"But apart from the bathhouse, I can't think of anything that can distract people from my shop... Hmm... I'm pretty strong, maybe I can help with the transport of goods...?"
"Don't look at me like this. I have helped transport the main guns of the Yamato-class battleship before, right?"
Su Xin pondered for a moment after hearing this, and recalled several plans she had come up with for expanding the port area. She simply asked them, "Actually... I also want to open a few stores, but I don't really care about the profit or loss."
"Well...but I have requirements for the location. It will be at the end of the street, closer to my port area. I am afraid that busy shops will be noisy, so I want to open some quiet shops."
"At first I was planning to open a bookstore, a cafe, a milk tea shop... It shouldn't be a problem. If it's wild, a bathhouse is also fine."
The Queen didn't understand the meaning of the words, but Du Ye was smart. He widened his eyes and asked hesitantly, "Are you... going to sponsor us?"
"Eh?!" The Queen was shocked. "No... no need. We actually have the capital. There's no need for Commander Su to go through so much trouble..."
"It's like this. Even if I really opened a store myself, I can't find the right people to manage it, and it would be a waste to just leave it there. It just so happens that you all have the idea of opening a store, so we can give it a try."
"You don't have to pay for decoration, materials, operations, etc. I will just treat you as my employees. Hmm... I will pay you a fixed salary every month, half of the revenue will be a bonus, and you are in charge of store management. How about that?"
This was like a pie in the sky, and it was so overwhelming that neither of them dared to respond easily. Su Xin also realized that she was a bit of a pushover.
But that accidental experience of borrowing shower gel from someone really made her like the queen. She was also embarrassed about pretending to be Ye in the past, mainly because the difference between them was really too big...
"Then let's make it like this? You don't have to feel embarrassed. The location is not good and the store type is unconventional, so the business won't be very good."
Ming Miao happened to come over following the sound and said that everything had been settled. She had bought all the six shops on both sides of the end of the street.
Su Xin looked at the nervous expressions of the two people and simply handed the task of hiring employees to Ming Miao. She stepped behind the scenes and became an inexhaustible wallet.
Facing the ship girl, Queen and Ye felt much more relaxed, and discussed with Ming Miao nervously but full of hope.
Ming Miao was really used to his little commander's good-natured behavior, so he immediately took over the responsibility and talked about the feasibility: "Are you planning to open a milk tea shop and a bathhouse, meow?"
"Ah...actually...actually I would rather open a flower shop. I love growing flowers, and they are all very fragrant and beautiful...but it doesn't seem to make much money..." the queen explained hesitantly.
This is a simple question. There is a demand in the port area. When the time comes, she can open a flower arrangement class. Not only can she command the money-making gang from a young age, but she will also have a ready-made supply channel. No matter how you think about it, Ming Miao will make money.
Quan Ye watched his friend's problem being solved in an instant, and he was also quite tempted, "I... I still want to open a bathhouse, but it really doesn't have much... income..."
Ming Miao glanced at the transport plane from the same camp, and an idea suddenly occurred to him, "Ah, I have an idea, meow~"
"...Huh?"
"When you open a bathhouse, you have to provide some drinks and food, right? You can choose any food, and as for drinks... just sell milk, meow!"
"......Huh??"
Chapter 612: Stingy
After returning from the commercial street, it was still quite early, so Su Xin simply changed her route and went to see the lecture hall.
The lecture hall was indeed basically completed, including the interior decoration, matching tables, chairs and benches, as well as intelligent classroom equipment. It seemed that her money was not wasted.
The course content has not been sent yet, and the corresponding teacher has not been decided, but Su Xin herself thinks it is necessary to find a Chinese teacher for the children to teach them pinyin and so on.
Most of the destroyers in the port area don't need to learn this, but those in the Sakura Empire kindergarten need to hurry up, especially the leader Mutsuki.
As the sister of the Mutsuki-class destroyer, the other party couldn't even pronounce the flat and retroflex sounds clearly. "Commander" could be pronounced as "Zihuiguan", which sounded weird.
The same goes for math class. Su Xin relies on mental arithmetic to throw grenades in a fight, while the kids basically rely on guessing. Although the power of small-caliber naval guns is indeed not great, accuracy is still very important.
Besides, even if the advanced distance calculation is difficult, you should be able to do basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, right? Otherwise, you may be cheated by unscrupulous merchants when buying things, and your hard-earned pocket money will be wasted.
There must be professional courses for Kancolle, but language courses are not necessary. Anyway, daily communication is basically done in Donghuang language. It would be quite difficult for the children to memorize words.
Music classes, etiquette classes, and flower arrangement classes are just for fun. If someone wants to learn, then we can open them. If no one wants to learn, then forget it. This way Su Xin doesn't have to worry about who to hire as a teacher.
"Oh, by the way, we need to add physical education classes. It would be nice to have someone guide them in playing games." Su Xin thought and wrote down all her ideas.
After leaving the lecture hall, she turned around and went to the training ground, watching Hood and Bismarck wasting training ammunition on the field.
Bismarck never revealed his age, but judging by his combat experience, he should have come into the world earlier than Hood and won more battles.
Hood didn't look too depressed. Even though her body was covered in paint, she didn't come off the field to tidy up for the sake of her image, and the fight continued endlessly.
When she first brought Bismarck back to Hong Kong, Su Xin really thought that Hood was simply holding a grudge and that all she needed to do was defeat Bismarck.
Although Hood had won few times in the past few days, she had definitely won at times. As a result, Bismarck still accompanied her in exercises. As the commander, Su Xin understood the meaning of this.
"...Leave a room in the Iron Blood dormitory for people, that's great." The young commander glanced at Hood, "Is it considered tsundere to say something that you don't want to say?"
"Come to think of it... isn't the proportion of tsundere a bit high for blondes?"
Commander Su held back her words, but didn't dare to say them out loud, fearing that the royal maid next to her might let the cat out of the bag one day, and she would be hit on the head by Hood again.
After watching for a while, Su Xin went back home. Yixian and Lafei were still slacking off in the room. There was nothing to do during the wee hours, so she might as well go over and join in the fun.
Just as the two of them passed by the cafeteria entrance, they met Atago, whom they hadn't seen alone for a long time, and the atmosphere suddenly became tense.
To be honest, Su Xin is now extremely wary of the adults in Sakura Empire, fearing that she might fall into their trap again if she is not careful.
Atago looked quite calm this time. She didn't come over to her as usual when she saw her. Instead, she kept an unusually appropriate distance and smiled gently at the two of them.
"commander?"
"...Ah, Atago-nee, good afternoon."
"Good afternoon. Are you hungry in the cafeteria? When I was making snacks just now, Ning Hai and Ping Hai were there. If you are hungry... you can go in and get some food from them."
Su Xin was quite surprised and asked her tentatively: "Sister, you... won't give it to me?"
"Hmm? If you want, of course you can, but you won't eat my food, right? After all, Taiho and Akagi did that, so it's only right that you be on guard against the Sakura Empire."
"...She's so reasonable. It's really strange." Su Xin thought, "Why haven't I seen her think so much about me before?"
Atago's eyes seemed to be able to speak, and the corners of her eyes drooped slightly, as if she was aggrieved. "I want to leave a good impression on you. I hope you can...separate me from them."
Su Xin looked at the other person's red eyes and softened her heart a little. She then remembered what Yixian had said about the "tear scam" and suddenly became much more sober.
"...I understand. I will." The commander agreed dryly.
Atago didn't feel disappointed when she didn't receive the words of comfort she had imagined. Instead, she nodded and said goodbye in a gentle voice.
Su Xin stared at the other person as he passed by her and left without looking back. He didn't even hesitate or pause, which made her believe it to some extent.
That's right, there's really no need to elevate the actions of individual ship girls to the level of a faction, otherwise how can she get along with kindergarten children?
You just need to target them, or in other words, you just need to pay attention to Akagi and Taihou. She doesn't have any conflicts with other people, so you can just get along with them normally.
Su Xin made up her mind and took some time to return to Yixian's room.
When she entered the room, she found that Lafite and Yixian were both at home. One of them was sitting on the sofa with his chin propped up, staring at the two plates of snacks on the coffee table.
The other one was holding a small glass for drinking white wine, sipping the wine in it, looking quite down and out.
"Am I back?"
Lafite, who was curled up on the sofa, saw the little commander and hurried over to her with a wronged look, and got into her arms without saying a word.
"What's wrong?" Su Xin looked up at Yixian, quite surprised, and glanced at the dessert on the table, "My sister made it? Why don't you eat it?"
"Akagi just sent it over, saying it's something to fill your stomach."
The young commander paused after hearing this, and the smile disappeared from his face. After a moment of silence, he replied: "...Throw it away."
After getting the answer, Yixian raised his hand and swept the dessert into the trash can, feeling quite satisfied. At least his child had become wary and knew that not everyone could eat anything given to him.
Lafei waited for a long time but didn't receive any attention from Su Xin, so he had to hold the small cup and complain: "Sister Yixian, you won't let me drink, you only give me this much..."
Su Xin was surprised. They had clearly agreed to take two bottles a day. Yixian always kept his word. Why did he suddenly go back on his word?
Yixian looked over helplessly and explained in a gentle voice: "The two bottles I mentioned are 750 ml each, which is exactly one and a half liters a day."
"She found some 2-liter Coke bottles from somewhere and secretly poured red wine into them. When I found out, she even said that these were two bottles."
Su Xin didn't know whether to laugh or cry after hearing this. She raised her hand and gently poked Lafite in her arms, and said angrily, "What? You're being clever and still complaining to me?"
"Well... but it's not enough to drink..."
"Then you drink Coke, the color is similar, right?"
"...Not at all." Rafi muttered, "How can there be so much anger..."
Su Xin teased her, "Why don't you just shake off the gas in the Coke? We have absolutely no objection to you drinking sugar water, you can drink as much as you want."
Lafite ignored her, holding the small cup and quietly retreating back to the sofa, and began to carefully taste the only remaining portion of red wine today.
"…Commander, you are such a stingy person."
Chapter 613: Carrying me on your back again?
Su Xin had a very comfortable time in the first few days of the New Year. Except for the fact that she had trouble sleeping at night, everything else was perfect.
Ming Miao deserves the reputation of a profiteer. As long as he is rewarded, he will do things quickly and well.
Not only did he buy a shop near the port at a suitable price, he even settled the Queen and Ye in a short time, without her having to worry at all.
The distribution was also fair, with the three shops on the left being connected to form a bathing area, and the three shops on the right similarly combined to display different kinds of flowers and plants for the Queen.
The expenses for decorating and purchasing the bathhouse and flower shop naturally fell on Su Xin's shoulders. The monthly salary of the two was close to 10,000 yuan, and 50% of the turnover was used as bonuses.
The Queen and Ye had no way of repaying such a treatment that was hard to find even with a lantern. They went to visit the port every few days, giving them whatever they could, and even offering themselves to them.
They had thought about joining the port area, but firstly, their fighting ability was not very outstanding, and secondly, they had owed a lot of favors to Su Xin. If they really joined the port for free, they would always feel that they were marrying above their station.
After much thought, they could only try their best to express their good intentions and secretly make up their minds to run the business well to be worthy of others and themselves.
Su Xin did not refuse, nor did she stop them from coming to the port area. She accepted the food and drinks they offered her, but she had no intention of allocating a room for them.
She was naturally happy to have two more sisters, but she had invested money to hire them, and then left them alone. No matter how you look at it, it seems like she had ulterior motives. She wanted to salvage the boat, but why would she say something like that?
"They will come if they are willing. There is no need to make them feel that I am forcing them..." the little commander muttered softly, his face full of righteousness.
In fact, when the two people came to visit, they could not hide their longing for the new environment and atmosphere in their eyes.
But since Su Xin couldn't see it, Yixian didn't mention it again. After all, it was his own child's lack of eyesight. The result would be the same anyway, it was just a matter of time.
"What's next? Is there anything you want to do?" Yixian glanced at the sleeping Lafite, and simply reached out and held the little conductor in his arms.
Su Xin symbolically hesitated for a few times, and finally changed to a comfortable position and lay down, no longer struggling.
There was no way. She was indeed not used to it at the beginning, but after many times, Su Xin gradually began to accept Yixian's body temperature and finally gave up resistance.
"Well... wasn't my progress stuck for a long time?" She leaned her back against Yixian's shoulder, and said a little nervously.
"A breakthrough? When?" Yixian suddenly felt something was wrong before he could finish his words. He frowned and asked, "...What were you doing hiding yourself?"
"Ah... I just... absorbed a [Meta-Cube], and then I broke through. It went pretty smoothly. I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to worry..."
Yixian was silent for a moment, then suddenly kissed the little commander's earlobe, and in the face of the other's slightly embarrassed expression, he lightly teased
"You have learned to maintain your facial expression when you lie so that you appear believable. You have made progress in this skill without any instruction."
"But... you can't keep blushing all the time. People will know you're not telling the truth at a glance."
Su Xin was surprised and tried to argue, "I was just... shy!"
"Really? But you're quite pale. If you really feel embarrassed, at least your face and ears should be the same color, right?"
Yixian lowered her eyes and looked at the intertwined fingers of the little commander in her arms, and gently taught her, "Even if I can't help, it will always make me feel at ease just watching."
"Telling me this after the fact like you did now will only make me feel useless. I can't even stay by your side, let alone protect you..."
"Ah... I... I understand. I won't take risks next time..." Su Xin raised her hand and held Yixian's hand. She was shocked to find that the temperature was even lower than her own. She felt distressed and covered her hand with her own hands.
"I hope you really understand..." Yixian hooked his fingers and held the little commander's paw in his palm, "There is progress, so what?"
"Ah, so... I want to take advantage of the recent period to 'eat' more Rubik's Cubes and see if I can get to the next node."
Yixian nodded, "Of course, when?"
"Um...now?"
In fact, these words sounded a bit hasty, but Yixian understood that absorbing the Rubik's Cube would have to be done sooner or later, so it would be better to seize the time now and strengthen the little commander as soon as possible, so that she could feel more at ease.
"Okay, what can I do for you?"
Su Xin thought about it and shook her head, "No need, just help watch the door?"
Yixian did not comment, but turned around and called the maid Dido, told her the whole story, and asked her to keep an eye on the door to prevent anyone from breaking in.
"You don't have to go out, just stay in the room and watch. I want to stay with Su Su, and I'm afraid I'll miss something if I try to do two things at once, so I have to ask for your help."
"This... this is Dido's duty."
The maid answered in a row, curious and worried, and walked to a position where she could keep an eye on the door and see the commander at any time, and waited for orders.
