Chapter 1601: Business Sense

"Amazing!"

After reading the reconciliation results sent by the female official, and discovering that the results were exactly the same as the dividend details handwritten in children's crayons that she had received the day before yesterday, Queen Veronica couldn't help but look up at Melanie in front of her in disbelief:

"You didn't even calculate a single number wrong... and isn't your return rate a bit too high? The companies I invested in with the royal family's money, holding the bulk transactions with the North, only got forty-something percent. You actually managed to push it to nearly double in one go?"

"And that's still low!"

Facing her sister-in-law and current biggest financier, Melanie hummed, shrugged her moist nose tip, and said with a bit of pride:

"Sister-in-law, the companies you invest in are mainly for supplying materials, and making money isn't the biggest goal. But I'm different. If I didn't have enough money and couldn't afford to hire many people, and couldn't eat so many orders, it might have been able to rise by another 50% or more!"

It can actually rise by another fifty percent?

Upon hearing Melanie's words, Queen Veronica, who had originally intended to coax the child, couldn't help but have her eyebrows lift slightly, and a look of genuine surprise appeared in her eyes.

Although the so-called "dividends" provided by Melanie could only be considered children playing house, and were not worth mentioning compared to the wealth she held, and couldn't even be counted as a drop in the bucket, the return rate of this "investment" was indeed shockingly high.

Even her female official said after seeing it that although the child's "operation" method was raw, her vision was excellent. Even if she were in the same situation as Melanie, if she didn't use her power to find loopholes, the income she could obtain would likely be just like this.

And if what Melanie said was true, and this child was confident in digging out an extra fifty percent on top of the current income, wouldn't that mean her ability in this area was already comparable to, or even surpassed, the female official she had carefully cultivated?

"Tell me about it?"

Staring at Melanie's proud little expression, and vaguely feeling that she wasn't shooting at random, Veronica became interested. She extended her little finger and smiled, hooking it:

"First tell me how you earned a double return rate. Sister-in-law is very interested in this, and if you can rise by another fifty percent on the existing basis, then sister-in-law will invest another double in you next time!"

"Good!!!"

Facing the financier's proposal to increase investment, Melanie couldn't help but feel refreshed. She hurriedly extended her soft little finger, hooked it onto Veronica's little finger, and stamped it with her thumb, saying confidently:

"When I was called to the office to be... *cough cough*... helped with love, I saw the newspaper on Teacher Victor's desk and knew that you, sister-in-law, had issued an order to move most of the factories out of the city area.

Especially those factories that were noisy and smelly, they had to be moved to the industrial zone in the outer city. And there happened to be one at the end of Ship Bridge Street where I live, so it definitely had to move too."

"Not bad."

Nodding slightly to show approval, Veronica blinked and asked:

"But what does this have to do with you borrowing money to buy fluorescent agents and light bulbs, and finding people to assemble those light boxes and signs?"

"It has a lot to do with it!"

Melanie wrinkled her nose and revealed an expression of "it goes without saying":

"Ship Bridge Academy is the best school in the old city, and even if it's placed in the new city, it's ranked quite high. Almost every morning, evening, and noon, there is a quite huge fixed flow of people... Sister-in-law, don't you think something is missing around Ship Bridge Academy?"

Something missing?

Queen Veronica pondered for a moment upon hearing this, and then answered with a hint of enlightenment:

"A commercial street?" "That's right!"

Nodding her little head, Melanie looked up, her eyes shining brightly:

"So many people pass by every day. Logically speaking, there should have been a commercial street long ago. But at the end of the street, there was a factory that started working from time to time, which was not only noisy but also emitted black smoke every day. And it occupied the place with the most traffic, forcing many people to detour to the other half of the street to park their carriages, and they didn't pass through Ship Bridge Street at all. Without traffic, shops naturally couldn't open."

So that's how it is...

Recalling the scene she saw when she came over, focusing on the old factory site that had been changed into Charle Department Store, and the carriages parked full on the opposite side, Queen Veronica couldn't help but nod in agreement, and then said with approval:

"So whether it's newly opened shops or renovating facades after having customers, they all have to make signs and the like. So you found a classmate who makes signs at home, ordered a batch of materials in advance, and then asked me for people to set up a temporary small workshop?"

"It's a company! A company that makes big money every day!"

"Good, good, good, a company!"

Hearing that regret-filled company name, Veronica's mouth couldn't help but lift slightly, and then she held it back under Melanie's angry gaze, and then said with a smile:

"I do know about the later things. You gave the light box signs that have recently become popular to several shops near the street entrance for free. And fortunately, the business of those few shops you chose was particularly good, so your light boxes..."

"It wasn't 'fortunately'!"

Melanie said unconvinced upon hearing this:

"I specifically took people to investigate. Although those shops weren't good before, there were just few people, and the things themselves were not a problem.

(Content omitted for brevity)

And their location was very advantageous. People who walked in from the street entrance were either tired of shopping by the time they reached them, or had already been to several shops and compared prices, so they naturally bought things."

"So once their business improved, the number of people buying your light boxes naturally increased."

After replacing the last sentence for Melanie, Veronica clapped her hands and said with a smile:

"Amazing, amazing, I underestimated you. So, do you have any other ways to increase the income by another fifty percent?"

"I can also take William to the academy at night and secretly pour water on the door hinges of the North Gate."

"???"

"The door hinges of the North Gate are very old, the waterproof paint has long since peeled off, and the academy's gatekeepers are very lazy and only unload the door to apply lubricating oil once every six months. So as long as the two of us go to pour water for a few days, the North Gate will be completely rusted. By then, no matter which direction the parents come from, they will have to detour to the main street to pick up people."

After explaining her method, in Veronica's somewhat dumbfounded expression, Melanie hummed with regret:

"The academy's gate hasn't been changed for seventy or eighty years. It will take ten days and a half a month to dismantle it to repair it. And during this period, looking at the traffic that has surged several times, more people will definitely make up their minds to change their signs.

It's just that I don't have enough money, I really can't eat so many orders, and the shop owners who can't wait to queue up will also go to others. Otherwise, we would definitely have earned more this time!"

"..."

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 1602 =====

(End of chapter)