Cohabitation with Sword Spirit-Chapter 73 - 64: The Correct Use of a Poverty God

Evening of August 2, 2017

"Wang Jiu, you’re really too much! You suddenly disappeared, leaving me to deal with Qian the Third all by myself! That guy is totally a weirdo freak! He wouldn’t stop pestering me no matter how much I insulted him... I was practically about to explode from being hounded like that all the way!"

After returning to Shen Garden, Shen Qingming couldn’t even bother drying her freshly washed, dripping wet long hair. She couldn’t help but slam the table, starting to criticize Wang Jiu’s despicable act of selling out his teammate.

Wang Jiu responded while busy in the kitchen, "Qian Yu proposed a very interesting business cooperation plan, and as the general manager of the company, it’s your duty to handle the specific business, so the business negotiations should naturally be conducted by you."

"That’s not a business cooperation plan; he was just harassing me in a freakish way!"

"No, based on my judgment, his business cooperation plan is highly feasible." Wang Jiu said, bringing out a plate of pink, slushy dessert from the kitchen, "Want to give it a try?"

Shen Qingming glanced at the bright-colored, unfamiliar food. Though instinctively curious, she recalled that in the Inner Sect cultural class, the instructor had said: The more colorful the mushrooms are, the worse it is to touch them when surviving in the wild. Remembering Wang Jiu’s recent ’glorious’ achievements, she immediately shook her head, "Not trying, not trying; I definitely won’t try anything you make!"

Wang Jiu said curiously, "Weird, Yuming once told me that girls can’t resist the temptation of desserts... Could it be that your hormone secretion got messed up during puberty from practicing Immovable Tyrant Body, and it led to gender confusion?"

"You’re the one with gender confusion! And don’t change the subject; you haven’t finished explaining your malicious ’sell your teammate’ problem yet!"

Wang Jiu had no choice but reluctantly put down the dessert and explained to Shen Qingming, "As far as I know, the Qian Family has a very extensive industry layout in Qingyun City, ranging from cultural entertainment fields to artifact refining industries, and their most competitive aspect is the financial sector. The Qian Family’s market foresight is excellent, always investing in the right industries at the right time, and their investment and follow-up support are very strong. I think it fits the company’s development strategy very well."

Shen Qingming was dumbfounded, "Although I didn’t understand the details and many weird terms, you mean... you really want to cooperate with the Qian Family!?"

"Yes." Wang Jiu asked back, "Is there a problem with that?"

"But..." Shen Qingming was tongue-tied. She wanted to say she would never perform that silly cat trick or whatever in public, but this topic had been argued with Wang Jiu long ago, and that ten thousand penalty was particularly memorable.

She wanted to say they just had a conflict with the Qian Family, so why trust the other party? But the Qian Family’s reputation for focusing only on money and not grudges was quite well-known in Cyan Cloud...

With no other choice, the young girl had to change the topic, "By the way, where did you go just now?"

Wang Jiu said, "Good question. In fact, I discovered someone with unique talents. If we can negotiate well, recruiting that person could greatly assist in the company’s development."

Shen Qingming was curious, "Who could have unique talents?"

"Zhang Zhixi."

"What!?" Shen Qingming was both surprised and annoyed, "What kind of madness are you up to again, daring to mess with that person! Do you even know what kind of reputation she has!? And what’s so unique about her talents? That she can’t hold onto money!"

The topic of Zhang Zhixi being unlucky in wealth was a well-known tale in Qingyun City. A shrewd and hardworking grassroots girl, yet through various twists of fate, her efforts always went in vain, struggling on the brink of bankruptcy... The closest she ever got to wealth was being noticed by Qian Yu, but she gave up the chance for the Li Family’s task of a hundred households, making people laugh until they rolled on the floor.

What benefit could such an entertaining talent bring to a company’s development!?

Wang Jiu said, "Indeed, she has a rather rare Poverty Destiny."

"Destiny?"

"It’s what people often refer to as fate. Of course, there’s no absolutely predestined fate in this world; a Poverty Destiny just means it’s relatively more challenging to achieve riches compared to the average person. With enough effort, one can still overcome fate and achieve wealth. So, you can see it as a kind of talent."

Shen Qingming said, "What use do we have for someone with a Poverty Talent?"

"To have her acquire loans."

Shen Qingming’s mouth dropped open, "... what?"

"To borrow money," Wang Jiu said, "People with Poverty Destiny, compared to the average person, tend to lose money and owe debts more easily. It seems like a flaw, but with reverse thinking, having them be responsible for borrowing money often yields better results, easily securing large loans—of course, after obtaining the loans, you need to quickly change the titles to use them elsewhere, not counting them as part of her personal assets. Then use the borrowed money to develop the company’s business, as long as the company’s profits can cover her loan interest, ensuring she won’t be chased and harmed by creditors, she can continue borrowing, expanding the business scale endlessly."

Shen Qingming was dumbfounded, "This is possible?"

Wang Jiu said, "At least, it was possible on the Jiuzhou Continent back in the day. Shang Lanfei hired the famous proletariat Immortal Venerable Zhu Junsen to run around borrowing loans, saying he had no descendants, not even half a girlfriend, so even if he died with a mountain of debt, he had no regrets."

"Sounds pretty tragic."

Wang Jiu thought for a moment: "But Zhu Junsen’s daily expenses were fully covered by Shang Lanfei. Although he didn’t have any Spirit Stones under his name, his daily consumption was top of the line. By the time of the final showdown, when Zhu Junsen was killed by the Demon Emperor, his personal debt had already reached fifty-one million Spirit Stones."

"Fifty-one... million?" Shen Qingming swallowed with difficulty.

"Yes." Wang Jiu said, "Considering that after the final showdown, the Zhu Family had no heirs, his loans were secured by personal credit and didn’t implicate others, meaning the fifty-one million debt was written off. In other words, he essentially made fifty-one million Spirit Stones overnight, boasting a profitability rate even stronger than Shang Lanfei. It goes to show that there’s no such thing as fated poverty in this world; with effort, you can definitely make money."

"He’s dead; what’s the point of having money!?"

"For someone who’s alive yet completely broke, that question is quite suspect."

"...Alright, did Zhang Zhixi agree?"

Wang Jiu regretfully shook his head: "No, it seems she couldn’t grasp the advanced nature of this business model."

"No normal person could understand that!"

"It’s truly unfortunate. I clearly explained that if she joined the company as a signed artist and became Spirit Cat Number Two, she could quickly expand her personal fame and increase her credit loan limit through fan clubs and such..."

"Hold on, what do you mean by Spirit Cat Number Two!? You don’t mean to say I’m Spirit Cat Number One, do you?"

"Yes, based on the response to your performance of Spirit Cat Swordsmanship during the ranking test, this combination of cat ears and claws with a juvenile girl idol appearance is still a novelty on the Xiangzhou Continent with substantial development potential. We need to seize the market advantage before imitators appear."

"...I’m a bit regretful now. In hindsight, I might as well have just let Zhang Zhixi win back then."

——

Because the topic shift was too intense, Shen Qingming later completely forgot about denouncing Wang Jiu for selling out teammates. Instead, she simply tried her best to persuade Wang Jiu to abandon his Spirit Cat promotion plan, especially not to cooperate with the Qian Family.

Just the thought of promoting her Spirit Cat look all over QingCyan Cloud yun City made Shen Qingming wish she could just blow up her Divine Sense and forget everything forever.

Predictably, Shen Qingming’s painstaking persuasions soon ended in failure. Wang Jiu convened yet another temporary board meeting, which voted to approve the development strategy for establishing the Spirit Cat idol brand, requiring Shen Qingming, as General Manager, to fully build the idol brand centered on Spirit Cat Number One, Shen Qingming, based on the board’s development strategy.

Staring at the board meeting minutes signed personally by Wang Jiu, Shen Qingming, after a long silence, finally managed to convince herself to let go of meaningless insistence.

If you really can’t resist, try to enjoy it... At least there’s really a possibility of making money, isn’t there?

——

At the same time, on the other side of QingCyan Cloud yun City, a weary Zhang Zhixi returned to her low-rent apartment on the outskirts of the city.

Pushing open the door, she was greeted by the familiar small space and a letter demanding rent payment on the floor. Seeing the crimson digits on the letter made Zhang Zhixi feel even more exhausted.

Living in Cyan Cloud Residence is no easy task, truly.

With a thud, the girl collapsed onto the bed, burying her face deep in the covers until she couldn’t breathe and had to turn over, her gaze falling on the posters taped beside the bed.

Those were from a year ago when she promoted "self-reliance" as a selling point and gradually gained popularity in a small circle. Several enthusiastic fans had drawn and printed them; the girl on the poster exuded youthful exuberance and her eyes were full of infinite anticipation for the future.

However, at this moment, if a mirror were placed in front of her, Zhang Zhixi believed she’d surely see a pair of eyes in utter despair about life.

Over the years, she really had worked incredibly hard; be it cultivation, making money, or any other matters, she endured countless hardships and even committed various wrongdoings to finally carve out her own reputation in QingCyan Cloud yun City at the ages of thirteen or fourteen.

But to this day, she could still only dwell in low-rent housing, worrying about next month’s rent. The resources needed for cultivation were even more out of reach—even after falling from pinnacle to initial stages, she’d exhausted all her savings just to heal her injuries. It’s as though fate was a nasty joke, ruthlessly mocking all her efforts.

The weight of exhaustion felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, making her long to just lie down and never get up again. Yet, a flame deep within her heart stubbornly refused to extinguish.

She couldn’t resign to sinking into oblivion.

In her mind, that calm question from earlier in the day emerged unbidden.

"I noticed you have a very unique destiny. Are you not interested in collaborating to leverage your strengths?"