Chapter 76: Developmen
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The first Theurgical Art in human history had appeared without causing any commotion. However, now that the first stone had been cast into the lake, the effects of the ensuing ripples would soon be felt.
At this moment, however, Su Chen was still continuing to deal with the matter of his marriage.
Actually, he was only really busy with one thing: the Flight Network.
The Flight Network’s infrastructure had already been firmly established. Li Shu truly was an entrepreneur, and many elites from the Bloodline Nobility Clans all wanted to get involved. As such, the construction had gone quite smoothly.
However, the Flight Network was a business that would cross territories. Every node of the Flight Network needed to be built on top of a solid foundation of contacts. Not only did the Bloodline Nobility Clans need to cooperate with him, but the government also had to support it as well. As such, after its construction, it wasn’t just the Bloodline Nobility Clans in Swallow River City that wanted to participate — even a few of the Bloodline Nobility Clans from the other cities wanted to try and get in on the action.
This was something that Su Chen had not expected.
His original thought was just that the Flight Network would simply strengthen his ties with the Gu Clan, but it was starting to attract more and more people.
In the end, it became impossible for Su Chen to try to put a stop to it even if he wanted to. There were just too many people whose profits were now implicated.
Thankfully, Su Chen had never planned on stopping anyways. He just hadn’t expected to become an aviation tycoon while he was in the process of pursuing marriage.
The whole situation left him completely speechless.
The tycoon was walking along one of the city’s long pathways, mulling over all of the trivial matters and how to take care of them.
“News from West Bank City came. The villagers there aren’t willing to set up feeding grounds there. They said that the Cauterized Grass that the Prisoner Sheep like to eat puts red ash into the air and would affect the growth of their crops.”
“How come the other places didn’t seem to complain about this?”
“Cauterized Grass mostly interferes with Black Yams and not much else. Not too many people plant Black Yams in those cities, but because West Bank City is so hilly and lacks natural resources, they primarily farm the hardy and resourceful Black Yams there, meaning that they would be affected more. West Bank City’s City Lord Li requested an audience with me when he found out and was hoping that we would be willing to spare some funds for his village. However, I turned him down; you know that once we make an exception for one person, the others will quickly swarm to us. As such, we’re currently at a standstill.”
“Can you not ask them to switch to farming something else?”
“The problem is that they aren’t willing.” Li Shu gestured helplessly. “You also know quite clearly that these farmers sometimes lack long-term views. I’ve sent a lot of people there to give them some good advice and tell them about the benefits of switching to other crops, but no one wanted to listen. To these people, changing their habits is a momentous occasion. That’s why we’re currently stuck in this dilemma. Fourth Elder Gu is also getting agitated. He already said twice that he was going to send people to kill everyone in those villages, but I was able to calm him down both times.”
Su Chen began to frown and pace around with his hands behind his back. “Even if West Bank City is hilly, the ground there should be suitable for growing other crops like Vermilion Millet. Send people to West Bank City tomorrow and establish a grain retailer there, and have him buy Vermilion Millet for a high price.”
Li Shu’s eyes lit up. “This is a good idea. The farmers there value profits; as long as these profits are tangible, we should be able to succeed in getting them to change their crops. I’m just worried that there will be people who try to start things or cheat us on purpose, or even people who just won’t believe us......”
“You can negotiate with the people who don’t believe and use gold to pre-order next year’s Vermilion Millet. As for people who try to start things or cheat us......” Su Chen’s eyes glowed with a fierce light. “I never violate my principles when I do things. When we need to make allowances, we’ll make allowances, but when we need to kill some people that harbor malicious intent, we’ll kill them!”
Li Shu cupped his hands. “Understood.”
“Is there anything else?”
Li Shu continued, “East Creek City’s Liang Baizhi claims that if Swallow River City’s Flight Network wants to land in his territory, 30% of the network’s profits must go to him.”
“30% of the profits?” Su Chen burst out laughing. “Is he trying to rob me? That’s an impossible number.”
“Yes. I sent some people to negotiate first, and it wasn’t until later that I found out that he just wants performance shares.”
“He wants some shares?” Su Chen squinted. “But he isn’t willing to pay?”
“Yes.”
“He must be dreaming!”
“However, he is the City Lord of East Creek City. If he doesn’t agree, our Dragonboats cannot land there.”
“Who’s responsible for keeping East Creek City in check? Why isn’t he taking care of things?”
“Gu Huaisong.”
Upon hearing this name, Su Chen’s expression sank slightly.
Gu Huaisong was Gu Xuanmian’s younger cousin and was one of the members of the Clan Relative Society. Evidently, however, he wasn’t like Gu Xuanchao or Gu Xuanyu. He was very mischievous and hated taking responsibility.
Su Chen hadn’t known that Gu Huaisong was like this at the beginning. At first, his only goal was to rope in all of the people in the Clan Relative Society into his ranks, but now that his plan had succeeded, his opinions and thoughts on the situation also began to change.
For instance, he was starting to become a bit picky.
He regretted roping Gu Huaisong in.
However, it was already too late to regret things. He lowered his head in thought before saying, “Let’s not focus on the line to East Creek City for now. We need to make some changes to the division of profits. In the future, the lines will be overseen by special overseers, and everything will be under their control. Of course, they will also receive some additional, special rewards.”
“If that’s the case, our profits will go down significantly,” Li Shu said.
Su Chen replied, “I didn’t start the Flight Network for money.”
From start to finish, Su Chen hadn’t forgotten why he had done all of this.
If it made things less of a hassle, he wasn’t worried about giving up on some profits.
A lot of things hinged on whether or not you were willing to pay a price. If Su Chen was willing to give up on his profits, a very complex problem would suddenly become quite simple.
Three days later, Liang Baizhi withdrew his previous request and began to cooperate with Swallow River City’s Flight Network, and the originally lazy Gu Huaisong immediately began to spring into action, running all over the place. The Flight Network route to East Creek City took shape rapidly.
This helped Su Chen realize that laziness was relative, and his views of certain things began to change.
It could be said that this whole process of setting up the Flight Network had helped Su Chen deepen his understanding of the world in general. In his attempting to understand the hearts of others, he was also learning more about the world that he lived in.
In the past, he had relied a lot on little tricks to get his way, but as he began to grow and mature, all the while accumulating experience, he began to see the bigger picture.
This whole process had caused Su Chen’s thought process and insight to reach new heights.
Perhaps it was because of this that he was able to create such a heaven-rending, earth-shaking concept like theurgies.
Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, many months had passed, and the construction of the Flight Network reached its final stage.
Su Chen and Gu Qingluo were also growing closer and closer. Su Chen himself was already a common guest of the Gu Clan, and could enter and leave Gu Palace as he pleased.
Su Chen and Gu Qingluo naturally became “acquainted” under these circumstances before gradually progressing into the stage of “friendship.”
Everything was developing according to plan.
Soon, it would be time for him to propose.
However, at this critical moment, something unexpected happened.