"It seems, Mr. Zhang, you still don't quite understand your family history!"
"Understand my ass!" Zhang Menglong muttered to himself, "How would I know about my family history when I didn't even know my family was this rich? I didn't even know my parents could freakin' fly!"
"What do you know? Tell me about it," Zhang Menglong asked for guidance.
"Well, I don't know too much either. After all, by the time our Hong Family started following Mr. Zhang's family, the Zhang Family had already become an enormous entity," Hong Yi said. "Mr. Zhang's ancestors were all extremely wise. They started making various investments a very long time ago. You have to understand, many things were not valuable back then, but as thousands of years pass, even an ordinary cup can become priceless!"
"That makes sense," Zhang Menglong nodded.
"Let's not even mention other things for now. When Hanli Country had just been established, right next door, your ancestors bought a huge amount of land there. At that time, their government was broke, and they pretty much bought one-fifth of the country's land easily!"
"What? One-fifth of the country? Are you saying that one-fifth of Hanli Country's territory belongs to us?" Zhang Menglong couldn't find the words to describe the shock he felt that day.
"Yes, so the administrative taxes from those regions in Hanli Country, 70% go into the hands of the Zhang Family each year. You can freely buy and sell that land."
"Then your Tenghui Group..." Zhang Menglong suddenly thought of something. The Tenghui Group was thriving in the real estate industry in so many countries around the world; could it be...
"Yes, your family not only in Hanli Country but almost bought large tracts of land all over the world early on. Those lands were originally yours, and when Huiteng Group developed those lands, naturally, we could easily beat those local real estate companies!"
"Badass!" Zhang Menglong shouted internally. What about getting land from those countries' land bureaus to build and sell houses? That land was originally theirs! They just need to handle the development, sell the ownership, and then just rake in the money! No wonder Tenghui Group is so powerful; it turns out their family business is massive!
"So many things, your ancestors laid out a long time ago. Thousands of years ago, your family was already the wealthiest family in the world, and traveling all over the world was one of their hobbies."
"In the process, they met many famous painters, musicians, artists, and so on. Mr. Picasso was someone your ancestor Zhang Jun met while traveling in Europe!"
"They were close friends?" Zhang Menglong asked.
"Not really; they only met once."
"Then why did Picasso give a painting to my ancestor?"
"Because Mr. Zhang Jun thought Mr. Picasso was very talented, he gave him a sum of money as a sponsorship for his creation. In that era, that amount of money was enough for him to squander for a lifetime; hence, Mr. Picasso could devote himself entirely to his paintings."
"This... money does make the world go round."
"While Mr. Picasso was still alive, every now and then, he would send a painting he was proud of as a gift. But later on, as the paintings piled up, Mr. Zhang Jun found it too troublesome and started using them as placemats or dropping food scraps on them." Even Hong Yi found this part somewhat difficult to say.
"Shit, using paintings worth hundreds of millions of US dollars as placemats? I concede defeat!" Zhang Menglong admitted that indeed, poverty limited his imagination—such outrageous deeds were beyond his wildest thoughts.
"Give me a break, I'll just have a look!" This hall, with tens of square meters, was like a mini art exhibition. Even the cheapest painting here was priced in the tens of millions of US dollars. Now, he realized why the plane his father bought for just 12 million US dollars was now worth 1.2 billion US dollars after being refurbished.
...
"Mr. Zhang, we've arrived!" A few dozen minutes later, the plane slowly landed at Jiangnan City Airport.
"Huh? Why is there only my plane here? Where are the others?" Zhang Menglong asked curiously. The airstrip, spanning thousands of metres, was deserted—not a single person in sight.
"Mr. Zhang, this is your private airport, of course there's just your plane," Hong Yi said. "Now that you're back in Jiangnan City, I'll arrange for your private jet for long-distance travel and the planes for transporting goods to be gathered here. It should all return to normal operation within three days."
"I have other planes?"
"Of course!" Hong Yi laughed. "You own a total of 127 cargo planes, which are always on standby in various countries, ready to bring you local specialties from anywhere at any time. For example, if you want to eat the finest Australian lobster, by tomorrow morning, there will be a plane to airfreight it here for you!"
"You also have 12 private passenger jets specifically prepared for your travels, and a team of thousands ready to serve you at any time!"
"Enough, stop there, I'm about to split open, this is some serious first world problems!" Zhang Menglong exclaimed. How strong would his mental resilience need to be to withstand these constant shocks?
"Mr. Zhang, it's getting late, I should take you to where you'll be staying," Hong Yi said.
"Hmm, okay, let's go check out where I'll be staying first."
...
Most of the vehicles were stuck on the highway, but the city area and the overpass were quite smooth. Zhang Menglong opened his phone to find that there were over 99+ messages in the dorm group chat.
"Guys, check out the trending searches! Holy shit, have you seen a helicopter literally tow away a car?"
"So freaking awesome, this is the power of money! What does it take to get a helicopter to do that?"
"There must be some company CEO in that car, probably needed to hurry for some emergency, right?"
"That's for sure, I bet there's some important meeting or contract they're rushing to sign!"
"Nobody knows who it actually is, netizens have been flesh-searching for hours without any results."
"Menglong, isn't that your side's sea-crossing bridge? Did you see it? Come out and say something!"
"@Zhang Menglong, come out to witness the magic!"
"@Zhang Menglong, have you been suffocated to death on the highway? Say something!"
"Oh, my son, you died a tragic death!"
"Three minutes of silence for my son's bladder!"
...
"These damn traitors!" Zhang Menglong posted a disdainful emoji in the group.
"Yo, boss Zhang came out? How is it, is your bladder still alive?"
"Going home this time to inherit the family fortune, didn't expect it to be this complicated, did you, haha?"
"You might not believe what I'm about to say, but I truly did inherit a fortune. That Maybach and helicopter are mine!" Zhang Menglong declared in the group, sure that they wouldn't believe him!
"Hahaha, in what position were you when you dreamt this? I want to give it a try too!"
"Hurry back, we're waiting to play with you, everyone's all set!"
"Give me an hour!"
Zhang Menglong quickly left the group chat as the car entered a residential area in the city district. The previously bustling environment suddenly became quiet.
"Who would've thought there'd be such an elegant residential area in the city?" Zhang Menglong opened his location to check on the neighborhood, but oddly, although the neighborhood was shown on the map, there was no name for it.
"Mr. Zhang, we have arrived. This is your largest property in Jiangnan City," Hong Yi said.
"The largest? This place?" Zhang Menglong took a glance at the buildings in the neighborhood. They all seemed to be just one or two hundred square meters in size. Given the location and the size of the units, the price would be over ten million, but after the helicopter incident, Zhang Menglong felt a twinge of disappointment.
"Which building?" Zhang Menglong asked. There were a total of 8 buildings in the neighborhood, with the one in the middle being the tallest, surrounded by others that circled around it like stars around the moon, a rather unique architectural layout.
"Which building? What do you mean?" Hong Yi asked, puzzled.
"I'm asking which building and which floor my house is on?" Zhang Menglong repeated.
Hong Yi smiled: "Mr. Zhang, it seems you didn't quite grasp what I meant. When I said this property, I meant this entire neighborhood."
"The entire neighborhood?" Zhang Menglong's previous disappointment was instantly swept away, replaced by shock, "Is this what you call 'one property'?"