Chapter 298: Attending the Conference to Make Money
Shi Zijin glanced at the receptionist and asked, “What’s your name?”
The receptionist, seeing his indifferent expression, thought he had struck gold and was being favored. Overjoyed, he immediately stated his name.
Shi Zijin nodded and said to everyone, “Let’s go in.”
Following behind, Cen Tianjiao grinned at the receptionist and teased, “Kid, you’re in big trouble now.”
The receptionist remained clueless.
The exhibition center had three floors. The first floor housed the reception area, lounge, and various private rooms. While the décor wasn’t exactly luxurious, it was still quite impressive, though traces of time were evident—unlike Taoyang’s office building, which was clearly a modern construction.
The main hall on the first floor was already bustling with people, with attendees from different bases engaged in conversation.
From a distance, Su Tao spotted Minister Xu Chang surrounded by a crowd. If he weren’t so tall, she might not have noticed him at all.
The big shot from Changjing was indeed popular. Judging by the people gathered around him, each was more eager to please than the last.
At that moment, Minister Xu looked toward the entrance. Seeing Su Tao, he nodded and smiled at her.
Given their prior encounter, Minister Xu was most familiar with Su Tao—after all, he had hitched a ride in her vehicle before.
Instantly, the entire crowd around him turned to look at the entrance.
Someone whispered, “Who is Minister Xu looking at? Who are those people at the door?”
“No idea. Never seen them before, but Minister Xu seems quite familiar with them.”
A few recognized Shi Zijin.
“That’s the captain of the Dongyang Pioneer Army. I heard that Changjing once tried to recruit him for an official position, so it’s no surprise he knows Minister Xu.”
“Right. Dongyang’s development might not be stellar, but the Pioneer Army is formidable. They even captured that crawling creature alive recently—it was their captain, wasn’t it?”
“Seems so. He actually looks quite distinguished. I thought he’d be some bald, burly brute.”
…
Though Su Tao couldn’t hear their conversation from a distance, she could see them murmuring to each other.
Just then, a few guides approached, checked their invitation cards, and led them upstairs to the second-floor exhibition area.
Each participating base had an exhibition booth ranging from 20 to 50 square meters. These booths resembled semi-open shops, featuring the base’s name, a counter, and seating areas.
The counters displayed various products or samples from each base. During intermissions, attendees would visit these booths to exchange ideas, network, or even strike business deals on the spot.
This place was full of opportunities and connections, which explained why the Alliance Summit had such a high entry threshold and why participation slots were so highly sought after.
Shi Zijin originally planned to take Su Tao to the VIP lounge for a break since the conference wouldn’t start for another hour. But Su Tao, intrigued by the booths, declined his offer.
Left with no choice, Shi Zijin abandoned the VIP lounge plan and accompanied her to the second floor instead.
Before leaving, he messaged Ling Tianji, saying they could catch up in the afternoon, and casually mentioned the receptionist’s behavior.
Ling Tianji turned red with anger upon reading the message. He immediately summoned the operations manager and unleashed a tirade:
“How did you pick your staff? I don’t expect them to be brilliant, but did you really hire someone who looks down on people? Where does he get his sense of superiority from? This is embarrassing!”
The operations manager, drenched in sweat, wished he could throttle the receptionist on the spot.
“Hurry up and get rid of him! Minister Xu has no tolerance for this kind of behavior. If he encounters such people here, Xindu can kiss its chances of a good evaluation goodbye this year!”
The operations manager, nodding and bowing, rushed off.
Ling Tianji felt humiliated. He couldn’t believe Shi Zijin had to be the one to point out such a trivial issue.
Frustrated, he dragged Zhuo Ercheng over and reiterated all the key venue protocols:
“Ercheng, success or failure lies in the details. Don’t let petty mistakes ruin my reputation.”
Zhuo Ercheng agreed, but his face darkened as he left.
Just then, Jiang Jinwei entered through the fast-track lane and immediately spotted him. She jogged over, about to act cute, but he shot her a cold glance.
Jiang Jinwei instantly fell silent.
Zhuo Ercheng took a moment to calm himself before saying, “I’m really busy today. If you don’t have anything urgent, just explore on your own or chat with your sister. Try not to come looking for me.”
He found Lu Lu much more understanding.
Even now, Lu Lu was standing outside in the scorching heat, waiting in line. On the phone, she only asked if he was busy and told him to call her if he needed help running errands—never once demanding a fast-track pass.
Jiang Jinwei could only watch him walk away, feeling wronged.
What was she supposed to do? She didn’t understand the conference lectures, and she didn’t have any acquaintances here to talk to.
She instinctively ignored Su Tao’s presence.
Just as she thought that, her gaze landed on a familiar figure—it was Su Tao!
She was following a group of people upstairs.
Jiang Jinwei immediately forgot Zhuo Ercheng’s words about chatting with her sister.
Maintaining sisterly bonds with Su Tao? Impossible.
She decided to find some like-minded friends at the conference instead.
*
As they ascended, the guide softly explained the conference rules, such as prohibiting the use of abilities to incite conflict and maintaining order.
“Here we are. The Dongyang base is in Zone C, Wutai base is in Zone B, and non-base attendees can rest in the central exhibition area. Enjoy the conference!”
The Taoyang group, holding different invitation types, all turned to look at Su Tao.
Su Tao said, “Let’s check out Dongyang’s booth first. Then you can move around freely. Chen Yang and Zheng Xing, you two must stay with me.”
Zheng Xing agreed without hesitation—his teacher wasn’t here, so he only listened to Boss Su.
Chen Yang, who had been excited, instantly deflated and reluctantly nodded.
He really wanted to find Brother Lei, but his mom had warned him to follow Sister Tao’s instructions when outside. Otherwise, he’d be banned from leaving Taoyang in the future.
He wondered how Brother Lei was doing. Last time, Fire Snake told him to say good things about Brother Lei in front of Sister Tao whenever possible.
He swore he had done so—every chance he got! But most of the time, Major Shi was always nearby. Whenever he started praising Brother Lei, Major Shi would give him a look.
That look wasn’t even intimidating, but for some reason, it felt terrifying.
*
Dongyang’s booth was 30 square meters, built from sturdy plastic-like material. The structure was simple, designed for easy assembly and disassembly. The interior walls featured printed text and photographs detailing the base’s history and development.
Inside, Xing Shuyu and Yang Ying, the Minister of Dongyang’s Public Affairs Department, were arranging the booth, assisted by two young aides.
They had brought some specialty products and photos from Dongyang.
To be honest, it was a bit embarrassing—after 20 years of development, Dongyang had made no progress in industry or technology. Only their medical and education sectors were noteworthy.
As a result, their main highlight at the summit each year was just photos of hospitals and schools.
But this year, they had something new—a complete specimen of a crawling creature.
So far, only Changjing had captured one alive for research.
As expected, when the specimen was displayed, people from surrounding booths cast intrigued glances.
Su Tao was envious—if only Taoyang had its own booth.
She greeted Xing Shuyu and Yang Ying, then, noticing some empty counter space, her eyes sparkled.
“Can I shamelessly take an empty spot?”
Yang Ying, a round-faced middle-aged woman with a friendly smile, had already heard about Su Tao from Xing Shuyu. She laughed and said, “Of course! Right here. We don’t need it. Are you displaying Taoyang’s products?”
“Exactly.”
Su Tao gratefully nodded, then instructed Fang Zhi to take out a refrigerated display case.
“Can we plug this in?” she asked Xing Shuyu.
“There’s an outlet here,” Xing Shuyu pointed out. “But we have to cover the electricity costs.”
Su Tao generously offered, “I’ll give you 10% of the profits.”
Xing Shuyu didn’t think much of it—until she saw Su Tao pricing bottled water at 500 federal credits and other drinks ranging from 500 to 3,000 credits each.
She sucked in a sharp breath.
Back in Taoyang, these drinks didn’t even cost 100 credits!
What a rip-off!
Yang Ying, who wasn’t from Taoyang, didn’t think the prices were high. She even encouraged Su Tao to raise them further:
“Trust me, 800 per bottle will still sell. This place is full of rich people.”
Su Tao quickly followed her advice.
Why had she come to the conference? To make money, of course!
