Chapter 193: The Bustling Market of Old Jinren Xiang Alley (II)

The bet having been agreed upon, Si Ke Te and the others left immediately.

Xing and Bai Lu came to understand the whole story; the little secretary felt extremely guilty toward Su Shang, thinking only that the Chamber of Commerce had implicated her.

At first Su Shang took it lightly and didn't mind. But after calming down she realized that if she lost, it wouldn't just be losing face for herself; it would be dragging the Cloud Cavalry Army's reputation through the mud.

The little secretary introduced herself, saying her name was Yun Xi and she was the secretary of the Jinren Xiang Chamber of Commerce. She had wanted to keep apologizing, but Xing stopped her: "If you keep saying that, you'll just drive us apart."

"Exactly, what's there 'not to'? I've already been implicated." Su Shang said with a bright smile.

Yun Xi frankly told everyone, the Chamber of Commerce's situation is not good—not only can they not pay rent, but just leasing the port has piled up a huge debt. The source of the problem is clear: Jinren Xiang just isn't prosperous enough.

Neither increasing revenue nor cutting expenses works; everyone froze. If we keep going like this, we might end up hearing Su Shang bark like a dog……

Bai Lu suddenly looked up at Xing: "Xing, I think you're good at using your brain—give it a try."

Xing stood with hands on hips: "No, where did you diagnose that I have a brain?"

Ming Xi picked up on Xing's concern and quickly said: "It's fine, you can join this as a consultant for the Chamber of Commerce. Even if you mess up, it's no big deal… after all, the situation is already terrible—how much worse could it get?"

——

Dragon Clan.

"We're already at the bottom of the valley; any way we go is up." Kaisar narrowed his lake‑blue eyes slightly. "I might have a solution that could resolve their troubles."

Chu Zihang asked expressionlessly: "Have you dabbled in business?" In impression, Kaisar's knack for bluffing on exams and papers was famous in the academy; this kind of field dealing with math and all sorts of symbols usually had nothing to do with him.

"Not at all." Kaisar lightly shook the ice cubes in his cup, making a clear "ding‑dong" sound. "I think at this point Xing should go look for Aisida."

"I recall she's the daughter of a board member at Interstellar Peace Company; just with that connection, even if we can't solve Jinren Xiang's business troubles, couldn't we still deal with this Sikeke person?"

"Using family connections, perhaps just lifting a finger could fire this Si Ke Te representative?"

"……" Chu Zihang didn't know what to say.

This really is a solution Kaisar could come up with.

"Although I don't know her well, she doesn't seem like the type to abuse family power." Chu Zihang corrected, "She's more of a scholar, and her personality is more independent. Even if Xing asked her for help, she wouldn't do something like that."

"Compared to your plan, I'd rather believe she'd just buy the whole Jinren Xiang outright."

Thinking of how easily that girl could buy a star‑destroyer warship, Chu Zihang even felt that purchasing all of Jinren Xiang would cost her only a few days' pocket money.

——

Xing fiddled with it, adjusted the placement, and indeed saved quite a bit of expense. She puffed out her chest with hands on hips, her nose practically pointing to the sky—sure enough, she's the hidden business genius of the Train Team!

However, this only solved part of the cargo‑handling efficiency problem; if He Yun Logistics doesn't deliver, the dock workers have no recourse.

The group rushed to the Jinren Xiang branch of Crane Transport Logistics, and only after clarifying the situation did they learn that the company had promised subsidies to the shops and had given the merchants a heads‑up, telling them not to use port logistics.

That way, the Chamber of Commerce would keep losing money, eventually leading to today's situation. And after toppling the Chamber of Commerce, the company plans to turn this place into a freight transfer station, after which Jinren Xiang will cease to exist.

"Is this what business warfare is like……"

"My head itches, feels like I'm growing a brain." Xing scratched his head.

——

Teyvat.

"These company people are really despicable, actually using such petty tricks behind the scenes——

On Jade Capital Terrace, Keqing's purple eyes narrowed; the hand holding her tea cup trembled with anger.

As one of the Liyue the Liyue the Liyue the Liyue the Liyue the Liyue the Liyue Qixing responsible for land planning and construction in Liyue, she clearly understood what an old district like Jinren Xiang represented. It's not just the livelihood of many merchants; it's also a generation's worth of memories for nearby residents.

Meanwhile, Ningguang lounged, holding her pipe, exhaling a thin wisp of smoke from her red lips: "Heh, the rise and fall of commerce…… such petty tricks are actually quite common in Liyue too."

"The reason the company has an opening is ultimately because those merchants who cooperated with the company, when collecting money, never showed any leniency."

Keqing frowned: "But isn't this also the company's power squeezing others? It's big enough to casually swallow small organizations like the Jinren Xiang Chamber of Commerce—if the Luofu Immortal Vessel doesn't exert control…… this colossal company will eventually devour every little merchant outright."

"Once this district is turned into the company's warehouses, the culture and memories of the Immortal Vessel people here will vanish entirely; losing that sense of belonging…… the impact would likely be profound."

——

After some discussion, Xing helped plan the logistics cargo route, successfully achieving the goal of cutting costs and increasing efficiency.

This made Ming Xi even more certain…… Xing is exactly the great savior of Jinren Xiang she's been looking for!

Thus, she formally invited Xing on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce, hoping Xing would become a business consultant and join the plan to save Jinren Xiang.

But Xing didn't agree right away, saying he wanted to discuss it first with Su Shang and Bai Lu.

Su Shang definitely hopes Xing will come help; after all, she's not good at using her brain, and without Xing she'd have to apologize.

"……You don't want me to bark like a dog in front of all those people, do you? Besides, I really want to help Jinren Xiang a bit." Hearing Xing wanted to consider it, Su Shang suddenly felt unsure; although she's usually able to throw caution to the wind, the idea of barking like a dog…… thinking it over, it's just too embarrassing.

"A beautiful girl barking like a dog? Hmm, maybe not…" Xing suddenly had a dangerous yet curious thought.

"Hey, what's that expression? Don't let your imagination run wild." To stop the other's dangerous train of thought, Su Shang briefly mentioned her hometown to Xing.

"The Shining Azure Immortal Vessel has closer ties with the company. It's said that at first the company merely invested here in mutual trade, but over time things changed……