Two weeks later, Qin Le Yin once again came to the 'Tide Wind Pavilion'.

Today's invitation was under the guise of a dinner, as the last rays of the setting sun gently caressed the coast of Xuanzhu County, light falling on the bustling outer city, leaving shadows over the quiet and orderly inner city.

Standing in the shadow, Qin Le Yin's head of red hair appeared even more vivid and enchanting.

He gazed into the distance, with Xuanzhu County in his vision split into two parts by nature,

one above, one below.

One in darkness, one in light.

One extending outward, one retracting inward.

Many ordinary sights, on unusual days, take on a different flavor for those amidst change.

"Destined." He chuckled softly: "Hard to defy."

The servant at the door respectfully led Qin Le Yin to the inner VIP compartment; just like last time, it was filled with familiar old faces, either long-standing chamber of commerce presidents or young and ambitious talents.

But unlike their previous confident 'cutting through thorns and wiping out the Ting family', when Qin Le Yin entered, no one greeted him; everyone was meditating, drinking sullenly.

In their eyes were confusion, sorrow, perplexity, and helplessness.

Although they wore silken garments, drank good wine, ate fine dishes, the venue a luxurious and extravagant inn, and they were accompanied by obedient maids,

they looked no different from the commoners they despised.

Qin Le Yin's face remained unchanged as he sat down, declining the serving request from the maids, glanced at the empty main seat, and asked, "At this point, aren't you inviting the Ting family?"

"Invited." Luo Zhen said while drinking sullenly: "But they didn't send anyone. Since everyone is here, then others should leave."

"Why?" Quan Xin, who was playing with the maids, was dissatisfied: "What's left to talk about now? We might as well eat, drink, then enjoy ourselves at Xiangxue Sea later, I'll host tonight!"

"Quan Xin!" Luo Zhen slapped the table, angry.

"The money for going to Red Jade Sea is on me too, okay?" Quan Xin was unperturbed, shaking his head and sneering: "What's wrong? Without Zhengwei and the Ting big and small, you think it's your turn to be the boss? Who are you, really? Do you think you can command me?"

"Quan Xin!" Luo Zhen was furious but turned to laugh, he and Quan Xin were childhood friends, Quan Xin always followed his lead, now Quan Xin embarrassed him on the spot, he stood up with clenched fists: "Have you gone mad from taking meds or can you only think with your lower body? You bastard, are you looking for death?"

"Haha, you're anxious, you're anxious, you're anxious." Quan Xin hugged the maid and laughed loudly: "Doesn't everyone know the Luo family is just the nobility's dogs? Now Zhengwei wants to unify Silver Blood, you're no longer their purse."

"Even the Duke of Wang Hai is sending his daughter to him, do you think other nobles will use your Luo family? Your Luo family licks the nobility's boots, the nobility licks Zhengwei's boots, as long as Zhengwei is willing to continue supporting those guys, your Luo family will be the first to disappear among the five chambers of commerce!"

Luo Zhen's face went pale.

Because what Quan Xin said was true.

Among the five chambers of commerce, if described by technical content, the Luo family's industry had the least; either shops, transit merchants, or downstream assembly factories. Simply put, even a pig in the Luo family's position could do quite well.

The Luo family's confidence came from the support of the nobility and the governor's office. Unlike other trade associations that first technically monopolized, then let the governor's office maintain their monopoly, the Luo family first took the governor's office's symbolic power, forcibly monopolizing industries with no technical content, thus gaining excessive profits without pressure.

For example, shoes.

Yes, such a low-value consumable as shoes was monopolized by the Luo family in Xuanzhu County. Ordinary people could make their own straw shoes, but if you dared to open a shop selling shoes, you would be extorted and have your shop smashed by the Patrol Execution Guard.

The Luo family divided shoes into many grades, the highest reserved for the elite, but they wouldn't let go of the few copper coins from the common folks either. Even the cheapest shoes had a price that was painfully high for ordinary people, but they were clever in creating a public opinion of a shoe hierarchy.

'Luo family shoes are comfortable, durable, have a hundred-year history, a cultural symbol', 'Only by wearing shoes do you do justice to yourself', 'Nobility of Silver Blood all love this style of shoe', and so on.

This kind of opinion was quite effective in Xuanzhu County, and people with shoes indeed felt superior to those without; many young people's first paycheck went to buying shoes, even willing to buy more expensive ones—others wore the lowest grade, while you wore the same as Silver Blood nobility, even carrying bricks, you hold your head high.

But fundamentally, the Luo family's profits depended entirely on their 'forced monopoly'.

Other chambers of commerce, even with competition, could pressure competitors to death by sheer volume; but not the Luo family. Once competitors entered the market, their 'good currency' profits would be squeezed by commoners' 'bad currency' products to zero.

Therefore, the Luo family's dependence on the nobility and governor's office was immense; without their support, the Luo family would immediately collapse.

And now, it was the summer of existential crisis for the Luo family.

The nobility, power figures, and officials had fully shifted toward Zhengwei. They weren't under pressure, at worst, they would just have another lord. As long as they could continue being officials, they would eventually exploit their way back.

Families like the Luo Family, who act like white gloves, they naturally don't cherish. Although the Luo Family is obedient and useful, it's ultimately just a glove, not a family heirloom. If the lord wants to use it to warm his hands, let him.

Everyone understands this point, and when they look at Luo Zhen, their eyes inevitably carry a hint of pity.

Although the others can't escape either, it's clear that Luo Zhen will be the one to die the fastest, it could even be said he's destined to die.

Workers need 'irreplaceability' to escape the fate of being discarded when they're old, and so do businesses.

The Luo Family is like someone who, when young, relied on flattery to find a wealthy person to support them. Usually, they live off the rent from a dozen buildings, but now that the wealthy person has gone bankrupt, the Luo Family and those dozen buildings are packaged and sold to Jing Zhengwei, and the Luo Family has no say.

Luo Zhen just stands there, staring straight at Quan Xin. Quan Xin, hollowed out by wine and lust, quickly falters, waving his hand and saying, "Forget it, save some energy for tonight at Xiangxue Sea."

The female attendants, like they were granted amnesty, hurriedly left the room. Such insider secrets of the Silver Blood Association could be spoken of, but they must not be heard by them; if they stayed longer, their lives would have to be left there.

Luo Zhen took a deep breath, his face returning to calmness as he sat down, looked around, and asked, "The Shi Family didn't come?"

Someone said, "Originally they were already selling off their assets to prepare to leave Dongyang, and now Xuanzhu County is like this. They've paid a large sum to the Linhai Army and finally obtained permission to leave."

Everyone couldn't help but feel pity for the Shi Family—other associations at least have physical assets, which didn't have to be drawn on for military funds, but the Shi Family has almost completely sold off all their physical assets in recent days, their liquid capital is excessively high.

The Shi Family was drawn 40%, which really meant losing 40% of their assets. A well-ranked top twenty association, just because of losses in Skyrim, coupled with successive man-made disasters, suddenly lost more than half of their assets.

Luo Zhen was just asking casually and quickly moved to the main topic: "Does anyone know the Ting Family's response?"

Lan Jianbo said, "The Ting Family is under total martial law, but they seem to be planning to sell the goods previously ordered by the Heyang Army to the warlords over there in Skyrim, they've already shipped a batch."

Someone exclaimed, "They dare sell Heyang Army's goods?"

Quickly someone sneered and said, "The Heyang Army is now defeated, we don't even know if there will be a Heyang Army in the future, should we keep it to be charitable to the Heyang Army?"

The most famous product of the Ting Family is, of course, firearms.

When the Heyang Army was around, 90% of the production from the Ting Family firearms factory was sold at cost to the Heyang Army, they would often lose money, while the remaining 10% was naturally the source of the Ting Family's wealth.

And the reason the Ting Family sold so cheaply to the Heyang Army was, of course, not because of their deep love for the land, but because the Heyang Army pointed firearms at them, how could they dare to sell expensively?

Now the Heyang Army has been crippled, Governor Gai Shiwen is gone, the Wolf Prison docking yard might be in internal conflict, the army has completely lost the ability to check the Ting Family, so why would the Ting Family still need to watch their faces?

Conversely, the Ting Family is now most likely to become a warlord, they have firearms and people. If it wasn't for Jing Zhengwei and the Linhai Army's intervention, the Dongyang District would have long been named Ting.

"The Ting Family is no longer on the same path as us."

"Yeah, Jing Zhengwei has no way to deal with them."

"If the Ting and Jing merge… fortunately Ting Wanjian has a grudge against Jing Zhengwei..."

"What does that grudge amount to? The real feud is between Ting Gu and Ting Wanjian, yet Ting Gu pretended nothing happened, even really sent a concubine to him..."

"Really? How do you know?"

"Two days ago, I saw Ting Wanjian flirting with a woman at the dock, practicing Flying Flower Combat Technique, I recognized that woman as Ting Gu's concubine."

Quan Xin seriously asked, "Is she pretty?"

The respondent gave a thumbs-up: "Xiangxue Sea headliner level."

Even when the topic concerns life and death, as soon as it shifted towards colorful content, it quickly went off track.

But Qin Le Yin could understand them.

When facing insoluble problems, a normal person would choose to escape, just like students doing one minute of homework then playing on their phone for half an hour, like authors writing a thousand words and playing games for three hours... This is a defense mechanism, because everyone is not rational, unable to make the optimal decision.

The optimal decision for an elementary school student who scores 10 is to go home and wait to be hit, not to add a 0 behind the score with a red pen, yet some elementary school students hope this might deceive their parents to escape a beating.

When facing unprecedented difficulties, most people are not much different from elementary school students. They might know the optimal decision in their heart, but they can't bring themselves to decide, perhaps hoping for a miracle in reality.

At this moment, there is a need for a leader, a guiding light, someone who can make everyone feel a little better.

So Qin Le Yin knocked on the table, focusing the gossipers' attention on herself.

"Let's surrender."