Chapter 425 - 416: Reunion (Part 2)

Chapter 425: Chapter 416: Reunion (Part 2)

Once everyone was seated, Li Weiya called the waiter over to serve the food.

Eight Treasures Appetizer Platter, Baked Lobster with Pickled Peppers, Abalone and Sea Cucumber Soup, Steamed Baby Abalone with Garlic, Braised Sea Cucumber with Scallions, Typhoon Shelter-style Fried Crab Meat, Signature Roasted Whole Chicken, Spicy "Overlord’s" Pork Knuckle, Steamed Grouper with Scallion Oil, Golden Cordyceps Flower Soup, and Peking Duck.

Every single one was a signature dish.

Jiang Xia stood up, took the ladle, and went to serve a bowl of the cordyceps soup to his parents and mother-in-law. Li Weiya insisted on getting it herself, so Jiang Xia relented.

"Weiya, are you used to life in the Imperial Capital?" Xia Shanshan asked after taking a sip of the delicious cordyceps soup.

"It’s been two years. Even if I wasn’t, I am now," Li Weiya said with a smile.

"That’s true."

"I told Ah Xia that since you all made the long trip to the Imperial Capital, he should take a break and focus on spending time with you. I can hold down the fort at the company."

Jiang Wende immediately shook his head. "No, no. We don’t need him to keep us company. If he has work to do, he should go do it."

He was worried about disturbing his son.

Jiang Xia was a little helpless. "Dad, I’m not as busy as you think. Besides, you’ll need a local guide to show you around, won’t you?"

"How much can a tour guide possibly cost?" Jiang Wende shot him a glare.

"Dad, we rarely get to go home. Jiang Xia just purely wants to spend time with you," Lin Yanwan chimed in at the opportune moment.

Hearing his daughter-in-law say this, Jiang Wende felt too embarrassed to keep arguing. He hesitated before saying, "Fine, two days at most. After that, you get your butt back to work."

"You got it, Dad."

After they had eaten and drunk their fill, Xia Shanshan looked at the unfinished dishes on the table and felt it was a painful waste. She wanted to pack the leftovers, but Jiang Xia was firm in his refusal. The trunk of the car was already stuffed to the brim; there was no more room.

As a mother, Xia Shanshan muttered a few curses under her breath, calling him a spendthrift.

"Dad, Mom, do you want to go back and rest first, or would you like to see the company?" Jiang Xia asked.

Jiang Wende pondered for a moment. "Is the company far from here? If it is, we can go another day."

He hadn’t wanted to come to the Imperial Capital in the first place, fearing he would disrupt his son’s work. But he also wanted to see how his son’s company was doing, so in the end, he came.

Li Weiya, having just settled the bill, came over and happened to hear his question. She pointed to the two twin towers of Tsinghua Science Park not far away and said, "Brother Jiang, see those two tall buildings? It’s the one on the right. It’s just a short walk from here."

"Will we be disturbing anyone’s work?"

"Dad, you’re here for a leadership inspection. It’s a perfect chance for you to see if there’s anything I’m not doing well enough," Jiang Xia said with a laugh.

"Don’t you go flattering me. I’m just a little old man who doesn’t know a thing. I just want to see what the company looks like."

"So, shall we go take a look?"

"Let’s go take a look," Jiang Wende said without hesitation.

The thought of seeing his son’s company so soon made the old father’s heart suddenly race with excitement.

A few minutes later, Jiang Xia drove into the company’s underground garage. He pressed the button for the fifteenth floor. The elevator rose to the first floor and the doors suddenly opened, where an employee from the company squeezed in.

He looked up and saw the boss and the boss’s wife were both there, along with Li Weiya and Wang Ming. There was also a middle-aged woman whose facial features looked a little like Jiang Xia’s. ’Could that be President Jiang’s mom?’

He froze instantly. He was about to back out, but the elevator doors were already closing. Steeling himself, he said, "Hello, President Jiang. Hello, President Lin. Hello, President Li."

Jiang Xia gave a slight nod. "You’re from D Station’s marketing department, right?"

"Yes, I am."

"Keep up the good work."

Jiang Wende and Xia Shanshan exchanged a look. ’Why are we suddenly feeling so proud?’

The elevator doors opened on the fifteenth floor. The moment Jiang Wende stepped out, he was enveloped in an atmosphere brimming with animation elements.

Cat and Mouse, Pokemon, Slam Dunk, and Four-wheel Brothers were the four pillars of Qitian Animation. However, in terms of profitability, Cat and Mouse was still the biggest earner. Pokemon and Four-wheel Brothers had launched too recently and hadn’t hit their stride yet.

"This whole floor is Qitian Animation. Dili Dili is on the floor above," Jiang Xia explained.

"This entire floor is yours?"

Hearing this, Jiang Wende’s eyes widened. ’Holy cow, a whole floor? How big is that? And he has two floors?’

"That’s right."

"What’s the... what’s the square footage?"

"About 1,500 square meters. The rent is cheap, too. I got a student entrepreneur discount—two yuan per square meter per day. So it’s only about a hundred thousand or so a month," Jiang Xia said.

’Cheap... only...’

Jiang Wende swallowed hard. He worked his fingers to the bone driving a taxi for a whole year and barely made that much.

’Forget it, forget it. No point in comparing. My son is way more successful than his old man.’

Jiang Wende followed his son on a tour, with employees constantly greeting him. Jiang Xia invited him into an office to sit and have some tea, but his father just kept shaking his head. He wouldn’t understand anything if he went in, and he didn’t want to disturb anyone’s work.

Ji Wanqiu, on the other hand, took out her phone and snapped many pictures. She even made a special stop at the Cat and Mouse project team’s area to see how they usually worked.

After all, her family’s merchandise business was highly integrated with Qitian Animation. In fact, many of the animated character decorations on this floor were supplied by Gaoyuan Toys.

There was a natural sense of kinship.

After visiting the four studios within Qitian Animation, the group made a special trip upstairs to see the legendary D Station.

Dili Dili was a completely different type of company from Qitian Animation. To Jiang Wende, the difference was that D Station looked more like a typical internet tech company. The departments were clearly delineated, there were more employees than at Qitian Animation, and the work seemed more complex.

Seeing both companies developing in such an orderly fashion, Jiang Wende’s heart filled with satisfaction.

’This is great. This is truly great.’

To have a son like this in his lifetime... he truly didn’t know what good deeds he must have done in his past lives to deserve such a blessing.

"Should we keep looking around, or head back?" Jiang Xia asked.

"My wish has been fulfilled. Ask your mother and the others," Jiang Wende said.

"Then let’s go back. Let’s go see that big villa you bought," Xia Shanshan said with a smile. "I’ve lived for over half my life and I’ve never stayed in a villa before."

Jiang Xia nodded. Before heading home, he had someone bring over a Pikachu throw pillow to give to his sister-in-law as a gift.

He said a quick word to Li Weiya, then left the company directly, taking his parents and mother-in-law home.

About fifteen minutes later, his modest sedan, worth around a hundred thousand yuan, slowly drove into the luxurious villa complex of Celestial Beauty.

Looking at the detached villa in front of them, Xia Shanshan was utterly stunned.

A courtyard, a swimming pool, a garden, a lawn... it was a standalone property with its own yard, looking almost exactly like the mansions shown on TV.

’Is this really a house I can afford to live in?’

"Be honest with your mother, give me the bottom line. How much did you pay for this house?" Xia Shanshan asked, pulling her son aside and lowering her voice.

Jiang Xia had no intention of hiding it and answered honestly, "With all the miscellaneous fees, it came out to a little over 18 million, I think? Don’t worry, I didn’t take out a loan. I paid in full."

"How much? 18 million?!" Xia Shanshan was so shocked she lost control and cried out involuntarily.

’I wouldn’t dare live in a house this expensive!’

Hearing this, Jiang Wende’s heart gave a violent twitch. This was a much bigger shock than the hundred-thousand-a-month rent. Many people couldn’t earn that much money in several lifetimes, yet his son bought it just like that, without even blinking.

Ji Wanqiu, for her part, glanced at her own daughter. ’This girl’s skill in picking a husband is simply on another level.’

"Mom, money is meant to be spent. Otherwise, what’s the point of earning it? Now that you’re here, just relax and enjoy the experience of living in a mansion," Jiang Xia said with a serious expression.

"You didn’t buy this villa specifically because you knew we were coming to the Imperial Capital, did you?" Xia Shanshan asked, eyeing him with deep suspicion.

"Not exactly. The last place I lived, all sorts of media people would show up and bother me. It was really annoying. Besides, property prices in the Imperial Capital are rising so fast. The later you buy, the more you lose out," Jiang Xia said.

"Oh, is that so..."

Xia Shanshan looked around. A private, standalone property was indeed quiet. There wouldn’t be random people visiting all the time. The privacy was maxed out.

"Alright, don’t just stand around outside. Let’s go in and have a look."

...

(It’s the end of the month, can I ask for a monthly ticket? Sob sob sob...)