The couple had a video call that lasted over two hours.
It wasn't until their daughter, Jiang Xue, was sleepy and ready for bed that Xu Li reluctantly hung up and took her to bathe.
Glancing at the time on her phone, it was already past 10 p.m.
After a quick wash, Jiang Tao undressed, slipped into bed, and started scrolling through his WeChat Moments.
Yesterday, browsing Moments had triggered intelligence related to an old Audi A6, earning him four gold bars.
From now on, he'd have to make a habit of checking Moments every day.
Who knows, maybe he'd stumble upon more valuable intelligence!
"Hotels are so much more comfortable!"
While swiping through his phone, Jiang Tao began to miss the soft, spacious bed from the hotel last night.
Even though the hotel he stayed at was just an ordinary room at a Hanting Hotel, it was far warmer, cleaner, and more comfortable than his rental apartment. Plus, he could take a hot shower!
The hotel room was leagues better than his cramped little den.
As he scrolled through Moments, Jiang Tao's mind was filled with countless thoughts.
After the New Year, he planned to bring Xu Li and their daughter Jiang Xue to live with him in Beijing.
With the system's help, he was determined to create better living conditions for his wife and child.
Whether it was healthcare or education, Beijing was light-years ahead of their hometown, Ping County, a tiny, insignificant place.
There was simply no comparison.
In Ping County, if you had any serious illness, the local hospital would either suggest transferring to the city or recommend going straight to Beijing.
How could a small county hospital compare to the top-tier, Grade-A hospitals in Beijing?
The gap in education was just as stark.
Some high-end or international kindergartens in Beijing required teachers to have graduate degrees or even hired foreign instructors.
In contrast, many kindergarten teachers in their hometown were just rural women from the village, some with only a preschool teaching certificate earned through a paid exam—or none at all.
The disparity between rural kids and those in big cities started right from kindergarten!
When Jiang Tao took the bus or subway in Beijing, he often saw kids around the same age as Jiang Xue.
Those little boys and girls were often enrolled in all sorts of extracurricular classes from a young age—chess, dance, art, coding, reading, traditional Chinese instruments, Western instruments, painting, sculpture, calligraphy, you name it.
They all seemed so bright, lively, and knowledgeable.
Meanwhile, his little "cotton-padded jacket" would come home from kindergarten and just watch TV with the remote in hand—cartoons like *Pleasant Goat*, *Bear in the Big Blue House*, *Miumiu and Friends*, or *My Little Pony*.
It wasn't that Jiang Tao and Xu Li didn't want to nurture their daughter's hobbies or interests; they simply didn't have the means.
Now that he had the ability, Jiang Tao naturally wanted his little girl to receive a better education from an early age, attend more extracurricular classes, gain more knowledge, and broaden her horizons.
He didn't want her to follow the same path as him and Xu Li, stuck as small-town "test-takers."
Thus, the plan to bring his wife and daughter to Beijing had to be put into action.
By then, he definitely couldn't let his wife and child live in a tiny, bare-bones single room in a tenement building like this.
To put it bluntly, the conditions in this urban village tenement were probably worse than a prison's.
As a tough, thick-skinned man, he could handle it.
But he couldn't let his wife and child suffer like this.
Besides, in just over ten days since binding to the intelligence system, he had already earned nearly a million yuan.
A monthly income of a million was more than enough to buy a house in Beijing!
However, Jiang Tao didn't have local social security, so he wasn't eligible to buy property yet.
He'd need to sort out the social security issue soon to prepare for buying a house in Beijing.
For now, renting would have to do.
The houses in Baigezhuang New Village, not far from Xiaosha River, were pretty nice.
A three-bedroom, one-living-room apartment there rented for about 5,000 yuan a month.
For Jiang Tao now, that was affordable.
While lost in thought, Jiang Tao quickly finished scrolling through Moments.
After that, he browsed Douyin and Bilibili for a bit, doing some "aesthetic enhancement training."
Soon, it was midnight.
New intelligence came through.
**[Today's Intelligence 01]:**
You consulted about gold-related business at the Zhouliufu Gold Store in Wanxianghui Mall yesterday, triggering related intelligence—
Gold prices will enter a skyrocketing phase in the next month, with a monthly return rate of 5%. It is recommended to buy heavily and sell at the right time.
**[Today's Intelligence 02]:**
You viewed the prize pool for a lucky draw event at Wanxianghui Mall yesterday, triggering related intelligence—
The premium lucky draw pool will include a grand prize ticket today. It is recommended to participate!
…
Seeing the two pieces of intelligence refreshed today, Jiang Tao instantly perked up, his sleepiness completely gone!
The first piece of intelligence about gold price trends made him feel incredibly fortunate.
Good thing he didn't sell his four gold bars yesterday!
A 5% monthly return—what did that mean?
Invest 100 yuan, and you'd earn 5 yuan in a month.
Invest 1,000 yuan, you'd earn 50 yuan; 10,000 yuan, 500 yuan; 100,000 yuan, 5,000 yuan!
If you put 100,000 yuan in a bank with current interest rates, a one-year fixed deposit would only yield 1.35%, or 1,350 yuan in interest!
But if you used 100,000 yuan to buy gold, you could make 5,000 yuan in profit in just one month!
Even after accounting for various fees, the profit would still be at least 4,000 yuan, far surpassing any bank financial product.
Jiang Tao had full confidence in the intelligence provided by the system. He could buy with his eyes closed.
Aside from the 120,000 yuan he spent on a car yesterday, he still had about 450,000 yuan in savings.
If he used it all to buy gold, he could earn over 20,000 yuan in a month.
Doing the math…
"It doesn't seem like *that* much…"
Jiang Tao chuckled at his own thoughts. He was really getting a bit cocky.
For an ordinary person, earning 5,000 yuan in a month with 100,000 yuan would take a ton of effort.
Yet he was starting to look down on it.
Still, compared to his recent earnings, 20,000 yuan wasn't exactly a fortune.
But if Xu Li used her 200,000-plus yuan to buy gold too, that would add another 10,000 yuan in profit.
His third sister had probably saved up some money over the years too. He could share this intelligence with her.
He could also mention it to his older brother, since they were family.
Whether they believed him or bought in was their choice.
Even with a 100% guaranteed profit, Jiang Tao wouldn't push anyone to invest.
Thinking about it, if more people bought in, the returns could actually be pretty good.
If he had 10 million yuan, this wave could earn him 500,000 yuan!
"Tomorrow, I can go to Wanxianghui to buy gold and participate in the lucky draw. These two pieces of intelligence can be combined."
After analyzing today's intelligence, Jiang Tao felt a little excited.
As per usual, whenever the system provided intelligence, the target object would be clearly marked in his vision.
When he was digging through trash bins for bottle caps initially, he hadn't noticed this feature.
But later, when withdrawing money from an ATM, digging up his daughter's red wine, buying a coconut snail, purchasing the Audi, or searching for river-polished stones, the target objects all had clear markers.
In his vision, they glowed with a faint golden light.
Since this intelligence was tied to the lucky draw, the system would likely mark the grand prize ticket as well!
For others, the lucky draw was a blind gamble, relying on luck.
For him, that grand prize ticket was as good as guaranteed!
In other words…
As long as he spent 100,000 yuan at Wanxianghui tomorrow, he could drive away in a Mercedes-Benz GLS!
Originally, Jiang Tao thought he'd need to grind for another year or two with the system's help to afford his dream car.
At this moment, he couldn't help but sigh—happiness had come too suddenly!
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