Xiao calmly glanced at Liu Tingxue.
He took a fresh sheet of paper and neatly wrote down four nodes: “workshop,” “merchant,” “customer,” and “court.”
“Don’t maintain the workshops yourselves. Let other people bring their silver and willingly maintain them for us.”
Liu Tingxue frowned slightly. “Not maintain them ourselves?”
“The Northern Frontier needs glass, but it isn’t the only place that needs it.” Xiao drew lines connecting the nodes. “The nobles in the capital, wealthy merchants in Jiangnan, the enormous merchant caravans in the south… Have the merchants put up the silver to build the factories. There’s no need to wait for the court’s funding or depend on the court’s favor.”
Seeing the expressions of partial understanding on everyone’s faces, Xiao readily introduced the modern concepts of venture capital and equity.
“The Prince Su’s Residence will retain control of the workshops, but we can allow merchants to invest silver in exchange for ‘share certificates.’ Each year, dividends will be distributed according to the proportion of their invested principal. This isn’t borrowing money. It’s tying them to the same boat as us so that we can make money together.”
As a top merchant, Liu Tingxue’s mind immediately clicked into place.
“So, if the glassworks makes a net profit of ten thousand taels in a year, the investing merchants receive three thousand taels according to their share, while the Prince Su’s Residence doesn’t put up a single copper of principal and can still take seven thousand taels in net profit. And the workshop remains in our hands.”
But she did not blindly marvel at the idea. Instead, she immediately frowned and went straight to the core issue of risk control, fixing a sharp gaze on Xiao.
“Sir. This method is ingenious, but what if someone maliciously buys up large quantities of share certificates on the market, intending to interfere with the operation of the workshop? What then?”
Xiao met her gaze, his tone calm.
“Set an upper limit on share ownership and establish a buyback mechanism. Small shareholders only have the right to receive dividends and have no decision-making power. Control will always remain firmly locked in the hands of the Prince Su’s Residence.”
Liu Tingxue pressed further.
“What if someone appears to invest in the shares on the surface, but secretly sends people to infiltrate the workshops, attempting to steal the core processes for making glass or movable type?”
Xiao smiled faintly.
“That is called a ‘firewall’ and a ‘technological barrier.’ The core technology must always remain in the hands of the core team. The workshops will operate according to a strict assembly line. Each person will only know the single process they are responsible for. No one will be able to piece together the complete picture.”
After hearing this airtight response, all the doubt in Liu Tingxue’s eyes transformed completely into admiration.
She slapped the table and stood up.
“Brilliant. It’s workable!”
Su Muchen added from the side, “And the Light Network requires a large amount of glass. Once the grinding technology improves, we can also make lenses.”
“Lenses?” Xia Lanshi asked, puzzled.
Xiao smiled and pointed at the glasses Xia Lanshi was wearing.
“Lenses for corrective eyeglasses. Their requirements for the uniformity of the glass aren’t as demanding as those for military telescopes. Bubbles below a certain diameter are acceptable. The key is the shape of the grinding.”
Su Muchen nodded.
“There are countless scholars, high-ranking officials, and nobles in Dasheng suffering from presbyopia and nearsightedness. If we can produce them, it will absolutely be a sky-high-priced business.”
The instant Liu Tingxue heard this, the abacus in her mind was already clacking away.
“The glassworks business could absolutely monopolize the entire realm!”
Her eyes gleamed as she began rapidly sketching out a business structure on the paper.
“The people who will truly maintain our workshops aren’t the court. It’s the greed and pursuit of profit that exists throughout the world.”
“We don’t even need to go begging wealthy merchants. We can create wealthy merchants ourselves. When the first person invests five hundred taels and turns it into five thousand taels, principal and profit included, after one year, everyone else will naturally rush to place their silver in front of us like wolves that have smelled blood.”
Xiao coldly added one principle.
“But we absolutely cannot let them discover the military purpose. People everywhere come for profit, and people everywhere pursue profit. Merchants don’t need to be loyal to the Northern Frontier. They only need to be loyal to ‘profit.’”
“Of course.” Liu Tingxue smiled like a sly fox. “I’ll only tell them that this is a glass business that lays golden eggs. As for where the glass ultimately goes or what it is made into, the less they know, the better.”
Xia Lanshi rigorously added, “Then strict contracts must be established in the share certificates. Anyone who violates the agreement by investigating or leaking secrets will have everything confiscated and will be permanently prohibited from conducting trade with the Northern Frontier.”
Su Muchen looked at this group of people strategizing everything from within the room and shook his head with a smile.
“I used to think merchants were just about buying low and selling high. Today I’ve finally learned that truly powerful business is making other people’s money automatically generate more money.”
Xiao leisurely lifted his teacup and took a sip.
“In our world, that’s called—capital.”
Liu Tingxue firmly committed the word “capital” to memory.
With the alias “Nangong Heng,” Xiao had casually laid out a nearly terrifying path to wealth for Listening Snow Pavilion.
But she knew very well that in this world, gold never fell from the heavens. The more ingenious the strategy, the higher the price it would inevitably command.
“Mr. Nangong.”
Liu Tingxue put away her smile and restored the commanding presence of the Pavilion Master of Listening Snow Pavilion.
“The method of ‘capital’ you just described… if fully implemented, I’m afraid it would be enough to overturn the entire Northern Frontier’s commercial routes, and perhaps even shake Dasheng’s finances.”
She raised her eyes and looked sharply at Xiao.
“How do you intend to charge?”
Xiao finally looked directly at her, the faintest smile curling at the corner of his lips.
In the modern world, he was not only a Gatekeeper. His other identity had been that of a senior consultant for a multinational corporation.
He knew very well that knowledge and perspective themselves were the most expensive commodities.
He was willing to help Xiao Yuan for free because Xiao Yuan was the lord whom Xia Lanshi had sworn to follow to the death.
But working for the commercial empire that was Listening Snow Pavilion was another matter entirely.
Xiao Yuan also raised his eyes slightly.
He knew Xiao too well. This shrewd bird of prey would never allow himself to lose out in something like this.
“Before we formally cooperate, let’s make the rules clear first.” Xiao spoke slowly, every word distinct. “A guest adviser is a guest adviser. A consultant is a consultant. The two cannot be treated as the same thing.”
A strong interest appeared in Liu Tingxue’s eyes.
“I’m all ears.”
Xiao spoke leisurely.
“As a guest adviser of the Northern Frontier Administrative Office, when I offer His Highness and the Northern Frontier advice on military and administrative affairs, it is for the sake of saving lives. I won’t charge a single coin for that.”
He paused, then turned his gaze toward Liu Tingxue.
“But when I offer Listening Snow Pavilion business advice, it is purely for making money. Since this concerns commerce, naturally the rules of commerce apply when it comes to payment.”
Xia Lanshi understood his unspoken meaning and couldn’t help laughing softly.
“You certainly draw a very clear line.”
Xiao answered as though it were only natural.
“Of course. National policy concerning people’s lives cannot be negotiated over a price. But when doing business, every bit of profit must be fought for.”
Liu Tingxue looked deeply at him before throwing out a highly sincere offer.
“Mr. Nangong is exceptionally talented. If you are willing to strategize for Listening Snow Pavilion, I am willing to offer you a monthly retainer of two thousand taels.”
Two thousand taels.
In the Northern Frontier, that was enough money to support a small merchant caravan.
Xia Lanshi secretly nodded, feeling that the price was extremely high.
Yet Xiao shook his head.
“No.”
Xia Lanshi froze.
Liu Tingxue also raised her brows slightly, surprise flashing through her eyes.
“You feel it isn’t enough?”
“It’s not that it’s insufficient. It’s too rigid.”
Xiao looked at her calmly.
“If I receive a fixed and generous salary every month, regardless of whether Listening Snow Pavilion makes money or loses money, I receive every coin without losing a single one. In time, I could simply proceed according to routine. Then I’d have no reason to rack my brain and fight desperately to make you profits.”
He lifted his teacup, his tone calm but cutting straight to the point.
“Money that comes too easily will raise useless people.”
Those words caused subtle changes in the expressions of everyone in the room.
Liu Tingxue was a merchant by nature, and her mind worked extremely quickly.
She began throwing out offers to test him.
“What if we charge ‘one strategy, one payment’?”
Xiao shook his head.
“Too cheap.”
She stared at Xiao, a sharp glint flashing in her eyes as she grasped the key.
“So, you don’t want comfortable fixed money… Then what do you want?”
Everyone’s eyes once again converged on Xiao.
Xiao thought for a moment, then held up two slender fingers.
He calmly spoke a number.
“Twenty taels a month.”
Everyone froze, thinking they had heard incorrectly.
Because it was too little.
Compared with the astonishing strategies he had proposed, twenty taels was practically the equivalent of tossing a beggar a few coins.
Xiao ignored their astonishment. Looking directly at Liu Tingxue, he calmly added the second half.
“A fixed base salary of twenty taels. The rest—I want five percent of the total profits from all newly established workshops under Listening Snow Pavilion, as ‘dividends.’”
The moment those two words came out, Liu Tingxue immediately understood how terrifying this mechanism was.
“In other words, the more you earn, the more money Listening Snow Pavilion makes. You are tying your own fortune firmly to the interests of Listening Snow Pavilion.”
Xiao nodded.
“Exactly. It’s called aligning interests. If I want to receive more, naturally I’ll exhaust myself thinking of ways to make enormous profits for you at all times.”
Liu Tingxue immediately laughed.
“Your appetite is truly enormous, Mr. Nangong.”
So that measly twenty-tael base salary was merely symbolic.
What he was really targeting was the bottomless pool of enormous profits in the future.
Xiao answered with absolute confidence and calm.
“I’m not taking your money now. What I want is your money in the future.”
Xia Lanshi was still rapidly calculating in his head just how terrifyingly large that five-percent share of the profits might eventually become.
From the head of the table, Xiao Yuan suddenly spoke in a deep voice.
“Agreed.”
Everyone froze for a moment and turned toward Prince Su.
Xiao Yuan’s expression remained indifferent, but his tone carried the absolute decisiveness of someone in power.
“If even a man capable of earning this prince an entire mountain of gold cannot make money himself, then I, as his lord, am simply incompetent.”
Xiao fell silent.
It was rare for him to be rendered speechless.
Because even in the highly commercialized modern society, there were not many bosses with the breadth of mind to say something like that.
Liu Tingxue couldn’t help laughing.
“His Highness certainly is generous with his own people.”
Xiao Yuan instead said, “It isn’t that this prince is generous. A thousand pieces of gold to buy a horse bone. Whatever value he creates, he deserves remuneration to match.”
He had never been stingy with rewards.
He simply respected genuine ability.
Liu Tingxue looked at the indifferent consultant before her and, for the first time, truly realized that he was completely different from every strategist she had dealt with before.
Others exhausted themselves thinking about how to accomplish extraordinary feats for their lord in hopes of earning rewards.
But “Nangong Heng” thought about how to establish a perfect system, take a business to its absolute limit, and then make everyone involved—including himself—earn enough to fill their coffers.
In the end, they reached an agreement: Nangong Heng would officially be hired as the chief business consultant of Listening Snow Pavilion, receiving a symbolic fixed remuneration along with substantial profit-sharing. Furthermore, he would have priority subscription rights for the first batch of share certificates issued by Listening Snow Pavilion.
The meeting was drawing to a close.
Xiao Yuan looked at the diagrams and grand plans covering the table and slowly stood.
At this moment, all the technology, talent, capital, and business logic had been perfectly brought together.
“Proceed exactly as planned.”
“The Regulations of Light Communications shall officially take effect today.”
“Immediately recruit craftsmen and establish the movable-type workshop and glassworks.”
“All matters concerning attracting merchants and investment shall be handled entirely by Listening Snow Pavilion.”
“The relevant confidentiality system and equity contracts shall be personally overseen by Mr. Nangong.”
◆◇◆◇◆
After the meeting ended, Liu Tingxue acted with characteristic decisiveness and had already quickly drafted a rough outline of the investment regulations.
“If any of you are interested, you may also invest from your private treasuries and subscribe to the share certificates yourselves.”
She smiled brightly as she looked around at everyone, beginning to recruit the first batch of “shareholders.”
“After all, those who enter the game during the first round will certainly receive the most generous dividends in the future.”
The moment she finished speaking—
Xiao merely glanced at the incomplete draft and said succinctly,
“I’ll buy.”
Liu Tingxue froze.
“Mr. Nangong, won’t you look over the detailed regulations first?”
Xiao said calmly, “I’ve already read them.”
Liu Tingxue lowered her head and glanced at the papers on the table.
“…This isn’t even the final version yet.”
Xiao answered calmly, “It doesn’t matter. Because in the end, I’ll be the one revising those regulations.”
Xia Lanshi: “…”
He suddenly remembered his own Regulations of Light Communications, which he had no idea how many times Xiao had “hammered into shape” and “mercilessly rejected” before finally approving it.
He silently gave Liu Tingxue a sympathetic look that clearly said:
Pavilion Master, my condolences.
Unfortunately, Liu Tingxue failed to notice Xia Lanshi’s warning.
After a moment of silence, she shook her head with a laugh.
“Fair enough.”
Beside them, Su Muchen silently picked up the draft regulations. The more he read, the deeper his frown became.
He quietly asked, “Should I… buy some too?”
Everyone’s gaze instantly turned toward him.
Su Muchen felt a little embarrassed under their scrutiny and scratched his hair.
“I actually don’t know much about investing or buying shares. Back when I was in medical school, I never had time to study stocks or funds. I basically kept my money in the bank earning fixed-deposit interest…”
After saying this, he suddenly realized that there were no banks in this era, and all his money was on the other side of the Gate. Almost all of his expenses for food, clothing, and daily necessities in Dasheng were being paid by Xiao Yuan.
The entire room fell silent for a moment.
Xia Lanshi finally couldn’t help letting out a soft laugh.
Liu Tingxue also teased with a smile, “Doctor Su, are you worried about losing your principal?”
Su Muchen nodded honestly.
“Mm. After all, I still have student loans back there that I haven’t finished paying off. If this investment loses money, Guichen Studio might really have to eat instant noodles every day in the future.”
Xiao Yuan reminded him from the side, “Don’t you still have a large amount of gold?”
Su Muchen straightened his expression.
“Most of that is your military funding. And Sheng Chengxiu’s side is watching closely. I can’t exchange a large amount of the gold for cash all at once. But I could consider taking some gold from my own share and investing it.”
Xiao finally lifted his head from the papers and looked calmly at him.
“Buy.”
“Huh?” Su Muchen froze.
“Buy.” Xiao repeated it.
“But the risk…”
“I’m here.”
Those two short words landed with absolute weight.
Su Muchen actually closed his mouth and began seriously considering how much principal he should invest.
Xia Lanshi shook his head from the side, suppressing a laugh.
“Doctor Su, you’re far too easy to deceive. He says two words and you hand over your money?”
Su Muchen earnestly protested, “It’s not because I’m easy to deceive. If someone else told me to buy, I absolutely wouldn’t. But if Xiao tells me to buy…”
He paused, then naturally added,
“I trust him.”
The entire room suddenly fell into a subtle silence.
Liu Tingxue couldn’t help looking at Su Muchen.
Even Xiao Yuan, seated at the head of the table, turned his head slightly, a flicker of emotion passing through his expression.
Because Su Muchen had said it with far too much natural certainty.
It wasn’t trust deliberately expressed for the sake of courtesy.
It was instinctive, absolute dependence.
Xiao’s fingers tightened slightly around his teacup. He was silent for a moment.
Only then did he calmly shift his gaze back to the tabletop, though his tone had softened slightly.
“Then buy. You don’t need much. Ten percent of your assets is enough. From then on, you can just lie back and wait for the dividends every year.”
Su Muchen nodded.
“Okay.”
Xia Lanshi smiled helplessly and gently reminded him, “Doctor Su, you haven’t even finished reading half of the clauses in the regulations you’re holding.”
Su Muchen blinked and answered with complete justification.
“Didn’t we just say that Xiao would have the final say over the regulations? Since he’s the one deciding them, then there definitely won’t be a problem.”
“…”
Xia Lanshi was momentarily speechless.
He suddenly felt that trying to discuss “logic” in front of these two was simply a waste of breath.
But then, thinking about it again—
One of them had once stepped into the unknown snow and forcibly opened the Gate without regard for anything, all for the other.
The other had been willing to place even his own life upon the sacrificial altar in order to sever an old enemy’s obsession.
The bond between them, one of life and death without reservation, had long since transcended ordinary reason.
How could an outsider possibly have anything to say about it?
At that moment, Xiao Yuan, who had been quietly watching from the side, spoke calmly.
“Mu’an.”
“Mm?”
“What if one day Xiao really sells you?”
Xiao Yuan’s tone carried a hint of amusement.
Upon hearing this, Su Muchen actually gave the hypothetical situation serious thought for a moment before shaking his head with absolute certainty.
“Selling me would be too troublesome. If he really wanted to sell me, he would have done it already. With his brain, he’d definitely go looking for a business with higher profits and less trouble. He wouldn’t waste his time on me.”
The entire room first fell into a brief dead silence.
The next instant—
Xia Lanshi covered his mouth and laughed softly.
Liu Tingxue also couldn’t help turning her face away, covering her lips with her sleeve as her shoulders trembled with laughter.
Even Xiao was unusually stunned for a moment before an extremely faint yet utterly genuine smile rippled through his eyes.
Xiao Yuan looked at Su Muchen’s completely serious face, sighed helplessly, and could only shake his head along with everyone else.
The same thought flashed through everyone’s minds at almost exactly the same time:
Doctor Su… is frighteningly innocent.
Only Su Muchen remained utterly bewildered, his gaze moving back and forth between them, completely unable to understand what was so funny about his rigorous “deduction.”
Xiao restrained some of his smile and couldn’t help letting out a sigh before saying coolly,
“I finally understand why the ‘Gate Keys’ throughout history have been so easily carried off by others.”
As he said this, his gaze seemingly, yet unmistakably, drifted toward Xiao Yuan.
Xiao Yuan naturally noticed the meaningful look. He merely raised a brow and accepted it without the slightest change in expression.
Su Muchen, however, heard the words “carried off” and instantly had certain images flash through his mind. The tips of his ears suddenly turned faintly red.
He raised his voice somewhat awkwardly in protest.
“I-I wasn’t that easy to carry off!”
His voice did not sound particularly confident.
Xia Lanshi picked up the teacup from the table and took an elegant sip before leisurely adding another blow.
“Has Doctor Su forgotten about the time you were deceived and kidnapped?”
That incident had left all of them worried for several days.
Being kidnapped for six days—if it had happened in Dasheng, merely the interrogation alone would have been enough to kill Su Muchen countless times over.
At the time, Su Muchen had been lured out using Xiao’s name.
Now even the tips of Su Muchen’s ears had turned completely red.
He had no way to argue. He could only awkwardly scratch his hair and mutter softly,
“…Th-that time was an emergency. I’ll be more careful from now on.”
After a pause, he raised his head and looked around at everyone present with clear eyes, a bright, completely unguarded smile lifting the corners of his lips.
“Anyway, I trust that none of you would ever sell me.”
Everyone fell silent at first, touched by the completely unconditional trust Su Muchen placed in them.
Then they couldn’t help worrying again.
They were concerned that if someone ever lured Su Muchen out by using their names, he could once again be put in danger.
They exchanged a tacit glance and silently decided that they would have to protect him even more carefully from now on.
The meeting ended, and everyone gradually walked out of the eastern study.
Liu Tingxue deliberately slowed her pace, waiting for Xiao, who was walking at the very back.
Looking at the tall, straight man beside her, his bearing cold and formidable, she smiled sincerely and cupped her hands.
“Mr. Nangong, I truly have learned a great deal from you today.”
Xiao’s steps paused slightly. His deep black eyes calmly met hers.
He did not accept the praise from this business magnate with any air of superiority. He merely replied lightly,
“It’s not about learning from me. I’m not smarter than you. I simply saw a little more of the scenery on the other side of the Gate… earlier than the people of this era.”
Liu Tingxue was slightly stunned. She did not fully understand the deeper meaning behind his words.
But Su Muchen and Xia Lanshi, walking ahead, turned back at the sound of it and exchanged a smile.
This was Xiao.
He never deliberately flaunted his talents. Instead, he attributed all his extraordinary brilliance to having once stood upon the shoulders of giants and seen another, far more expansive sky full of stars.
And to Liu Tingxue, this deeply hidden humility and clarity of mind marked the true beginning of her recognition of this man—and of regarding him as an equal opponent.