Duan Xi lovingly glanced at her, reached out to rub her little head, and started the car.

Shen Ting was going to participate in a competition, and Duan Xi conveniently gave him a ride to the location. After he got out of the car, Ruan Jiaojiao chirped away, telling Duan Xi about what had just happened.

Finally, she asked Duan Xi, "Brother Xi, do you think Shen Ting looks at Jiang Xun now with a kind of superior feeling, like everyone else is drunk but he’s the only one sober?"

Actually, over the past year or so, she had more than once seen Shen Ting seek out Jiang Xun. It’s just that she used to see it from afar and hadn’t gotten close enough to hear what they were saying, so she didn’t know what they talked about, only that Jiang Xun’s face looked bad.

She had previously always thought that Shen Ting wanted to strike preemptively this time, to beat down Jiang Xun, and not let him compete with him for Wa Yiting. But now it seems, that wasn’t the case. The way he mocked Jiang Xun bore a clear sense of seeing through everything with superior insight, especially what he said in the car just now, seemed less about Wa Yiting.

"He lives more transparently than in his past life." Duan Xi nodded. Some things, actually, once you step outside and view them as an observer, you’ll find that past persistence was just not seeing beyond the surface.

Ruan Jiaojiao nodded along in agreement. As things stand, Shen Ting is actually quite alright, not as obsessive as in the past life. Although his words can be sharp, it’s no big deal.

Afterward, the two stopped discussing this and shifted the topic to the matter of contracting the mountain.

It’s still only ’97, and contracting mountains is very cheap. Moreover, Duan Xi found a barren mountain, so although he contracted over a dozen hectares, at a price of two hundred yuan per acre, for a 70-year contract, it didn’t cost much.

It’s just that the paperwork is a bit cumbersome, requiring visits to many places, and Duan Xi specifically invited Ruan Chi to help with the procedures.

Ruan Jiaojiao was taken by Duan Xi to see the mountain. Since it was a barren hill and somewhat far from the Beidu District, nestled in the suburbs, Ruan Jiaojiao, sitting in the car, felt it jolting along the bumpy road and whispered, "We’ll probably have to fix the road later."

Ruan Chi, who was picked up midway, sat in the back seat, swaying from side to side, even taking off his glasses. He squinted his narrow eyes looking outside at the endless mountains, feeling a bit puzzled by Duan Xi’s actions.

Others give gifts like cars, houses, or at the very least, jewelry, dresses, or shoes. This was the first time he saw someone giving a mountain, giving a zoo. Does he want his delicate sister to become a Mountain King?

He looked ahead at the grinning Ruan Jiaojiao and helplessly pinched his own forehead, expressing his confusion about the contemporary youth’s view of romance.

After seeing the mountain, Ruan Jiaojiao was very satisfied. She didn’t need to worry about the subsequent matters, as Duan Xi and Ruan Chi would handle them. She just had to wait patiently to become the Mountain King. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

About three days later, the contract for the mountain came through. A full nineteen hectares, costing only a few thousand bucks, which Ruan Jiaojiao’s pocket money could cover.

The day she received the contract was the same day Xiaoxue went into labor. She got a call from the Ruanlin Family and rushed back overnight from Hengya.

Xiaoxue was taken care of very well at the Ruan Family. Even though her belly was large from pregnancy, and it might have been slightly more numerous, because she normally exercised enough and her nutrition was kept up, there was hardly any risk involved.