Universe Infinite Canteen-Chapter 644: Secret Charm

Apart from new teachers, Qi Baichuan had managed to secure three more partnerships for the school. Since Hou De had already broken into the top hundred, the sponsorship fees had accordingly surged with the rising tide.

Qi Baichuan's external quotation was eight thousand dollars per year, and those who could not meet this price need not continue negotiations, which deterred quite a few small factories and workshops.

The remaining prospects were financially robust, many doing business not just in Ping City but like Huixin Bank, which had branches throughout the Southeast Three Provinces.

There was also the Hamande Cigarette Factory, considered a leading enterprise in Ping City, holding a 20% market share.

They were all very interested in partnering with Hou De. The Hamande Cigarette Factory even said that if Ma Lu could continue to lead the school's progress and break into the top 30, the factory would specially create a "Principal's Edition" cigarette for Ma Lu.

They would print Ma Lu's portrait on the cigarette packs and would pay a hefty likeness fee when the time came.

However, the last company to come knocking was Jinchuan Smokeless Gunpowder Factory, which surprised everyone—

Setting aside the fact that Jinchuan was over six hundred miles away from Ping City, the people there hadn't even heard of Hou De or Ma Lu.

The idea of a military factory wanting to cooperate with Hou De was quite abstract in itself; their smokeless gunpowder was not sold to the public and was directly procured by bullet and explosive factories.

There was no need for increased sales through Hou De's help, nor was it possible to print Principal Ma's portrait on bullet casings or shells to fire at the enemy.

So their sudden willingness to spend ten thousand dollars on a partnership with Hou De was quite unexpected.

"I met with the people from the smokeless gunpowder factory. Though they didn't say it outright, it feels like their situation is similar to that of Siping Coal Mine— the partnership is a sham, and the real objective is for someone to get close to us under this pretext."

Cao Youyi said, "I just don't know who's behind it."

"I can guess a bit," Ma Lu thought for a moment, "No matter, since they're willing to give us money, let's accept it. It can be used to give everyone a raise."

"The salaries cannot be raised any further," Cao Youyi firmly stated, "The teachers' salaries at our school are already outrageous, and our average salary could almost rank in the top ten.

"While the school's financial situation has improved, we still need to save some money for unforeseen needs.

"Moreover, constantly motivating with money will create dependence over time. If the salaries were to increase by a smaller amount or not at all in the future, some people will become dissatisfied, and the incentive effect will also diminish."

Ma Lu didn't really see this as a big problem since he didn't intend to stay in this plane for too long. The downsides Cao Youyi spoke of did exist, but they were irrelevant to him.

However, considering that after his departure, Hou De would have to continue on, and the school would be under Cao Youyi's management, Ma Lu decided to respect her opinion and not add any more pressure to her.

In addition to recruiting and business collaborations, Cao Youyi didn't forget the instructions Ma Lu had left before his last departure and specifically visited a very reputable geological expert.

She had the expert conduct an exploration of Shouyang Mountain. The geologist spent three days examining the whole mountain, including all the nooks and crannies, but didn't find a gold mine or any other valuable minerals.

Nevertheless, there was a significant find. Although no minerals were discovered, a hidden chamber was unexpectedly found beneath an old school building.

Latter, Cao Youyi consulted the school history and found that the old building had been there since the founding of Hou De, one of the very first structures, nearly a hundred years old by now.

However, it had been abandoned not long after being built.

According to Hou De's history, the place was originally the private library of the first Principal, Ye Wangshu, who was very fond of reading and had beautiful handwriting.

He would often spend half the day in the library reading and practicing calligraphy.

After his death, the new Principal who succeeded him didn't see the need for a separate building just for reading, and frankly, it was quite a distance from the Classrooms and Principal's Office.

Finding it troublesome to run back and forth, he had the books moved to the school library, and the small building was left idle.

During Yan Puchuan's tenure, Hou De's glory faded, and the school's fortunes plummeted, losing many teachers and students.

Due to worsening financial conditions, the school had to reduce admissions year after year, and the small building became even more superfluous. Having fallen into disuse for a long time, half of it had even collapsed.

Had it not been for the exploration expert's discovery of a cavity underground and his report to Cao Youyi, prompting her to care, then asking Uncle Song, the gatekeeper, to search the place thoroughly, no one would have thought there was a hidden chamber below.

"What's in the hidden chamber?" Ma Lu perked up at the news.

Because, unless there was a surprise, this was likely the reason why Hero Group had set their sights on Hou De, even going so far as to plot against the previous Principal, Jin Hua.

"I found an iron box in the chamber, along with several bank drafts, but sadly the drafts had been damaged by insects and were no longer redeemable,"

Cao Youyi said, "As for the iron box, it was sealed with a Secret Charm, which could only be opened by the caster or someone with the caster's bloodline."

"This box was left by Ye Wangshu, but he is no longer with us, which means we need to find his descendants to open it, right? Do you know any of his descendants?" Ma Lu inquired.

Cao Youyi shook her head, "Principal Ye was the founder of Hou De and one of the nation's earliest Talisman Masters. He died about eighty years ago, and his son, who didn't exhibit any Talisman Master qualities, went to the Western World to study industrial manufacturing."

"He's probably not alive now, and as for his later generations, there hasn't been any news, but give me some time, and I can try to look into it.

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"There's another issue," Cao Youyi continued, "although the item was found under Principal Ye's private library, it's not necessarily true that he was the one who hid it there. We can't rule out that a Principal after him also discovered the hidden chamber and thought it a good place to store the box.

"If we find the wrong person and remove the Secret Charm, we could accidentally destroy the contents of the box."

"Ah, your concern makes sense," Ma Lu said. "I have a method to address this issue."

"What method?"

"Give the box to Hero Group."

"What?" Cao Youyi doubted her own ears.

"Give the box to Hero Group," Ma Lu repeated, "Since they are searching for it, they must know who can open the box.

"Besides, I suspect they may have already found the person. So, I think there's no use in us going to the trouble of looking. Let's just hand the box over to them. They will surely be able to open it. Once they do, we can then take it back."