Carrying a Jurassic on me
Chapter 1428 - 692: Simple ’Discovery

Chapter 1428: Chapter 692: Simple ’Discovery

A series of abrupt "putt-putt-putt-putt" noises came through the air, startling the various birds by the lakeside that were foraging into sudden flight.

The noise went on for some time before a distinctive rural vehicle, a walk-behind tractor, came into view, slowly making its way along the small path by the lake, cutting through the undergrowth.

Anyone who hadn’t seen a walk-behind tractor with their own eyes could never truly understand that this machine, not notably expensive or aesthetically pleasing, could be so impressive.

Now, Old Niu’s son, Niu Ben, drove one of these tractors, appearing slowly along the rugged path in the morning mist.

In the tractor’s cargo bed, on the left were Secretary Qu and Old Niu, on the right were Yan Fei and Xu Xiaoyan, and sitting at the very back was Secretary Qu’s follower. Everyone on board, swaying and lurching with the motion of the bed, was blissfully amused.

While everyone else was busy holding onto anything they could grab, Yan Fei had one hand on the railing, the other arm around his wife, and still had the energy to shout, "Brother Niu, if they don’t fix this road, you should get a few horses. Going up the mountain on horseback would be more efficient!"

Old Niu opened and closed his mouth several times, only able to shout back when the tractor reached a relatively smooth stretch of road, "Having a ride is good enough! We don’t have good horses here, raising them isn’t as good as a few donkeys!"

This was indeed the truth. In Wan City, while the cattle were good, there were no fine horses to speak of. There used to be some pack horses for pulling carts, but those have basically vanished in the countryside. However, there were still some donkeys around, and some looked even better than the pack horses – a county near Wan City was actually famous for its thriving donkey population.

"Riding a donkey would be better than this thing. The bumping along this road is worse than running up on your own," Yan Fei shouted, needing to be loud over the noise of the tractor. "This is even more tiring than running."

"It’s okay, once we get past this stretch, the road up the mountain will be better," Old Niu said, managing a sheepish smile.

This was his idea because he had witnessed Tiger Da’s strength yesterday and believed that if Yan Fei took Tiger Da and the others into these woods, they could walk around freely without any trouble, as long as they didn’t lose their way.

So today, he had planned to take everyone for a tour around the back mountain. To speed things up, he suggested using the walk-behind tractor to give everyone a lift for part of the way. Even if they could only go as far as halfway up the mountain, it would save a lot of time, wouldn’t it?

What he hadn’t anticipated was how the regular use of the tractor, by someone out of practice with its bouncing gait, could be so uncomfortable. Just looking at Secretary Qu was enough to tell – older and not as robust as Old Niu, the bouncing was almost too much to bear.

Thankfully, they quickly passed the particularly narrow stretch and reached the mountain entrance. Although the road was still narrow, without obstacles on either side, the tractor could drive freely, and the ride was much smoother than before.

But even though it was stable, the speed was quite limited – with dense forests all around and winding uphill roads, it was surprising that they could move quickly at all.

After a while, Yan Fei grew restless and whispered to his wife, "How about I carry you up the mountain, and we go ahead to have some fun?"

The girl hesitated for a moment, "Everyone got up early to join us, isn’t it bad to just leave them behind?"

Yan Fei flashed a smile at her, then shouted loudly, "Brother Niu, Secretary Qu, you guys take your time coming up. I’ll take Xiao Xing to the mountain first."

After ending his speech, he scooped up his wife in one fell swoop and leaped down, swing her onto his back. She wrapped her arms expertly around his neck with her long legs coiled around him.

"Let’s go!" Yan Fei waved at the stupefied people in the tractor and began running toward the mountain.

There were roars of tigers and bears in the surrounding woods, and eagles cried out above. The creatures that usually ran in the forest and flew in the sky gathered around Yan Fei as he began to run, cheering on their master.

Watching Yan Fei’s silhouette not get very far before several dark shapes gathered around him, and two Golden Eagles descended to circle low overhead towards the mountaintop, Old Niu smiled helplessly at Secretary Qu, "Don’t be surprised, Younger Brother Yan just has a quick temper..."

Secretary Qu couldn’t do much about it and cheerfully called out, "It’s fine, it’s fine. We’re old; we can’t compare to the younger ones."

These days, everything was difficult. The people working within the government compound might not lead the indulgent lives others outside imagined – if someone wanted to be idle, certainly, they could do as they pleased, but if they aspired to achieve something, to benefit their jurisdiction, they had to be prepared for hardships, constrained by environmental and other factors.

Just like the case of Township Chief Tan from Xiliu Township, who reached out to Yan Fei in desperation, not knowing how many places he had been to or how many gods and Buddhas he had prayed to before that.

Fortunately, Chief Tan eventually made some achievements using local resources. Otherwise, being seen as restless and not focused on his work could have earned him a reputation for instability, making his future prospects grim.

There were also those who, in an attempt to attract investments, ended up with gastric bleeding from too many business dinners – their silent suffering known only to themselves. And that was the better outcome. Meeting unscrupulous investors who cheated them and ran off with the money, causing chaos for the locality, wasn’t uncommon.

And then there’s Secretary Qu, at his age, enduring the bumps on the walk-behind tractor just to converse with Boss Yan. In fairness, decades later, when cities face traffic restrictions due to high volumes of vehicles, these folks would be credited as contributors. Even if some of them didn’t start with the purest of intentions, their efforts still counted for something, certainly more praiseworthy than those merely warming their seats.