Chapter 161 Is your brain made of stone?
To change the entire Banta City, this wasn’t something that could be accomplished by words or just advertisements.
Other than the city square and Sandy River project that attracted the most attention, Banta City’s tentative plan to create new districts was slowly beginning.
The first problem solved for these new districts was the problem of roads.
When this city renovation plan was created last year, the Amrit Chamber of Commerce had been building roads where these districts were planned for outside the city the entire time.
Now that over half a year had passed, the main transportation lines had been finished. The Fersen Horse Carriage Company was beginning to open public transportation lines to the various districts.
Setting off from the Fersen Carriage Company’s public transport stands, they could choose to ride the horse carriages to quickly go to many places in the city. Compared to when one could only walk if they didn’t have a personal carriage, it was without a doubt faster than walking.
Hannas spent one gold coin and an entire morning to ride all eleven public transport lines in Banta City. When he came back, he was filled with praise for Xu Yi.
“It’s too convenient! It really is too convenient!” Hannas still had the same slightly exaggerated tone from before, “It just takes a few silver coins to ride a comfortable horse carriage to where you are going and it moves so quickly, it simply is too convenient!” 𝗯𝐞𝗱𝗻𝐨𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝐧𝗲𝘁
Xu Yi laughed, “How is it? Who was it who said to me last time that although the idea of a public transport system was good, it wasn’t practical to use it?”
Hannas’ face turned a bit red as he said with a smile, “How could I know that your Banta City would develop so fast that you could build so many roads in such a short amount of time. Moreover, the Fersen Carriage Company really is working well with you. From what I can see, there aren’t that many people riding the public horse carriages yet, so they are definitely suffering a loss.”
“That’s just because people aren’t used to them yet.” Xu Yi said, “Before everyone was poor and most of them didn’t even have a single gold coin, so they are a bit against spending a few silver coins to ride the public horse carriages. But now that the income in Banta City is much higher, when they understand that time is more valuable than money, I guarantee that there will definitely be many more people riding horse carriages. At that time, if you want to ride the public horse carriages, you’ll have to push your way in.”
“How could it be that exaggerated…..” Hannas couldn’t help refuting, but thinking about his investigation of Banta City in the past few days, he found that it wasn’t that impossible.
The population of Banta City was quickly increasing and the income of these people was much higher than when he came last time.
If this trend continues, there might come a time when everyone will be willing to spend money to ride the public horse carriages.
At that time, there might be a situation where it would be crowded.
“Un…...This thing really is not bad, I will write in the newspapers when I get back to urge Anvilmar City to also get a public transport system.” Hannas thought about it before saying, “With this, when we go out to play, we won’t have to use our own horse carriages.”
Xu Yi looked at him and coldly said, “You think that Anvilmar City can have this thing?”
“Why not……”
Hannas suddenly stopped.
He suddenly thought that Xu Yi’s question wasn’t wrong at all.
Could Anvilmar City…..really be connected by a public transport system?
Banta City could create this because other than the support of the City Lord Count Sean, Banta City had built large amounts of roads. The horse carriages could quickly travel across these roads, which was not only fast, but also stable.
As for the roads in Anvilmar City, it was made from paved stone. Since it wasn’t as spacious and wasn’t as smooth, the road conditions were much worse than Banta City.
Other than that, the other important factor of building a public transport system was whether it could be maintained or not.
Count Sean and Xu Yi were confident in the Banta City public transport system because the average income had greatly increased in Banta City, so even the normal citizens could afford to pay a few gold coins to ride the horse carriages.
Although Anvilmar City had gathered many great nobles and large merchants, with enough people who could afford to use the public transport system, for those great nobles and merchants, they had money, so how could they be willing to take the same carriage as someone else? Why wouldn’t they use their more comfortable, exclusive carriage?
As for the citizens who had the greatest demand for the public transport system, most of them weren’t willing to pay for it or couldn’t even afford it.
For the citizens of Anvilmar City, even if it was only a few silver coins, they needed to carefully consider it.
Thinking of this, Hannas found that when Xu Yi said that Banta City would surpass Anvilmar City, it wasn’t just an empty boast.
At least in terms of average income for citizens, Banta City had far surpassed Anvilmar City.
“You want to ask how to raise the average income of citizens?” Xu Yi looked at Hannas’ honest questioning look and said with a smile, “Aren’t you in Banta City now? Instead of asking me, it is better to investigate yourself. Only by directly viewing it can you draw the most direct conclusions. I can only give you a suggestion, if you want to know the reason, go and observe the normal citizens in the villages outside the city.”
Hannas nodded. When he wanted to write down Xu Yi’s words, he suddenly thought of something.
“Actually I think that compared to running around myself, it is better to follow you around. I can guarantee that the benefits of following you are better and I’ll understand the change with Banta City more.”
Xu Yi spread his hands and said, “It’s quite the coincidence, I’m about to head out. I won’t be in Banta City during this time, so I don’t have time to spend with you.”
Hannas was stunned, “Where are you going?”
“I’m going to the Black Rice Wasteland to solve a few problems and I’ll take a trip to the Stantine Duchy. There is a fellow there who is anxious from waiting for me and if I don’t go soon, I’m afraid he’ll send someone to Banta City to kidnap me.” Xu Yi replied.
An ambiguous smile appeared on Hannas’ face and he raised a brow as he asked Xu Yi, “It can’t be that you found some little girl in the Stantine Duchy and abandoned the other side, right? Hei, hei, should I go tell Still and let her teach you a lesson?”
Xu Yi rolled his eyes, “I did bring back two little girls last time and now they stay with Vivian and Still all day, do you want to take a look?”
Hannas revealed a surprised look before giving Xu Yi a thumbs up and praising, “You really are quite good. Not mentioning you bringing back two little girls, you actually put them by Still’s side, I really have to admire you.”
“What nonsense is this, it isn’t what you think.” Xu Yi snappily reprimanded Hannas. He was too lazy to bother with this meaningless issue and said, “In short, I will be gone for at least half a month, so I can’t go around Banta City with you. Actually if you want someone to take you around, just grab a reporter from the ?Banta Times?, they’re much more familiar with Banta City compared to me.”
“Un, I was just talking, I wasn’t really planning on having someone as busy as you go around with me. But…..” Hannas suddenly revealed a strange smile, “Xu Yi…..Let me tell you some news that I don’t know if it is good or bad.”
“What news is it that you don’t know if it’s good or bad?” Xu Yi asked in surprise.
“It’s that…..Sophia might come over in a few days…..”
“She’s coming again?” Xu Yi was stunned before feeling a headache.
Sophia’s first time to Banta City with Kennard had strangely looked down on Xu Yi, even not sparing him a glance.
Although Xu Yi didn’t bother with her since she was a little girl and was Kennard’s little sister, he still felt a headache over this.
Later when Kennard decided to be the general manager for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, Sophia came here when she was bored.
Although she said that it was to see her brother, she always came looking for Xu Yi and kept provoking him. Xu Yi felt it was bothersome, but he had no other choice.
So whenever he heard Sophia was coming, Xu Yi felt a headache come over him.
It was impossible for him to do anything to this mischievous little girl, but he couldn’t let her keep pestering him.
“Alright, it’s fine if she comes now, I’m leaving anyway. If she knows that I’m not here, she will leave in a few days since she’ll find it boring.” Xu Yi said in a somewhat happy voice, “I really don’t know what’s the problem with her, why does she keep causing trouble for me whenever she comes? Have I offended her?”
Hannas looked at Xu Yi with a somewhat strange expression.
“Hey, Xu Yi, do you sincerely feel this way, or is it deliberate?”
“What deliberate?” Xu Yi was surprised.
“You actually don’t know why Sophia keeps looking for you? Is your brain made out of stone?” Hannas asked with a bit of disbelief.
Xu Yi asked back in a confused voice, “What do you want to say?”
Hannas honestly looked over Xu Yi for a bit and seeing that his expression wasn’t fake at all, he couldn’t help covering his face and saying with a sigh, “I really don’t know why Still likes you and I don’t understand even more how she can stay with you. For a slow fellow like you, could it be that Still was the one who confessed to you?”
Xu Yi thought about it and replied, “Speaking of this, she did take the initiative…...But how is that related? I like her and she likes me, that is enough. What are you trying to say?”
Hannas looked at Xu Yi with a defeated look.
After a while, Hannas let out a sigh.
“Sophia, you really are an idiot…..”
Xu Yi looked at Hannas with a confused look.
This fellow, just what was he trying to say?
Chapter 162 We also want to hire elves
Even when Xu Yi was heading to the Black Rice Wasteland in a horse carriage the next day, he still didn’t get the answer he wanted from Hannas.
Xu Yi had asked him several times, but he gave up in the end.
He had many things to do, so he didn’t plan on wasting time on this meaningless question.
Compared to why Hannas had suddenly called Sophia an idiot, he paid more attention to the matters he was taking care of in the Black Rice Wasteland this time.
Looking at chairman Vincent sitting opposite of him, Xu Yi couldn’t help asking in a curious voice, “Chairman Vincent, why did you suddenly decide to take a trip to the Black Rice Wasteland?”
Chairman Vincent touched the two small whiskers under his nose and replied with a faint smile, “Our Armani Chamber of Commerce sells clothes, so of course I’m going to the Black Rice Wasteland to see if I can sell more clothes.”
Xu Yi thought about it before asking with a frown, “It can’t be because the Voller Tribe asked for large amounts of clothes from us that you suddenly had this idea, right?”
“No, to be accurate, I had this idea a long time ago.” Chairman Vincent said, “The beastmen have never had the ability to weave clothes, so they just wore animal hides. I had thought about it a long time ago and as long as they become used to the clothes we humans make, it would be a very large market. But before this, if the beastmen had any resources, the first thing they would buy would be salt and all kinds of iron tools from humans, so they never asked for clothes. So I am very curious, why did the beastmen suddenly change their mind and decide to learn to wear clothes like us humans?”
Xu Yi laughed and waved his hand as he said, “Chairman Vincent, I think that you’re thinking too much. The Voller Tribe is requesting clothes from us because we bought the non-ferrous metal vein from them for five hundred thousand gold coins. These beastmen have never seen this many gold coins before, so they don’t know how to spend them. I think that after chief Voller bought many necessities, he found that there was quite a bit of money left, so he decided to buy clothes. I don’t think it’s because their attitude has changed. As for the other beastmen tribe, it is impossible for them to have that much money, so they won’t have the same ideas.”
“It’s fine, for something like clothes, they won’t be willing to take it off once they wear it.” Chairman Vincent had a confident smile, “I guarantee that once the beastmen wear our Armani Chamber of Commerce’s clothes, they will never be able to wear those tattered beast pelts anymore. As for money…...Now that chairman Xu is interested in this Black Rice Wasteland, I think that these beastmen will become somewhat rich like this dwarves.”
“You really think highly of me.” Xu Yi revealed a modest smile before thinking of an issue, “Speaking of the dwarves having money…..Chairman Vincent, Camby complained to me a while ago that every time he and his dwarven brothers go to your Armani Chamber of Commerce to buy clothes, there aren’t any sizes suited to them and they could only make a custom order. He even asked me, is your Armani Chamber of Commerce discriminating against them as dwarves and if you’re doing it intentionally?”
Chairman Vincent was stunned, but he quickly waved his hand and said, “No, no, no. Our company naturally isn’t discriminating against the dwarven brothers. As for not having anything in their size…..that is something that we have neglected. But chairman Xu, I think that you can understand that the dwarves purchase an amount of clothes that can be ignored by our company and the dwarves have quite special sizes…..”
“I can understand that. I’m mentioning this to you this time to remind you that there are over a thousand dwarven workers now at our company and there will be even more in the future. These dwarves and their families will be buying clothes in Banta City. I have always recommended the Armani Chamber of Commerce to them, but if you keep ignoring the builds of the dwarves and their styles of clothes, you might lose a large group of customers.” Xu Yi said.
“Alright, I will remember this.” Chairman Vincent gave a nod before saying in an emotional voice, “The current Banta City is changing too quickly. The previous Banta City didn’t even have three dwarves and there weren’t any elves, but now there are dwarves all over the streets and it’s normal to see elves. It’s reached the point where it’s become nothing special to the people of Banta City.”
Xu Yi laughed, “So that means the world is changing rather quickly. I will be going to the Falling Rain Forest in a while and chat with the elder of the Night Song Tribe. If nothing unexpected happens, you should see even more elves in Banta City in the future. As for dwarves…...everyone has already long become accustomed to them, right?”
Chairman Vincent looked at Xu Yi and hesitated a bit before saying, “Chairman Xu, can I…...ask you to help me with something?”
“Please speak.”
“Are you very close to the elves right now? You can even speak to their elder, so can you help me tell those elves that our Armani Chamber of Commerce sincerely invites them to work for our company as clothing designers?” Chairman Vincent asked.
Xu Yi was a bit surprised, “You want hire elves to be clothing designers for your company?”
“Yes. Not just one, I want a few if possible.” Chairman Vincent nodded before saying, “Other than dress designers, I also want to hire several elves as models to be…...Un…..It’s like how young miss Still is the spokesperson for your company and the Sarank Chamber of Commerce.”
Xu Yi looked at chairman Vincent with a bit of surprise before suddenly revealing a smile, “Chairman Vincent, can I call this copying my creativity?”
Chairman Vincent laughed, “It can be called this. Chairman Xu is this creative, so if I don’t use it as a reference, it would be wasted.”
Xu Yi couldn’t help laughing as he shook his head. He thought for a bit before saying, “I can give this request to the Night Song Tribe elder, but I can’t guarantee if she’ll agree or not. Other than that, you still haven’t told me what conditions you’ll give them.”
“Alright, many thanks chairman Xu. As for conditions…..” Chairman Vincent thought for a bit before saying, “For the clothing designers, our company gives our best designers a salary of a thousand gold coins per year, so if the elves are willing, as long as they can use their outstanding talent, their salary will be five hundred gold coins with room for increase based on the situation. As for the models and spokespeople, this is hard to decide. It will depend on how often they work and the amount of time they work, but I can guarantee that it will not be less than three hundred gold coins a year.”
“Alright, those conditions aren’t bad, but you have forgotten one important thing.” Xu Yi reminded.
“What is it?”
“You have to apply for a labour card in the name of the Armani Chamber of Commerce for them.” Xu Yi said, “Compared to wages, the elves care more about obtaining the right to live a normal life in our human society.”
“That isn’t a problem. But our company doesn’t have experience with this, so I’ll have to ask chairman Xu for your help when the time comes.” Chairman Vincent said.
Xu Yi nodded with a faint smile, “No problem.”
The motorcade carrying a large pile of clothes stopped at the Falling Rain Valley. Xu Yi bid farewell to chairman Vincent, letting him go to Samara Town first to meet chairman Renersa, while he entered the Falling Rain Valley.
Even though spring wasn’t truly here yet, the Falling Rain Valley had strange plants from the elves, so it was filled with bright flowers and green leaves. There were the metallic sounds of magic machines coming from all over the valley, combined with the sounds of people talking, it showed that the Falling Rain Valley was filled with life.
Xu Yi entered the tire factory not far from the entrance and saw the tire production line before heading to a corner in the factory.
There were a total of ten people here that included elves, dwarves, and humans. They were talking about a few tires on the ground that were narrower than the ones being produced in the production line.
“I suggest that we reduce the resin amount for the tire and add a few softeners to make the tire tube even softer, which makes it easier to pump air in.” The one pinching the tire made of soft resin was the dwarf craftsman Bordeau.
The tire factory was designing a new tire according to Xu Yi’s requests, so the magic machine research workshop had come, mainly in charge of designing the rim of the tire.
“But if there are too many softeners, I’m worried that once the weather gets warmer, the tire tube will start melting. Not mentioning if it could even be used, it might not even be able to maintain its normal shape.”
The one who spoke was a male elf named Yldan. He was currently the elf who was best at handling resin of the hundred elves in the tire factory.
When it came to developing this new tire, of course they couldn’t lack his participation.
“If there are many worries with this problem, we’ll just test it a few more times until we reach the perfect ratio to guarantee that it will work properly and can withstand high temperatures. The chairman said that we shouldn’t be afraid of failure. Rather even if we experiment ten times, a hundred times, or even a thousand times, we need to guarantee the quality of the product.”
“Pa, pa, pa.”
Xu Yi who had just arrived heard these words and immediately gave his applause as he praised them, “Ankhto’s words are quite good. You shouldn’t be afraid when it comes to experimenting, what’s terrifying is the product failing after it is produced. No matter what kind of products are developed, we must guarantee that in any situation, at any time, the probability of a problem occurring with the product is as low as possible.”