[The bet was made, and Skott and his group promptly left.]
[Stelle and Bailu approached to understand the situation. The secretary felt immense guilt toward Sushang, believing the chamber's troubles had dragged her into this mess.]
[At first, Sushang was optimistic and unbothered. But upon cooling down, she realized that if she lost, it wouldn't just be her own face on the line—it would be dragging the Cloud Knights' reputation through the mud.]
[The secretary introduced herself as Yunxi, the secretary of the Aurum Alley Chamber. She tried to apologize again, but Stelle stopped her: "If you keep talking like that, it'll feel like we're strangers."]
["Exactly! What's all this about 'shouldn't have'? I'm already involved," Sushang said with a bright smile.]
[Yunxi confessed to the group that the chamber was in dire straits—not only could they not pay the rent, but they were drowning in debt just from leasing the dock. The root of the problem was clear: Aurum Alley was no longer as bustling as it once was.]
[With neither revenue nor cost-cutting measures working, the group was at a loss. If this continued, they might actually have to hear Sushang bark like a dog…]
[Bailu suddenly looked up at Stelle: "Stelle, you seem good at brainstorming. Why don't you give it a try?"]
[Stelle put her hands on her hips: "Wait, since when did you diagnose me as having a brain?"]
[Yunxi, picking up on Stelle's hesitation, quickly added: "It's fine! You can join as a consultant for the chamber. Even if it goes wrong, it doesn't matter… things are already bad enough, how much worse could it get?"]
——
Dragon Raja
"It's already rock bottom—any step forward is upward." Caesar squinted his lake-blue eyes slightly. "I might have a solution that could help with their troubles."
Chu Zihang asked expressionlessly, "You've dabbled in business too?" In his memory, Caesar was notorious at the academy for half-heartedly handling exams and papers, and anything involving math or symbols was usually far removed from him.
"Not really." Caesar gently swirled the ice in his glass, producing a crisp clinking sound. "I think Stelle should go find Asta."
"I recall she's the daughter of a board member at the Interastral Peace Corporation. With those connections alone, even if she can't solve Aurum Alley's business woes, couldn't she at least deal with this Skott guy?"
"Using her family ties, it'd probably just take a snap of her fingers to get this Skott representative fired, right?"
"…" Chu Zihang was momentarily speechless.
That was indeed a very Caesar-like idea.
"Though I don't know her well, she doesn't seem like the type to abuse her family's influence," Chu Zihang corrected. "She's more of a scholar, with a more independent personality. Even if Stelle asked for her help, she wouldn't do something like that."
"Compared to your plan, I'd sooner believe she'd just buy out the entire Aurum Alley."
Considering that girl's ability to casually purchase a star-destroying warship, Chu Zihang figured buying Aurum Alley would only cost her a few days' pocket money.
——
[Stelle got to work, adjusting the layout and actually managing to save a significant amount of expenses. She smugly put her hands on her hips, practically beaming with pride—sure enough, she was the hidden business genius of the Astral Express crew!]
[However, this only addressed part of the cargo efficiency issue. If Heyun Logistics stopped delivering, the dockworkers would be helpless.]
[The group headed to the Aurum Alley branch of Heyun Logistics and learned after inquiries that the company had promised subsidies to the merchants, instructing them not to use the dock's logistics services.]
[This way, the chamber would continue to lose money, leading to the current situation. After toppling the chamber, the company planned to convert the area into a cargo transfer hub, erasing Aurum Alley entirely.]
[So this is what a trade war looks like…]
["My head's itchy, like I'm growing a brain," Stelle said, scratching her head.]
——
Teyvat
"These company people are truly despicable, resorting to such underhanded tactics in secret—"
At Yujing Terrace, Keqing's purple eyes narrowed, her hand gripping her teacup trembling with anger.
As one of the Liyue Qixing responsible for land planning and construction, she understood the significance of an old district like Aurum Alley. It wasn't just the livelihood of many merchants but also a generation's memories for the local residents.
Ningguang, lounging nearby with her pipe, let out a faint wisp of smoke from her red lips: "Heh, the ebb and flow of commerce… such petty tactics are actually quite common in Liyue too."
"The company saw an opportunity because, in the end, none of the merchants who took their money hesitated for a second."
Keqing frowned: "But this is also the company's power play, isn't it? With its massive scale, it can easily swallow small organizations like the Aurum Alley Chamber. If the Xianzhou Luofu doesn't regulate it… this corporate behemoth will eventually devour every small merchant."
"Then this district will be turned into company warehouses, and the culture and memories of the Xianzhou people here will vanish entirely. Once that sense of belonging is lost… the impact could be profound."
——
[After some discussion, Stelle helped plan the logistics routes, successfully achieving cost reduction and efficiency gains.]
[This further convinced Yunxi… Stelle was the savior Aurum Alley had been searching for!]
[Thus, she formally invited Stelle, on behalf of the chamber, to join as a business consultant and help save Aurum Alley.]
[Stelle didn't agree immediately, saying she needed to discuss it with Sushang and Bailu first.]
[Sushang, of course, hoped Stelle would help. She wasn't good at scheming, and without Stelle, she'd have to apologize.]
["…You don't want me to bark like a dog in front of all those people, do you? Besides, I really want to help Aurum Alley," Sushang said nervously when she heard Stelle was considering it. Though she was usually bold, the thought of barking like a dog… was way too mortifying.]
["A beautiful girl barking like a dog? That doesn't sound half bad…" Stelle suddenly entertained a dangerous yet curious thought.]
["Hey, what's with that look? Stop thinking weird things!" To derail Stelle's dangerous ideas, Sushang briefly mentioned her hometown.]
["The Yaoqing Xianzhou has closer ties with the company. I heard it started with the company investing in mutual trade here. But over time, things changed…"]