Volume 1, Chapter 37: We Can Start This Foundation Too!

"How could this happen? Can someone tell me exactly what is going on?"

Tang Qian stood with his hands pressed against the table, his face dark and his voice icy.

In the room, the others remained silent. The managers of the Penglai Chamber of Commerce were so terrified that they did not even dare to lift their heads. Since their son-in-law had married into the family and taken charge of the Penglai Chamber of Commerce’s affairs, he had always maintained a calm and indifferent demeanor. Yet, his methods were swift and ruthless; he had snatched several lucrative deals right from under the nose of the Langya Chamber of Commerce. This had filled the entire Penglai organization with confidence and deep respect for him. They had never seen him like this before.

Tang Qian was not a man who could not handle failure. Moreover, this could not even be called a failure. The business in the Qingyun Archipelago accounted for only a small fraction of Penglai's total operations—a mere corner of a much larger landscape. In business, gains and losses were normal; short-term performance proved nothing. For powers at the level of the Four Great Chambers of Commerce, long-term interests were all that mattered.

What he could not tolerate was being thwarted by Wang Mu time and again. To be repeatedly suppressed by that good-for-nothing scion of the second generation—the damage to his business might have been minor, but the insult was profound.

Most importantly, it was his own misjudgment. The first time, when Wang Mu held the Ascension Ceremony, Tang Qian had scoffed at it, only for the business on Tianjue Island to be completely swallowed by the Langya Chamber of Commerce, leaving nothing behind. This time, when Wang Mu established a charitable foundation, Tang Qian had scoffed once more, dismissing it as another spendthrift stunt by that prodigal son. As a result, the entire business landscape of the Qingyun Archipelago was devoured by the Langya Chamber of Commerce, not even leaving the scraps for the other chambers.

What did this amount to? It was as if Wang Mu had slapped Tang Qian across the face twice—and with such perfect precision that it stunned him without causing brain damage. Tang Qian had never considered Wang Mu a worthy opponent; he felt Wang Mu was beneath him. Yet, in his grand plan for revenge, Wang Mu was an unavoidable link. After all, the Saint Lord of Beiming had traveled to the Southern Region and slain his mother solely to lift the curse from Wang Mu.

He had roared and screamed in his heart countless times, imagining the day the Wang family would fall from the clouds, when he would step on Wang Mu’s face and declare, "Without the Wang family, you are nothing!" Just thinking about that scene made Tang Qian tremble with anticipation. But now, he had been slapped by Wang Mu—twice. How absurd.

"Young Master Tang, please calm yourself!"

The representative sent by the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce was named Gou Anshi. He carried himself with a scholarly air, appearing refined. However, those in the circle knew that this man was notoriously insidious. Once, to seize the mineral veins of a small nation, he had driven the price of ore to astronomical heights. Eventually, over ninety percent of that nation's population abandoned farming to trade in ore. When they had to buy grain from abroad, he used the resources of the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce to seal off all grain supply routes. He forced the entire nation into starvation, ultimately seizing the entire mineral vein for a pittance. He had done many such things. As one of the five overseers of the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce, his status was equivalent to the ten chief managers of the Langya Chamber of Commerce.

"In my view, this is not a bad thing at all," Gou Anshi said with a faint smile.

"Oh?" Tang Qian looked at him. "How so, Overseer Gou?"

"The young master of the Wang family may have stumbled upon this by accident, but he has provided us with a strategy. He can run a charitable foundation, and so can we!"

"I have analyzed the process carefully. The reason the Langya Chamber of Commerce's foundation attracts so many people is simple," Gou Anshi said.

Tang Qian narrowed his eyes. "What is it?"

"The Merit Ranking," Gou Anshi said confidently. "They have successfully exploited human vanity. To chase the empty fame on that list, people are willing to throw away fortunes! Of course, the fame on the list has value for a reason. First, it is said that the top three on the Merit Ranking receive an award personally from the President of the Langya Chamber of Commerce. To the world, that is an supreme honor!"

"We can copy this exactly! Although the President of Langya holds more than one title—being the Princess Consort of Wei and the mother-in-law of the Saint Lord of Beiming—if the presidents of our three chambers appear together, the effect will be no less potent!"

"As for the second point, it is also simple. When the disaster hit Changlan Island, the Langya Foundation sent rescue teams, earning the gratitude of the victims and greatly enhancing their reputation. We can do the same! We can even do it more grandiosely, ensuring it is known to everyone."

Gou Anshi was full of confidence. With the immense financial power of the three chambers, this was not a problem at all.

The representative of the Yungong Chamber of Commerce was a woman who rarely smiled. Hearing Gou Anshi, she frowned and said, "If we do this, won't we be just like the Wang family's young master, throwing money away? If something goes wrong and we don't make the money back, the consequences will be severe."

No one was certain if another event like the one in the Qingyun Archipelago would happen again. What if it was just a coincidence? What if the people in their targeted areas were indifferent or lacked conscience? These were all possibilities. Although they were high-ranking officials with significant influence, they had to be extremely cautious regarding such major decisions. After all, they were not like Wang Mu, who was the young master of the Langya Chamber of Commerce and spoiled by his elders; no one would blame him even if he failed. If they messed up, it could cost them their lives.

"A good question!" Gou Anshi’s lips curled upward. "This is exactly the point I was about to make, and it is where we differ fundamentally from the Langya Chamber of Commerce's foundation."

Tang Qian raised an eyebrow. "Donations?"

Gou Anshi looked slightly surprised. "Young Master Tang guessed it?"

Tang Qian laughed. "Langya chose to convert one percent of their profits into a charity fund. It makes them look stingy and is inconvenient for those vain people trying to climb the Merit Ranking. That is the narrow-mindedness of the Wang family's young master."

Gou Anshi’s smile deepened. "The Wang family's young master is used to being high and mighty, looking down on others. He thinks that if he tosses a few scraps, others should be grateful. He doesn't realize that in business, the worst thing you can do is appear stingy. We will bypass that process entirely. Let everyone donate directly, and every cent donated will go into the fund. Compared to Langya, where one must buy a hundred spirit stones worth of goods just to earn a single point of merit... I think it is clear what everyone will choose."

Upon hearing this, Tang Qian and the representative from the Yungong Chamber of Commerce both smiled. They could already see the crowds lining up to hand them their money. As for where that donated money would actually go? If you don't say and I don't say, who would know? At worst, if something happens, we can send a few teams to put on a show. Who can truly track how much was actually spent?