Chapter 65: A River Dredging Stone with +3 Luck? Bro System is Using Overused Memes Too! (Seeking Continued Reading!)

During their video chat, Jiang Tao casually transferred 52,000 yuan to Xu Li.

Xu Li was super happy tonight, in an exceptionally good mood.

First, the lottery ticket worth over 30,000 yuan had been found after being lost.

Second, the Melo pearl that her husband had found while eating at a restaurant was sold for 120,000 yuan!

Combining these two sources of income, their small family's total earnings today reached a whopping 150,000 yuan!

"Hubby, let's discuss something."

"Alright, go ahead."

"Since we have money in our hands now, should we go ahead and pay for the renovation and the air-source heat pump?"

"Oh, that? I've already paid for it, using the money earned from selling sugar mandarins."

"Really! Why didn't you say so earlier? Good thing I asked you, otherwise I would have paid for it again."

"I just paid for it today myself, and I was planning to tell you tonight..."

"In other words, the money I have right now is entirely mine?"

"Mhm, it's all yours."

Looking at the cute, miserly look on his silly wife's face, Jiang Tao smiled.

He never worried that Xu Li would squander the money he gave her.

Knowing Xu Li as well as he did after all these years, she would most likely deposit this money into a fixed-term bank account without wasting a single cent.

The couple chatted back and forth for over two hours.

It wasn't until Jiang Xue got sleepy and wanted to go to bed that Xu Li reluctantly hung up the call to take her to wash up.

After ending the call with Xu Li, Jiang Tao leaned against the headboard and browsed his Moments for a while.

That kid Zhang Bo hadn't lied; he really had posted a Moments update about the Melo pearl earlier that morning.

Besides the Melo pearl, he also posted other collectible items such as ancient coins, paper currency, and stamps.

There was even a second-hand 2013 Audi old A6 for sale.

The variety of items for sale was quite eclectic.

Jiang Tao knew nothing about antiques and curios, so he wouldn't easily dabble in that industry.

He always practiced the rule of looking without buying.

His only purpose was to trigger related intelligence from the System Brother.

Xu Li had spent the day out with her mother, younger sister, and daughter Jiang Xue.

At noon, she also posted photos from when they were having lunch together.

His younger sister-in-law, Xu Sha, posted photos of her manicure.

Lyu Qian's post was a photo of him and Ma Dongmei climbing the Great Wall together.

Without looking at his ID card, one could hardly tell that this elder brother was already 71 years old!

After browsing today's Moments, Jiang Tao opened TikTok to conduct some aesthetic improvement training for a while.

Soon, the time reached midnight.

Jiang Tao closed the app, plugged his phone into the charger, and with a thought, connected with the System Brother.

[Today's Intelligence 01]:
You sold a Melo pearl at Boya Auction House yesterday, obtaining related intelligence—
Zhang Long, the owner of Boya Auction House, fished near the Tongzhou section of the Chaobai River yesterday and left behind two fortune-bringing river noodles stones!
[Note]: Carrying the river noodles stones with you increases your luck value by +3!

[Today's Intelligence 02]:
You browsed Zhang Bo's Moments yesterday, obtaining related information—
Inside the four doors of the Audi A6 that Zhang Bo is currently selling, a 100g Bank of China gold bar has been placed in each door.
The total value of the four gold bars is 275,280 yuan!
[Note]: The four gold bars were placed by the deceased 3rd owner of the car and are currently ownerless property.

...

"River noodles stones..."
"System Brother, you've changed. Even you are starting to use stale internet memes."

Jiang Tao was somewhat speechless upon seeing the "river noodles stones" mentioned in the first piece of intelligence.

However...
Since the System Brother said those two river noodles stones possessed the attribute of luck value +3,
presumably these river noodles stones were extraordinary, and it was still very necessary to check out the Chaobai River area tomorrow!
It's better to believe it exists than to believe it doesn't.
Taking a trip over there would at most cost him a bit of time.

After reading the first piece of intelligence, Jiang Tao turned his gaze to the second.

His eyes were instantly drawn by the huge sum of 275,280 yuan in total value.

"275,280! 270,000!"
"System Brother, give me more intelligence like this in the future. This is awesome!"

This piece of intelligence worth 270,000 yuan was one of the higher-valued ones since Jiang Tao bound the intelligence system.

Although it couldn't compare to the value of the sugar mandarins, its advantage lay in the much simpler operation.

He just needed to buy the second-hand Audi A6 that Zhang Bo was selling, and then dismantle the car doors to acquire the 4 gold bars!

"What kind of sensible person puts this kind of stuff inside car doors? Is there some specific reason behind it..."

Unable to figure it out, Jiang Tao couldn't be bothered to waste those brain cells.

He picked up his phone, opened WeChat, found his contact Zhang Bo, clicked into his Moments, and quickly spotted that second-hand Audi A6 for sale.

The exterior was the classic black, registered in 2012, with a mileage of 100,000 kilometers, fully maintained at 4S shops throughout, and accident-free.

The specific price wasn't stated.
But as long as it didn't exceed 270,000 yuan, he would make a profit!

Although Jiang Tao didn't know much about second-hand cars, presumably an old Audi that had already run 100,000 kilometers couldn't be all that expensive.

Those two river noodles stones had to be secured, and Zhang Bo's old Audi had to be secured as well!

As it happened, Jiang Tao was actually lacking a private car for getting around.

His 4.2-meter cargo truck was fine for hauling freight, but it was too shabby for visiting relatives and friends during the Chinese New Year.

Using this old Audi as a transitional vehicle was not a bad choice either.
Once the money in his hands became more abundant, he could consider changing cars.

After analyzing the two pieces of intelligence, Jiang Tao glanced at the time displayed on his phone, which was around 12:30 AM.
Having already taken a shower earlier, he got straight into bed and burrowed under the covers to sleep!

The hotel room was warmer and much more comfortable than his dog kennel.
The 198 yuan spent tonight was definitely not wasted!

At 7:00 AM the next morning, Jiang Tao was awakened by the alarm set on his phone.

After getting up, he went to the bathroom to wash his face, brush his teeth, and dress neatly before heading downstairs to check out.

He went outside to a nearby Qingfu Baozi shop and ordered a steamer of steamed buns and a bowl of wonton soup.

After eating his fill, it was still just 7:30 AM.

At this hour, young people with rich nightlife like Zhang Bo definitely hadn't woken up yet.

Not rushing to contact Zhang Bo, Jiang Tao hailed a taxi and headed straight for the Tongzhou section of the Chaobai River.

Sitting in the car, he opened the first piece of intelligence regarding the "river noodles stones".

A virtual 3D map of Beijing appeared on Jiang Tao's retina.
On the map, two small red and green dots were blinking intermittently, and a beep-beep-beep buzzing sound could be heard in Jiang Tao's ears.

"Alright, driver, right here. Pull over to the side."

Taking about half a minute, as the ride-hailing car approached the two flashing small dots, Jiang Tao instructed the driver to pull over.

"Sir, are you sure you want to get off here? There's neither a village in front nor a shop behind."

Seeing the desolate location where Jiang Tao was getting off, the driver asked with some puzzlement.

"Yes, my friend is fishing around here, and I'm going to find him to hang out."

After casually making up an excuse to brush him off and successfully paying through the ride-hailing app, Jiang Tao pushed the door open and got out of the car.

As soon as he stepped out, the cold wind instantly poured down the back of his neck.

Jiang Tao shivered, quickly tucking his hands into the pockets of his down jacket.

The place where he got off had neither a village ahead nor a shop behind; right below the highway was the Chaobai River, which flowed through Beijing and entered the territory of Hebei.

There was only a barrier about a meter high at the edge of the highway. Jiang Tao stepped right over it, jogged down the highway, and walked to the riverbank.

From afar, one could see the ice surface was chopped up like a chessboard, densely packed with circular holes drilled by anglers using ice drills.

It was just past 8:00 AM, and there were already seven or eight anglers fishing on the ice surface.

Following the "navigation map" in his field of vision, Jiang Tao walked along the riverbank for over ten minutes.

Beep-beep-beep-beep—
The buzzing sound in his ears grew louder and louder.
It indicated that he was infinitely close to those two river noodles stones.