Super Zoo

On this trip home, Suming brought none of his other animals, only Xiaobai and Haidong Qing. It goes without saying for Xiaobai the cat, being pregnant naturally meant she received extra care and attention, though Suming knew even without him, Xiaobai could very well give birth on her own. But Suming still didn't feel comfortable leaving it alone in the zoo.

With the Soul Attachment Ability, Haidong Qing had become an extremely important partner.

Of all the animals at present, it had the most powerful vision. From thousands of meters in the air, it could clearly see a small mouse on the ground, and because it could fly, taking it out was the most convenient and least likely to arouse suspicion.

In the air, Haidong Qing was almost an invincible existence; its own safety was not an issue. Unlike Er Gouzi, who had to guard against some predatory birds, especially when going into the mountains, Er Gouzi's situation was actually quite dangerous.

If there truly was an emergency, Haidong Qing's combat ability also couldn't be ignored; dealing with an adult or two was no big deal. Moreover, its speed was extremely fast, equally suited for delivering messages and signaling warnings.

Suming certainly couldn't just call the zoo and tell the person who answered, "Please let Er Gouzi, that is, the hornet in my room, take the call."

In midair, a Haidong Qing spread its wings and soared, while below, on the expressway, Suming was driving a commercial van filled with New Year's goods and gifts, accompanied by Su Meng, leaving Yangchuan City and heading toward their hometown.

Attaching a wisp of spiritual power to Haidong Qing as it flew in the sky, Suming could completely keep track of any movement within several kilometers, becoming a super biological radar.

Of course, nothing in the world is perfect. Even though Suming was sitting in the car, he felt gusts of wind blowing across his face as if they were cutting into his skin with knives, making him extremely uncomfortable. In less than half a minute, he couldn't even keep his eyes open, and tears streamed down uncontrollably.

The biggest feature of the Soul Attachment Ability, although not susceptible to physical harm, was sharing the same physiological sensations as the animal he was attached to. Haidong Qing was long accustomed to flying at thousands of meters high and its eyes, structurally different from a human's, didn't fear the wind, but Suming couldn't handle it.

After enduring for a while, Suming couldn't take it anymore and withdrew his spiritual power.

"Su Meng, I want to have a very serious talk with you," Suming said as he drove, claiming to be 'very serious,' yet his face showed not the slightest sign of seriousness, as if he was holding back a laugh.

Su Meng, however, nodded vigorously, looking at Suming with a serious expression, waiting for him to speak.

"Be serious, be serious," Suming told himself twice in his mind, then he asked, "What do you think of Nurse Hu?"

Su Meng hesitated not a bit, giving a thumbs up and nodding, "Good! Good!"

"What about having her as your wife?" Suming asked again.

This time, Su Meng didn't respond immediately. He thought hard with wide eyes and a puzzled look, uncertainly nodding his head and then shaking it, going back and forth between the two several times, until finally, he slumped back in the seat, his head down, silent.

Since coming to the human world with Suming, Su Meng had gradually understood that a wife wasn't just for 'having offspring,' there was the matter of living life together, along with many other things he still didn't quite understand.

Seeing Su Meng like this, Suming also understood the gist of it, Su Meng had a fondness for Hu, at least no aversion; but talking about marriage was too premature, even dating was a bit early.

"Don't think too much, just let it happen naturally."

Suming muttered to himself somewhat roundaboutly, "When you can be sure that you want to spend a lifetime with a woman, then naturally you can find a woman to live that lifetime with."

Maoxi County, 160 kilometers from Yangchuan City, consists of one county town, fifteen townships, numerous villages, and a total population of sixty-six thousand. The entire county is nestled in deep mountains, situated in a remote area with inconvenient transportation. There's little arable land and no characteristic industries. As a result, Maoxi County has remained one of the poorest counties in the province for many years, a prime focus of poverty alleviation efforts.

When the Japanese army invaded China, they occupied all cities around Maoxi County, but they never attacked Maoxi County itself. On one hand, because Maoxi was so small and secluded that it might not have even been on their maps, and on the other, the rugged mountains made it difficult for personnel and especially heavy weaponry of the Japanese army to penetrate.

Despite years of poverty alleviation, Maoxi County only grew poorer. Even in the county town, the average monthly income was about fifteen hundred yuan at most, and the townships below were even poorer.

Suming drove off the national highway onto a mountain road and, after a perilous two to three-hour journey on steep roads, finally arrived in Maoxi County town, nestled in a mountain hollow.

The town had hardly changed since he left. Its old district was about the size of a commercial district in Yangchuan City, with seven or eight main streets lined with old two- and three-story buildings. A five-story Carrefour supermarket stood as the town's landmark.

The one notable change was several newly built residential areas surrounding the county town, with dozens of multistory apartment buildings that had sprung up. However, as he drove past the gates of these complexes, they seemed deserted, giving no impression that people actually lived there.

Suming's home wasn't in the county town but in Sun Town, about twenty kilometers away from the county town, which could be considered deep in the mountains.

To say that Sun Town was a town is quite an exaggeration; it was really just a large village with no more than a hundred households scattered at the foot of the mountains. The town was basically in a very primitive state of self-sufficiency, with people relying on a bit of land they carved out of the mountains to live a simple life of farming at dawn and resting at dusk.

Living off the land and the waters, the residents of Sun Town also had other sources of income. Every autumn, the mountains would be full of wild walnuts ripe for picking, and in the winter, bamboo shoots were everywhere underground, along with many other economically valuable plants. This was the wealth given by nature to humans: as long as one wasn't lazy and was willing to go into the mountains to pick walnuts and dig bamboo shoots to sell in the county town, one could make a few thousand yuan a year to supplement the household income.

The minibus wound down the mountain road and a large expanse of residences built along the hillside came into view; Suming was finally home.

"You can go play in the nearby mountains. Just be careful," Suming greeted Haidong Qing, then lightly stepped on the accelerator and slowly drove into Sun Town.

With the New Year fast approaching, many of the townspeople who worked outside were steadily returning home, making the town quite lively, bustling as if it were market day, with people coming and going. A clothing store and a beauty salon on the side of the road played popular songs through loudspeakers, and the streets were dotted with various stalls selling firecrackers, couplets, and all kinds of New Year goods.

The Buick GL8 that Su Ke had borrowed from the zoo wasn't anything special, its main advantage being its large capacity, but in Sun Town, it was a rare high-end vehicle. He recalled that even the town mayor's car was a Wuling Hongguang. As they slowly drove down the town's only main street, a group of children followed behind, shouting, "Big Buick! Big Buick!"

Suming couldn't help feeling a bit sentimental; when he hadn't yet left the mountains, the only car brand he knew was Jeep, and that was because its logo was the English word "jeep."

Back then, he didn't even know what the Mercedes symbol looked like and always thought that the Red Flag was Mercedes. But as living standards gradually improved and the mountain villages inevitably had more contact with the outside world, even these seven or eight-year-old children could recognize a Buick. It was an undeniable fact: although the gap between rich and poor had widened, the lives of ordinary people were getting better day by day.

The car slowly stopped in front of a somewhat secluded two-story building. These self-built two-story buildings were common throughout the town, with their vermillion wooden doors already eroded by time and showing their blotchy and indiscernible original colors, and the simple grey-white walls in many places revealing the red bricks beneath. Under the eaves hung a row of dried salted meat and sausages, and an old yellow dog from town lay nearby, lazily basking in the sun.

"We're home," Suming said, looking at the door and feeling his heart warm slightly.

The atmosphere in Sun Town was simple and honest; the doors were not even locked, merely left ajar. He got out of the car, pushed the door open, and walked in. The spacious main room housed only a large wooden table, a few chairs, and the walls were adorned with New Year paintings of the God of Wealth, a few thermoses, and a very old, large color TV set with a rounded back. Besides that, there were hardly any other pieces of furniture.

Suming's family didn't live on the first floor of their home; he peeked into a small room on the side, which was still the familiar grain storage room, enclosed by bamboo strips with a large barrel over one meter in diameter and as tall as a person, filled with unthreshed rice.

There was a small yard at the back, and now that the town had biogas, the kitchen was located there. Even before entering the yard, the aroma of cooking meat wafted from the kitchen.

Upon hearing someone outside, a middle-aged woman with somewhat graying hair came out from the kitchen.

The woman looked a bit aged, with unavoidable wrinkles on her face, yet she was in high spirits, and even dressed in mountain woman attire with an apron on, there was an undeniable scholarly aura about her that could not be concealed.

"Mom, I'm back," Suming called out, almost on the verge of tears.

"It's good you're back, good you're back," Mrs. Su's eyes also reddened a bit, as she used to when Suming was a child, reaching out to rub his head.

But Suming had grown up now, taller than when he'd left for university, and naturally bent his head down. However, Mrs. Su's hand stopped at his face, gently caressing it, and with a smile she said, "My son has grown up, I can't pat his head like a child anymore."n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"No matter how big I get, you're still my mom," Suming wrapped his arms around his mother's arm, sniffed towards the kitchen, and asked with a grin, "What are you cooking? It smells delicious."

"Hurry, hurry, wash your hands. I made your favorite dish, braised pork with bamboo shoots. Wash your hands and come eat!"

Mrs. Su, when she was young, was a city girl who met Suming's father during the movement of "educated youths" going to the countryside. Because her family was a family of large landlords and reactionary warlords before the liberation, they were still subjected to struggles even after the Third Plenary Session rectified the wrongs. The label stuck since her grandfather's background was indeed problematic, not a case of wrongful persecution. As a result, Mrs. Su couldn't go back to the city and settled down in her father's hometown of Maoxi County, where she lived for the better part of half a lifetime.

Wang Hao used to joke with Suming that his family overthrew Suming's. If not for the revolution, Suming's grandfather was a Huangfu military academy graduate, a big landlord, while Wang Hao's grandfather was authentically a poor peasant.

"Mom, I brought a friend home," Suming said cheerfully as he washed his hands.

Mrs. Su was first startled, then her eyebrows lit up with joy as she scolded, "Bringing home a girlfriend and not telling me earlier—I cooked all your favorite greasy and meaty dishes. City girls can't stomach that! Don't let her break up with you after just one meal; that would be my fault..."

"Mom, it's not a girl, it's a guy!" Suming interjected.