Quitting feels great in the moment, and it keeps feeling great the longer you stay unemployed. And if it doesn’t, take your cat out for a nice meal.
After narrowly escaping death outside the ICU at age twenty-six, Lin Chen made a decision that went against everything his ancestors stood for:
Quit his job, give up his apartment, buy a beat-up secondhand car, and go see the world.
The only one joining him on the road was Huoguo, a tabby cat he had just taken in.
The moment Lin Chen started the car, the cat in the passenger seat stretched and began to talk:
“So this is your junker? Fine, it doesn’t have leather seats, but it doesn’t even have a panoramic sunroof. How’s this emperor supposed to sunbathe?”
From then on, Lin Chen’s life took a turn:
Other people travel to visit attractions and take photos. He works as his cat’s personal chef.
Other people comb the shore for seashells. He uses his cat’s nose to track down king crabs.
Other people go weak in the knees when they encounter wild beasts. His cat hops onto the roof of the car and chums around with tigers.
From spicy hotpot in Sichuan and Chongqing to snowy mountains and starry skies in Tibet;
from the lonely smoke and setting sun of the great northwest to the misty rain and waterside pavilions of Jiangnan.
This is an escape in search of good food, beautiful scenery, and freedom.
Lin Chen: “Huoguo, the road ahead is uninhabited. Are you scared?”
Huoguo: “What’s there to be afraid of? As long as there’s canned food, this emperor will go with you to the ends of the earth.”
