Translator: _Min_ Editor: Rundi
A small head with wet hair peeked out from the door of the bathroom. The big eyes covered with shyness scanned around. After confirming that no one was in the hall, Yao Yao was relieved. Her hands tightly squeezed onto the towel that covered her body and ran toward her room.
Around five minutes later, Jiang Chen walked out from the bathroom feeling refreshed and energized.
He didn’t think it was a big deal to walk out together, but Yao Yao insisted leaving separately with a blushed face. When she remembered the look on everyone’s face when they walked together, she wanted to bury her head into the ground.
“This… really doesn’t hide anything.” Jiang Chen dried his hair with the towel around his shoulder while he muttered to himself.
[I’ll go sleep now.]
As he thought, Jiang Chen walked toward his own room.
When he passed by Sun Jiao’s room, the door was suddenly pushed open.
Sun Jiao with hair already dried only in a dress shirt was smiling at Jiang Chen.
“Uh, is there something wrong?” Although she looked alluring, Jiang Chen without any bullets left was in “Saint Mode.” If he accepted Sun Jiao’s invitation, it wouldn’t be good.
Right now, Sun Xiaorou suddenly hugged him from the back.
“Brother-in-law, why aren’t you going in?” With a devil smirk on her face, Sun Xiaorou whispered playfully beside Jiang Chen’s ear.
[This little devil…]
With the softness behind his back, Jiang Chen was pushed into the room by Sun Xiaorou.
He felt that if this continued, it would be the death of his body.
…
The next morning.
“Is your body okay?” Han Junhua looked at Jiang Chen feebly walking into the office as her eyebrows raised.
“It’s okay.” Jiang Chen didn’t look her in the face and sat on his throne.
Han Junhua looked at him speechlessly and spoke after a while.
“… regardless of which perspective, you should be more restrained sometimes.”
Jiang Chen who just sipped tea almost spat it out.
If it were before, Jiang Chen who slept late would choose to sleep till noon and pass on the work for the next day. But the information from Jia City stated that there would be a visitor from Hang City. For his reputation, Jiang Chen had to climb out of bed.
He sat in the office for less than an hour before someone knocked on the door. He fixed his collars and said “please come in” before a man in a blue suit that was somewhat bleached stepped in under a NAC knight’s guidance.
It was a familiar face. Jiang Chen remembered his name was Kong Qian. He led the first contact with Hang’s Merchant Alliance.
“Welcome, Mr. Director.” Jiang Chen smiled.
“Hello, Mr. General.” Kong Qian smiled back and added, “The uncrowned king of Wanghai.”
[The uncrowned king?]
Jiang Chen was pleased with the title as the tip of his mouth carved up.
He warmly welcomed Kong Qian to take a seat and instructed the staff at the community center to serve tea for them. Jiang Chen noticed the director’s eyes stared at the tea floating in the cup and made a noticeable gulping gesture.
Kong Qian took a sip as an intoxicated complexion appeared on his face.
“Great tea. If I guessed correctly, it should be West Lake Longjing.”
“Director Kong knows tea too?” Jiang Chen was quite intrigued.
Jiang Chen never sold luxury goods like Longjing and Tieguanying (1) at the Sixth Street; the high-grade stuff was only available in the community center with Blue Mountain coffee and Sri Lanka black tea to improve the quality of life for his officials. If it was Jiang Chen himself, he drank them like water, and everything tasted pretty much the same.
“I drank it before the war and studied tea a little,” Kong Qian smiled, but a regretful expression appeared on his face, “Unfortunately, the West Lake no longer produces tea.”
The harsh natural environment, the ruthless bandits, the bloodthirsty mutants, and zombies. The tea’s anti-radiation trait meant that it could grow on most soils. While the quality may not be comparable to before the war, the difficulty of growing this kind of delicacies was extremely high.
“If Director Kong likes it, I can gift you two packs.” Jiang Chen smiled.
Jiang Chen was pleased that the Hang Merchant Alliance listened to his warning and didn’t cause trouble when NAC was attacking the mutated humans. According to their agreement, his soldiers stopped at Jia city and didn’t push west.
“Thank you so much.” Kong Qian was ecstatic.
There was nothing else to demonstrate friendship than things that couldn’t be bought.
“No worries.” Jiang Chen in a delighted mood continued, “But my guess is that the purpose of your trip is not to catch up with me and drink tea.”
“That’s right,” Kong Qian sat up straight and cautiously suggested, “I’m here to be certain about our friendship.”
“There is no need to doubt our friendship. One month ago, you already made the correct choice, one fitting for our friendship.”
Kong Qian was relieved.
After a pause, he proposed with a cautious tone.
“We are grateful for your party’s effort in establishing a clear trade route. To reinforce our friendship, I have a proposal.”
“Let’s hear it.” Jiang Chen smiled.
“Based on our estimates, there are currently 1121 merchants utilizing the trade route to the Sixth Street. Now that the mutated humans in Jia City and the Seventh Area have been eliminated, the dangerous level of Wanghai decreased significantly. In the foreseeable future, the number will exponentially increase by next year. So we hope we could establish a division of the Merchant Guild at the Sixth Street.”
“Guild?” Jiang Chen looked at Kong Qian feeling intrigued, “Could the Sixth Street council not protect your rights?”
“No, no, no, Mr. General, you’re misunderstanding the situation.” Kong Qian rushed to explain, “This guild is not political, it is only here to provide information support to merchants as well as trade fleet security contracts…”
“The mercenary guild can provide the last item.”
Without other solutions, Kong Qian had to compromise, “We can take out the last item.”
“I obviously won’t reject the proposal to establish the merchant guild, but an organization with a guild nature must be established under the supervision of the local government.”
“I want to know the definition of supervision. Do they have to wear NAC uniforms during work?” Kong Qian asked carefully.
“Of course not.” Jiang Chen shook his head. “We’ll send out an inspector to be stationed in the guild. We will pay the salary. Other than attending public meetings, he will not interfere with your day-to-day work. Or, as long as you do things that a merchant should do, he won’t cause any disturbances to your daily work.
“Just that?” Kong Qian was skeptical.
“Just that.” Jiang Chen nodded.
Jiang Chen paused and continued.
“Relatively, we want to establish a similar partnership with your party. For example, establish a division of the mercenary guild in your jurisdiction. Don’t be anxious, other than providing employees, we won’t send any military units to be stationed there as we have full confidence that you can protect their lives and assets. We’ll provide you with mercenary information, the channels for mercenary hiring as well as credit ratings.”
“On the other hand, if you’re interested, we can open up a branch of the Sixth Street Bank in your area. Crystals are currently depreciating at a rapid speed in the Sixth Street. With the trade route being more open than ever, the depreciation would spread to other areas in no time. The Sixth Street trade has mostly eliminated crystals for its trade which would further accelerate the depreciation of crystals. Of course, if you are not confident with the purchasing power of the credit, we won’t have to talk about this.”
Kong Qian hastened to say, “No, we are very interested, it’s just that we heard the digital channel of the credit could only be done in Wanghai—”
“It is currently only available in Wanghai. But if we expand our relay station to Hang City, then you will be included in our established network and the area for this payment channel will expand westward by two hundred kilometers.” Jiang Chen smiled.
Kong Qian held his breath.
Establishing a mercenary guild division and a branch of the Sixth Street Bank, build a relay station, and join the information network of Wanghai. Jiang Chen’s offer made it impossible for Kong Qian to refuse.
The risk that existed in this was also difficult to neglect.
While NAC promised not to send forces into Hang City, and Jiang Chen did prove his creditability with his action and NAC’s noninvasive nature. But anyone would feel instinctively uneasy beside such a powerful neighbor.
Once the proposal is agreed upon, NAC’s influence would without a doubt expand to Hang City. If the influence were setting up for the inevitable invasion, then it would be fearful. But if it only existed to increase trade relationship, then it would only be beneficial.
“Your proposal is enticing, but it also makes people uneasy,” Kong Qian sighed and spoke with honesty.
“With the current situation of the wasteland, how much people could fit in Wanghai and Jia City?” Jiang Chen asked abruptly.
Kong Qian thought for a moment, “Around a few million.”
“Then did your military force pose a threat to us?”
Kong Qian had a wry smile on his face.
Their people had witnessed NAC’s “financial power” the rockets that covered the sky. Despite the lack of technical expertise in that, it was not something that they could do with their production capability.
“Then why are you afraid.” Jiang Chen laughed.
Kong Qian took a moment to process this before he understood Jiang Chen’s message as a troubled but understanding smile appeared.
The entire Suhang Province had less than one million people, and they didn’t need to fight for space to survive. NAC had enough on their plate to develop Wanghai alone. From the power perspective, they didn’t pose any threat to NAC.
There was no need to invade.
Once credit becomes common, Suhang Province’s survivors must depend on NAC’s economy.
“This is a flabbergasting reality. The reason we can survive is that we look harmless.” Kong Qian stood up. “I’ll send your message to the Merchant Alliance. Of course, I don’t think it will hard to pass.”
“Then I’ll wish the best for our potential partnership.” Jiang Chen also stood up and extended his hand.
“Pleasure to work with you.” Kong Qian shook Jiang Chen hand and nodded.
