Chapter 38

The gate of the new world slowly opened before Your Majesty, and Great Jin could see a business star about to rise.

Zhao Zhuge told them leisurely, '... Your Majesty wants to rely on koi fish to exchange grain from the south, solve You Prefecture's grain shortage, but selling koi fish as mere fish is absolutely not possible.'

Your Majesty's big eyes sparkled, 'What should we sell then?'

Elegance. What is sold is elegance, what is sold is rare collectibles; they cannot be regarded as mere ornamental fish.

Zhao Zhuge saw that the lord was still young and decided to speak frankly: "Your Majesty's first task is to turn fish farming into an elegant pursuit that scholars and refined gentlemen flock to. For example, let scholars and poets leave more calligraphy, preferably spread across the world; for example, let any notable figure who can be named own a koi of rare coloration, so that everyone takes pride in owning a koi of rare quality—then the business is ninety percent done, the remaining ten percent lies in transportation. The wealthiest in the world are the clans with centuries of heritage, followed by the rich merchants; they may not necessarily flatter Prince You for face, but spending money on elegance is a refined pursuit for them, and they are willing to do so. Once the reputation is established, even wealthy merchants of low status will spare no expense for this elegant fame."

At this moment, Zhao Bao returned to the lakeside, but Your Majesty had no mind to feed the fish, only wanting to hear business advice; they probably understood only half of these words.

Seeing this, Zhao Zhuge grabbed a fried dough and threw it into the lake, whereupon many koi fish surged to the surface, scrambling for it.

"How should this quality be distinguished? Your Highness, please look. We can give them names—for example, this one is pure white except for a red round spot on the top of its head; when it moves, you could say it's like a white dragon turning the river, and when still, like Cinnabar Yang resting on water. It would be called Red-crowned Koi—wouldn't that make you want to buy it? Look at that black-and-white patterned one: aren't its markings reminiscent of the brushwork of Great Jin ink painting? Swimming in the water, it seems to be there and not there, to appear and disappear, with being and non‑being reflecting each other—doesn't that have a deep Chan feeling? It would be called White Ink Wash. It must not be sold at a price that insults its pattern; Your Highness, do you understand?" Advertising is just about raising, raising, raising—go ahead and hype it.

Your Highness not only understood, they were left dumbfounded.

They felt that previously just checking whether they were fat or not was pathetically weak!

How embarrassing!

Your Majesty eagerly asked, 'What about that pure yellow one? It sparkles in the sunlight!'

It's called the Golden Koi—look, its whole body is golden yellow, its scales neatly arranged, so underwater it can emit a brilliant golden light like gold. In water it shines brighter than gold; what does that mean? It brings wealth! With this meaning, the world's rich merchants will certainly spare no expense to obtain it.

This time, not only Your Majesty but also Zhao Bao understood the business opportunity.

Mr. Zhao is truly talented.

'Could you trouble Mr. Zhao to write down what you told me today, Your Majesty? I, the King, fear that if you leave I will forget it.'

Zhao Zhuge, facing others, politely bowed and replied, 'As a commoner, I will draft a koi sales plan and submit it to Your Highness tomorrow.'

Your Majesty happily played in the garden all afternoon, then after dinner claimed to go study in a brand‑new study, allowing no one to disturb.

After the attendants withdrew, they immediately rose and went to Myriad Worlds Homestead.

Bai Yang was indeed there; at night, in their own world, they had nothing to do, usually just watching the shop here, casually earning a small profit, living very comfortably.

Dawang told him the business secrets of selling koi; Baiyang heard that oxygen tablets were needed, slapped his chest and promised, there he could buy a thousand tablets for just a dozen or so coins. One tablet is enough to make a small tank bubble for a day.

Baiyang pondered this, suddenly excited—could it be! This venture is profitable!

The main ingredient of oxygen tablets is actually sodium percarbonate; in the myriad worlds it's hardly a contraband item. But its function, for Dawang's seaside fief, is a lifeline!

This thing increases the dissolved oxygen in water, preventing aquatic life from dying of hypoxia. It also purifies water quality and boosts the stress resistance of aquatic organisms.

Dawang, hearing this, grew even more excited: "……You mean I can use it…to sell live sea fish to other prefectures?"

Exactly! Of course, some fish die from pressure as soon as they hit shore, but many hardy surface fish can last several days ashore. With a few days, couldn't you transport them farther to sell? Moreover, for those who buy koi, not everyone has a lake at home like you; most still keep them in flowerpots or ponds, definitely needing these oxygen tablets to oxygenate and purify the water—this is a long-term business!

Dawang's eyes sparkled, "……Brother Bai, is this expensive?"

Baiyang calculated the price of silver there: "Not expensive, this thing isn't worth money; with my little knife I could buy a million tablets. I'll go purchase some; if I can successfully exchange them for you later, I'll buy in bulk. However, you can't sell cheaply to those who raise koi—they can afford koi, so they can certainly afford the oxygen tablets. Aren't you trying to make money to buy grain to feed soldiers? Aren't you trying to, if the situation turns bad, subsidize the populace? This is a righteous act—it's called 'rob the rich to help the poor'. Anyway, we won't be exploiting the poor; no problem!"

Dawang nodded repeatedly; after Zhao Zhuge and Baiyang repeatedly indoctrinated him with business tricks, he had already acquired a nascent profiteer's temperament, and upon hearing about exploiting the scholar-official class and wealthy merchants, he heartily agreed.

Exactly, ninety-nine percent of the world's wealth is in the hands of the scholar-official class and wealthy merchants, yet how few they are!

They themselves live in extravagant decadence, while the hunger index of Youzhou's populace is about to explode! As soon as he opens the Prosperous Dream Master interface, he sees that red warning line. Mengmeng said, with the index this high there's a possibility of overthrowing the regime; he's doing this for everyone's lives and property.

Dawang absolutely has the right to stand on the moral high ground and point fingers; once Baiyang brings it up, he feels it's completely correct with a clear conscience, and he should ruthlessly make a fortune off them.

The next day he studied and practiced martial arts as usual, but because he'd switched to a new academy and training ground, Dawang felt quite fresh and wasn't bored at all.

Whoever moves into a super-luxury mansion would be happy for a few days; the schooling-averse Dawang recovered without medicine.

Even the Grand Tutor looks at him with a rather complex gaze; he and Xue Xiang are not those ignorant folks of Youzhou, even mobilizing the full strength of the Wei Marquis Ting clan might not be enough to build such a Youwang mansion. Will the Wei family be unable to endure from now on? I heard the southwestern armies have also had a tough time; you say that for the sake of his grandson's life and death, exerting some effort is understandable, but the Youwang hasn't reached that point either—there's no need to build a palace of this scale, right?

What exactly is he after?

If it's because of the northern Hu threat to Youzhou, worrying about the lord's safety, one could just build city walls or reinforce the Youwang mansion's walls—how did it get so outrageous? I heard they even built a fairy‑like garden in the back, and even dug a lake.

No matter how he thought about it all night, he couldn't figure it out; his speculations ran wild, but seeing Dawang's gleeful, bouncing demeanor at dawn made him feel guilty again.

How could you spin conspiracy theories about the mischievous Dawang kid! My guilt, my guilt.

Finally, by evening, Dawang first went to the Suiyu Hall study, examined the 【Koi Sales Plan】 handed over by Zhao Zhuge from cover to cover, occasionally spinning in place with excitement—how marvelous! Master Zhao truly is a great talent!

His antics completely confused Weini; to fit in, it couldn't lie down, got up and followed Dawang in spinning.

Baize got up, turned around, and pointed his rear at them.

Don't stare too long—stupidity is contagious, and bears are the prime example.