At seven o’clock in the evening, Lake City was quiet as Zheng Quan and his son Zi Yan wandered the streets.
“So, Dad, why didn’t you book a hotel in advance?” Zi Yan’s irritation from pulling at his hair had already been overshadowed by an even greater frustration.
Zheng Quan walked ahead, hearing him but not turning back, simply calling out softly—
“Who would have thought such a small place like Lake City… ahhh!”
Lake City was indeed small. Counting the population of the surrounding villages and towns, it barely reached six or seven hundred thousand.
As for the urban area itself, a casual stroll would cover every street and alley within a single day.
A place as small as Lake City had no famous tourist attractions aside from Qingling Lake, which lay about twenty kilometers away.
Finding a hotel to stay in should have been an easy task.
Unfortunately, Zheng Quan’s assumption would have been correct on any ordinary day.
But this was the National Day Golden Week, and a massive influx of tourists heading to Qingling Lake had flooded Lake City.
Although Xijiang Province had developed several resort areas near Qingling Lake to provide travelers with accommodations close to the scenic spots, those resorts charged premium prices.
A modest double room could cost 398 yuan per night, and few were willing to pay such a hefty sum.
After all, Lake City was only about twenty kilometers away from Qingling Lake—just over an hour’s drive.
Meanwhile, hotel prices in Lake City were much more reasonable. Rooms comparable in quality to the resorts could be found for about 88 yuan per night.
Three hundred yuan could buy a decent hotpot dinner, after all.
So even after nearly two hours since getting off at Lake City Railway Station, Zheng Quan and Zi Yan had walked past the Department of Road Transport Administration, Lake City Third Middle School, and had now reached the old Lake City District Government office building.
They had inquired at over a dozen hotels large and small, yet not a single one had a double room available.
Well, not exactly none.
Near the railway station, there was one hotel with a double room vacancy.
But when Zi Yan followed Zheng Quan inside, they found the lighting dim and the hallway narrow. An elderly woman with dirty clothes was manning the front desk.
Zheng Quan asked cautiously if they had any single rooms. The old woman nodded and called for her daughter-in-law from inside to show them the room.
The daughter-in-law looked far from clean. Whether it was due to the lighting or her demeanor, her expression was dull, and her eyes glazed over, completely void of life.
The vacant double room itself had no windows and no bathroom—no shower, obviously.
Even standing at the door, Zi Yan could smell a strong, unmistakable musty odor.
Combined with the eerie yellowish light, the strange old woman and her daughter-in-law, the whole hotel gave off a sinister and frightening atmosphere.
Zi Yan felt he wouldn’t feel safe spending the night there. Without a word, he grabbed Zheng Quan’s arm and they left immediately.
Forget it. They would keep searching for other hotels.
Zheng Quan and his son trudged onward, spirits sinking.
“Dad, we’re not really going to have to sleep on the streets tonight, are we…?”
They’d already walked three or four kilometers from the railway station, and Zi Yan’s legs ached under the weight of his backpack.
“No, no.”
Zheng Quan reassured him, though he wasn’t entirely confident himself.
This was the old Lake City District Government office. Nearby was a hotel that looked relatively upscale, but Zheng Quan had already asked there—
“Sir, I’m sorry, we’re fully booked.”
Were all the visitors to Qingling Lake starving wolves?
“Beep beep.”
A taxi honked as it approached Zheng Quan and Zi Yan wandering the street.
Lake City’s nightlife was nothing compared to Haizhou’s. In Haizhou, even at 10:30 at night, there were many pedestrians on the streets. Haizhou Square would be crowded with people relaxing and enjoying themselves.
The street food stalls next to the square were even livelier—groups of friends would gather for skewers, drinks, and crayfish, laughing and chatting until dawn.
But in Lake City, barely anyone was on the streets at just past seven in the evening.
So this taxi driver honking at Zheng Quan and Zi Yan out here clearly seemed like he was trying to pick up passengers.
Zheng Quan had a sudden thought and waved.
Sure enough, the taxi drove over, but stopped about ten meters away from them.
“…?”
Both father and son were taken aback.
“That’s a no-parking zone. Come here, please!”
The taxi driver was a young man with a buzz cut, looking sharp. He rolled down the window and called out to them.
No parking?
Zi Yan followed Zheng Quan into the taxi. As soon as they got in, the driver smiled and apologized, “Brother, sorry about that.”
“You see this yellow line? If I had stopped right in front of you, my day’s work would’ve been wasted—300 yuan fine and six points deducted.”
Zheng Quan smiled, saying it was fine.
He’d heard that Yongcheng enforced strict traffic regulations. Recently, colleagues from Haizhou’s relevant departments had even planned a field study trip to Yongcheng to learn from their experience.
“Brother, where are you headed?” the driver asked.
“Wherever in Lake City has the best hotel with rooms still available at this hour,” Zheng Quan answered.
That was a clever idea.
A taxi driver who often worked the roads should know which hotels were available during peak season.
“Oh, you’re tourists here for Qingling Lake?” The driver perked up. “You’ve come to the right guy. I’ve already taken several people looking for hotels today.”
Looks like there was hope after all—no sleeping on the streets tonight.
“The best hotel in Lake City is called Luguang Shanse,” the driver said, rubbing his hands. “This place has good facilities and plenty of rooms, so there should be vacancies. But the price might be a bit high—”
“Also, it’s outside the city, quite a distance from Lake City proper. Since it’s so late, how about I don’t turn on the meter and just charge you fifty yuan?”
From what the driver said, Luguang Shanse was located about ten or so kilometers west of Lake City, actually inside the Qingling Lake resort area developed by Xijiang Province.
Well, after all the twists and turns, they were heading to a resort after all. Zheng Quan’s plan to save money in Lake City was shattered.
“Brother, I’m not trying to take advantage of outsiders,” the driver added when Zheng Quan hesitated. “Out of town, no meter is an unspoken rule among taxi drivers here in Lake City. Besides, the meter fare for that distance would be around thirty or forty yuan anyway.”
Zheng Quan gave the driver a meaningful look.
Rules?
There was a bright red notice on the dashboard right in front of the passenger seat: “Strictly implement new metering regulations. Report hotline: XXX.”
He could bet any complaint would be taken seriously.
Still, Zheng Quan didn’t want to make trouble, so he nodded in agreement.
“Thanks for understanding, brother!”