Song Wei had gotten addicted to traveling.
Last year, she went to the seaside and to BJ. This year, she wanted to go to the grasslands.
Not only to the Northwest, but she also wanted to go to Qinghai and Tibet.
When Lin Zhen learned of her idea, of course he supported her.
After the early spring tea harvest, she and Lin Zhen began preparing.
Originally, they hadn’t planned to bring along their two older children, who were still in school.
But one day, when the boys came home on break, they discovered the packed bags and the travel plan.
The two brothers immediately blew up.
Xiao Nan jumped to his feet.
“Dad, Mom, are we even your real sons? You were actually planning to sneak off on a trip without us? I don’t care, I’m going too! I’ve never been to the grasslands, and I must go!”
Xiao Bei nodded. “I’m going too.”
Song Wei looked at the two brothers. “What about your studies if you go?”
Xiao Bei said confidently, “I’ll study on my own. I’ve already started learning the senior year curriculum.”
At present, the brothers were in their second year of high school.
Xiao Bei had always been very smart. He could self-study more advanced material and consistently ranked first in his grade.
But he hadn’t chosen to skip ahead; instead, he stayed in the same grade and class as Xiao Nan.
Song Wei turned to Xiao Nan.
“And you?”
Xiao Nan’s gaze wavered guiltily. His grades were average—not at the bottom, but compared to his younger brother, simply not worth mentioning.
“Do you guys really want to leave me behind alone? Besides, my brother will tutor me. With his help, I won’t fall behind in my studies, right, bro?”
Although the brothers bickered at times, they always supported and helped each other.
Xiao Bei nodded.
Song Wei sighed. “Alright, I’ll go ask your teachers for leave.”
“Yay!”
Song Wei went to school, requested leave from their teachers, and promised their studies wouldn’t be affected. The two brothers successfully secured a few months off.
In fact, rather than rote studying, Song Wei preferred that they broaden their horizons and gain life experience through traveling and seeing the world themselves.
She wasn’t worried about Xiao Bei’s grades. Getting a guaranteed admission to Peking University wouldn’t be a problem for him. But ultimately, it depended on what he himself wanted, and since he was a very opinionated person, Song Wei didn’t interfere much with his choices.
As for Xiao Nan—even if he didn’t do well on the college entrance exam, she and Lin Zhen would find a way to get him into the army.
That was his dream anyway, and with his natural strength, not joining the military would be a waste.
When they went to fetch the brothers from class, their classmates immediately swarmed them.
“Brother Nan, Brother Bei, you’re really going traveling?”
“Damn, that’s awesome! When will my parents take me on a trip like that—I’d be in heaven.”
“You’re really taking leave? You’re just gonna stop studying?”
“Ugh… do your parents need another son? We’ve been brothers for years, haven’t we? Let’s be real brothers—have them take me too!”
“We’re all stuck in school, and you’re going traveling. If you’re true brothers, you should stay and share our suffering together!”
Xiao Nan grinned. “If you’re brothers, we can share the joys, but the suffering—forget about it.”
Song Wei stood by the door for a while without calling them in, watching the energetic boys inside.
“Your mom’s here.”
Someone spotted her and quickly patted Lin Nan and Lin Bei’s shoulders. The brothers turned toward the door.
“Not talking with you guys anymore—we’re leaving!”
With their backpacks slung over their shoulders, they dashed to the door.
“Don’t forget to take photos and bring them back for us to see!”
The brothers shouted back without looking. “Got it!”
They ran to Song Wei’s side, each taking one of her arms.
“Mom, is there anything you’d like to eat? The food outside our school is really good. I still have plenty of pocket money—I’ll treat you.”
Song Wei smiled. “Alright then, I want jianbing guozi, candied hawthorns, roasted chestnuts, big meat buns…”
She listed quite a few things.
Xiao Nan patted his chest proudly. “Leave it all to me, dearest Mom—I’ll take care of everything!”
……
They also informed Uncle Feng Tingxuan’s family about their plan to travel to the Northwest and the Inner Mongolian grasslands.
As soon as Feng Tingxuan and Mu Na heard, they excitedly declared that they were coming along too.
Mu Na hadn’t been back to her mother’s home for several years—of course she couldn’t hold back her excitement.
Song Wei and Lin Zhen planned to go on a self-driving trip, directly taking the truck and bringing along all the animals from home.
Their original wolf pack, plus the later-born wolf cubs and wolf-dog pups, the bear cub, the white eagle, and the fox.
If it weren’t for their estate being large enough, there would have been no way to house so many wolves.
By now, their wolf pack had fully formed a new community of its own, running back and forth between the mountains and the estate, rarely going into the village anymore.
After all, they were wolves—still inherently dangerous.
The old wolf king had already died, and Wolf One and Wolf Two later took over his pack. In the mountains, they now had their own territory.
Feng Tingxuan’s family soon arrived, bringing along their two sons—one older, one younger—as well as their border collie Xiao Laoda and his mate.
At night, a group of animals squeezed into the big truck. With plenty of food packed, one large truck and one passenger off-road vehicle set out together.
Song Wei and Feng Tingxuan could also drive. The three drivers took turns along the way.
When they reached stretches of road with few cars, Lin Zhen even taught the two boys how to drive.
Boys tend to pick these things up quickly, and the brothers learned fast too.
At that time, traffic checks weren’t as strict as in later years. Once the brothers got the hang of it, Lin Zhen let them take the wheel on wide-open, empty roads where it was safe.
When they were hungry or tired, they simply stopped somewhere to camp.
If supplies ran short, they drove the off-road vehicle into the big cities to restock.
When they reached forest areas or remote wilderness, the animals in the truck also got out to block the wind.
The closer they got to the Northwest, the fewer people there were, and the environment visibly worsened. On the national highway, sometimes half a day would pass without seeing a single car.
The two vehicles drove steadily along the road, while in the wilderness beside the highway, a wolf pack ran in full stride, followed by a brown bear.
In the sky, a white-feathered eagle soared at lightning speed.
“Hahaha… Wolf One, you guys run faster! And you at the back—Bear Cub, you’ve fallen way too far behind!”
The bear cub panted heavily, then simply plopped down on the ground, refusing to move.
Exhausted to death.
The two vehicles drove on a little further before stopping. The wolves also halted.
Lin Zhen tossed a leg of lamb down from the truck.
The wolf pack instantly swarmed around and tore into it.
While they were resting, a few cars happened to pass by on the highway. The people inside accidentally glanced their way.
“Holy shit!!!”
They stopped their cars and rolled down the windows.
“Brothers, are those… wolves? Actual wolves?! You’re seriously not afraid at all?”
Xiao Nan burst out laughing, his tone full of pride.
“These wolves? Our family raised them!”
The people in the cars didn’t dare get out, but they also didn’t want to leave.
A scene like this—they figured they’d only see once in a lifetime. They had to take a good look; they couldn’t bear to drive away.
They chatted across the car windows. When they then saw an enormous brown bear approaching and a white eagle descending from the sky, their eyes almost popped out.
“These… all of these… you raised them too?”
“Yep.”
They stuck their thumbs up.
“Awesome, absolutely badass!”
These people were the real deal!
Leave a Reply