Chapter 307: The Embryonic Form of the Power Base

The next morning, Zhang Ping'an got up to stretch and exercise, while his grandparents were already in the courtyard practicing the Five Animal Frolics and Tai Chi.

At 6:30, Zhang Ping'an called Wang Xiaoling and the four children up, urging them to practice the Body Refining Technique every day from now on.

"Weidong, Weijun, you two better train hard. Next time I come over and find you still lingering on the first thirty movements, I'll let you know what 'fatherly love is like a mountain, earth-shattering' truly means."

"Oh, we know, Dad."

"The three of you as well."

"Oh, okay."

"Brother Ping'an, they are still growing; there's no need to rush."

"Hmm, I know. As long as they can reach Great Accomplishment before they turn twenty, that's fine. I can't let them be like Dongxu, dawdling for over ten years."

After reaching Body Refining Great Success, it is similar to having taken a Youth-Preserving Pill; the activity of human cells is significantly enhanced, which can greatly delay aging.

Just like Zhang Ping'an and his wife, they currently maintain the appearance of being twenty-two or twenty-three, even though their actual age is well into their thirties.

Of course, it is not entirely the credit of the Body Refining Technique; long-term consumption of Space Water better maintains the needs of bodily cell activity.

For half an hour, Zhang Ping'an massaged and relaxed the five children individually; they still had to go to school later, so they couldn't be too tired.

After breakfast, Zhang Ping'an made a phone call to Qian Dahu, then reverted to the blonde-haired, blue-eyed appearance from yesterday and took a taxi to his place.

"Sir, I'm sorry, this is a private area and is not open to the public."

"Xiao Liu, he is here to see me."

"Master, is it really you?" Qian Dahu said excitedly.

"Hmm, let's go inside to talk."

"Yes, yes, yes."

Zhang Ping'an entered the courtyard. The walls here were all over three meters high, and there were various exercise apparatuses in the large field, with most people doing simple physical training.

Behind the training ground was a row of three-story dormitories, all used to house these orphans. In front of the dormitories were three large pots with a medicinal herbal scent, clearly left over from long-term boiling of medicine.

There were also twenty large vats, likely for the convenience of storing the Pill.

To the east of the dormitory building was another row of independent three-story small buildings that seemed not yet in use, and there was also a two-story office building.

Walking into the office, Zhang Ping'an wiped the disguise off his face and head, then returned to his original appearance under the shocked gazes of the two brothers.

"Master..."

"Hmm, these are your younger brothers and sisters. Some have already started families. Take a look, these are all their photos."

These were all taken by Zhang Ping'an beforehand; he was always preparing to come to Xiangjiang.

"Good, good, good. It's great that they've started families."

After the two calmed down, Zhang Ping'an asked about the situation here.

"Big Brother, we currently have ninety-seven people here, all orphans. The oldest we adopted were twelve, totaling twenty-five people, who are now seventeen. The others were adopted when they were around five or six."

"Hmm."

"By the way, Big Brother, the money you gave us ran out two years ago." The two felt a bit awkward saying this, then continued:

"The money after that was provided by Jia Erge, but he also took twenty people from here to be car repair apprentices."

Mentioning Jia Youwei, the two were endless in their praise; whether it was technical skills in mechanics or ways to make money, he was peerless.

The car repair shop he invested in had profits exceeding one million US dollars, though of course, most of it was from the fees Jia Youwei charged for modifying sports cars for others.

"Hmm, how much did Second Brother invest?"

"Two hundred thousand US dollars, but I haven't finished spending it yet."

"Master, raising these people costs more than I imagined. Not only do they need enough nutrition every day to maintain their training, but we also have to buy medicinal herbs to boil medicine. Plus, the cost of living here is high; money doesn't last long."

"Hmm, I have an idea. I'll bring you one million tomorrow to spend for now."

"By the way, is there a basement here? You should buy more freezers and cold storage cabinets to keep in stock; I brought a lot of good things."

"Yes, Master, and it's quite large. I'll arrange for people to buy the freezers right away."

"Do you have a car?"

"Yes, we have five vans of unknown age, but they have all been modified by Jia Erge, and their performance in every aspect is top-notch."

"Alright, I'll take one to use. By the way, get me an identity."

Zhang Ping'an planned to scout the major banks later to get some money to spend; he really didn't want to exchange any more Big Yellow Fish.

Moreover, it was impossible for a bank to have walls thicker than twelve meters. If he took three or five hundred thousand from each bank through the air, they wouldn't notice in the short term.

"Okay."

"Also, you two are not young anymore; you should get married when it's time. Take some photos later for me to take back."

"Yes, Master."

Zhang Ping'an drove the vintage van out, and spent the whole morning scouting. Zhang Ping'an discovered that almost every bank had tens of millions or even over a hundred million in cash.

Zhang Ping'an was like a mouse that had fallen into a rice jar. Approaching the bank vaults, Zhang Ping'an "borrowed" three hundred thousand from the middle of the mountains of money. He patronized nine banks, including HSBC, Standard Chartered, and Citibank.

"I am still too kind, basically only taking two or three percent. Now my pockets are bulging, a full 3.8 million US dollars, enough for the Qian Dahu brothers to squander."

In the evening, Zhang Ping'an returned with a van full of ingredients, and Qian Dahu had also bought five freezers back.

"Dahu, get people to put the things in the van into the freezers."

"Alright, Big Brother."

Once all five freezers were filled, Zhang Ping'an stopped transporting from the space, and the van was empty.

"Here is 1.5 million US dollars; it should be enough for your expenses for eight or ten years. Take three hundred thousand to buy more freezers; I still have a lot of cargo that hasn't been brought over."

*Gulp. *

"Look at the two of you, so spineless. There is another million here. You are responsible for buying some land and building a simple factory to occupy the land first, and then develop it specifically ten years later."

"The children here should also be cultivated according to their specialties—accountants, lawyers, stock traders, managers, designers, etc. Don't limit them to martial arts."

"I see there is still plenty of open space here. Build a dozen classrooms and hire people to come and teach the children. If they have specialties, focus on cultivating them, provided, of course, that their loyalty is guaranteed."

"Think about the massive business empire we are going to build, radiating from Xiangjiang to the surrounding countries; this place is the school where our empire will cultivate talent, and you are the principals of this school."

"Understood, Master." The Qian brothers had their eyes shining and their blood boiling after being fed a bowl of chicken soup by Zhang Ping'an; they couldn't wait to start working hard right now.

"Go on, buy the freezers and fresh-keeping cabinets first, I am going to haul the goods too."

"You got it."

Zhang Ping'an drove the van back and forth, and it wasn't until he had made ten or so trips that Zhang Ping'an felt it was about enough.

The ingredients for fifty or sixty freezers were enough for Master and the others to eat for a year or a year and a half.

It was evening by the time all the freezers and fresh-keeping cabinets were transported to the basement; it exceeded Zhang Ping'an's expectations, as there were actually eighty-three of them in total.

"Master, these were all stock from the Foot-Basin Chickens; these things were hard to sell to begin with, so I cleared out most of them for them, which is why they were so cheap."

"Good, good, good."

With more than ten people busy at work, all the ingredients were quickly sorted and put away.

"Do you still have the Pill I brought last time?"

"There is still a bit left; I was afraid of using it up too early, so I have been diluting one pill with about a hundred catties of water."

"You kid are quite shrewd; I brought quite a lot more this time, and the two jars just moved are full of them, so feel free to use them with Dadan."

"You got it."

They knew the benefits of these pills; the orphans they had taken in were able to quickly shake off malnutrition precisely thanks to them.