I have the best bloodline

The so-called grievances are not major issues. They are nothing more than whose land was cultivated beyond the designated area, or whose bull ran into whose cow and peed on whose cow. As a result, the cow has given birth to a calf, and both sides are fighting over ownership.

Although they are all trivial matters, it is not acceptable to ignore them. Otherwise, the next moment, they may turn into a fight between the two parties, turning a small matter into a murder case.

One or two murders are not so bad, but the real fear is that it could lead to a mass shooting between two or more villages.

If the county magistrate can mediate, he will do so; if he cannot, he will intervene directly with force.

You all objected to the crops being planted beyond the permitted area. Well, now that I, the magistrate, have taken them home and cooked them, are you all satisfied now?

The cow gave birth to a calf, and you're all scrambling for it, right? No problem, I'll sell it in the city, and we three can split the money. Or maybe you can discuss it some more?

If neither side is willing to give in, then offer a solution that neither side can accept. This will help both sides calm down and resolve the issue through mutual consultation.

The government office taken over by Su Yan and his group was characterized by shamelessness and treachery, even more so than the common people.

........................

Outside Flower City, the gathering place of the Hua clan.

"Haha, Magistrate Su, what brings you to the wilderness today?"

Hua Yan, the current head of the Hua family, received a notification from her clansmen that Su Yan was coming to visit. She moved from her study to the guest garden and greeted Su Yan with a smile.

"It's been a long time since I've seen Patriarch Hua."

Although Su Yan was two heads shorter than Hua Yan, the thought of his fox mother supporting him made him feel incredibly tall. He said:

"It's nothing important, just a small matter I'd like to ask of Patriarch Hua. We were recently invaded by the Southern Frontier, which caused heavy losses to our Flower City."

Su Yan opened the beautifully packaged wooden box, revealing a strawberry cream sponge cake inside, and said with a smile, "So we were thinking, is it possible to benefit the people?"

"We've come today to have Patriarch Hua sample our reprocessed sugar products. If there's potential, we might be able to raise the price of sugar and venture into the pastry industry, which we haven't explored before."

The head of the Hua family was taken aback when he heard this. He thought that Su Yan had come to the Hua clan's gathering place for some reason, or that he was about to throw a tantrum. However, he did not expect that Su Yan had come to his house today for a pastry.

"Very well, if we can raise the price of sugar, it will be a great thing for our Flower City. Let me try the pastries that Magistrate Su mentioned." Hua Yan carefully examined the pastries on the stone table. The pastries were light pink all over and gave off a strawberry fragrance. They were served on a clean white porcelain plate and were quite exquisite and elegant.

After confirming several times that there was no poison, Hua Yan picked up the porcelain plate and silver spoon and began to taste the cake.

"By the way, is Patriarch Hua interested in suppressing bandits?" Su Yan suddenly asked.

coming!

Hua Yan, who was eating pastries, paused and looked at Su Yan with a puzzled expression, saying, "Magistrate Su, what makes you say that?"

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 271 Recruiting

"What makes you say that, Magistrate Su? Our Flower District has always been known for its poverty, how could there possibly be bandits there?"

Upon hearing Su Yan speak, Hua Yan immediately began to feign ignorance.

There were no bandits or mountain thieves in the Flower District before. At that time, the entire mountain and forest area was under the jurisdiction of General Bai, while the security inside and outside the city was managed by the Hua clan and other clans.

Once the perpetrators are caught, they are dealt with according to the ancient methods used in the flower-growing region:

He was beaten to death for stealing property, and drowned after raping another man's wife and daughters.

Those who disregard human life will be beaten to death; those who betray trust will be strangled.

Previously, the Flower Region was relatively safe. Apart from fights caused by clan conflicts, no serious incidents occurred. However, after the clans and demons relinquished their power to the Flower Government, the clans and demons who were originally responsible for maintaining order naturally all withdrew.

Hua Yan was well aware that the invasion from the Southern Frontier had caused hardship for many of the Flower People. Furthermore, the lack of demon patrols in the mountains and forests allowed many Southern Frontier tribes to engage in looting, arson, rape, and plundering in the Flower Region.

But this is no longer just a matter for the clans; they also need to spend money to maintain order.

If a member of the clan is injured, money is needed; medicine costs money; and even damaged houses require money and effort to repair!

Now that the Red King has taken over the city's tax collection rights, the clans are naturally unwilling to step forward and do unprofitable business anymore.

Therefore, the moment Su Yan mentioned the bandit suppression, Hua Yan already knew the purpose of Su Yan's visit. She immediately pretended to be confused and asked him questions, even asking Su Yan how there could be bandits in such a poor area as Huahua.

"How's the cake? Although it's made with ordinary ingredients, I plan to use the most exquisite wooden box as packaging to attract the ladies and young women of Xia Yu's upper class."

Seeing that Hua Yan was pretending to be stupid and had openly rejected his suggestion, Su Yan was not in a hurry, so he changed the subject to the cake.

Su Yan came to see the Hua family not only about the refugees and bandits in the southern border region, but also about attracting investment.

"The taste is indeed very good, I like it." Hua Yan said with a smile, but he didn't touch the cake on the table.

If it were just eating and drinking, there would be no problem. Hua Yan could finish the sweet cake directly, but Su Yan's cake had other things inside.

He won't touch it again until things are cleared up.

"If we treat this as a business, would it work?" Su Yan asked Hua Yan, "Should I focus on the upper-class market?"

Regarding the cake business, Su Yan had her own plans, but business matters naturally require market research. It's not enough for her to think it's feasible; the person spending the money has to agree.

"Whether it will succeed or not is not up to me," Hua Yan said with a smile. "There are too many unexpected possibilities. Pastries are not a unique product. No matter how complicated the production process is, it can only be monopolized for a period of time."

"Of course I don't doubt the spending power of the upper class. When a pastry shop is the only one that sells it, it can make money. But once it's cracked and sold everywhere, it will no longer be worth anything."

Su Yan's strategy was very clear: he planned to invest heavily, using the sweet and smooth taste and extremely exquisite packaging to win over the upper class of Xia Yu.

This pastry was made a delicacy for the nobility, and was artificially endowed with an expensive and high-class attribute.

As for how to infiltrate, Hua Yan had no doubt that the identity of the magistrate in front of her might not be simple. He could even talk to the Grand Tutor, one of the three masters of Xia Yu. It would be too easy for him to blend into the upper-class nobles of Xia Yu.

"Make money while you can, and if you can't make extra profits, there are other ways." Su Yan didn't go into details about how to make it unique, but instead asked directly, "Is Patriarch Hua interested in investing?"

"Investment?"

Hua Yan looked at Su Yan with a surprised expression and an extremely strange look on her face.

"When I was in the flower market, the pastry workshop was naturally my business, but I was just passing through and would go back after a while."

When Su Yan said this, a clear look of dissatisfaction appeared on his face.

It's better to avoid partnering with the Crimson King in business. Su Yan was afraid that no sooner had she left than the Crimson King's mansion would rush to her aunt's house to inform her of a fire at her pastry workshop, after which the Crimson King would launch his own exclusive cake.

Therefore, having spirit stones is useless if you want to do business in the flower area. It's fine if someone is watching, but who knows what might happen if no one is watching? Given the Red King's greedy nature, who knows what he might do?

Of course, besides these considerations, Su Yan is also currently in a financially difficult situation.

I do have the storage ring, but I need to leave it with Grand Tutor Jin for safekeeping for a few days.

Cheating is not allowed on a spring outing, and Su Yan didn't want to get a beating from Grand Tutor Jin.

"That's interesting."

After pondering for a long time, Hua Yan said, "I am indeed quite interested in it. Let's talk about it?"

This pastry is quite interesting, especially its sweet and moist taste, which is very pleasing.

Making money is definitely possible, but how should the profits be split, and what risks should I bear?

As the Hua clan has many members to support, they naturally cannot pass up the opportunity to make money. The expenses on their cultivation path are not small.

Therefore, after confirming that there was a market for the pastry, Hua Yan immediately began to discuss the profit-sharing method.

In the south, when doing business, people are always petty and unscrupulous; if the profit-sharing issue isn't settled, there's no need to discuss anything else.

………………

It was approaching noon.

"Regarding the matter of suppressing bandits"

The discussion about the pastry business was nearing its end, and Su Yan spoke up again at this moment.

"Impossible, there's absolutely no way there could be bandits." Hua Yan continued to play dumb, completely ignoring the remark.

One thing at a time. Making money is a private collaboration between the two parties, while suppressing bandits is the Red King's business. He was recently beaten up by the Red King, and he's not shameless enough to shamelessly go and join them again.

"No. What I meant was, are there any brothers in the clan or in the mountains who want to make money? I would like to trouble Patriarch Hua to ask them for me," Su Yan said.

Regarding the matter of suppressing bandits, the Red King's army is currently preoccupied with plundering in the southern borderlands and cannot spare any resources. Therefore, the Red King's Palace naturally allocated a sum of money to the Flower and Grass Bureau, instructing the county magistrate to find some temporary workers to fill in for the time being.

It's difficult to get the government to find someone, and it's even more difficult to find a cultivator. That old rascal, the Crimson King, has already offended all the natives.

They're not cheap, why would they come over?

However, if someone else were to ask, recruiting cultivators would not be difficult.

Su Yan had laid the groundwork for so long, all for this one sentence.

I asked you for help, but you disagreed. However, you, my old scoundrel, have taken advantage of me and I've paid you. You and your family's high-ranking members are indeed wealthy, but do you really not have a single poor guy under your command?

It's not hard to say something, just say it.

You don't have any here, and I don't believe that no one from the demon race is willing to come and collect spirit stones either.

"tsk"

Hua Yan pondered for a while, then clicked her tongue and said:

"Then I'll go ask around for you! As for the wages, you know what I mean?"

"Understood. Report it to the authorities. The constables will get their share, and we'll split the rest 90/10. We'll take the kickback from the Red King."

"Sanqi, right?"

"Two-eight is fine."

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 272 Su Yan's Dark History

"Pleasant to work with."

After having lunch in the Hua clan's territory, Hua Yan, the head of the Hua family, smiled as she saw Su Yan and Fox Mother off.

The two sides have reached an agreement on the cooperation, and Hua Yan is willing to help with the pastry workshop and the recruitment of temporary yamen runners. However, there are some complicated transactions involved.

Regarding the cake workshop, the cooperation between the two parties adopted an OEM production model. Hua Yan said that she would send people to conduct taste surveys in various cities of Xia Yu, and the Hua family would provide funding and raw materials. At the beginning of the cooperation, the two parties adopted a 30/70 profit-sharing model, with Su Yan receiving 30%.

The profit split will continue until the Hua family recoups its costs. Then, the profit split between Su Yan and the Hua family will be 50/50. If Su Yan's sales team can ship a large quantity of goods, then Su Yan can receive 70% of the profits, and the Hua family can receive the remaining 30%.

Of course, this was Hua Yan's suggestion, but Su Yan did not agree to it.

Su Yan doesn't want any of the profits from the pastry workshop. Both parties will be responsible for their own parts: Su Yan will be responsible for research and development and providing recipes, while Hua Yan will be responsible for production and will only need to provide her with affordable pastries. She will not participate in the management of the workshop.

However, Su Yan was able to offer suggestions for the workshop's rectification.