he just recite?
Not a single word he said was understood.
"As for the deep repair it emphasizes," Li Younan picked up an adjacent luxurious face cream, "it relies on its ceramide complex and panthenol—a golden duo for barrier repair. On this note, the face cream in Floral Beauty Story’s sa series uses a triple ceramide and panthenol combination, scientifically proportioned, particularly effective in strengthening the skin barrier, and improving dryness and roughness. The formulation logic is crystal clear."
Then, Li Younan glanced at the attendant, smiling, "So, actually purchasing this set compared to that set doesn’t differ much in terms of effect, right?"
The attendant laughed awkwardly twice, "Ah, yes, yes, right, right."
Xie Lin perked up because the set recomnded by Li Younan was less than one-sixth the price of the one recomnded by Lan Yiyi.
Lan Yiyi was taken aback, "You... you actually know all this?"
Li Younan was examining the ingredient list of the costics set for Xie Lin, "I’m a computer science major, also in a science field, and costics are concocted by a bunch of male science students..."
"So knowing this... is quite logical." Li Younan looked up, matter-of-factly spouting nonsense.
Xie Lin nodded repeatedly beside him, "This is what’s called expertise!"
Lan Yiyi didn’t understand, but she thought Li Younan was extrely impressive, making her also feel that science students... were all amazing!
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