Once the major issues of the JODE Academy had been sorted out, Chancellor Ma Ge took the opportunity to leave the group early while informing Grandma Yuan to find him at her earliest convenient time to sort the minor details. "After all, we can't exactly discuss such stuff to potential students for the advanced classes, right?" Ma Ge said and Grandma Yuan agreed to it.
"I will set a date with your secretary and please be on time as well. I do not have that much to spare to begin with." Yuan replied and Ma Ge chuckled, nodding his head to promise Yuan he would try his best.
"By the way, Jin. Can I speak to you for a moment?" Ma Ge asked and Jin readily agreed and told the rest he would be back again. Once they were out of the room, Ma Ge took an envelope out of his storage ring and passed it to him.
"You might not be the principal of the latest JODE Academy but you built it as the capacity of the interim manager for Shenzhen's branch. I know that you have your own business to attend to and other hmm…side hustles."
"Side hustles?" Jin turned cautious a little as he did not exactly know what Ma Ge was referring to. (Mainly because he had countless of them at the sidelines, churning revenue and losses for himself.)
"Ah, I apologise for the improper term and should get straight to the point. What I meant is the rebuilding of your Panda Clan. If rumours are true, Grandma Yuan is going to join you as well, right?" Ma Ge questioned and Jin still did not get what Ma Ge was driving across.
"That expression… Sigh." Ma Ge was wondering if he should even say it straight to his face or let him figure it out for himself. "Alright, I am asking you to reconsider admitting Yuan into your clan for the sake of JODE's future."
"Why? Are you afraid that the other Royal Zodiac families would have some opinions of having a Royal Panda Clan member holding the principal post?" Jin shot back without warning and it placed Ma Ge in a predicament once more. "If you phrase it that way then by putting me as the interim manager of Shenzhen Branch and the builder of this JODE Academy, you are also putting yourself in harm's way from the potential backlash of those families. And trust me, no amount of money would be able to buy this particular dimensional instance off my hands because this is my property. If you wish to, you could have the other dungeon suppliers to try but I could tell you, they would not be able to achieve what I do in a short span of time. My team is that unique."
"Besides, isn't JODE supposed to be a neutral organisation?" Jin shot Ma Ge once more but he too knew that the world is black and white. The political ramifications behind every organisation's backing are complicated and this applied to JODE as well. Ma Ge simply kept his silence before Jin turned his back away for a second as a sign to cool his head before returning the conversation.
"How much are they sponsoring JODE?" Jin questioned and Ma Ge felt the discussion had diverted a little too much.
"I believe I am not under any obligation to say anything. The money they provide are from their foundations in believing to keep the world a safer place from possible demon incursions." Ma Ge gave a politically correct response but Jin was not buying it.
"I will double the amount of your biggest major sponsor." Jin said and caused Ma Ge to scoff unwittingly before apologising to Jin for the unruly behaviour.
"As much as I like to think you have a decent business in your hands, you cannot possibly expect me to – I would not be treated like an idiot even if you are the current Head of the Royal Panda Clan, Mr Xie." Ma Ge said and Jin's eyes were dead serious,
"How much?" Jin reiterated with his arms folded and unwavering.
"Sigh, fine. At least 10 million yuan (~1.5million USD) per quarterly annum. If you do not believe me, you can ask Lee Na. She has the accounts and considering you are still the interim manager; I can give you temporary rights to view what I say is certified true." Ma Ge did not know where the topic was going and then Jin instantly took out a cheque book from his storage watch. He beckoned one of Lynn's penguins NPC to loan him a table and they quickly brought it out in a matter of seconds.
"Alright then, here's a cheque of 20 million. If it bounced, then come find me. I can get my guys to provide you cold hard cash if needed." Jin said and Ma Ge dropped his jaw. What kind of business allowed him to have this amount of cash to spare? If he had that much, why was he stopping with just a Tree Mall? Suddenly, there were a ton of questions in Ma Ge's head that he was unable to comprehend the current situation.
It was not bribery per se but rather, flexing to show that the Royal Zodiac Panda Clan is not just some copycat clan, aiming to reach its former self. With this kind of money to throw around, this is the true and actual power of the Royal Zodiac Panda Clan! Legends said that they were the economic powerhouse among the rest of the Royal Zodiacs and that the fortunes of the Horse Royal Zodiac would pale in comparison.
And this act of throwing money to the JODE organisation was basically Jin's way of telling Ma Ge not to bloody disrespect the authority of the Royal Zodiac Pandas.
"I…understand. Once we verify your contribution, we will proceed to get the JODE Academy up and running as soon as possible. I will get my men to get in touch with you with regards to the supplies we talked about recently." Ma Ge's heart was racing and he was not as composed as he should be despite the title of JODE Chancellor. (In fact, he even thought the supplies thing was just a discussion point which he thought he could ignore. But now things have changed drastically.)
Jin always knew in the face of money, people would bow but he did not expect it to be this potent. Now he understood the true value of the dough the System, Claire and the other minions had been rolling in for the past few months.
