Chapter 241: Let Her Profit
Jiang Jinwei had sent strawberries to Su Tao to show off—she wanted Su Tao to know that she could now afford such luxuries.
But what did Su Tao do? She sent back two baskets of strawberries that were even better than the ones Jiang Jinwei had given.
Jiang Jinwei felt like her sense of superiority, which she had worked so hard to regain, had been crushed to pieces.
She had begged Er’Cheng for these strawberries, only to find that Su Tao didn’t even care about them. In fact, she had so many that she casually sent extra back.
Could Taoyang really obtain white strawberries so easily now?
Li Lianrong found Jiang Jinwei’s reaction unreasonable.
“Your sister sent these as an apology, yet you’re still so unforgiving?”
Jiang Jinwei glared at her. “Mom! You’re siding with Su Tao now? Who abandoned you? And who was the one who pulled you out of the mud when you were struggling the most?! And now you’re defending her?!”
Li Lianrong fell silent.
Tangdou sucked on her fingers, staring at the strawberries on the table. She wanted to eat them but didn’t dare reach out. She could only sniffle pitifully.
Jiang Jinwei, getting angrier by the second, flipped the table and stomped the strawberries into a pulp.
“No one is allowed to eat them!”
Everyone was stunned.
Tangdou, too, was shocked. She looked down at the ruined strawberries, then opened her mouth and wailed.
*
After confirming that this batch of strawberries had no issues, Wu Zhen began preparing for large-scale cultivation.
The tenants of Taoyang were eagerly watching the plantation.
They had heard that the white strawberries from the plantation were delicious and were waiting for the first harvest so they could line up overnight to buy them.
Even people outside had caught wind of this. Many marveled at how, while most people in the apocalypse could barely fill their stomachs, Taoyang was close to achieving “fruit freedom.”
But Su Tao wasn’t paying attention to any of this. She was still preoccupied with her suspicions about Liu Panpan and Bone Wing.
She even called the old commander to ask about how Shi Zijin and the others had found Bone Wing in the underground parking garage of Panliu Mountain.
The old commander was surprised by her question but still answered:
“A boy around three or four years old, though he was probably older. According to Zijin, he was very beautiful. When they found him, he had already killed everyone around him and kept muttering about someone abandoning him.”
Su Tao’s pupils contracted.
In her vision of the future, Bone Wing had also spoken about being abandoned—to Liu Panpan.
The old commander sighed. “The most difficult thing about dealing with mutant zombies is that they retain half of their human intelligence and emotions. When we studied Bone Wing, we suspected that, in his human life, he had been abandoned by his family. That’s probably why he became so fixated and ruthless after being infected.”
Su Tao’s lips trembled.
Liu Panpan had never wanted to abandon her child.
Pressing her lips together, she asked, “Besides Zijin and the others, has anyone else seen what Bone Wing looked like at four or five years old?”
The old commander replied, “No. By the time we found Bone Wing again, he had already grown into a teenager.”
After hanging up, Su Tao thought for a moment and decided to send Shi Zijin the link to Liu Panpan’s missing person notice.
The notice included a photo of Yanyan—the same photo Su Tao had found in the underground parking lot of Panliu Mountain, which Liu Panpan had later kept as a treasured memento.
Now, that photo was the only proof linking Bone Wing to Yanyan.
Su Tao waited all day for a reply from Shi Zijin, but instead, she got a message from Hui Shu.
Hui Shu’s friend had made up his mind—he was definitely renting land.
Su Tao initially wanted to refuse, but when she saw the twelve glowing green crystal cores he handed over, the words of refusal stopped at the tip of her tongue and were swallowed down.
With a complicated expression, she asked, “Is your friend sure? Maybe he should talk to me in person.”
For most bases or small groups, twelve crystal cores were a significant expense.
Yet this friend had entrusted the entire deal to Huishu.
Hui Shu lied with a straight face:
“He’s too busy and really can’t leave right now. But he was worried that if he waited too long, you wouldn’t have any land left to rent, so he asked me to handle it for him first.”
Su Tao thought for a moment and said, “Alright. Which plot of land does he want? Around Taoyang, or…”
To avoid confusion, she asked Zhuang Wan to bring a map.
Land was available for rent in three places: Taoyang, Tao Chi, and around Panliu Mountain.
Hui Shu hadn’t expected to be able to choose his own location. Overjoyed, he said, “I’ll take this to him first. Once he decides, I’ll come back.”
Su Tao nodded. “Alright. He can rent up to 1,200 square meters. I’ll handle the design, so he should tell me his requirements—how many people will live there, what buildings and facilities he needs—and I’ll do my best to accommodate them.”
Hui Shu nodded repeatedly, left the crystal cores behind, and took the map back to report.
When Gu Mingchi received the map, he fell into silence.
If he remembered correctly, six months ago, Taoyang was only about 3,000 square meters, with barely a few buildings.
And now, there was this much land available?
Hui Shu, thinking his boss was having trouble deciding, pointed to the area next to Tao Chi and said:
“This used to be the old station, but now the Leopard Path group has rented it. Personally, I don’t think we should rent there too—otherwise, we might get annoyed just looking at them and end up wanting to beat them up.”
“Panliu Mountain isn’t a good choice either—too little flat land, and it’s basically in the middle of nowhere.”
He then pointed to a plot near Taoyang, close to the East District.
“Boss, I think this spot is the best. It’s near our East District, plus we can take advantage of Taoyang’s facilities. I also heard they’re producing fruit now—if we want some, it’ll be easy to buy…”
Gu Mingchi pondered for a moment, tapping his finger on that plot of land.
On the third tap, he said, “This one. I don’t have many requirements—just make sure it can house 500 people. Oh, and it needs a protective shield.”
Huishu cautiously added, “Boss Su specifically mentioned that the protective shield costs extra…”
Gu Mingchi’s expression darkened, assuming she wanted more crystal cores. He snorted coldly.
“She really knows how to raise prices. How much does she want?”
Hui Shu replied, “1.2 million Federal Credits. Boss Su said, hand on heart, she’s not making a single extra penny off it.”
“…Federal Credits?”
Hui Shu nodded vigorously.
Gu Mingchi’s mood instantly improved. “Send her 3 million. Let her profit.”
