Chapter 251: How to Get Taoyang’s People to Attend?
Director Guo seemed unaware and smiled lightly.
“Yes, it’s her. She really loves children, especially the little boys in the younger class, around four or five years old.”
Su Tao frowned slightly but said nothing.
When Lin Fangzhi saw her after work, he immediately sensed something was on her mind. Tilting his head, he said,
“Tao, you’re unhappy again.”
He was the most sensitive to Su Tao’s emotional shifts—no one could compare.
Qian Rongrong also looked over, but no matter how hard she examined Su Tao, she couldn’t see any signs of unhappiness. Wasn’t she just smiling and chatting with them?
Su Tao’s smile faded slightly. She glanced at the two of them and suddenly asked Qian Rongrong,
“If your mom suddenly started liking another child, hugging them all the time and never letting go, how would you feel?”
Qian Rongrong was stunned and stammered, “I—I… I think I’d be sad?”
Su Tao shook her head internally. That was a normal human reaction. But Gu Yi was not normal.
If it saw this happening, it would probably want to massacre the entire orphanage. No, worse—it might want to eliminate every child it had ever seen.
What a headache…
Forget it. She’d check it out tonight and see.
Lin Fangzhi remained still, lost in thought about her question.
Su Tao didn’t ask him for an answer. Instead, she shifted the conversation back to business.
“How’s the recent revenue from commerce supplies? And the crystal cores?”
Qian Rongrong snapped into work mode immediately, rattling off the numbers.
“Since Tao Chi Construction finished three days ago, we’ve processed a total of 8 valid orders. After deducting costs, the net profit amounts to 1,129,405 federal credits.”
Su Tao automatically filtered out the long-winded explanation in her head, reducing it to:
Total assets: +1.12 million federal credits.
Lin Fangzhi added, “We also received 14 crystal cores. They’re in my space storage—do you want them now?”
Su Tao resisted the temptation. “Keep them for now.”
She needed to save up. If she kept them herself, she might not be able to resist spending them all.
The three of them reviewed some smaller accounts, and overall, Su Tao was quite satisfied with the revenue Tao Chi was bringing in.
At this rate, it was even more profitable than Panliu Mountain.
Lin Fangzhi nodded and said, “The numbers might rise even more next week. I already told our clients that we’ll be suspending operations after a week.”
In fact, orders had already surged since yesterday. Most of their customers were still en route, so the next four to five days would be extremely busy.
However, neither Su Tao nor Lin Fangzhi knew that far away in Xindu, Zhuo Er’Cheng was already among the crowd of customers and had managed to secure supplies today.
His subordinates reported that Taoyang’s supplies were completely authentic. The water they sold was bottled mineral water—no gray water or contaminated substitutes.
Even their fuel was pure, free of impurities, and superior to what Xindu produced. The same volume of fuel allowed vehicles to travel several kilometers farther than usual.
As for food and drinks, there was no question of quality.
After hanging up, Zhuo Er’Cheng truthfully reported the findings to his superior, Ling Tianji.
“Taoyang might actually have something real going on. At first, I thought it was just a small-town marketing gimmick.”
Ling Tianji tapped his fingers on the table and asked, “Are your people trustworthy?”
Zhuo Er’Cheng responded firmly, “Absolutely. They have no reason to lie or cover up for Taoyang.”
Ling Tianji was silent for a long time before saying,
“Find an opportunity to give Taoyang a few summit invitations. I want to see with my own eyes who’s behind this operation.”
Zhuo Er’Cheng disagreed. “Taoyang isn’t even an official settlement. That would break protocol. If other unqualified small bases find out, they’ll definitely make a fuss.”
Only third-tier bases and above were eligible to attend the Alliance Summit. These bases, even if not top-tier, had at least one area of excellence.
Bases below tier three—like fourth- and fifth-tier settlements—weren’t allowed to participate, let alone an unofficial settlement like Taoyang.
Ling Tianji frowned. “If their supplies are genuine, the only thing separating Taoyang from those bases is history and land size. Why should that be an issue?”
Zhuo Er’Cheng shook his head. “Sir, we can’t break our own rules. If we do, they’ll push for even more exceptions in the future.”
Ling Tianji considered this and finally relented. “Then how do you propose we get Taoyang’s people to attend?”
Zhuo Er’Cheng smirked.
“We don’t invite them as Taoyang. Let Dongyang, Wutai, or any other base send them instead. I have contacts in both Dongyang and Wutai. We can gift them some invitations, and they can pass them along to Taoyang.”
Ling Tianji chuckled. “Then I’ll leave it to you.”
Zhuo Er’Cheng accepted the task.
Now that this issue was settled, Ling Tianji had the leisure to start prying into Zhuo Er’Cheng’s personal affairs.
“I heard you’ve gotten yourself another beauty recently?”
Everyone in Xindu knew that Chairman Zhuo changed women as often as he changed clothes. But what made others envious was that every one of his girlfriends spoke highly of him and was willing to share him with other women.
Zhuo Er’Cheng chuckled flirtatiously.
“Yes, she’s from Dongyang. She has the charm of a mature woman and the playful arrogance of a young girl—just my type lately.”
Ling Tianji laughed heartily. “Looks like this one might stay with you a bit longer.”
Zhuo Ercheng took a slow sip of tea. “That depends on her skills.”
