Chapter 38 Dolly's Investment
It was already three o'clock in the afternoon when Harold finished processing the peaches. He felt a little tired and went to bed with his clothes on.
Three hours later, Harold opened his eyes and it was already dark. Although he felt very tired physically, his mind was unusually clear.
So he summoned "The Complete Collection of Xumi Ancient Characters" and let it float in front of him. He then sat cross-legged and read the words on it carefully.
After reading a page, he had an idea and "The Complete Collection of Xumi Ancient Characters" immediately turned to the next page.
How convenient.
Harold couldn't help but sigh. At this moment, he was really glad that this book had become a special weapon.
He studied until three in the morning, then Harold put the book behind his head and fell into a deep sleep.
It was already seven in the morning when he opened his eyes again. Harold walked out of the temporary residence and stretched out in the sun. The farm and laboratory were ready, so he decided to go to Omos Port today to purchase or customize some experimental supplies.
First, I have to say hello to Nasrin.
Haroldt came to Nasrin's residence with this in mind.
She was not at home, so Harold asked the residents of Huachengguo about her and learned that Nasrin had gone out on patrol early in the morning. It happened to be her and another ranger's turn to be on the early shift this morning. Before she left, she brought some pocket biscuits to look for him, but found that he was not awake, so she left silently.
"This is what Miss Naslin prepared for you. She said she would give it to you if you came to see her," Naslin's neighbor handed a cold pocket cake to Harold, "She also asked me to supervise you to heat the cake before eating it."
Harold's heart warmed when he heard this, and he solemnly took the biscuits and thanked Nasrin's neighbor.
Originally, he had no intention of having breakfast. He planned to wait until he arrived at the port of Omos and then buy some juice, pack animal milk, etc. to mix with the white flour bread. However, Naslin's message made him feel that the taste of the small pocket bread in his hand was very tempting.
After heating the pocket biscuit and putting it in his arms, Harold boarded the ship bound for Weimo Manor and ate the pocket biscuit slowly on the boat.
It took a total of five hours from Vimos Village to change boats to Ormos Port. After arriving at Ormos Port, Harold first bought a glass of juice and a bottle of pack animal milk. He finished his lunch in a few gulps. Then Harold found the merchant who contacted him last time and handed him Dolly's business card.
The merchant glanced at him and whispered a few words to his attendant. The man in plain clothes immediately bowed to Harold and said, "Greetings, dear sir. I am at your service. Next, I will take you to the temporary residence of the great Sang Mahabayi on behalf of my employer."
"Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Rida," Harold nodded at him.
Lida led Harold through the bustling streets toward the heights of the ancient trees that supported the port of Ormos. When they reached a place where few people went, Lida stopped.
"The master's residence is right here, but I can't walk with you any further. Please walk in the direction I point for a minute, and you will see the master's residence. The master has placed two copper incense burners on the cargo box next to the residence. You will be able to see them at a glance when you get there."
Harold thanked Rida again and went to the address he mentioned. Sure enough, he saw two exquisite copper incense burners on the cargo box.
"Master Sang Mahabayi, I am Harold. I am here to discuss a big business with you again," Harold called out in a low voice as he did last time.
They parted on bad terms last time, and although he did not come back to reject Dolly in person, the news that he had successfully obtained a large sum of research funding from Azar had already spread like wildfire. With Dolly's connections, she should have known that their business was doomed.
But Harold was not worried that Dolly would put him on the blacklist. Even if he disliked Dolly's taking advantage of others, he admired Dolly's magnanimity and courage. As long as he approached her to discuss business seriously, she would show a corresponding attitude.
As Haroldt finished speaking, a pink and purple spherical creature carrying Dolly came jumping in front of Haroldt.
Seeing Haroldt, Dolly jumped off Zhen Ling and spread her hands to show innocence: "Oh my, what kind of business does my big client want to do with me this time?"
Dolly felt somewhat regretful about Harold and the business he had brought her before. It was about the research of sugar. If it could be negotiated, how much Mora would it bring her! It was really exciting to think about it.
But she did not expect that Harold would later choose to submit his plan to the Council of Ecclesiastical Orders. It was not that she did not expect Harold to do so, but in her opinion, Harold had to ask her for sponsorship because his plan was rejected by the Council of Ecclesiastical Orders.
Because it is impossible for scholars of the Fatah Council to do research without going through the Council, and it is even more impossible for them not to apply for funding from the Council. Several scholars she had previously funded came to her because they were desperate, and she made a lot of money from this.
The last time Harold presented his research topic to her, she thought that Harold was just another poor guy who was deliberately made difficult by the Council of Ecclesiastes. She also secretly laughed at the great sage for being short-sighted. He was reluctant to pay for such a plan even when it was right in front of him, which was a bargain for her. That was why she asked Harold to give her a 20% discount.
If she had known that Haroldt had not even asked the sage for funding, she would undoubtedly have accepted Haroldt's final proposal of a 5% concession. This seemed like a big concession, but Dolly knew that even if it was only 5%, she would still make a lot of money.
But she was just a little regretful, not overly remorseful. She had a hunch that as long as she got along well with Harold, Harold would bring her more surprises, and more and more Mora.
Thinking of this, Dolly smiled very sincerely. She rubbed her hands together, leaned close to Harold and said warmly: "My dear guest, my dear Harold, as long as you want, there is nothing I can't find."
But in Harold's opinion, this was the smile of a complete profiteer.
He couldn't help but take a small step back and distance himself from Dolly: "I want to buy some Fontaine's research equipment, and I also want to customize some things."
"Want to buy it? Those equipments are not cheap at all. My guest, have you made a fortune recently?" Dolly pretended to be surprised.
Even as she said this, she had already started calculating in her mind. She knew that Haroldt had received a large sum of research funding, but she had not found out exactly how much it was. She was thinking about how she could get the most out of that money.
"You should know, Master Dolly, that I received funding from the wise man," Harold put his hand on his chest to show respect.
What kind of riddle teller are you? How could such a thing be hidden from you?
Harold rolled his eyes at Dolly in his heart and continued, "But you should also know how strict the funding review of the Ministry of Education has been in recent years. Even if the funding was directly allocated by the Sage, what I got was barely enough for me to purchase and order a set of equipment to complete my research."
To put it simply, I just don't have money.
Dolly was skeptical.
Of course she knew that the Institute of the Church had been very stingy with its scholars over the years, especially those from the Miaolun School. Otherwise, she would not have secretly gone to Xumi City to distribute flyers under the nose of the Institute of the Church.
Hehe, she was able to turn some scholars' research into Mora right under the nose of the Council of Lords, all thanks to the Council of Lords' stinginess.
"Oh, I was so busy building my beast of burden park recently that I missed this big news! Congratulations, my guest, you are really both discerning and talented! I heard that the great sage has not approved any funding applications for three years!
The scholars I sponsored often complained to me about the sage's stinginess, but now it seems that the sage is not stingy, but has his own considerations, and it is just that other scholars have to suffer," Dolly slapped her head and pretended to be distressed.
"It's just luck. Maybe the great sage happens to like my research direction," Haroldt didn't want to waste time arguing with Dolly on this issue, so he quickly turned the subject to business.
"These are the equipment I want. I believe Master Dolly must have these things," Harold handed Dolly a piece of paper with many equipment names written on it.
"My customer, you said you are not rich, but none of the things you want are cheap," Duoli took the paper and looked at it carefully from top to bottom. "You have found the right person. Looking at the whole Xumi, only I can give you the best quality products at the most favorable prices!"
He didn't believe in the best deal, but the best quality was undoubtedly the best, which was why Harold had to find Dolly.
The technological level of the continent of Teyvat has always been very backward. Even the far-leading Fontaine technology is far inferior to the Blue Star where he lived in his previous life in many aspects. The quality of Fontaine's research equipment varies, and he has seen a lot of shoddy products in Port Omos.
Now that he has decided to take this path, he naturally has to buy the best equipment. The high-quality equipment produced by Fontaine will last for seven or eight years without any problem. When these equipment are no longer usable, it will be time for him to apply for the next batch of research funds.
In short, he will never lose money if he buys good ones, but some of them can be bought second-hand first, because in many cases, as long as the equipment is not used for too long and its functions have not deteriorated, second-hand ones will only be more cost-effective.
"I know, kind and generous Master Dolly, so please take out the goods you have for me to choose. As long as they are not defective, please take them out. I will arrange the Mora in my hands reasonably. If the price is affordable, my budget will definitely increase," Harold said respectfully.
Dolly now really couldn't figure out whether Haroldt's budget was sufficient or not, but she still wanted to do this business, so she immediately sent someone to notify the workers to move things.
The porters at the port of Omos were efficient and soon a pile of boxes was piled in front of Harold and Dolly. Dolly had the boxes opened and showed Harold the equipment inside.
"Master, is there a price?" Harold asked.
"These are clearly marked with prices. As for these, as long as you offer the right price, I will sell them to you, but I assure you that the quality of what I sell is absolutely guaranteed," said Dolly.
"Can I check it out?"
Dolly: "Please, but if you break it, I will ask you to pay the original price."
Harold nodded, gently picked up a microscope (the camera was invented after the microscope, so if there were cameras, there should be microscopes, that's what I think), placed it on the wooden box, and then used the method of operating a microscope he learned in his previous life to install the eyepiece, objective lens and align the light. He found that its operation method was not much different from the microscope in his previous life, and after asking Dolly about the magnification of the microscope, he put the microscope back.
Then he looked at a set of distillation equipment and fractionation equipment and decided to buy them. Without a HPLC instrument, he wanted to use the most primitive HPLC method to determine the sugar content in Dun Dun peaches, so he needed to use petroleum ether. This chemical agent can be obtained through the fractionation and distillation of petroleum, so these two types of equipment are also necessary.
Every time Harold looked at a piece of equipment, Dolly's eyes flashed with a gleam. Later, she even went to Harold in person to sell her goods to him. Although she was just a businessman, since they were her goods, she had done her homework, so she spoke very logically. Under her instigation, Harold nodded frequently and felt that some things were indeed necessary to buy.
But as he said, although he got a sum of money from Azar, 50 million was not enough for him to do whatever he wanted. After careful calculation, he first chose important and expensive instruments such as microscopes, distillation equipment, fractionation equipment, and then picked out tweezers, droppers, various glassware, etc. that were necessary for the experiment.
The microscope and some other small items were clearly marked with prices, but Dolly asked Harold to pay for the distillation equipment and fractionation equipment himself.
"My bid," Harold handed Dolly another piece of paper. He had already made preparations and had a plan for how much each item would cost.
"You are really good at business, this price is very suitable," Dolly nodded. Harold's offer was slightly lower than her psychological price, but it was within her acceptable range, which made her feel that Harold really had a talent for being a businessman.
"Do you need me to pay a deposit? Or the full amount directly?" Harold asked.
"Just pay the full amount, and I swear in the name of Dolly Sangmahabhai that I will deliver the goods to you intact, and I will bear the transportation costs for you," said Dolly.
"it is good."
Harold paid the money very happily this time, a total of 25 million Mora. There was no other way. These things were very rare in the whole of Teyvat, and the transportation fee from Fontaine to Xumi was a huge sum of money. Therefore, in Xumi, the price of these things doubled.
"Hehehe," Dolly smiled until her eyes narrowed into slits when she got the money.
"Master, is your ship ready? My laboratory is located in a remote area, and I will guide your transport team," said Haroldt.
"Okay, but wait, I have something else to give you. Consider it a gift to you. Come and make friends," Dolly said flatteringly.