Chapter 98: The Return Journey

Dong Jianguo was exhausted to the point of collapse; he was too lazy to even take a bath, simply lying down on the bed, and fell asleep before long.

"Da, da, hug." This little fellow, after not seeing him for two days, could already say some simple words, though his pronunciation was still a bit unclear.

Zhang Ping'an had bathed in the space over the past two days, so he was fine, smelling only of smoked meat.

Zhang Ping'an caught the little fellow who ran over and lifted him high up, making him giggle with delight.

"Ping'an, put your little brother down, you should go get some rest too."

"It's fine, I'm not sleepy. Mom, you and Dad hurry and process the meat."

"Alright, then we'll stew venison for lunch."

"Eat, eat, eat."

"Hahaha, you little fellow, all you know is eating."

The environment in Beijiang is dry, and the cellar at Grandma's house is a semi-underground structure with a large space, storing quite a lot of melons, fruits, and vegetables inside; it felt cool the moment one entered, and the little fellow even shivered, hugging Zhang Ping'an's calf tightly.

"Hahaha," Zhang Ping'an lifted the little fellow up into his arms and patted him.

At noon, they stewed three jin of venison; truth be told, compared to roasted venison, braised venison had a unique flavor of its own.

One of the purposes of Zhang Ping'an's trip could be considered fulfilled, and another was to hoard Jade; previously, Zhang Ping'an had also picked up quite a lot of things resembling Jade along the riverbed, all of which he threw into the pond.

However, wanting to collect Jade on a large scale was not realistic, at least for the moment; it was difficult for him to leave alone for a long time, so this time he could only leave it to fate.

For the next half month, besides having meals with his eldest uncle, second uncle, and aunt's families on rest days, Zhang Ping'an rode a horse along the riverbed almost every day to collect Jade, and he also had his cousins help collect it.

"Ping'an, what do you want those stones for?"

"I heard from a friend that these are all Jade and seem to be very valuable, so I wanted to save some to play with."

"Hey~ we have plenty of these here, right at the foot of the mountain north of the town; if you like them, I'll bring you a few jin next time."

"Alright."

Zhang Ping'an noted the location and rode back and forth every day; he now had an additional task, which was to scatter grass seeds everywhere, especially along the roadsides of the town and the riverbanks where he collected Jade—in short, he scattered them wherever he went.

He also scattered a lot on the existing grassland at his grandfather's house, striving to finish scattering all the space grass seeds before leaving.

Currently, only three of the ten mu of land in the space were kept for wheat or rice, two for sweet potatoes and potatoes, and the rest were all kinds of melons, fruits, and vegetables from Beijiang; Zhang Ping'an planned to cultivate some high-quality seeds to leave for his grandmother's family.

The liquor in the Space Cauldron was partially bottled and sealed by Zhang Ping'an, and a new batch was brewed and added to it.

Zhang Ping'an fed the three horses with space grass, and they became even more affectionate toward him; Zhang Ping'an prepared a batch of hay in the space to replace the hay in the stable, so even after Zhang Ping'an returned, there would be enough for the family of three to eat for a while.

Time flew to late August; during this period, Zhang Ping'an himself had harvested three or four tons of Jade, although the quality was very average.

Seeing that Zhang Ping'an liked collecting these, Grandfather had his eldest uncle and the others bring back a trunk full of Jade every time they returned on their rest days, which added up to probably nearly a ton, all stored in Grandfather's Back Courtyard.

Zhang Ping'an collected a little bit each time, and in the last few days, he simply took it all away, covering the ground with piles of hay.

Zhang Ping'an went hunting again and also harvested two Wild Boars; Zhang Ping'an also discovered other Beijiang tigers.

There were also foxes, Lynx, and snow leopards, but Zhang Ping'an only collected two pairs of foxes and Lynx; snow leopards required a special altitude environment, and the Back Mountain of the space was only a hundred meters high, which clearly did not fit.

He even unexpectedly harvested an injured eagle with yellow hair on its head; it might have been a golden eagle, but Zhang Ping'an didn't recognize it. The space was too small, so after it recovered from its injuries, Zhang Ping'an released it, but he didn't expect it to follow Zhang Ping'an back to Grandfather's house.

"Heh, I've been latched onto."

Zhang Ping'an waved his hand, and the yellow-haired eagle landed in the courtyard of Grandfather's house, then ran over, swaying from side to side.

"Fine, since you're willing to follow me, I'll build you a nest."

Zhang Ping'an carried the yellow-haired eagle into the space and built a nest for it with wood in a large tree on the Back Mountain.

"You'll live here from now on; I'll let you out for a while when I go out."

In early September, Zhang Ping'an's family had already stayed in Beijiang for two months and were preparing to return in the next few days.

In these twenty days, Zhang Ping'an had harvested another two tons or so of Jade; he didn't know if it was an illusion, but Zhang Ping'an felt that the Back Mountain of the space seemed to have grown taller.

Moreover, after the yellow-haired eagle was released for half a month, it not only returned fatter but also had another one following behind it.

The yellow-haired eagle first rubbed against Zhang Ping'an, then chirped a few times at the other yellow-haired eagle; that yellow-haired eagle hesitated for a moment before also walking over, swaying.

Zhang Ping'an first threw a few strips of fresh meat to build a bond with that yellow-haired eagle, and sure enough, the vigilance in its eyes dissipated quite a bit.

Even if Zhang Ping'an were foolish, he could guess that the one he saved initially must have been a female, and she probably had eggs; but didn't these types of eagles usually breed in the spring? Why were there some now? Or was it just fat?

The female yellow-haired eagle rubbed against Zhang Ping'an again, seemingly wanting to enter the space to lay eggs; Zhang Ping'an had no choice but to take them both into the space, and under the lead of the female yellow-haired eagle, the male also flew into the nest.

During these two months, Zhang Ping'an had also learned Uyghur from Wasta, and daily communication was no problem.

In the evening, the eldest uncle, second uncle, and aunt's whole family returned.

"Ping'an, how is the packing going?"

"Mm, it's almost all packed."

The two large bags of snacks that his parents had brought were now replaced with various dried meats, dried fruits, and various local specialties of Beijiang, and Zhang Ping'an's backpack was also stuffed with quite a lot.

Because Zhang Ping'an had been outside almost the entire time during these two months, he had tanned a shade darker, and his parents and younger brother had also tanned a bit, though not as obviously.

The grass seeds Zhang Ping'an scattered by the river had already sprouted, and there were also specks of green in other places; he believed that the desert in that area would definitely be lush by this time next year.

Zhang Ping'an mixed most of the various melon and fruit seeds left by his grandfather and the others with his own space-optimized seeds, and he also left behind quite a lot of potato, sweet potato, soybean, and cotton seeds.

After the whole family had a meal together, everyone went back to rest, and the next day everyone got up early to see Zhang Ping'an's family off.

"Da Ni, Laizhong, Ping'an, report that you've arrived safely after you get home."

"Alright, Mom."

"Grandma, Grandfather, we're leaving; we'll come visit you again when we have time."

"Good, good, good."

But Zhang Ping'an knew in his heart that it would likely not be easy for the whole family to come again together.

"Big sister, Laizhong, we'll do the same as when we came; we'll stay at my comrade's place for the night, and there will be a Transport Team passing by tomorrow morning."

"Alright."

After a long journey, they arrived in Wushi after seven in the evening, and everyone had a simple meal before resting.

The next morning, the eldest uncle took them to the cooperative again, only to be notified that the Transport Team had just returned the previous night and would need to rest for a day or two before departing.

Eldest maternal uncle Dong Dayong was stumped, and Dong Dani saw her eldest brother's inner conflict.

"Eldest brother, you should go back first; it will be fine for us to wait here."

"That's right, eldest brother, we brought plenty of food, and we can buy more on the street at any time."

"Well, alright then, I'll leave the key with you; just place it in the stone crevice by the door when you leave."

It was incredibly difficult for Dong Dayong to get even a single day off, let alone two days for a round trip this time; if he asked for two more days, it would surely cause an uproar.

Eldest maternal uncle Dong Dayong was the head of the town's supply and marketing cooperative, and second maternal uncle Dong Dali was in charge of procurement; since the cooperative was currently short-staffed, everyone had to do the work of two people.