Looking at the communication talisman in his hand, Jiang Cheng furrowed his brows in deep thought.
In the message list of the talisman, there were daily greetings from "Jiang Cheng" to Lin Yao, such as "Good morning" and "Nice weather today," just the kind of bland talk that Lin Yao rarely responded to.
Beyond those, there was also the striking communication record that had just come in.
It was Lin Yao who had initiated the call to him.
In the memories of "Jiang Cheng," Lin Yao seemed to rarely initiate communication through the talisman. At least in the interactions between Jiang Cheng and Lin Yao, it had always been Jiang Cheng who took the initiative.
While waiting for the bus by the roadside, Jiang Cheng tried to recall the plot details of the "Lin Yao" storyline to figure out the purpose of Lin Yao's call.
Unfortunately, he had fast-forwarded through the plot originally and could hardly remember much, other than the fact that Lin Yao later became a troublesome character, an enchantress of the Demonic Tao.
In any case, it was necessary to keep a distance from the people of the Demonic Tao, and right now his priority was to draw talismans and buy property; other matters would have to wait.
Half an hour later, Jiang Cheng got off the bus and arrived at Happiness Garden.
Happiness Garden was an early development in Wuyue City; the quality of the buildings was decent, but the infrastructure was somewhat lacking. At night, there weren't even any streetlights.
However, Jiang Cheng had lived there for several years and could find his uncle and aunt's house even with his eyes closed.
At the door of room 1001 in Building No. 2 of Happiness Garden, Jiang Cheng took out his keys and unlocked the security door.
Upon entering, the familiar sights greeted him.
His aunt was busy in the kitchen, while his uncle sat at the dining table, legs crossed, studying the newspaper.
"Jiang Cheng, you're back?"
His uncle, Sun Qing, called out.
"Mm."
Jiang Cheng replied.
Jiang Cheng wasn't actually introverted, but "Jiang Cheng" was a man of few words, and Jiang Cheng didn't want to completely overturn "Jiang Cheng's" character so soon.
On the contrary, "Jiang Cheng's" low-profile nature also provided him with quite a few conveniences.
At least "Jiang Cheng" didn't have many friends, so he didn't need to deal with complex social relationships.
After changing his shoes by the door, Jiang Cheng passed by the dining table and saw his uncle Sun Qing taking notes from the newspaper.
With an air of concentration and a serious expression.
A memory surfaced in Jiang Cheng's mind; he remembered that his uncle held a stable government job and was never short of money. He liked to study the newspapers and dabble in small investments in his spare time.
Over the years, he had made numerous investments, and it could be said that he had neither lost nor gained overall.
Such a record, if placed in the A-share stock market, would be enough to earn the title of "Stock God."
Unfortunately, Liang Kingdom did not have a stock market.
After thinking for a bit, Jiang Cheng walked up to Sun Qing.
"Uncle, I think the northern part of Wuyue City has potential."
"The north?"
Sun Qing looked up, pondered for a moment, and said, "That place is mostly wasteland, and there aren't even many people."
"The less people and more land, the greater the potential for development."
Sun Qing wasn't convinced by Jiang Cheng's words.
However, when it came to investments, he was full of interest and was happy to continue the conversation, not discouraged by Jiang Cheng's perspective.
"The development direction of our Wuyue City is southward. The north isn't quite good. I'm planning to invest in a high-end restaurant with some colleagues in the South Development Zone. What do you think of that?"
Jiang Cheng changed his approach, "I still think the north is better. Uncle might consider putting a down payment on a house in the north; it could even be used for Sun Yuan's wedding in the future."
"Sun Yuan is still young; there's no rush. What about my restaurant idea? Is it better to focus on specialty dishes or a themed atmosphere?"
"I think putting a down payment on a house is better."
Sun Qing looked at Jiang Cheng with the eyes of someone regarding a piece of uncarvable wood.
The consensus in the investment circle was that Wuyue City's real estate prices had peaked and wouldn't rise anymore, and if there were to be any increases, they would be in the properties of the South Development Zone. The north was a barren place; without a meteor striking the earth and revealing an underground Spirit Vein, there was no chance of price increases.
The prime time for investing in Wuyue City's real estate had long passed; now, even dogs weren't investing in real estate.
Unfortunately, Jiang Cheng was just a child, and not even his own, so Sun Qing couldn't say much even if the child's ideas were outlandish.
A child should just focus on studying; what could they understand about investment?
"Jiang Cheng, the final exams are coming up soon, have you finished your homework?"
Jiang Cheng: …
"Uncle, I finished the college entrance exam three days ago."
"Oh."
The atmosphere fell into an awkward silence.
"That said, Sun Yuan still hasn't taken the college entrance exam. He's just in middle school. Could you help me take a look at his homework?"
"Okay."
The attempt to persuade his uncle to buy a house had failed.
Jiang Cheng sighed. If there were no Spiritual Spring, Sun Qing's judgment might have been right. But with the emergence of the Spiritual Spring, the focus of Wuyue City would definitely shift northward. The entire city would need to build industry around the Spiritual Spring factory.
Investing in a high-end restaurant in the South Development Zone now would most likely lead to a total loss.
But Jiang Cheng couldn't persuade him otherwise; investing was like fishing, and until the real air force arrived, the fish hook and the fish in the water were always filled with endless possibilities.
Cousin Sun Yuan's room.
Sun Yuan was three years younger than Jiang Cheng. While Jiang Cheng was taking the college entrance exam, Sun Yuan was preparing for his middle school exams. However, the middle school exams were more than half a month later than the college exams, so while Jiang Cheng was free after finishing his, Sun Yuan was still studying hard.
In the Liang Kingdom, both the middle school and college entrance exams were mainly written tests. The use of spells was considered a pass-fail exam, requiring only a passing grade.
With so many students, there simply weren't enough teachers and schools to do it any other way.
But in university, facing the pressure of graduating and joining the Immortal Sect, one had to add practical combat and spell usage tests to the mix.
Even though Jiang Cheng's college exam scores were higher than the university cut-off line, he still had to pass the university's admission assessment to get in.
Jiang Cheng watched Sun Yuan do his homework for a while and noticed the kid was distracted.
"Something on your mind?"
"Mind your own business," Sun Yuan grumbled, not really wanting to interact with Jiang Cheng.
The relationship between the two brothers couldn't be described as good or bad, but Sun Yuan actually looked down on Jiang Cheng a bit.
Jiang Cheng was self-conscious and introverted, stuttering even when talking to girls. How could someone like that be considered his older cousin?
"Got a girlfriend?"
At that, Sun Yuan flinched, his cheeks turning bright red: "Jiang Cheng! Don't talk nonsense!"
It seemed he had someone in his heart. The young guy was still too green to keep things hidden.
Having gone through adolescence himself, Jiang Cheng had no plans to lecture Sun Yuan about things like puppy love.
However, with the middle school exams only half a month away, he at least wanted to make sure Sun Yuan didn't slip up at a critical time.
"With your grades, do you think you can get into the same high school as her?"
"What's wrong with my grades? Isn't it just Wuyue Advanced Middle School? Can't I get in there easily?"
Jiang Cheng seized the crucial point: "Didn't you just say you weren't dating her?"
"I—"
Sun Yuan's face turned even redder, unable to come up with a rebuttal as he realized Jiang Cheng had tricked him into admitting it.
All he could do was glare at Jiang Cheng, feeling that his cousin was somewhat strange. He didn't remember Jiang Cheng being so talkative usually; yet today, he took the initiative to discuss feelings with him.
"You better not tell my parents!" Sun Yuan warned.
Jiang Cheng simply shrugged, not taking the young kid's threat seriously.
"We'll see how your middle school exams go. If they don't go well, we'll need to find a reason."
"It has nothing to do with her anyway," Sun Yuan protested.
"Defending her already?"
"What defense? There's nothing going on, okay!"
"Unrequited love?"
"No, just a simple crush. You'll understand when you reach my age."
Jiang Cheng: ???
So, you think you're a Tyrannosaurus Warrior?
"Give me some paper and a pen."
"What are you going to do?"
Jiang Cheng took the paper and pen and quickly drafted a contract.
The basic content was that if Sun Yuan failed to get into Wuyue Advanced Middle School, Jiang Cheng would tell his parents about his puppy love. If he got in, everything would be as if nothing had happened.
"Make two copies and sign."
"That's not fair."
It was the first time Jiang Cheng had encountered someone saying his contract was unfair.
"Why is it unfair?"
"Why do I have to pay the price in a bet, but you don't have to pay anything?"
"This is a contract, not a bet. But if you want to sign a wager agreement with me, that's not a problem."
Jiang Cheng was always willing to provide his clients with a variety of options.
"However, first I need to know what you want me to stake as my loss?"
Sun Yuan hesitated a bit and then said, "She's not from our middle school. She's at Wuyue Advanced Middle School, the same one you attended, and she just finished her college exams."
Jiang Cheng looked at Sun Yuan with a hint of surprise in his eyes.
Liking an older girl?
He didn't expect the kid's body to be young, while his soul seemed rather mature.
But it wasn't necessarily so.
In the Liang Kingdom, middle schools did not strictly assign grades by age.
For example, Jiang Cheng at eighteen was a senior, Lin Yao at sixteen was also a senior, and there were even fifteen-year-old seniors. And fifteen was Sun Yuan's age, so it wasn't certain that he was into older girls.
"What's her name? I might know her."
"Lin Yao."
"Ah?"