Volume 1 Chapter 79 - Are we friends?

Volume 1 Chapter 79 Are we friends?
Going into a small hall with president Rank, Xu Yi found that there were already five people sitting there. It was not a private talk like he had thought it would be.
He looked over the people in the room and Xu Yi revealed a faint smile. President Rank wasn’t beating around the bush with him at all, directly bringing these people out, was he planning to lay out all his cards tonight?
But thinking about it, whether it was Xu Yi or the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, in the eyes of president Rank or the others, it wasn’t worth mentioning at all. There was no need to play around with him, it was better to be direct.
Thinking of this, Xu Yi’s lips couldn’t help curling into a taunting smile.
“Come, chairman Xu, please sit.” President Rank had an inviting appearance to Xu Yi, before pointing at the people sitting, “Let me introduce you, these people are……”
Xu Yi raised a hand to stop president Rank and said with a smile, “President Rank, these are all the most famous merchants in our Banta City, if I don’t even recognize them, would I have the qualification to do business? What do you think, chairman Morgan?”
Xu Yi looked at a middle aged man with graying hair and a normal sized build. He was the chairman of the Falcao Chamber of Commerce Xu Yi had talked to Viscount Leslie about before, chairman Fuller Morgan.
Seeing that Xu Yi took the initiative to talk to him, there was a trace of surprise that flashed on chairman Morgan’s face before he said with a big smile, “Chairman Xu is joking. If we’re talking about fame, is there anyone with bigger fame in Banta City than your Frestech Chamber of Commerce? Chairman Xu’s name frequently appears in the «Banta Times», so not mentioning our colleagues, there isn’t a single person of the Banta City citizens who doesn’t know you, right?”
Xu Yi revealed a faint smile as he said with a shrug of his shoulder, “Actually I just want to properly do my business and don’t want to care about other things, but Baron Hannas always says that there is news in our Frestech Chamber of Commerce. He always wants to report on our Frestech Chamber of Commerce and I have no way of dealing with him.”
Hearing this, the expression of the others slightly changed.
«Banta Times», when this new thing appeared, these people didn’t care about it at all. However, when the «Banta Times» quickly became popular in the city and was even sold to the nearest two cities, everyone realized the giant influence this thing contained.
Using the Frestech Chamber of Commerce as an example, because the «Banta Times» kept reporting on the actions of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, their fame in Banta City swelled. There was no need to mention everyone in Banta City knowing about it, even the people outside the city was the same.
Moreover, every time the Frestech Chamber of Commerce came up with a new product, the «Banta Times» would give a detailed report about it. Not only did it clearly state the use of the new product, it also highly praised it, saying that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce made people’s lives much easier.
During this time, whether it were the nobles or the commoners, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had a high approval rate in Banta City. There were some people who didn’t know the truth and would buy magic machines from other companies, but now there was no one who did this.
Once someone had this idea, they would definitely be called a fool by everyone around them.
“The Frestech Brand magic machines are the best. If you buy those magic machines from who knows where, the one who will suffer will definitely be you!”
This was already well known knowledge to everyone in Banta City.
Moreover, there were even Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s magic machines in the houses of these large merchants. They had to admit, the quality of the Frestech Brand magic machine was better than the imitations.
During this time, the «Banta Times» had even reported on news from Saltan City. It’s said that the Leo Chamber of Commerce from Saltan City had tried producing magic machines like the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, but there were serious quality issues with the Leo Brand Magic Fans because the blades would fall off and hurt people. Recently the Leo Brand Magic Rice Cooker had even exploded, causing serious accidents with one dead and three injured to appear among the citizens.
Even if the Leo Chamber of Commerce was the biggest company in Saltan City, after being plagued with continuous accidents, their fame in Saltan City had fallen to shambles. It even attracted several hundred people to surround their company in protest.
Compared to the Leo Chamber of Commerce, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s magic machines hadn’t had a single accident. Not only were the Frestech Brand magic machines very durable, it was very unlikely that there would be problems with their quality.
Then again, even if there was a quality problem, there was a special “post sale service center” created by the Frestech Chamber of Commerce in Banta City. As long as there was a problem with a Frestech Brand magic machine, there were free repairs for a year here, so the people who bought the Frestech Brand Magic Fans had no more worries.
It was because of these clear differences that in just a short three months, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and the Frestech Brand magic machines had been deeply rooted in the hearts of the citizens from the surrounding cities, attracting everyone’s approval.
The Frestech Chamber of Commerce had just released the Magic Rice Cooker and without doing any big advertisements in the surrounding cities, the companies of those cities all came for the right to sell the Frestech Brand Magic Rice Cooker.
When the people of those cities heard that this Magic Rice Cooker came from the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, they didn’t have any doubts and they were very quick with their purchases.
The main reason was that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s magic machines were easy to use and were of high quality, but the advertisement from the «Banta Times» was also very important.
The people here were all large merchants in Banta City, how could they see this point?
Morgan looked over and smiled at Xu Yi as he said, “Chairman Xu, I’ve heard that you have a good relation with Baron Hannas who is the chief editor for the «Banta Times»?”
Xu Yi waved his hand, “We are just normal friends.”
The others couldn’t help rolling their eyes at Xu Yi.
Normal friends? Who would believe you!
If they were just normal friends, would the «Banta Times» report on the Frestech Chamber of Commerce for no reason? Moreover, the reports were also positive and never negative?
It had to be known that the companies behind these people had also approached Baron Hannas, wanting him to give their companies a positive report, but they were directly rejected by Baron Hannas.
The reason Baron Hannas gave was that the «Banta Times» would focus on reporting on the Frestech Chamber of Commerce! The other companies didn’t have anything to report on, it wouldn’t attract the people’s attention!
Everyone felt that this reason was nonsense. Normal people might not know, but these people knew that while the «Banta Times» didn’t seem to have any relation to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, there was actually a complicated relation between Xu Yi and the creation of the «Banta Times».
Not mentioning anything else, the reason why the «Banta Times» could print over a thousand copies was because the «Banta Times» used a Magic Printing Press that Xu Yi had invented, greatly increasing their printing speed.
If it was said that Xu Yi didn’t have any investment in the «Banta Times», no one would believe them.
Chairman Morgan couldn’t help giving a soft snort, “Chairman Xu, aren’t you being too unfriendly here? Even if you let us know that you have a good relation with Baron Hannas, what does it matter? Anyway, everyone here is good friends in the Business Union and you’re about to join the union, so everyone will be colleagues. What reason do you have to hide this from us?”
“Friends?” Xu Yi revealed a surprised expression as he looked at chairman Morgan and said while shaking his head, “Chairman Morga, so you consider us friends? I thought you didn’t think that way, otherwise, why would you suddenly raise the price of pig iron by 10%?”
When Xu Yi raised this question, the atmosphere in the room froze.
Chairman Morgan was stunned as he looked at Xu Yi in surprise. He never thought that Xu Yi would actually mention this matter in front of others and he would do it so straightforward, not hiding anything at all.
“This……” Chairman Morgan said with a dry laugh, “Chairman Xu, business and personal matters aren’t related, right? Raising the price of pig iron was a joint decision within our company, it wasn’t a relationship made by me alone. Then again, the price wasn’t raised just for chairman Xu’s Frestech Chamber of Commerce, so I ask chairman Xu not to think too much.”
“Is that so? The personal friendship between me and Baron Hannas naturally is unrelated to the «Banta Times» reporting on our Frestech Chamber of Commerce. After all, the «Banta Times» is not just decided by Baron Hannas alone.” Xu Yi said with a faint smile.
Chairman Morgan instantly choked up. He narrowed his eyes as he looked at Xu Yi and although there was still a smile on his face, it became a bit colder.
President Rank suddenly gave a soft cough and attracted the attention of everyone in the room.
“Chairman Xu, the reason why we invited you to this banquet tonight, you should have already guessed a few things.”
Xu Yi nodded, “If my guesses aren’t wrong, president Rank wants to admit our Frestech Chamber of Commerce as a member of the Business Union?”
President Rank nodded with a faint smile, “That’s right, it is exactly this. Actually with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s current scale, you aren’t qualified to join our Business Union yet. But chairman Xu is not a normal businessman and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce is not a normal company. After we have discussed this matter, we have decided to make an exception in letting the Frestech Chamber of Commerce become a member. Does chairman Xu have any opinion on this matter?”