Chapter 183: The Reason for Dr. Zhong’s Delayed Arrival
With Lei Xing’s help, Su Tao felt more confident.
However, she couldn’t just sit back and do nothing—she still had to go along when the time came.
To avoid dragging Leopard Path down, Su Tao added a new task to her daily schedule: shooting practice.
The training area was set up next to the newly built cafeteria.
Out of the 900 square meters of newly acquired land, 400 square meters were used to expand the cafeteria, 200 square meters were used for a greenhouse, and the remaining 200 square meters were temporarily converted into her shooting range.
To avoid disturbing the tenants during meals, the entire range was enclosed and soundproofed.
It was equipped with a changing room, private shower, and restroom to allow for quick freshening up after training.
To the right of the entrance, there was a lounge area with sofas, a coffee table, and a mini-fridge.
The fridge was stocked with ice-cold drinks—after a round of training, cracking open a soda and sprawling on the sofa felt incredibly satisfying.
Additionally, she reached out to Pei Dong and managed to buy a batch of second-hand shooting training equipment from her.
The equipment was functional but a bit dirty.
Just as she was about to have the cleaning staff take care of it, Chen Yang stumbled upon the secret training area.
The little boy’s eyes overflowed with envy like a tidal wave.
“Sister Tao! My dear sister! Please, I beg you, let me join!”
He was so desperate that he was practically scratching his head in frustration.
Zhuang Wan refused outright: “No way. You’ll just get in the way.”
Chen Yang was on the verge of tears, looking at Su Tao like a starving White Sesame that hadn’t eaten for three days.
Su Tao chuckled. “Alright, I’ll get you an access card later.”
Chen Yang was so excited that he threw himself into Su Tao’s arms. “Sister Tao, you’re even better to me than my mom!”
His reward was a smack from Zhuang Wan.
“Go study!”
Now that he had gotten what he wanted, Chen Yang didn’t resist anymore and happily ran off to Teacher Sheng’s class.
Watching his retreating figure, Zhuang Wan sighed: “Raising a son is such a pain.”
Su Tao laughed. “It’s fine. Loving shooting is a good thing—it’s a survival skill. Better that than indulging in entertainment in the apocalypse.”
Zhuang Wan felt a little comforted but still warned her, “If he annoys you, just kick him out of the range.”
Su Tao waved her off. “Alright, alright, stop being so polite with me. By the way, it’s already the 10th. Why hasn’t Dr. Zhong arrived yet? Captain Song is still waiting for him, and Qianqian’s leg is still untreated.”
Zhuang Wan sighed. “I was just about to tell you—he probably won’t make it until the 15th or 16th.”
“Did he say why?”
Zhuang Wan thought for a moment and said:
“It seems that Gu Mingchi took over some land outside to house the group of people he rescued from the old station. But apparently, the land already had an owner, and now there’s conflict—even casualties—so Dr. Zhong can’t leave yet.”
Su Tao frowned. “What is Gu Mingchi doing? Isn’t that just straight-up land grabbing?”
Zhuang Wan sighed in frustration. “It is land grabbing. From what I heard, the area isn’t very large and didn’t have many permanent residents, so Gu Mingchi thought he could just take it. But yesterday, the real owner came back, and they fought all night.”
Su Tao shook her head. “Gu Mingchi really is no good… whatever, it’s not our problem. Just let Captain Song know they’ll have to wait a few more days. As for Qianqian, make sure she works from home and doesn’t move around too much.”
Zhuang Wan agreed but added, “I’m going to push for Qianqian’s new apartment. She’s too shy to rush you, but I’m not.”
Su Tao sighed. “Fine, fine, I’ll handle it tonight.”
*
The next morning, Su Tao personally visited Meng Qian’s home.
The father and daughter currently lived in Building 4, in a two-bedroom unit.
When they first moved in, they couldn’t believe it was real.
After chatting briefly, Su Tao handed Meng Qian the list of available apartments.
Meng Qian took a look and was shocked. “This many?”
She counted—thirty units.
She had seen Zhuang Wan’s past records. The boss usually only released a few units at a time, ten at most.
Meanwhile, Su Tao, who had pulled an all-nighter, yawned and said—
“The entire month of August, so don’t come pushing me about it for the rest of the month. Also, pass this on to Zhuang Wan for me.”
Meng Qian laughed. “Got it, boss.”
After Su Tao left, Meng Qian wasted no time and immediately began reviewing the move-in applications in her inbox.
She had just picked out a batch of promising applications and was about to conduct a second round of screening when Lin Fangzhi and Meng Xiaobo showed up at the same time.
Looking at the two of them, Meng Qian was a little puzzled. “What’s up?”
Lin Fangzhi wasn’t even sure what he was saying. “We’d like to recommend someone.”
Meng Xiaobo didn’t even know how he had gotten here. His hands moved on their own as he handed Lian Sha’s application to Meng Qian.
“We want to recommend this person.”
Meng Qian “oh-oh”-ed in acknowledgment.
“An internal referral? Let me see… Lian Man? She’s quite pretty. Who is she to you guys?”
Why did she look a bit familiar?
The two of them looked completely dazed but still answered in perfect unison: “A friend.”
Meng Qian nodded. “Alright, I’ll look into it. You guys can go back now.”
After they left, Meng Qian picked up the application again and took a second look.
The credentials were solid—she worked in Dongyang’s logistics department, was single, had a formal education, and overall seemed like a good candidate.
But the more she looked at her photo, the more familiar this woman seemed.
Wanting to be thorough, she decided to ask her father to check out Dongyang’s logistics department and see what he could find out about Lian Man.
That evening, when Meng Junjie came home from work, she told him about it. He immediately agreed.
“Alright, I’ll ask around after work tomorrow. Let me see the file first.”
Meng Qian handed it over.
The moment Meng Junjie saw the photo, his pupils shrank.
“Lian Sha?!”
Meng Qian hadn’t reacted yet. “What is it, Dad?”
Meng Junjie spat in disgust.
“That woman is Tan Yong’s mistress! I can’t believe she’s trying to sneak into Taoyang! You don’t know her, but she’s extremely manipulative. She’s got a way of getting into people’s heads.”
Hearing this, Meng Qian suddenly remembered and was shocked.
“It’s her?! Wait—how do Fangzhi and Xiaobo even know her? And why would they recommend her?”
Meng Junjie slapped his thigh.
“She must’ve gotten to them! Don’t alert her just yet. I need to go see Boss Su right now.”
That night, Su Tao opened the door to see a very urgent-looking Meng Junjie (Mist), which surprised her.
“Did something happen?”
“Boss Su, can we talk in private?”
Seeing how serious he was, Su Tao nodded and led him to a small conference room in Taoli Tower.
Meng Junjie handed her the application form and said:
“Qianqian gave this to me, asking me to check out this ‘Lian Man’ at the logistics department. But the moment I saw it, I recognized her—she’s actually Lian Sha, Tan Yong’s mistress. She used a fake name, and I have no idea what she’s trying to do by sneaking into Taoyang. I came to tell you immediately.”
Su Tao’s eyes widened.
“Manipulation?!”
“Yeah, it’s her.”
Su Tao frowned. “Did she apply through external recruitment or an internal referral?”
