After time travel, share a space with your modern family.

Chapter 173 Departure for Beijing

"Then let him manage it!" Consort Xiao agreed when she heard her son's words.

"Tinghao, when are we going back to Beijing?" Liu Shengxu turned to look at Qiao Tinghao and asked.

“I’m thinking of leaving first thing tomorrow morning. What do you think, girl?” After saying that, Qiao Tinghao asked Ruan Mumu for her opinion.

"Sure! Anyway, there's nothing for us to do here. It'll put your families at ease if you go back to Beijing sooner," Ruan Mumu replied.

"Mother, did you hear that? We'll be back soon. Judging by the journey, we should arrive in the capital in about ten days," Liu Shengxu reported excitedly to Consort Xiao.

When Consort Xiao heard her son say that she could see him in ten days, she couldn't help but feel a little doubtful.

"Son, you just said that you would be able to return to the capital in about ten days? That's impossible, isn't it? Even if we travel at the fastest speed, it would still take at least a month, right?" Consort Xiao asked.

"Mother, you'll see when the time comes. We have a mode of transportation that's even faster than a fast horse. I'll take you out for a test drive, and you'll know what it feels like to have a mode of transportation that's faster than a fast horse," Liu Shengxu said proudly.

"Okay, Mother is waiting for you to come back." Consort Xiao was also very happy to see her son's excited expression on her phone screen.

"Mother, did you receive the gifts I sent you?" Liu Shengxu asked, changing the subject.

"Received! Received! Your Aunt Hui just delivered it, Mother hasn't had a chance to see it yet, hehe... Xu'er is so thoughtful." Consort Xiao smiled, her eyes crinkling with joy.

After they finished talking, they hung up the phone.

"Xiao Hui, what's this thing you have that can contact Xu'er and the others called?" After using the phone, Consort Xiao handed it back to Qiao's mother.

Mrs. Qiao said with great pride, "The general said this is called a cell phone, and it allows for instant communication. With a cell phone, I can contact the general more often, and I no longer have to go months without receiving a letter from him like before."

Consort Xiao looked at her best friend with envy, and then asked, "Xiao Hui, where can I buy this phone? I want one too, so I can contact Xu'er anytime."

Wang Hui shook her head, indicating that she didn't know either.

"Did General Qiao send this back? Could you please ask General Qiao to help us find another one? I'll pay for it." Consort Xiao asked, unwilling to give up.

"Sisi, you're making things difficult for me! If it were that easy to get, Xu'er would probably have had one sent back to you already," Mrs. Qiao said with a troubled expression.

"Alright! I'll ask Xu'er where he got this phone when he gets back," Consort Xiao said reluctantly, still thinking about this matter.

After hanging up the phone, Liu Shengxu lightly punched Qiao Tinghao in the chest and said, "You little brat, did you already know that the Second Prince was on his way to Xirong? You were just teasing me when you said you wanted me to stay in Xirong, weren't you?"

Qiao Tinghao suppressed the urge to roll his eyes and said calmly, "I don't have that much free time to tease you. I just received a call from my dad, and he told me about this."

"Alright, Young Master Liu, what do you need to take back to the capital? Go out and take a look. We're leaving first thing tomorrow morning. We have some things to arrange later, so we won't keep you company any longer," Ruan Mumu said, quickly shooing them away.

Before they return to the capital, they must first leave a batch of life-saving food and supplies for the people. After all, how can the people survive such a cold winter if she doesn't leave supplies?

The two went to the granary, drove away the guards, and then moved all the grain and warm supplies stored in the modern warehouse there.

"Let's go! Let's go pick up Xiao Shuangquan. If we keep him waiting too long, he might think we're lying to him," Ruan Mumu said with a smile.

That night, Zhou Shuangquan slept with Ruan Mumu, and it was the most restful sleep he had ever had in his life.

Before setting off, Ruan Mumu discovered that the modern warehouse was once again filled with food and warm clothing, so she moved these supplies to the granary.

"Alright, let's meet at the palace gate now and get ready to leave." After finishing her work, Ruan Mumu followed Qiao Tinghao and Xiao Shuangquan to the palace gate.

When they arrived at the palace gate, all thirty-eight of Qiao Tinghao's guards were already assembled and waiting for orders.

"Girl, with so many people, are we letting them drive away on motorcycles?" Qiao Tinghao asked Ruan Mumu, looking at the large group of people standing there.

He looked left and right but couldn't see any motorcycles.

"Look over there, what's that?" Ruan Mumu mysteriously pulled Qiao Tinghao and pointed in a direction.

He hadn't noticed that there was a bus parked at the corner.

"My goodness! Girl, we even have a bus. I thought Zuo Yi and the others would have to ride motorcycles back to Beijing. Now that we have a bus, we can get back to Beijing quickly." Qiao Tinghao was overjoyed when he saw the bus.

"Yes, this is a gift the Purple Elf gave me after its upgrade last time," Ruan Mumu said with a beaming smile.

"I wonder what kind of gift the Purple Fairy will bring next?" Qiao Tinghao chimed in with a smile.

"It's definitely going to be a big surprise. My Purple Elf has never let me down," Ruan Mumu said proudly.

"Dear Master, I'd like to give you an airplane, but you can't fly it! It's useless to you then." At this moment, the voice of the purple elf appeared in Ruan Mumu's mind.

"Really? Then next time, just send it directly. No need for a big plane, just send a helicopter. I don't believe that with my IQ of 150, I can't learn how to fly a helicopter." Ruan Mumu was full of confidence.

"Girl, what are you thinking about?" Qiao Tinghao saw Ruan Mumu standing still and wondered what was wrong with her.

"Brother, Purple Elf said she wanted to give us a plane, but then she laughed at us for not knowing how to fly it. What do you think?" Ruan Mumu asked deliberately.

"Master, how could you do this? Are you planning to upgrade me again right now?" the purple elf asked expectantly.

“Girl, if Mr. Zi wants to give it to me, then accept it! Although I’ve never tried flying one, I did read a lot of books on flying when I was in military school. I think if I have the chance, maybe I can give it a try,” Qiao Tinghao said, stroking his chin.

"Let's go first! We can talk about the rest later," Ruan Mumu urged.

"Okay, I'll do whatever you say." Qiao Tinghao didn't say anything more.

The other soldiers didn't know what skills Ruan Mumu possessed, but the members of the sharpshooting team all knew that Instructor Ruan had an all-powerful, invisible treasure chest; whatever they wanted, Instructor Ruan could produce it.

The biggest advantage is that many things don't need to be carried around; with Instructor Ruan there, that's enough. You don't need to bring your own things, and it's very safe.

When Qiao Tinghao's guards saw the bus, their admiration for Ruan Mumu increased even more.

"Instructor Ruan, what's the name of this vehicle?" Qiao Zuojiu asked curiously.

His words also represented the words of the other guards, who were also looking at Ruan Mumu with curiosity.

“This is called a bus, and it can seat forty-five people,” Ruan Mumu replied simply.

"Let's go! Hurry up and get in the car, don't waste time," Qiao Tinghao urged.

Qiao Tinghao gestured for his guards to board the bus, which he then drove.

Ruan Mumu drove the SUV himself, with Zhou Shuangquan in tow, while Liu Shengxu, with a grin, squeezed into the passenger seat.

"If you're tired of driving, I can help you take turns driving," Liu Shengxu said with a fawning expression.

Ruan Mumu was too lazy to argue with him; having a free driver to replace him later wouldn't be bad.

"Let's go! Back to the capital." Qiao Tinghao announced, and then quickly set off following Ruan Mumu's SUV.

When Ruan Mumu's SUV and Qiao Tinghao's bus appeared on the official road, the people, seeing these enormous vehicles and not knowing what they were, were terrified and scattered in all directions.

Then a brave person took a closer look and saw people sitting inside through the window, realizing that the large object was probably a car.

"Look, everyone! That looks like a car! And look, there are people sitting inside. They seem to be the sharpshooters from Beisheng." A sharp-eyed person spotted it and called out to his companions.

Because cars travel at high speeds, by the time the person shouting attracts the attention of their companions, the car has already sped past, leaving only a cloud of dust.

"Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey... I just swallowed a mouthful of dust and can't see anything." When his companion realized what was happening, he only felt dust rushing towards him and could only vaguely see the back of the car.

The person who could clearly see the people sitting inside the car had much more to brag about, because only he could see what clothes they were wearing.

As cars travel faster and faster, and given that it's winter, car windows are less frequently opened, since there's air conditioning inside.

People would only turn it on a little when they wanted to get some fresh air, and then turn it off again after a short while. So, along the way, all they saw was a huge thing and a small box running on the official road, and they didn't know that it was a vehicle.

Along the way, these two cars generated a lot of strange rumors.

However, the people along the way did not know that the reason they were able to live peacefully and barely make ends meet was because the owner of the cart had left behind food and heating supplies in various towns along the way.

As evening approached, they returned to Peilin Town, which borders Xiyang County.

Magistrate Lin received a call early on and sent his daughter to Peilin Town so that she could go back to the capital with them.

Of course, Ruan Xiaohai also came along.

Ruan Xiaohai said he wanted to go to Kyoto to see what it was like and see if he could expand his business there.

When Magistrate Lin and his entourage saw the bus, they were deeply shocked; it was much larger than an off-road vehicle.

"Young Master Liu, General Qiao, Mu Mu, congratulations on your triumphant return." Magistrate Lin greeted them with joy upon seeing Ruan Mu Mu and the others.

"Sister, I didn't expect you to conquer the Western Rong so quickly and turn it into our Northern Sheng's land. You are truly amazing." Ruan Xiaohai couldn't help but praise Ruan Mumu.

When Lin Wanfeng was about to go up and greet Ruan Mumu, she noticed a three- or four-year-old child tightly holding Ruan Mumu's hand and hiding behind her.

"Mumu, where did this child come from?" Lin Wanfeng asked in surprise.

Lin Wanfeng wanted to go up and greet Zhou Shuangquan, but she was afraid of startling him, so she chose not to do anything, only speaking in a gentler voice than usual.

“This is the child that Tinghao and I adopted,” Ruan Mumu said calmly.

"What?" Magistrate Lin and his daughter Lin Wanfeng were both extremely surprised when they heard the news.

Lin Wanfeng, in particular, felt that it was not quite reasonable for two children to adopt a child who was only a few years old.

"You're still children yourselves, how did you end up adopting a child?" Lin Wanfeng asked softly, holding Ruan Mumu's hand and leaning close to her ear.

Ruan Mumu said with a smile, "I didn't ask him to call us father and mother, what's so strange about that? I'm just an adopted son that my mother helped me raise."

"Haha, Mumu is so kind-hearted. Your mother will definitely approve of what you're doing," Magistrate Lin praised from the side.

"Magistrate Lin, then I'll trouble you to take a message back to my mother. I'll go to the capital with them first, and return to Xiyang County after I've finished dealing with things there."

Ruan Xiaohai stepped forward and squatted down in front of Zhou Shuangquan, gently taking his little hand and asking tenderly, "Little brother, I'm your second brother. Can you tell me your name?"

Zhou Shuangquan was a little nervous at first, but seeing Ruan Xiaohai's kind expression, he lowered his guard and replied softly, "My name is Zhou Shuangquan, hello second brother."

"Shuangquan is such a good boy, your second brother likes you very much!" Ruan Xiaohai gently patted his head again.

Zhou Shuangquan couldn't help but chuckle.

After everyone had dinner in Perrin Town, Magistrate Lin found a place to stay for the night.

However, Qiao Tinghao and Liu Shengxu decided to set off immediately, since the car had headlights at night and it wouldn't affect their journey much.

Lin Wanfeng and Ruan Xiaohai followed Ruan Mumu's off-road vehicle.

They were always on the move. Sometimes Ruan Mumu would drive the bus to relieve Qiao Tinghao so he could rest, and Liu Shengxu would drive the SUV.

Occasionally, Liu Shengxu would also drive a bus, but he wasn't very skilled at it, and his speed was reduced considerably.

Their cars were a unique sight on the official road all the way.

Along the way, Ruan Mumu left behind a lot of supplies in various towns, all under the guise of doing good deeds in Liu Shengxu's name.

In every town he visited, Liu Shengxu would go down to learn about the local conditions so that he could report back to Emperor Kangsheng when he returned to the capital.

We learned about the situation as we traveled, which took two days longer than the time I had previously told Consort Xiao.

"We're almost in Beijing. Is our bus going to go into the capital?" Qiao Tinghao asked Liu Shengxu.

“Girl, are you worried about your car being exposed? If not, drive it into the city. If you are, switch to a motorcycle. Anyway, I’m going to drive my SUV in,” Ruan Mumu replied.

“Okay, let’s all switch to motorcycles to go into town. It will be more convenient to run errands with motorcycles.” Liu Shengxu made the final decision.

"Can you protect all of these motorcycles?" Qiao Tinghao asked.