"Zhouzhou, what are you doing?" Qin Xu jumped in surprise, asking, "Why aren't you asleep yet?"
Zhouzhou, with her hair all ssy like a bird's nest, was fully awake. Her eyes were glued to his phone, looking quite alert. She tiptoed and stretched her neck to curiously ask, "I just heard Uncle Chief ntion my na! Is there so work for to do? Is there money involved?"
Hearing this, Qin Xu couldn't help but laugh in exasperation, pressing her head down and pushing her away. He replied, "No! You must have heard wrong!"
With that, he imdiately hung up the phone, not giving Chief a chance to say another word.
Zhouzhou eyed him suspiciously. "Really?" she asked. "Why do I feel like Second Uncle is acting strange? I clearly heard my na."
After thinking for a mont, Zhouzhou said, "Second Uncle, wait a minute."
With that, she ran toward the side of the bed.
Qin Xu, curious, followed her over.
Zhouzhou grabbed the bag on the nightstand and pulled out three copper coins from inside.
Seeing this, Qin Xu's eyelids twitched—this couldn't be good...
As expected, Zhouzhou shook her little chubby hand, looked at the divination symbols on the coins, and imdiately beca excited. "Clearly, there's a fortune coming in!"
Qin Xu helplessly rubbed his forehead. He had forgotten that this little money-hungry girl could read divination. Nothing could escape her notice.
He scowled and said, "You helped so much this ti; of course, there will be a reward! This is perfectly normal. Now, stop thinking about it. Aren't you supposed to go back to school?"
Zhouzhou suddenly beca serious at the ntion of school. She counted on her fingers and realized she hadn't been to class for over a month. That's a lot of tuition!
She beca anxious. "Second Uncle, Second Uncle, what if we go shopping now? We can go back today, and I'll just sleep on the way."
Seeing her like this, Qin Xu chuckled. He picked her up and placed her back on the bed. "Okay, it's Friday. By the ti we rush back, school will be over. We'll be back before Monday."
Zhouzhou nodded, then wrapped herself tightly in the blankets and quickly fell asleep.
Seeing her settled, Qin Xu sighed in relief. He was glad he was able to calm her down. This little money-grubber would put aside everything for a chance to get so money.
With that thought, he shook his head. He didn't dare to call Chief about the task anymore.
He had booked a suite to keep Zhouzhou safe, but it seed that might have been a mistake. She was clearly too familiar with handling these tasks. It seed like she had done this many tis with Ye Lingfeng.
Still, this task couldn't be let go.
It wasn't that he was worried about Zhouzhou, though. Given her skills, she was highly unlikely to encounter any real danger. What concerned him more was his own safety.
He was worried about getting beaten by Qin Lie or being kicked out by his own mother.
He couldn't help but shiver at the thought.
The family had no principles in front of Zhouzhou. On the contrary, they treated him like nothing, just like what they did to his son or nephew. If they wanted to kick him out, it wouldn't even take them a second to think about it.
Thinking about this, he shook his head and felt that his earlier refusal had been the right decision.
Sighing, he finally felt like he had narrowly escaped a disaster.
As his mind wandered, he drifted into a deep sleep.
---
The next day, Qin Xu was suddenly jolted awake by the feeling of being watched. He opened his eyes quickly and nearly threw a punch, but when he saw who it was, he stopped himself imdiately.
"Zhouzhou, what are you doing?"
Zhouzhou was lying on the window sill, propping up her little chubby face with her hands, her eyes full of joy. When she saw him wake up, her eyes brightened, and she grabbed his hand and began pulling him out of bed.
"Second Uncle, let's go shopping!" she said.
Qin Xu finally understood. He should've known that she would be up to no good.
Looking at the clock, it was only five o'clock.
This was Zhouzhou's usual practice ti.
He couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed. The way she maintained such a disciplined routine made him feel guilty. He definitely wasn't as disciplined as she was.
Still, he lay back down and said, "The store isn't open yet. We'll go later."
"No, we can't wait," Zhouzhou insisted. "Second Uncle, I just thought of sothing."
"What is it?"
Zhouzhou beca serious and said, "Brother Dafu said before, don't let middlen profit from the difference."
Qin Xu was speechless. "Aren't you and your brother middlen too?" he said. "You're buying and selling, and yet you want to criticize middlen?"
As expected, she was quite the little scher!
Zhouzhou shook her head. "No, it's not the sa. If it weren't for us, people wouldn't be able to buy those things from so far away! We're just taking a little bit of our hard work money, which is only right!"
Her reasoning was so solid that Qin Xu was left sowhat stunned. "So what are you planning to do?"
Zhouzhou grinned. "Second Uncle, let's not buy from the middlen. Let's go dig it up ourselves! We'll be the only middlen, and that way, we get the most profit!"
Hearing this, Qin Xu sighed in resignation. "These ginsengs are all in deep forests. How do you plan on digging them up?"
Zhouzhou grinned widely. "With my hands!"
Qin Xu stared at her and suddenly sat up, his eyes wide. "Are you serious?"
Zhouzhou nodded with determination. "Of course! I'm serious!"
Qin Xu frowned, clearly not thrilled with the idea. "We only have a day and a half left. We have to leave by tomorrow afternoon at the latest. Even if you don't sleep at all, you won't be able to dig up much ginseng. It's better to just buy it. Sure, there's a cost involved, but we can buy more, and the overall profit will be higher."
Zhouzhou thought for a mont, then replied, "But I want the thousand-year-old ginseng! I've checked, we couldn't find any from the store."
Such rare ginseng, over a thousand years old, was hard to find.
Zhouzhou climbed up onto the bed, sitting cross-legged like him, and said seriously, "Second Uncle, my master has a king ginseng that's as tall as a person, but he's too stingy. He hides it very well and only gives a little bit at a ti."
"Relying on others isn't as good as relying on yourself, so I'm planning to dig up a king ginseng myself. I'll sell half and use the other half to refine dicine. I'm sure I can make a lot of really good dicine from it."
"If I find the king ginseng, it'll make more money than selling all the ginseng combined."
Zhouzhou's eyes sparkled at the thought of it.
Qin Xu raised an eyebrow. "Not bad. You're quite smart. You know that processed goods are more profitable than raw materials."
He was almost convinced by her reasoning.
But there was still one more problem.
He looked at her seriously. "Zhouzhou, do you really think you can find king ginseng? And second, the deep mountains are dangerous. What will you do if sothing happens?"
Zhouzhou imdiately grinned. "Second Uncle, if I can solve these two problems, will you let go?"
Qin Xu had a feeling this was a trap. It felt like she was trying to force him into a corner.
But then again, how could a little girl solve problems that even adults couldn't?
He shook his head but didn't say anything. Zhouzhou smiled mischievously, took out a compass, and said, "With this, I can find the king ginseng!"
"And as for safety, Second Uncle, don't forget, I've been to the rainforest before!"
Compared to the original forests, these deep mountains were nothing!
With that, Zhouzhou jumped off the bed, eager to go outside. "Co on, Second Uncle!"
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