161: The trade fair was a huge success, prompting a buying frenzy, and the charity fund spent money again at the end of the event.

The early morning at the Xihong City Stray Animal Rescue Station was livelier than the Lunar New Year. On the stage of the beauty pageant, a Calico Cat wearing a smart collar with glowing letters strutted along to the music; the words "Rescue Station Champion" on the collar shimmered with golden light. The booths at the trade fair were packed with people buying pet supplies. Automatic litter boxes and constant-temperature nests were surrounded so tightly that not even a drop of water could trickle through. Big Smart held a megaphone and shouted, "Family! Smart feeders are subsidized by fifty yuan today! Once they're gone, they're gone!"

Xie Hui walked in with Xia Zhu, carrying a strawberry-flavored sugar-free yogurt he had bought for her. Knowing she would be busy all day, he had specifically woken up early to visit a supermarket chain. Seeing the scene before him, he smiled and ruffled Xia Zhu's hair. "I didn't expect it to be this popular. It seems our money wasn't spent in vain."

Xia Zhu bit her yogurt straw and pointed at the trade fair's checkout counter. "Look over there, the queue for the register stretches all the way to the door. The merchants said they sold five thousand items yesterday alone. Our subsidies have already cost two hundred and fifty thousand! If this keeps up, the five million subsidy will be gone soon."

As they were speaking, Big Smart suddenly let out an "Ouch!" As he backed up while holding the megaphone, he didn't notice the pet cage behind him. He stepped into thin air and fell to the ground. The megaphone clattered into a pile of cat food nearby, spilling it everywhere. Several stray cats instantly rushed over, scratching holes into his pant legs.

"Big Smart! Do you have a grudge against cat food?" Aunt Zhang, the caregiver, ran over with a broom. "This bag of cat food is imported; it's two hundred yuan a bag. You spilled three bags, so that's another six hundred yuan gone!"

Big Smart crouched on the ground to pick up the cat food, his face flushed red. "I... I just wanted everyone to buy more, I wasn't watching my step..."

Xie Hui walked over and patted his shoulder. "It's fine! If it's spilled, buy more. Order another thousand bags of imported cat food to distribute to the trade fair customers and the rescue station pets. That counts as another two hundred thousand in expenses. Also, buy yourself ten pairs of new pants at two hundred yuan a pair, just so you have spares to change into. From now on, you're in charge of guiding customers—don't hold the megaphone anymore, lest you fall again."

Big Smart's eyes lit up, and he nodded hurriedly. "Thank you, CEO Xie! I promise I won't fall today!"

Just as they finished dealing with the cat food, a security guard from the trade fair ran over, his voice urgent. "CEO Xie! This is bad! Ten automatic litter boxes in the warehouse are missing! The surveillance caught two Men in Black doing it. Their builds look like Wang Duoyu's former subordinates. They even tried to steal the smart litter basins nearby!"

Xia Zhu grew anxious upon hearing this. "How can Wang Duoyu's people be so relentless! Each automatic litter box costs two thousand; ten of them is twenty thousand. They must be planning to steal them to sell for cash!"

"Stealing my things? They're a bit too green for that." Xie Hui pulled Xia Zhu toward the surveillance room, silently chanting "Time Stop" in his mind. The music in the courtyard froze in mid-air, the crowd of shoppers was fixed in place, and even the stray cats rushing for the cat food were suspended in mid-leap. He quickly reviewed the surveillance, tracing the escape route of the two Men in Black. He found them hiding in a small warehouse near the rescue station, talking on the phone with Wang Duoyu's outside contact, saying they would sell the stolen equipment to scrounge up money for Wang Duoyu's fine.

Xie Hui also saw in their chat logs that they planned to cut the booth's power lines at noon when the fair was crowded, rendering all equipment useless. He took screenshots and noted the address of the small warehouse. Then, he deactivated Time Stop and turned to the security captain. "Immediately have the brothers lie in ambush around the small warehouse. When they move at noon, catch them and their contact together. Additionally, order twenty more automatic litter boxes at a cost of two thousand five hundred each, and have 'Trade Fair Limited Edition' printed on them—that's another fifty thousand in expenses. Add ten sets of backup power supplies to the booths at one thousand per set, which is ten thousand, to prevent them from cutting the lines."

The captain patted his chest and guaranteed, "Rest assured, CEO Xie! I'll make sure they won't be able to escape today even if they grew wings!"

Xia Zhu helped organize the surveillance screenshots and looked up to ask, "Should we start another new project? The money spent on the trade fair and beauty pageant is about the same now, and we're still over a hundred million away from the two billion goal."

"Of course we should!" Xie Hui's eyes lit up. "We'll establish the 'Xihong City Stray Animal Charity Fund' with an initial capital of fifty million, specifically to subsidize stray animal rescue stations in impoverished areas. Hire ten fund managers with a monthly salary of thirty thousand to be responsible for reviewing subsidy applications. Then, build ten 'Stray Animal Temporary Shelters.' Each shelter's construction cost will be one million, so ten will be ten million. Equip each shelter with five caregivers and two sets of veterinary equipment, which adds up to another two million. All of this combined is another sixty-two million, which is a perfect way to spend a large sum."

Xia Zhu recorded rapidly in the ledger, her pen tip barely keeping up. "Sixty-two million for the charity fund, fifty thousand for the automatic litter boxes, ten thousand for the backup power, and two hundred thousand for the cat food... we can spend sixty-two million, two hundred and sixty thousand just this morning! The total expenditure is nearly one billion, nine hundred and twenty million!"

At noon, the trade fair became increasingly crowded. The fifty shopping guides Xie Hui hired were sweating profusely; some helped customers debug smart devices, while others helped pets try on clothes. The queue in front of the booths was over a dozen meters long. Xie Hui walked to an empty corner and silently chanted "inner universe" in his mind. The next second, a pile of modern pet medical equipment appeared out of thin air: pet ultrasound machines, fully automatic infusion pumps, and several crates of imported deworming medicine. These were all collected from other worlds and were perfect for the charity fund's shelters.

"This equipment is so advanced!" When Xia Zhu arrived and saw the mountain of medical equipment, her eyes widened. "With these, stray animals in impoverished areas can also enjoy good medical care!"

"Exactly. Hire five more veterinary trainers with a monthly salary of forty thousand to go to the shelters and train the caregivers. That's another two hundred thousand in expenses." Xie Hui handed her a cup of warm soy milk. "You've been busy all morning; have something to drink and rest for a bit. Leave the rest to the managers."

Xia Zhu took the soy milk, her heart feeling warm. Xie Hui always managed to combine spending money with charity in a way that was both compliant and meaningful, and he even remembered that she would forget to drink water when busy. She bit the straw and pointed at the beauty pageant stage not far away. "Look at that Corgi; it actually won the 'Best Affability Award.' Big Smart is holding it and taking photos, smiling like a child."

Xie Hui looked in the direction she pointed. Big Smart was holding the Corgi in overalls, grinning ear to ear while holding the trophy as people around them took photos. "That kid Big Smart finally did something right," Xie Hui said with a smile. "Let's give a 'Participation Award' to all the pets in the pageant—send them a pet snack gift pack. The cost is thirty yuan each; for two hundred pets, that's six thousand yuan. Another expense."

In the afternoon, the security team sent word that they had caught the two thieves and Wang Duoyu's contact. They also found wire-cutting tools and a note written by Wang Duoyu on them, which told them, "Even if you can't ruin the trade fair, make sure Xie Hui spends more money." Xie Hui sent the note and chat logs to Wang Zongyao's assistant. The assistant replied quickly: "The Second Master says Wang Duoyu is incorrigible and will increase his punishment. When he heard about it in the detention center, he was so angry he smashed his enamel bowl."

"That's what you call bringing it on yourself." Xie Hui put away his phone and said to Xia Zhu, "Let's go check the charity fund's applications. The manager just said over a dozen rescue stations from impoverished areas have already submitted applications. It's the perfect time to allocate funds to them."

The two walked to the fund office, where the manager was reviewing applications on the computer. The screen was full of photos from rescue stations across the country: some used dilapidated cages for pets, and some couldn't even afford cat food and could only feed them leftovers. Xia Zhu looked at the photos, her eyes turning a bit red. "These stray animals are so pitiful. Our fund must help them."

"Don't worry, it definitely will." Xie Hui patted her shoulder. "Let's add another twenty million to the fund's capital so more rescue stations can receive subsidies. That counts as another twenty million in expenses, bringing the total expenditure close to one billion, nine hundred and fifty million."

By evening, the beauty pageant and trade fair were nearly over. Xie Hui calculated today's total expenditure: eighty-two million for the charity fund (initial fifty million + additional twenty million + two hundred thousand for trainers + ten million for shelters + two million for caregiver equipment), fifty thousand for automatic litter boxes, ten thousand for backup power, two hundred thousand for cat food, and six thousand for participation awards. In total, they spent eighty-two million, two hundred and sixty-six thousand. Adding that to the previous one billion, nine hundred and twenty million, the total expenditure had reached one billion, nine hundred and eighty-two million, two hundred and sixty-six thousand. Only seventeen million, seven hundred and thirty-four thousand remained to reach the two billion goal.

"Almost there. We can complete the challenge with one more spending spree tomorrow." Xie Hui smiled at Xia Zhu. "Tomorrow, we'll buy a batch of pet toys and bedding for the charity fund's shelters, and give an 'Excellent Cooperation Award' to the trade fair merchants, rewarding them with imported pet supplies. That should perfectly spend the remaining money."

Xia Zhu nodded, her eyes full of anticipation. "When the challenge is complete, shall we go eat at that Jianbing Guozi stall from last time? I want the one with double eggs and double sausages, and extra cilantro."

"Sure, I'll go queue up early tomorrow and get you double the cilantro." Xie Hui ruffled her hair, his heart full of contentment. With Xia Zhu by his side, spending money was no longer just a task; instead, it had become something meaningful and happy.

As the car drove back to the city, they passed the Metaverse Dog Walking APP studio. The lights were still on inside, and Xiao Zhang was leading the programmers in debugging the Egyptian Pyramid venue for the 'Virtual Dog Global Beauty Pageant.' Xia Zhu leaned against the car window to watch, saying with a smile, "I didn't expect our days in Xihong City to end so soon. I'm actually quite reluctant to leave."

"We can come back in the future; I have the permissions for this world." Xie Hui held her hand. "Once the challenge is complete, I'll take you to see other worlds. They're even more interesting than Xihong City."

Xia Zhu's face instantly turned red, and she quickly turned her head to look at the night view outside the window, but the corners of her mouth couldn't help but turn up. She knew that this money-spending war in Xihong City had not only introduced her to Xie Hui but also helped her find what she truly wanted to do. And in the future, even more excitement awaited them.

Meanwhile, in the detention center, Wang Duoyu sat in a corner, staring blankly at the calendar on the wall. The prisoner in the next cell called him for dinner, but he didn't move. He knew he had lost completely. Xie Hui was not only going to spend the entire two billion but had also won Xia Zhu's affection and everyone's recognition. As for himself, he was left with nothing but a heart full of resentment and regret, and even the chance to inherit the estate was completely gone.