Daily Intelligence System: Financial Independence

"Nanny Wang, help me over to the meditation room, and give Old Xiang another call on the way, tell him what happened here."

"I’ve already informed sir, he’s on his way over right now."

After Nanny Wang quietly reported this, she hurriedly supported Qu Yunzhu’s arm and helped her out of the hall.

Jiang Tao saw this and quickly followed with long strides.

After the three of them left the main hall and walked to the end of the corridor, Nanny Wang pushed open a wooden door with a "No Trespassing" sign hanging on it, and they entered the rear courtyard.

Qu Yunzhu is a major donor of Wofosi, offering incense and donations here every year totaling four to five hundred thousand.

The temple holds her in high regard, and specially prepared a tranquil, non-public meditation room for her to rest in after worship or to use when discussing Buddhist teachings with the monks.

The meditation room is located in a secluded corner of the rear courtyard. Pushing open the wooden door, the interior is furnished in a simple, elegant style, with a faint sandalwood fragrance burning.

Unlike the solemnity of the main hall, this place feels more peaceful and serene.

Outside the window stand several stalks of green bamboo; as the breeze brushes past, the leaves rustle softly, adding to the Zen atmosphere.

The three of them sat down on the sandalwood chairs in the meditation room, and Nanny Wang deftly brewed some hot tea.

After resting a bit, Qu Yunzhu’s spirits recovered a lot.

She looked at Jiang Tao, and the more she looked, the more she liked him. She couldn’t help but sigh once again at how mysterious fate is.

The two of them drank tea and started chatting idly.

Qu Yunzhu asked some basic questions about Jiang Tao. Jiang Tao tactfully avoided the heavy stuff and answered appropriately, the atmosphere warm and harmonious.

After about half an hour, a burst of urgent and slightly chaotic footsteps sounded outside the meditation room, accompanied by Xiang Huabin’s voice, full and powerful yet edged with anxiety: "Yunzhu! Yunzhu, how are you?!"

Before the words had fallen, the door of the meditation room was pushed open, and Xiang Huabin and Xiang Yiwei hurried inside.

"Huabin, Yiyi, you’re here."

Seeing her husband and daughter, Qu Yunzhu’s face showed a relieved smile.

"I’m fine now. I really have to thank Xiao Jiang for today, otherwise you might not be seeing me anymore."

"Huh, Xiao Jiang?"

"Mr. Jiang! How come you... Ah! I get it, you’re the one who saved my mom?"

When Xiang Huabin and Xiang Yiwei saw Jiang Tao sitting on the chair by the west wall of the meditation room, their expressions instantly became wonderfully rich.

"President Xiang, Miss Xiang, didn’t expect we’d meet again so soon."

Jiang Tao smiled, stood up, and greeted the Xiang father and daughter. His expression was very calm, without a hint of acting.

"Yeah, who would’ve thought we’d meet again this fast, and in this way!"

As Xiang Huabin spoke, he strode forward and plopped down on the chair next to Jiang Tao.

"Mom, what exactly happened? Just now my dad was all worked up on the phone, but he didn’t explain clearly."

Xiang Yiwei quickly walked over to Qu Yunzhu, reached out to hold her hand, and asked with a face full of concern.

"Just now..."

Qu Yunzhu told her husband and daughter everything that had happened earlier, in full detail.

As she recounted, her gaze would frequently drift toward Jiang Tao, with her gratitude for him written all over her face.

"Xiao Jiang, thank you for what you did today! I, Xiang Huabin, owe you a favor."

Xiang Huabin looked at Jiang Tao, his tone solemn as he spoke:

"Xiao Jiang, I, Xiang Huabin, don’t like empty words. Today you saved my wife. This favor—I’ll remember it for life!"

"From now on, in this Beijing turf, whenever there’s anything you can use me, Xiang Huabin, for, just say the word!"

"As long as it doesn’t break the law and is within my capabilities, I won’t hesitate at all! Consider this a promise from Mr. Xiang!"

These words, coming out of the mouth of a big shot who controls a vast business empire and has unfathomable connections—

Their weight far surpasses money in the millions or tens of millions.

Using a Quick-acting Heart-saving Pill that cost a few dozen yuan to exchange for the gratitude of a big shot’s whole family and his promise.

Jiang Tao felt that this promise from Xiang Huabin was even more precious than that 12-million-yuan meteorite that appeared in the first intel refresh today!

"Thank you, Jiang Tao, really, if it weren’t for you today, my mom..."

The scene of her mother’s earlier brush with death flashed through Xiang Yiwei’s mind, and she was still very shaken.

If Jiang Tao hadn’t had that Quick-acting Heart-saving Pill today, even if her mom had been sent to the hospital, the delay in treatment would’ve left her with serious damage.

There was even a huge chance she might have died on the way to the hospital!

A sudden heart attack isn’t something you mess around with.

Looking at Jiang Tao, Xiang Yiwei’s eyes held not only gratitude, but also admiration, and a sense of having met someone "destined to be her benefactor."

Her favorability toward Jiang Tao shot up, climbing to an unprecedented height.

[Ding! Xiang Yiwei’s favorability toward you has reached 90 points. You have become Close Friends!]

[Congratulations, you have received 1 million in cash, Friendship Boat +1!]

As soon as Xiang Yiwei finished speaking, the sky-blue system interface suddenly popped up, displaying two lines of prompt messages.

"???"

Seeing this, Jiang Tao was both shocked and delighted, and he looked at Xiang Yiwei with a bit of puzzlement.

Xiang Yiwei’s favorability toward him had risen way too fast!

And they’re Close Friends already?

You know, right now he and Liu Zhiyuan, Shan Yufei, Zhang Chao, and Wang Lianming, those old buddies of his, only had favorability in the 80s, still stuck below 90.

He and Xiang Yiwei had known each other for just over a day, not even two full days, and had only met twice.

Xiang Yiwei’s favorability toward him could be described as skyrocketing!

Of course, this was a good thing for Jiang Tao.

Whatever the reason, a 1-million cash reward is damn nice!

Back when he was driving freight trucks, slaving away for ten years wouldn’t have matched this one "ding" now.

While secretly cheering inside, Jiang Tao kept his face composed and said with a smile:

"No need to be so polite, all three of you. The reason we had this encounter today might just be that in a past life Mrs. Xiang showed me kindness, so I’ve come in this life to repay her."

"Xiao Jiang, that’s an interesting way to put it. I think you’re quite spiritually gifted too."

Hearing Jiang Tao’s words, Qu Yunzhu’s eyes lit up, and her favorability toward him grew even higher from an already high base.

"So, Xiao Jiang, it really does seem we have deep ties with our family."

"To be honest, when I met you yesterday I already had a feeling of ’hate to have met you so late.’"

"Today, right now, that feeling is even stronger."

Xiang Huabin laughed and said:

"Maybe it’s just like you said—maybe in our past lives we knew each other too, already acquaintances."

"Hahaha, exactly. When I saw President Xiang I had that same feeling."

Jiang Tao laughed and cracked a joke. When you have a chance to cozy up to a big shot like this, it’d be a waste not to.

"Xiao Jiang, what did I say yesterday? Call me Brother Xiang! Enough with this ’President’ stuff!"

"Use titles at work, but in life we don’t need that corporate routine."

"I still prefer you calling me Brother Xiang."

Xiang Huabin’s tone was hearty and sincere; he didn’t bring the scheming of the workplace into his personal life.

Qu Yunzhu said gently, "Our Old Xiang is right. It sounds much nicer if you call me sister-in-law than Mrs. Xiang."

"Haha, okay, then from now on when I see you I’ll call you Brother Xiang and sister-in-law. Being able to get to know the two of you in such a big city like Beijing is an honor for me too."

Jiang Tao knew when to stop, and calmly accepted the goodwill that Xiang Huabin and his wife were throwing his way.

"Yiyi, in the future..."

"Mom, hold it. I already told my dad yesterday, let’s keep things separate."

Seeing her mom open her mouth, Xiang Yiwei instantly knew what she was about to say and hurriedly explained:

"Brother Jiang can call you and my dad however he likes, but no matter what, he’s still my Brother Jiang."

"Don’t you think so, Brother Jiang~"

After speaking, Xiang Yiwei winked at Jiang Tao, looking all impish and playful.

"Hahaha, yeah, I also think ’Brother Jiang’ sounds better. Calling me Uncle Jiang makes me feel ancient."

Jiang Tao laughed heartily; he didn’t really mind what people called him.

The few of them chatted in the meditation room for over an hour.

Xiang Huabin invited Jiang Tao and his family over to their home for dinner tonight so everyone could get to know one another.

But Jiang Tao still had to head back to the old hometown this afternoon to look for the meteorite, so they postponed the dinner for three days.