"Spending two million gold coins just for permission to station a merchant guild's Guards Corps of no more than five hundred people here?" President Cruz looked at Xu Yi in bewilderment and frowned. "Xu Yi, why do I feel like your brain has burned out since you came to the Stantin Duchy? You keep making deals that lose money."
"Lose money?" Xu Yi smiled faintly. "First, you need to understand that although our Xinfei Merchant Guild is paying those two million gold coins to improve the environment here, we'll also benefit the most from those improvements. So, strictly speaking, this is simply an investment in our own business."
"The problem is, this is still the Stantin Duchy's territory. Your Xinfei Merchant Guild can invest in construction here now, but you can't take what you build away with you. If you stop operating here one day, won't all of it go to waste?" President Cruz asked in puzzlement.
"Who said I was going to leave?" Xu Yi countered.
"If you aren't leaving, are you planning to stay? This place..." President Cruz suddenly stopped and gave Xu Yi an astonished look. He glanced around, then leaned closer to Xu Yi and lowered his voice slightly, a faint tremor creeping into it. "Hey, Xu Yi, don't tell me you're planning to..."
Xu Yi waved a hand. "Don't ask. I'm not going to tell you."
President Cruz closed his mouth and narrowed his eyes slightly, studying Xu Yi meaningfully for a long while. Only then did he straighten up and look Xu Yi up and down as though meeting him for the first time. He shook his head gently and sighed. "Xu Yi, only today did I realize that your ambitions are far greater than I imagined. But do you think... five hundred people