After Dawson left, Jasper turned to hug Wendy. Smiling, he spoke, “Thank you.”
“For what?” Wendy tilted her head and blinked confusedly.
“Thank you for caring about me,” Jasper spoke as if he could not be any clearer.
“Who else is going to care about you if not me? Just promise you’ll be more careful next time. Those people are willing to do just anything for their own interests,” Wendy reminded.
Jasper nodded. “You’re right. What happened this time was a lesson to myself as well.
“They say good men know better than to stand where danger strikes. And while I wouldn’t call myself a good man, I’m terrified of dying. Reed City is a small place, but I suppose the fact that it’s small means that there’s more negligence with the law there. They’ve had a very smooth sailing history of doing business, so I got careless.”
Wendy spoke gently, “There are no predicting accidents. I don’t ask for much, I don’t even need all these riches. All I want is for you and Dad to be alive and well. That’s enough for me.”
“We’ve already come so far, and on our journey here, we’ve met great allies like the Law family as well as rivals of different calibers like the Monty and the Coine families.
“We will always have more enemies than friends. After all, the growth of a new family means the redistribution of interests and benefits. We’re threatening too many people’s livelihoods.
“The moment we lose everything, I’m afraid the people who’d come at us first will undoubtedly be these enemies of ours. So for your sake and for my own, I cannot stop here.”
Wendy leaned her head against Jasper’s chest after he finished speaking and replied, “I just want you to be safe.”
In no time, dinner was ready.
At the dining table, Jasper and Dawson chatted casually and the topic quickly returned to the Southface River Project.
“Construction of the whole Southface River will be done in another two months or so. JW Real Estates will become a name that’ll spread across the land.” Despite his age, Dawson could not help but feel excited at the idea.
Dawson and Jasper, being the people involved, were the only ones aware of how much effort they had invested into this project.
Jasper had analyzed the country’s development plan for the next 20 years and poured the information he knew into the Southface River Project. The goal of it was to loudly broadcast JW Real Estates’ name to the entire country.
He would also use this opportunity to build the foundation for the country’s first private real estate company.
“Making a name for JW Real Estates is much more important than profits. We never planned on earning much with the Southface River Project. It’d be great if we can even earn our money’s worth back. The benefits of this project lie in the fact that it’s long-term and sustainable.
“That’s why I plan to keep all shops, office buildings, and most living districts under JW Real Estates as they are. They’ll be on a rent-only basis.”
Hearing Jasper, Dawson nodded. “I agree.”
Wendy blinked. “Are you that confident? What if the project ends up making a loss…”
Suddenly realizing that she might have jinxed it, Wendy stopped talking apologetically.
Jasper smiled. “I am confident. As far as I’m concerned, the Southface River Project will become the benchmark project for all future city developments in the country. Its influence will be immense, and the fact that no one believes it now is precisely what puts us at an advantage.
“Oh, Uncle Schuler, how did it go with the expert from the Southeast Province Research Institute of Sciences I asked you to help contact?” Jasper asked.
Dawson smiled. “The head of the Research Institute of Sciences and I are friends. But you know how it is with experts, they don’t normally respect businessmen like us. They’re hard to talk to sometimes, but I got you a chance to meet him. Just bring the materials over tomorrow.
“Just to remind you, these people don’t care about money. Technology matters more to them than their own lives, so how you talk to them really matters.”
