Chapter 227: Who’s Really Living the Better Life
At the Su Family Residence—
“The strawberries have been delivered?” Jiang Jinwei, elegantly dressed, asked while holding Tangdou in her arms.
Su Zhenglan, clearly displeased, gave a curt response: “Yeah. I didn’t see Su Tao. That big guy at the gate still wouldn’t let me in.”
Su Jianming snorted. “We shouldn’t have given them to her. What a waste of a box of strawberries.”
Jiang Jinwei felt a twinge of pain in her heart. She hadn’t brought many strawberries back from Xindu. First, because they were difficult to transport and spoiled too quickly. Second, because they were ridiculously expensive.
Even her current man couldn’t get too many of them—he had only managed to give her two boxes in total.
To show off, she had painfully parted with one box and sent it to Su Tao, just to prove who was truly living the better life, who had found a capable man.
Still, she forced a smile, pretending to be indifferent.
“What’s done is done. If you want to eat more, I’ll ask Er’Cheng to buy some and send them over.”
Hearing this, Li Ronglian grabbed Jiang Jinwei’s hand, her eyes turning red.
“No need to trouble him. It’s the thought that counts. You really are the most filial one in the family. And Er’Cheng—he’s reliable, much better than that useless man who just leeches off women.”
Since the eldest daughter returned, she had been giving them money, buying things, and even arranging jobs for them.
From the bottom of her heart, she was truly happy, feeling that her eldest daughter was both capable and filial.
Jiang Jinwei’s expression turned serious. “Mom, I’ve told you before—never mention that I was married, and never say that Tangdou is my child. If Er’Cheng’s people ever ask, just tell them Tangdou is Su Tao’s kid, that she abandoned her, and we took her in. Whatever you do, don’t say I was married or had a child.”
Tangdou, who was four years old, could already understand some of the adults’ words. Hearing this, she thought her mother was rejecting her, and she immediately clung to Jiang Jinwei’s neck, wailing loudly, “Mommy! Mommy! Waaaahhh—”
Jiang Jinwei tried to soothe her for a long time, but it didn’t work. At first, she was patient, but as her daughter’s tears and snot stained her clothes, she lost her patience. She shoved Tangdou into Li Ronglian’s arms.
“This kid’s temper is getting worse.”
Li Ronglian quickly took her, wanting to say that Tangdou just lacked a sense of security—that it was normal for a child this young to be attached to their mother. But when she saw her eldest daughter’s perfectly done makeup and indifferent expression, she swallowed the words back down.
Meanwhile, Su Zhenglan asked eagerly, “Sis, can you attend that alliance summit?”
Jiang Jinwei lifted her gaze and glanced at him. “My man is the one organizing it. Of course, I can go.”
“…Then can I go with you?” Su Zhenglan looked at her expectantly.
If he could attend, he might be able to make connections with powerful people, which could help him establish a career.
Jiang Jinwei rejected him outright. “Do you think just anyone can attend? The people who go are either highly capable individuals or their partners. What status do you have to attend?”
Su Zhenglan was speechless, murmuring under his breath but saying nothing more.
*
Not long after dividing up the strawberries, Su Tao received the expansion design plans for the Panliu Mountain Lodge, sent by Old Mei and his apprentice.
The original building was only five stories high, with just ten rooms per floor.
According to the new plans, the total number of floors would increase to twelve, more than doubling the accommodation capacity.
Each floor would also have a new utility room for housekeeping convenience.
Two additional elevators would be installed to reduce congestion when transporting guests.
The staff dormitory at the back would also get four new double rooms.
Finally, gritting her teeth, Su Tao spent her last crystal core to expand the land at the foot of Panliu Mountain by 100 square meters, making the refueling and parking areas much more spacious.
She worked tirelessly for two days, only sleeping four hours in total.
Ma Dapao looked at the twelve-story lodge, his eyes shining with excitement, as if he could already see the future Panliu Mountain Hotel and Panliu Manor taking shape.
“So, we can accommodate more than 120 people at Panliu Mountain now, right?”
Su Tao nodded.
She did some quick calculations—between Taoyang’s tenants and Panliu Mountain’s temporary guests, there were around 480 tenants in total.
To level up to LV6, she needed to reach 500 tenants and spend 6 million federal credits.
Currently, her total assets were already at 8.12 million, meaning she could easily afford the 6 million upgrade cost.
In other words, if she could recruit just 20 more tenants, she could upgrade!
Su Tao felt a rush of excitement. After leveling up, she could unlock communal dormitories and shared rental units, as well as an animal husbandry store.
Dongyang’s livestock farms had been producing less and less meat recently, making it increasingly difficult to buy. Even Master Qin’s meat dishes had gone through multiple price hikes.
If Taoyang could raise its own livestock, that would be ideal.
Thinking about this, Su Tao, who had been feeling exhausted, was suddenly re-energized. She decided to grab a meal, take a short rest, and then get back to work, building the new rental units set to open in September.
Just as she was about to leave, Ma Dapao hurriedly stopped her.
“Boss, don’t go yet! I need to tell you about Qu Jingwen’s situation. Brother Mist and Miss Meng have visited her in the past few days, trying to persuade her. I think she’s starting to waver, but…”
“But what?”
“She wants to see Tan Yong’s body.” Ma Dapao sighed.
Su Tao was stunned. “I already had Fire Serpent burn him to ashes.”
In this heat, was she supposed to have kept the corpse?
Ma Dapao looked troubled. “I’ll talk to her again. She still believes that Tan Yong was manipulated by Lian Sha and that he truly loved her. Just listening to her talk makes my head spin.”
Su Tao said, “I was the one who killed Tan Yong, so she must hate me.”
Ma Dapao stayed silent.
Su Tao smirked. “She’s cursed me a lot, hasn’t she? I don’t mind—let her say whatever she wants. But don’t waste too much energy on her. Give her three more days. If she’s still like this, let Mist take care of her.”
Ma Dapao hesitated, then nodded. “I messed this up. Sorry.”
Su Tao shook her head. “You were just trying to recruit another capable person for Taoyang. Your intentions weren’t wrong. Go get busy—after the expansion, we’re going to have another business boom, so start preparing early.”
Ma Dapao quickly agreed.
*
Back at Taoyang, Su Tao had just finished her meal and was walking Xuedao when she received a call from Director Guo of the Maternity and Child Hospital.
Director Guo seemed happy, though her voice remained as serious and professional as ever.
“Boss Su, we might need to limit admissions to the maternity hospital. Ever since the news of our takeover spread yesterday, I’ve received nearly 1,000 applications from expecting mothers wanting to be admitted.”
“But we only have 600 beds, and 400 are already occupied. That means we only have 200 open spots left. How would you like to allocate them?”
Even Director Guo herself might not have realized that she now spoke to Su Tao with respect, beginning to acknowledge her as a competent leader.
Su Tao didn’t dwell on it. After a brief consideration, she said, “Give priority to Taoyang residents. You can handle the rest however you see fit.”
Director Guo agreed without hesitation. There weren’t that many people in Taoyang, and even fewer pregnant women—at most, they’d take up 20 spots.
