Late at night, Tang Hao sat cross-legged in the living room.
Various types of jade were laid in front of him, including jadeite, Khotan jade, and others. There were also rare types like ice-types. Each piece was cut into the same size. They were to be made into jade talismans.
The total value of the jade in front of him was a few million yuan.
He had more of those jade pieces in his pocket dimension. He had probably more than a thousand pieces in total.
Tang Hao had gone to the jade markets in several towns over the past few days and had bought every good piece of raw jade.
He also managed to pick up some rare types at a bargain. He sold those and made back the money he spent.
All that was for his eventual trip to Dongying. He was preparing for war.
He was not planning on involving the Taoist masters of Mao Mountain in his upcoming trip. Instead, he would be going alone. To fight against a massive organization like Miki Group, he had to stock up on jade talismans.
He did not want to be underequipped.
Tang Hao planned to craft half of the raw jade pieces into individual attack talismans like lightning and fire talismans. Of course, he would prepare some defensive talismans against illusion sorcery too.
He would craft the remaining half of the jade pieces into attack formation talismans, such as the ‘Thirty-Three Heavenly Lightning Talisman Formation’, which combined the strength of thirty-three lightning talismans into one single, awe-inspiring attack.
He gently inhaled, picked up a piece of jade in front of him, then used his finger to draw a complicated set of runes on the piece of jade. It shimmered with a blinding light.
Soon, a jade talisman was completed.
Tang Hao was working at breakneck speed. When the sun rose again, he had a mound of jade talismans in front of him.
“Phew!”
He stood up and exhaled heavily.
He rested for a short while, then went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.
The gentle morning sunlight, the sizzling oil in the pan, and the fragrance of freshly-made breakfast was a heart-warming scene. Tang Hao was reluctant to leave.
However, it was the first day of the new semester at Z University, and he had to go.
He could have skipped any other day except for that.
Breakfast was ready, but there was no movement from the room.
Tang Hao grinned. They must have been too excited the night before, which was why the woman had not woken up yet.
When he went into the room, she was still sleeping soundly in bed.
Tang Hao sat down next to her. He could not help it but lean over and kiss her delicate cheek when he saw her sleeping face.
She mumbled and started to stir.
Her long eyelashes fluttered and her eyes slowly opened, though they were still unfocused.
“Time to wake up!” Tang Hao said gently.
She rubbed her eyes and said lazily, “Not yet… let me sleep for a while more!” As she spoke, she reached out and hugged Tang Hao’s neck.
“Don’t move!” She whispered next to Tang Hao’s ear.
Tang Hao smiled indulgently. He reached out to pull her into his embrace and accompanied her.
More than an hour later, the couple slowly got out of bed, had their breakfast, and got out of the house.
Tang Hao fetched Han Yutong and departed for Provincial City.
It was already eleven o’clock when they arrived, and he had missed the morning class. Tang Hao went to his restaurant to meet Manager Shi and Master Chef Ding. He also met a group of apprentice chefs in the kitchen.
“President Tang, these are our new apprentice chefs. Don’t worry, we’ve run a background check on them. They’re clean.”
Tang Hao lowered his head and thought carefully.
He was not too concerned about their loyalty, because he knew that one’s background was not as important when faced with the allure of huge sums of money. Not many people could remain loyal once they were offered a huge monetary incentive to betray their employers.
To the restaurant, the most important thing was still the qi gathering jars. They would be fine as long as they guarded them securely.
They went to the office after surveying the kitchen.
“Right, President Tang, you asked me to keep an eye on Spring Brook’s developments. Earlier, they closed down a few shops next to our branches. The remaining ones are also facing severe financial difficulties. I don’t think they’ll last for very long,” Shi Yiwen said.
Tang Hao was surprised when he heard that. He turned to look at Han Yutong.
Han Yutong was also surprised. She had a complicated expression on her face.
She had waited for that good news for a long time. However, when it finally happened, she did not look as happy.
“Make sure that the security of the restaurant is tight. We’re too popular now. Someone might try to sabotage our business,” Tang Hao said before leaving.
Tang Hao went to attend the afternoon classes. In the evening, he went to have dinner with his classmates.
When they got out of the restaurant and prepared to go to the karaoke center, Tang Hao’s phone started ringing. He saw that the call was from Ling Wei.
Tang Hao was surprised. His breakup with Tai An Group had affected their relationship. They were not as close as before.
He hesitated for a while before picking up the call.
“Hey! Tang Hao!”
Ling Wei’s voice was heard once the call was picked up. He could hear loud music playing in the background, as though she was in a bar.
Tang Hao furrowed his brows.
He could not imagine that the usually modest and considerate President Ling would be drinking at a bar.
However, he thought more carefully about it and understood. He remembered seeing her stumbling out of a bar the first time they met. She was heavily drunk back then.
“Where are you now, President Ling?” Tang Hao asked seriously.
“I’m at a bar. Golden Dreams Bar. Do you want to come and join me? I want to find someone to talk to,” Ling Wei said softly. She did not sound like she was drunk yet. “It’s the first day of the semester. You should be in Provincial City, right?”
Tang Hao hesitated for a while but eventually agreed to it.
He told Cao Fei that he had to leave because of some urgent business, then handed him a wad of cash and told them to enjoy themselves with it.
Cao Fei walked away happily, holding the money.
Tang Hao immediately went to the bar.
