Chapter 1: Time-Space Travel Agency, Era Edition, Activated
"Well, boss, I'll be heading off now."
"Sister Wu, wait a moment, this is your salary for the month, I'm sorry."
Li Feng pulled out a stack of bills and handed them to Sister Wu.
"Boss, that's too much."
Sister Wu took the salary, a bit confused. She had only worked for less than ten days this month, so why was she getting a full month's pay?
"Consider it a small compensation from me."
After seeing off Sister Wu, the last employee of the guesthouse, who also served as the housekeeper, restaurant waitress, and chef, Li Feng returned to the lobby alone and sat in the guest lounge area for a long time before standing up.
"Well, now I don't even have anyone to cook for me."
Li Feng glanced at the empty lobby. The front desk was deserted, and the restaurant and lounge area were equally devoid of life. "I'll go to the village entrance and grab a bowl of noodles." As for cooking, he decided against it; first, there weren't many ingredients in the kitchen, and second, Li Feng wasn't in the mood.
Arriving at the village entrance, it was quite lively here. The elderly villagers liked to gather at the village supermarket, playing cards and chatting. To be honest, playing cards here usually cost fifteen yuan per person for a whole day, and it even included lunch, making it quite suitable for the elderly.
"Oh, Brother Li, you're here, come sit, come sit."
"What would you like?"
"A bowl of beef noodles."
Li Feng was quite familiar with the owner of this supermarket, which also served as a chess and card room and snack bar. Not only was he the son-in-law of Han Family Village, but in the past six months since taking over the guesthouse, he had dealt with Mr. Zhang quite a lot. The beef, lamb, pork, fish, shrimp, and vegetables he usually bought were mostly from here.
This owner was fair in business, and he handled interpersonal relations well. Moreover, as fellow sons-in-law of Han Family Village, the two also shared some common topics.
"How's business lately?" Zhang Tao quickly brought over the noodles.
"Alas, it's a long story."
Li Feng sighed. The property he took over was actually quite substantial, including a guesthouse and a memorial hall converted from a small third-line factory, as well as a nearby Reservoir and a mountain. It was a comprehensive travel agency offering entertainment, fishing, dining, and accommodation services.
Li Feng had thought it was a good idea when his classmate Han Dong first proposed it. After several visits, he found that business was indeed good, so he invested over two million yuan, selling his breakfast shop and using most of his savings from over the years.
Who knew that Han Dong, who usually seemed reliable, would lose nearly a million yuan overnight playing a fishing game machine? He then absconded with over two hundred thousand yuan from the accounts. What's more, with no money in the accounts, Li Feng had to grit his teeth and put in his own money. In any case, the guesthouse now belonged to him.
However, he had hoped that more people would come to visit after the reopening, but it turned out to be worse than before. In just half a year, his second investment was depleted. Another third-line dock memorial hall appeared in the city, which undoubtedly made things worse, as it had more convenient transportation, leading to even fewer visitors at his memorial hall.
"Alas, everything is difficult these days."
Zhang Tao said in a low voice. "How's Han Dong? Have you contacted him?"
"Except for the time he sent the contract, I haven't heard from him in six months."
What good would contacting him do now? The guesthouse was already in such a state. What could Han Dong do? Besides, with him owing a mountain of debt, his return would only cause more trouble for the already struggling guesthouse.
"Why don't you just sell the guesthouse?"
Seeing that there were no other customers at the moment, Zhang Tao sat down to chat with Li Feng. "It's better to get rid of it early than to drag it on every day."
"That's true."
Li Feng also wanted to sell it. He had put up a sign and asked friends to help inquire, and someone was indeed willing to take over, but the price they offered almost made Li Feng sick. The total cost of renovation and rent for the entire guesthouse, spent by Li Feng and Han Dong, was nearly five million yuan, and now they weren't even offering a tenth of that.
"That's a bit low."
Zhang Tao nodded slightly after hearing this. "But then again, dragging it on isn't a solution either. A little less might actually..."
"I'll see. Maybe there'll be a turn of events."
"That's true."
Zhang Tao understood Li Feng's meaning; he was unwilling to give up, which was normal. Anyone who had invested their life's savings wouldn't easily let go. Well, what else could he say? So he didn't say anything more.
Li Feng finished his noodles, paid, and left. He planned to organize some activities during the summer, such as camping or water activities at the Reservoir, to see if he could attract some tourists.
"Why did Han Shengli's son-in-law believe Han Dong's nonsense? Everyone knows that kid is sneaky and can't do anything serious."
"Exactly. I heard that Han Shengli's son-in-law invested a lot of money, and it looks like it's going to be wasted."
"Of course. I heard he even put in the money from selling his house. Tell me, is this kid not right in the head? That memorial hall he set up—I went to take a look, thinking there would be something good, but it was just a pile of junk. Who would be foolish enough to travel dozens of miles of mountain road to see that stuff?"
The elderly people playing cards outside began to discuss after Li Feng left. Zhang Tao, who was nearby, didn't say anything, but he actually felt that Li Feng's decision was reckless. It wasn't just twenty or thirty thousand yuan, but two or three million.
For an average family, this was a lifetime's savings. To invest it just for a classmate and because he liked fishing, he couldn't understand it. If it were him, let alone two or three million, he would carefully consider even twenty or thirty thousand.
"You, why are you chatting with him again? I'm telling you, you're not allowed to lend him money."
Han Dafeng, Zhang Tao's wife, saw Zhang Tao looking in the direction Li Feng left and said with some concern.
"What are you talking about? What money would I lend?"
Zhang Tao said. "What's my relationship with him? Lending money, you're really imagining things."
"Then what are you muttering about? I'm telling you, don't get involved with his place."
"I'm not stupid. Who would dare to take over that bottomless pit?" Zhang Tao waved his hand. "Alright, hurry up and clean up. The old men haven't had their lunch yet."
"Do I have to clean up this little bit of work? Oh, right, have the vegetable bills from the guesthouse been settled?"
"You don't need to tell me that. I already got them back a few days ago."
"That's good."
Although Li Feng didn't hear the discussions at the village entrance, he could imagine that Han Shengli probably knew about it by now. This matter couldn't be kept from Han Chunxiao anymore. Alas, this time it wouldn't just be an argument...
"Alas."
Back at the guesthouse, Li Feng opened his computer and saw that there were no orders for rooms or meals. A few people had inquired about fishing, but relying solely on a few fishermen wouldn't even cover the utility bills, let alone make a profit.
"First, I'll go tidy up the memorial hall and clear out some space."
The memorial hall was actually quite large, with over ten thousand square meters spread across two floors. It was an old factory building, so the area was certainly big enough. The exhibits were mostly old items that Han Dong had collected, such as black-and-white televisions and old-fashioned bicycles.
There were also sewing machines, wooden boxes, tape recorders, radios, and various objects from the 1960s and 70s—probably eight hundred to a thousand items in total. There were also several themed shops, a Supply and Marketing Cooperative store, and a video hall.
This area cost a lot. The items Han Dong collected were mostly old, and he put a lot of effort into them. Unfortunately, while these things might interest the older generation, young people weren't willing to spend time traveling dozens of miles of mountain road to see them.
"First, I'll create a lounge."
The memorial hall was much closer to Li Feng's planned campsite than the guesthouse, so setting up a lounge here for guests would be more suitable. "The Supply and Marketing Cooperative could be converted to store some drinks and such, which could also increase some income."
"The video hall could be tidied up, an air conditioner installed, and it could completely serve as a lounge, which would save some renovation costs."
Currently, Li Feng wanted to organize activities to increase income while also reducing expenses, as he didn't have much money left. "Huh, what's this?"
"A VCR?"
While tidying up old appliances in the video hall, Li Feng discovered a strange-looking machine. It was a silver-white box, about sixty centimeters long, forty centimeters wide, and ten centimeters thick, all in a nice silver-white color. "No buttons. What is this? A VCR doesn't look like this. Is it a model?"
Li Feng muttered, looking at it. There was only one red button, no other buttons.
"Strange, Han Dong never mentioned this thing to me."
Li Feng muttered, intending to move it aside, but to his surprise, the thing was incredibly heavy. Li Feng grunted and struggled, but it didn't budge. "Good heavens, this must be made of gold, otherwise why is it so heavy?"
Li Feng, somewhat driven crazy by the thought of getting rich, couldn't help but think that, of course, if it were true, Han Dong would have run back long ago. "What exactly is this thing?" After pondering for a long time without knowing what it was, Li Feng finally couldn't resist pressing the red button in the middle.
"Holy crap..."
Li Feng felt a sudden numbness throughout his body, like an electric current flowing through him. 'I'm getting electrocuted, am I going to die?' In an instant, Li Feng fainted.
"Time-Space Travel Agency, Beginner Edition, activating..."
The video room seemed to transform in an instant, ripples spreading out to open a bright pathway. "Do you want to enable Time-Space Travel? Scanning... Time anchored to 1978. Activating... Host default. Please select experience tour, difficulty selectable..."
"Host default difficulty selected: Hard. Carried items selected: Host default no selection. Time-Space Travel, Beginner Era Version, activating. Reminder: First use may cause discomfort, please self-adjust. Countdown activating: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6... 1. Activating Time-Space Travel."
Li Feng remained silent throughout, no, he was unconscious throughout. The energy consumed during activation completely drained Li Feng.
"Cough, cough, cough."
Drowsily, Li Feng heard a few calls of "Papa," and then it seemed a few more people came to move his body. He was in a daze throughout the entire process. "I was electrocuted just now, but I didn't die. That's good, that's good."
As he spoke, Li Feng fainted again. This time, he almost woke up again, but he didn't know how much time had passed. "Ouch, why is my whole body sore? Was the electric shock that bad?" As he spoke, he tried to prop himself up, but his arms had no strength.
"Li Ran."
Helpless, he could only call for his son to help, but after Li Feng called out, he froze, looking around. This room didn't look like a hospital room at all. The grey-black adobe walls, stained with a bit of soot, and the wooden-framed windows let in a mottled light.
Then he looked at where he was lying: a bed of straw, covered with a tattered quilt patched with many pieces, with some black-grey cotton wadding poking out. This environment reminded him a bit of his grandmother's house when he was a child, but it wasn't right. Before Li Feng could figure it out, two thin little girls, one tall and one small, with messy yellow-black hair and sallow faces, ran in. The taller one was about 1.1 meters, and the smaller one was eighty centimeters tall.
"Papa, you're awake."
"Papa?"
Li Feng was bewildered. What was going on? He did have a daughter, but these two girls in front of him weren't her at all. Was this a joke?