Zhou Yunxi opened the gym door and walked in. Seeing Yuan Tao on her feet and stretching, he was surprised.
She still has energy? Then her training…
Yuan Tao understood his look and hurried to stop him before he could increase her training load.
She waved her hands. “Yunxi-ge, that was plenty! I was so tired I collapsed just now. But a spirit spring appeared in the space last night. Drinking its water relieves fatigue and strengthens your body.”
As she spoke, she took another glass from the space and handed it to him.
Zhou Yunxi accepted the glass of water, which looked no different from ordinary mineral water, and drank it slowly. The exhaustion in his body gradually faded. Even the dull headache from staying up all night eased until it disappeared.
Good stuff.
He raised an eyebrow and handed the glass back. “Since it helps, drink some more. Let’s have breakfast first. We’re going out afterward.”
“Okay.” Yuan Tao obediently followed him to the dining room.
After breakfast, Zhou Yunxi took her to the Yuan Group building.
The other major shareholders were already gathered in the conference room when he walked in with Yuan Tao, his expression composed.
The moment Yuan Tao saw them, she understood. She was here to sign the paperwork.
Zhou Yunxi wasted no words. He had his secretary hand over the prepared contracts, and Yuan Tao cooperated, signing where required. By the time she left the conference room, another billion yuan had been added to her account.
She kept some for herself and gave Zhou Yunxi the bulk of it to buy supplies, weapons, and other things that would keep them alive.
The Zhou family was certainly wealthier than hers, but a corporation that large had people watching its every move. A large-scale sell-off of shares would inevitably attract the authorities’ attention. They could only draw on their readily available funds, though even those amounted to more than Yuan Tao had.
As for Zhou Yunxi’s personal assets, he had already arranged for some of that money to be used to purchase weapons overseas in secret.
“Yunxi-ge, where are we going now?” Yuan Tao watched the scenery flashing past and realized they weren’t heading home.
“Some supplies have arrived. I’m taking you to collect them.”
He drove her to a large warehouse complex on the outskirts of the city. It was the largest in the city, with countless trucks coming and going every day. Collecting supplies here was unlikely to draw attention.
When he opened one of the warehouse doors, Yuan Tao found supplies packed inside as far as she could see.
Zhou Yunxi used a detector to confirm there were no cameras, then signaled for her to begin. Yuan Tao stepped onto the self-balancing scooter prepared especially for the task and rode through the warehouse, storing everything as she went. In less than fifteen minutes, the entire place was empty.
He then took her to another warehouse.
This one held chickens, ducks, geese, cattle, sheep, pigs, and other animals. There weren’t too many of the larger animals, only a dozen or so of each kind, with equal numbers of males and females. There were more of the poultry, over two hundred of each kind, also evenly divided between males and females.
Yuan Tao brought them all into the space, set aside an area for them, and told Xiao Jiu to let them roam freely within it.
Once everything had been collected, she couldn’t help admiring Zhou Yunxi. He really was capable, someone she could count on to get things done. Only a day and a night had passed, and he had already gathered so many supplies.
When they returned to the villa, Auntie Wang and two other servants were carrying things inside. The prepared meals Zhou Yunxi had ordered had arrived.
Looking at the food that wouldn’t even fit on the dining table, Yuan Tao suggested, “Why don’t I drive over to the shops every evening and collect it myself? Having this much food delivered to the villa every day might attract too much attention.”
Zhou Yunxi nodded in agreement.
And so Yuan Tao settled into a routine. She trained every morning, collected prepared meals from the various shops in the afternoon, and went with Zhou Yunxi to gather supplies from the warehouses at night. Afterward, she returned to the space to spar with the wooden dummies in the training room. Occasionally, she browsed online, ordered whatever caught her eye, and waited for the deliveries.
She had only learned that the wooden dummies could serve as sparring partners when Xiao Jiu saw her practicing her combat skills and mentioned it.
The results were remarkable. After a month, Yuan Tao could exchange more than a dozen moves with Yao Na before being beaten. Even Zhou Yunxi praised her rapid progress.
Meanwhile, the supplies in her space steadily grew.
One day, she received a call from someone she hadn’t expected.
“Hello? Xiao Tao?”
Puzzled, Yuan Tao checked the number again. The voice really did belong to Gu Nan’s mother, Zhang Lina.
What does Gu Nan’s mother want with me?
Before Yuan Tao could say anything, Zhang Lina launched into a stream of chatter.
“Have you and Nannan had a little quarrel, Xiao Tao? Tell Auntie what happened. I’ll give him a good talking-to. It’s my fault for spoiling him and letting him develop that temper. Don’t be angry with him. He knows he was wrong. I’ll have him pick you up later so you can come over for a meal.”
The longer Yuan Tao listened, the more off it sounded. Zhang Lina knew about Sheng Wanwan. How could she not know that Gu Nan had cheated on her and broken up with her?
Unable to listen any longer, she interrupted.
“Auntie, didn’t Gu Nan tell you we broke up a month ago? He cheated on me, and he was the one who wanted to break up. Why should I forgive him just because you say he knows he was wrong? Who does he think he is?”
“Child, is that any way to speak? Besides, what man doesn’t have a wandering eye? He’s only having a little fun with that Sheng Wanwan. Don’t worry. You’re the only daughter-in-law I’ll accept.” Zhang Lina scolded her lightly, then adopted the knowing tone of someone with experience. “Everything will be fine once you’re married.”
Yuan Tao sneered.
Fucking shameless.
She could even hear Gu Nan in the background insisting that his feelings for Sheng Wanwan were genuine.
What a scumbag! He wants to have his cake and eat it too…
“No, Auntie. I won’t accept a man who cheats. Tell Gu Nan to stay out of my sight for good. As far as I’m concerned, he can be dead.”
She hung up without hesitation, then blocked and deleted the number.
Getting such an unpleasant call first thing in the morning had ruined her mood for the entire day.
Even the lavish breakfast on the table couldn’t tempt her appetite.
“Yunxi-ge, why doesn’t Zhang Lina want Gu Nan to break up with me?”
Gu Nan clearly didn’t like her at all.
Zhou Yunxi answered casually, “Because Ms. Su gave you a ten percent stake in Zhou Group as your dowry.”
Yuan Tao was stunned.
“How much is that worth?”
“At Zhou Group’s current share price, several billion yuan.”
Yuan Tao sucked in a pained breath. The original Yuan Tao really had been the complete package, fair-skinned, rich, and beautiful. If it weren’t for the apocalypse, she could have lived such a comfortable life!
Her ordinary working woman’s heart could barely take it. Almost moved to tears, she ground her teeth and muttered, “I’m going to buy a pink diamond the size of a pigeon’s egg later.”
Amused by her exaggerated expression, Zhou Yunxi continued, “Zhang Lina was a mistress who managed to become the wife, and Gu Nan was born out of wedlock. Since Uncle Gu passed away, their position in the Gu family has been awkward. They probably want to use your connections to secure their standing.”