Chapter 303: Descending the Mountain
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
Throughout his interactions with Su Zhen, Jiang Chuan realized that Su Zhen was a young man with a strong sense of caution, finding it hard to fully trust anyone.
Zhao Wan wasn’t the type to easily consider someone as family either. However, the trust between them seemed even stronger than that between a mother and child. Su Zhen even attended internal meetings of the Zhang family, indicating their close relationship.
This was something Jiang Chuan hadn’t anticipated.
In the future, when Jiang Chuan and Su Zhen collaborate in business, it was uncertain whether their relationship would prove beneficial or problematic.
The snowstorm came suddenly and departed just as abruptly. After less than an hour, it stopped without even wetting the ground.
Third Brother Zhang glanced at the sky and calmly remarked, “Tomorrow will be a sunny day.”
Third Brother Zhang had a knack for predicting the weather, and Jiang Qing trusted his forecasts. So, she began to pack their belongings. Although saddened by her family’s departure, she looked forward more to their reunion in a month.
On their journey back, without Su Zhen accompanying them, Jiang Chuan could drive the entire way. For the sake of time, they still planned to stay a day in Locust Tree Bay.
Early the next morning, they descended the mountain. Zhang Ping and Jiang Qing accompanied them to the foot of the mountain, only turning back when they were out of sight.
In a secluded spot, Jiang Chuan brought out his car and smoothly drove to Locust Tree Bay, arriving just in time for lunch.
They visited the same hotel they had stayed in before. The landlady looked cold, as if she had just had an argument. While others might have been deterred by her demeanor, Jiang Chuan and his family knew it was just her usual expression.
Indeed, the landlady gave a small, not particularly warm smile upon seeing them, still assigning them the largest room upstairs.
Before heading up, Zhou Lan asked, “Madam, do you have a kitchen we could use?”
Pointing with her chin to the left corridor, the landlady responded, “Go straight to the end. Start the fire yourself and remember to wash the pots and dishes after.”
The landlady was straightforward. Others might have worried about guests damaging the dishes or dirtying the kitchen and charged Zhou Lan for the use. But the landlady was unconcerned.
She had a good impression of this family. When they last left, they gave her a basket of wild vegetables and a fish as a token of gratitude for offering them the best room. If converted, it’s almost enough to pay for a second room.
Especially those vegetables and the fish, one was fresh and the other was fatty. Even if they tried to exchange them at the supply and marketing cooperative, they couldn’t get ones of this quality.
The landlady didn’t politely decline, and with her usual cold face, she glanced at the basket of vegetables and said, “Safe travels.”
She really has a cool personality.
Zhou Lan pulled Jiang Gu into the kitchen to get busy, while Jiang Chuan and Jiang Xia sat on the sofas on the first floor of the hotel.
At this time, not many people were checking into the hotel. The landlady, having nothing to do, chatted with them, “You just left three days ago and are already back. Couldn’t find the person on Grand Cloud Mountain?”
The landlady’s question made sense because the journey from Locust Tree Bay to Grand Cloud Mountain takes at least a day and a half. So if they traveled there and back in three days, it seemed they didn’t find the person.
Jiang Chuan politely explained, “We found them. On our way there and back, we were fortunate to hitch rides on kindly-offered carts. We only stayed a day at our relative’s place. Seeing that it rained, we were eager to return to the village and replant.”
After the autumn harvest in rural areas, fields are replanted with crops like maize, which will mature by the next spring. But this year, due to drought, there’s a shortage of seeds and the soil lacks nutrients. While distributing grain, the government also allowed fields to remain unplanted with grain before spring. Farmers wishing to plant grains can temporarily cultivate their own vegetables.
Jiang Xia had interspace, and the vegetables grown there were much better than those from the land. Hence, Jiang Chuan, looking for a shortcut, decided to leave the land fallow.
He said all this just to appease the landlady.
The landlady looked wistfully outside at the clear blue sky, “It’s a pity that it only rained for a day. It’s not enough to irrigate the fields. Your family is quite lucky. Wherever you go, you always find a cart.”
Jiang Chuan felt guilty and didn’t continue the conversation.
After a while, Zhou Lan came out again, “Landlady, do you have any flour here? We’ve run out of ours and would like to exchange for some..”
