The distance was exactly 4 kilometers, taking 20 minutes.

And that was with a bit of a delay while chatting with Bai Yulan and the others.

If he were sprinting full speed, he could get it under 12 minutes.

It was only 6:28 in the morning, and there was still more than half an hour before that strawberry would be picked by the farm workers.

Seeing the farm gate open, Jiang Tao walked straight in.

"Hey, young man, what are you up to?"

A middle-aged man wearing workwear with a receding hairline walked out from the duty room at the farm’s entrance.

"Boss, don’t you recognize me? I was here picking fruit just yesterday."

Jiang Tao greeted the bald boss with a smile.

It’s normal for the boss, who hosts dozens or even hundreds of picking guests a day, not to remember him.

But Jiang Tao had a deep impression of the farm owner with the receding hairline, who looked a bit like the Fire Cloud Evil God.

"Oh~~ I remember now! You are Boss Jiang from yesterday!!"

Yu Shuai found Jiang Tao increasingly familiar and quickly recognized him as the Mercedes G-Class driving boss who spent a few hundred in the orchard yesterday.

Jiang Tao modestly said with a smile, "I’m no boss, just an unemployed bum playing around every day."

"Haha, Boss Jiang, you’re too modest. If you’re not a boss, then we might as well be beggars."

Yu Shuai didn’t buy Jiang Tao’s claim of being unemployed. What unemployed person could marry such a beautiful wife and afford a G-Class?

"Boss, I was jogging past here this morning and suddenly got a craving. Can I go in and pick some strawberries to satisfy it?"

"How do you charge here? My wife bought a group deal yesterday, and I still don’t really know the price."

After a brief chat, Jiang Tao got to the point and stopped wasting time with the boss.

Yu Shuai enthusiastically introduced:

"Our farm charges 66 yuan per person for picking. As long as there’s no waste, you can eat as much as you like on site.

When you’re leaving, we’ll give you a pound to take home."

"Great."

Without further ado, Jiang Tao took out his phone, scanned the QR code, and paid 66 yuan. Then he looked at Yu Shuai and said,

"Take me to the strawberry area to pick some strawberries."

"Alrighty! Liu Mei, take Boss Jiang to the strawberry zone for picking."

"Okay, Boss, please follow me."

Liu Mei, whom Yu Shuai called, was a woman appearing to be in her fifties or sixties.

She looked at Jiang Tao, respectfully greeted him, then turned and led the way.

After waving goodbye to the boss, Jiang Tao followed Liu Mei towards the strawberry greenhouse.

"Boss, the strawberries in this greenhouse are growing best. You should pick here."

Liu Mei brought Jiang Tao to Greenhouse No. 2 and respectfully informed him.

At this moment, the shining green dot on Jiang Tao’s retina was still over 50 meters away from Greenhouse No. 2.

In other words, the strawberry with the mutated seed wasn’t in Greenhouse No. 2.

"Ma’am, I don’t like the number 2. Can I choose a greenhouse to pick from myself?"

"I’m just picking for fun, quality isn’t a concern."

Jiang Tao smiled as he looked at Liu Mei and asked.

"Of course, you’re free to go to any greenhouse you want."

Upon hearing Jiang Tao say he didn’t like the number "2" and didn’t want to pick in Greenhouse No. 2,

though it seemed a bit unusual, Liu Mei didn’t overthink it.

After working in the orchard for a long time, she had seen all kinds of people, and people like Jiang Tao who are sensitive to numbers weren’t uncommon.

There were a total of eight greenhouses, and significantly more visitors picked in Greenhouses 6 and 8 than the others.

"Thank you, ma’am."

Jiang Tao politely thanked Liu Mei with a smile and continued to walk forward, finally stopping outside Greenhouse No. 5.

According to the retinal map, Jiang Tao was now directly aligned with the strawberry.

"This is it."

Jiang Tao pointed to the door of Greenhouse No. 5 and made his final decision.

"Okay, I’ll take you in, boss."

Liu Mei didn’t overthink it, leading Jiang Tao inside, then fetching a small bamboo basket from a large box at the door for him.

Jiang Tao took the small bamboo basket and headed into the greenhouse strawberry field.

Along the way, he picked a strawberry whenever one caught his eye, eating and picking as he went.

Soon, Jiang Tao reached the spot marked by the Daily Intelligence System.

A strawberry the size of an egg hanging on the plant was glowing with a dark golden light.

Clearly, the strawberry mentioned in Brother Tongzi’s intelligence was this one!

"You’re the one!"

Jiang Tao said as he reached out and pinched the dark golden glowing strawberry off the plant.

Who would have thought that such a small strawberry could leverage a market value of five million!

If he hadn’t received the intelligence from Brother Tongzi, it would probably end up in someone’s stomach today.

After picking the target strawberry, Jiang Tao casually picked a few more to cover up, then turned and left.

At the door for weighing, Jiang Tao paid another 30 yuan and then left with the strawberries boxed up by the boss.

Exiting the farm, Jiang Tao started jogging towards home.

When he got home, it was just past 7 AM.

Xu Li was already up and sweeping the yard with a broom.

"Hey hubby, did you go for a run? Is the sun rising from the west today?"

Xu Li joked, glancing toward the western sky when she saw Jiang Tao’s outfit.

Jiang Tao chuckled and said, "When I get back to Beijing, Shan Yang and I plan to start a sports account on Douyin. I’m just practicing first."

"Are those strawberries you have in your hand? Where’d they come from?"

"I ran into a beautiful woman while jogging who insisted on giving them to me."

"Wow, my husband sure is charming!"

"Don’t you think so?"

"You better be talking about charm!"

"Haha, what else would I be talking about? What’s going through your mind all day!"

Jiang Tao chuckled, patting Xu Li’s head with a look of doting affection.

"Stop teasing, our handsome guy, go wash up and change."

"Mom said breakfast is ready, made your favorite scallion pancakes."

Xu Li didn’t press about where the strawberries came from and urged him to wash up while she continued sweeping.

Jiang Tao took the strawberries inside and casually placed them on the coffee table.

He had already taken out the special strawberry and stored it safely. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

After taking off his slightly sweaty workout clothes, Jiang Tao showered to rinse off and then strolled back to the bedroom.

On the bed, Xu Li had thoughtfully laid out clothes for him, all set from underwear to socks.

After changing, Jiang Tao went to Jiang Xue’s room to wake her up.

The father and daughter played around for a while, until Xu Li came in with clothes to help Jiang Xue get dressed after finishing her sweeping.

At 7:30 AM, the family of three went out together, chatting and laughing, to have breakfast at his parents’.

"By the way, Mom and Dad, Lili, I have something to tell you."

"This morning when I was out jogging, I ran into Sister Bai’s running crew near the Qisan Reservoir, and then..."

Jiang Tao briefly recounted his encounter with Bai Yulan that morning to Xu Li and his parents.

And he explained that Bai Yulan had enthusiastically invited him to participate in the Ping County health run.

He didn’t mention a word about the "Bringing Glory to the Team" system task.

"This is great news, hubby, we all support you and will come to cheer you on at the event~"

Xu Li was naturally supportive upon hearing Jiang Tao was entering a sports competition.

"You rascal, you’re like Third Brother, always lazing in bed. When did you start running? How come I didn’t know?"

Tian Xiaomei was amazed to hear Second Brother was entering a sports contest.

In her mind, Second Brother was just like Third Brother, lazy to the bone.

When they were younger, the siblings would sleep in till the sun was high during school breaks.

"Hehe, you’ll see me in a new light soon."

"Mom, stop comparing me to Third Brother. We’re not the same kind anymore."

"Third Brother is the same as before, but I’m not the same person I used to be."

"In the future, your son will be more disciplined and outstanding."

Jiang Tao threw some teasing remarks towards the direction of Third Brother’s room.

"Haha, indeed, our Second Brother is completely different now, very promising."

Tian Xiaomei reflected on the tremendous changes at home in recent months, all tied to Second Brother’s success.