Chapter 157: Chapter 140 Road Closure (Request for votes!)_1 On the morning of February 6th. Tang Qing and Lin Jiaxue embarked on their journey home. Sitting in the back seat, tightly holding Lin Jiaxue’s soft little hand beside him, and watching the landscape rushing by the window, Tang Qing was filled with a sense of apprehension that he hadn’t felt in over a decade. Lin Jiaxue, sensing Tang Qing’s intense nostalgia, leaned gently against his shoulder, reciprocating his grip on her hand, without uttering a word. She was very different from Wang Yan; Lin Jiaxue was not much of a talker and tended to express her feelings through actions while Wang Yan was open and forthright, outspoken about whatever was on her mind, especially after their relationship was fully established. It was Sun Chao’s first time meeting Lin Jiaxue. Before this, he had always wondered what kind of woman would be worthy of a man as perfect as Tang Qing and what kind of woman could capture Tang Qing’s heart. He had imagined she would be someone from a prestigious family or an educated heiress. However, from the moment he met Lin Jiaxue and saw the way she looked at Tang Qing, he cast aside all these preconceptions. The look in her eyes had the power to melt even the strongest defenses of any man. The saying "even heroes can’t resist the charms of a beauty" came to mind, and he realized Tang Qing would never give up on this woman. Not long into the journey, the car entered a provincial road. This was the reason why it took four hours for the shuttle bus to reach their county town - because there were no expressways leading to their county. Plus, given that it was the Spring Festival, the ordinarily narrow provincial roads were extremely congested. If an accident occurred, the delay could be significant. Later, when the expressway was built in 2008, it only took forty minutes to drive from Qingyan City to the county town, even taking into account the possible traffic during the New Year period. And the shuttle bus only took just over an hour. It was at these times people realized that the progress of national infrastructure was far from adequate. Without transportation, economic development was merely an empty promise. He would rather build more toll roads in the future than suffer traffic jams. The most annoying thing in the world was not how expensive or unreasonable something was, but having no place to spend your money, even if you wanted to. Similarly, time was something you couldn’t buy. The more experienced a person was, the more they understood that time was the greatest cost in life, bar none. Therefore, Tang Qing was a strong supporter of the future country’s frenzied infrastructure construction. As for tolls and loans, they were normal business practices. As long as they didn’t go too far, it was acceptable. Everyone online had been complaining for years, but it accomplished nothing. At the end of the day, the interests determined by their positions still prevailed. The loudest complaints came from those who had to pay. This had nothing to do with morality, it was akin to voters in developed countries demanding higher welfare benefits - you couldn’t say they were just being opportunistic. They were merely looking after their own interests. After all, how could the government possibly make the roads free if the loans for their construction weren’t paid back? Furthermore, the cost of building a road was not limited to a single kilometer. If you compare a kilometer in a prosperous region to one in a remote region, the cost of the former would be recovered quickly. But what about the latter? It can’t be just left out, right? Once the tolls for the expressway are paid off, aren’t there still national and provincial roads? It’s like a nationwide chess game with each region having its own smaller game to manage. Who could dare to say they are out of the game? Naturally, the profitable roads would subsidize the unprofitable ones. And only when the game is balanced in a region can there be a possibility of the road tolls being waived. Then they would start to charge other fees. After all, the road couldn’t be left unattended, could it? That’s just how things are. Indeed, the Spring Festival travel rush was truly terrifying. At first, Tang Qing’s car managed to maintain a speed of thirty kilometers per hour, but it gradually slowed down to ten kilometers per hour, and before long...it stopped completely. They waited for ten minutes, but the cars in front showed no signs of moving. It seemed something happened. "I’ll go down to take a look." Sun Chao said, exiting the car. In a short while, Sun Chao returned: "There doesn’t appear to be any traffic accidents ahead. The police have temporarily closed the road, and no one knows when they’ll reopen it. It shouldn’t be too long. They don’t know the reason for the closure either. But given the situation over there, I think something must have happened, since this road only leads to an Armed Police training base. They wouldn’t seal off the road if they were only doing drills." Since the closure was by the police, all they could do was wait patiently. After about ten minutes, Tang Qing’s highly sensitive hearing detected the faint sound of sirens. He quickly utilized his Origin Qi to enhance his hearing, making the sirens sound even louder. Being an insomniac at night, he often didn’t spend all his time playing with guns. Therefore, after various trials and trainings, he’d made great progress in exploring the functionality of Origin Qi, among which enhancing the five senses was one. Five minutes later. Twenty-one vehicles. From the sirens growing louder and then fading, Tang Qing calculated the number of vehicles. However, his hearing did not yet include the ability to filter out background noises, so he couldn’t be completely certain of the number, but he was sure it couldn’t be off by more than three vehicles. The dispatch of twenty plus Armed Police vehicles was no small matter domestically. In his previous life, he had returned home the day before and hadn’t heard about any major incidents here. But whether there was an event or not, he wasn’t interested in pondering. What did he care? Even if he ran into a severe and ruthless bandit, as long as the other party didn’t have a gun, he could easily deal with them. Once the police opened the road, the ’sausage’ of traffic slowly started to move forward again. Two hours later, under Tang Qing’s guidance, Sun Chao dropped them off in front of their home store. Since his whole story was fabricated about hitching a ride, Tang Qing didn’t want to invite Sun Chao to stay for a meal and risk being found out. Faced with Lin Jiaxue’s invitation, Sun Chao declined due to having other matters to attend to. Getting out of the car, Tang Qing loaded himself up with bags and parcels from the trunk. Sun Chao initially wanted to help, but Tang Qing stopped him. Sun Chao didn’t insist - how could these puny things tire Tang Qing out? That surely would be nonsense. Despite his unthreatening appearance, beneath the surface, Tang Qing was a real beast. So, Tang Qing ended up carrying most of the luggage, with Lin Jiaxue only carrying two bags of gifts, quite easily. He would never let Lin Jiaxue do such laborious work. He wished he could carry her the entire way to avoid tiring her out. "Brother Sun, drive slowly on the road, and be very careful." After loading the luggage and closing the trunk, Tang Qing reminded Sun Chao. "Alright, I’ll be back in town by the afternoon of the twelfth. I’ll still come over to pick you guys up," Sun Chao said with a smile. He and Tang Qing had planned this, predominantly to show off to Lin Jiaxue who was standing to the side. "Brother Sun, thank you for giving us a ride. We might need to trouble you next time too," Lin Jiaxue said softly from the side. "Where’s that coming from? Friends should help each other. Anyway, I’ll be leaving first. Happy New Year," Sun Chao said with a chuckle. After Sun Chao left, Tang Qing and Lin Jiaxue said goodbye to Sun Chao’s mother. As Tang Qing watched his car disappear into the distance, he felt a sense of peculiarity. It wasn’t that he was reluctant to part with the car—it’s just that he, a super local tyrant who earned over ten million yuan per day, was going to ride a shuttle again. The idea made him feel as if he was living a dog’s life. Damn, he needed to end this act of pretending to be poor as soon as possible. Upon Sun Chao’s departure, Tang Qing immediately spotted his family’s shop. The shop stood on a raised platform, and although small in size—with an interior of about 30 square meters—had two compartments and a warehouse of approximately ten square meters. From afar, Tang Qing spotted a familiar figure—it was his mother Qin Yuzhen, dressed in a red down jacket she had bought several years ago. At the moment, she was introducing clothes to a woman. As for Tang Qing’s father, he was nowhere in sight—probably in the warehouse, Tang Qing guessed. Tang Qing rushed to the shop. The customer, seemingly undecided, was preparing to leave. Clothes were displayed on all sides of the shop with two rows of clothing racks in the middle, making the aisles a bit narrow. The departing customer blocked the view and Qin Yuzhen initially did not see Tang Qing, assuming another customer had arrived. As Qin Yuzhen was about to greet the supposed customer, the departing customer stepped aside—allowing her to see Tang Qing. Although he had grown taller and even more handsome, there was no way she could fail to recognize her own son. "Mom," Tang Qing called out with a choked voice. The familiar, but somehow changed face made it impossible for him to keep his emotions in check. "Ah, Tangtang, you’re here!" Qin Yuzhen exclaimed, surprised but pleased. She knew all about Tang Qing’s ride in a private car and was not surprised. It’s just that she had been missing her son a lot since she hadn’t seen him for several months. "Yeah." Tang Qing nodded. At this moment, Lin Jiaxue poked her head out from behind and said with a smile, "Hello, Auntie." "Good, good. Jiaxue, you’re getting prettier and prettier by the day. Tangtang, step aside. It’s cold outside, let JiaXue in," Qin Yuzhen said excitedly. She straightaway pulled Lin Jiaxue inside, disregarding her own son. Upon seeing this, Tang Qing didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. What happened to the promised tears of joy? What about the warm embrace? Why was he left to stand alone just moments later? "Here, Jiaxue give it to me. Oh, Tangtang, look at you—how could you let Jiaxue carry so many things?" Qin Yuzhen, taking the bags from Lin Jiaxue, grumbled at Tang Qing. "..." Tang Qing was flabbergasted, he took a quick look at the bags he was carrying. Was this not evident enough? Are we even related?! The phone that came free with a phone bill package—that’s one thing, but when he was born, they could hardly afford a phone. Seeing Tang Qing’s confused face, Lin Jiaxue couldn’t help but subtly snicker at the side. "Old fart, come out. JiaXue is back. Oh, and our son is back too," Qin Yuzhen shouted towards the back warehouse, her voice resounding loudly. Tang Qing facepalmed, great, he had been reduced to an afterthought again. Upon hearing this, Tang Zhong immediately came out with a joyful expression saying, "Jiaxue is back. Sit, sit." He then turned to Tang Qing and scolded with a smile, "Tangtang, why are you just standing there holding all those bags? Aren’t you tired? You should put them down." After that, he walked over to take the bags from Tang Qing. PS: The second Chapter is a little late, sorry about that.