Culture Was Also a Commodity

Interstellar Club's preseason victory didn't cause much of a stir in the men's professional Rugby scene. They weren't the first team to rise through hard work, and they certainly won't be the last.

In the past, those big clubs had ways to deal with these smaller teams. Now, they can only improve their methods. The simplest way is to use star players to fight against these less outstanding players!

Every top team has a very deep squad; they have their own multi-tiered teams and can always pull in some laborers from lower-level teams to do the dirty work.

For these senior laborers, most of them are older players nearing retirement age. Rugby is a young man's game, and the more games they play, the more money they earn.

The Interstellar Club's victory wasn't a big deal; people were more focused on the State Election in each state.

With the State Election just over a month away, the campaign is in its most intense phase, and people are bombarded with election information every day as soon as they open their eyes.

From the bold, black-and-white headlines in the first newspaper every morning proclaiming "Who will be the ultimate winner?" to the Morning News anchor's statement at 8:30 a. m. that "the support rates for both sides are not far apart," people are constantly surrounded by these messages, unable to escape them, and eventually join in.

The same was true for Benlett; the day after the team's victory, Lin Qi attended a small celebration hosted by the Bennet City.

There was no ceremony originally, but Lin Qi came in person, so the ceremony took place.

The mayor invited many local celebrities and prominent politicians to attend, calling it a victory celebration but it was more like a social party.

The celebration was very enthusiastic. The United Development Company's intervention in Nagaril had only lasted for less than two months, but in that time, the United Development Company's market value had already multiplied.

This is a behemoth corporation with assets measured in hundreds of millions. The fact that such a massive entity can grow exponentially demonstrates just how terrifying the wealth contained within Nagaril is.

Some people who were slow to realize their mistake and missed the opportunity are now regretting it and hoping to catch the tail end of a get-rich-quick scheme.

Initially, the mayor didn't really take the celebration ceremony seriously. It wasn't that he looked down on Lin Qi; he valued Lin Qi highly. It was just that he felt it was unlikely that Nagaril would have the kind of profits that the wealthy people in Benlit City needed.

Are you going to make some weird and wonderful clothes and sell them to the Natives? Maybe they'll wear them more fashionably than the most trendy designers in the Federal!

But he still held the event. His purpose was to tell everyone that he was working hard to find opportunities for everyone in the city, so shouldn't they give him something in return, such as voting for the current governor?

Surprisingly, Lin Qi was also able to offer some advice to these people.

"... To date, many people believe that if they want to rely on Nagaril to quickly restore their economic strength, they must go to Nagaril. This is actually a wrong view."

"This is certainly true for businesses or individuals operating in the real economy or resource-based economy; they won't get anything if they don't go. But for people operating in the cultural industry, it's not necessary to go!"

"I'm going in many ways. As everyone knows, I also have a certain share in Fox Film ..." People nodded in agreement. Lin Qi's relationship with Fox Film was no secret.

The fact that he licensed his "Lin Qi's Adventures" to Fox Film for adaptation and filming at a low price illustrates the situation.

Lin Qi looked at the people around him, and after receiving their affirmative answers, he continued, "I heard that the first movie was well-made, and the second movie will finish filming around this month, which may create a new box office peak."

"There are more movies related to Nagaril that are in the planning and filming stages. If any of you have noticed, it's not just these. The unique animals I brought back from Nagaril are also very popular, and toy companies have already been licensed to produce plush toys."

"All of this points to a phenomenon..." Lin Qi stood in the crowd. The people who came were all local celebrities. There weren't many of them, but they were all of noble status. Some of them were even the founders or heirs of trendy brands.

They gathered around Lin Qi, listening quietly to a young man who was probably younger than their grandson sharing his thoughts, their expressions focused.

At this moment, many women were so captivated by Lin Qi's handsome face that they could hardly move their legs. His aura, temperament, appearance, wealth, status, and influence were all things that people longed for.

He had no idea what those women, who outwardly maintained their composure but inwardly had already laid out 108 different poses for him, were thinking. He was simply telling others his point of view, "... culture also has economic value."

"Nagaril's importance to the Federal will keep the people of the Federal curious about everything about this place for a long time to come, at least three to five years."

"During this process, they will inevitably hear about some small strokes of luck or miracles, which will further deepen their curiosity about this place."

"The culture related to Nagaril will become a trend, a mainstream. We should not think about what we can do in Nagaril, but rather how we can turn things related to Nagaril into economic value."

"Nagaril- style accessories and clothing, jewelry, ornaments, and garments made from raw materials sourced from Nagaril, including handicrafts, will become the mainstream consumer trend for some time to come..."

If these people know what it means to have a sudden realization, then this is how they feel right now.

Even if Lin Qi hadn't said it, they would have realized after a while that they were simply confused by a very simple logical relationship—

1. Go to Nagaril.

2. Make big money!

Everyone who made money did so there, which is why people in the fashion industry are a bit confused. Should they also go there to keep up with the times and get a piece of the pie from Nagaril?

Now Lin Qi is answering their questions, and this kind of answer is completely different from the feeling they get when they arrive at the answers through experience and reflection.

The feeling of getting answers is probably like when lung heat causes waste fluid to accumulate in the upper respiratory tract. By contracting the lung lobes to increase internal pressure, a high-speed outward airflow is used to expel this waste fluid from the respiratory tract entrance with a loud thud, making breathing immediately smooth again.

After thinking it through, I realized that it's similar to an upper respiratory tract infection. People feel difficulty breathing and mistakenly think that something is blocking their airway, but in fact, there is nothing, just redness and inflammation.

Once you understand it, it's like an upper respiratory infection gradually healing itself. You have a more complete experience, a better process, and more accumulated experience, but you experience less pain, though you gain a lot more knowledge.

Now, as these people breathe more freely, one can vaguely see the trends to come.

After spring arrives, a wave of exotic styles will dominate the fashion scene for at least the next two years!

Finally, Lin Qi added that not only is Nagaril's culture valuable, but all cultures that the Federal people have never encountered are valuable. However, these valuable cultures also contain harmful elements that need to be identified before being digested.

In short, this was a very successful social event, and Lin Qi once again proved to people that his ideas were far ahead of his time, making him a well-deserved Youth Leader.

It took Lin Qi a whole day to return to Sabine City on the fourth day after winning the championship.

Having been away from Sabine City for some time, returning here suddenly brought a strange feeling—a sense of familiarity, a sense of ease, and a feeling of insecurity that he hadn't experienced elsewhere.

Not many people knew that Lin Qi had returned. Lin Qi did not tell the mayor or Ferral, but Ferral also appeared outside the station.

Although less than two years have passed, Lin Qi has grown into someone who deserves respect and attention.

Besides Ferral, someone else came to pick up Lin Qi: the Green Brothers.

The Green Brothers were the two oldest children in the original Newspaper Boss team. Lin Qi adopted these children, and of course, they only needed to call Lin Qi "brother" instead of "father."

Among these children, the leaders are the Green Brothers, Noel Green and Fern Green, who are now in charge of Lin Qi's main work in Sabine City.

Actually, there wasn't much work involved. It was mainly about taking care of Lin Qi's warehouses, preventing thieves from breaking in, and also handling the coordination between Family Workshop. This involved delivering raw materials, paying them, and collecting the finished products.

These tasks may seem easy, but they are not actually that simple.

Lin Qi had heard more than once about the conflicts these children had with some difficult families. Not every family applied for Family Workshop with the intention of making money through work; some people just wanted to swindle some raw materials and machinery, then sell them for a sum of money to squander.

When faced with such problems, calling the police is not very effective, and litigation is also difficult to resolve. In an era of economic downturn and unprecedentedly high unemployment, even the president has asked local Department of Justice to slow down and reduce the trial and sentencing of those who have to resort to criminal acts to obtain the necessary funds to make a living.

The president made good use of this demand and gained a lot of support, which boosted his approval rating by three percent. However, local governments are having a bit of a headache.

Petty theft has increased, and with prisons across the country basically ceasing to accept short-term prisoners, the police are largely ignoring cases that have been classified as "disputes."

If the police don't intervene, some people will see this as a new source of income, and someone needs to be able to deter these people!

At least they need to understand one thing: they can rob, kill, and do all sorts of bad things, but they shouldn't harm Mr. Lin Qi's interests! Because they will pay a heavy price for it!