Published: March 12, 2025
CHAPTER 358: Meigen
Zhao Hai and the others were currently in a room designated for entertaining distinguished guests for meals. This room could be considered a private dining area where they could order from a menu, unlike the dining places for ordinary tribesmen, where their meals were the same every day.
After dining in the restaurant, Phil directly took Zhao Hai to the Plum Fragrance Courtyard where he was staying. The Plum Fragrance Courtyard got its name from the Plum Garden located behind it, where various plum blossoms were in full bloom during this season, filling the courtyard with fragrance.
Although Zhao Hai moved into the Plum Fragrance Courtyard, Ryan did not; he continued to stay at the Shelley Hotel. However, because of Zhao Hai, the hotel staff was very attentive to him.
When Zhao Hai returned to the Plum Fragrance Courtyard after dinner, Laura and the others were already waiting for him inside. Besides the Plum Garden in the back and a martial arts training ground in front, the entire courtyard could accommodate nearly a hundred people, making it quite spacious.
Upon entering the room, Zhao Hai saw Laura and the others sitting inside, their faces showing signs of worry. As soon as they saw Zhao Hai, Laura immediately stood up and asked, "Brother Hai, what's going on? Why have we been brought here?"
Seeing Laura's expression, Zhao Hai understood her concerns and smiled, "There's no need to worry, everything's fine. We will be living here from now on; this is also Brother Smith's intention." He then recounted his meeting with Smith earlier that day.
Laura and the others were taken aback by Zhao Hai's words, but Laura didn't show much joy. Instead, she looked at Zhao Hai and said, "Brother Hai, aren’t you worried? Smith arranging us to be here means he intends to monitor us, right?"
Zhao Hai smiled slightly and replied, "Isn't it good to be monitored? This way, we can put him at ease and cooperate with him; he won't overthink things. It's very beneficial for us."
Upon hearing Zhao Hai's words, Laura was momentarily stunned but quickly understood what he meant. She shyly said, "So that’s what you meant, huh? Hehe, I get it now."
Zhao Hai smiled, "Alright, for the next two days, you don't need to do anything except compile the business we can engage in. Forget about the grains and vegetables; just count the dairy wine and battle rations, then inform Grandpa Gerson to ramp up production. I'll check on Ryan's situation. As soon as uncle Ivan's people arrive, we’ll send Ryan onto the ship."
Laura laughed and said, "Sending Ryan onto the ship will alleviate a burden for us. Brother Hai, it's winter now, and there are very few trading opportunities with the orc tribe. Should we check out a few other empires?"
Zhao Hai smiled slightly, "I'd like to, but not right now. It's best to finalize the business here before we expand; we shouldn't stretch ourselves too thin yet."
Laura nodded, "Then let's calculate the business and production we need to engage in over the next two days to facilitate our actions."
Zhao Hai nodded, "We never anticipated that things would go this smoothly this time. With Brother Smith's assistance, our plans have progressed far better than we expected. We should visit the slave market in a while, what do you think?"
Laura nodded, "Good idea! Right now, what we lack the most is manpower. Although we've purchased many orc tribe slaves, those slaves cannot farm, which is very detrimental to our development. We still need to buy more human race slaves, preferably more craftsmen and literate slaves."
Zhao Hai nodded, "Yes, our territory has too few people. Even combined, our land is not much smaller than that of the Aksu Empire, yet our population is far too small. Even though our land hasn’t been improved much yet, the number of people is still lacking."
Recently, Zhao Hai hadn't only focused on other matters; as long as Cai'er’s seven-colored toxic fog expanded outward, he would immediately start improving the land. He had already improved a significant amount of land, but compared to that, the manpower he had was still too little.