Chương 358: Listen to the voices of the common people

"Your Highness, Miss Roland, what's wrong?"

When the maid returned with the fruit platter, the scene fell into a silent stillness.

Roland smiled broadly, and through her narrowed eyelids, her heart-shaped pupils shone with a captivating brilliance, exuding charm.

Thranduil hunched back, his ears perked up, the tips of them burning hot as if they could boil the air, his eyes rolling into a daze.

The Moon Maid sensed something was wrong and looked warily at the alluring Roland.

"Miss Roland, what did you do to His Highness?"

"I didn't!"

"I simply promised to hand over the breeding technology to Your Highness, that's all."

Roland, with her large, swaying breasts, cried out in grievance.

Moon Maid, of course, didn't believe a word of it, glaring at Roland with eyes as sharp as knives.

Fortunately, Thranduil had received good training in emotional control and quickly regained his composure, coughing lightly with his hand clasped to his lips.

"Ahem, Yue, relax a bit."

"I was just surprised that Miss Roland agreed so readily."

"Yeah?"

The Moon Maid drew out her words, turning to look at Roland, her eyes still filled with suspicion.

"Miss Roland, the group's greenhouses have always maintained strict security measures in order to prevent technology leaks."

"Why is delivery so fast these days?"

Roland's eyes widened in genuine surprise.

"Because... Is it because of my deep love for our church?"

Seeing that the maid remained silent, Roland also felt a little awkward, so she cleared her throat and changed her words.

"Ahem, actually I've been planning to sell high-yield seeds for a while now."

"Even if His Highness Thranduil doesn't come, I will hand it over to Bishop Marcus and the others after some time so they can take it back to their territory to plant."

"As for handing over the breeding technology to Your Highness, it will be more beneficial than harmful to the development of New Sprout Street."

"The disadvantages outweigh the advantages?" Maid Yue asked, puzzled.

"But if you hand over the breeding technology to us, we will definitely invest in large-scale production."

"At that time, grain production will increase in various regions, and your group will no longer be able to obtain high profits from grain."

"Isn't this a bad thing?"

Thranduil, sitting upright on the sofa, nodded vigorously, completely agreeing with the Moon Maid's statement.

These days, doing business boils down to one thing: scarcity drives up value.

The reason the group is so profitable is largely due to underdeveloped productivity and low crop yields.

Roland laughed heartily.

"When did I ever make money by selling grain?"

"Isn't that right?"

"Of course not. If I really made money by selling grain, the number of grain speculators who caused the famine in the old port area would be several times higher."

Roland spoke in a very ordinary tone, as if she were talking about a trivial matter.

But her tone couldn't conceal her aura; a fleeting air of authority emanated from Roland amidst her warm smile.

As a quasi-saint level expert, Moon Maid possessed exceptional observational skills and immediately noticed Roland's subtle change, raising an eyebrow involuntarily.

Roland, oblivious to the Moon Maid's expression, continued to add to the explanation.

"In fact, most of the output from our greenhouses is invested in factories, where it is processed into various more popular and more expensive foods."

"The core profit lies in the industrial added value."

"If Your Highness promotes high-yield crops, it will not only not affect me, but will also provide me with cheap raw materials."

Roland's narrative uses many Earth words, which, when translated into the common language, sound like newly coined words.

However, this did not prevent the master and servant from understanding the meaning, and it also made Roland appear knowledgeable.

The Moon Maid pondered the meaning of the words for a moment, and a flash of understanding appeared in her eyes.

"I see, I understand what you mean."

"But Miss Roland, aren't you worried that people's desire to buy the group's food products will decline once affordable bread becomes available?"

Upon hearing this, three question marks appeared above Roland's head.

Why did it decline?

"With affordable bread available, people have more spare money, which increases their desire to buy snacks, eat delicious food, listen to music, and enjoy entertainment."

"The Roland Group and Pink Harbor just happen to provide these, which is a typical positive business cycle."

"The same applies to other industries. When people have more liquid funds, consumption will naturally follow, which in turn will drive economic development."

"And the group has already gained a first-mover advantage in this booming economy..."

Roland explained the basics of business in detail, and her fresh perspectives and analytical viewpoints broadened the horizons of Thranduil and the Moon Maid.

In this era, rulers were often powerful superhumans, deeply alienated from the common people.

When developing businesses, the large ordinary people are often overlooked.

But the extraordinary are ultimately a minority; the foundation of society remains the ordinary people who work silently in the fields, mines, and do manual labor.

Even the Moon Maid, who also served as the royal family's tutor, had never heard of Roland's economic theory based on commoners.

The tall, slender Moon Maid stared into Roland's eyes.

"Miss Roland, from which book did you learn this knowledge?"

"Um... Tomato Novels?"

What is Tomato Novel?

The maid struggled to pronounce the Chinese words, her face filled with confusion.

"Don't worry about it, I just blurted it out," Roland said, trying to salvage the situation.

"Just think of it as something I came up with after observing and summarizing."

"How could one person come up with something like this?"

"Of course, just put yourself in their shoes."

Roland shrugged.

"Spend a few days in a cheap pub and listen to the voices of ordinary people, and you'll naturally understand."

"Cheap Tavern..."

The master and servant both fell silent.

Put yourself in someone else's shoes?

Spend a few days in a cheap pub?

The two of them thought of the area on the southwest side of the Roland Group street, near the slum tavern.

Dirty, noisy, chaotic.

The food consisted of greasy cabbage soup seasoned with spicy strips and coarse black bread.

There were also slovenly laborers and wanton dancers throughout the house.

They can't stand just being near such low-end places on a normal day.

Unexpectedly, Roland didn't mind at all and was even able to put aside her aristocratic dignity to inquire about information.

Not a buddy?

Are you really an aristocrat?

The Moon Maid looked at the charming fox in front of her, hesitated to speak, but quickly came to her senses.

She looked at Roland with admiration and said earnestly.

"Ahem, Miss Roland is an extraordinary person who does extraordinary things. No wonder she was able to stand out from the imperial nobility and achieve great success."

"I apologize for my previous criticism of you."

"Miss Yue, you're too kind."

Roland didn't see anything wrong with a nobleman patronizing a cheap tavern.

She was just a modern person from Earth. Naturally, she had no aristocratic baggage when she transmigrated to another world. Not to mention eating a meal at a cheap tavern, even going to the fields to harvest wheat was commonplace for her.

When the greenhouse was harvested, it was she who led the beast girls to harvest the first wheat field.

Having dispelled the Moon Maid's suspicions and seemingly gained the respect of the quasi-saint maid, Roland then asked the question she had initially intended to ask.

She clapped her hands to draw Thranduil's attention to herself and said.

"Your Highness, the matter of breeding technology has been settled. Why don't we talk about the Church of Vulcan?"

"When I first arrived, you mentioned that the Church of Vulcan also possessed high-yield crops. How is that possible?"

As Roland asked the question, unpleasant thoughts inevitably began to surface in her mind.

Could it be that another traitor has emerged within the company?