Chapter 82 – Assistance
Before the fatty could even finish his sentence, Ma Dong rolled his eyes and yawned. “The door is behind you, I won’t send you off!”
“I haven’t finished—”
“Little Fatty, are you making sport of your Uncle Ma? This President is very busy at the moment and doesn’t have the leisure to make you understand—”
“Sponsor!” The fatty got right to the point.
Sponsor?!
Ma Dong’s ears twitched when he heard that word.
The fatty felt something flash as a form appeared like lightning before him.
Ma Dong firmly held the fatty’s hands as his face filled with enthusiasm and fervor. “Brother Fatty, have you eaten yet? Is the weather too hot for you? Eh, don’t be so reckless, alright? Go and buy yourself a cold drink; no, get everybody one! Heavenly Dragon Ice House, your treat, Brother Fatty!”
The fatty was stunned foolish. This fellow’s way of doing business really is something.
“My surname is Qian.”
“Ah, what a good surname! We’re all family, which is probably why I feel so familiar with you. I was actually planning on hooking up with some sponsors, but our Prodigy Society’s prestige is too great. We have too many people knocking on our doors. Since most of them are big financial groups, it’s so hard to choose. Let’s not talk about this anymore; family always takes care of family, let us brothers go somewhere else to chat.”
Finding someone to sponsor a society was necessary to become a mature academy society.
Not even mentioning expansion, a society needed it just to survive.
The daily maintenance of the society’s arena, the acquisition of training equipment, the opening of various societal events and benefits. To attract more members, the society needed to grow in momentum and strength. These were necessary expenses, and the amount provided by school was only so much. The Prodigy Society wasn’t wealthy, so unless Grai was willing to sell his body, the society wouldn’t be able to keep anyone.
A few days ago, Ma Dong had still felt that he was quite rich, but currently, the various expenditures of the society had begun to rise. The feeling of having to be frugal was just terrible. In the end, he still needed to rely on sponsors in order to walk in the proper direction.
He couldn’t count on his clan and had to complete this task all by himself. This was a test, and if he just relied on a continuous stream of capital from his clan, then how could it be considered an experience since even a pig could accomplish it.
The various great cities encouraged merchant groups and clans to support the expansion of local academy societies, as they were the root of a city’s defensive force. Some examples of such societies were Black Rose and Saint Judgement. The veteran squadrons there had regular and stable sponsors. They were extremely arrogant about this, and every member who joined would receive monthly subsidies from the society, as well as other benefits.
These years, fame alone just didn’t cut it.
“Boss Qian, who are you working for?” The reason Ma Dong felt enthusiastic was because he could faintly sense the door of opportunity from this fatty’s body. While his other qualities were questionable, Ma Don was still a person who came from a clan, so he was capable of judging whether a person was a cheat or a wealthy person.
“Qian Group of Billowing Sea City. My name is Qian Guang,” the fatty said smiling. As he spoke, his eyes turned into slits.
“Billowing Sea, are you guys planning to come to Tianjing?”
Ma Dong was very clear that any power that wanted to travel across cities in order to do business had to have good relations while also walking the correct channels. Most of these businesses would sponsor the local heroic soul academy in order to get the support of a local politician when integrating with the city.
“We’re planning to set up a small business here. Our group plans to establish a small transport route with Tianjing being the middle transfer city. Are you interested, President Ma Dong?” the fatty asked with a smile.
Ma Dong also smiled from ear to ear, but his inner thoughts continued to spin. Those involved with transport in this era can’t be provoked easily. Although the profit is high, there are also risks. The opposite party seems to want a cooperative business partner in Tianjing, so the branch line of the Assassin clan is no doubt a pretty good choice.
“I am currently still a student, so these kinds of matters should be discussed slowly. Let’s talk about the present. Elder Brother Qian, how much are you prepared to sponsor our Prodigy Society?”
“How much do you want?” Qian Guang asked directly.
“In the upcoming CHF, within our academy’s group training quota, we have four candidates from our society. Have you heard of Saint Judgement? They had previously been the number one society in the academy. They had previously fought our Prodigy Society a few days ago, and the result was that they were beaten in all directions. Their vice-president was literally shot and blasted away by ours, and is still resting in the hospital!”
Ma Dong’s spittle flew everywhere. “Grai! This person is ranked first among the special recruits of Tianjing Academy this year. The academy spent quite a bit of effort in acquiring him, and with a single move, he checkmated Adams of Saint Judgement; a super freshman! Furthermore, not only is he strong he is also handsome and has many fans. With just him, you shouldn’t feel so embarrassed about sponsoring us a couple hundred thousand. Then there’s Emily…”
Since this was his first chance of doing big business in his life, Ma Dong pulled himself together and spewed out a torrent of words.
“Just give me a direct price,” the fatty said. He already felt hungover listening to him. Is this fellow thinking I’m sponsoring an academy society or trafficking humans? But since the society had some potential, and coupled with Emily, he didn’t mind hearing this fellow boast so wildly.
“Hehe. It looks like brother is quite straightforward. Alright, I won’t talk about any more nonsense and just give you a large discount due to our closeness. Two hundred thousand!” Ma Dong said.
The fatty almost spat in Ma Dong’s face. “Your neighbour is the Black Rose Society and one of the four great societies here. Its president is the granddaughter of the academy’s headmaster, and its beautiful female members are the society’s specialty. Their yearly sponsorship is two hundred thousand, yet you, a new society, is also asking me for two hundred thousand. You’re treating me like a pig!”
It was obvious that this fatty wasn’t a fool.
“There’s a saying, ‘It doesn’t matter how small a mountain is, if an immortal stays in one, it will become legendary!’” Ma Dong said as he dragged out this ancient phrase with a sorrowful sigh. “Brother, I can tell that you’re a guy with good eyes. To our Prodigy Society, exceeding Black Rose is just a matter of time. Besides, Black Rose already has a party; if not, you wouldn’t have come here to find me.”
“Brother, I won’t hide it from you; my clan gave me this task as an experience, so my hands are bound,” the fatty explained with a pained expression. “I’m not trying to be a prick to you, but my originally estimate of seventy to eighty-thousand is good enough. Fine, I feel some sincerity for you, so I’ll take it out of my capital; one price, a hundred thousand!”
Qian Guang indeed felt this was very sincere, but Ma Dong suddenly showed an imposing look. His gaze turned calm and serious, and his eyes slowly penetrated into Fatty Qian.
“Brother, since we’re together this isn’t appropriate. We can wear each other out, we can have disputes, and I can apologize for them. If there is a contradiction, then I can compromise, but…!”
President Ma Dong’s eyes widened as his murderous intent flooded the skies. “My marketed price is two hundred thousand! With a single slash you cut it in half! Are you here to discuss business? No, you’re here to fight, right!? Well, you can chop at me, but you can’t chop the price!”
“A hundred and ten thousand?” Fatty Qian casually offered.
“What’s this? A hundred and ninety thousand!”
After the bargaining finished, a few members watched as Ma Dong and the fatty continued to stand there. One minute they were crying and wailing, the next they were angry beyond belief. In the end, the sponsorship amount was a hundred and sixty thousand credits, an auspicious number.
President Ma Dong no longer needed to worry about begging for money for the society.