It wasn't an apple that hit Newton.

.......

Outside the castle.

"What should we do, Li Cheng?" Annie, who had been kicked out, looked dejected. "Did I give myself away somewhere?"

"It's not about whether you slip up or not; it's just that you're a woman with absolutely no business acumen."

Li Cheng was also a bit angry. He had prepared for half a day in advance and waited for several hours in the morning, but in the end he was kicked out without even seeing the person.

He first bulged the veins on his forehead, then calmed down and said, "It seems I overestimated this Darlena's intelligence... Maybe I should try a simpler and more direct approach."

"Yes, it's direct, simple, and straightforward."

Anne was also indignant. She clenched her fist and punched the air hard, then turned her head and said, "So what do we do?"

You don't know what to do, yet you speak so passionately?

Li Cheng's lips twitched: "Let's start construction first. We can buy the iron and coal we need directly from people in Lincoln City. There's no shortage of those around here—and I reckon I might be able to get my hands on this coal mine very soon. Look over there."

He pointed to Dalena's luxurious castle, which was many times larger than Newton's small stone castle, and had far more maids and servants than Newton's, not to mention the matching furnishings.

Anne scratched her head: "It's a nice castle, what's wrong with it?"

"It's good, but too good."

Li Cheng shook his head and said, "According to my investigation, her income should not be enough to support this kind of lifestyle."

--------

The following day, Lincoln.

Carter Chamber of Commerce, branch.

"You can go in now, Chairman Smith is inside."

Following a single word from an employee, Li Cheng, Annie, and Newton, who had been waiting for a moment, stepped into the office and met the branch president inside. This man, named Smith, stood in the center of the office, displaying considerable respect.

Jemney Smith, 37, is the president of the Lincoln branch of the Carter Chamber of Commerce. She is at the peak of her life in terms of experience, energy, and thinking... If there is one problem, it is that she is a little nearsighted and has to carry a pair of glasses with her at all times.

Looking at the seemingly reliable vice president in front of him, Li Cheng nodded inwardly:

'Sure enough, it would be beneath me to personally go to Darlene's door. I've at least leveled up in London and built up a small fortune. Why would I personally go to her every little thing back in the starting village? Besides, Roy said that fat Guild Master Carter is always trying to poach my people. Why not use his underlings?'

Thinking of this, Li Cheng smiled and pretended to adjust his glasses—he had changed his appearance, not only growing long hair but also wearing black-rimmed glasses.

At the same time, Annie was also nodding to herself:

"Hmph, Li Cheng is truly my good brother. His idea of ​​having me impersonate an investor is pretty good. Not only can it hone my acting skills, but according to him, if my dad knew I'd succeeded in my business in Lincoln, he'd change his opinion of me and feel more comfortable letting me stay away from home."

"They brought me along today so I could learn how to negotiate business, to prevent my lack of knowledge from giving me away."

Thinking of this, Annie gave a slightly silly smile, but quickly remembered that she also needed to maintain her identity as an investor, so she quickly controlled her expression.

Newton wasn't thinking about anything; she had no interest in it whatsoever. She was just being dragged out by Li Cheng for a couple of walks and was extremely bored at the moment.

Across from them, Branch President Smith was also sizing up the two, analyzing the situation in his mind.

'The girl with brown hair, her name is Anne Stoller... Oh, that slightly silly smile, it must be her, the daughter of Mr. Stoller mentioned in the letter. I didn't expect her to be getting into investing too, especially in such a remote place like Lincoln. Probably just messing around, don't worry about her too much.'

Smith then turned his attention to Li Cheng, who had long red hair, and his eyes became serious.

'This one's something else, Banana King, a total gigolo.'

"I heard that after learning of the death of a young, wealthy man named Albert Lee, he seduced the widow in just one month, inherited the thriving soap factory and textile mill, and saved himself thirty years of hard work..."

Smith glanced at Newton, who was tugged at Li Cheng's sleeve and looking around aimlessly. Looking at the rich and beautiful blonde little girl, he felt as sour as if he had eaten a lemon.

'Damn it! Why wasn't I so lucky back then, to be chosen by a young and rich widow! But seriously, is it really okay for such a young girl to become a widow? That young tycoon named Albert Lee is definitely a pervert! Absolutely! How old was he when he married her?!'

After finishing his lemon, Smith glanced at the smiling Li Cheng and Anne Stoller standing next to him, and gasped.

Although the rumors were already quite dramatic, the reality seems to be even more so.

Now it seems that this gigolo has somehow managed to hook up with Mr. Stoller's daughter again, making him the king of gigolos, the ultimate gigolo king.

'This boy is terrifyingly powerful; I absolutely cannot let him target my daughter!'

Thinking of this, Smith felt a chill run down his spine. He quickly turned to his servant and whispered, "Go tell Agnes to stay in her room and not to go out until I say it's okay..."

Chapter 165 Shh, Don't Make a Sound

Guy de Maupassant, a famous 19th-century critical realist writer, wrote a novel called "Bel-Ami".

The book primarily depicts a despicable man named Junior Officer Duroy who, relying on his good looks and womanizing skills, seduces various women from high society, using these relationships as stepping stones to achieve rapid advancement. It's a novel that deserves severe criticism, yeah.

But Li Cheng was unaware that in the eyes of this branch president, his image was almost synonymous with that of Duroy; otherwise, he would definitely have made a mental note of the other party.

After observing each other for a while, Smith spoke first: "Mr. Banana, Miss Anne, Ms. Newton, I have read Chairman Carter's letter. May I ask what brings you three to see me?"

Banana is Li Cheng's current public name. Previously, "Aiber" sounded like "apple," but now it's simply a homonym for "banana."

Li Cheng didn't want to keep anyone in suspense; his confidence stemmed from his solid capabilities: "President Smith, I have a new product—a coal briquette stove. Out of respect for President Carter, I came ahead of time to ask if you're interested."

"A new product? Can I take a look? If it's valuable, we'd love to have it."

Although Branch Manager Smith was very polite, he thought to himself, what kind of skills could this pretty boy possibly have? He was probably just teasing him. Besides, even if he did have a tiny bit of value, it wasn't worth him, as the branch manager, personally talking to him.

Li Cheng didn't waste any words and directly instructed the servant waiting outside to bring the coal stove and start the fire in front of Banana.

Banana: 'What is this?'

Li Cheng: 'The main potential customers for coal briquette stoves live in big cities like London. Instead of Li Cheng going to great lengths to promote and sell them, it's better to sell the finished product to these merchants at a reasonable price and let them worry about it.'

Annie: 'It doesn't seem so difficult to do business this way; you just put your things down.'

Newton: 'How boring! I want to go home and read. When will that idiot Li Cheng finally come back?'

While the group was lost in their own thoughts, the pale blue flames of the coal stove had already ignited, leaping merrily in the air.

"Huh, this..."

Chairman Smith let out a surprised exclamation.

He was able to reach the position of branch president because he has a very unique business acumen; he recognized the commercial value of the business at first glance.

"This coal stove is indeed very useful, whether for boiling water or providing warmth, and the fire size can be easily controlled... But most importantly, it's not easy to go out. Compared to the old charcoal stove, it's much more convenient; you just need to wait for the bottom coal to burn out and then replace it."

"The key is that this isn't a one-off deal. The more coal stoves sold, the more coal sales will follow. And ordinary coal won't do; it has to be specially made coal briquettes."

"We can sell the same product twice. Initially, we can even sell the coal stoves at a lower price, and then raise the price once it's more widely available. We won't have to worry about finding buyers—especially since it's winter now."

Smith quickly considered many factors and felt that the coal stove business was indeed viable and had potential.

'Although this Banana is a pretty boy, he's actually quite capable; no wonder he's so good at picking up women.'

Just as he was starting to change his opinion of the man in front of him, he saw Newton tug at Li Cheng's sleeve again and say expressionlessly, "Have you settled things? When are we going home?"

Li Cheng reached out his right hand and rubbed Newton's head: "Wait a little longer. We're talking about business in your territory, so you need to listen."

Newton narrowed his eyes slightly, like a kitten enjoying being petted: "It doesn't matter, you can definitely fix it anyway."

Smith immediately ate the lemon again.

Haha, he really is a pretty boy, he's already fooled a woman so quickly.

Li Cheng was unaware of Chairman Smith's thoughts. Seeing that the other party remained silent, he pushed up his glasses and said, "I have already started producing these coal stoves on Newton's territory. I wonder if Chairman Smith would be interested?"

Smith snapped out of his reverie and said, “It’s an interesting thing, but it’s still difficult to sell. New things take time to promote, and by the time they’re fully popularized, winter will be almost over, and it’ll be hard to make money.”

Li Cheng knew that the other party was using this method to lower the price. He pushed up his glasses and said, "These are minor issues, and there are ways to resolve them."

Smith looked up: "This is no small matter."

He thought to himself that although this pretty boy had some creativity, he was still no good at business, even treating this as a minor issue.

Li Cheng pushed up his glasses again and insisted, "Believe me, this is just a minor problem."

Hmm? Why does he keep pushing up his glasses?

His occasional pushing up of his glasses finally caught Smith's attention. Smith squinted and looked closely, finally discovering the unusual thing about Li Cheng's glasses—two small wooden strips were attached to the edges of his frames, and the strips extended all the way to his ears.

Chairman Smith frowned: "Mr. Banana, what about your glasses?"

"Did you finally notice? I've been striking poses every now and then since I came in..." Li Cheng smiled slightly: "The original glasses were easy to fall off, so I had the carpenter add two more temples. They're not easy to fall off now, but they look a bit strange."

Many things that seem ordinary now were unimaginable at the beginning. For example, glasses were originally just a single lens that needed to be held in place by pressing down on the cheekbones above and below the eyes.

Later, a slight improvement was made by using a fixed caliper-like bridge to hold the glasses on the bridge of the nose, but these glasses often wobbled and were very unstable when worn. It wasn't until the Qing Dynasty that someone finally came up with a design for the temples of glasses.

Smith himself is nearsighted, but he doesn't usually wear glasses because they're inconvenient to wear and they easily fall off. Now, seeing what Li Cheng did, he suddenly understood.

'This is a good thing; I don't have to worry about my glasses falling off when I wear them.'

Just as Smith was thinking about having someone make a pair of glasses with temples when he got back, Li Cheng reached into his pocket and took out another pair of glasses that he had prepared beforehand: "I happen to have a spare pair here. If Mr. Smith likes them, I'll give them to you."

Anne thought to herself, 'What? There just happens to be another pair? It was clearly prepared beforehand... I knew Li Cheng always carried two pairs of glasses; so this was what he was waiting for. How disgusting, how disgusting.'

Newton: '.......'

Smith opened his eyes wide, instinctively wanting to refuse, but seeing the exquisite glasses, he couldn't help but take them and play with them for a moment before reluctantly putting them in his pocket: "Thank you, Mr. Banana, I really like this gift."

Seeing Smith's obvious fondness for the glasses, Li Cheng smiled slightly: "Mr. Smith, let's talk about the price of the coal stove next."

......

Let's turn back time a little.

Inside a room in the Chamber of Commerce, a little girl with brown hair and blue eyes was sitting in the room, her cute and delicate face filled with despair.

Her name is Agnes, she is 13 years old, and has the lively and mischievous personality that belongs to her age. Her mother’s excessive pampering has exacerbated this trend, which has led Smith to bring her to the Chamber of Commerce when she goes to work so that it is easier to discipline her.

As for the reason why Agnes felt so hopeless...

“Miss Agnes, the master asked me to tell you to stay in your room and not go anywhere until he says you can.”

Smith's valet had just repeated Smith's exact words verbatim.

Agnes slammed her fist on the table in anger: "Before, they only wouldn't let us leave the guild hall, but now they won't even let us leave our rooms? Has my dad gone mad???"

The servant pretended not to hear the insults and replied, "I don't know either. This is the master's order, and I'm just relaying it."

Agnes knew it was pointless to object to her father's personal servant, so she rolled her eyes and said with a grin, "Okay, Uncle Jules, I'll be a good boy and not go anywhere."

"Thank you for your cooperation, Miss. I will keep watch outside. Please call me if you need anything."

The personal male servant breathed a sigh of relief, thinking to himself that his young lady had finally become more sensible.

However, as soon as he turned to leave the room, accompanied by the sound of the door closing, Agnes immediately sneered, "Hmph, you think I won't go out just because you don't want me to? You really think I'm obedient?"