CHAPTER 129: CHAPTER 110 REJECTION (4K)_2

Equivalent to three hundred Duke Yans! Even if converted into gold and silver, it would be enough to crush someone to death.

Li Ang momentarily fantasized about himself and Chai Cuiqiao turning into giant dragons, lying in a cave filled with gold and silver, their eyes gleaming, breathing out flames, guarding their wealth.

Stay calm, stay calm.

Li Ang struggled to shift his gaze away from the paper. He did not doubt that Jin Wusuan and the others could afford such an amount; after all, they represented Liu Guang Bank.

"But... I don’t intend to sell the patent outright."

Li Ang took a deep breath, calmed himself, and said, "I still hope to use long-term licensing, earning only the patent fee."

"Oh?" Jin Wusuan raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Mr. Li, you might want to look at the financial estimation below. Before our merchant associations approached, we had already enlisted mathematics experts from our organizations—some of whom are Academic Palace graduates—to specifically calculate the future profits of soap, scented soap, and degreasing cotton. Three million strings of coins is already considered a suitable amount. Even if the products were sold to every State Mansion in Yu Country, or even overseas, the income from patent fees in the short to medium term will not come close to three million strings."

"I know. I’ve seen it; the estimation process is correct."

Li Ang nodded. The revenue of a commodity has to account for deductions: raw material costs, transportation, site rentals, labor, natural attrition, inventory risks, taxes, and other factors. Usually, the Academic Palace’s patent fee is stated as 2% of the total revenue. But for the actual payout, one would take the number of middle-income families in Yu Country, multiply it by their annual purchases of soap, then multiply by the price of soap to get the gross revenue. From this gross revenue, the companies deduct all their operational costs, and my patent fee would be two percent of that resulting net sum... A limited license patent wouldn’t yield as much as three million strings this way. And that’s just considering revenue from large merchants, not to mention small-scale merchants and family workshops producing counterfeit versions.

Driven by profit, they would always find ways to replicate similar products. This portion of income couldn’t be included in the patent fees—without licensing, naturally, there’s no patent fee.

After some calculations, if I chose to receive patent fees annually, it would take over thirty years to receive three million strings. Moreover, the Academic Palace has seen countless times that product inventions are continuously iterated upon; a patent might not genuinely be sellable for thirty years. More importantly, the Academic Palace has set the lifespan of a patent right at twenty-five years. Within those twenty-five years, the Academic Palace would spare no effort to protect the inventor’s rights until expiration.

Jin Wusuan frowned. "Then why..."

"If the patent rights were sold outright, then the conditions protecting the workers that I wrote in the patent specifications would become void, right?"

Li Ang spread his hands. "Although all of you represent large merchants and wield absolute authority in your respective territories, wealth sways the mind. As production scales expand, managers will invariably want to cut costs and lower prices to gain a competitive edge. Labor is naturally the easiest part to be ’optimized.’"

In the patent specifications, I strictly required that workshops provide workers with gloves and masks made of degreasing cotton or other materials. I also strictly required that workshops not employ child labor and that workers not be made to toil for long hours in harsh conditions, and so forth.

I don’t doubt at all that if I sold the patent outright, those large merchants would directly tear up these ’fantastical’ restrictive clauses.

"Mr. Li..." Manager Qian of Lanxiang Records smacked his lips, just about to say something, when Jin Wusuan cut him off with a look.

"Mr. Li, truly a kind doctor," Jin Wusuan said, tapping the table with his fingers after pondering for a moment. "In that case, we will recalculate the costs and benefits of the entire production process under your conditions. To clarify in advance, if we are to provide protective equipment to workers and limit working hours, costs will definitely increase, and total profits will definitely decrease..."

"Good."

Li Ang agreed readily. This caused Manager Qian and the others to be even more surprised. "Mr. Li, have you thought this through? Doing this will also reduce the revenue you can obtain."

"I’ve thought it through. This is my condition. If you gentlemen can’t agree, then I will have to find other merchant associations willing to comply and license it to them."

Li Ang made his position very clear. The representatives from the several merchant associations exchanged helpless glances. It was rare to see someone pushing money away.

"Alright, if you insist, Mr. Li." Jin Wusuan sighed and, on behalf of the others, agreed to Li Ang’s conditions. They made a verbal agreement to officially sign the contract another day.

By this time, the noon bell had rung through the Academic Palace. Discussions about the contract halted temporarily as Su Feng stood up to escort the representatives from the various merchant associations out of the room.

"Dr. Su..." Li Ang hesitated. He had set numerous conditions for these large merchants, all of which had to be strictly adhered to, or else he would revoke the patent authorization. But by doing so, he was essentially increasing the workload of the Academic Palace Patent Office, potentially causing the Academic Palace to squander manpower and resources in wrangling with these large merchants.

"You did the right thing," Su Feng said with a smile. "If I were in your position at your age, with your family background, I might not have been able to resist the temptation of three million strings of coins. That you are willing to forgo a vast fortune for workers you’ve never met... Mountain Master and His Majesty will be very pleased about this."

"Perhaps." Li Ang spread his hands in resignation. The world hustles and bustles, all for profit. Cultivators are not immortals who subsist on wind and dew—they too need food, clothing, shelter, and transport. In fact, they consume even more resources than ordinary people. The talismanic ink used by Cultivators requires miners to dig in the mines. The herbal medicine used by Cultivators needs mountain folk to risk their lives picking herbs from cliffs. The metals used by Cultivators require blacksmiths to forge day and night. Maintaining a Cultivator and providing the resources for their Cultivation are astronomically expensive. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be just one Academic Palace in the world, and it wouldn’t admit only six to seven hundred disciples each year.

He had refused three million strings of coins, which also meant a significant loss of agency fees for the Academic Palace and a lot of extra hassle for them.

"HEH HEH." Seeing the look of loss on Li Ang’s face, Su Feng chuckled. "To stand strong for the sake of protecting the weak, and to feel sorrow when the weak are hurt—you really are very much like your teacher."

"Huh?" Li Ang was taken aback. "Dr. Su, you..."

"I used to be classmates with Pu Liuxuan. We just corresponded recently," Su Feng said with a slight smile. "You were wise not to reveal his identity to outsiders. Liu Xuan... he has some enemies in Chang’an City who are rather hostile toward him."

"What enemies?" Li Ang could not help but ask, "Why did Mr. Liu Xuan leave Chang’an in the first place?"

He had wanted to ask this for a long time, but neither Pu Liuxuan nor Cheng Juxiu would mention it.

"Hasn’t he told you?" Su Feng said, somewhat surprised. "Well, you’d better ask him yourself when he comes to Chang’an. Ai, it’s just old grudges, where the dislike for one person extends to those associated with them. It’s all in the past now. Mountain Master said that when it’s over, it’s over. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have allowed Liu Xuan to return. By the way, don’t eat too much for lunch; there’s something exciting for you new students this afternoon."

With Su Feng avoiding further discussion, Li Ang had no choice but to go to the cafeteria for lunch.

「In the afternoon」

Indeed, the exciting news Su Feng had mentioned awaited. The Instructor responsible for managing the lives and studies of the new disciples (akin to a grade-level coordinator) gathered the new students and made an announcement.

「Credit System」

In short, after more than a month of adaptation, the Academic Palace had introduced this credit system for new students. New students who performed excellently in class or achieved results outside of class were eligible to earn personal credits. These credits were non-transferable and could be used to obtain materials, Cultivation texts, and the right to borrow books on Aliens, among other things. This even included the use or borrowing of Aliens residing at Dongjun Tower. Moreover, inventions and registering patents at the Academic Palace Patent Office were also ways to earn credits.