Chapter 468 - 446: Watching an Opera at the Pear Garden

Yun Jiao tossed over a fish she had caught from the sea.

The Clouded Leopard lazily swished its tail, then padded over to sniff at the fish. It opened its mouth, grabbed the fish, and ran off.

Ying Chengye was very curious about the Clouded Leopard.

He had always been interested in wild animals, especially large, carnivorous beasts of prey.

It was just that if he tried to capture those large predators by himself, wouldn’t that be like serving himself up as a meal?

Now, following his little junior sister, he was truly broadening his horizons.

"Jiaojiao, are there a lot of wild animals on your island?"

Yun Jiao nodded. "Of course there are."

"If you want to see them, Senior Brother, I’ll take you in the future."

As for now, Yun Jiao finished checking on the injured patients in the lake and then headed to the stables.

The stables were specially fenced off, precisely to prevent wild animals from getting in.

The island’s terrain was vast enough that the enclosed area gave the two horses plenty of room to run around.

Every time Yun Jiao came, she would ride a horse for a trip along the coast.

"Senior Brother, do you know how to ride a horse? I’m going to take them out for a ride."

Of course Ying Chengye knew how. When he was sent to the countryside as an educated youth, he had gone to Inner Mongolia.

Because he knew how to treat sick livestock, his days as an educated youth were actually much easier compared to others. The locals mainly raised livestock like cattle, sheep, and horses, but they didn’t have a proper veterinarian.

A doctor who could treat livestock like him was a real treasure to the locals.

When he left, the local people were very reluctant to see him go.

Grateful for the villagers’ care, Ying Chengye even trained a few apprentices so that the area wouldn’t be left without a veterinarian after he was gone.

While serving as an educated youth there, he had naturally learned how to ride a horse.

So, Yun Jiao took him riding along the coast.

Yun Jiao was not yet nine, so her legs weren’t long, and she naturally couldn’t reach the stirrups.

But that was no problem for her.

After letting the horses run to their hearts’ content, Yun Jiao had them return to the stables and fed them some horse feed.

"Jiaojiao, now that the house on your island is built, are you going to be living here all by yourself?"

Yun Jiao shook her head, her eyes sparkling.

"I’m going to buy a batch of medical equipment to put here. Third Senior Brother, you should come help me. You can live here too! I have to go into the sea to check on things from time to time, and I might bring back some injured patients from the ocean."

Ying Chengye didn’t refuse outright.

"Let me think about it."

Yun Jiao said, "Okay."

It was almost time for a late lunch, so after saying goodbye to the little ones in the lake, they left the island and headed back.

Time passed quickly. Yun Xiaojiu’s performance was about to begin, and he had even mailed them tickets.

Front-row seats.

And so, amidst the excitement of Yun Xiaoqi and Yun Xiao Ba, the whole family boarded a train to the Capital.

They had originally wanted to bring their grandmothers to the Capital as well, but the persimmon grove needed tending, and they couldn’t get away.

After their family’s persimmons made a name for themselves, sales got better and better. They hired villagers to pick the persimmons every year, providing the villagers with some annual income.

So now, that persimmon grove was treasured by the Shen family.

And with the development over the years, their dried persimmons weren’t just sold in their own city, but to other cities as well.

Wang Jianlin had helped them out before, and now three other provinces were also purchasing the Shen family’s dried persimmons, so demand was growing larger and larger.

Now, Grandma Shen and the others were discussing encouraging other villagers to plant persimmon trees too. That way, the whole village could make and sell dried persimmons, and everyone could get rich together.

It wasn’t that they were being generous; it was mainly because their family alone couldn’t supply such a large demand.

It would be better to develop it into a collective village industry.

However, the key techniques for making the dried persimmons had to remain in the hands of a few trusted people. Otherwise, everyone would find out.

’Who didn’t have a few relatives from other villages? If they all came asking, and then everyone started growing persimmons and making dried persimmons, wouldn’t that just be creating competitors for ourselves? Our village’s advantage would be greatly diminished.’

Grandma Shen and the others wanted to see the Capital too, but they really didn’t have the time.

They could only wait for a future opportunity.

Arriving in the Capital again, they had been here a few times before, but this visit was still a shock.

"This... The buildings in the Capital weren’t like this the last time we were here, were they? They weren’t this tall."

"There are so many shops! The things in these shops look so expensive."

’The Capital was developing so fast. How long had it been since our last visit? It felt like the whole place had transformed.’

They went to their own house first.

Having a house in the Capital was great. When they visited, they didn’t need to stay in a hotel; they could just go straight home.

The house was big, with many rooms, and it was comfortable.

"Hey, how is our house so clean?"

The weeds in the courtyard had all been cleared away.