“Why, all the industries he neglected,” Wang Jun said, his mouth widening into a wolfish grin. “Artificery. Real estate. Wholesale. Mercenary work.”
Wang Bing massaged her brow. “I’m missing something here. I believe I said investing in those industries was a terrible idea, and you agreed.”
“On their own they are, my dear,” Wang Jun said. “However, what if there was a sudden influx of low-level cultivators and their associated demands?”
Wang Bing frowned, but suddenly it dawned on her. “You mean Mo Tianshen’s cultivation endowment pills?”
“That’s right,” Wang Jun said. “My brother might have the alchemy market cornered, but this is a pill that isn’t sold by any companies he owns. He can’t make the argument that I’m infringing on his industry.”
“It’ll be hard to negotiate with Mo Tianshen,” Wang Bing said. “He says his invention is for the good of mankind, and he’s even filed patents to protect it.”
“My dear, we are not in this for the money,” Wang Jun said. “We want to protect the North from the Southern invasion. We want to improve people’s lives. What good is the profit of the few when faced with the despair of the many? In fact, we should even subsidize his noble goal. We need as many young parents and growing children endowed with cultivation talent as possible. They’ll be able to improve their lot in life, defend themselves, and begin a new age of prosperity for the cities we live in. And not just in Gold Leaf City. Imagine all major cities in all Northern countries. Mo Tianshen might not be able to accomplish this, but with enough venture capital, his dream could be achieved within a few years.”
Elder Bai coughed. “I didn’t know you were such an idealist,” he said. “Perhaps we could work on this after you’ve defeated Wang Ling and wrestled away the family leadership.”
“No, he’s right,” Wang Bing interjected. Her fingers were darting around her tablet, furiously looking through the numbers. She shook her head and continued poring over the information. Wang Jun let her work while Elder Bai sat looking rather confused. Finally, after working furiously for fifteen minutes, she looked back up.
“How much do we need?” Wang Jun asked. “What’s the market potential?”
“How long is a piece of string?” Wang Bing said. “It’s far too difficult to predict. However, I managed to run some numbers on the base capital we’d need to make this happen. It’s a lot lower than I expected.”
“That’s because the market is skewed toward profitable industries,” Wang Jun said. “The businesses and real estate we’re interested in are currently unprofitable. Let’s start with the pills. How much will it take to supply every child, young adult, and newly married parent in the North?”
“With a population of a hundred billion, roughly fifty percent of the population falls within these parameters,” Wang Bing said. “Mo Tianshen worked hard to reduce the cost to about one least-grade spirit stone per pill, but each person is likely to ingest an average of four pills. The material costs aren’t an issue, however. For this to work, we need infrastructure, and fast. I estimate it would take around one thousand top-grade spirit stones to fully roll out this project in the North in the next six months to a year.”
Wang Jun whistled. “No wonder he didn’t do it himself.”
“It probably wasn’t just the money that fazed him,” Wang Bing said. “He’s not a poor man. But the time and effort required to implement it is astronomical. If we offer to do the heavy lifting, and subsidize the cost of the pills by fifty to eighty percent…”
“He would be on board,” Wang Jun completed. “In addition, we’d have full control over the distribution. Let’s do it.”
Wang Bing nodded. “The real estate market is tough to corner. However, real estate aside, your brother owns nothing in the lowest tier of spirit weapons, herbs, apothecaries, and talismans.”
“Then let’s snap up everything at grades he isn’t interested in, especially mid-level mortal-grade items,” Wang Jun said. “I want to invest in the countries of the North as much as they’ll allow us to.”
“Likely a third of the market,” Wang Bing said.
“Let’s push and see if we can do better,” Wang Jun said. “Now that I’ve completed the family’s task in the Song Kingdom, I’ve been allocated assets that were previously held in trust. I now have sixty thousand top-grade spirit stones to invest, and I don’t want a single stone idle. I want fingers in wholesale distribution for mass market goods. I want to invest money in research and development for artificery, especially low-grade artificer goods. Anything they produce, whether it be useful for combat or just for quality of life like air movers, I want it all.”
“I heard someone in Evergreen created an artifice that can clean your house and entertain your pets at the same time,” Wang Bing said.
“What?” Wang Jun exclaimed. “That’s possible?”
She nodded.
“I want that man hired, no matter the cost. That is the kind of thing that will make us rich.”
“We’ll need funds, and lots of them,” Wang Bing said. “Your current funds aren’t enough. I’m estimating we require at least a hundred thousand pinnacle spirit stones.”
“I want us to start insurance companies in every city in the North,” Wang Jun said. “We’ll milk investment capital out of them, and we’ll leverage our money through loans.”
“I’ll get right on it,” Wang Bing said.
“Can anyone tell me what the bloody hell is going on?” Elder Bai suddenly shouted, ending their excited conversation.
“So sorry, we got carried away,” Wang Jun said. “Can you get started while I explain, Wang Bing? Time is precious.”
Wang Bing nodded and walked out of the room, a determined expression on her face. This time, Wang Jun poured tea for Elder Bai, who, for the first time in his life, felt senile and out of touch.
“If we can’t win with the cards we’re dealt, we need to change the game, Elder Bai. If this plan works, we’ll likely make over a thousand
