**[Today's Intelligence 02]:**
You had contact with your mother-in-law, Du Yongmei, yesterday and obtained the following intelligence—
Du Yongmei was persuaded by her close friend Wang Hongying and is currently participating in a scam involving fake orders, with 26,800 yuan already frozen.
A kind reminder could prevent a subsequent loss of 750,000 yuan!
…
"…"
Upon seeing the second piece of intelligence, Jiang Tao was both surprised and somewhat speechless.
How could his mother-in-law, such a shrewd person, fall for something like this?
The TV, the radio, and all sorts of anti-fraud campaigns and short videos are broadcast every day, yet people still fall for scams all the time.
"Fortunately, I have Brother System's intelligence. Otherwise, the money my father-in-law worked so hard to earn over half his life would have gone down the drain."
After reviewing the two pieces of intelligence refreshed today, Jiang Tao closed the interface with a thought and lay back on his pillow to sleep.
The next morning.
When Jiang Tao woke up, Xu Li was already in the kitchen preparing breakfast.
He stretched lazily, picked up the phone on the bedside table, and glanced at it.
It was just a little past 8 a.m.
Today was the fifth day of the Lunar New Year.
In Ping County, the custom was not to visit relatives on this day, so Jiang Tao had no other plans.
"I need to hurry up and gather the five partners!"
Suddenly, he recalled the first piece of intelligence from last night.
Jiang Tao immediately felt a surge of motivation, grabbed the clothes Xu Li had laid out for him, and started getting dressed.
This was the closest he'd ever been to becoming a multimillionaire in his thirty-one years of life.
It was also the fastest way to achieve it, so he had to take it seriously!
"Honey, go wake up your daughter and Third Sis. We're having egg-filled pancakes today~"
Hearing the noise outside, Xu Li didn't need to turn around to know it was Jiang Tao.
She spoke to him softly, continuing to hum a cheerful tune as she prepared breakfast.
It was clear that Xu Li was in an exceptionally good mood today.
Whether it was because of last night's one million yuan or that exhilarating "exercise," no one could say.
"Third Sis is getting worse—she's sleeping in even later than me."
Jiang Tao chuckled, then walked to Jiang Xue's room and pushed open the door.
As soon as he entered, he saw Jiang Xue's legs draped over Jiang Bing's stomach, both still sound asleep.
Jiang Bing had the blanket pulled over her head, completely burrowed under the covers.
"Time to get up, breakfast is ready~"
As usual, Jiang Tao went over and gave Jiang Bing and Jiang Xue a playful flurry of "shadowless palm" slaps.
"Don't mess with me, Second Bro. Let me sleep a bit more. I was working overtime until midnight last night. I'll skip breakfast—call me for lunch."
Jiang Bing's muffled voice came from under the blanket.
Jiang Xue, meanwhile, rolled over and continued sleeping, like a little sloth.
Suddenly, the air in front of Jiang Tao shimmered, and a line of text appeared on his retina:
**[Jiang Bing: Can be invited.]**
"Third Sis, Third Sis, get up quick! I need to discuss something with you."
Seeing that his younger sister could be invited as a partner, Jiang Tao's heart leapt with joy, and he slapped the blanket even harder.
"Whatever it is, let's talk at noon. Please, Second Bro, let me sleep a bit more—you're my dear brother."
Having stayed up late watching "movies," Jiang Bing just wanted to sleep. Everything else could wait.
Unless…
"Even if it's about making big money, you want to talk at noon?"
The moment Jiang Tao said this, Jiang Bing shot up from the bed, yanked off the blanket, and sat there with disheveled hair.
"Second Bro! You've got another good project? Tell me, tell me, what's it about this time?"
The mention of making money instantly piqued Jiang Bing's interest.
She grabbed Jiang Tao's arm, her face brimming with eagerness.
She now saw her second brother as the "Buffett of the Internet."
His knack for spotting winning products was uncanny!
The Ultraman hair clips and the recent Flying Pig popcorn buckets were living proof.
Those two projects alone were conservatively estimated to bring Jiang Tao hundreds of thousands in profit.
Jiang Bing had also benefited from these projects, earning dividends far exceeding her regular job's income.
So, hearing that Jiang Tao had a new project naturally got her excited.
"I've noticed that beef cattle prices have been at a low for a long time, and they're due for a rebound. So, I'm planning to buy cattle."
"Huh? Buy… cattle?"
Jiang Bing looked at him skeptically, barely holding back laughter as she said, "Second Bro, you're not joking, right? You mean the moo~ kind of cattle? The ones we ate yesterday?"
Jiang Tao nodded. "Yup, exactly those cattle."
"Uh, wait, are you serious? You're really buying cattle? How many are you planning to buy? Who's going to feed them? Do you even know how to raise cattle?"
Jiang Bing stared at her brother in disbelief, feeling like this money-making venture was out of left field and a huge leap from his previous projects.
The first was Ultraman hair clips, the second was Nezha 2 popcorn buckets, and now the third was… cattle?
"Didn't Uncle say his boss wants to sell everything and get out of the business? Why are you jumping into the pit?"
Jiang Bing rolled her eyes, thinking her brother's judgment seemed off this time.
"When others are greedy, I'm cautious; when others are cautious, I'm greedy. Ever heard that saying?"
"When everyone else is desperate to get out, that's exactly when we jump in to make money."
"After careful observation and analysis over the past few days, I think the spring of the cattle market is coming."
"Here are the specific reasons…"
Jiang Tao had full confidence in the intelligence provided by his daily system—after all, it hadn't failed him yet.
So, he was definitely going to pursue this cattle investment.
And he'd do his best to gather all five partners!
Compared to the system's fivefold bonus reward, the profit from the cattle's appreciation was just a small part.
"Second Bro, are you for real? You're actually buying cattle?"
Seeing Jiang Tao explain at length with such conviction, Jiang Bing's expression grew serious.
"Absolutely, and this time, I'm planning to buy at least 300 head. If we're doing this, we're going big."
Jiang Tao spoke with calm confidence, exuding an air of control.
Jiang Bing gasped. "But 300 head… how much will that cost?"
Jiang Tao replied, "I estimate around 3 million yuan."
"3 million! That much?!"
Jiang Bing clicked her tongue. Before today, she'd never dealt with a project of this scale!
The biggest project she'd ever been involved in was when Jiang Tao spent 200,000 yuan to buy 10,000 Flying Pig popcorn buckets.
Going from 200,000 to 3 million was an insane jump in investment!
"Yup, so I need to find a few more partners to do this together. We'll all make money together, and you, Third Sis, are the first!"
Jiang Tao grinned at his sister. This was a surefire deal, and he naturally wanted to include her.
After convincing Jiang Bing, Jiang Tao planned to visit his older brother to see if he could be invited as a partner.
Jiang Bing hesitated for just a dozen seconds before making her decision.
She chose to trust her brother's judgment and asked, "How much do I need to put in?"
Jiang Tao held up two fingers. "At least 200,000."
"Second Bro, did you peek at my phone? How did you know I have 200,000?! That's my hard-earned savings for my dowry over four years!"
Jiang Bing looked at him in shock. Her total savings were just over 203,000 yuan. She didn't believe this was a coincidence.
Jiang Tao teased, "Wow, Third Sis, you've saved up 200,000? I thought you'd have to borrow from Mom and Dad."
"Second Bro, let me confirm one last time—are we really buying cattle? Speculating on cattle?"
"Haha, yup, speculating on cattle. Last chance— are you in or out?"
Jiang Tao confirmed with her one final time.
"I'm in! If my dowry's gone, worst case…"
"Stop, stop, stop with that jinxed talk. We haven't even started, and you're already thinking about losing money?"
Jiang Tao cut her off with a wry smile, not letting her continue.
"Oh, right, pfft, pfft, pfft, kids' words don't count, kids' words don't count. We're going to make big money!"
Jiang Bing scratched her head sheepishly, grinning like a goof.
Once they started talking about making money, Jiang Bing's sleepiness vanished. She quickly got dressed and got out of bed.
Jiang Tao also dragged Jiang Xue out of bed, dressed her, and carried her to the living room sofa.
Jiang Xue, half-asleep, scratched her head and said, "Daddy, why do I feel like I can't breathe properly?"
"That's because you're not fully awake yet. Snap out of it, and you'll be fine."
As soon as Jiang Tao finished speaking, Xu Li walked out of the kitchen with a large tray.
Seeing the big and small "treasures" on the sofa, Xu Li burst into laughter.
"Honey, look at what you've done."
Jiang Tao looked puzzled. "What did I do now?"
"Take a good look at the clothes you put on your daughter. Is even one piece on correctly?"
Jiang Tao glanced at his little girl and couldn't help but laugh.
No wonder she felt like she couldn't breathe—her sweater was on backward.
Oh, and her little jeans were on backward too.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Men, huh? Not a single reliable one. They can barely take care of themselves."
Jiang Bing, fresh from brushing her teeth, seized the chance to pile on.
Jiang Tao glanced at her, about to retort, but when he saw her sweater was also on backward, he couldn't hold it in.
"Hahaha…"
"Third Sis, don't you look in the mirror when you brush your teeth?"
"You're calling out others when you should check yourself first. Haha, this is killing me!"
Seeing her brother laughing so hard he was tearing up, Jiang Bing looked down at her backward sweater and immediately flushed with embarrassment.
Talk about awkward—awkwardness opened the door, and she walked right in!
After some playful banter, Jiang Bing went back to her room to fix her sweater and sat at the breakfast table, still a bit embarrassed.
Today's breakfast was egg-filled pancakes and fresh milk, made by Xu Li herself.
The pancake dough was kneaded by Xu Li, and the oil used was pure peanut oil pressed from her parents' homegrown peanuts.
Even the shredded potatoes and carrots were from her parents' garden.
The breakfast was clean, healthy, and tastier than anything from a street vendor.
"Sister-in-law, your cooking is amazing. You could open a breakfast shop!"
Jiang Bing munched on the pancake, giving Xu Li a big thumbs-up.
"So yummy~ Mommy's the best!"
"Thumbs up for my wife!"
Jiang Xue and Jiang Tao joined in, each offering their own flattery.
"Eat your food. Even pancakes can't shut your mouths."
Xu Li smiled. Making breakfast for her loved ones every day was a kind of happiness for her.
"By the way, honey, I need to tell you something."
"Go ahead, honey."
"Can you two just talk normally? All this 'honey' and 'wife' stuff—ugh, so mushy~"
Jiang Bing smacked her lips, rolling her eyes. She hadn't even finished her pancake, but she was already full of their lovey-dovey nonsense.
"Quiet, or I'll kick you out."
Jiang Tao flicked Jiang Bing's forehead, making her wince and pout, not daring to snap back.
"Honey, lately…"
Jiang Tao explained the cattle-buying plan to Xu Li, laying out his investment strategy.
"Do whatever you think is best, honey. I don't know much about this stuff."
"But no matter what you do, I'll support you. How much more money do you need? I'll transfer it to you."
Xu Li didn't hesitate for a second after hearing his plan, offering her full support—both emotionally and financially!
Jiang Tao felt warmed by her response.
He loved how Xu Li always supported him no matter what, never nagging or second-guessing him.
Marrying a wife like her made life worth living.
"I'll let you know when I need the money. Oh, speaking of money, I remembered something."
"Yesterday, I saw Zhang Chao post in the WeChat group that several people in his village got scammed with fake orders, losing over 200,000 yuan in total."
"There are so many online scams lately, and they're targeting older people with weak anti-fraud awareness."
"You should remind your mom to be careful not to get scammed."
While eating his pancake, Jiang Tao smoothly shifted the topic to scams, subtly nudging Xu Li.
"You know my mom—she's sharp. Who could scam her?"
Xu Li pursed her lips, dismissing the idea with confidence in her mother.
"…"
Jiang Tao was speechless. He couldn't understand how someone as sharp as his mother-in-law could make such a basic mistake.
"Even the sharpest people can slip up sometimes. A reminder doesn't hurt."
"Okay, okay, I got it. We're going to a temple fair up the mountain today, and I'll remind her."
Xu Li didn't know why Jiang Tao brought this up, but seeing his seriousness, she nodded in agreement.
They chatted while eating. After breakfast, Xu Li went to the kitchen to wash the dishes.
Sitting on the sofa, Jiang Tao suddenly had a "brilliant" idea.
He started searching for scam cases on WeChat and began forwarding them to his Moments.
One person lost over 400,000 yuan to a fake order scam. Another clicked an unknown link, got pulled into a group, and had 500,000 yuan stolen.
Someone else fell for a fake cashback scheme and lost 600,000 yuan of hard-earned money.
Jiang Tao forwarded more than a dozen scam-related news articles to his Moments.
Several friends messaged him, asking if he'd started working at an anti-fraud center.
Others asked if he'd been scammed himself.
Jiang Tao ignored the teasing.
He just wanted to use this unusual behavior to catch his mother-in-law's attention and raise her guard to prevent a bigger loss.
750,000 yuan was likely all the savings his mother-in-law's family had accumulated over the years.
For someone as shrewd and proud as her, losing that much could push her to do something drastic.
"I hope she picks up on my hint!"
Jiang Tao stopped after forwarding ten scam cases, figuring the reminder was clear enough.
…
Ping County, Xicheng Huafu Community.
Building 22, Unit 1502.
Du Yongmei was staring at her phone, hesitating over a message from her close friend Wang Hongying.
["Once you hit 100,000, you can withdraw. I just withdrew a couple of days ago."]
["We've been friends for decades—would I lie to you?"]
Wang Hongying even sent Du Yongmei a screenshot of her successful withdrawal.
After hesitating for a few minutes, Du Yongmei was about to exit WeChat and continue with the fake order app Wang Hongying had recommended.
But then, she noticed a red dot on her Moments.
With a touch of OCD, Du Yongmei couldn't stand seeing any red dots on her phone.
So, she opened Moments and saw Jiang Tao's forwarded post about a fake order scam.
She scrolled down—another one.
The third, fourth, fifth…
At first, Du Yongmei thought Jiang Tao had lost it and didn't pay much attention to the posts.
But when she reached the eighth scam case he'd forwarded, her finger froze.
Her expression turned grave.
She clicked to read the full article, and the more she read, the colder she felt.
The case was identical to her situation—no difference at all.
Reading about the victim felt like seeing her own reflection!
In the case, the victim had their withdrawable funds frozen due to an "operation error."
Then, they were told to accumulate larger amounts as per the scammer's instructions.
The victim, short on money, even took out online loans to reach 100,000, but failed again and was told they needed 150,000 to withdraw.
Then it was 200,000, 250,000, 350,000…
In the end, the victim was scammed out of over 500,000 yuan and saddled with loan debt!
After reading the case, Du Yongmei collapsed onto the sofa, overwhelmed by lingering fear.
It took her a while to snap out of it.
Once she did, she immediately called Xu Li.
"Hello, Lili, I think I've been scammed…"
By the time Jiang Tao and Xu Li rushed to her parents' house, it was past 10 a.m.
Her father-in-law, who'd gone out to play cards, and her sister-in-law, who'd been out playing, had returned.
Du Yongmei sat on the sofa, sighing repeatedly, and the household atmosphere was heavy.
"Mom, what happened? This morning, when my husband told me to remind you, I said there's no way you'd get scammed."
Du Yongmei sighed, feeling utterly foolish and too embarrassed to show her face.
"It was your Aunt Hongying who got your mom into this! Decades of friendship, and she scams your mom? What a jerk!"
Mentioning Du Yongmei's old friend made her father-in-law furious.
26,800 yuan was more than two months' worth of his wages.
While the loss wasn't catastrophic, it still stung.
That money could've bought several major appliances for the house!
"This can't just be let go! She dared to scam my mom—how despicable!"
Even Xu Li, who rarely got angry, was livid.
In the end, the family went to the nearest police station, filed a report, and opened a case.
Even if they couldn't recover the loss, they could at least strike a blow against the scammers' arrogance.
With 26,800 yuan involved, it was considered a major case. After filing the report and providing evidence, the case was successfully opened.
Originally, Xu Li and her mother had planned to go to a temple fair up the mountain, but the plan was canceled because of this.
After filing the report, they returned home together.
"Come on, Mom, don't blame yourself. If anyone's to blame, it's Aunt Wang for being so awful. Decades of friendship, and she stabbed you in the back."
"She ran off fast—she's not even in Ping County anymore. She might've fled to some scammer's den."
Xu Li and Xu Sha sat on either side of their mother, comforting her.
"Jiang Tao, thanks to you today. Thank you for the reminder. Otherwise, who knows how much more Wang Hongying would've scammed me."
Du Yongmei looked at Jiang Tao, speaking to him warmly for the first time.
Her tone when saying "Jiang Tao" was a dozen times kinder than before.
"We're family—no need for such formalities."
Jiang Tao remained calm, unfazed by praise or criticism.
Strangely, when he was poor and struggling, he cared deeply about how his mother-in-law and sister-in-law viewed him.
He'd always dreamed that once he got rich, he'd show off in front of them.
Now that he'd made money and was well-off, he no longer cared about others' opinions.
Think what you want, see me how you want—I am who I am, and your thoughts don't affect me.
"Alright, let's move on. The loss wasn't too big this time—just treat it as paying for a lesson."
"Everyone needs to be more vigilant about scams in the future and not make the same mistake twice."
"Lili, Sha Sha, Jiang Tao—learn from this."
With a wave of his hand, his father-in-law ended the scam discussion, putting the matter to rest for now.
Though this intelligence didn't bring Jiang Tao a single cent of profit, saving his in-laws over 700,000 yuan was still incredibly valuable.
With his mother-in-law's issue resolved, Jiang Tao turned his attention to his father-in-law, checking if he could be a partner.
**[Xu Wencheng: Can be invited to participate!]**
Seeing that his father-in-law could join the investment, Jiang Tao's heart leapt.
Finding partners wasn't as hard as he'd thought!
Third Sis was one, his father-in-law was another.
He hadn't even started looking seriously, and he'd already found two.
The remaining three shouldn't be too hard to find!
"Jiang Tao, let's go smoke on the balcony."
"Sure, Dad."
Jiang Tao smiled at his father-in-law's invitation. The two went to the balcony, opening the window a crack.
Xu Wencheng pulled out a pack of cigarettes, handed Jiang Tao a Huazi, and lit one for himself. The two began puffing away.
"By the way, Dad, I'm planning to invest in a project recently. Interested?"
Jiang Tao didn't beat around the bush with his father-in-law, getting straight to business.
"Oh? What kind of project?"
Xu Wencheng perked up at his son-in-law's words, clearly intrigued.
"Lately, I've noticed…"
Having explained it twice to Jiang Bing and Xu Li, Jiang Tao's third explanation to his father-in-law was even smoother.
"A month from now, the cattle market will heat up? Prices will soar?"
Xu Wencheng didn't know much about this, but Jiang Tao's detailed explanation made him a bit tempted.
Still, he didn't agree right away, saying he needed to think it over.