When she got home, Mu Yue went straight to her bedroom, took out the card, and whispered the activation command in her mind. A faint golden glow spread across the card's surface, and after a moment, it dissolved into tiny specks of light and vanished.
A breath later, a string of text notifications popped up on her phone. Before she could even glance through them, the client she had met earlier that day called, his voice thick with excitement. He rambled through a whole stream of well-wishes, then moved on to confirming key details, coordinating handover timelines, and going over any personal requirements Mu Yue might have.
The estate was called Yujiang Garden. It had been meticulously maintained all along, but as the new owner moving in, Mu Yue would of course have the place adjusted to her preferences. She had no intention of altering any of the landscape architecture, but most of the decorative furnishings and daily necessities inside the buildings would need to be replaced.
First on the agenda was a full deep clean and a thorough inspection of all facilities and equipment, a cost the selling party agreed to cover. Once that work was finished, they would hand over a complete inspection report and full verification video to Mu Yue.
Then there were the complimentary gifts the sellers had promised. The family had racked up massive gambling debts, and nearly all their valuables had been sold off long ago. They used to have an extensive collection of fine art and antiques, but most of the pieces left on the display shelves now were just cheap fakes. Mu Yue wouldn't have been able to tell the difference on her own, but she had her "Godly Rich Cat" companion, who had been running a running tally of every item's actual value in her head the whole time they looked through the place.
The original family would never have had the nerve to pass off those fakes as free gifts, and they also knew Mu Yue would likely be able to tell the real pieces apart from the knockoffs. The gifts they offered instead were several precious orchid plants, including varieties like the Pistil Petal Orchid, Ghost Orchid, Jiang's Orchid, and Songmei Orchid, with a total market value close to 8 million yuan. According to the client, the family had once owned a single Tianyi He orchid that the old man of the house had bought at auction for over 14 million yuan, but even that had been sold off to pay their gambling debts.
That kind of story was nothing short of a family scandal, but since the client was related to them by marriage, it was far better for them to share the details themselves than to let Mu Yue hear it from some random third party and form a bad impression. After all, Mu Yue would probably be a frequent presence in A City from now on, they would run into each other often, and there might even be opportunities for future cooperation down the line.
Mu Yue could not have cared less, treating the whole story like nothing more than idle gossip. She had no interest in digging into how the younger generation of that family had turned out to be such wastrels, or how the previous head of the household had been so foolishly reckless. All she cared about was figuring out what new items she needed to add to the estate, and what pieces needed to be swapped out.
As for the orchids the sellers had gifted her, she had not been particularly invested in them at first, but after getting up close to admire those strangely, exquisitely beautiful flowers, she decided they were a nice addition after all. Placing a few of them around the rooms of this traditional Chinese-style estate added such a wonderful, elegant atmosphere. She did not have the slightest clue how to grow orchids, but that was no problem at all—she could easily hire a professional horticultural team to take care of them.
Many of the pieces of furniture across the estate also needed to be replaced, but sorting out which ones to keep and which ones to swap out would require Mu Yue to visit the property in person, or assign someone she trusted to handle the task. The existing furniture in the garden was worth a pretty penny even as secondhand pieces, so they could not just be thrown away carelessly.
Mu Yue had no plans to head over there herself, it was far too much trouble. The 3,000-square-meter property spanned several floors, it would take ages to get around even on a hoverboard, and she would have to examine every single item closely to make all the final calls. She was far too lazy to go through all that hassle. Right before she hung up the phone, Mu Yue informed the client that she would be sending her butler over to arrange everything.
The manor was now hers. Mu Yue first went to the bathroom to take a bath before returning to bed and opening the points mall.
The moment she tapped it open, a new "High Roller Limited-Time Event" section popped up as expected, with a one-week time limit.
She wondered if the little ritual of taking a bath had worked its magic, because the promotion model turned out to be the second option Mu Yue had been hoping for the most: bundled discounts, with the lowest price dropping to 55% of the original total.
Mu Yue skimmed through the offerings quickly, her eyes widening a little. She was genuinely stunned—there were over eight hundred different bundled combinations in total, and the mall even had a [Filter] button with the options: [Occupation - Number of Personnel - Fixed Character Card - Best Cost-Effectiveness - Maximum Discount].
This filter function was unbelievably convenient and thoughtful!
None of the character cards in the mall were subpar. Even the 1000-point chef Mu Yue had bought earlier, who also had cleaning skills, was incredibly useful, not to mention Carter the butler whom she had gotten to experience for ten hours before.
Mu Yue had wanted this combination mode precisely because she did not want to compare every single card one by one on her own. Now, all she had to do was select [Carter] and the [Best Cost-Effectiveness] options.
She chose Carter first because he was extraordinarily capable, and second because this character card had already made an appearance before, which made it far easier for her to maintain her established public image.
After confirming her selections, she refreshed the page.
Fifty-eight combinations popped up instantly.
The one at the very top was the most cost-effective of all.
The first ten combinations all had the 55% maximum discount, the only differences being the other included characters and their respective headcounts.
Mu Yue went through them one by one.
The top-ranked option was a ten-person team, with the occupations: butler, personal doctor, horticulturist, stylist, super-class chef, senior driver, senior bodyguard, and senior housekeeper.
There were two bodyguards and two housekeepers in the group.
The discounted price for this ten-person team came out to exactly 100,000 points.
"Whoa..." 100,000 points, and that was already the 55% discounted price.
But every single card in this set was originally priced above 5000 points. The doctor and the chef, in particular, had very short, concise introductions with barely any extra words, but their value was unquestionable—[World Top Level · All-Round Mastery].
These two were on the exact same tier as Carter, price-wise.
Mu Yue lingered her gaze on the "world top level" line for a moment. It was expensive, but it was genuinely top-tier. If she got this entire team, she would barely have any trivial worries left at all.
But then, if she bought this combination, how much would her monthly installment payment be?
Hmm... she decided to look a little more, just browse further.
The next option was an eleven-person team, where the super-class chef was replaced with a senior chef, the stylist was swapped out for a beautician, and a bartender was added to the roster, all for the exact same total price.
Compared to the first one, this combination was far less appealing to Mu Yue. She had no real interest in either a beautician or a bartender. Her looks could be improved by spending attribute points, and while she did drink wine occasionally, it was nowhere near as important to her as good food.
The options further down included eight-person and nine-person teams, with roughly similar occupations. Apart from the roles that had already appeared, the more conventional ones included lawyers, detectives, and costume/jewel designers, while the more unusual picks covered biologists, botanists, and scientific researchers. There was even an "illegal group" that featured top-tier hackers, gold-medal assassins, and professional spies.
The further Mu Yue scrolled, the more speechless she felt.
Those character cards for biochemistry and botany experts? They really aren't necessary at all. These character cards are extremely expensive, with a starting price of a full 100,000 points, making them incredibly low cost-effective for Mu Yue. She has no plans to open a lab to develop products, nor does she intend to start a company and take it public.
Why bother pushing herself so hard? All she needs to do is enjoy life and spend money.
As for the illegal professions, while they sound a bit shocking at first, their practicality is actually pretty high. But these special profession cards are also very pricey, even more expensive than Carter the butler.
Mu Yue has no intention of engaging in dangerous activities. She can always add these later when she has enough points saved up. The hacker card is unnecessary anyway, since the capabilities of her four systems already cover that skill set. A spy card is also useless to her. The only one she might need to add eventually is the assassin card.
But Mu Yue figures the main reason she would ever get that character card would be purely for safety reasons, a classic case of "firepower deficiency anxiety."
After flipping through the whole catalog, Mu Yue circled right back to the very first combo on the opening page.
100,000 points for a ten-person team. This combo is still her top pick. She has to hand it to the shop system, it really knows her taste, the very first recommendation is exactly what she wants.
Mu Yue pulled up her points balance to take a look, and saw she had already saved up 8,800 points.
This 100,000-point combo requires a 5,000-point down payment, and there are multiple installment plans to choose from. The plans with monthly payments under 1,000 points all charge interest, with the highest rates and the longest repayment periods. The next most cost-effective option is the 1,500-point monthly plan, which adds up to total interest equal to 20% of the full price.
There is also a plan that lets you pay 2,000 points a month with zero interest for three full years. If you haven't paid off the full sum by the end of those three years, the plan will automatically switch over to the 1,500-point per month model, but with an extra 10% added to the original 1,500-point plan's total cost.
Three years? Mu Yue did the quick math. If she wraps up the Wen Yuanting incident by the New Year, she'll earn 10,000 points straight. She can also grind more counterattack points by attending banquets or awards ceremonies where celebrities show up.
But the one-time payout with the highest return by far is taking down the womanizing male lead completely, stripping him of his status as the story's male lead. That would trigger a grand prize reward big enough to pay off the entire butler combo all at once.
With that thought in mind, Mu Yue stopped hesitating, clicked purchase, and the ten-person butler team was hers.
Adding this ten-person team to the three staff members she already had, these were now Mu Yue's full team of trusted people.
Now that she had a huge new house, she no longer had to worry about staff accommodation. Mu Yue had already checked that the staff building on the Yujiang Garden property could house up to fifty employees, and with her team only numbering a little over ten, there was more than enough space for everyone.
The manor was quite large, and it required regular cleaning and maintenance, especially for the trees and plants spread across the grounds. Her current team might still be a little short-handed, so she would need to hire some extra staff from outside, but that was no longer something she had to worry about. She could hand that task over to the butler tomorrow.
After buying both the new house and her new team, Mu Yue went to bed that night with a smile stuck on her face.
Mu Yue waited a full week before moving into the new house, letting Carter the butler arrange everything perfectly before she officially moved in.
And on the very day Mu Yue moved into the manor, she gained a wave of counterattack points. All of them came from people in A City's social circle who were connected to the overbearing president Wei Xuan, or who had appeared as characters in the original novel.
Mu Yue, a young girl who had just started college, had been spending extravagantly ever since she first arrived in City A, with every single one of her purchases being impressively generous. Now, she was living all by herself in Yujiang Garden, a luxury mansion worth 800 million yuan! Even though the price had been marked down, how much lower could it possibly go? She paid several hundred million yuan for the place right on the spot the day she toured it, without even waiting a few months to think it over.
What astounding boldness! What incredible execution! And what staggering financial strength!
Mu Yue only bought a big house for herself, but the move sent quite a shockwave through City A's social circles. Compared to this, the 70 million yuan she spent on a vintage car was nothing more than a casual hobby.
Who on earth would buy such a huge mansion just to live there alone? Most people would fill a place that big with a whole family of a dozen relatives!
Hengyuan’s Old Mr. Chen was so furious over the whole thing that he slapped his eldest son twice right across the face.
Mu Yue didn't bother paying any attention to all the noise from the outside world. She woke up in her oversized bed, and without even having to push the window open, a quick glance down framed a natural, stunning late-autumn scenery right within the window lattice.
She took a few steps over to the walk-in closet, where the window framed a completely different scene. A casual glance out the window revealed a brand new picturesque view, made even more lively by a flock of birds flying past at just that moment.
The smile on Mu Yue's face never faded. She changed into a set of loungewear, and didn't even bother heading downstairs, since this floor had its own dining area. The butler had already arranged for the staff to prepare breakfast the second she stepped out of her bedroom.
The aroma of the food drifted over as the serving staff walked over in neat formation.
The vase on the dining area table and the plum blossoms in the front yard were already budding. She had no idea what variety of plum blossom it was that bloomed this early in the season.
All she knew was that living in such a beautiful garden estate made her unbelievably happy, without a single worry weighing on her mind.
