Chapter 116
“Is it a hassle?” Tang Lingwu asked, puzzled. “Can’t we just use satellite maps?”
“…”
Zheng Fa and Bai Laotou exchanged glances, both looking at Tang Lingwu.
“Is it not possible?”
Tang Lingwu blinked, still confused.
“Why don’t you just stay out of it?”
Zheng Fa felt that the old man’s ideas often led him astray.
…
Even with satellite maps, finding a suitable location wasn’t easy.
But it wasn’t urgent either.
He was only at the fourth level of Qi training, and it would take some time before he could reach the seventh level required for practicing the Ling Mountain Method.
According to Zheng Fa’s estimation, he wouldn’t truly reach the seventh level until after the college entrance exams.
“The precision of these maps just isn’t good enough.”
They were mainly searching around the capital. After a long while, they managed to find four or five mountains that seemed to meet the requirements outlined in the Lingmai Theory.
But whether they were truly suitable still required a firsthand look.
“Let my mom send an exploration team.”
Zheng Fa was taken aback and looked at Tang Lingwu.
“My mom has been asking you for help lately,” Tang Lingwu said softly. “And once we find a mountain, she can help you with the contracting and building too.”
“... Are you really going to sell out your own mother like that?”
Bai Laotou exclaimed, astonished at how easily Tang Lingwu threw her mother under the bus.
“Teacher, you don’t understand… It’s not that I want to sell her out; my mom would do it herself,” Tang Lingwu sighed helplessly. “Today, when I came over, she even said to invite Zheng Fa to our house tomorrow.”
“…”
The next day, when Zheng Fa arrived at Tang Lingwu’s home, he finally understood why she had said that.
It was still the same driver in the big shorts, still the same black sedan. But as Zheng Fa was about to get out, he noticed a hand eagerly opening the car door for him.
He looked up to see Aunt Ye, radiant and smiling warmly at him.
Tang Lingwu seemed to have anticipated this, sighing as she walked over to her mother.
The two of them standing together looked remarkably like sisters.
It was clear that Aunt Ye was in great spirits this week.
(End of this chapter)
**Chapter 126: Cooperation**
In the dining room of Tang Lingwu’s home, Zheng Fa sat at the table with the mother-daughter duo.
The dishes on the table weren’t extravagant, and they didn’t look particularly refined—just some home-cooked meals.
But Tang Lingwu looked a bit surprised. “Mom, you cooked today?”
Aunt Ye smiled, glancing at Zheng Fa. “Didn’t I tell you? We need to thank Zheng for his help, so I made it myself to show my sincerity!”
Perhaps to create a sense of intimacy, or maybe to keep it a secret, the dining room was just the three of them.
“Here! Have some chicken wings!”
Aunt Ye reached over and placed a plate of cola chicken wings from in front of Tang Lingwu to Zheng Fa’s right side, smiling as she said, “Lingwu loved this dish when she was little. Give it a try!”
Zheng Fa glanced at Tang Lingwu.
She was holding her chopsticks, staring at the plate of chicken wings, her expression one of shock.
It was clear she really loved this dish.
“And there are meatballs too! Lingwu always liked these with lots of meat!”
“When we didn’t have much money at home, and when I was still healthy, Lingwu loved my cooking. I spoiled her so much she got chubby. Now that she’s grown up, she’s not as cute as she used to be.”
Listening to Aunt Ye’s nostalgia, Zheng Fa fell silent, looking at the pile of food in front of him.
Auntie, you remember so well what Tang Lingwu loved to eat as a child. It sounds like a deep mother-daughter bond.
But why don’t you let Tang Lingwu eat?
Can’t you see she’s both touched and holding her chopsticks in mid-air, not having had a single bite of her favorite dish?
Noticing Zheng Fa’s gaze, Tang Lingwu pouted, avoiding eye contact with him. She picked up a piece of bok choy from her plate, nibbling on it bit by bit like a little hamster, her expression a bit aggrieved, clearly not fond of the dish.
Zheng Fa gently pushed the chicken wings in front of him toward her.
Tang Lingwu glanced at him, wrinkled her nose slightly, then smiled and picked up a piece of chicken wing to take a bite.
Aunt Ye looked at Zheng Fa, then at her daughter, and her smile grew even brighter.
After the meal, the housekeeper cleared away the empty dishes, and the three of them sipped tea while discussing business.
“I heard from Lingwu that you’re planning to build a nursing home?”
When Aunt Ye said this, her tone carried a hint of confusion.
It was clear that she found it hard to understand why a young man like Zheng Fa would want to enter this industry.
Zheng Fa glanced at Tang Lingwu, unsure of what she had told her mother, and simply nodded at Aunt Ye.
“I just wanted to ask…” Aunt Ye’s face showed a bit of apprehension. “Is there anything I can help with?”
Why are you being so humble about wanting to help?
“The main issue with the nursing home is the location,” Zheng Fa thought for a moment and said. “I have some requirements regarding the terrain.”
“Let me think…” Aunt Ye glanced at Tang Lingwu, clearly realizing her daughter hadn’t mentioned this to her. After a moment of thought, she said, “What specific requirements do you have?”
“First, it’s best to be closer to the capital or other major cities.”
This wasn’t just for Zheng Fa’s college considerations, but also because there were more talents in big cities.
“Second, we need to send people into the mountains to survey some preliminary suitable locations.”
“That’s easy; I can hire a professional exploration team,” Aunt Ye replied.
That was fine, but Aunt Ye’s next statement left Zheng Fa a bit stunned:
“I can help you with site selection, permits, roads, and construction—all of it.”
“Uh…”
…Auntie, you’re being a bit overconfident here.
Even though he didn’t know how much all of this would cost, it was definitely not a small sum.
Zheng Fa believed that for Tang Lingwu’s family, this would also be a significant investment.
“Earlier, I went for a check-up at the hospital,” as if sensing Zheng Fa’s surprise, Aunt Ye suddenly brought up another topic. “The doctor said my results were astonishingly good.”
“…”
“I didn’t believe it at first, so I went to the capital for another check-up.”
Aunt Ye looked at Zheng Fa and said, “Everything is great. I’ve had this illness for over ten years… The more medicine I took, the worse my condition got; the test results never improved.”
“Auntie, are you saying…”
“As long as you continue treating me, whether you want to build a nursing home or a palace in the mountains… I’m willing to invest.”
There was a deep plea in Aunt Ye’s eyes.
Zheng Fa still found it hard to believe. He understood Aunt Ye’s eagerness to get better.
But to promise such a large investment right off the bat—this didn’t seem reasonable to him.
Wealthy people are just wealthy; they’re not foolish, especially first-generation entrepreneurs like Tang Lingwu’s parents who built their fortune from scratch—they wouldn’t be stingy, but they wouldn’t throw money around either. Aunt Ye’s generosity made Zheng Fa hesitate.
Aunt Ye seemed to sense Zheng Fa’s skepticism. She smiled and explained, “You know how Lingwu’s dad made his fortune?”
Zheng Fa shook his head.
Tang Lingwu also looked curious, clearly unaware of these matters before.
“At that time, our family business was just starting out; we could only say we had a modest foundation,” Aunt Ye said, a nostalgic look on her face. “There was an opportunity, but it required a significant investment.”
“At that time, both Lingwu’s dad and I didn’t have enough money; we had to borrow from banks and various friends and family.”
Aunt Ye glanced at the two of them and continued, “We hesitated back then, unsure if we should invest so much. If the project failed, we wouldn’t just lose everything; we’d also be in debt.”
“What happened next?” Tang Lingwu asked eagerly.
“Later, Lingwu’s father happened to meet a master from the south…”
“…”
“That master calculated and told him that this opportunity was the biggest chance of his life.” Aunt Ye sighed. “We decided to take the plunge and invested all our money.”
Zheng Fa didn’t need to ask what happened afterward.
Just thinking about how Tang Lingwu’s father, Tang Zhiqiang, was doing so well now made it clear.
“From that moment on, I knew there were some extraordinary people in this world—meeting them is a blessing.”
Aunt Ye looked at Zheng Fa and said softly.
Clearly, in her eyes, Zheng Fa was almost equivalent to that master.
After a long silence, Zheng Fa finally spoke up, “Aunt Ye, you can’t believe in feudal superstitions!”
Tang Lingwu stared at him for a while, a question mark slowly rising on her face, her eyes saying one thing—you're a cultivator, and you’re calling this feudal superstition?
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