Universe Infinite Canteen.

Chapter 645 Secret Talisman

In addition to the new teachers, Qi Baichuan also brought in three waves of cooperation for the school. Since Houde has already entered the top 100, the sponsorship fee this time has also increased.

Qi Baichuan's quotation to the outside world was 8000 yuan a year, and there was no need to negotiate for a price lower than this. This immediately discouraged many small factories and workshops from doing business.

Those that remain are all financially strong, and many of them do business not only in Pingcheng. For example, Huixin Bank has branches throughout the three southeastern provinces.

There is also the Hamand Cigarette Factory, which is considered the leading enterprise in Pingcheng and occupies 20% of the market share.

They are all very interested in cooperating with Houde. The Hamand Cigarette Factory even said that if Malu can lead the school to continue to make progress and make it into the top 30, the cigarette factory will produce a Principal cigarette specifically for Malu.

Print the millipede's portrait on cigarette boxes, and pay a large sum of money for the use of the portrait.

But the last company that came to them was something no one expected - the Jinchuan Smokeless Gunpowder Factory.

Not to mention that Jinchuan and Pingcheng are more than 600 miles apart, the people in that place have never heard of the names of Houde and Malu.

The fact that a military factory wanted to cooperate with Houde was itself very abstract. Their smokeless gunpowder was not sold to the outside world, but was directly purchased by bullet factories and explosives factories.

There is no situation where Houde is needed to help increase sales, and it is even more impossible to print Principal Ma’s portrait on bullet shells or artillery shells and shoot them at the enemy.

So it was quite surprising that they were suddenly willing to spend 10,000 yuan to cooperate with Houde.

"I met with the people at the smokeless powder factory. Although they didn't say it explicitly, I felt that the situation was similar to that of the Siping coal mine. The cooperation was fake, and the real reason was that someone wanted to use this as an excuse to get close to us."

Cao Youyi said, "I just don't know which side they are from."

"I can guess a little bit," Malu thought for a while, "It doesn't matter, since they are willing to give money, just accept it. It can also be used to increase everyone's salary."

"Salaries can't go up any more," Cao Youyi said firmly. "The salaries of teachers in schools are already outrageous. Our school's average salary is almost in the top ten.

“Although the school’s financial situation has improved, we still need to save some money for emergencies.

"Besides, if you keep using money as an incentive, it will make people dependent on you over time. If your salary increases little or not at all, some people will become dissatisfied, and the effect of the incentive will decline."

Malu actually didn't think this was a big problem, because he didn't plan to stay in this plane for too long. Although the disadvantages mentioned by Cao Youyi existed, they had nothing to do with him.

However, thinking that Houde would have to continue operating after he left and the school would be handed over to Cao Youyi for management, Malu decided to respect her opinion and not put any more pressure on her.

In addition to recruiting new members and business cooperation, Cao Youyi did not forget what Malu had told her before he left last time, and went to visit a very prestigious geological expert.

The latter was invited to Houde for exploration. The geologist spent three days searching the entire Shouyang Mountain, including every nook and cranny, but did not find any gold mines or other valuable minerals.

But he was not without gain. Although he did not find any minerals, he unexpectedly discovered a secret room under an old school building.

Later, Cao Youyi looked through the school history and found that the old school building had existed since the school was first established. It was one of the earliest buildings in Houde and has a history of nearly a hundred years.

But in fact, it was abandoned not long after. According to the records in Houde School History, it was originally the private library of the first principal Ye Wangshu, who loved reading and had a good handwriting.

I often stayed in that library for most of the day, reading and practicing calligraphy.

After his death, the new principal who succeeded him felt that it was unnecessary to build a small building just for himself to study, and to be honest, it was quite far from the classrooms and the principal's office.

It was troublesome to run back and forth, so he asked people to move the books there to the school library, and the small building became idle.

By the time Yan Puchuan came of age, Houde's glory days were gone, and the school's situation took a sharp turn for the worse, losing a large number of faculty and students.

As the economic situation continued to deteriorate, the school had been reducing its enrollment year after year, and the small building was no longer of use. Now, due to being disused for a long time, half of it has even collapsed.

If the expert who was exploring for minerals had not discovered the cavity underground and told Cao Youyi, causing Cao Youyi to become concerned and then call the gatekeeper Uncle Song to search the place carefully together, no one would have thought that there was a secret room underneath.

"What's in the secret room?" Malu became excited after hearing this.

Because if nothing unexpected happens, this should be the reason why the Mingxia Group targeted Houde and even went so far as to murder the former principal Cao Jinhua.

"In that secret room I found a tin box and some bank drafts, but they were moth-eaten and could not be redeemed."

Cao Youyi said, "As for the iron box, a secret charm has been affixed to it. Only the caster or someone with the caster's bloodline can open it."

Read the error-free version at 69shuba! 6=9+shu_ba is the first to publish this novel.

"This box was left by Ye Wangshu, but he is no longer with us. That means we have to find his descendants to open it. Do you know his descendants?" Malu asked.

Cao Youyi shook her head. "Principal Ye was the founder of Houde and one of the earliest talisman masters in the country. He passed away about eighty years ago. His son did not have the qualifications to be a talisman master, so he went to study abroad in the West to learn industrial manufacturing."

“They are probably not alive now, and there is no news about the people after them, but give me some time and I can try to find out.

"There is another problem," Cao Youyi said, "Although this thing was found under Principal Ye's private library, it doesn't necessarily mean that Principal Ye hid it there. We can't rule out the possibility that a future principal discovered the secret room like we did, thought this place was good, and put the box there.

"If we find the wrong person and peel off the secret symbol, we might accidentally destroy the contents of the box."

"Ah, your worries are justified." Malu said, "I have a way to solve this problem."

"any solution?"

"Give this box to Mingxia."

"What?" Cao Youyi suspected that there was something wrong with her ears.

"Give the box to Mingxia." Malu repeated, "Since they are looking for this box, they must know who can open it.

"And I guess they've already found the person, so I think we shouldn't bother checking. Just hand the box to them. They will definitely be able to open it. Once they open it, we can just take it back."

(End of this chapter)