The Inner Province's Goodwill

"Yay, cha-cha-cha-cha, everyone dance, don't be shy, don't be shy! Yay, cha-cha-cha-cha, you're not fashionable if you're learning the rumba, you're not romantic if you're learning the samba..."

"I Love Cha Cha Cha" is a very catchy song from Pro State. Once you've heard it, it's easy for it to play on repeat in your head.

Liao Zihui really liked this song today. He sang and danced in the office all afternoon and didn't feel tired at all.

Because the inspectors left today, and the Balance Person also left.

Ling Sujun entered the office. "General Envoy, Liu Guocai, the Guanfang Envoy Kinless Village, has arrived."

Liao Zihui quickly sat back down at his office desk, nodded, and said, "Let him in."

Liu Guocai arrived; he was there to apologize to Liao Zihui again for what had happened before.

Liao Zihui waved his hands repeatedly and said, "Guocai, it's all in the past, why bring it up again?"

Hurry back to Kinless Village and take care of the important business. The railway to Ink Fragrance Shop has been interrupted for so long; it should have been repaired long ago.

You and Li Qi should have a good talk, avoid conflict between the two sides, and try to start construction before the end of the year.

With only a few days left until the New Year, this task is a bit urgent.

Liu Guocai quickly went to find Deputy General Envoy Tang Huanjie Tang Huanjie, who was mainly in charge of railway matters.

Tang Huanjie was prepared. "Guocai, just do it. I've taken care of all the formalities and prepared all the equipment for you. I have to rush to a banquet here. We can communicate more in the future if there's anything else."

Liu Guocai found it strange that Tang Huanjie was always eager to attend banquets whenever they met recently.

Upon returning to Kinless Village, Liu Guocai made some preliminary preparations and instructed his subordinates to inform Li Qi that he was going to build a railway.

His men went and reported back, "We didn't see Li Qi."

Liu Guocai didn't take it seriously. "Just get the message across. We'll start work tomorrow."

Liu Guocai not been in Pro State for long and did not have a good impression of Pro State.

He knew Li Qi was no good person, but Li Qi was, after all, a man from Pro State.

Previously, Liu Guocai somewhat afraid of Li Qi because he suspected that Li Qi could manipulate the boundary, fearing that he would lose his official position if he were implicated in this matter.

Now the matter has turned out to be a misunderstanding, and in Liu Guocai's eyes, Li Qi is no different from other wealthy businessmen.

He's got some skill in clearing out an entire piece of land, but no matter how skilled he is, he's still a native of Pro State.

As for why Liao Zihui cared so much about Li Qi, and even made huge concessions on shipping costs, Liu Guocai didn't know and didn't want to know.

Liu Guocai disapproved of many of Liao Zihui's actions, which was one of the reasons he reported the matter to a higher level.

The groundbreaking ceremony was held as scheduled, Liu Guocai attended in person.

The materials are shipped directly from Outer State, and the technical personnel are also transferred from Outer State, but some manual laborers have to be recruited locally, and so far only a few have been recruited.

But Liu Guocai felt that this was irrelevant to the overall situation; the most important thing about starting construction was the atmosphere and momentum.

At the construction site, Liu Guocai highly praised the work done, but also pointed out some problems.

He doesn't actually understand engineering, but he still has to point out the problems, since no one dares to point them out if he's wrong anyway.

Upon reaching the stone pile, Liu Guocai immediately pointed out the disorderly arrangement of the stones and issued a stern criticism. "This may seem like a small matter, but small things can reveal the root of the problem. This is a serious issue of awareness and attitude..."

As everyone was taking notes of the Guanfang Envoy's requirements, the pile of stones suddenly collapsed, and Liu Guocai died on the spot.

Liao Zihui took the report and sighed repeatedly, "Guocai, Guocai... why didn't Li Qi come on the day construction started?"

The report was delivered by Zhang Xinglai, the Guanfang Vice Envoy Kinless Village. Liao Zihui had his reasons for sending him to deliver the report.

Zhang Xinglai said, "Envoy Liu didn't invite Li Qi directly, but sent someone to inform him."

Liao Zihui was somewhat dissatisfied; he had originally intended to pin the blame on Li Qi.

But Li Qi's absence could still lead to some entanglement, even if it doesn't, the important matter has already been resolved.

"Xinglai, you've been in Kinless Village for quite some time now. Guocai has died in the line of duty, so you have to take on the responsibilities of the Guanfang Hall."

Zhang Xinglai immediately stood up and solemnly declared that he would fulfill his duties to the best of his ability.

Having received his appointment, Zhang Xinglai to his Kinless Village.

He had been in Pro State for a long time, longer than Liao Zihui, and he knew what kind of people you shouldn't offend.

That evening, Zhang Xinglai brought gifts to see Li Qi.

Li Qi had just finished building a house, and that evening he was having hot pot with Ma Wu.

Seeing that Zhang Xinglai brought a gift, Li Qi was quite pleased. "Brother Zhang, you General Envoy polite than your chief envoy."

Zhang Xinglai smiled and said, "The New Year is approaching. I have just taken office and have come to pay my respects to Seventh Master."

"Brother Zhang, you're too kind," Li Banfeng said, standing up. "Fifth Brother, quickly get another chair to celebrate Brother Zhang's promotion!"

After exchanging pleasantries, Zhang Xinglai raised his glass and said, "Seventh Master, I'm Seventh Master person, so I won't say much in the formalities. Seventh Master, you're in charge of all matters in Seven Autumn City. I'll rely on Seventh Master for support from now on."

This person knows how to talk.

It's not just about saying a few polite words.

Everyone calls this place "Kinless Village," and they've called it that for who knows how many years.

But Zhang Xinglai changed his address to Seven Autumn City, which showed that he truly respected Li Qi.

The three raised their glasses and drank them down in one gulp.

Zhang Xinglai added, "We are short-handed for the railway construction, so please take care of us, Seventh Master."

Li Qi nodded and said, "This is easy to handle, just leave it to Lao Wu."

Ma Wu chimed in, "We have manpower, and the price is negotiable. If Brother Zhang thinks highly of us, I'll host a game tomorrow on Jun Yang Avenue, and we can discuss the details then."

The only main street in Kinless Village has now been renamed Jun Yang Avenue.

Zhang Xinglai raised his glass again. "With Fifth Master's words, I feel at ease."

Li Qi said, "We should help each other with the railway construction. Brother Zhang, you should also take care of the transportation costs."

"You're too kind, Seventh Master. I'll report to the General Envoy tomorrow. Seventh Master originally agreed to pay 50% of the freight. I can't control other places, but in our Seven Autumn City, I'll try my best to reduce the freight to 30% for all goods entering and leaving the city."

Li Qi didn't say anything.

The fact that it could drop to 50% before was the result of several behind-the-scenes battles between the two sides.

Now, based on Zhang Xinglai's single sentence, he thinks he can lower the price to 30%? How could Li Banfeng possibly trust him?

Ma Wu laughed and said, "Envoy Zhang, I'm afraid Envoy Liao won't agree to this."

Zhang Xinglai looked at Li Qi and Ma Wu, and lowered his voice, saying, "If it were another place, I wouldn't dare to speak up, but this area originally had no industry. There's a Train Station, which is only used occasionally to transport people and daily necessities; it doesn't earn much in freight fees."

Now that it's in your hands, Seven Autumn City is sure to prosper. As long as we can make a little profit and don't make things difficult for me, everything is negotiable.

That's the point.

The three got along very well and drank until late into the night.

When the railway construction started, the workers were indeed from Ma Wu. Li Banfeng specifically instructed, "Don't ask for much in wages. It doesn't matter if we make up the difference."

He called Chuanzi back from Black Stone Slope and let him blend in with the workers.

Chuanzi was also eager to learn about railway technology from Outer State, but after two days, he returned dejected.

"Seventh Master, they asked us to work on this section of track. Laying sleepers and setting up the tracks isn't difficult; I used to be able to do that too."

The railways on both sides, once they reached the border, were all cordoned off with boundary lines, preventing us from getting close. I could never learn that Work Method.

The railways on both sides are the key, as this involves the means by which trains cross the border.

This was within Li Banfeng's expectations; if the Work Method were so easy to learn, it would have been copied long ago.

The main reason Chuanzi was sent among the workers was to investigate one thing. "Are the materials used for this section of railway the same as those used for the sections at both ends?"

If the same materials were used, then the construction techniques were employed during the construction process. This would make things more difficult, as Li Banfeng is not a construction worker and cannot learn the Work Method.

However, if the materials used are different, it proves that the railway crossing the boundary used special materials, which would make things much easier. Getting some materials back would not be difficult for Li Banfeng.

Chuanzi answered confidently, "Seventh Master, the materials used are all the same. When we unloaded the cargo the first time, we unloaded too much at the border and even had a lot of it left over."

The Outer State uses a different Work Method, which makes things more complicated.

That evening, Li Banfeng put on his work clothes and went to the construction site near the border.

The construction site was completely silent. No construction was carried out here at night. The surrounding area was illuminated by a halo of light, and no one was allowed to enter.

Li Banfeng pulled a lever, opening a passage. He tested it with Cabbage Man to ensure it was working properly before entering himself.

What is he going to the construction site for? He doesn't know anything about it, and besides, there's no construction at night.

This matter will have to rely on Portable Abode. Wherever the key goes, Portable Abode will follow. It doesn't matter if Li Banfeng can't understand it, as long as Portable Abode can.

Ahead was a section of railway that was only half-built. Li Banfeng walked along the railway several times before sitting down beside it.

Old man, you'd better watch carefully.

The switch can only be used once a day. Anyway, I can't go out, so you can learn slowly here.

Construction has begun on the Seven Jun Wine House on Jun Yang Avenue.

Chu Shaoqiang's design drawings are truly excellent. The restaurant has a main building and two Deputy Building, with corridors and pavilions interspersed in the middle. A garden was built behind the buildings, and six superior private rooms were specially set up in the garden.

It has a classical charm as well as the unique luxury of Pro State. Ma Wu fell in love with the blueprints as soon as he saw them and gave Chu Shaoqiang a large sum of money.

But he still couldn't remember who the person was.

Chu Shaoqiang made up a fake name, which made Ma Wu a little suspicious, but he didn't rush to investigate. He invited Chu Shaoqiang to his house for a meal, hoping to get some information out of him. However, after drinking for half the meal, Ma Wu got drunk first.

Chu Shaoqiang took out a puppet and pretended to continue eating with Ma Wu. He then walked out of the house and headed towards the Qiu Luoye's Territory.

As the New Year approached, Qiu Luoye was drinking with Tiger at home. After finishing two jars of wine, Tiger was about to open the third jar when Qiu Luoye flapped his ears and told Tiger not to move.

He came out of the house and looked at the forest in the distance.

Chu Shaoqiang's figure slowly appeared, and Qiu Luoye asked directly, "Who are you?"

"You must be Qiu Luoye?" Chu Shaoqiang said with a smile. "I've heard your name in Inner State and even seen your contract."

"Inner State?" Qiu Luoye spat, looking at Chu Shaoqiang, and asked, "What do you want with me?"

Don't be so nervous. I came to you to help you.

I've heard that you transformed the land from deep within the plains into Proper Land; the Inner State praises your abilities, and your reputation has spread far and wide.

Qiu Luoye said expressionlessly, "Speak your mind, or shut up. I don't have time to listen to your nonsense."

Chu Shaoqiang nodded. "I admire your straightforwardness. I brought you three good things this time."

First, there's money. This is newly opened territory, everything needs to be built, and there are places that need money everywhere. I've brought you plenty of silver; spend it as you please.

Secondly, regarding cultivation, once you become Proper Land Local Earth God, you'll encounter more challenges and face more opponents. We promise to help you advance to the next level.

Thirdly, Inner State has sent a lot of people; they will help you manage this land..."

Qiu Luoye interrupted Chu Shaoqiang, saying with a smile, "I don't want the money. I have brothers who know how to make money. I'll slowly accumulate my cultivation myself. Inner State doesn't need to worry about it for me. As for manpower, you can take them and get out of here. Get as far away from me as possible."

P. S.: The Inner State still came knocking on our door.