In Teyvat, it all begins with rescuing the grass god.

Unless Rhodes stays in Aru Village for the rest of his life and never comes out again.

"I didn't offend her."

After being scolded by Dixia, Rhodes innocently spread his hands and said, "At first, I really wasn't sure if she was Lord Sanggomahabai, so I used these words to test her tone so that I could confirm her identity. And look, she's not angry."

"Really?"

Dixia frowned and asked with some doubt.

That explanation makes sense.

Dolly didn't seem angry at all; she was just arguing with Rhodes.

"Yeah, really."

Rhodes nodded repeatedly.

"Okay, I'll trust you one more time."

Although she still felt that something was off, Desia decided to trust Rhodes one more time.

She was the head of the underworld in Kawanyi.

The house that Dolly took Rod and the others to was definitely not comparable to Ashel's shabby little house.

This is a mansion that looks ordinary on the outside but is luxurious on the inside.

Before Dolly even entered the room, guards stood at attention and saluted her.

The waiters inside the door also respectfully offered warm water and hot towels for washing hands and face.

Seeing this, Dixia's heart began to race again.

The security forces here are in no way inferior to those of the Church's office located here.

In addition, the waiters greeted him with "Welcome home, sir."

Everything confirms Dolly's identity.

Silent all the way.

The three of them went straight to a room.

After closing the door, Dolly put her hands on her hips and stared at Rhodes, saying, "Alright, now I can confirm my identity, right?"

She doesn't look like the gangster boss that Dixia was worried about at all. Instead, she looks more like a sulking little girl next door.

They were in an ordinary room.

Aside from the luxurious decor, there's nothing else particularly special about it.

There was no mountain of Mora that Rhodes had requested to see, nor a warehouse containing various rare and exotic items.

This time, however, Rhodes did not try to argue further. He placed his right hand on his chest, bowed slightly, and said, "I apologize for what happened before, Lord Sanggomahabai. I admit that it was my mistake to question you."

This is a customary way for desert people to apologize.

The right hand placed on the chest signifies the most sincere apology.

"Hmph, that's pretty much it."

Dolly was very satisfied with Rhodes' performance this time, and with her chin raised, she said, "Seeing that you are sincere, the merciful Lord Sangomahabai has decided to let bygones be bygones for your previous rudeness. I will also give you a fair price for those contraband items you have on you."

“I told you, I didn’t come to you to sell these local specialties.”

Rhodes adopted his most sincere attitude: "Lord Sango Mahabay, I wonder if you would be interested in making a small investment?"

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 33 Collateral

A small investment?

Dolly's smug smile vanished instantly.

"You mean you want me to invest in you?"

Her voice was full of curiosity.

What is investing?

This was not unfamiliar to Dolly.

simply put.

You invest a sum of money in someone's project, and only receive a share of the profits once the project is profitable. If the project loses money, you can only accept your bad luck.

If we calculate it in detail...

There are many intricacies involved here.

Dolly manages several investment projects.

Most of them are projects of the Order of the Nation.

This was also the protection money she paid to the Church.

Otherwise, why would the Order of the Church always turn a blind eye to her illegal activities?

Is it really impossible to find any evidence against them?

It's simply because she paid enough protection money.

The Academy now relies heavily on Dolly for many of its research projects, and Dolly has taken this opportunity to expand her business.

Everyone tacitly agreed to the terms, and the two parties mutually benefited.

This is Dolly's true strength.

Therefore, Dolly's interest was immediately piqued when Rod brought up the topic of investment.

In the past, her business with the desert people was always small-scale.

Apart from large tribes like the Tanit tribe and large commercial villages like Aru village, smaller tribes don't have the resources to discuss investing in this business with her.

Why would this small desert dweller want to come and talk to me about investment?

Could this unfamiliar face have some special treasure or a special identity?

"Are you the son of the village chief of Aru Village?"

"No."

"Are you the newly appointed guardian of Aru Village?"

"No."

"Do you have connections in the Order of the Fathers?"

"No."

"."

If there's no relationship whatsoever, does that mean this person is approaching me in a personal capacity to discuss investment?

Undeterred, Dolly continued to ask, "What kind of business do you run?"

“I don’t do business; I’m just an ordinary guard in Aru Village.”

Rod answered honestly.

This drove Dolly completely insane.

Dolly is not a snob.

For her, as long as it's a business that can be done and can make money, even if it's just trading a single screw, she will spare no effort in putting it into it.

But now, Rod's words were really giving her a headache.

Based on those questions...

She was absolutely certain.

Rhodes was a penniless young man with no status whatsoever.

Invest in him?

What a load of rubbish!

Dolly really does do all sorts of business.

But she never does business at a loss!

“Lord Sangge Mahabayi, please don’t be in a hurry.”

"Let me finish speaking before you make a decision."

Openness is a good thing, but Rod and Dolly's conversation topics were so bad that Dolly practically wrote "I don't want to cooperate" on her face.

Therefore, it's necessary for Rhodes to demonstrate his abilities.

A business plan.

This is what gave Rod the confidence to ask Dolly for investment.

The plan was developed with the assistance of the renowned biotheological scholar Tinari.

"."

Dolly took the plan, flipped through it several times, and then asked in confusion, "What is this? Ancient script from ancient ruins? If you had information about this kind of ancient script, it might be something worth investing in. But you're just a desert dweller, and you don't have the qualifications to excavate and study ruins. If this is all you have, you might as well just name your price and sell it to me."

"Uh"

Rod then realized.

He mistakenly handed Dolly his own proposal, written in Chinese.

"Wait a minute, there's a mistake."

Although it's possible to swindle a sum of money using language that Dolly has never seen before.

But this behavior is undoubtedly commercial fraud.

Deceiving others is one thing, but to deceive a shrewd and powerful businesswoman like Dolly is simply courting death.

Rhodes hasn't lived enough yet.