After saying goodbye to Wang Dongdong, Wang Ye and Zhang Xiaoxi drove around the city for a while and felt there was nothing much to see.
The provincial capital was still the same. Other than some new developments in the new district, the old city had barely changed.
There seemed to be plenty of people on the streets, though. All kinds of shops lined the roadsides, and business appeared to be pretty good.
Central Plains Province was a major inland agricultural province. Aside from grain, perhaps all it had was a large population!
It was only 2005. Coastal cities had already begun changing dramatically, but the spring breeze of reform and opening up had yet to reach the inland regions.
A few years later, inland areas like Central Plains Province would finally see real large-scale development.
After looking around, they found it rather boring. Besides, with the expressway now open, getting home would be much faster.
After discussing it, they decided to head back.
If things went smoothly, they might even make it home in time for dinner...
The newly completed expressway was indeed far better to drive on than the old, dilapidated national highway!
This was especially true of the national highways in Central Plains Province, which passed through many towns and county seats.
If they happened to run into a market day, even a random little town could leave them stuck in traffic for ages.
And the congestion was not caused by too many cars. It was because all kinds of street vendors simply set up stalls in the middle of the road, blocking it completely!
Coupled with the huge crowds visiting the market, drivers often had no choice but to inch forward, sometimes even using the front of their cars to "push" pedestrians along...
If they