It was already evening when Xiao Chen and his party arrived in Suero. The convoy entered the inner city under the shadow of the city gate stretched by the setting sun. After more than a month, Suero was still as prosperous as before. The harassment by horse thieves in the remote mountainous areas had no effect on the merchants and nobles here.
Li Jia finally waited until the effect of the charm wore off, and finally he no longer had to hide in the carriage to avoid harassment. He rode side by side with Serinda, curiously looking at the people and scenery in the city.
It was dinner time, and there were not many people on the streets of Suerone, and it was very quiet. The convoy passed by, leaving behind a series of clicks of horses' hooves hitting the gravel road and the creaking of wheels.
Most of the roadside shops were busy closing, and the owners and employees closed the shops with thick cloth or wooden boards. The windows of those houses and inns had begun to emit the light of lighting crystals and candles.
Serinda pointed at the rows of shops and said, "Suero is the largest trading city in the northwest of the kingdom. How is it compared to your hometown? If most of the shops were not closed at night, there would be too many people here to walk. You can even see the Empire, dwarves, elves and sea people."
Li Jia smiled. Whether it was Shenzhen where he grew up or Shanghai where he studied, how could such a small city be compared? Just click on a street on the map, and you will find that it is many times more prosperous than here. This is a gap between the times, and it cannot be made up by other methods. He responded: "Well, it is indeed an interesting place."
Li Jia's compliment was insincere, which annoyed Serinda a little. She argued, "The business in the capital is just so-so, not to mention the rigid empire and the scattered trade ports in the south. Unless you are from another world, no city on this continent can underestimate the wealth of Suero!"
Another world? Li Jia smiled and didn't answer, but Serinda saw this expression.
"Do you like it here?" he asked.
"Well, I quite like the atmosphere of this city. It's full of vitality. In comparison, the city in my territory lacks this flavor." Serinda sighed.
"No matter how good a city is, it is built by people. I believe your hometown will be more prosperous than here one day." Li Jia's eyes swept across a large snack shop in the local area. Apart from the unique style of the wooden shelves, it was no match for the supermarket.
"That's easy to say!" Serinda stared ahead, seeming to think of many things in an instant. "Suero has been prosperous for more than a thousand years. This is a place where business roads intersect. Other cities can't learn from it. What's more, some people don't want such a city to appear in Arias' fiefdom."
"Is he the Earl's political enemy?" Li Jia asked.
Serinda shook her head.
"If building a prosperous city in your hometown is your wish... I can't promise anything, but I will try my best to help you realize it." Li Jia stretched out her hand and gently held Serinda's hand.
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Serinda and her group went to their house in Suero, and everyone from the school came to the hotel where Xiao Chen had stayed before.
But as soon as they entered the door, they were told by the boss that Miss Luo had moved out of the hotel half a month ago and moved into a house she had bought herself.
Xiao Chen held the address given to him by his boss and looked at Chen Hansheng in confusion. He knew that most of the gold coins were used for military expenses at that time, and Luo Ling did not have much capital, so he couldn't help but feel confused.
They followed the map and found the address on the note. They were surprised to find that it was a large house close to the city center, quiet in the midst of the hustle and bustle.
The mansion has three floors, covering an area comparable to that of a small shopping mall, with at least seven or eight rooms on each floor. The walls and pillars of the mansion are covered with carvings, and there are all kinds of birds and animals on the eaves, with a simple yet gorgeous style.
Xiao Chen's team was large in number and full of goods, and attracted the attention of people in the house before they even reached the door. The door opened quickly, and Luo Ling, Xi Luo, and several people left behind by the business team came out to greet them.
Luo Ling looked rich and gorgeous tonight. She had her hair tied up, wore a gorgeous light blue dress, a dove egg-sized sapphire necklace around her neck, and a white fox fur cape on her shoulders.
"It's great that you can return victoriously." She couldn't hide her excitement in her voice. "The merchants brought news that the bandits had retreated, but I was relieved only when I saw you with my own eyes."
"The bandits have retreated." Xiao Chen looked at her blankly, "But, but why are you like this?"
"If I didn't believe in your character, Mr. Luo, I would have thought that you were hooking up with a rich man," said Chen Hansheng.
Seeing that everyone's eyes were focused on her outfit, Luo Ling smiled and said, "You are all working hard, but we are not idle either. This is my work clothes. If I don't dress like this, I can't enter the circle of noble ladies. Don't worry, I didn't use a penny of your money. This house and the clothes are all earned with hard work."
She said to Silla, who was dressed like a butler behind her, “Silla, please inform the Baroness that I will not go to the party today. I will arrange for everyone to eat and take a bath. You can find some people to help everyone unload the goods.”
"Yes." Xi Luo saluted and instructed the servant beside him. Soon, a group of strong men came into the yard and began to move the goods under Xi Luo's command.
"Everyone, please come with me to tour your new home first. After the tour, the food should be ready. I have trained the chef for more than half a month, and you can have decent Chinese food here."
The dinner really had some Chinese flavors. It was not easy to cook the dishes to this level without soy sauce or vinegar. During the dinner, people talked about fighting against horse thieves on both sides and the difficulties of doing business. Everyone sighed.
After dinner, everyone went to rest. Xiao Chen asked Luo Ling to meet him alone in the study.
Xiao Chen went to the study first, picked up a few books from the bookshelf, flipped through them but didn't read a single word. All that came to his mind at this moment were fragments of his time with Luo Ling.
Before meeting Luo Ling, Xiao Chen had been thinking about how to face her. The hug before leaving last time seemed to have opened a barrier between the two of them, and he wanted to establish something. But he was afraid that an inappropriate word would destroy everything before. Between men and women, it is a game of slowly testing and gradually getting closer, just like a passenger plane needs a runway when landing, going straight up and down will kill people.
When Luo Ling came, she had already changed out of her dress and was now wearing a shirt and skirt, looking both capable and charming. She leaned against the door frame, looking at him with a half-smile, as if she could see through his thoughts.
Xiao Chen had a feeling that if he said something at this time, he might immediately get a good guy card. So he chose to avoid the topic and asked, "How have you been spending these days? Tell me more about what you didn't explain at the dinner table."
Luo Ling smiled complacently and counted on her fingers, "I just attended a few boring dances, met some chattering ladies, visited a few rich misers, and discussed a few business deals."
"It seems that you are doing well. Don't the unscrupulous businessmen here bully you because you are a single woman?" Xiao Chen said with a smile.
"Do I look like an easy target?" He raised his fist.
"In this world, most women still have to rely on men." Xiao Chen was amused by her actions.
"That's the way stupid and foolish women live. Do you think I would be like that?" Luo Ling frowned.
"That's not the case. I'm just curious about whose prestige you borrowed? You're not calling yourself Mrs. Xiao, are you?" Xiao Chen smiled slyly.
"Hmph!" Luo Ling said lightly, "You are such a self-righteous guy, as if the world can't turn without you. Why should I be Madam Xiao? Can't I be Mage Luo Ling? Which one is more powerful, the wife of a magician or a magician? You haven't seen how respectful those wealthy businessmen are in front of me. None of them dares to be as presumptuous as you."
"You pretend to be a magician? Aren't you afraid that they will find out?" Xiao Chen asked in surprise. But then he realized that he had asked a stupid question. Wasn't he pretending to be a magician all along
"Who would check me? Who dares to check me? I am a magician, which is only 100% beneficial to their business. Is it so important whether it is true or false?" Luo Ling took out the account book in her hand and threw it to Xiao Chen.
Xiao Chen took the account book and flipped through a few pages before he exclaimed, "This is the business you made in just over a month? Oh my God!"
Luo Ling's businesses are listed in dozens of items in this account book. All businesses use local materials and local workers. Luo Ling did not invest anything new, but used her vision and ideas to organize the local productivity and produce various profitable new products.
For example, she used a magician as a cover to cooperate with a pig dealer, and the other party was flattered to let her take half of the shares. Pig bristles plus wooden handles equal toothbrushes, pork plus iron sheets become cans, and after the pig skin is nitrated, the tailor she hired made it into a backpack and insoles. She used these goods as funds to invest in other projects. After several times, the funds left by Xiao Chen have turned over several times. Although they cannot be cashed out immediately, Luo Ling already has a lot of contracts and a warehouse full of goods.
"This... this is too exaggerated." Xiao Chen felt that his self-confidence had suffered an unprecedented blow.
"It's just resource integration. If a modern person can't even do this, then he has lived in the information age for so many years in vain." Luo Ling winked at Xiao Chen.
"But this house and those servants are expensive, right? I guess you don't have much money left."
Luo Ling smiled. "This house is really not expensive. I bought it for one tenth of the market price, and I used goods to pay off the debt. We set up a trading company called 'Golden Jasmine' together with the Diaz family and the Bacchus family. The company used my products to defeat several competitors in some fields. This house originally belonged to one of the unlucky guys. After he went bankrupt, I took over the house."
"This is going to cut off someone's source of income! We're new here and we're making such a big move, will there be any problems?"
"The Diaz family and the Bacchus family are both local tyrants, not to mention that the baker Baron Gregory who controls the city guards also has shares in Golden Jasmine. Anyone who wants to attack us should think carefully." Luo Ling looked out the window at the direction of the city wall and said, "Since the thugs who wanted to set fire to our warehouse were hanged outside the city wall a few weeks ago, it has been known in Suero that the Golden Jasmine Chamber of Commerce is not easy to mess with."
Xiao Chen nodded and said, "That's what I said, but you still have to be careful about your own safety."
"Well, I bought a dozen slaves to protect myself. The porters you saw are actually members of my slave guard."
"Slave Guard? We are thinking the same thing!" Xiao Chen said excitedly, "We came here with a mission this time, which is to purchase a batch of slaves to increase the school's manpower. I didn't expect you to have taken the lead! Are your slaves obedient? Can they do things well?"
"Sometimes, simple-minded slaves are more reliable than us. After they are bought, everything in their lives depends on their masters, so they can do all kinds of things to please their masters." Luo Ling frowned and sighed, "Human life is very cheap in this world. As a master, you can find a reason to execute slaves at any time and give them away for resale at any time. You don't need to bear any moral responsibility. Everyone will think this is natural, even the slaves themselves."
"So, by buying them, we are actually saving them."
"Don't think of yourself as a savior. We bought them only because we needed labor. It would be the best outcome to educate them and let them become free people who join us one by one, but we must not put the cart before the horse at the beginning." Luo Ling said seriously.
"Okay, let's go to the slave market tomorrow."