Chapter 115: Manor

  "Kate, it's daylight."

  "Hmm..."

  Catherine was dazed.

  And at this time, her eye mask was lifted. The sunlight entered her eyes.

  It seems that wearing an eye mask does help with sleep.

  "Take off your clothes, let's go take a bath together."

  "Hmm..."

  Aida touched her sticky body.

  "Alright."

  Catherine dazedly followed everyone and then entered the large bathtub.

  Fortunately, Catherine's clothes were almost entirely covered, so as long as the middle and lower parts of her body that had been smeared with butter were thoroughly cleaned, along with the butter in her hair, everything would be fine.

  "Hmm...".

  Catherine is in high spirits.

  But it seems like everyone's mood isn't too good.

  "What's wrong?"

  "Katherine asked."

  "Kate, I'm going to Italy." Lisa said suddenly.

  "What?!"

  Catherine was taken aback.

  "I... I want to go study fashion design."

  Among all the partners, Jenny is the most steady, Lily is the most active, Ida has a more trendy girl's aura, and Lisa seems to be always indulged in her own fashion design.

  But whoever it is, they're all silent at this moment.

  Elsa's relationship with them is not so close, and she doesn't open up easily.

  "Hmm, isn't this a good thing?"

  Catherine smiled.

  I support you.

  Lisa was taken aback.

  Then Catherine enfolded her in her arms.

  "I support you, Lisa, bravely go after your own dreams!"

  "But... Kate... we... we won't be able to see each other again!"

  Lisa's eyes seemed to be welling up with tears.

  All the way from junior high school, we have been together for five years, deep friendship, girls' unspeakable secrets, jointly established companies, and many, many things...

  "But temporary separation is for our better future, Lisa. And we're not like we can't see each other anymore, and at most four years, we'll be together."

  "Hmm..."

  Lisa also leaned gently into Catherine's arms.

  Although these girls usually play wildly, in fact, the thoughts of the girls are more delicate than anyone else's and they are also easier to get hurt.

  Although Catherine may be passive at times, as a person with decades of memories and thoughts, she is also the most mature.

  Leaning on Catherine's shoulder, Lisa was quiet, and she felt a sense of peace.

  "By the way, Kate, what are you planning to do next?" Jenny changed the subject in a timely manner.

  "Me?"

  "Right, you'll be in 12th grade next year too?"

  Catherine nodded, although she had always been studying at home, but next year, it was indeed her last year.

  "I plan on quitting after I've taken the SAT..."

  "Are you kidding me?!" Everyone except Elsa gasped in shock.

  Now, everyone has been accepted into college. Ida is going to Los Angeles to study acting, Jenny is at Columbia University, and Lily also got into photography school.

  So Catherine's words seemed a bit abrupt.

  "That's right, because I have something more important. Maybe you'll be interested in my new game console?"

  "I understand..."

  Everyone shrugged their shoulders.

  It's true that if Catherine were to go to college now, she would be too busy. However, if she passes the SAT, there will still be opportunities in the future.

  "Maybe we can have one more crazy play before Lisa leaves?"

  "Maybe..."

  "Can't you people think straight for once?" Catherine complained.

  "Are we being too much?" Ida was taken aback.

  Indeed, now is the time for sexual liberation and the explosion of thoughts, various promiscuities and one-night stands are really too many - The 1968 French student revolution, their slogan was also "make love", it can be seen that those people influenced by this thought, Ada and others did not fall, it's already a blessing.

  After her birthday, Catherine did not continue to stay in New York but set out for California.

  Catherine is preparing to buy a villa here for vacation.

  Actually Catherine wanted to go to Seattle, but considering that she might be staying in California frequently in the future, she decided to build a mansion here instead.

  Although Catherine temporarily has no industry in California, she has decided to move the R&D center from New York to this side.

  The land price in New York is really expensive, while the current land price in California is relatively cheap. Although it will be very high in the future, now is the right time to buy.

  And Silicon Valley is right here, so Catherine moved the company over and it's very convenient.

  Of course, the company's core business is still in New York, and this side is just a research and development center and some other industries with strong technical strength. The production factory is in Georgia - which is very cheap.

  Catherine is preparing to buy a piece of land in California and build her own R&D center, while also building her own estate nearby.

  In terms of production, although labor in Georgia is relatively cheap and there are also tax-free policies in Georgia. However, as Catherine's business scale expands, the advantage of tax-free has become less and less obvious, and the labor cost in Georgia is lower, only relative to domestic, but this cost can actually be reduced by half.

  The answer to the question lies abroad.

  In fact, Catherine recently targeted Taiwan.

  At this time, Taiwan introduced the "Reward Foreign Investment Regulations", which would open up its resources to a large extent for foreign companies setting up factories in Taiwan, including tax reductions and exemptions, cheap land, and refunds of taxes paid by foreign companies, etc., all of which were Taiwan's plans to attract foreign companies.

  In addition, Taiwan's local labor is relatively very cheap, Catherine was still very tempted.

  Labor unions in America are a real pain, especially in places like factories.

  For example, the steel industry in the United States was ruined by unions.

  The Steelworkers Union demanded high wages and benefits for the steel industry, while also protesting their adoption of new technology - because those technologies would reduce the demand for workers by steel companies, even though they could increase production greatly, even doubling it.

  Although Catherine's industries are all high-tech industries, labor costs are also a considerable problem.

  If we can build the factory in Taiwan, then the cost can be reduced by at least one level.

  Catherine decided to go to Taiwan for a visit, as for when she would set off, that would depend on when her visa was issued.

  As for the estate, Catherine hoped to have an estate where she could raise and run horses.

  Maybe because of that "animal birthday", Catherine felt that riding a horse was also a good choice.

  But in the end, Catherine found that there was no place that met her expectations.

  So she simply bought a piece of land for herself when buying land for the company, and then hired an engineering team to build a new estate in her own way.