Chapter 16: Choosing a Location, Learning to Drive

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Zhu Yuanzhang grumbled about being tricked but still took the cigarette. Zhu Biao saw his father accept it, so he had to take one as well. Chen Lin thought to himself, “Go ahead and smoke; one day you’ll be the ones begging me.”

“I want one too! Me too!” Zhu Xiongying jumped eagerly to show he wanted to join in.

Chen Lin promptly pushed him aside. “Kids, go play somewhere else, off you go!”

Zhu Xiongying’s lips puckered as tears welled up. Empress Ma laughed, holding him close. “We don’t smoke that stuff. Your grandmother will give you a can of this sweet drink instead. It’s really sweet.”

Meanwhile, Chen Lin lit cigarettes for Zhu Yuanzhang and his son, then encouraged them, “Yeah, yeah, inhale deeply, all the way into your lungs, like I do...”

Ssha—

“How does it feel?”

*Cough, cough, cough*

“A bit dizzy...” Zhu Biao honestly shared his experience.

“Feeling dizzy the first time is normal. Take a few more puffs and you’ll get used to it. How about you, Old Zhu?”

Zhu Yuanzhang didn’t cough this time but was still unaccustomed to the taste of tobacco.

“It’s alright, ssha—”

After exhaling smoke, Zhu Yuanzhang pointed at the pickup truck. “Alright, tell me, what’s the story with this vehicle?”

Chen Lin’s eyes twinkled. “You like it?”

“What, are you giving it to us?”

Chen Lin chuckled, “Giving it away? Impossible. But I can sell it.”

“Sell it? For how much?”

Chen Lin scratched his head and held up one finger.

“What? Ten thousand strings of cash?!”

Ten thousand strings?!

He only meant a thousand originally.

Wow, is Old Zhu really this extravagant? Wasn’t the Hongwu era short of funds?

Looks like not so much!

No way, I can’t show weakness!

Money is money; better to take it than leave it.

“What’s the matter? If it’s too expensive, you don’t have to buy.”

Sure enough, Zhu Yuanzhang fell for it. “Ten thousand it is. We’ll have someone deliver the banknotes soon.”

“Hold on, nobody wants your worthless paper money. I want silver, or equivalent gold!”

“You!”

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“Grandfather Emperor, your grandson wants this metal vehicle.”

Empress Ma quickly covered Zhu Xiongying’s mouth, whispering something to him.

Chen Lin grinned knowingly. Between generations, when a grandson desires something, the grandfather would move heaven and earth to get it.

Since he wasn’t in a hurry, he ordered Mao Xiang and his Jinyiwei subordinates to help unload the pickup truck.

He personally collected the driving license, registration, insurance papers, and all written documents from the vehicle.

Even the miscellaneous items in the storage box—screwdrivers, lighters, expense receipts, notebooks, pens, coins, and small change—were all taken away, leaving the place spotless without a trace.

Zhu Yuanzhang watched him busy himself but didn’t rush a decision. He wanted to first test the vehicle’s features and see if it was worth the ten thousand taels of silver!

Earlier, he had roughly learned from his sister that this was a self-moving carriage that didn’t need horses and also got a general idea of the so-called celestial realm.

Though he didn’t believe in any nonsense about the celestial realm, he planned not to ask too many questions before fully understanding the situation to avoid trouble.

Soon, everything was unloaded, and Zhu Xiongying was gnawing on the tape of a delivery box.

Chen Lin didn’t mind; he ordered Mao Xiang to dismantle the restaurant door panel and then sat inside the vehicle to start it up.

With a plume of black smoke from the exhaust, Zhu Xiongying crouched behind the truck, startled, and Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao were also a bit frightened.

Boom, boom, boom—

Chen Lin revved the engine a few times, shifted gears, released the clutch, and off they went!

Boom!

The pickup’s wheels crushed the threshold and shot out of the restaurant with a stylish drift, coming to a steady stop on the street.

The three men exchanged astonished looks and hurried outside.

“We’re paying ten thousand strings of silver for this—let’s get down and try it out!”

Chen Lin rested his left hand on the window. “No way. Hands exchange money, hands exchange goods.”

“But we have to test it first!”

Chen Lin agreed, got out, and opened the front passenger door for Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Biao and Zhu Xiongying stood by eagerly watching.

“What are you standing there for? Get in!”

“Oh, oh, oh...”

So, Chen Lin drove the vehicle, taking the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty and his successors on a wild ride.

Mao Xiang saw this and quickly urged his subordinates to mount their horses. “Quick, catch up!”

“Your Majesty, wait for us~~~”

The truck sped through Jurong County around nine in the morning.

Since the street where the restaurant was located was under Jinyiwei lockdown, there were few people around.

But once they left that street, pedestrians quickly increased.

The horn honked continuously as passersby scattered in alarm, standing by the roadside to curiously observe and point at the strange-looking metal vehicle.

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The three men shifted excitedly in their seats, as thrilled as when Empress Ma first rode in a carriage—touching this, looking at that!

But the speed wasn’t quite enough; it wasn’t thrilling enough!

Chen Lin felt the same and shouted out to Mao Xiang riding alongside, “Hurry up and manage the traffic!”

“Oh, oh, oh, right away, I’m on it!”

At this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang grew a bit excited. “I think I roughly know how to drive now. You get out, let me try.”

“That won’t do. There are too many people here. What if you hit someone?”

Zhu Yuanzhang pouted. “True, true. Then hurry up and drive out of the city. There will be fewer people on the official roads outside.”

With the Jinyiwei clearing the way ahead, the journey smoothed out.

Chen Lin floored the accelerator and headed straight for the city gates, racing along the official road in the fifteenth year of the Hongwu reign.

“Woohoo~~~” Zhu Xiongying screamed excitedly.

Zhu Yuanzhang’s face was full of excitement, sometimes gazing at the rushing scenery outside the window, sometimes watching how Chen Lin handled the controls.

“All right, all right. There are fewer people here. Let me try.”

“No rush. Drive further out, still too many people here.”

Actually, the road was quite empty, but Chen Lin wanted to use this chance to find a place with good feng shui for his modern villa.

Zhu Yuanzhang had no choice but to keep watching and learning the driving skills until the truck arrived at a riverside near a dense forest, where Chen Lin stopped.

Without a word, he got out to inspect the terrain.

Behind the forest was the river, suitable for digging a canal to divert water and building a small hydropower generator.

This river should be the future Jurong River, which connects downstream to the Qinhuai River, flowing through the capital all the way to the Yangtze River, offering convenient transportation.

Although not the picturesque mountain-and-water scenery he had hoped for, this place was secluded and spacious enough...

At that moment, Zhu Yuanzhang’s footsteps sounded behind him. Chen Lin hurried back inside, not wanting the three emperors to face any danger—they were walking treasures!

Back in the passenger seat, Zhu Yuanzhang’s hands trembled slightly as he touched the steering wheel.

“How do I start again?”

Chen Lin sighed. “Didn’t you already learn?”

“First, press the pedal on the left, then push this stick forward and to the left,” Zhu Xiongying, sitting in the back, chimed in.

Chen Lin laughed. “Look at you, even the kid’s smarter than you.”

Zhu Yuanzhang blushed a little. “Old age, old age, memory’s not so good. Our big grandson’s way better.”

He then pressed the clutch with his left foot and placed his right foot on the accelerator.

Chen Lin continued coaching, “Right, then shift gears, slowly release the left pedal with your left foot, good, gently press the gas with your right foot, keep your eyes ahead, hold the steering wheel steady, hey hey hey...”

Pfft!

The engine stalled...