The carriage wheels rolled over the stone paving, sending a soft series of clatters drifting through the night.
Inside the carriage, it was as quiet as the night outside. For some reason, the usually lively Akali had remained silent ever since boarding, her head lowered as she pondered something. Xu Yi leaned back against the carriage with his eyes closed, a trace of weariness on his face.
On the surface, his first meeting with Chairman Lanke and the others could be considered a happy outcome for everyone. Both sides had expressed satisfaction with the results.
Xu Yi, however, knew very well that achieving this outcome had been anything but easy.
Judging by Chairman Lanke and the others' behavior earlier, they had clearly decided long ago to swallow the Xinfei Merchant Guild whole.
Their greed was so blatant that, before Xu Yi had even agreed to join the Commercial Association, they had already demanded that he share the Xinfei Merchant Guild's technology.
Had Xu Yi not had other plans, he would probably have slammed the table and walked out on the spot.
Recalling the delight on their faces when they heard him agree to transfer his technology, Xu Yi sneered inwardly.
These people had made it all sound so wonderful. They claimed that joining the Commercial Federation would bring the Xinfei Merchant Guild all sorts of benefits, including preferential terms in partnerships with the other major merchant guilds in the Federation. But a closer look revealed that they had simply dug a deep pit and were waiting for him to jump in.
If Xu Yi really had been foolish enough to share every technology the Xinfei Merchant Guild possessed, the disparity in strength between his guild and these truly major merchant guilds meant it would soon be swallowed whole.
At that