Chapter 24 – The Richest Man in the Six Countries
The Vast Ocean Marquis — Gu Hai relinquished his official position for business, this matter had caused an incredible sensation throughout the Chen Kingdom. After all, the gully between an official and a businessman was as vast as the difference between heaven and earth. Privately, even those ignorant masses assumed that the Vast Ocean Marquis was crazy, or else how could he do such a thing that was so contrary to the common norms.
Business! This was Gu Hai's area of expertise. In his previous world, the Earth, Gu Hai, at just 30 years of age, was a successful businessman who had an immense amount of wealth and assets under his name; he was filthy rich. Furthermore, in this world where strength was revered, the ways of business were extremely backward. In Gu Hai's eyes, there were countless loopholes available.
Gu Hai's business sense was hundreds of years ahead of this world. It would be absolutely easy for him to make money here. However, Gu Hai not only wanted to just make money, he wanted to establish a business empire that could encompass the six countries.
The way Gu Hai did business was naturally unlike those street hawkers who ran their businesses just to feed their families. Gu Hai didn't envision just making a small profit, even though the accumulation of small profits would result in getting rich, Gu Hai wanted to acquire a huge amount of wealth in a short span of time, enough wealth to overturn the six countries!
Although Gu Hai had certain assets in the Antiquity Town, it was far from enough!
Once again a sensational piece of news disseminated throughout the Chen Kingdom. The official who had relinquished his post for business—Gu Hai started a service called lottery in his mansion. The so-called lottery was just a common piece of paper upon which there were seven numeral digits. These seven digits were arbitrarily paired in groups.
Everyone, from beggar to higher official, could buy this lottery. A lottery ticket costs only 10 coppers.
After a certain amount of time, the Gu Mansion would announce the seven digits of a lottery. If the lottery bought by someone had his seven digits the same as the announced seven digits, he was the winner of the first prize, which was a sum of a hundred gold that he could get by exchanging his lottery at the Gu Mansion. If the lottery bought by someone had six matching digits, he was the winner of the second prize, which was twelve gold. If it was five digits, it was the third prize which was a hundred silver. Similarly, for four digits, he could exchange his lottery for twelve silver. Any lower, there would be no rewards issued.
The citizens of Chen Kingdom had never seen or heard of this kind of gambling. A majority of the citizens disapproved of this. Not to mention, they were not sure whether or not Gu Mansion would keep the promise. Also, there was the case of the probability of winning the prizes, it was extremely low. Weren't they simply handing over their money to Gu Mansion?
But there were some who held the mentality of giving it a try and bought one or two lotteries at the Gu Mansion. Anyway, it was just a matter of ten coppers, which they could afford, and perhaps they might even win!
The 15th of every month was the day the Gu Mansion would announce the lottery number. Today was 15th, and the Gu Mansion was going to announce the lottery. Regardless of whether they had bought the lottery or not, a large crowd of townsfolk gathered outside the entrance of the Gu Mansion.
Very soon, Gu Hai walked out of the gate. He cupped his hands before his chest as he looked at t, he said, "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming here. Today's the day the lottery is announced, the winner of the lottery can exchange it on the spot. Alright, I am not going to bore you with any more speeches, now I will announce the digits."
Gu Hai took out seven black boxes, with each box having a hole. Gu Hai in accordance with the order drew seven balls from each box. Each ball had two digits imprinted upon it. The seven digits according to the order were 19, 95, 08, 15, 99, 43, 77.
"Ah, I won, my lottery has five matching numbers!" Suddenly, from the center of the crowd came a shout, a middle-aged man was shouting in excitement.
"Hahaha, I also won, however, I only have four matching numbers." Another man among the crowd started shouting, his tone was full of excitement.
One after another, people who had won the prize continuously shouted. However, all of them were winners who had either four or five matching digits.
"Congratulations, please come to the front and collect your prize." Immediately, the attendants of Gu Mansion guided the winners to the entrance of Gu Mansion. After confirming the digits, right away, their corresponding prize was handed over in their hands. At this moment, the winners looking at the silver in their hand still could not believe it. They had acquired so much silver so easily!
Gu Hai swept a glance at them and said, "Gu Mansion also provides banking services, the Vast Ocean Bank is just next to us. At the Vast Ocean Bank, only you yourself can get access to your money, you can go there if you have any business."
Only at this moment did the winners wake up from their stupor. Looking at the looks of jealousy and envy in the eyes of onlookers, they realized that one must not reveal their wealth. Since this matter was as good as exposed, the Vast Ocean Bank became a very good choice! Now, most of the winners under the envious gaze of everyone walked into the Vast Ocean Bank, leaving behind the winners who had the confidence that they could hold onto their new found wealth.
"May I ask whether the announced winning numbers of the lottery are 19, 95, 08, 15, 99, 43, 77? My lottery ticket seems to have these numbers!" From amidst the crowd suddenly came a timid voice of a girl, as an approximately 16-year-old little girl made her way to the entrance!
It was a petite little girl dressed in a pink dress, who was adorned in lots of valuable jewelry. With one glance, it was quite evident that she was from a wealthy and noble family.
Gu Hai took the lottery in the little girl's hand. Looking at it, it really had the same seven digits. Suddenly he smiled and said, "Yes it is, little sister, you have won the 1st prize of a hundred gold, are you happy?"
"Hei hei, Ziye is finally able to earn money for Daddy. Daddy seeing Ziye who earned so much money will definitely be happy!" The little sister narrowed her eyes and happily said.
"Ziye!" Gu Hai with a bit of thought immediately knew that she was the young princess of the Defending Duke of State Mansion, that is to say, she was the daughter of the Defending Duke of State. Her name was Zhou Ziye, she was a noble. Since her birth, she had been called Princess Ziye!
"Princess Ziye is so cute, I think that even if you didn't earn any money, the Defending Duke of State would still be very happy." Gu Hai spoke in a loud and clear voice as to make sure his voice resounded in everyone's ear. Although he clearly knew that wherever Princess Ziye went, she would be secretly protected, he still did not hope that in case someone who didn't know the circumstances would trouble this lovely little girl.
Princess Ziye happily left, taking the golden bills of two hundred golds in her hand!
Upon hearing Gu Hai's words, everyone at the scene was astounded. Watching the leaving Princess Ziye, everyone quickly erased whatever greed they had in their heart. No one would wish to provoke the Defending Duke of State Mansion just for two hundred gold, if they did so, then they were just signing their death warrant. However, now everyone was certain that they could exchange the lottery for so much gold and silver. Everyone's hearts started beating rapidly.
Upon noticing the fervent look of the masses, Gu Hai said in a crystal clear voice, "Ladies and gentlemen, the sales of the second round of lottery has already started, any friend who is interested can buy them from the Gu Mansion or any branch of Vast Ocean Bank. Furthermore, this Gu first wants to thank everyone for coming here, in order to express my sincerity, I will give ten lottery tickets to everyone present here. Everyone can come to Gu Mansion and take them."
When everyone at the entrance heard Gu Hai, their eyes lit up as they spoke in loud voices, "Thank you Vast Ocean Marquis for your righteousness!"
Afterward, Gu Hai went back into the Gu Mansion. The rest of the matters didn't need his presence, the employees of the Gu Mansion could manage them!
The masses at the entrance immediately rushed forward as countless voices rang.
"I want ten lottery tickets, I want to choose the numbers!"
"I want a hundred, the numbers can be random!"
On the road while walking, next to Gu Hai was a ten-year-old young boy. This boy was named Gu Han, he was the adopted son of Gu Hai.
"Foster Father, the people buying the lottery tickets are fewer, while the value of the prize is too large, aren't we making a loss?" Gu Han doubtfully asked.
"Haha, this is for the first time, nothing more. The success of lottery tickets has brought back the greed in the human heart. Later more and more people will start buying the lottery like snowfall, and besides us, who will know the winning numbers?" Gu Hai laughed out loud.
Gu Han was amazed, naturally, he understood the idea of his foster father, but he was still feeling a little doubt, "Foster Father, then why didn't you give away the lottery ticket for the first time? Wouldn't it attract even more people?"
Gu Hai stopped in his track, looked at Gu Han, then calmly said, "This is precisely the human behavior, if I gave away the lottery ticket at the very first time, no one would have understood its value. Some people would even come to disdain it as a piece of waste, they might even burn or throw it away, or perhaps some people would even defame the lottery tickets. Naturally, it would have been unwise. But now, everyone knows that the lottery ticket can be exchanged for a huge amount of wealth, they would naturally carefully save it, pay special attention to it! So you have to always remember, business is all about capturing the hearts of your consumer, once you have their hearts in your grasp, you can do any business!"
"Yes, this child will keep it in mind!" The admiration of Gu Han for Gu Hai was not small, naturally, his words were just like a holy decree which he would remember forever!
"Foster Father, if we go on like this, then the lottery tickets will bring us an immense amount of wealth, becoming the wealthiest in the six countries absolutely wouldn't be a problem." Gu Han excitedly said.
"No, the lottery tickets will just bring us wealth initially, I want to establish a business empire; so, most of our business will need to be bigger and stronger. We need to establish a complex business network, so that, no matter what happens, our business empire will not collapse!" Gu Hai spoke in a solemn tone.
Gu Hai started to accumulate wealth from the lottery tickets, which was mainly used to invest in other places. He continuously purchased various shops in the six countries and became the leading businessman. In just ten years, Gu Hai's shops had spread across the six countries, he was now well-deserved to be called the richest man in the six counties…
And after more than twenty years, it was Gu Hai's seventieth birthday!
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3 thoughts on "Chapter 24 – The Richest Man in the Six Countries"
Ling Tian says:
Y… Que Pasó al final con Chen Xianer? Murió de la vejez? 😕
Tengo que decir que el romance es algo malo hahah! Gracias por todo! Seguiré con Everlasting Immortal Emperor! 😄
Meuni says:
This went by too fast! And what about the boy at the beginning of the story? Gu Hai said he will return to take the boy and his mother to the capital! WtF happen?!
Old Time Tea says:
Thanks for translating this 🙂