Chapter 322: Reward? Punishment?

After the group exchanged fake pleasantries born from BS stories, Wei Chen finally sat down in the seat at the head of the table. He gestured for the three patriarchs to sit as well.

Before he started, Wei Chen read a memo containing the points he needed them to address before slipping it into his inner pocket.

"Okay, gentlemen, let’s talk about the compensation regarding the trouble you caused within my estate," Wei Chen started.

The three patriarchs also sat upright, focusing on what Wei Chen was about to say. They all knew that causing trouble within the territory of an ancient hidden clan was a grave mistake, no matter how insignificant it might seem. They couldn’t simply get off scot-free.

Their only hope was that this ancient monster of a clan would not try to take advantage of the situation and destroy their clans in the process. If that happened, they would become the sinners of their clans.

Wei Chen continued.

"In all honesty, if it were up to me alone, I wouldn’t care. You hadn’t killed anyone, and the one who actually caused the trouble was the Gu Clan’s ancestor. The only annoyance was that your three clans suddenly caused a group brawl in the middle of the night, and the only victims were your own people."

"So... to me, it was insignificant. I could even let you all go free right now. But as I said, if it were up to me alone, I would do that."

Wei Chen started with something soft, letting the three patriarchs understand the reason behind the consequences that were about to follow.

The three patriarchs were not naive children. They all knew that even if Wei Chen was a young master of the Underworld Palace, his authority was not at its apex. So, this was only natural.

At this time, the Gu Clan’s patriarch, Gu Tianshan, spoke.

"We understand, Young Master Wei. If possible, we are ready to bear the cost of the compensation. We can only hope that, in light of our relationship, the compensation won’t be too much for us to bear."

Wei Chen nodded with a smile.

"Don’t worry, Patriarch Gu. Even though your clan and I might have had conflicts before, the instigator wasn’t you. So, I wouldn’t hold it against the entire clan. After all, if the head of an organization changes, one needs to see that organization in a new light according to the policies of its new head. Don’t you think?"

"Truly, those are words to live by. We’ve learned something from Young Master Wei today," the Jin Clan’s patriarch spoke with a cupped fist, stealing the bootlicking line from the Gu Clan’s patriarch, who glared at him.

"Also..." Wei Chen adjusted his posture, steepling his hands in front of his mouth, trying to make himself look like a deadbeat dad who ignored his son because he was too much of a simp for his own wife, who had become a giant bio-monster.

"In the future, you might have to thank yourselves for causing that little misunderstanding in my estate. Because what I’m about to tell you is something that might bring you wealth and influence if you do it right."

The three patriarchs didn’t know the iconic posture. They could only feel that such a posture was befitting of someone with power and influence. They silently noted in their minds that they would steal this posture for later use.

"You three also know about another business of the Thousand Treasure Pavilion, right? The media business that is stealing the limelight as a new kind of business unique to the Thousand Treasure Pavilion right now."

The three nodded. How could they not know?

It was the business that used an artifact unique to the Underworld Palace called the Broadcasting Orb to broadcast various events, incidents, content, and news from different places onto screens installed around the squares of many large cities.

This brought a lot of revenue to the Thousand Treasure Pavilion through advertisements. Many businesses even needed to book advertising slots in advance, and the best advertising slots were sometimes auctioned off, bringing endless wealth to the Thousand Treasure Pavilion.

The businesses that managed to secure advertising slots saw their growth before and after the advertisements increase like heaven and earth. Their wealth and influence in the market soared through the roof after a simple advertisement.

To be honest, the three patriarchs also envied such easy money, but they didn’t dare pry into the secret behind it, afraid of the Underworld Palace standing behind the Thousand Treasure Pavilion.

"My apologies, Young Master Wei, but this... is this possible? I mean... don’t you want to have Lady Mo monopolize this business? I’m sure that even if Lady Mo monopolized this business, no one would dare cause trouble."

The Li Clan’s patriarch asked the question, which was also on the minds of all three patriarchs.

Monopolizing was the greatest way to bring in wealth. This was the sole business unique to the Thousand Treasure Pavilion. Unlike pills and other products that could easily be imitated, no one could imitate this business.

And if the problem of pressure or war caused by monopolization arose, the Thousand Treasure Pavilion didn’t need to worry about that either.

That was because behind them stood a giant called the Underworld Palace, protecting their monopoly!

So... to the people of this world, Wei Chen’s offer was... a very foreign concept to them.

Wei Chen smiled. He knew the mindset of these people, so he explained.

"As you know, this is a new kind of business, but this business also has one major condition that needs to be overcome. It needs fresh ideas and the drive to produce and invent new kinds of entertainment and content. That’s the sole reason why many businesses bring fresh and new innovations to the table instead of becoming stagnant."

The three patriarchs still didn’t get it. They looked at each other in confusion.

Wei Chen continued.

"Let me ask you this. Will you try to invest in new products, like clothes with new kinds of colors or new kinds of fabric, if you are the sole business selling clothes in a city? Will you try to find new things and new selections for your shop if the entire city needs to buy from you anyway?"

They looked at each other. They were starting to understand, but Wei Chen didn’t wait for the three of them to reach a conclusion.

"You might try to procure new things if enough people are interested in them, but that drive, or rather the lack of enthusiasm, might delay the introduction of something new for months or even years. But let me ask you this..."

"If suddenly... someone were to open a new clothing shop competing with yours, and you couldn’t burn their shop to the ground for some reason, what would you do?" he asked.

"Then... I would try to reduce the price, find new things, and add some promotions," said the Gu Clan patriarch.

"See?" Wei Chen pointed at him. "Competition. That’s the drive behind progress."

"And this business, the media, is even more so. To prevent it from becoming stagnant and to keep that drive alive, I need new takes and different perspectives within this new kind of business. I don’t want the media to have only one voice, one perspective, as it would be very easy to abuse."

"If Sect A were to have a conflict with Sect B, I don’t want Sect A to have the only voice of representation, voicing their perspective and framing themselves as righteous. I want another voice to see things differently, from the perspective of someone from Sect B who has a different interest in this conflict."

The three patriarchs thought along those lines, but they still found it difficult to understand.

The tool that could guide the masses wasn’t that a good thing? Why did this young master want to give this tool to others so that they could do the same?

Wasn’t this... too detrimental to their own interests?

As the three thought about it, Gu Tianshan suddenly made a face as if he had reached the answer.

"I see... Young Master Wei is truly righteous. In this ordeal, the Gu Clan will do its best to follow Young Master Wei’s instructions!" Gu Tianshan said, his voice filled with sincere respect.

Wei Chen didn’t know what this guy had concluded, but since the man had decided to follow his wishes, he wouldn’t ask too much.

"So, you finally understand, huh? Let’s talk about the details of the contract, then. Alfred! Come on in! I need your help!" Wei Chen shouted toward the entrance.

A man in a butler’s suit walked in with grace. In his hand was a tray holding a stack of papers.

It was the contract and the details of the discussion that was about to happen.

— A few hours later —

The three patriarchs were escorted out of the estate by Wei Chen’s men. In their storage rings, they now had the contract, along with the details about the setup and the fees they needed to pay to rent the Broadcasting Orb.

Yes, rent.

Wei Chen allowed them to enter the business, but not for free. It was similar to how a channel would rent broadcasting rights from the government. In this case, however, they were renting the Broadcasting Orb instead.

On the way out, the Jin Clan patriarch couldn’t hold it in anymore and asked,

"Gu Tianshan... what did you understand about Young Master Wei? I still can’t get my head around why he gave us this right. This feels like we’ve received a reward instead of a punishment."

"That’s right, Gu Tianshan. I still don’t know what’s in it for Young Master Wei for him to give us this opportunity," the Li Clan patriarch added.