208: People and money

After reporting to The Emperor, Tu Nan left the palace once again.

"Mm, you know the current situation. Try to limit your time outside," The Emperor instructed while looking over documents.

"Your Majesty, there's no new progress on Hain's end. For now... I should be safe."

"Decide for yourself," The Emperor said without lifting his head, but as Tu Nan was withdrawing, he added, "Have Peng Tianyu bring enough men."

Even if he hadn't mentioned it, Tu Nan had planned to do so anyway.

She was naturally concerned about her own safety, but since The Emperor had spoken, the order was passed on to Captain Peng exactly as said.

Consequently, she was followed by twelve imposing members of the Imperial Guard in neat formation.

This gave her a formidable Aura as she walked into the company's new headquarters.

Even when she pushed open the doors to the large conference room, none of her former acquaintances dared to speak.

Those from Sand Star had long since been warned by Zhuang Qi one by one; if they wanted to come to the Capital City, they had to mind their tongues.

They weren't to think of themselves as the boss's old friends or act pretentious just because of their past dealings with Miss Tu Nan.

Who would dare!

The group looked at this lady, who appeared to be Miss Tu Nan but was even more glamorous, and they completely believed the narrative Leader Zhuang had told them.

The story of Miss Tu Nan, a noblewoman framed by her Family and trafficked as a Foster Mother, who eventually successfully returned to take her revenge.

"Long time no see, everyone."

Tu Nan's smile was sincere.

Everyone finally found a trace of familiarity in her always gentle and steady voice.

Everyone greeted her stiffly.

Tu Nan's gaze swept over everyone, finally landing on the person standing at the back who looked quite ill at ease.

"Gaia." She walked toward him and gave the Big Dog a hug, regardless of appearances.

"I'm so glad you decided to come in the end."

The sturdy Big Dog was caught off guard by her hug; his arms swung clumsily at his sides, yet he never actually pulled away.

"Tu... Tu Nan."

It was as if he had only now fully awakened from that strange dream.

"It really is you."

Tu Nan released him and smiled without a word, just staring at him.

When he saw her on the Video Call, Gaia had seemed incredibly pleasantly surprised, but after she extended the invitation, he had instead appeared hesitant.

But he had come after all.

Unable to handle the attention, the Big Dog stammered, "And the Children? Are they well?"

Tu Nan nodded and invited him.

"When we're finished here, come back to the palace with me. The Children miss you very much." She turned to greet Zhuang Qi, "Shall we go pick up Little Bear in a bit?"

Today was a meeting, so none of the accompanying Family members were present.

Peng Tianyu frowned and reminded her, "Miss Tu Nan, a report must be filed to enter the palace."

"Oh, I had Chief Steward Nan file it for me yesterday."

He nodded but still signaled his subordinates to verify it.

"Wow! Late, we're late!"

Led by Lance, a large group of Female Beasts burst into the conference room, forming a sharp contrast with the Male Beasts from Sand Star.

Dumping a large pile of documents onto the conference table, Lance rushed straight to Gaia's side and, without a word, pulled Tu Nan into her arms for a good squeeze.

"Wow, you heartless person! You start living the good life and just ignore me!"

Gu Lvhai followed in behind her and nodded vigorously at those words.

Amy's gaze was also quite reproachful.

Tu Nan raised both hands in surrender.

"Scold me later. Let's talk business first. Everyone, please sit."

"Although you all know each other by now, let's start with introductions. I'll go first." She looked at everyone, radiating confidence.

"I am Tu Nan..."

***

This welcome meeting made everyone feel more secure about the company's strength and demonstrated how much she valued them.

The truly important small meeting took place after that.

Besides the company's "executives" like Lance and Zhuang Qi, there were three other people participating in the meeting via a one-way Video Call.

They were subordinates The Emperor had assigned to her and weren't suitable to appear in person.

They had their own code names: Black Knight, Zhang Fugui, and lop-eared rabbit.

Tu Nan had once thought the lady chose that code name because of her Beast Form, which earned her a kind smile from the old woman.

"Just a little hobby. They are delicious."

In short, among the subordinates Long Jingyuan had assigned her, except for Zhang Fugui who was a middle-aged gentleman, the other two were elderly.

But they were indeed very, very experienced in the analysis of intelligence and clues.

Except for Peng Tianyu, the Imperial Guard members all withdrew from the conference room.

This intelligence organization, which would later shake the Empire, began its first formal meeting in such a simple manner.

"The results are quite fruitful..."

Tu Nan looked at the materials organized by lop-eared rabbit.

"Data speaks; it truly is so." Tu Nan praised the old lady with admiration, "You really are an expert in analysis."

"No, Milady. If you hadn't provided me with that basic data, I wouldn't have been able to do anything." The other party was very polite.

However, she was right.

That massive amount of data had been collected by Tu Nan through the stores opened in various locations.

She used the most primitive information collection methods.

"Fill out a form, get free eggs."

It was a very Blue Star method... no high-tech or gimmicks, just pure human nature.

The Spread stores in various locations set up points in ordinary residential areas to conduct market research, inviting the public to fill out forms and participate in small activities.

Lucky individuals would get the chance for a one-on-one conversational interview with the employees.

Each round, they would receive small gifts, such as a carton of bird eggs, beautifully packaged mini-perfumes, or top-up cards for their bracelets.

The questions all revolved around how to make the company's products more appealing to customers.

And their main customers, of course, were the wealthy and the nobility.

With a bit of manipulation, those most likely to be selected were often the gardeners, maids, garbage collectors, maintenance workers, and laborers serving in the manors.

Rich people would never be interested in such petty gains, so their attention never fell here.

Even if a few individuals noticed, it wasn't a problem.

At most, it would seem like the company's commercial drive to serve customers was too strong; they could just scale back a bit and handle it with some PR.

Add to that the Foster Mothers they had connected with by giving out perfume.

This vast net caught information like... "So, these families always purchase extra cleaning agents because they are particularly effective for dealing with that specific type of grime?"

That grime was a colloidal substance produced by dolls soaking during maintenance, which was very difficult to clean.

To do their jobs well, the maids of various households always had a knack for communicating with each other when they encountered difficulties.

They would find the optimal solution.

"So these few names are very suspicious." Tu Nan understood lop-eared rabbit's analytical logic.

"And then these families always frequently go to the same holiday resort, and each time they need to prepare many special ingredients in advance."

"And these ingredients, which don't suit the general public's taste... this lord's Family also frequently purchases them. So this seemingly normal lord is also very suspicious?"

Tu Nan began to laugh.

"A wonderful analysis, isn't it?"

"Continue. I don't have much time left, but be careful."

She said to Zhang Fugui, "Can you take over the subsequent investigation? Use professional people and follow a similar line of thought; I want to know the social networks of these lords."

"Oh, and this one." Tu Nan circled one of the names.

"This Family needs to be checked as a priority."

It was the Family of one of the young ladies on the list the Empress Dowager had given her.

"Looks like a big fish."

She commented.