Business Investment and Expanding the Team

Fred and George flanked Zhang San from either side, their eyes burning with eagerness as they asked:

"Are you willing to sponsor us in opening a joke shop?"

"And you're even willing to provide ample funding for our research?"

Zhang San nodded. "Of course. We'll be going into business together. I'll provide the capital, and the two of you will contribute your technology as equity. We'll split the profits seventy-thirty."

Fred complained, "Why do we only get seventy percent?"

"Ahem... I get seventy percent. The remaining thirty percent is the technical equity for you two brothers," Zhang San said seriously.

Unlike Fred, George was not so impulsive. He asked steadily, "Who will own the technology we develop?"

"We'll jointly hold the commercial development rights, while the credit for the technology will belong entirely to you," Zhang San replied.

The Weasley twins still accepted this arrangement. In the face of poverty, all wisdom and talent were worthless. The money they made selling little toys at Hogwarts was nowhere near enough to cover their research expenses, and the brothers had long had enough of living hand to mouth.

They wanted to be like Malfoy too, with more than enough pocket money and family funding and support for whatever they wanted to research.

However, the Weasley family was famous for being poor. Simply feeding the family and sending everyone to school already stretched them thin; there was not a single Galleon at home to support their research.

What was more, their mother—Molly Weasley—neither supported the brothers' research nor thought much of their business plans.

The market for wizard joke shops was only so large. Rather than fighting their peers to the death, they might as well find a stable job at the Ministry of Magic, drinking tea and reading newspapers.

In Mrs. Weasley's eyes, her husband's job was perfect—good pay, little work, close to home, high status, great authority, and light responsibilities. If all her children could get jobs like Arthur's, the Weasley family would finally escape poverty for good.

In Mrs. Weasley's eyes, Bill's job as a curse-breaker at Gringotts and Charlie's job raising dragons in Romania were hardly stable—after all, dealing with cursed objects and fire dragons was extremely dangerous.

The eldest and second son were basically considered lost causes, so the shining hope of the Weasley family became Percy, the third child. Naturally, Percy Weasley did not disappoint his parents and entered the Ministry of Magic right after graduation.

With the third son carrying the banner ahead of them, Mrs. Weasley eased up considerably on keeping an eye on the fourth and fifth sons. So long as they did not make their strange inventions inside the Burrow, Molly pretended she knew nothing.

When it came to inventing things, Fred and George had clearly inherited the Weasley family's restless, tinkering genes. Arthur himself was a "great inventor." He had modified the family's old Ford into a flying car—and had even nurtured a spirit within it.

Even flying brooms paled beside the flying Ford. If Ron could get technical support from his father and brothers, reverse-engineering flying broom technology would not be an impossible dream.

The Weasley family really had something going for them in magical item manufacturing. Their living room contained a magical clock that showed not the time, but the locations of every member of the Weasley family.

Even in China, that thing would have been an impressive high-grade magical artifact. It was not made for combat, but its technical sophistication was truly sky-high.

Fred and George happily signed an investment agreement with Zhang San. From that day onward, Zhang San became the majority shareholder and chairman of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, while Fred and George became the chief technology officers.

During the pleasant discussion, both sides also chose Ron as the CEO responsible for running the shop. Ron was Zhang San's friend and Fred and George's own brother, so having Ron run Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes was a consensus between both parties.

Was Ron willing?

"I want to be the manager so badly!" Ron's face twisted with excitement, his tightly clenched fists revealing how thrilled he was.

"I... I want it so badly..." Ron said firmly. "If I become the manager, I'll listen to you in everything! I'll trust you even more than my brothers do... I'll treat you like a godfather... I respect you. I don't want to lose this opportunity..."

Zhang San patted Ron on the shoulder. "Don't worry. Before your two brothers graduate, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes will be opened on the second basement level of the small temple. You can run the joke shop while serving as the temple caretaker."

"That's wonderful! It's absolutely wonderful!" Ron trembled with excitement.

After buying a new wand and getting a new pet, Ron had come to understand just how important Galleons were.

Before, his parents provided everything he ate and used, and he could only accept whatever they gave him. Since the family was truly poor, he had no choice but to wear secondhand robes, use a secondhand wand, and study from secondhand textbooks.

If a job were placed in front of him, one that would not interfere with his studies at Hogwarts, Ron would definitely accept it without hesitation.

Just keep living those broke days if you want—one day after another without a peep! Whoever loved that miserable life could have it. Ron, the sixth child, was done with it.

I want to be rich like Harry too. If I can't be born into wealth, then I'll become the first generation to build it. I'll climb step by step by step until I reach the very top.

Zhang San took five percent from his own seventy-percent share and gave it to Ron as dividends. The better the shop performed, the more Ron would earn, and the faster Zhang San would recoup his investment.

The investment he was making in Fred and George required real Galleons and silver Sickles. Zhang San gave Fred and George two thousand Galleons.

One thousand Galleons could be used however they wished—they could research whatever they wanted, so long as they came up with inventions. The other thousand Galleons were earmarked specifically for flying broom research. If Fred and George wanted to use that money, they could only do so by joining the flying broom technology research group led by Ron.

When two thousand Galleons were piled up like a small mountain before Fred, George, and Ron, the eyes of the three poor brothers went wide.

When had anyone in the Weasley family ever fought a battle with such abundant resources? This was two thousand Galleons! Enough to buy a Nimbus 2000!

Zhang San said with a smile, "I hope you two technical officers can produce some products quickly to enrich our shop. Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes urgently needs your intelligence and talent."

Fred and George looked determined. "Don't worry. We'll definitely develop the hottest products and make the entire wizarding world fall for our joke items."

The fourth and fifth sons left full of ambition, leaving only Ron and Zhang San in the temple.

Zhang San said, "Harry has Quidditch training to attend lately, and I'm afraid you won't be able to handle everything at the temple alone. So I invited two helpers."

Ron's eyes lit up at once.

Helpers were great. As business at the small temple got better and better, Ron sometimes truly felt overwhelmed. And now he had another role—as the manager of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes—so he would be even busier in the future.

"Who are the helpers?" Ron asked.

Zhang San said, "Hermione and Neville."

Ron hesitated for a long while before saying, "Will that work?"

"Are you looking down on Hermione, or do you look down on Neville?" Zhang San asked, raising an eyebrow.

Ron hurriedly shook his head. "It's just Hermione's temper... and Neville's reactions..."

"Hermione's job is to sell incense at the entrance in Harry's place, while Neville's job is to tend the flowers and plants in the temple," Zhang San said.

He was preparing to introduce a wider variety of offerings. Incense and candles were consumables; once lit, they were gone. If the stock of incense was burned through, there would be no way to replenish it in Britain.

So Zhang San decided to have Neville cultivate more flowers to serve as offerings. Things like water lilies, lucky bamboo, orchids, and daffodils could all be reused. After being sold to one group of people as offerings to Zhang San, they could be sold again to the next group the following day.

That meant he needed a professional gardener to cultivate those flowers. And the most suitable candidate was naturally Professor Sprout's heir, Gryffindor's Sword Saint—Mr. Neville Longbottom.

Loyal, hardworking, brave...

What a wonderful long-term laborer!