Daily Intelligence System: Financial Independence-Chapter 48: Jiang Tao’s Secret Stash and His Ambitions! (Happy New Year)

Chapter 48: Chapter 48: Jiang Tao’s Secret Stash and His Ambitions! (Happy New Year)

"Wangcai Restaurant" is the kind of roadside joint that mostly serves the working crowd from the city’s urban villages.

The main deal is it’s cheap and filling, with the most expensive dish not even topping 100 yuan.

The four of us ate and drank whatever we wanted, and it only cost Jiang Tao just under 500 yuan.

When we paid, the boss lady even gave each of us a little bottle of soda.

We’ve been coming here for team dinners every day lately.

Even the boss lady’s gotten more friendly with us.

Before, blowing 500 yuan on a meal would have made Jiang Tao regret it all night.

But today, before we even split the sugar tangerine cash, Jiang Tao already made over 70K just from selling lottery tickets.

A few hundred for a meal? Doesn’t mean much to him anymore.

After hustling all day, the big shareholder who vanished today should definitely treat the gang to dinner.

The guys were still joking and laughing when we got back to Jiang Tao’s rented apartment to divide today’s profits.

Today was a bit better than yesterday, total sales hit 182,800.

With the split, Jiang Tao gets 71%, so that’s 129,788.

Liu Zhiyuan and Shan Yufei each take 14%, that’s 25,592 for each of them.

There’s 1,828 left, all of which went to Zhang Chao, and Jiang Tao tossed in an extra 1,200 for him.

Then, he handed Liu Zhiyuan and Shan Yufei a thousand yuan each as extra wages.

Usually, after pocketing their share, Liu Zhiyuan and the others would be hyped, chuckling and off to Zhang Chao’s place to play cards.

Today, even though the money was nothing to sneeze at, the guys didn’t seem all that excited.

Jiang Tao wondered, "Why aren’t you going to play cards today? Why does everyone look kinda down?"

"Uh, Brother Jiang, after tomorrow, those sugar tangerines are all gonna be gone, right?"

Liu Zhiyuan looked at Jiang Tao with a regretful stare.

This time, rolling with Jiang Tao on the tangerines, he tossed in fifty grand and already made over 130K in just a few days.

Subtracting his 50K investment, that’s more than 80K pure profit—averaging 20K a day!

This stretch has hands-down been the best few days of Liu Zhiyuan’s life!

Too bad, though—this high only lasts a few days, and tomorrow it’s back to normal.

"If I’d only listened to Brother Jiang and invested more at the start..."

Shan Yufei was just as regretful.

He had more than 50K saved up, he could’ve easily tossed in another 50K!

It’s just, his risk tolerance is only 50K—he wasn’t about to go all in like Jiang Tao.

Zhang Chao "..."

To be honest, the one who regrets it most is definitely Zhang Chao.

Jiang Tao basically spoon-fed him the deal, but he kept his mouth shut and didn’t invest a penny!

Lucky for him, Jiang Tao’s a stand-up guy—just the salary he got these few days is nearly 10K.

When the guys were eating meat, he at least got some soup.

"Brother Jiang, next time you got a chance to make a killing, just let us know. You eat the meat, give us a little soup and we’re happy."

Zhang Chao looked at Jiang Tao with even more respect than usual.

"Don’t worry, guys. If there’s another chance to make money, I won’t forget you three."

After working together on the sugar tangerine deal, Jiang Tao felt like he knew Liu Zhiyuan, Shan Yufei, and Zhang Chao a lot better.

Liu Zhiyuan and Shan Yufei are the kind of honest, standup guys who make solid partners.

Zhang Chao, aside from being into massage parlors and girls, is actually fine in other ways.

If the Intelligence System has another good gig, Jiang Tao’s gonna think of these three first.

History and trust are worth a lot, after all.

"Thanks, Brother Jiang! Thanks for bringing us along!"

"Thanks, Brother Jiang! I made more this year than in the last two or three—finally something to brag about at home!"

"Appreciate you, Brother Jiang!"

Liu Zhiyuan and his guys thanked Jiang Tao again, totally sincere about it.

"We’re all brothers, no need for thank-yous."

Mentioning brothers, Jiang Tao remembered Wang Lianming, still at the hospital taking care of his wife.

Been so busy these days, he hadn’t gotten around to visiting the hospital.

"If we pack up early tomorrow, I’m thinking of visiting Brother Wang—anyone wanna go?"

Jiang Tao looked at Liu Zhiyuan and the others, asking them.

"Definitely! I was planning to stop by before going home for the New Year anyway."

"I’m in."

"Count me in."

Shan Yufei and Zhang Chao quickly agreed too.

Jiang Tao said, "Done. First we’ll visit Brother Wang and his wife, then come back for dinner."

"Sounds good!"

"Got it!"

With the serious talk over, Liu Zhiyuan and his crew chatted with Jiang Tao a bit more before heading out.

Jiang Tao walked them down the stairs, then swung by Pang Dongdong Supermarket to grab a carton of Huanghelou cigarettes.

Life’s getting better, so the smokes can get an upgrade too.

On his way back, Jiang Tao bumped into his landlord, Brother Lü, at the entrance of the alley.

Brother Lü was dressed up just as flashy as yesterday.

A long black wool coat and a black bowler hat—looking just like Xu Wenqiang from Shanghai Beach.

"Xiao Jiang, you eaten yet?"

Lü Qian caught sight of Jiang Tao and hurried over, smiling and greeting him.

"Already ate. Brother Lü, you look sharp today—got a date or something?"

Jiang Tao looked Lü Qian up and down, grinning as he teased.

"Heh! You guessed it, Xiao Jiang!"

"Me and Xiao Mei hit up the Forbidden City, then stuffed ourselves with roast duck at Quanjude, and after that went to Tian’an Gate and Bird’s Nest and Water Cube—hell of a busy day!"

"Xiao Mei, she..."

Lü Qian gushed about all kinds of details with Ma Dongmei, barely letting Jiang Tao get a word in.

You could tell, things were moving fast and smooth for those two!

That’s probably the magic of being 97% compatible!

Jiang Tao had heard people say, whoever you spend your life with is basically destiny.

Just gotta find the right one—doesn’t take much effort once you do.

His big bro Jiang He and sis-in-law Zhang Xiaoyan are like that, and so is he with Xu Li.

The landlord and Ma Dongmei must be the same.

The chat on the road wasn’t enough.

Lü Qian pulled Jiang Tao into his place for another half-hour before letting him leave!

Back upstairs.

Jiang Tao did a quick washup and dove under the covers.

Rubbing his hands together, Jiang Tao opened up his ZBank app to check his account balance.

"304794!" 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"Old Jiang’s little stash has never looked this fat!"

"Life’s turning a corner!"

Staring at his ZBank balance, Jiang Tao swallowed hard in excitement.

Just a couple weeks back, he’d been stressing about 80K in debt.

Worried someone would come banging on his door for cash at New Year, losing sleep every night.

Now, not only was the debt wiped, he’s also got over 300K saved up!

Plus, he already sent 200K to Xu Li, 100K for Brother Tongzi’s upgrade, and 60K today for little sis Jiang Bing to stock up.

Add in the Daughter Red Wine bottles and unsold sugar tangerines stashed under his bed.

In just a couple weeks, Jiang Tao, with Brother Tongzi’s tips, had pulled in seven or eight hundred grand!

Getting close to Brother Tongzi is just like landing a sugar mama.

Ten days of hustling, and Jiang Tao’s made what used to take him ten years to save!

The money’s only gonna keep coming in!

Thinking of the Daughter Red Wine under his bed, it really got Jiang Tao craving.

He jumped out, pulled a jar from under the bed, and poured himself a glass.

’Course—it’s to celebrate his stash breaking 300K!

At this rate, it’s not long before he’s buying a house and a car.

Talking about buying a house, Jiang Tao looked out his apartment window toward the brightly lit towers nearby.

Less than two kilometers from Xiaoshanhe Village, there’s a new neighborhood that just filled up in the last five years.

The community is neat and tidy, the apartments are bright and spacious—worlds apart from the urban village!

Sure, it’s already beyond the Fifth Ring, but the average price is still over 30K per square meter.

Jiang Tao’s ZBank cash, that’ll only cover a bathroom.

Before today, seven or eight years slogging as a migrant in Beijing, Jiang Tao never dared dream of buying a place in a city where land costs a fortune.

But looking at those towers tonight, he suddenly felt this strong urge to call one of them home.