Chapter 24: Chapter 24: Discussing Cooperation with the Lu Family

After Lu Yunque left, Yun Zijin continued picking out clothes for her seven bodyguards. She ended up spending a total of five million on their clothes, shoes, and other items.

Yun Zijin dedicated the remaining five million to a beauty salon.

Why do those celebrities in their thirties, forties, or even fifties still look like they’re in their twenties?

The reason, when you get right down to it, is that they spend money on their faces.

There’s a big difference between using store-bought products for a daily skincare routine and getting deep, professional treatments at a salon.

Jinsheng Mall truly lived up to its reputation as Dijing’s most expensive, yet most comprehensive shopping destination. On the 10th floor, Yun Zijin found a beauty salon that was excellent in every regard, from its decor and environment to its customer service and product reputation.

Of course, the prices were just as stunning.

However, for Yun Zijin, anything that could be solved with money wasn’t a problem at all.

Because Yun Zijin dropped a whopping five million in a single payment, the owner of the Qili Women’s Beauty Salon immediately assigned a senior esthetician to create a customized 1-on-1 beauty and wellness plan for her.

While Yun Zijin had youth on her side, her face full of collagen, a closer look revealed a few minor imperfections.

For example, some slight redness from broken capillaries, sunspots from prolonged sun exposure, and so on.

The esthetician would address each of these issues in Yun Zijin’s maintenance and restoration plan.

Of course, based on the principles of health and natural-friendliness, this maintenance and restoration plan would require a long-term commitment.

In other words, it looked like Yun Zijin was set to become a long-term client at this salon.

Even though she knew she was being fleeced, Yun Zijin didn’t mind.

’This is just another way for me to spend money for my future tasks,’ she thought.

’As long as I make the deposit, the money is as good as spent.’

In the private treatment room, Yun Zijin lay on the bed, comfortably enjoying a massage from the esthetician.

During the session, her phone chimed twice with text message notifications, but Yun Zijin paid it no mind. The esthetician, focused on the massage, didn’t pay much attention to such a minor thing either.

「Two hours later.」

Yun Zijin’s first trip to the beauty salon finally came to an end. She habitually unlocked her phone and saw a small red dot with a ’2’ on the messages icon.

Yun Zijin had a compulsion about not being able to stand even a single red notification dot, so she tapped it open.

She saw they were notifications from her bank.

Yun Zijin calmly tapped them open.

The next second, her eyes went wide.

She checked WeChat, and sure enough! Both Xu Yuanfu and Wu Yutang had messaged her; they had both sent their rent payments today.

The rent for the South Suburb Auto Museum City was a bit less—500 million a month, paid quarterly, which came to 1.5 billion.

As for Dingsi Building, the entire 88-story building had 100 office units per floor. With rent at 300,000 per month for each unit, the quarterly total came to 7.92 billion. The parking fees varied by month, and this first quarter’s fee was 30 million.

This one haul brought Yun Zijin nearly 10 billion all at once.

But Yun Zijin quickly calmed down. As a lawful citizen of Hua Country, she naturally had to pay her taxes.

Yun Zijin entrusted the task of handling taxes to Ling Lu, who, it was said, had worked all sorts of jobs before the system selected him to be a bodyguard.

After all, she wasn’t an accountant. If she missed something and ended up being investigated for tax evasion, that would be terrible.

"Alright, Ling Lu, you’ve got a heavy responsibility here. Absolutely no cutting corners. Everything has to be taxed by the book, got it?"

"Understood! Please rest assured, Miss. Not a single cent will be missed!"

Hearing Ling Lu’s confident reply, Yun Zijin finally let out a sigh of relief.

＊＊＊＊＊

「Sunday.」

It was the system’s weekend, which meant Yun Zijin was still a "wage earner" with a daily salary of ten million, but with no spending tasks to complete.

Since she had a 10 AM meeting with Lu Yunque at the Lu Group to discuss the West Suburb development project, Yun Zijin left Xingyu Mansion at 8:30. At 9:50, she finally arrived at the foot of the Lu Group Building.

’This is my first time inside the Lu Group,’ she thought. ’In the past, I never would have dreamed I’d one day set foot in the Lu Group, let alone to discuss a project with its president.’

Lu Yunque received word the moment Yun Zijin arrived at the Lu Group Building.

To ensure the smooth signing of their cooperation agreement, Lu Yunque had specifically set aside two hours today to discuss the terms of her partnership with the Lu Group.

"Hello, I’m here to see Mr. Lu."

Yun Zijin walked up to the front desk and politely stated her purpose.

"Do you have an appointment?"

"Your Mr. Lu scheduled a meeting with me for 10 o’clock yesterday."

"One moment, please."

The receptionist picked up the desk phone and called the president’s office to confirm.

"Miss Yun, hello! I’m Chen Cheng, Mr. Lu’s special assistant. Mr. Lu instructed me yesterday that I was to come down and greet you at 10 o’clock. This way, please."

Seeing Chen Cheng and hearing his words to Miss Yun, the receptionist knew that what Yun Zijin had said was true.

’So she wasn’t one of those socialites trying to get close to Mr. Lu, lying about an appointment and thinking she could just waltz into the Lu Group.’

The receptionist secretly breathed a sigh of relief. ’Thankfully, I didn’t act inappropriately based on my own assumptions. Otherwise, I’d probably be waiting for a termination letter from HR right about now.’

Chen Cheng led Yun Zijin to Lu Yunque’s private elevator and up to a small conference room on the Lu Group’s top floor, where Lu Yunque was already waiting.

"Miss Yun, good morning. Please, have a seat."

"The Lu Group truly lives up to its reputation."

Yun Zijin said as she took a seat in the chair opposite Lu Yunque.

"I don’t like to waste time. This is the Lu Group’s detailed proposal for the West Suburb Hot Spring Resort. The design images inside are all 3D architectural renderings, which should give you a more intuitive feel for our design philosophy and details, Miss Yun."

Lu Yunque turned the laptop in front of him to face Yun Zijin.

Yun Zijin adjusted the laptop’s angle and began scrolling through the project proposal.

’This is much more detailed than what he showed me at Xiyu Cafe,’ she thought. ’And these 3D renderings are incredibly realistic. If I didn’t know these were computer-generated, I would’ve thought they were photographs of an actual building at some scenic spot.’

Just from the proposal, Yun Zijin could sense the immense capital investment behind the project, as well as the importance the Lu Group placed on it.

’Then again, that made sense. If it weren’t important, Lu Yunque wouldn’t have come to her personally to discuss the partnership.’

Yun Zijin read the entire proposal from start to finish. She had to admit, even as a layperson, she could tell the project had excellent prospects.

"This project, as you said, Mr. Lu, is certainly a valuable investment."

"If you have any concerns, Miss Yun, please lay them all out. I’ll do my best to accommodate anything within my power."

"In the contract you showed me before, not only do I have to provide the land, but because I’m contributing it as equity, I’m also expected to fund subsequent development. My land accounts for 10% of the total project area, yet my profit share is only 5%. On top of that, they’re just non-voting shares, meaning I can’t do anything but collect dividends.

Mr. Lu, you didn’t see how young I am and assume I can’t read a contract, did you? Thinking you could just fob me off with a small dividend?"