"President."
"President."
"President, you're here..."
Seeing Xu Yi suddenly appear, everyone who had been absorbed in their discussion immediately greeted him respectfully.
Xu Yi waved a hand, stopping Ankato from fetching him a seat. He picked up a finished tire from the ground, stood it upright, and pressed down hard on it.
Feeling the resistance from the tire, which did not quite reach his waist and was less than five centimeters wide, Xu Yi nodded in satisfaction.
"Not bad. It looks like the overall shape is finished. Once you've dealt with a few details, we can call this tire a success."
At Xu Yi's approval, everyone around him breathed a sigh of relief.
Potteru smiled, finally finding time to ask, "President, did you come specifically to look at this?"
"No. This project brings together the finest research and development talent our guild currently has, so there's nothing for me to worry about. I just stopped by on my way elsewhere." Xu Yi shook his head, then suddenly asked Yildan, "Yildan, if another merchant guild offered you three hundred gold coins a year, would you go?"
Yildan froze. "Three hundred gold coins a year... that's less than twenty a month, which isn't any more than I make here. I'm perfectly happy here, so why would I leave?"
"What about five hundred gold coins, then? That would be quite a bit more than you earn here," Xu Yi asked again.
Yildan still shook his head. "No, I wouldn't go even if they offered me a thousand gold coins. I'm very comfortable at the Xinfei Merchant Guild. Humans and dwarves alike get along very well with me here. I don't want to go somewhere unfamiliar and have to adjust all over again."
Seeing how firmly Yildan answered, Xu Yi could not help