Chapter 365: Self-Driving Tour

"Alright, I'm heading back now. I'll come visit you all again when I have the chance."

Zhang Ping'an had just discovered several tigers along the way; they must have been their offspring. It seemed they hadn't been idle in the last dozen years or so.

Zhang Ping'an turned to leave, but the three brothers tugged at him, refusing to let him go.

"What, do you want to come back with me?"

"Roar!" x3

The three tigers kept rubbing against him. If an outsider saw this, they would surely be frightened out of their wits. Zhang Ping'an hesitated for a moment before taking them all into the space.

Forget it, might as well take them. At worst, I'll put them in my own Tea Plantation when I get back to Sijiucheng.

Entering the space, the three tigers let out a roar. After a bit of searching, they all tacitly settled down quietly under the Tea Trees.

"You three fellows sure know how to pick a spot."

Ever since Zhang Ping'an dropped the Jade at the Myanmar border, the pond and the Tea Trees had undergone a secondary evolution; it was also the place with the best air in the space.

Zhang Ping'an exited the space. Thinking of the tigers from earlier, he released a pile of wild rabbits, pheasants, and Snow Chickens on the way back. He also released a group of Wild Boars, and seven or eight each of wild sheep, deer, oxen, and horses.

Once they multiplied enough to feed these tigers, plus the seeds he had scattered, it would form a perfect ecological cycle.

"Screech!"

Zhang Ping'an looked up to see two large birds of prey not far from him. The gale stirred up by their wings made it hard for him to keep his eyes open. They were the two Huangmao Eagles from back then.

They each dropped the prey in their talons, landed not far from Zhang Ping'an, and then ran over like a pair of goofy statues.

"Whoa, it's you two fellows."

The two Huangmao Eagles stood just about as tall as Zhang Ping'an's waist. They rubbed against him affectionately, one on each side. Without a word, Zhang Ping'an gave each eagle half a basin of Space Water.

"Alright, I'm going back now. You two go on."

The two Huangmao Eagles rubbed against Zhang Ping'an again before spreading their wings to soar high, circling in the sky for a good while before leaving.

"Sigh, everyone's getting old."

Whether it was people or animals, Zhang Ping'an didn't feel much; thirty years had just flashed by in the blink of an eye.

"Whew."

Zhang Ping'an shook his head, casting these miscellaneous thoughts out of his mind. He collected the prey and headed down the mountain, not forgetting to scatter grass seeds along the way.

The prey brought by the Huangmao Eagles were a wild sheep and a deer. At the foot of the mountain, Zhang Ping'an released his pickup truck, put the sheep and deer into the cargo bed, and stepped on the gas to speed off.

It was past ten o'clock when he returned to his grandmother's house, and his aunt took the lead in cleaning the prey.

"Dad, why didn't you call me when you went into the mountains this morning?"

"I had things to do."

"Did you see the golden eagles?" Weiping and Weibing clearly still remembered the time the golden eagles repaid a favor when they were young.

"I saw them. These were all gifts from them."

"Ah~" Both of them looked disappointed.

"Alright, these golden eagles are just large birds of prey, what's there to see? Go help your great-aunt."

"Oh."

Noon was naturally another big feast; one could never get enough of the food in Beijiang.

"Uncle, Second Uncle, Aunt, you're all retired now, why not come back with us and stay for a while?"

"This..."

"That's fine too. Haven't been back in decades, it would be good to go back and take a look."

That afternoon, the three families went back to settle their affairs, and the next day, the group prepared to travel back to Sijiucheng while enjoying the journey.

That evening, everyone ate and rested early. Zhang Ping'an put all the supplies into the pickup truck, as they would be spending the next month or so on the road.

The next morning, leaving two people to watch the house, the four cars set off to pick people up. After picking up the six of them—the uncle, second uncle, and aunt—in the town, they officially began their self-driving tour.

"Ping'an, this car must be very expensive, right?"

The second uncle used to work in procurement and dealt with many vehicles, but none could compare to this one.

Not to mention anything else, the chassis tuning alone crushed every car he had ever sat in.

"Yeah, it just hit the market, so it's definitely not cheap. It's about five or six hundred thousand, and we don't have them in the Mainland. This was a gift from a friend."

"Tsk tsk, you really get what you pay for. My jeep would bounce me into the air going over a pothole, but I can't even feel any bumps in this car."

"If you like it, Second Uncle, I'll buy one for you and the uncle each when we get back."

"Forget it, forget it. You couldn't afford it even if you sold me, and at my age, what kind of car would I even drive?"

"Exactly, how old are we? And Ping'an, I heard from your mother that you went into business?" the uncle asked.

"Yeah, I've been doing some small business. I opened a hotel and an auto mall in Sijiucheng, and I have some business in Xiangjiang too." Zhang Ping'an didn't intend to hide it, but he wasn't prepared to go into too much detail.

"Hmm, that's good."

As the head of the town's cooperative, the uncle could most intuitively feel the changes in the market. And this was just in Beijiang; the feeling would be even more obvious in Sijiucheng or Modu.

The convoy didn't drive fast, keeping to a speed of about forty or fifty kilometers per hour. They arrived in Wushi in the evening, rested for a night, spent the day sightseeing, and continued on the third day.

Afterward, they passed through the Hexi Corridor, the Inner Mongolia Plateau, and the Loess Plateau before entering the North China region, stopping to rest for two or three days in every city they passed.

They also camped in the wild in between. Fortunately, Zhang Ping'an was well-prepared; there was no shortage of seven tents, food, quilts, and the like.

"Sigh, I've lived this long and this is the first time I've returned home in such a novel way."

"Hahaha, don't just talk about yourself, little sister. I reckon Mom and Dad feel the same."

"Hehe."

Grandmother and Grandfather both smiled and nodded. This was somewhat like the marches they took in their youth, only more carefree.

Among the elders, the aunt and uncle-in-law were the youngest, but they were already in their late sixties. Then there was his mother, Dong Dani, at seventy; the uncle and second uncle were both over seventy; his father was eighty-five; and his grandmother and grandfather were over ninety.

Yet, there was no fatigue on their faces, only the comfort of a family reunion.

After nearly two months of long-distance travel, the group finally returned to Sijiucheng, and Zhang Ping'an arranged for his grandmother and grandfather to stay directly at their old family home.

"It hasn't changed much here."

"Great Uncle, I rented this place out before, and only got it back after the New Year. I also found someone to renovate it again."

"Mm, you have a good heart, Ping'an."

The eldest uncle and second uncle had also learned from their father that Zhang Ping'an had rented out the Siheyuan, but they hadn't expected it to be so easy to get back, especially since the situation in the Mainland hadn't been very good in previous years.

"Hehe, it's nothing. Grandma, Grandpa, you two should rest first. There are electric fans and such in the rooms, and there are plenty of vegetables in the kitchen. I'll bring the children over tomorrow."

"Mm, alright. You should go back and rest too; you've been driving for days."

"Mm."

Grandma and Grandpa returned to their room; there was a fan on the bedside table, as well as an iron box, which was the very box where they had stored their land deeds back in the day.

"This kid."

As soon as Grandpa opened it, he saw the land deeds, and the rent from these past years was also inside.

"What's wrong?"

"Take a look for yourself." Grandpa handed the iron box directly to Grandma.

"This child."

"Just accept it. It just so happens that Ping'an is bringing the children over tomorrow, so we can just give them red envelopes."

Grandma and Grandpa both knew that Zhang Ping'an had thirteen children, so tomorrow they could each be given two hundred yuan.

"Mm, alright. Then these land deeds..."

"Just leave them for now."

Grandpa had originally intended to leave them to Zhang Ping'an, but looking at it now, with his eldest grandson's net worth, he wasn't lacking these few scraps, so he would wait until they left to decide.