Though the Sea Merchant Guild's prospects were excellent at present, clear-eyed people like Ao Yang had all realized that such an unprecedented upheaval had pushed the guild to its highest peak. Yet as for how it should proceed from here, there was no longer any precedent to follow.
Seagull Market had been established for ten years, and the Sea Merchant Guild had traveled ever more smoothly. Yet from top to bottom, not a single person had a clear understanding of the direction ahead. They were like riders galloping down a mist-shrouded mountain path. They seemed to be ascending step by step, but in truth, there was no ground beneath their feet and bottomless cliffs all around. No matter what they did, they could not find the sense of security they ought to have had.
Perhaps, apart from Madam Hua.
This beautiful woman, whose mind was as deep and unfathomable as an abyss, had wielded heaven-shaking methods with her delicate body and single-handedly brought the Sea Merchant Guild to its current position. Yet she was still an outsider by surname. It was not that no one feared her, nor that no one had entertained crooked thoughts.
But sayings like "when the birds are gone, the bow is put away" and "when the rabbits are dead, the hunting dogs are boiled" had to wait until the time was ripe. If they truly could not wait to do something foolish, enemies such as Suixin Pavilion and Three Treasures Hall, who were watching them like tigers eyeing their prey, would likely celebrate by flicking the dust from their caps.
This sense of crisis, that prosperity had reached its zenith and would soon decline, was in all likelihood deliberately cultivated by Madam Hua. It was precisely her means of self-preservation.
So long as this issue