Anyways, as long as they didn’t die, there was no need to worry. As for their suffering, the Tang family had done even more wicked things, so what were they afraid of if it was atoning for their sins?
Tang Susu opened up her inbox and clicked on the emails sent to her by her friend from abroad, which also included many landscape photos and of course some investigation materials.
The person under investigation was Tang Qi.
Tang Qi had claimed that she’d studied in Britain, and it just so happened that Bai Mian, Tang Susu's best friend, had recently been in Britain. After hearing her mention it, Bai Mian had conveniently checked into it. It was okay even if she hadn’t investigated but the results had really been eye-opening.
Her "elite" sister's former resume was really wonderful. It wasn’t known if Tang Qiming knew that his dear second daughter, who had received a noble and moral education, had such rich life experiences.
She moved the cursor to open the next email. Tang Susu's expression grew cold. The e-mail had been sent to her by Secretary Wu, telling her that she needed to travel with the president in a week.
It was to a small place that she hadn’t even heard of before. It was said that the Di Jiang Group was wanting to develop tourism, so they were first going to examine it.
It wasn’t much. The only thing that made her uncomfortable was that it was collaborative work with the Tang’s. What had been previously heard in Old Lady Tang’s talk regarding Tang Qiming’s business negotiations had been about this.
"Yushu Township, Linjia Village… how did they even find such a place?”
Conveniently, she was able to search the place’s name, and found no useful information, except that it wasn’t too far away from Fengshin City; it would take more than four hours by train.
She marked the e-mail before turning off the computer. She felt that this business trip wouldn’t be very smooth.
The arrival of Mrs. Tang's birthday made Tang Susu put other things behind her for a while. On her birthday, the old lady was dressed in a noble purple cheongsam with a set of jade jewelry, looking elegant. The younger generation came forward to greet her one by one. Her face was full of smiles and she handed out red packets one by one.
It was Tang Susu's turn. It wasn’t known if it was intentional, or if she had missed it, but her red envelope was missing.
Who was short of one red packet? But it was a matter of face that she couldn't afford to lose. Tang Susu didn’t want to let the others watch the fun and didn’t want to be looked down upon.
Tang Qiming was just standing to the side. He saw Tang Susu standing still as if waiting for Old Lady Tang to take out a red envelope. He couldn’t help but squint and whisper, “Susu, what are you doing just standing?”
“Of course, waiting for Grandma's red envelope. Or is it that Grandma specially prepared a different red envelope for me and others?”
When Old Lady Tang heard Tang Susu's words, her eyebrows rose as if she was really about to scold her.
Before she could speak, she was blocked by Patriarch Tang. “You're a smart girl. I have the good things your grandmother has prepared for you. Take this jade pendant and have fun.”
Because Old Lady Tang had been having an extreme temper recently, Patriarch Tang was afraid that her nonsense would ruin the birthday party. Consequently, he could only mediate the dispute. He gave Tang Susu a piece of jade that had been carried on his body for several years.
Tang Susu unceremoniously picked it up. "Is Grandpa really giving me this? You won't ask to have it back, will you?”
This had been carved from seed material and was worth a lot of money. When it was sent away, Patriarch Tang was also distressed for quite a while.
"Everything given to you is yours." Patriarch Tang was really thinking about going back to retrieve it, but Tang Susu's words directly blocked his back road.
Tang Susu was certainly bouncing with joy to get the jade, but did not miss the jealousy and envy of the group of cousins.
This small twist did not attract the attention of many guests. The Tang juniors scattered after congratulating the old lady and did not do much.
Tang Susu took a piece of cake and was ready to go outside to eat. When she had just gone outside, she saw the housekeeper leading in a young man wearing cheap clothing. He was carrying a grey bag on his back. At a glance, he looked like a villager.
When had Mrs. Tang invited such a person to her birthday? As soon as the young man walked in, he attracted a lot of attention.
Tang Susu, who had originally planned to find a quiet place to eat, thought about it and went in again.
She was just in time to see the youth giving a birthday gift to Old Lady Tang, who sat there with a smile. But looking carefully, her eyes could be found holding a faint hint of disgust.
Instead, it was Old Master Tang who conversed with the young man as if he was very pleased.
The young man did not care about the eyes of the people around him. He brought down the cloth bag he was carrying and pulled out a box tightly wrapped in a plastic bag from the inside.
"Jintang is so sincere. Housekeeper, why don't you help, quickly." When Old Lady Tang saw that he was going to open the plastic bag, the smile on her face was fleeting, and she quickly called the housekeeper over.
The housekeeper stepped forward, trying to bring it over, but was stopped by Old Master Tang.
Old Master Tang turned his head and sent a warning glare towards Old Lady Tang. He smiled calmly at the young man. "Jintang can continue. Let me see what you have brought.”
Lin Jintang simple-mindedly smiled and obediently removed the plastic bags, tearing them off layer by layer, finally revealing the aluminum lunch box inside.
As soon as the lunch box was opened, the people who were looking couldn't help but cheer "ooh."
What was inside the lunch box turned out to be a piece of glistening white flesh.
“Isn't that…… Tai Sui?" Several experienced and knowledgeable people recognized it in a single glance.
"That's correct, I dug it out from the mountains. I thought about my great-aunt's birthday and decided to gift it to her." Lin Jintang held the lunch box in his hands and explained to the person next to him.
“Isn’t this such a good thing!”
Just as the emperor had begun to ask for immortality after owning the world, people were afraid of death, especially the richer people.
Since ancient times, Tai Sui had been a celestial medicine symbolizing longevity. No matter how it was explained scientifically, it would be priceless as long as someone believed in it.
Lin Jintang's lunch box contained Tai Sui, which was the most precious birthday present.
This time, the smile on the old lady's face was genuine. She took the lunch box with her own hands and patted the young man's hand. "Jintang is sincere.”
"There’s nothing good in our countryside. I heard that eating it would be good for the health, so I brought it here.”
"Good, good, you also don't rush to leave, stay at Great-Aunt's for a while.”
"Thank you, Great-Aunt." Lin Jintang hastily nodded.
Because of such an encounter, Lin Jintang was not excluded by the others. Instead, he was surrounded by a lot of people.
Everyone wanted to know where he had dug up this Tai Sui, and Lin Jintang didn't hide anything. He directly revealed the name of his hometown.
As for Tang Susu, this was really a familiar place. Not long ago, she had seen the place’s name-- Linjia Village in Yushu Township.
TL Notes:
This translator researched a bit about Tai Sui. I am not sure about the immortality effect but Tai Sui is a legendary mushroom, comes in a big size, and has white flesh. Its medicinal effect has yet to be discovered.
Translator’s Other Works:
Happy reading. <3