When Yuto left the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, Hu Tao and Zhongli were still arguing over who should go to Inazuma. On one side, Hu Tao desperately wanted to send Zhongli away, while on the other, Zhongli adamantly refused, wanting Hu Tao to go herself. Yuto watched from the side, thoroughly entertained.
The interesting thing was that although both of them were trying their best to shirk the responsibility, neither of them actually refused the idea of going to Inazuma to open a branch of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.
As Hu Tao's obsession, she had always wanted to expand the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, and now that such an enticing opportunity presented itself, she naturally couldn't miss it.
As for Zhongli, he didn't want to go to Inazuma purely because of his identity, but he also knew how much opening a Wangsheng Funeral Parlor in Inazuma would help his Director's career.
As for Azhdaha, he completely had a 'not my problem' attitude. Anyway, wherever Morax went, he would follow without delay. In the past few months, under Morax's guidance, he had thoroughly experienced the joys of the human world. In simple terms, he was enjoying himself so much that he had no thought of leaving.
When Yuto returned to the Inazuma embassy, the people inside were busy tallying the business cooperation projects that had been finalized during the banquet.
With such a high-level banquet, the participants were either rich or noble, and the embassy staff easily secured more than ten commercial collaborations.
These included Liyue's most famous jewelry, ores, silk, and Fabric. In addition, there were also agreements for tea, tobacco and alcohol, vegetables, meat, dairy products, medicinal herbs, fertilizers, toys, ceramics, clothing, and more, all of which were scarce resources in Inazuma.
As for Inazuma, it offered specialties such as Coral Pearl, crystal marrow, Dendrobium, Naku Weed, Sakura Bloom, and Sea Ganoderma for these big merchants to choose from. They quickly received their approval and signed quite a few orders.
An interesting little interlude also occurred during the banquet: Bolai, the owner of Wanmin Restaurant, and Dongsheng, the owner of Rongfa Teahouse—two apparent competitors—got serious in their bid for Inazuma's orders at the wine table.
They not only started a price war but even declared that if only one of them was chosen, the overall price could be reduced by another ten percent.
In Bolai's words: "Seeing that kid make money is more painful than losing money myself!"
The essence of trade is mutual exchange, but currently, Inazuma is still severely lacking in many areas, primarily relying on imports. The variety of goods it can export is very limited. Fortunately, with the large amount of Mora provided by the big spender Snezhnaya, Inazuma can now truly be described as a country so poor it only has money.
Because of this, it is necessary to promptly convert this stored Mora into comprehensive national strength and improve its own production capacity.
In the following days, the subordinates of the delegation dealt with almost every merchant in Liyue Harbor. The goal was simple: compare goods from three different sources to find the best quality and price.
As for Yuto, Yae Miko, and Kuki Shinobu's task, it was to discuss trade tariffs with Ningguang and the others.
Tariff matters are a matter of haggling over every penny; even a fraction of a percent can result in an unimaginably astronomical figure.
However, Ningguang is more like a pure merchant than a politician, so pure that even the empty shell of a Vision can be infected by her strong desire, re-blooming with new light.
Currently, in Teyvat, there should only be two people with such an obsession with Mora who have also received the gaze of a Vision: one is Dori Sangemahabay from Sumeru, and the other is Ningguang of Liyue.
Even the Fatui Harbinger Regrator, though he is also a top tycoon in Teyvat, has not reached the point of attracting the gaze of the gods.
Negotiating business with someone like Ningguang is definitely a tough battle. Even if Kuki Shinobu used all her skills and displayed her negotiation techniques to their fullest, she couldn't get Ningguang to budge. Instead, Ningguang used the opportunity to find loopholes in Kuki Shinobu's arguments.
Yuto understood that instead of wasting words at the negotiation table, it would be better to help Ningguang outside so that she would voluntarily lower tariffs.
For example, with Uncle Tian's poisoning incident, if Ningguang agreed to reduce tariffs by a fraction of a percent, Inazuma would definitely gain a huge advantage.
However, according to the intelligence he gathered, Yelan seemed to have secretly invited Baizhu to Uncle Tian's home for treatment late at night. This matter was handled extremely discreetly, and no news about Uncle Tian's poisoning spread afterward, suggesting that the information was suppressed.
If Yuto hadn't known the truth of the matter beforehand, he would have thought his judgment was mistaken.
In the game's plot, it was actually Zhiyi, a disciple and candidate highly regarded by Uncle Tian, who, under the instigation of Yusupov, the Snezhnaya ambassador to Liyue, poisoned his mentor with a chronic poison in fish soup. Yusupov then used his connections to boost Zhiyi's reputation, making him the most popular among the three candidates.
Yelan and Uncle Tian wanted to use this to catch a big fish. What good was catching one bribed candidate? It would be best to use this opportunity to capture the foreign forces who bribed the candidates in one fell swoop—that's what intelligence chiefs like them should do.
Since this matter would take some time, he could only approach it from another angle.
Soon, the ascension ceremony of the Jade Chamber arrived as scheduled. However, today's Liyue Harbor was unusually different from usual; the bustling commercial atmosphere had vanished, and the streets were filled with Millelith soldiers ready for battle.
On the Jade Chamber, Ningguang was making the final preparations, while Yae Miko, Kuki Shinobu, Lumine, and Paimon were already in position.
When Yuto, holding Shenhe's hand, ascended the Jade Chamber side by side, it immediately attracted everyone's attention, especially Yae Miko and Kuki Shinobu. The moment they saw Shenhe, they suddenly felt overshadowed.
Shenhe's figure and temperament were absolutely stunning!
Is this the Regent's little girlfriend? As expected, her reputation precedes her. No wonder he's always been so smitten.
Paimon: "Yuto, Shenhe, you two are finally here! The ascension ceremony is about to begin!"
Shenhe returned Lumine and Paimon's smile, but upon seeing Yae Miko and Kuki Shinobu, the smile on her face gradually faded, and a Matriarch-like aura spontaneously emerged. This aura might have no effect on Yae Miko, but for Kuki Shinobu, it was like facing a formidable enemy, causing her to involuntarily shrink back.
Seeing this, Yuto chuckled from the side: "A-He, let me introduce you. This is Guuji Yae Miko of the Grand Narukami Shrine in Inazuma, a powerful immortal fox. And this is Kuki Shinobu, the special secretary of the Regent's Office, my capable subordinate.
Yae Miko, Kuki Shinobu, this is my girlfriend, Shenhe, who studied under three Adepti in Liyue."
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