Chapter 97: Angel Investment (Part One)

Softly had no idea what had happened, and spoke up, “Cousin, we haven’t taken the little fishing net yet.”
The Seventh Prince thought to himself, fortunately these two little ones aren’t strong, so their hearing isn’t sharp and they didn’t catch anything. Quickly, he soothed them, “Grandfather and grandmother brought the fishing nets!”
The trio arrived at the backyard pond, where they saw the vast edge of the pond ringed by members of the Qin family, each with a wooden bucket in front of them.
Tao Sisi waved her hand, and a ball of water wrapped around a fish rose from the pond and flew straight into the wooden bucket.
Softly ran over to Tao Sisi in high spirits and said, “Grandmother, I want to catch fish like that too!”
Tao Sisi saw Softly and looked around but didn’t see Tao Ming, so she asked, “Where’s your mother?”
Softly pulled over Glutinous, and the two bent over, watching the fish in the bucket, reaching out their little hands to splash the water, giggling nonstop.
The Seventh Prince suppressed his irritation and replied, “Aunt Thirteen, Tao Ming is tired and resting in the side room.”
Tao Sisi gave an acknowledgment and continued fishing.
The Seventh Prince greeted the Qin family members one by one and stopped by Qin Youchuan, calling out, “Grandfather.”
Qin Youchuan looked at him lovingly and said, “It’s a pity you didn’t come yesterday, you missed a hotpot feast.”
The Seventh Prince was surprised, “Wasn’t the hotpot base Aunt Thirteen brought back already eaten up?”
Qin Youchuan beamed, “Mingming brought plenty. Yesterday, each courtyard got a few bags!”
The Seventh Prince thought, Tao Ming never mentioned that during the journey!
Looking at the circle of Qin family members, he asked, “What are you doing?”
Qin Youchuan pointed at the fish in the bucket, “We’re having fish hotpot!”
...
Tao Ming slept deeply. Su Nanxing tucked them in and, embracing Tao Ming, also fell asleep.
Tao Sisi held Softly, Qin Siyu carried Glutinous, and the Seventh Prince followed behind with the wooden bucket, returning to Silken Cave.
The courtyard was quiet. Seeing the side room’s door closed, Tao Sisi simply carried Softly into the main house.
She instructed Dingxiang and Qingdai to prepare ingredients, and while teasing Softly, she asked the Seventh Prince, “What did you say to Mingming just now?”
Qin Siyu immediately perked up his ears.
“Tao Ming said she went to the northeast corner of the Imperial City today and plans to build a shopping mall there.”
Softly ran over to the Seventh Prince, her eyes bright as she asked, “Will there be a playground in the mall?”
The Seventh Prince didn’t know what a playground was, so he soothed her, “Ask your mother, she’ll surely build one for you.”

Softly cheered, dragging Glutinous toward the side room, but couldn’t open the door, called out several times with no answer, and returned disappointed, pouting, “Mom is sleeping so soundly!”
Tao Sisi took out some wooden toys from Weishui for Softly and Glutinous to play with, and soon the two little ones were engrossed, sitting together, chattering about how to use these strange things.
Tao Sisi picked up the earlier topic, “She wants to build a mall? Then I must invest some money.”
“Aunt, do you think a mall can make money?”
“Of course it can! Tell me, what does Mingming plan to include in the mall?”
The Seventh Prince recalled, “She said there’ll be shops selling goods, places to eat and rest, and—oh yes—a cinema.”
“Cinema?” Tao Sisi became excited, “I must invest! Cinemas are absolutely profitable!”
Qin Siyu, seeing Tao Sisi’s delight, also laughed, “We should tell Father. Mingming will need quite a bit of money.”
“Yes, yes, neither of us has much. Go bring Father over. I’ll wake Mingming.”
Qin Siyu agreed and went out.
Tao Sisi walked to the side room, called several times with no response, then went around to the bedroom window. Seeing it tightly closed with the curtains drawn, she pulled at it and surprisingly, it opened.
The bed curtain was drawn, concealing the bed inside. Tao Sisi grew playful, condensed a large water ball, and tossed it onto the bed.
Tao Ming, sleeping soundly, was drenched from head to toe, sat up with a startled cry.
Tao Sisi, hearing Tao Ming’s scream, burst out laughing.
Su Nanxing was also awakened by the drenching, thinking to himself, this mother-in-law is really unreliable!
Tao Sisi called out, “Get up quickly, there’s an important matter.”
Then she ran back to the main hall, eagerly describing her prank to the Seventh Prince. He secretly enjoyed it, repeatedly praising, “Aunt is truly clever.”
Tao Ming and Su Nanxing exchanged helpless glances and got out of bed.
When they entered the main hall, not only had Qin Youchuan arrived, but so had the five uncles.
They surrounded Tao Ming, all talking at once, so she couldn’t catch a word.
Tao Ming waved her hands, saying “Stop, stop,” several times before everyone quieted down.
She looked at Qin Youchuan and asked, “Grandfather, what’s the matter?”
“Mingming, I heard you want to build a shopping mall?”
Tao Ming glanced at the Seventh Prince outside the circle—he had his head down, avoiding her gaze. She thought, this guy really is a chatterbox!

Qin Youchuan blocked Tao Ming’s line of sight and continued, “Tell Grandfather, what exactly is a mall?”
Tao Ming said, “Give me a moment,” and then moved the side table away from the wall, gathering the Qin family around it. She took out paper and pen, sketching her concept. The Qin family listened, puzzled. Qin Youchuan turned to Tao Sisi, “Can it really make money?”
Tao Sisi nodded vigorously.
Qin Youchuan waved his hand grandly, “Grandfather will invest!”
Tao Ming thought, an angel investor has appeared!
But the mall’s profits were meant for future rebellion, so at least half needed to end up in her pocket!
With the tone set, Tao Ming felt at ease. She took out a box of glass cups and placed them on the table. “Grandfather, I heard the Qin family sells crystal cups. How much could these fetch?”
Qin Youchuan picked up a glass, examined it closely, his eyes growing brighter, finally exclaiming, “These are even clearer than the crystal cups we import! Each should sell for one purple crystal coin, no problem!”
“Grandfather, in the future, anywhere in the mall that needs cups will use these. I have even more beautiful glassware.”
Qin Youchuan, though hot-tempered, wasn’t foolish. He said, “Mingming, Grandfather doesn’t want the lion’s share. As long as you include the main Qin family branch.”
Tao Ming replied, puzzled, “You mean the people here in the hall?”
Qin Youchuan looked around the hall and said, “Mingming, to be honest, over the years, all the goods shipped from overseas—the profits are split among the Qin family branches. The main branch has lived in the Imperial City for generations; daily expenses are no small sum.”
“These uncles, and their sons and daughters, may seem well-off, but actually have little money left.”
Qin Siyu thought, I never noticed—Father is quite the liar.
Knowing Qin Sinhao was an honest man, Tao Ming turned to him, “Fifth Uncle, how much money do you have?”
Qin Sinhao’s face flushed, and he stammered, “I haven’t counted carefully, maybe forty to fifty thousand purple crystal coins.”
Tao Ming took out her phone, opened the calculator, and calculated for forty thousand purple crystal coins—equivalent to over sixty-eight million white crystal coins.
She then looked at Su Nanxing outside the circle, “Husband, what are prices like here?”
Su Nanxing thought for a moment, “I don’t usually buy groceries, but that ice silkworm silk dress you often wear costs a little over a hundred purple crystal coins.”
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