Today is the first day of the Qingming Festival holiday.
Some people are on their way home, while others are heading out for travel.
The service area is bustling with people, full of lively energy.
Jiang Tao searched for quite a while before finding an empty spot to park his truck.
After parking, he took his two nephews and headed straight to the spot where he, his father-in-law, and his dad had been smoking yesterday.
That spot was easy to recognize, located just a short distance to the left of the public restroom.
When the three of them arrived, Jiang Tao noticed a few workers in yellow vests with reflective strips, busy trimming grass and pruning trees with buzzing clippers.
A chubby man was gesturing and talking to one of the workers, who was nodding and bowing in response.
"Looks like that fat guy must be the person in charge," Jiang Tao thought.
After assessing the situation, Jiang Tao quickly made a judgment and started walking toward the chubby man.
"Old Liu, cut down those few Chinese walnut trees over there and dig up their roots too," the chubby man said.
"The newly ordered styled five-needle pines are already on their way and will arrive tomorrow."
"Also, rip up that lawn and replace it with a new one."
"And…"
"Got it, Manager Niu. I'll arrange for the trees to be cut and the roots dug up right away," the worker replied.
As Jiang Tao approached, he overheard the chubby man assigning tasks to the worker, and his heart tightened.
He glanced at the watch on his wrist—it was already 10:38 a.m.
According to the intel he had, there were only about twenty minutes left before the mutated Chinese walnut tree mentioned in the information would be cut down.
Luckily, the roads had been clear today. If there had been even a slight traffic jam, he wouldn't have made it in time.
After finishing his instructions, the chubby man turned and walked away.
Jiang Tao then approached the worker, who seemed like a team leader or a minor supervisor.
"Hello, big brother. Are you the person in charge here?" Jiang Tao asked.
The man, who looked to be in his forties, didn't find it abrupt when Jiang Tao called him "big brother."
Pointing at the chubby man's retreating figure, the worker said, "I'm not the person in charge, just a worker. The guy who just left is the leader."
Jiang Tao pointed to the Chinese walnut trees nearby and asked with a smile, "No problem. I overheard while smoking earlier that you guys are planning to cut down these walnut trees?"
The man nodded and said, "Yeah, the boss bought new tree species that'll arrive tomorrow, so these are all getting chopped down."
"Big brother, do you smoke? May I have your name?" Jiang Tao asked.
He pulled out a pack of Da Tian Ye cigarettes, put one in his mouth, and handed the rest of the pack to the man.
"No need to be formal—my surname's Ma, Ma Qingsheng," the man replied.
When Ma Qingsheng saw the pack of Da Tian Ye cigarettes, he instantly felt a bit of goodwill toward Jiang Tao.
As a smoker with decades of experience, he knew a pack of Da Tian Ye cost over a hundred yuan, even more expensive than a pack of Huazi by a few dozen.
After Ma Qingsheng took the cigarettes, Jiang Tao withdrew his hand, the gesture carrying an unspoken understanding.
It was like a tacit agreement between veteran smokers.
Ma Qingsheng took a cigarette from the pack, put it in his mouth, and naturally slipped the rest of the pack into his jacket pocket.
Seeing Ma Qingsheng accept the cigarettes, Jiang Tao smiled and said, "Here's the thing, big brother. Since you're cutting down these trees anyway, would it be okay if I bought one to take home and plant for fun?"
Jiang Tao emphasized the word "buy" clearly, making his stance clear.
He wasn't here to take anything for free—he was willing to pay.
"Buy a tree?" Ma Qingsheng looked at Jiang Tao with slight confusion.
His expression seemed to say, *Why don't you go to a nursery if you want to buy a tree? Why come here?*
"It's just a coincidence," Jiang Tao explained. "You guys are about to cut these down, and I happen to want to buy one."
"Here's the deal, Brother Ma. If you help me dig out that tree, I've got my own truck to haul it away, so you won't have to worry about transportation."
"After it's done, I'll give you 3,000 yuan. You can take the guys out for a meal or something."
Jiang Tao lowered his voice to a level where only he and Ma Qingsheng could hear the last few sentences.
"3,000?" Ma Qingsheng's heart skipped a beat at Jiang Tao's offer.
Treating his crew to a meal would cost four or five hundred at most, leaving him with a net profit of over 2,000 yuan!
Besides, these trees were slated to be cut down and disposed of under Manager Niu's orders, and Ma Qingsheng was in charge of handling it.
Whether he threw them out as trash or sold one to Jiang Tao for profit, it was his call.
Why turn down 3,000 yuan for free?
Seeing Ma Qingsheng's interest, Jiang Tao continued, "Don't worry, Brother Ma. This stays between us. If anyone asks, just say I'm helping you deal with the trash."
"Alright then! Which one do you want? I'll have the guys dig it out for you!" Ma Qingsheng said, unable to resist the temptation of 3,000 yuan.
This 3,000 yuan was practically free money—enough for how many foot massages?
Why not take it? It's free!
"Brother Ma, you're a straightforward guy! I want that one over there. Just make sure the guys are careful when digging it out—I want it to survive transplanting," Jiang Tao said, pointing to the mutated Chinese walnut tree that glowed with a faint golden light in his vision.
"No problem, boss. We're professionals in landscaping. The tree we dig out will definitely survive transplanting," Ma Qingsheng assured him.
"I'll go arrange it now!"
With that, Ma Qingsheng strode toward the workers, muttering a few instructions to them.
The workers set down their lawnmowers and large shears, each grabbing a large shovel to start digging.
The mutated Chinese walnut tree was less than 10 centimeters in diameter, and its root system wasn't too extensive.
In less than twenty minutes, the workers had dug a pit about one and a half meters deep.
Together, they lifted the mutated Chinese walnut tree that Jiang Tao had specified out of the pit.
Under Ma Qingsheng's direction, they carried it straight to Jiang Tao's 4.2-meter truck.
Jiang Tao promptly transferred 3,000 yuan to Ma Qingsheng via WeChat.
The transaction was complete.
"Second Uncle, you spent 3,000 yuan on *that* thing?" Jiang Shaojie said, looking at the walnut tree with soil still clinging to its roots on the truck. "There are tons of walnut trees in our village. If you wanted one, I could've gotten you one for free!"
Jiang Tao laughed. "You know nothing, kid. Would your uncle make a losing deal?"
"Just wait and see. This walnut tree will earn me back the money I spent on it a hundred or a thousand times over."
"A hundred or a thousand times?" Jiang Shaojie quickly did the math in his head.
A hundred times 3,000 yuan was 300,000 yuan.
A thousand times was a whopping 3 million!
How many walnuts would you have to sell to make 3 million?
But his second uncle wasn't the type to boast recklessly.
Could this tree grow golden walnuts or something?
Jiang Shijie asked, "Second Uncle, what do we do now? Head home?"
"What, you missing your girlfriend already?" Jiang Tao teased his older nephew before continuing, "You two stay here and watch the truck and the tree. I've got something to take care of and will step away for a bit."
After giving his nephews their instructions, Jiang Tao grabbed a bouquet of yellow chrysanthemums from the truck's cargo area and walked off into the distance.
Once Jiang Tao was out of sight, Jiang Shaojie nudged his older brother's arm and whispered, "Bro, you think Second Uncle's sneaking off to meet another woman behind Aunt's back?"
Jiang Shijie glared at his younger brother. "Don't talk nonsense. Second Uncle's not that kind of person."
"Then why's he carrying flowers?" Jiang Shaojie pressed.
"Are you serious? Who brings chrysanthemums to a date? You idiot!" Jiang Shijie snapped, smacking his foolish younger brother on the forehead.
Jiang Tao, unaware of his nephews' gossip, was fully focused on the real-time map projected onto his retina.
About 300 meters from his current position, a quail-egg-sized yellow dot was blinking steadily.
He had deliberately parked the truck far from the "zombie car" mentioned in the intel to make his task easier.
In the time it took to smoke a cigarette, Jiang Tao walked to the vicinity of the zombie car described in the intel.
It was a white Volkswagen Bora with a Hebei license plate.
The car was covered in a thick layer of dust.
The roof looked like a bird bathroom, littered with white and yellow droppings.
The windows were so caked with grime that the interior was completely obscured.
A vacuum zone had formed around the car—no one wanted to park in the two empty spaces on either side.
Jiang Tao approached and placed the bouquet of chrysanthemums on the windshield.
"I don't know if you were a man or a woman, young or old, but I hope you get a good reincarnation in your next life," he murmured silently.
"And thanks for your Bitcoin."
As soon as he finished speaking, he felt a sensation in his right pocket, as if someone had touched it.
Looking down, he realized something new was in his pocket.
He reached in and pulled out a cold, metallic object—a stainless steel folding USB drive about the size of a middle finger.
In his vision, the USB drive glowed with a faint golden light.
Clearly, this was the USB drive mentioned in the intel!
On the way here, Jiang Tao had been worrying about how to discreetly retrieve the USB drive in broad daylight.
But before he could even act, the USB drive had somehow ended up in his pocket!
"Thanks!" Jiang Tao said sincerely, glancing at the zombie car before turning to leave.
On his way back, he passed the service area's food stalls and bought six pure-meat donkey burgers.
He paid an extra 10 yuan per burger to have extra meat added, turning them into "plus" versions.
While the donkey burgers in this part of B Prefecture weren't as authentic as those in Baoding, they were still pretty good.
The outer bun was grilled to a golden crisp, and the donkey meat inside was stewed until tender and flavorful.
At around 30 yuan each, they were worth the price.
After buying the burgers, he went into the service area's convenience store and picked up a few cans of Red Bull and some Oriental Leaf tea.
They wouldn't make it home for lunch today, so they'd have to make do with a quick meal on the road.
"Second Uncle, you're back!" Jiang Shaojie called out.
"Second Uncle!" Jiang Shijie echoed.
The brothers rushed to help when they saw their uncle carrying bags of food.
Jiang Tao smiled. "Let's have a quick lunch, you three. Tonight, I'll take you both to Magnolia for a big dinner."
"Magnolia! I've never been to such a fancy restaurant before! Second Uncle, can we take pictures there?" Jiang Shaojie asked excitedly.
"I want to snap a bunch of photos to show off at school when the semester starts!"
"Take as many as you want. Doesn't your aunt have a DJI Phantom 3? Borrow it from her and shoot a vlog if you want," Jiang Tao said with a laugh, handing out the loaded donkey burgers to his nephews.
"Wow, donkey burgers! So much meat! Let me take a picture first!" Jiang Shaojie said, pulling out his phone to snap a few shots.
The three of them chatted while devouring their donkey burgers and Oriental Leaf tea.
After eating and drinking their fill, Jiang Tao took the wheel, and the trio began their journey back.
The return trip wasn't as smooth as the way there.
With frequent stops and starts, what should've been a two-hour drive stretched into over three hours.
Fortunately, with his nephews keeping him company and a good night's sleep in [Deep Sleep Mode] the night before, Jiang Tao stayed alert and didn't feel drowsy.
By the time they reached Jiang Family Village, it was already past 4 p.m.
Jiang Tao's house was locked—Xu Li had taken Jiang Xue to her mother's and wouldn't be back until evening.
After unlocking the door, the three of them carried the mutated Chinese walnut tree into the courtyard.
Jiang Tao then directed his nephews to dig a pit near the western wall of the courtyard and replant the tree.
Following Ma Qingsheng's instructions, they fertilized and watered it.
"You two worked hard coming out with me today. This is your pay," Jiang Tao said with a grin, pulling two stacks of cash from his pocket and handing them to his nephews.
Ever since he acquired the [Money Begets Money] ability, Jiang Tao received 10,000 yuan in cash daily, so he was never short on money.
"Hehe, thanks, Second Uncle!" Jiang Shaojie said.
"Thanks, Second Uncle!" Jiang Shijie added.
The brothers didn't stand on ceremony, thanking him and accepting the money.
Jiang Shaojie mentally estimated the thickness of the cash—there had to be at least 3,000 yuan.
All he did was tag along with his uncle for a trip, and he got paid this much?
His second uncle was too awesome!
"Come back to my place around 6 p.m. tonight, and we'll head out," Jiang Tao said, waving them off.
"See you, Second Uncle!"
"Bye, Second Uncle!"
The brothers waved excitedly and jogged out the door.
After seeing them off, Jiang Tao returned to the living room and pulled the Bitcoin key from his pocket.
He didn't know much about Bitcoin.
All he knew was that it was a globally famous cryptocurrency.
And it was worth a lot.
In many web novels, protagonists who were reborn would stock up on Bitcoin when it first launched, waiting for its value to skyrocket and achieve financial freedom.
Jiang Tao pulled out his phone and opened a browser to check Bitcoin's trading price for the day.
"752,358!"
One Bitcoin was worth over 750,000 yuan.
According to the intel, the USB drive contained two Bitcoins—over 1.5 million yuan in total.