On the Seven Towers

When Xiao Chen and his entourage arrived in Suero, it was already evening, and the motorcade entered the inner city following the elongated shadow of the city gate under the setting sun. Not seen for more than a month, Suero is still as prosperous as before. The attacks of horse thieves in remote mountainous areas have no impact on the merchants and nobles here.

Li Jia finally waited until the effect of the charm wore off, and finally she no longer had to hide in the carriage to avoid harassment. He and Selinda rode side by side, curiously looking at the people and scenery in the city.

It was dinner time, and there were not many pedestrians on the streets of Inner Suero, so it was very quiet. The convoy passed along, leaving behind a series of clattering sounds of horses' hooves colliding with the gravel road, and the creaking sounds of wheels.

Most of the shops on the roadside were busy closing. The bosses and workers closed the shops with thick cloths or wooden boards. The windows of those houses and hotels began to emit the light of lighting crystals and candles.

Selinda pointed to the rows of shops and said: "Suero is the largest trading city in the northwest of the kingdom. How is it compared to your hometown? If most of the shops were not closed at night, there would be too many people to walk here. You can even See Imperials, Dwarves, Elves and Seafolk."

Li Jia smiled. Whether it was Shenzhen where he grew up or Shanghai where he studied, where could such a small city compare? Just click on a street on the map and it will be many times more prosperous than here. This is a gap in time that cannot be bridged by other methods. He responded: "Well, it is indeed an interesting place."

Li Jia's compliment was very insincere and somewhat annoyed Selinda. She argued: "The business in the royal capital is nothing more than this, let alone the rigid empire and the scattered trading ports in the south. Unless you come from somewhere else. No city in the world can underestimate the richness of Suero!”

Another world? Li Jia smiled and did not answer, but Selinda saw this expression.

"You like it here?" he asked.

"Well, I quite like the atmosphere of this city. It is full of vitality. Compared with it, the city in my home territory lacks such flavor." Selinda sighed.

"No matter how good the city is, it is built by people. I believe that your hometown will one day be more prosperous than here." Li Jia glanced at a large-scale snack shop in the local area. Except for the unique style of the wooden shelves, where could it be? Supermarket rivals.

"It's easy to put it!" Selinda stared forward, seeming to think of many things for a moment, "Suero has been prosperous for more than a thousand years. It is a place where business roads intersect. No other city can learn from it. What's more, some people We don’t want such a city to appear in Arias’ fiefdom.”

"Is he the count's political enemy?" Li Jia asked.

Selinda shook her head and said nothing.

"If building a prosperous city in your hometown is your wish...I can't guarantee anything, but I will try my best to help you realize it." Li Jia stretched out his hand and gently held Selinda's hand.

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Selinda and her party went to her family's house in Suero, and everyone from the school came to the hotel where Xiao Chen had stayed.

But as soon as they entered the door, they were told by the boss that Ms. Luo had moved out of the hotel half a month ago and moved into a house she bought herself.

Xiao Chen looked at Chen Hansheng with the address given to him by his boss. He knew that most of the gold coins were used for military expenses at that time, and Luo Ling didn't have much capital, so he couldn't help but feel doubtful.

They searched according to the map and when they found the address on the note, they were surprised to find that it was a large house adjacent to the center of the city, a quiet place amidst the bustle.

The mansion has three floors, covering an area comparable to a small shopping mall, and has at least seven or eight rooms on the first floor. The wall pillars of the mansion are covered with carvings, and there are various birds and animals on the eaves. The style is simple yet gorgeous.

Xiao Chen's team was large in number and loaded with goods, and it attracted the attention of people in the house before they even reached the door. The door opened quickly, and Luo Ling, Silla and several people from the business team who stayed behind greeted them.

Luo Ling looked rich and gorgeous tonight. Her hair was tied up, she was wearing a gorgeous light blue dress, a sapphire necklace the size of a pigeon egg around her neck, and a white fox fur shawl draped over her shoulders.

"It's great that you can come back victorious." She couldn't hide the excitement in her voice. "The merchants brought news of the defeat of the horse thieves, but I can only feel relieved when I see you with my own eyes."

"The horse thief has retreated." Xiao Chen looked at her blankly, "But, but why are you like this?"

"If I hadn't believed in your character, Teacher Luo, I would have thought that you had fallen in love with a rich man." Chen Hansheng said.

Luo Ling saw that everyone's eyes were focused on her dress, she pursed her lips and smiled and said: "You are all fighting hard, and we are not idle either. I am wearing work clothes. If I don't dress like this, I won't be able to enter the circle of noble ladies. "Don't worry, I didn't use a penny from you. This house and outfit were all earned."

She said to Silla behind her who was dressed as a butler: "Silla, please inform the Baroness that I will not go to today's party. I will arrange for everyone to eat and take a shower. You can find some people to help everyone unload the goods."

"Yes." Silla saluted and told the boy beside him. Soon, a group of strong men came into the yard and began to move the goods under Silla's command.

"Please, please come with me to visit your new home first. After the tour is over, the food should be ready. I have trained the cook for more than half a month, and you can eat some decent Chinese food here."

As expected, the dinner had a bit of Chinese flavor. Without soy sauce or vinegar, it was not easy to cook the dishes to this level. During the dinner, they talked about the horse thieves on both sides and the difficulty of doing business, and everyone was sighing.

After dinner, everyone went to rest. Xiao Chen asked Luo Ling to meet alone in the study.

Xiao Chen arrived at the study room first, randomly selected a few books on the bookshelf, and flipped through them without reading a single word. At this time, his mind was full of clips of getting along with Luo Ling.

When he didn't see Luo Ling, Xiao Chen had been thinking about how to face her. The hug before leaving last time seemed to have opened a certain barrier between the two, and he wanted to establish something with it. But I am afraid that an inappropriate word will destroy everything in the past. The relationship between men and women is a game of slowly testing and getting closer, just like a passenger plane needs a runway when landing. Going straight up or down will kill people.

Luo Ling had already changed out of her dress when she came. She was wearing a shirt and skirt, looking both capable and charming. She leaned against the door frame and looked at him with a half-smile, as if she could read his mind.

Xiao Chen had a hunch that if he said something at this time, he might get a good guy card right away. So, he chose to avoid that topic, and instead asked: "How did you get here these days! If anything was not explained clearly at the dinner table, please explain it to me in detail."

Luo Ling smiled proudly and raised her fingers, "I just attended a few boring dances, met some chatty ladies, visited a few rich misers, and then talked about a few businesses."

"It seems that you are doing well? Didn't the profiteers here deceive you as a single woman?" Xiao Chen said with a smile.

"Do I look easy to bully?" He gestured with his fists.

"In this world, most women still have to depend on men." Xiao Chen was amused by her actions.

"That's how stupid women and silly women live. Do you think I would be like that?" Luo Ling frowned.

"That's not true. I'm just curious about whose prestige you borrowed? You don't call yourself Mrs. Xiao, do you?" Xiao Chen smiled mischievously.

"Hmph!" Luo Ling snorted, "You just like to be self-righteous, as if the world can't turn around without you. Why should I be Mrs. Xiao? Can't I be Master Luo Ling? The magician's wife and the magician "Which one is more powerful? You haven't seen the respectful manner of those wealthy businessmen in front of me. Who dares to be as presumptuous as you?"

"Are you pretending to be a magician? Aren't you afraid that they will find out?" Xiao Chen said in surprise. But then he realized that he had asked a stupid question. Wasn't that how he acted before?

"Who will check me? Who dares to check me? I am a magician, and I am only 100% beneficial to their business. Is it so important whether it is true or false?" Luo Ling took out the account book in her hand and threw it to Xiao Chen.

Xiao Chen took the account book and turned a few pages before he exclaimed: "This is the business you did in just over a month? Oh my God!"

Luo Ling's business is listed in dozens of items in this account book. All businesses are based on local materials and local workers. Luo Ling did not invest in anything new at all, but used her vision and ideas to organize these local productive forces to produce various profitable new products.

For example, she used a magician as a cover to cooperate with a pig dealer, and the other party was flattered and allowed her to take half of the shares. Boar bristles and a wooden handle equaled a toothbrush, pork and iron sheets made a can, and after the pig skin was tanned, she hired a tailor to make it into a backpack and insoles. She used these goods as funds to invest in other projects. After several times, the funds left by Xiao Chen have turned over several times. Although they can't be cashed out immediately, Luo Ling already has a lot of contracts and a whole warehouse of goods.

"This..., this is too exaggerated." Xiao Chen felt that his self-confidence had suffered an unprecedented blow.

"It's just resource integration. If a modern person can't even do this, he has lived in the information age for so many years." Luo Ling winked at Xiao Chen.

"But this house and those servants are also expensive, right? I guess you don't have much money left."

Luo Ling smiled: "This house is really not expensive. I bought it for one-tenth of the market price, and I paid for it with goods. We formed a family together with the Diaz family and the Bacchus family. The trading company called "Golden Moli" used my products to defeat several competitors in some fields. This house originally belonged to one of the unlucky guys. After he went bankrupt, the house was taken over by me. "

"This is going to kill people and make money! We're just here and we're making such big moves, will there be any problems?"

"The Diaz family and the Bacchus family are local snakes, not to mention that Baron Gregory, the baker who controls the city guard, also has shares in Golden Moli. Anyone who wants to make an idea about us must think carefully." Luo Ling looked out the window. The direction of the city wall said: "Since the thugs who wanted to set fire to our warehouse were hanged outside the city wall a few weeks ago, it has been known to everyone in Suero that the Golden Jasmine Chamber of Commerce is not to be messed with."

Xiao Chen nodded in agreement, "That's what I say, but you still have to be careful about your own safety."

"Well, in order to protect myself, I bought a dozen slaves. The porters you see are actually members of my slave guard."

"Slave Guards? We thought of going together!" Xiao Chen said excitedly, "We have a mission here this time, which is to purchase a group of slaves to increase the school's manpower. I didn't expect you to have taken the first step! Yours Is the slave obedient? Can he do a good job?"

"Sometimes, simple-minded slaves are more reliable than our own people. After they are bought, everything in their lives depends on their masters, so they can do all kinds of things to please their masters." Luo Ling frowned and sighed, "Human life is very cheap in this world. As a master, you can find a reason to kill slaves at any time and give them away for resale at any time. There is no need to pay any moral responsibility. Everyone will think it is natural, even the slaves themselves."

"So, we bought them and actually saved them."

"Don't think of yourself as a savior. We bought them just because we need labor. It is certainly the best result to let them become free people who join us through education, but we can't put the cart before the horse at the beginning." Luo Ling said somewhat seriously.

"Okay, let's go to the slave market tomorrow."