When Jiang Tao woke up, it was already 7:45 in the morning.
He had gone to bed last night around 1:00 AM.
By rough calculation, he had slept for just over six hours, not quite seven.
But after waking up from this sleep, he felt full of energy and vitality.
It was as if his exhausted body from yesterday had been completely rebooted.
All traces of fatigue had vanished without a trace.
"Refreshing~"
After stretching lazily in his room, Jiang Tao threw off the covers and got out of bed.
As usual, he walked to the window first, pulling the curtains open slightly to look downstairs.
Jiang Tao quickly spotted the Beiqi EU5, its roof glinting with golden light in his field of vision, standing out like a crane among chickens.
And, by a stroke of luck, his parents were just walking toward the car, chatting about something, preparing to drive off.
With a thought, Jiang Tao chose to collect the gold coins accumulated from yesterday.
*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…*
A torrent of gold coins, like a golden river, surged from the Beiqi EU5 below toward Jiang Tao standing at the window.
[Collected 10,000 gold coins. Would you like to exchange them for 10,000 yuan in cash?]
"If you could just give me physical gold coins, that'd be even better…"
Looking at the system interface's prompt, Jiang Tao couldn't help but grumble to himself.
Obviously, this idea was a bit naive.
If 10,000 gold coins could be materialized into real gold coins, their value would be hundreds or thousands of times greater than 10,000 yuan in cash!
Clearly, the "gold coins" in the system's prompt were a different concept from real-world gold coins.
"Exchange!"
Without any hesitation, Jiang Tao chose to convert them.
*Buzz~*
The phone on the nightstand vibrated once, indicating the money had likely arrived.
Then, Jiang Tao opened the safe by the window and collected the 10,000 yuan in cash accumulated by the [Wealth-Generating Toad].
Waking up every day with 20,000 yuan credited to his account without doing anything—how could the word "satisfying" even begin to describe this feeling?
With these two stable sources of income, Jiang Tao no longer felt any anxiety about money!
*Buzz~*
His phone vibrated again, another notification of a deposit.
Jiang Tao picked up his phone to take a look.
[Your ICBC savings account ending in XX89 has received a deposit of 10,000 yuan. Current balance: 8,496,548.88 yuan!]
Seeing the long string of digits in his bank account balance, Jiang Tao felt another wave of quiet satisfaction.
This balance included the 20,000 yuan he earned this morning, as well as the 1 million yuan reward from reaching "best friend" status with Du Ennan last night.
All this money was his personal stash.
The 1 million yuan check sent by Zhang Chao's mother yesterday had not yet been deposited.
That 1 million yuan, Jiang Tao had promised to let Xu Li manage.
As a reward, Xu Li had verbally praised little Jiang twice last night.
The 2 million yuan he invested in a fund on Alipay had also grown to 2.51 million yuan.
It was still sitting in his investment account, continuing to earn money for him.
He could probably make another hundred thousand or so later, so Jiang Tao wasn't in a hurry to cash out.
The profits from the cattle ranch hadn't been settled yet either; the funds were still in the joint account of the shareholders.
When the time came to settle those funds, Jiang Tao could use the multiplier effect of the [Shared Prosperity] task.
Based on his investment share, his profit would likely be between 1.5 and 1.7 million yuan.
With five shareholders, he could apply a fivefold multiplier.
Conservatively, that would be around 8 million yuan!
By then, Jiang Tao's personal assets would balloon to around 20 million yuan!
He'd be close to being able to buy a standalone villa in the Walden Lake Villa District outright.
Shifting his gaze from the deposit notification on his phone, Jiang Tao quietly deleted the message.
It wasn't that he was deliberately hiding his personal assets from Xu Li.
It's just that explaining the source of this money would be troublesome, and he didn't want to invite unnecessary hassle.
"Oh right, after reaching best friend status with Du Ennan last night, it seems like I got something special too."
Jiang Tao suddenly recalled the task prompt triggered when he saw Du Ennan off downstairs last night.
With a thought, he opened the [Inventory] interface of the system panel.
Sure enough, in a grid similar to a video game inventory, there was a sleek, stylish-looking yacht.
[Item Name]: Friendship Boat!
[Item Description]: Collect 10 Friendship Boats to synthesize a luxurious yacht that never capsizes and can be materialized.
"Luxurious yacht!"
Seeing the system interface's prompt, Jiang Tao couldn't help but swallow hard in excitement.
The poor play with cars, the rich play with watches, and the truly elite go for private jets and luxurious yachts!
Many famous billionaires around the world own their own yachts.
Like Microsoft founder Paul Allen's *Octopus*.
Or Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's *Koru*.
These luxurious yachts cost hundreds of millions of dollars—two to three billion yuan!
Their annual maintenance fees alone run into the tens of millions, something even the moderately wealthy can't afford!
"Ten Friendship Boats means I need to make at least ten best friends. That's not exactly an easy task…"
Seeing the conditions for redeeming the [Friendship Boat], Jiang Tao gave a wry smile, feeling that the task was quite challenging.
So far, he had only managed to get one boat by some fluke.
But a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
As long as he started working toward it intentionally, he'd complete it eventually.
*Creak~*
The bedroom door was suddenly pushed open from the outside, and Xu Li appeared at the doorway.
"Honey, you're awake! The bread's almost done toasting. Come out, wash your hands, and get ready to eat."
Xu Li stood at the door, smiling brightly as if she were a peach blossom in full bloom in spring.
"Got it."
With a thought, Jiang Tao closed the panel in front of him, turned around, and started putting on the clothes Xu Li had prepared for him on the bed.
Once dressed, Jiang Tao went to the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face before sitting down at the dining table.
His gaze playfully landed on Jiang Bing, who was sitting across from him, munching on bread.
"Little Third, did you sleep well last night?"
"P-pretty well, why do you ask?"
The moment last night's sleep was mentioned, Jiang Bing's expression became slightly unnatural.
"No reason, just asking casually."
"By the way, you'll have to take a cab to Cui Village later. Your sister-in-law and I have some errands to run this morning."
"Oh."
Jiang Bing didn't ask what errands. Her second brother was always busy these days, rarely around, and she was used to it.
After breakfast, Jiang Bing took a rideshare to work.
Jiang Tao and Xu Li went downstairs together and drove to the nearest ICBC branch.
With the help of the bank teller, Jiang Tao deposited the 1 million yuan check from Zhang Chao's mother into Xu Li's account.
With this 1 million yuan deposit, Xu Li's savings officially reached 3.86 million yuan!
And that didn't even include the 600,000 yuan she had lent Jiang Tao for the cattle ranch investment!
Once the profits from the cattle ranch were distributed, her savings would break past the 5 million yuan mark!
That was enough to buy a house outright in Beijing!
Of course, she didn't need to worry about buying a house in Beijing anymore.
Old Sun's will had left Jiang Tao's family of three with three houses and 1 million yuan in savings.
At this point, Jiang Tao, Xu Li, and Jiang Xue each owned a fully paid property.
In just over a month since arriving in Beijing, their family had gained resources that others might strive for their entire lives to achieve.
The thing that made Xu Li happiest now was watching the savings in her bank account grow steadily.
It brought her joy, security, and happiness.
Money could make a man stand taller.
It could also give a woman a greater sense of security.
After so many years of marriage, Jiang Tao and Xu Li were completely open with each other.
He knew Xu Li wasn't the type to spend recklessly, so he felt at ease letting her manage the money.
*Ring ring ring—*
Just as they finished their business at the bank and stepped outside, Jiang Tao's phone suddenly rang.
He pulled it out and saw the caller ID: "Director An."
Seeing this name, Jiang Tao raised an eyebrow, a smile creeping onto his face.
An Menglin reaching out to him meant there was likely progress on the four genetically mutated blueberry plants.
"Hello, Director An, good morning."
"Sure, sure, but I'm not at the greenhouse right now. It'll take me about 20 minutes to get there."
"Alright, sounds good. See you soon."
Jiang Tao and An Menglin exchanged a few brief words over the phone before hanging up.
*Ring ring ring—*
At the same time, Xu Li's phone rang.
She pulled it out and saw it was a call from Du Ennan.
"Hey, Nannan…"
"Of course, that's fine! What are you even saying?"
"No, no, I'll just take a cab over."
"It's fine, why are you being so polite with me? Really, it's no trouble."
"I'm not some delicate rich girl. I'm not that fragile!"
Xu Li chatted with Du Ennan for five or six minutes before hanging up and turning to Jiang Tao. "Honey, Nannan's not feeling great today and is taking a day off. She asked me to come over and keep her company."
"Is that so…"
Hearing Xu Li's words, Jiang Tao thought of the WeChat Moments post Du Ennan had made past midnight last night.
She probably didn't sleep well.
Xu Li said, "Who were you just talking to? Got something going on? If you're busy, go handle it. I'll take a rideshare."
"It was a director from the Agricultural Academy. How about you come with me to Cui Village first, and then I'll drop you off?"
Xu Li's driving skills were passable at night when there were fewer cars and people.
But on busy daytime roads, Jiang Tao wasn't so confident.
"No need to go through all that trouble. I'll just take a cab."
"You go do your thing. I'll be fine. I'm not a three-year-old."
Xu Li gave Jiang Tao a playful kiss on the cheek, pushing his back to shoo him along.
"Alright then, call me when you get there."
"Got it, got it~"
Seeing her insistence, Jiang Tao didn't argue further and drove off.
When Xu Li hung out with her best friend Du Ennan, he, as a guy, would just be sitting there awkwardly, unable to join in their conversation.
So whenever Du Ennan invited Xu Li, Jiang Tao would tactfully make himself scarce and focus on his own tasks.
At 10:18 AM, Jiang Tao arrived at the greenhouse he had leased in Cui Village. He saw An Menglin's red Nissan Qashqai already parked there.
He got out of the car and strode toward the greenhouse entrance, pushing the door open.
"Good morning, Mr. Jiang."
"Morning, Boss Jiang~"
The workers busy inside the greenhouse greeted Jiang Tao respectfully when they saw him.
Having worked here for half a month, they genuinely liked their employer, Jiang Tao.
At other jobs, bosses often acted superior, barking orders and treating them like workhorses.
But working for Jiang Tao, they felt respected.
Recently, as things got busier, Jiang Tao frequently had Du Jun take everyone out to restaurants to treat them.
The workers put in real effort for Jiang Tao, never slacking off even without supervision.
"You guys are working hard," Jiang Tao said with a smile, greeting them before heading straight to the temporary office with an open door.
"Mr. Jiang, you're here."
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Director An."
"No, no, I just got here less than three minutes ago."
Jiang Tao and An Menglin exchanged pleasantries before diving into the topic of the four genetically mutated blueberry plants.
"Mr. Jiang, these four genetically mutated blueberry plants from your company are indeed quite special. Our institute's leadership is very interested, but the price…"
"Is there any room for negotiation?"
An Menglin looked at Jiang Tao, hoping to haggle a bit more on the price.
After all, ordinary blueberry plants cost just a few yuan each.
Now, Jiang Tao was asking 200,000 yuan per plant.
That's a difference of tens of thousands of times!
Even though the Agricultural Academy wasn't short on funds, spending 700,000 or 800,000 yuan on four blueberry plants required a big decision.
"Director An, the price I gave you is really the lowest."
"If this blueberry variety can be scaled up, its economic value can't be measured in simple monetary terms."
Jiang Tao trusted that the system's pricing was well-founded, so he held firm.
He wasn't desperate for the 700,000 or 800,000 yuan right now.
Even if the deal with the Agricultural Academy fell through, he could negotiate with other organizations and wait for the best offer.
Seeing Jiang Tao's resolute stance, An Menglin gave up on bargaining.
In truth, her budget had already been approved; she was just testing Jiang Tao.
Since the price wasn't negotiable, she'd buy at the current rate.
An Menglin looked at Jiang Tao and said, "Alright, let's go with your price, Mr. Jiang. Please draft the contract, and I'll take it back for processing."
"Great, Director An, please wait a moment."
Jiang Tao smiled and nodded, turning to Jiang Bing, who was processing orders on the computer. "Vice President Jiang, prepare the transaction contract for these four blueberry plants."
In front of outsiders, Jiang Tao always gave his sister face, addressing her by her title.
"Got it, Mr. Jiang."
Jiang Bing had been eavesdropping on their conversation and was thrilled to hear the deal was done.
Four blueberry plants sold for an 800,000 yuan jackpot!
It was almost unbelievable!
Her second brother's eye for value was like having X-ray vision!
To pick out four plants worth so much from 100,000 pots—insane!
In less than five minutes, Jiang Bing drafted a concise transaction contract.
Having studied accounting in college, she was skilled at both bookkeeping and drafting contracts.
The contract was printed in duplicate.
Jiang Tao and An Menglin signed as Party A and Party B, respectively, adding signatures, stamps, and fingerprints where required.
The transaction used the shell company Jiang Bing had set up for her online store.
Each of the four genetically mutated blueberry plants was priced at 200,000 yuan.
The total value was 800,000 yuan.
However…
State institutions like An Menglin's weren't as quick to pay as individuals.
The 800,000 yuan would be paid in four installments over four months.
Though it was a bit cumbersome, Jiang Tao agreed readily.
He didn't have any urgent projects needing funds, so four months was fine.
With that, the deal was finalized.
After wrapping up the business, An Menglin didn't linger.
She said goodbye to Jiang Tao and drove off with the four genetically mutated blueberry plants.
"Second Bro! Someone actually bought those crazy expensive blueberry plants!"
As An Menglin drove away, Jiang Bing finally let her excitement show!
With An Menglin present earlier, she had kept her cool despite being thrilled.
After all, if she looked too ecstatic, it might make the buyer think they'd been ripped off.
Jiang Tao teased, "Fake. That was just a shill I arranged."
"You think I'm an idiot? I didn't even ask for a cut! Don't act like you don't know my little schemes!"
Jiang Bing punched Jiang Tao's arm and gave him a massive eye-roll.
"Ouch! Hammer Sister, go easy on me."
"You dare call me Hammer?! Take this!!"
"…"
The playful sibling duo laughed and messed around as they returned to the greenhouse, instantly switching back to work mode.
The blueberry plant sales were now in their final sprint.
The stock of blueberry pots in the greenhouse was visibly shrinking daily.
In exchange, Jiang Bing's distributor account balance was growing.
This 800,000 yuan blueberry project was expected to bring Jiang Tao a net profit of 1 to 1.2 million yuan.
Jiang Bing, as a partner, would also earn nearly 300,000 yuan in profit share.
This collaboration was another win-win for the siblings.
Back in the greenhouse, Jiang Bing continued processing the flood of orders on the merchant platform.
Jiang Tao sat nearby, scrolling through his phone, his gaze sliding over his WeChat contacts.
"Best friends…"
"How do I improve friendships and make more best friends?"
After reaching best friend status with Du Ennan last night and earning a massive 999,999 yuan reward, the [Friendship Boat]'s description clearly hinted that he should focus on making more friends.
After all, he needed to collect 10 [Friendship Boats] to redeem a real luxurious yacht.
*Ring ring ring—*
As Jiang Tao pondered how to make more friends, his phone suddenly rang.
The caller ID showed "Zhang Chao."
A slight smile tugged at Jiang Tao's lips.
After spending time together recently, he and Zhang Chao had grown much closer.
Plus, Jiang Tao had helped Zhang Chao "return to his roots," reuniting him with his family.
Their bond had deepened further.
"Hey, Chaozi."
Jiang Tao answered the phone with a smile, greeting Zhang Chao on the other end.
"Your sister-in-law went to hang out with her friend, so she might not be free."
"I'm with Little Third."
"What else? Selling stuff. Can't compare to you, Young Master Zhang."
"Haha, alright, alright. If you're treating, I've gotta show up. Gotta give you that face."
"Cool, it's a deal then."
After a brief chat, Jiang Tao hung up.
Jiang Bing turned from her computer screen to look at Jiang Tao. "Who was that, Second Bro?"
Jiang Tao grinned. "Zhang Chao just called. He's treating us to lunch. You in?"
"Of course I'm in! Gotta go. Zhang Chao's a big shot now. We've got to fleece him good!"
Jiang Bing's face lit up with a predatory grin at the thought of Zhang Chao footing the bill.
Jiang Tao laughed. "Just rein it in a bit, don't scare the guy."
"Am I that scary? I'm such a gentle, sweet little sister. Scary? More like charming!"
Jiang Bing rolled her eyes at her brother, exasperated.
"By the way, Little Third, what do you think…"
"Hold it! I think you and Zhang Chao are a better match than me and him!"
Jiang Bing cut him off before he could finish.
"What kind of nonsense is that?!"
Jiang Tao burst out laughing at her comment but, seeing she wasn't keen on Zhang Chao, dropped the subject.
After some casual chatter, Jiang Bing got back to work.
Jiang Tao, meanwhile, kept mulling over how to build more best-friend relationships.
Making one best friend earned him 1 million yuan.
It was definitely worth pursuing.
"Teacher Jiang…"
"If I put in some effort with Teacher Jiang, maybe she could become a best friend too?"
When Jiang Tao scrolled to Jiang Yi's contact, he remembered something.
Some time ago, when he lent money to Jiang Yi, the system had notified him that her favorability toward him had increased significantly.
"Favorability" should be related to "friendship value."
Theoretically, the higher the favorability, the higher the friendship value should be.
Besides Zhang Chao and Jiang Yi, there were also Liu Zhiyuan, Shan Yufei, He Jing, Wang Lianming, He Fang, and Grandpa Lü Qian…
Jiang Tao mentally listed some of his closer friends.
This gave him a direction to work toward.
To build friendships, he needed to take action.
Regular contact and interaction were the simplest and most effective ways.
Even the best friendships fade without regular contact.
Building friendships while earning rewards was a highly cost-effective endeavor for Jiang Tao.
Time flew by, and soon it was noon.
Jiang Tao drove Jiang Bing to a restaurant in Huilongguan called Shengbaiwei for Zhang Chao's treat.
This restaurant was a 40-year-old establishment.
It specialized in traditional Beijing cuisine.
The prices weren't high—less than 300 yuan per person.
But the food was delicious, making it a popular internet-famous spot in Huilongguan.
It was packed every day at noon.
Rumor had it you needed to book two or three days in advance to secure a table.
Zhang Chao managed to book a private room because his biological father was friends with the restaurant's owner.
After Jiang Tao and Jiang Bing arrived, they gave the waiter Zhang Chao's name and the room number.
The waiter led them to the second floor, to Room 206, before heading back downstairs.
*Knock knock knock—*
Jiang Tao knocked on the door and heard footsteps approaching.
The next second, the door swung open, and Zhang Chao appeared with a warm smile.
"Brother Jiang, Little Ice, you're here! Come in, come in!"
Zhang Chao beamed at the siblings, his smile as genuine as it gets.
He was truly grateful to Jiang Tao, his big brother.
Without Jiang Tao, would he even have the chance to be dining here?
He'd probably still be driving a truck, rushing to markets, eating noodles or fried pancakes for lunch.
He might not even eat out once a month.
Now, after reuniting with his biological parents, even if he did nothing, he'd have 100,000 yuan a month in pocket money.